Down a long driveway bordered by a fenced paddock with a barn at the end, sits the home and office of Dr. Katie Gould, horse veterinarian. Katie and her partner, photographer Kit Defever, combine their home with offices for Katie’s equine veterinarian business and Kit’s photography studio and business.
Katie did her college work in neurobiology and biology, studying canaries in particular. She then worked for two years in a field research center in Millbrook, where she worked with Dr. John Jager who became her mentor. Katie clearly remembers much of what he shared with her twenty years ago. He helped shape her decision to go to graduate school at Cornell University for Veterinary Science. After graduating as a veterinarian specializing in equine medicine, Katie served in a clinic for a year, then went to a position in Connecticut. In 2000, the move came that brought Dr. Katie Gould into the Gardiner community; she was offered a position with Pine Bush Equine. Five years later, in 2005, Katie, with another veterinarian, opened her own practice here in Gardiner, called Mid-Hudson Equine. In 2010, having acquired her current house and home office, she opened her own practice in that location and called it Mid Hudson Equine of Gardiner.
Katie has plenty of animals herself: three horses, three dogs, two cats, three sheep, one pig and twelve chickens. That’s 29 critters to care for, many of them rescues. In order to do her own chores, with Kit’s help, Katie is up at six and often isn’t done working until night.
Katie’s equine practice serves a large area, which includes Orange County, Pine Island, Pine Bush, Gardiner, Shawangunk and New Paltz. This is an especially busy season for Katie as February through August is breeding and foaling season. Somehow, amidst all of this, Katie rides her own horses Western style, and is even now taking lessons in western equine events such as roping. Dr. Kathleen Gould at Mid Hudson Equine of Gardiner can be reached at 845 800-8427.