Iowa Equine

"Dr. White has always been responsive and thorough with her exams and diagnosises of my horses. Her calm efficient manner is particularly helpful in emergency situations. Her communication is clear and pragmatic with a balance of horse and owner means. One of my favorite things about Dr. White is her ability to understand the connection between me and my horses to maximize the outcome of her visit."

"I own and operate a training facility. The entire Iowa Equine staff has been a pleasure to work with. I have received excellent service from all of the vets and vet techs (and I think I've used all of them. We have our share of emergencies. I've always had a vet respond to my call and to care for my horses after hours; never been refused.) Questions and scheduling are well handled by the office staff."

"I have been using Iowa Equine since I brought 2 mares here from Texas in 2012. Primarily Dr. Stay, Dr. White once. Professional, caring, knowledgeable vets that answer every question I have, excellent equipment to use on my farm calls. I truly appreciate the quality of care my remaining horse receives from Iowa Equine, and highly recommend them. I am very thankful to have a veterinarian willing to make farm calls. Iowa Equine has always been readily available to answer any concerns I might have. We are extremely fortunate to have this clinic in our area!!"

"I recently had a PPE done by Dr. Stephanie White on a horse I am looking at. I am from SD and wanted a vet who would give me an honest PPE. She was nice enough on the phone but sounded like she would rather be doing something else and when I asked her to repeat something so I had my info correct, she sounded annoyed. I was then questioning what she was finding as far as lameness goes considering I rode this horse 2 days before the appointment and we were fine. Dr. Stephanie started the PPE before the owner was able to get there without either of our permissions. I come to find out that she disclosed the PPE findings to the owner which legally you can't do without the clients consent! That is the clients info to share as they are the one paying for the services...this is a breach of confidentiality. When I received all of the radiographs I was a little disappointed in the quality of them for being an equine practice. I have worked at an equine practice before and I am also a licensed vet tech and have seen/taken better. Before the appointment the clinic asked if I could put a card on file to hold the appointment spot ($20) to avoid cancellation, that's pretty normal and I was okay with that. What I wasn't okay with was my card being charged for services rendered that day before I even saw the invoice! Luckily I had enough of a credit limit, but what if I wanted to use a different card or even understand how much the appointment would be and see the breakdown?? I was also told that I would receive the PPE report within 24 hours and have yet to see it....we are going on 48 hours. It is for these reasons why I am giving a 1-star review. I was not impressed with the veterinary care or customer service."

"In late summer of 2021, my barn owner’s husband informed me that my horse had cancer in his face. You might wonder why I learned this from him and not my veterinarian, and the answer is simple. I received this awful news from him because Iowa Equine *forgot* to call and give me the results of the biopsy they’d performed a couple weeks earlier. Since I received this news on a Saturday, I had to sit with my worry and questions until the following Monday. I should have taken that experience as a sign, but ultimately I stuck with Iowa Equine throughout my horse’s treatment that year. The tumor was surgically removed and then the area was treated with chemotherapy by a different clinic. In late summer of 2022, I noticed several new lumps adjacent to the location of the original tumor. Some small lumps closer to the mouth, and some larger lumps in the lower jaw area. Dr. White performed the initial examination. Due to my horse’s history and the almost certain likelihood of cancer, she recommended that the lumps be debulked (cut out as throughly as possible) and sent in for testing. It is common practice to cut out as much of the tumor as possible before beginning chemotherapy treatment. This is why debulking was recommended as opposed to a simple biopsy. A different vet, Dr. Isberner, was sent to perform the debulking procedure. I showed her where the tumors in question were located, however she did not mark the location of the tumors prior to injecting the area with anesthetic, which caused immediate swelling of the surrounding tissue. As a result, Dr. Isberner struggled to locate the tumors before making her incisions. She made a comment to that effect in front of me, but she pressed on and I trusted her judgement. The cost for the procedure came to over $800. It wasn’t until weeks later, after the swelling had resolved and stitches were nearly gone, that I realized all of the tumors I had pointed out had either been missed entirely, or only partially removed. Rather than debulking the specific tumors in question, Dr. Isberner cut away two random pieces of tissue. Test results found that those samples did have tiny (0.2cm-0.5cm) tumors in them, the presence of which is not unexpected given the type of cancer my horse has, however that does not change the fact that the larger, more significant tumors that needed debulked, remained either fully or mostly intact. When I sent an email explaining the situation and expressing my frustration, I received an incredibly patronizing response from Dr. Stay, flat-out denying any wrongdoing while accusing me of being “frustrated with my horse’s condition” rather than being frustrated by the fact that I did not receive the service I explicitly requested, and paid over $800 for. Dr. Stay’s response showcased a severe lack of accountability within this clinic, and a blatant disregard of the additional stress this experience created for both myself and my horse. For obvious reasons I am no longer comfortable having my horse in Iowa Equine’s care and I would not recommend them for anything beyond routine services."