You know your horse best.
I'm here to help you protect them.
I am Dr. Carolin Schröder, a veterinarian — and before I was a vet, I was a horse owner doing exactly what you are doing now.
I read everything I could find. I tried hard. I made decisions based on the best information available to me. And I still lost my mare Malu to colic.
That loss changed the direction of my work. I became determined to understand what we know about prevention — what management factors contribute to colic risk, and what horse owners can realistically do about them. What I discovered surprised me: a significant proportion of colic cases are influenced by management. Colic is rare in wild horses. Much of what makes it so common in domestic horses is within our control.
What I also came to understand — both through my own experience and through years of veterinary work — is that when horses develop serious health problems, it is rarely because their owners did not care. It is most often because reliable, practical information was simply not available to them at the right time. The gap between what we know and what reaches horse owners in a usable form is significant. And that gap has real consequences — for the horse, and for the family that loves them.
Prevention is not just more effective than treatment. It is less stressful, less disruptive, and less costly. And for many of the most common problems in domestic horses, it is genuinely within reach — with the right guidance, applied to the right horse, in the right way.
Not all colic is preventable. There are cases that arise independently of management, and no amount of preparation can eliminate that reality entirely. But reducing the risk that is within our control — and knowing that we have done everything we reasonably could — matters enormously. For the horse, and for the owner who cares for them.
My work is shaped by 15 years as a veterinarian, a Master’s in Clinical Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, and more than a decade managing an international breeding programme.
The data on equine digestive health is sobering. Up to 10% of horses experience a colic episode each year, and evidence suggests that up to one third of those cases are influenced by management factors. Gastric ulcers affect up to 60% of leisure and sport horses. Many behavioural problems now recognised as stress responses trace back to gastrointestinal imbalance. These are not rare or unlucky outcomes. They are patterns — and patterns can be understood, and often changed.
My Master of Musical Arts from Yale University may seem an unlikely part of this work. But equine health problems are rarely one-dimensional. The analytical capacity it developed — identifying patterns, understanding how different factors interact, finding the most effective path through complexity — is something I apply in every case I work on.
Working in English, Spanish, and German means this guidance is available to horse owners across different countries and communities. But the approach is always the same: evidence-based, realistic, and built around your horse’s specific situation.
What this means for you and your horse
You came to this page because you care about your horse’s health — and because you are looking for something more than general information. That is exactly the type of person I work with to improve their horse’s digestive health and reduce colic risk.
Through my daily work with horses and extensive research, I have developed a framework of practical, science-based strategies that bridge the gap between knowledge and real change — designed to work on real farms, with real horses, and within the reality of people’s daily lives.
But knowing what to do is only part of it. Implementation is where the magic happens — and where having the right support makes all the difference. What I do is accompany you through that process so you are fully supported at each step, addressing the real questions and obstacles that come up as you apply changes in daily life — because effective implementation is what matters. That is when things genuinely improve. For the horse, and for you, the owner caring for them.
If you would like to know more about how this works in practice, I would be glad to show you.