By Stephanie J. Ruff
D
ebra Powell ’99 AFE made her life all about horses until she saw a need to help other animals, too. In 1999, after earning her doctorate from UK in animal sciences with a focus in equine nutrition and exercise physiology, she started her own mobile small business, Powell’s Equine Canine Therapeutic Services. Along the way she also earned certifications in equine and canine massage, acupuncture and chiropractic, allowing her to help hundreds of dogs, horses — and sometimes even cattle — while teaching others to do the same. “I started with just doing massages on horses,” she says. “Because of my background in equine physiology and nutrition, I found that working with horses while educating owners was what I enjoyed most. I wanted to make it mobile because it is easier on the clients. They don’t have to load their horses in the trailer or find someone to transport their horses for them — or load their dogs in their vehicles and take them to a strange building.” She says most animals become frightened of new environments, and you cannot get a good response from treatment under those conditions. “I have been told that I have a calming influence over animals, which may be because I am a rather calm and patient person myself,” Powell says. Since the COVID pandemic, she still travels to clients, but just locally and only if she can work on the animal with the owner or handler at a safe distance. Powell’s overall goal with her alternative therapies is to improve an animal’s quality of life, but she treats every case individually and formulates a plan based on the animal’s and owner’s needs. “When I get a call about coming to see their animal, I always get a history and information about what the owner is seeing in their animal, or perhaps what they want to introduce to their animal,” she says. “Some owners want to make massage a component of their pet’s welfare. Some wish to provide additional relief from discomfort instead of using medication or wanting to use less medication. There are really a lot of different components to the business, and I try to advise what I think is going to be best for the animal,” she says. “I have a lot of owners with older pets that I work on to keep them as mobile as possible. I have worked on show cattle to get them stretched out and relaxed so that they move better in the show pen. I have also worked on show dogs to get them ready prior to their performance, and the same goes for horses.” Powell says she always tells owners that she will only do what she feels will help the animal and will not intentionally hurt or mask any discomfort for the sake of the animal’s performance. That is not the mission for her business.
MOVING FORWARD DESPITE A PANDEMIC “Because I am mobile, I get to travel. Prior to COVID, I did not have any limits on distance, if fit within my college duties,” says Powell. In January 2021, Powell started a new position as equine science program manager at Hocking College in Ohio, moving from her previous position at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. “This position involves my providing meaningful educational outcomes for the students within the four equine programs,” she says. “This is very exciting as it will allow me to make a difference in the lives of those students, which is something I am passionate about and always value.” She says that because she has an entrepreneurial outlook, the new position also allows her to create and offer additional programs that are in keeping with student interests and changes within the equine industry. Because Hocking is a community college with a soon to open equine event complex, she can also provide events and educational programs that are relevant. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Powell earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Hampton University in Virginia and a master’s degree in animal sciences from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana before graduating from the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Powell chose the UK Department of Animal Science for her Ph.D. program. “My area of interest has always been in equine nutrition and how nutrition and exercise work together, and UK has one of the best graduate programs in that area,” she says. “What better place to study horses?” Powell says she felt UK has some of the best equine researchers. “They have provided opportunities to travel, conduct cutting-edge research, and opportunities to present my research locally, nationally and abroad. I continue to utilize those connections that I have formed at UK,” she says. It was Laurie Lawrence, a professor in the UK Department of Animal Science, who influenced her the most. “She was always very open-minded by allowing me to try different ideas related to horse care and nutrition,” Powell says. “I began studying alternative therapies because of that open-mindedness.” Regardless of the current pandemic, Powell has goals for her new program at Hocking. “I really want to build an academic program where the students can learn their technology or skill in a particular area, but also effectively communicate and have some business savvy so that when they leave college they are ready for what life throws at them … I have met a lot of students who are truly afraid of venturing out of their hometowns. I want to present them with a glimpse of what is available in hopes that it sparks a desire to continue that venture. I want to expose as many students as possible to the numerous facets of the horse industry to broaden their knowledge of possibilities,” she says. ■
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