Be Good & Do Good

a bedraggled burro gamely carried his passenger, an amputee, into the makeshift veterinary clinic. dismounting with his crutches, the elderly mexican man looked to veterinarians rob franklin and keith latson for help. “the burro had a huge saddle sore on his back and was clearly undernourished,” said latson, an orthopedic surgeon practicing in california. “for this man, the burro was more to him than the burros and horses we see in the u.s. this burro was his transportation, companion and provided a way for him to make a living for his family.” over a period of four days keith, robo and rob, along with a group of volunteer veterinarians from around the us, treated more than 1,000 working horses in mexico for a variety of ailments, and provided basic services such as trimming feet, floating teeth, and de-worming to rid the animals of potentially fatal parasites. that experience in october 2011, an “equitarian initiative” mission sponsored by the american association of equine practit