Construction has begun for a major expansion to a Patton Township equine hospital that will create the region’s only full-service equine surgical facility.
“I’ve been working on since 2016 and I really do feel like I finally found the right group of people, the right township, the right piece of land,” Dr. Catherine Radtke, owner of Abington Equine Hospital, said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday morning. “It’s going to come together and I think it’s going to be great.”
Radtke was joined by state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, and state Rep. Rich Irvin, R-Spruce Creek Township, who helped facilitate a $370,000 state grant from the Keystone Communities Program for the $2.4 million project.
Once completed, the 63,000-square-foot expansion will allow Abington Equine Hospital, 156 Abington Lane, to provide an array of advanced surgical procedures, with five stalls for horses, two surgical suites, a lameness examination area, consultation room, treatment rooms and offices.
Abington currently offers ambulatory services and clinic care out of the existing white barn on the same property off West Buffalo Run Road where the new facility is being constructed.
But for surgical procedures that often require hospital management, owners currently have to take their horses at least as far as a facility in Somerset, and sometimes to Philadelphia or upstate New York.
The expansion will provide a facility close to home for the more than 1,000 horses in the State College area and will support the rapidly growing equine industry in Centre County, Corman said.
He noted investments that have helped the Equine Center at Grange Park in Centre Hall grow to become a year-round spot for some of the largest horse shows and exhibitions on the East Coast.
“A byproduct of that obviously is you need to service the horses. You need to service the industry that’s growing in this area,” Corman said. “Fortunately Dr. Radtke here had a vision as far as how to do that. You’re not going to get the top of the line industry to come here if they have to — those are obviously huge investments — if they have to drive a couple hours to see a vet if there’s an emergency.”
Corman said the new facility has “the potential to eventually be the best equine health facility in the state.”
Irvin, who sits on the state House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said Abington’s expansion will fill a need that goes well beyond Centre County.
“One thing I know by sitting on the agricultural committee at the House level, large vet services are in demand in Pennsylvania and it’s a need that needs to be provided for,” Irvin said. “With the groundbreaking here today, it’s not just going to serve Centre County, it’s going to serve all of central Pennsylvania.”
Radtke previously said Abington employs three veterinarians and three support staff members, but those numbers will grow as the hospital expands.
Long-term plans for the facility also include the addition of an internal medicine department and specialist.
“We just can’t be thankful enough for how much this community has supported our dream and we can’t wait to give that support back, continue to grow and do everything we can for the horses of Centre County and the surrounding counties,” Radtke said.
