2025 | Understanding and Addressing Postural Imbalances and Structural Distortions in Horses

Karen Gellman, DVM Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Karen Gellman is a graduate of Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine, and also has a PhD from Cornell in animal locomotion biomechanics. She has advanced training and certification in veterinary acupuncture and veterinary chiropractic, and has practiced these and other modalities since 1995.   From 1998-2020, she taught biomedical research programs for Cornell Summer College.  She is Research Director of Maximum Horsepower Research, and principle investigator of a study on equine posture funded by the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation.  Dr. Gellman writes extensively for veterinary professional venues, has peer-reviewed research publications and is frequently a featured speaker for North American and European veterinary CE events.  She is the educational director and primary instructor for the Postural Rehabilitation training for veterinarians (posturalrehab.com) and other equine professionals, now an online program.  She practices holistic veterinary medicine in Ithaca, New York, and does on-line distance consultations at DVMDetective.com.  Her company Plena Curae makes high quality pain supplements for pets and horses, sold only through professionals.

Judith Shoemaker, DVM Related Seminars and Products

Judith M. Shoemaker, DVM, is an internationally known practitioner and educator in integrative veterinary medicine and therapy. She conducts veterinary in-service training and Continuing Education classes both nationally and internationally, and is licensed in eleven East Coast states, as well as Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana and Colorado.  Dr. Shoemaker’s unique equine, production, exotic, and companion animal integrative practice utilizes chiropractic, acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, homotoxicology, homeopathy, nutrition, physical therapy, and multiple other modalities. She provides comprehensive maintenance, therapy, and consultation to equine competitors in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Shoemaker’s smaller patients include top competitors, service and search and rescue dogs, small production animals including sheep, goats, and camelids, as well as many wonderful companions. She has been an instructor and lecturer for AVCA, IVAS, AHVMA, many state and local VMAs, as well as lay organizations for over 30 years. The educational and research arm of her practice, Maximum Horsepower, LLC, with Dr. Karen Gellman, received a grant from the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation in 2013, to study Postural Rehabilitation. Her practice, Always Helpful Veterinary Services, celebrated her recognition as American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association’s Practitioner of the Year in 2011, and she was inducted in the first class of the Animal Chiropractic Hall of Fame in 2015. 

     Dr. Shoemaker is a 1980 graduate of the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; and prior to that, received her B.S. in Animal Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA. 

     In honoring the significance of the human-animal bond in practice, education and research, Dr. Shoemaker provides information for all to benefit from her mission- to promote balance and consciousness that allow optimal health for animals and people.