Michaella Abugov, DVM

Education

• University of Vermont, Bachelor of Science, Animal Science, 2014

• Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine, 2019

• MSPCA Angell-Memorial, Small Animal Rotating Internship, 2020

• Chi University, Certification Course in Veterinary Acupuncture, 2025

Around the age of five, I began begging my mom to let me take horseback riding lessons. She acquiesced, and it started the ball rolling in my life as an equestrian. The barn I started at, Evenstride Ltd., was home to me - I would go there after school and on weekends, doing barn chores in exchange for rides. I started showing in the children's hunters and equitation and took competing more seriously as I got older.

I also began working with young ponies and horses that came to Evenstride to be trained and sold. Working under my trainer's son, I learned natural horsemanship methods to start and back youngsters who were too small for the older riders to sit on. This gentle and slow riding technique taught me to listen to the horse, and handle them with respect and understanding. 

In undergrad at UVM, I rode on the IHSA equestrian team. The team coach is a decorated dressage trainer, and I absorbed her methodology of lightness in the saddle and on the reins. I also worked as an ICU tech at a referral equine hospital in Milton, VT. 

In Vermont, I had the opportunity to work with a herd of warmbloods at a local farm. I fell in love with one young mare in particular named Kitten. I started her under saddle, brought her home for the summers during college, kept her at the on-campus cooperative barn, pouring my heart into her growth. In exchange, our growing bond forever changed the way I worked with horses. Several years later, Kitten colicked and was unable to be saved, but her legacy stayed with me in the way I handle horses from now into forever. 

Small animal veterinary practice has given me freedom to continue my life as a horse-woman, but I am excited to have this opportunity to practice TCVM and bring equine medicine back into my life. Hiring me as your alternative medicine equine vet will round out your horse's care, allowing your primary large animal vet to continue working their magic, while I will give your horse the non-traditional therapies that allow them to truly be the best they can be.

Besides spending time at the barn or hiking in the local woods with my rescue dog, I enjoy traveling, ceramics, snowboarding, reading, and enjoying life with my friends and family. I am also a Federal Aviation Administration licensed pilot and fly as a volunteer pilot to transport homeless animals from overpopulated areas in the South up to the Northeast where they are more likely to be adopted.