Dr. Madi Berger Reed: Happy Life Healing Horses

By Laura Scaletti

Portraits by Kacy Brown

Early in her riding journey, Dr. Madi Berger Reed was encouraged to create a personal mantra. “Head up, heart open” has been Madi’s from the start.

“Head up means go into every situation as prepared as possible. Learn your horse’s routine, their likes and dislikes. Learn the rules of the competitions you are entering. Practice the hard things at home so they are second nature at the show,” Madi said. “Heart open means go through life with empathy for those around you: trainers, grooms, fellow competitors, show officials and, most importantly, the horses.”

Madi not only applies this mantra in her personal riding pursuits, but she also uses it daily while working at her practice, Berger Equine Veterinary. She’s “head up” as she tries to approach each case as intelligently as possible. “I work hard to seek out multiple options and modalities to meet the needs of the horses and suit the capabilities of my clients. I also tell my clients if I don’t have an answer for them, I’ll get them one,” she said. “I genuinely try to get that answer to my clients after having sought the counsel of colleagues, surgeons or scholarly articles.”

As a lifelong horse enthusiast and horse owner herself, Madi strives to practice with a “heart open” empathy for the horses she treats and their people. “I try to be present for my clients and truly understand the heartbreak that can come from an injury that significantly pushes back riding goals or the gloomy day when clients have to say goodbye to their four-legged best friend,” Madi said. “If I’ve done right by the horse, while guiding the client with grace through what may be a very challenging situation, I know I’ve done my job.”

Horse Girl Dreams

Madi was born with the horse bug and a love for all creatures great and small. Preferring playing with Breyer horses over Barbies, Madi had a variety of breeds in her Breyer stable. “I’m told as a small child I would often force the mailman or anyone else that came by the house to let me teach them which one was a Clydesdale and which was an Appaloosa,” she said.

Madi’s family encouraged her love of animals by surrounding her with horse books, both educational and fiction. They supported her preference for watching Animal Planet over cartoons. “I soaked up information like a sponge, and while you can still count on me to have a random animal fact about a ton of species, horses have always been the focus,” Madi said.

“I was dying to ride a horse. I didn’t care what discipline, English or Western,” she said. Madi’s wishes were finally granted on her 6th birthday when her parents gifted her horseback riding lessons.

“When folks ask why I chose the hunter-jumper world, I simply say I didn’t,” she said. “I could have been a barrel racer or dressage rider, but my mom first got me lessons at a hunter-jumper barn, and I never looked back.”

Although Madi’s parents weren’t “horsey” themselves, they’ve always supported her horse-girl dreams. “My mom recognized that if you’re going to be good at something, you have to do it consistently. When I first started, she found a way to get me to the barn three days a week for lessons. This was quite the task, as the barn was a solid 40-minute drive from our house, and that was without South Florida traffic,” she said.

A year into her riding, Madi got her first pony, a young Paint mare named Sugar. “It turns out my mom bought the pony without telling my father. Then one day she brought him out to the barn and asked what he thought of the pony. Quickly realizing the intent of the question, he promptly asked my mother, ‘Do we already own the pony?’” Madi said. “The rest is kind of history from there.”

Looking back on her childhood, Madi fondly remembers the summer days when her mom would drop her off at the barn early in the morning with a lunch box and pick her up at the end of the day. “I truly got to be a barn rat at Windmill Ranches in Weston in the summers. I’d ride early in the morning before it got too hot, then spend the rest of the day grooming, bathing, cleaning tack and stalls, and learning horse anatomy and general care,” she said.

Eventually, Madi hit the show circuit and sold Sugar for her large pony, Russian Blue. The duo began showing at ‘C’ shows and in Wellington during the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). “My family was clear that we had a one-horse-at-a-time policy, so as I grew and got more experienced, we’d sell the prior horse and buy the next. This also meant each mount had to do it all—hunters, equitation and the occasional jumper class,” she said.

Although Madi only owned one horse at a time, she was able to catch ride a lot of horses at the barn. “I was often used as the guinea pig when a new course was set or a new horse arrived, as I was pretty fearless as a Junior rider,” Madi said.

Helping Horses

As Madi moved through grade school, she set her sights on vet school. “In the seventh grade, a good friend pointed out that I loved animals and I loved helping people. When she put it that way, it just sort of clicked that I was supposed to be a veterinarian. While veterinary medicine focuses on healing animals, inevitably to do so, you have to work closely with their humans,” she said. “I’ve always appreciated how my friend recognized those skills in me at a young age.”

To get on the vet school trajectory, Madi first completed her undergrad education at the University of Georgia, where she was a member of the NCAA Equestrian Team. Madi was part of the 2014 National Championship Team and the 2015 SEC Championship team, and was a team captain her senior year.

During college, Madi had a unique summer internship in Key Largo, Florida, where she took care of, trained and learned from 12 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and a California sea lion. “My biggest takeaway was seeing large animals choose to participate in their own healthcare. It continues to inform how I approach horses today, how I work with needle-shy horses and how I strive to provide environments where the horse will want to participate in its healthcare,” she said.

Madi’s hard work and dedication to the equines she loves eventually earned her admission to multiple veterinary schools. A Florida girl from the start, and with the encouragement of her grandfather, Madi decided to attend the University of Florida for her DVM.

While pursuing her education, Madi was able to continue riding. “The summer after my first year of vet school, I was hoping to get a little more saddle time and that’s when I met my current trainer, Lauren Schweppe, owner of Meadowood Farm in Ocala, Florida. Lauren had a variety of sale and training horses that she’d let me hack or give me lessons on as time permitted with my studies,” Madi said.

Although Ocala wasn’t the closest place to ride when Madi was supposed to be focused on her studies in Gainesville, she made it work so she could get her horse fix in the classroom and in the saddle. “I would wear riding pants to class and play the lecture recordings on the drive down and back. Doing so made me feel less guilty about the time spent driving that could have been spent studying,” she said.

Madi had the opportunity to show Bonaparte, a 17-hand Appendix gelding, after riding with Lauren for a few months. “With vet school, I was really only able to show one day a week, so we would do the Adult equitation division and 3’ Adult medals held on Fridays at HITS Ocala. While not looking like a traditional equitation horse, he was scopey, and despite his quirks we got along really well. We were the 2016 HITS Adult Equitation Winter Circuit Champions with only a handful of shows my second year of vet school,” she said. “I never thought my first circuit championship would come while I was in vet school!”

After graduating in 2019, Madi completed an intensive internship year with Ocala Equine Hospital, which focuses on sports medicine, diagnostic imaging and orthopedic/upper airway surgery. During her internship, Madi was offered an associate veterinary position and worked for Ocala Equine Hospital doing ambulatory medicine until December 2024.

Berger Equine Veterinary

During her last year in vet school, Madi decided to add another tool to her sports medicine box and became certified in veterinary acupuncture. As an associate veterinarian with Ocala Equine Hospital, Madi continued to find ways to further her skills, adding being certified in veterinary medical manipulation, often referred to as chiropractic. Madi gained both of these skills at Chi University in Reddick, Florida, where she is now one of the lecturers for the medical manipulation course.

It was during these courses that Madi found her passion. “I realized I could combine my love for biomechanics, sports medicine and equine athletes utilizing my acupuncture and chiropractic skills to really benefit horses. I always wanted to start a complementary medicine and rehab practice at some point, but assumed it would be later in my career,” Madi said. “My sister-in-law, Rachael, pointed out that I was having success with this kind of medicine and that my passion was clear when talking about it—why wait?”

The question “why wait?” stuck in Madi’s head, so she set her sights on opening Berger Equine Veterinary. “I finished my contract with Ocala Equine Hospital on December 31, 2024, and Berger Equine Veterinary officially started seeing patients January 1, 2025—approximately four months after the ‘why wait?’ conversation,” she said.

Today, Madi is a one-woman show handling all the vet work, patient reports and billing by herself at Berger Equine Veterinary. “It’s extremely freeing to be your own boss and make your own schedule. This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve felt a renewed sense of purpose and passion for the horses I love, and have found a better mental health space that I feel has contributed greatly to my recent success in the show ring,” she said.

Madi’s favorite part of running her own practice is that now she really feels like she’s part of her athletic patients’ team. “I love helping the riders and trainers with how to get the most out of their horses and keep them comfortable. I take a lot of pride in knowing I had a role in their achieving their goals and successes,” Madi said. “Sometimes those successes are wins at big competitions, others it’s keeping an amateur’s horse feeling their best so they can keep their rider safe.”

Living the Dream

While in vet school at the University of Florida, Madi met her now husband, Dr. Austin Reed, who was there attending medical school. “Prior to meeting me, he never had a pet, which is funny to me since he married a veterinarian. He has become an impressive dog dad and gets along great with the horses. He has learned how to work with them and even trail rides with me when the weather is cooler,” Madi said. “He has also on occasion moonlighted as a vet tech when I’ve been on call for emergencies, helping pump water for colics or hold fluid bags.”

Although Austin didn’t enter the relationship with horse knowledge, he’s transformed into a great “horse show husband.” “He may not be able to score a round, but he knows to keep an eye on if I seem pleased or frustrated with a round. While I don’t expect him to attend every show, per his request I keep him aware of the ones I’m extra excited for so he doesn’t miss them,” she said. “He even braved being with me at the in-gate this past year at the National Horse Show and played a huge role in helping me keep my emotions in check.”

Madi and Austin like to say they have three and a half horses—Gladstone, Oliver, Javador and their mini, Naponeon. The duo lives on a small farm in Ocala just seven minutes away from the World Equestrian Center, making it easy for Madi to actively show her full-size equines.

Gladstone was a gift from Madi’s family during her last year in vet school. For many years, Madi competed him in the 3’3” Amateur Owner hunters. Today he’s learning more of the babysitter job to potentially be a horse for Madi’s mom or Madi’s future children.

Aboard Oliver, Madi competed at indoors for the first time at the NHS THIS Adult Medal Finals. “He marched around the Alltech arena like a seasoned pro even though it was both of our first time at indoors. Now he enjoys a quiet life and only gets pulled out for special classes,” she said.

This year, Javador was Madi’s main show horse. After a long horse search, Madi almost hesitated sitting on Javador for a trial because she thought he would be too small. “Within five minutes of riding him, I realized I had found my horse. He’s my little sports car,” she said. “He exudes confidence and loves a big stage. The fancier the class or spookier the ring, the better he goes. Qualifying for the USHJA Adult Jump Seat Finals and NHS THIS Adult Medal Finals has the been our focus this year.”

Madi truly feels like she’s living the dream these days—horses in her backyard, horse shows a stone’s throw away, a supportive husband and a business she’s proud to call her own. To quote her, “I tell my clients that with my job, I get to pet a pony every day, and that’s what makes me happy.”

Follow Berger Equine Veterinary on Facebook or @bergerequineveterinary and @madiberger on Instagram

Photos by Kacy Brown, kacybrownphotography.com