From the Field: A Quarter of Work in Guatemala

A Field Report from the FullBucket Guatemala Program — July through September 2026

From the Field

• From July through September 2026, Dr. Jackie and her team completed nine field clinics across rural communities in the departments of Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango, Guatemala
• 527 working equids received veterinary care and 414 families were directly served
• 176 vaccine doses for equine influenza and rhinopneumonitis were administered across four communities with histories of respiratory outbreaks
• 45 veterinary students from Universidad Mariano Gálvez de Guatemala trained alongside the team, many working with horses for the first time
• Animals returning to the program are now maintaining an average body condition score of 4, a measurable sign that the work is holding
• In September, Dr. Jackie expanded into San Jorge, Zacapa, identifying 264 working equids across five new communities in one of the driest regions in Guatemala, and finding active screwworm cases being treated in the field

Meet Dr. Jackie

If you've followed FullBucket's giving trips, you already know Dr. Jaqueline Garabito Muralles. She's been our boots on the ground in Guatemala since the beginning, not a visiting volunteer who flies in once a year, but a veterinarian who lives and works in these communities full-time, building relationships with families, earning the trust of the people who depend on these animals, and delivering care where it's needed most.

Every day Dr. Jackie is out in the field. This is her report covering July through September 2026, and we'll be sharing her field reports regularly so you can follow the work and see exactly where your purchase goes.

What Brought Dr. Jackie Here

Working equids in rural Guatemala don't get a day off. They carry water, firewood, crops, and supplies across mountain terrain that no vehicle can reach. For the families who depend on them, a healthy animal means food on the table and children in school. A sick one means neither.

From July through September 2026, Dr. Jackie and her team drove into nine communities across two departments, set up clinics in schoolyards and on concrete streets, and delivered the kind of veterinary care these animals had never had access to before. This is the report from those three months.

Nine Clinics. Two Departments. 527 Animals.

The communities served this quarter span the mountain corridor of Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango, areas where altitude, physical terrain, and limited infrastructure combine to make daily life demanding for both families and their animals.

The breakdown across all nine clinics:

Each animal treated represents a family whose livelihood depends on that animal staying sound and working. When Dr. Jackie and her team pull into a community, the response makes that clear. Communities know the FullBucket clinics are coming and they show up.

The Work

Hoof care was the most urgent need across every community visited, accounting for nearly 90 percent of all clinical procedures. Working equids in these regions carry heavy loads every day over rocky, uneven terrain. Without regular farrier care, hoof imbalance leads to lameness, and lameness means a family loses their ability to work.

Wound treatment made up the remaining clinical work, primarily saddle sores and back wounds caused by poorly fitted or worn equipment. Twenty-one wound cases were treated across the quarter.

Vaccination was administered in four communities with histories of respiratory disease, with 176 doses of equine influenza and rhinopneumonitis vaccine given and booster schedules established.

Mineral supplementation was donated to owners across all nine communities, paired with hands-on education about how and why to use it. The drought conditions across Guatemala this year have stripped natural forage of much of its nutritional value. Mineral salts fill a gap that the land currently cannot.

Community education ran throughout every clinic day. Practical demonstrations on feeding, wound care, parasite management, and how to read an animal's condition gave owners tools they can use between visits.

The Stories

Numbers tell you what happened. These are the people behind them.

Doña Santos Cuc and Alicia

In Santiago Sacatepéquez, Doña Santos arrived with her mare Alicia for hoof care. Alicia is a working animal in every sense, hauling, carrying, earning her keep every day. After her trim, Doña Santos stood for a photo with the team, her hand resting on Alicia's neck. That photo is in Dr. Jackie's report. It tells you everything about why this work matters.

Don Carlos and Three Generations

In Santiago Sacatepéquez, Don Carlos arrived with his family. Three generations, one horse. The palomino stallion had been castrated during a February clinic visit. When the team returned this quarter, Don Carlos sought them out specifically to say: "Thank you for operating on my horse. Now he has more strength, he is easier to manage, he healed quickly. God bless you for the great support you give us."

That's not a testimonial. That's a man telling you that a single veterinary procedure changed how his family lives.

Conejo, Ciudad Vieja

A horse named Conejo received his full clinical exam in Ciudad Vieja, one of a string of animals seen that day. The veterinary students worked alongside Dr. Jackie's team, learning to take temperatures, perform physical exams, and communicate with owners across language and cultural gaps. For many of them it was their first time working with horses. By the end of the day they were doing it with confidence.

The Students

45 veterinary students from Universidad Mariano Gálvez de Guatemala rotated through the clinics this quarter. Many arrived nervous around horses. By the end of their first day, they were performing exams, administering medications, and explaining procedures to owners. Dr. Jackie wrote that watching a student leave at the end of the day with a smile of satisfaction and the confidence to handle an animal with care is one of the greatest rewards of the work.

The Animals Coming Back Stronger

One of the most meaningful data points from this quarter is not a number from a new community. It's what Dr. Jackie finds when she returns to communities she's visited before.

Mares with healthy foals running alongside them. Animals that were thin and weak on the first visit now holding a body condition score of 4 on the Henneke scale. Owners who used to be hesitant about veterinary procedures now actively waiting for the clinic to arrive and asking questions.

The program is working. And the communities know it.

And Then Came Zaragoza, San Jorge

In September, Dr. Jackie expanded the program's reach into new territory.

San Jorge, Zacapa sits in the eastern dry corridor of Guatemala. Five communities. 264 working equids. 710 people depending on those animals to haul water, firewood, and food across terrain that trucks cannot navigate. The region is in the middle of a severe drought. Water is delivered by the municipality once every two weeks.

What Dr. Jackie found there was a population of animals in urgent need of exactly the kind of work she had just spent three months doing in Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango. Parasitism. Malnutrition. Bat wounds. Animals that had died, leaving families without their primary means of work.

She also found screwworm. Not just in horses and donkeys, but in dogs and cats as well. The same New World Screwworm outbreak that reached Texas in June 2026 has been active in Central America for years. Dr. Jackie has been treating cases in the field using the FullBucket kit, coordinating with community leaders and the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture to identify, respond to, and treat affected animals. In severe cases that means sedation, antibiotics, and wound management, all performed on the ground in communities with no clinic and no running water.

San Jorge is the newest chapter. More to come.

Thank You For Choosing FullBucket

When you purchase a FullBucket product, the One-4-One program puts a locally formulated supplement into the hands of a working equid in need.

This quarter that meant 527 animals across nine communities. It meant Don Carlos's palomino recovering from surgery and his family saying thank you. It meant Alicia getting her hooves trimmed and Doña Santos standing proudly beside her. It meant 45 future veterinarians learning to care for horses in communities where no one else was coming to help.

It meant Dr. Jackie driving into San Jorge, Zacapa with a full kit and the ability to do something about what she found.

She makes decisions no one should have to make alone, in communities that have no one else to call. And she keeps going back.

In her own words: "Having a full kit means bringing hope to them. And knowing that behind all of this there are many people helping, coordinating, and above all God using us as his instrument."

Every product purchase extends that reach. 527 animals this quarter. 264 more in Zaragoza. And counting.

If you're interested in learning more about the FullBucket One-4-One giving program and the work Dr. Jackie does year-round in Guatemala, visit our giving page here.

Thank you to our partners on the ground in Guatemala, the municipal authorities, community leaders, and the Universidad Mariano Gálvez veterinary students who make this work possible.

— The FullBucket Team