Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center (EMC) has renovated and expanded its equine neurologic stall. A gift from Karen Jones Squires and Hames Squires—made in memory of a beloved family horse Just Java, who succumbed in 2015 to laminitis—supported the project. The Virginia Tech EMC is located in Leesburg.

To acknowledge the Squires’ vision, commitment, and generosity—and to memorialize the horse who inspired the gift—the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors has approved naming the stall the “Just Java” Neurologic Stall.

The new stall, which was completed in spring 2018, replaced a makeshift stall located in the center’s intensive care unit. Small and cramped, the former stall made it difficult for clinicians and staff to comfortably treat patients and also didn’t fully secure contagious horses.

As a remedy, the new stall was created by combining two stalls in the center’s isolation unit, a necessity because neurologic horses often carry contagious diseases. Now, besides being secure, the stall is private and quiet