Owens Equine

Specializing in equine orthopedics - Dr Owens is only taking new equine clients for orthopedic cases. She is always happy to help with wildlife and small animal end of life home visits

I grew up in Issaquah and on Bainbridge Island, and my nephews are our family's fourth generation in Seattle. My family was heavily involved in Pony Club, Area VII Young Riders, and organizing events. I trained with Nancy Lowry and Jean Moyer through success at Intermediate level eventing. My top horse, Celebrity, had veterinary problems which prevented competition at Advanced before I had to leave for Brown University. Due to persistence, care, and faith, Celebrity eventually recuperated and later under his second owner Ingrid George, he competed Advanced for many years, then at the lower levels into his mid 20’s. I left the Northwest to follow the family tradition of education in New England. I completed degrees at Brown University in premedical biology and postmodernist film production, and received my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University 2002. I completed equine externships with John Nolan and Kent Allen in Middleburg, VA, at CCI**** events pre-Sydney Olympics, at Palm Beach Equine Clinic at Palm Beach Polo Club, and in England and Argentina under some of the top vets in those nations. After graduation, I continued to work alongside FEI vets at international level competitions in jumping, dressage, eventing, and reining. Under PJ McMahon at Kings Park in England, I was the official vet for most of the polo clubs outside London and cared for the horses of Pippa Funnel, Kyra Kyrtland, and many other Olympians. I spent 8 months in Argentina buying and training gaucho cowponies for professional polo. On the other side of the spectrum, I was the equine vet for a mixed practice in rural agricultural Devon. I saw hunting horses, racehorses, and native moorland ponies, and helped to introduce therapies like stem cells, sterile maggot debridement, and IRAP to the area. While in Devon, I was the vet for the local Dartmoor Zoological Park before and during a dramatic rehabilitation of the animals and facility. We were filmed by BBC who aired the footage as a prime time documentary, and park owner Ben Mees’ writings about those years became a best selling book and Hollywood movie, “We Bought A Zoo". Between 1998 and 2005 I took intermittent time aside from sport horses to work on global animal health. I was director of Veterinarians for Global Solutions and on the board of directors for the Tibet/Nepal NGO "Drokpa" ('Nomad') for several years, and was invited by the Pan American Health Organization to spend a month at their office in Panama. I worked for the African Union, with support from the African Wildlife Foundation and Ford Foundation, on wildlife/livestock disease interaction and veterinary infrastructure for nomadic people. While in South Africa, I spent 7 months as vet for the $85 million Warner Brothers movie Racing Stripes, caring for 11 zebras, 110 racehorses, and a posse of trained pelicans, sheep, etc. The African Union has published my book on veterinary pharmaceutical distribution models for underserved remote areas. Establishing myself close to my roots in the Pacific Northwest has been a long time goal, and I am excited to provide a practical, personalized veterinary service with top level technology