Sporthorse Seminar

This one day seminar will dive into some of the current hot topic discussions on sporthorse health, will highlight innovative advancements to aid in our breeding and management of sport horses, and will present different viewpoints from veterinarians, trainers, and breeders.

Cost is $95 per person and includes lunch. Sign up by July 19. Complete this registration form and either mail it to Hilltop Farm, 1089 Nesbitt Road, Colora, MD 21917 or email it to natalie@hilltopfarminc.com.

Speakers (additional presenters still being announced):

Christa LaFayette – Etalon
Founder and CEO of Catalyst Biosolutions, LLC (founded 2004) specializing in surgical and behavioral models for preclinical development in biotechnology. She currently provides guidance, development, training and assistance, regulatory and team management services primarily to small biotech companies. Ms. Lafayette is a proven biotech business executive having founded and developed several companies successfully in Silicon Valley as well as assisted with the early-stage development and growth of many more.

Ms. Lafayette served as Founder and former Vice President of LifeSource Biomedical, LLC, a large-animal Contract Research Organization established in 2008 on the NASA campus. She also supported the internal life science space programs and created a commercial CRO focused on preclinical development services for NASA. In her personal life, she is an avid competitive equestrian, horse owner (previously with a stallion breeding program particularly focused on performance, temperament and color) and has strong ties to the performance horse community.

Dr. Mary Beth Gordon – Purina
Dr. Mary Beth Gordon is the Senior Director of Equine Technical Innovation for Purina Animal Nutrition (Land O’Lakes, Inc.) with responsibilities to lead and guide the research and technical teams for the horse business group.  Her ambitious research team has completed over 350 research protocols at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center, leading to the creation of 18 new products and 20+ reformulated products in the equine market since 2005. This research encompasses exercise physiology, growth and reproduction, and digestive physiology including palatability, intake, and microbiome work. Mary Beth earned her BS in Animal Science from Delaware Valley University and PhD in Animal Science with a specialty in Equine Nutrition and Exercise Physiology from Rutgers University. Her graduate research focused on the effects of exercise on the hormonal regulation of appetite in horses and her work was the first to characterize the appetite stimulating hormone, ghrelin, in equine. She is published in numerous scientific journals including The Veterinary Journal, Equine Veterinary Journal, Journal of Animal Science, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science and Equine Comparative Exercise Physiology. She has also co-authored chapters in textbooks such as Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery. In addition to her work at Purina Animal Nutrition, Mary Beth is active in the horse world as a dressage rider, owning multiple warmbloods that keep her very busy!    

Dr. Amy Johnson – New Bolton Center
Dr. Amy Johnson is an Associate Professor and the Section Chief of Internal Medicine & Opthamology at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.  She is Board Certified for both Large Animal and Neurology.  Dr. Johnson earned her undergrad degree from the University of PA and her veterinary degree from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.  She did further training at B.W. Furlong & Associates, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focus has included botulism, neurology, Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), and Lyme neuroborreliosis.

Dr. Mark Donaldson – Unionville Equine
Mark T. Donaldson, VMD, DACVIM a native of Chester County, received his Bachelor of Science from Villanova University and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine in 1993. After completing an internship at the University of Georgia he returned to the University of Pennsylvania for a residency in Internal Medicine. He is a member of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Before joining Unionville Equine Associates in 2005, he was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center. He is currently a partner at Unionville Equine Associates. His clinical focus is sports medicine. In his spare time he enjoys photography and spending time with his wife, Emily and daughter, Lucy.

Tamara G. Dobbie, DVM

Dr. Dobbie, DVM serves as a Diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists (DACT), Associate Professor of Clinic Reproduction at New Bolton Center. Dobbie graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, in 1995 and worked for three years in a private mixed-animal practice in Midland, Ontario. In 1998, she came to New Bolton Center for a residency in large animal reproduction, which she completed in 2000–the same year she earned her board certification. Dobbie remained at New Bolton Center as a lecturer for two additional years. She has been working in private practice since leaving New Bolton Center in 2002.

July 28, 2024
7:15 am  Registration Opens
7:45 am  Seminar begins