Veterinary Surgeons

Andy Hayes BVetMed MRCVS

Partner

Andy qualified from Royal Veterinary College in 1991 and joined Towcester Veterinary Centre in October of the same year. Apart from a year’s sabbatical in South Africa in 1997 he has worked there ever since and became a partner in 1999. Andy was instrumental in setting up the equine clinic at Plum Park and has seen it expand from humble beginnings to the twelve vet equine team we have today. He is particularly interested in lameness diagnosis and treatment. Andy is married, lives in Towcester and has three children. If he has any spare time he enjoys playing tennis.

Mike Sheldon BVM&S MRCVS 

Partner

Mike has worked for Towcester Veterinary Centre since qualifying in 2003 from Edinburgh. He became a partner in 2011. Mike has a particular interest in equine medicine, dentistry and equine anaesthesia. He was responsible for the introduction of the centre’s dental & gastroscopy services. Mike is an active member of the wider equine community and regularly competes and hunts his own horses. He owns three horses/ponies with wife Alice and also enjoys tennis, snowboarding and going point to pointing. He has a two young daughters Matilda and Beatrix.

Mark Vale BVetMed MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon

Mark qualified in 1994. He worked in Lichfield for four years in a mixed practice before moving to a purely equine clinic in the Cotswolds for seven years. Mark joined the equine team at Towcester Veterinary Centre Equine Clinic in 2005 and has continued to pursue his interest in sports and performance horses. He particularly enjoys diagnostic imaging and is also the acupuncturist at the practice.

Alice Sheldon BVM&S BSc MSc Cert EP Cert ES(Orth) MRCVS

Advanced Practitioner in Equine Practice and Orthopaedic Surgery

Veterinary Surgeon

Alice qualified from Royal (Dick) Veterinary School in Edinburgh in 2003 and has worked in equine practice ever since. She worked in large practices in Yorkshire and Oakham, before joining Towcester Veterinary Centre in 2008. Alice completed a certificate in Equine Practice in 2007 and has now attained a certificate in Equine Orthopaedic Surgery. Alice has a keen interest in lameness diagnosis and treatment, and is working alongside the recognised specialist in equine surgery, Cedric Chan, to further develop the surgical services available at Towcester Veterinary Centre. She owns a horse with her husband, Mike, and two Shetland ponies for her daughters Matilda and Beatrix. Alice enjoys team chasing, hunting and family dog walks.

Tamarisk Leeming BSc (Hons) MVSc MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon

Tamarisk studied Zoology at Newcastle University and worked in tourism for four years, before returning to university to study Veterinary Science at Bristol. Tam is a keen rider and had been a client for many years! She is a Joint Master of the Grafton Hunt, and has recently started hunting sidesaddle. She breeds her own horses and is currently competing one of them up to BE Intermediate level.

Abi Jennings BVMedSci (Hons) BVM BVS (Hons) MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon

Abi joined us in November 2015. She graduated from Nottingham University in July 2014, and spent her first year as a hospital intern at Bell Equine in Kent.  During this time she saw a large variety of cases; including lots of emergency medicine. She also gained extensive experience in equine anaesthesia; which she has a keen interest in, alongside internal medicine. Having grown up in Silverstone, Abi is looking forward to working closer to home and spending time with family and friends. Outside of work she enjoys baking, walking her Smooth Fox Terrier, Elphi, and scuba diving (but only in warmer waters!).

Gemma Kirk BVetMed MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon

Gemma graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2008 and has been in equine practice ever since. As a new graduate she worked for a branch of The Minster Equine Clinic in Doncaster. She then undertook an internship at The Arundel Equine Hospital in West Sussex where she looked after inpatients, carried out anaesthesia and was involved in lameness work ups and diagnostic imaging. Upon completion of her internship, she stayed on at Arundel for a further few years; initially as a hospital/ lameness assistant and then as part of the ambulatory and stud team.

Since 2013 Gemma has split time between Arundel and a role as a resident vet at Vinery Stud, Australia. Vinery is a large Thoroughbred farm that is home to around 500 horses and foals down 150-200 mares every year, so time spent here has served as good experience in all areas of equine reproduction and foal care, albeit rather busy at times!

Gemma is currently studying for her Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice and is helping out at Towcester over the busy summer period, between southern hemisphere breeding seasons.

Becky Price BVSc MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon 

Becky joined the practice in July 2016, after graduating from Bristol University. She was our first intern, which allowed her to develop her skill set in all aspects of veterinary practice. Throughout her internship she developed a keen interest in poor performance and orthopaedics, working closely with Andy and the rest of the team. Becky is now a key member of the orthopaedic team working mainly from our Onley clinic. In her spare time, she enjoys walking her naughty border terrier, Hattie, horse riding and travelling (whenever she gets the chance!).

Steven Walsh DVM MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon

Steven studied veterinary science at Szent István University in Budapest before completing his internship in America at B W Furlong and Associates where he split his time between New Jersey and Florida for the show circuits. He took a special interest in sport horse performance and lameness which he continued to develop when moving to the UK. He worked as an ambulatory vet doing mainly lameness in Sussex for a year prior to starting at Towcester Equine Vets in August 2017.

Steven grew up in the west of Ireland breaking and riding horses. He was a member of the Irish Pony European 3-day eventing team and competed horses at eventing competitions throughout Ireland. He whipped in for several seasons with the Co. Roscommon Harriers.

Ashley Schofield DVM BSc (Hons) MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon 

Based mainly at our Onley practice, Ashley studied at the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice, Slovakia. He enjoys equine dentistry and lameness so often works alongside Mike and our orthopaedic vets on a variety of cases.

He enjoys riding his horse Fawn and his dog Foxy can always be found with him whilst out on the road!

Jen MacAlpine BVetMed MRCVS

Veterinary Intern 

Having graduated from the Royal Veterinary College In London in 2016, Jen has spent her time since graduation working worldwide with polo ponies at the highest levels, something she started doing during university. Since graduation she has been in Spain, New Zealand, here in England and most recently Argentina working with various teams of ponies managing all aspects of their day to day care.
Jen enjoys all aspects of practice but is especially interested in orthopaedics and sports horse medicine. In her spare time she enjoys riding polo ponies, including her own pony Betty and playing badminton.

Magda Flaga lek.wet. MRCVS

Veterinary Intern

Magda is the latest vet to join us on our internship programme. She graduated from the University of Krakow in Poland earlier this year and particularly enjoys working on poor performance cases.

She has completed externships in various countries, including Poland, Germany and Italy; gaining valuable experience with equine reproduction.

In her spare time she enjoys exploring the English countryside and riding her horse, Louise.