Meet Our Team
Meet the Veterinarians & Team of The Piedmont Equine Practice in The Plains. We’re pleased to provide exceptional care for your horses.
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Dr. Davis has a special interest in performance horse medicine, lameness, anatomy and medical imaging, and has pursued extensive continuing education in the field of ultrasound imaging. He also achieved certification in chiropractic care by the AVCA in 2001. He feels that horses at any level of performance are remarkable in their willingness to give total effort just because we ask, and thus makes an effort to minimize the discomfort associated with veterinary procedures. His patients include international competitors, local show horses, fox hunters and trail horses.
During his personal time, Dr. Davis spends most of his time outside; running, sailing, fox hunting, hiking, skiing, and fixing up his 200-year-old house and horse farm. His wife, Pam is a small animal veterinarian at Piedmont Small Animal. They have two daughters, Hayley and Kristina. Dr. Davis is the medical editor of The Chronicle of the Horse.
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Dr. Nolan has been caring for international and national level equine athletes for over 25 years. His areas of special interest include sports medicine, lameness, diagnostic imaging and chiropractic medicine. In 1998, he became certified in Veterinary Chiropractic Medicine through the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association. He has been an active member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, Florida Association of Equine Practitioners, and the International Society of Equine Locomotor Pathology.
John met his wife Renée in Veterinary school. Renée practices small animal medicine at The Small Animal Clinic at Piedmont. They have two sons, Sam and Abe who are both students at the University of Virginia. In his spare time, you might see him cycling on the back roads of our practice area, our little piece of heaven.
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After vet school, Dr. Anikis worked in a mixed large animal practice in Loudoun County, Virginia for several years. While there he expanded his understanding of hoof problems and laminitis and learned to shoe horses. He also became a large animal consultant to the Washington National Zoo in 1996, where he assists and advises in the treatment of elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffe, lesser kudu, and zebra. He has served as a treatment veterinarian at numerous steeplechase races and 3-day events as well as the 2005 FEI World Cup Final for dressage. He is also a veterinary advisor on the safety committee of the National Steeplechasing Association. Dr. Anikis joined Piedmont Equine as a partner in 2000 where his practice centers on the diagnosis and treatment of lameness problems in horses. He works with clients in Northern Virginia, Europe, and Florida.
Dr. Anikis lives in Delaplane, Virginia with his wife, Doerte, a veterinarian and accomplished rider, and their two sons, Timothy and Erik. His hobbies include skiing, running, biking, fishing, gardening, and growing orchids.
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Today as a part of PEP Dr. Bowman has a practice that is centered around sports medicine. He spends most of his time with show horses and event horses but enjoys helping all owners enjoy their horses more. No matter what sport you compete in he will use a combination of modern medicine and acupuncture to keep your horse sound for the next competition always with the goal of a long healthy career.
If he won the lottery Dr. Bowman would still work, because he truly loves equine medicine. However, he would turn the renovations on his nineteenth-century farmhouse over to someone else, leaving himself more free time to train bird dogs, fish with his son Ian, and hike with his wife Jean.
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Dr. Bolam grew up in London, Ontario, Canada, and from a very early age was horse crazy!! She began riding at the age of 5, initially taking dressage lessons, then joining Pony Club and eventually exploring some lower-level eventing during her high school years. Dr. Bolam attended veterinary school at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Ontario before completing a rotating, hospital internship at Peterson and Smith Equine Hospital in Ocala, FL. She then returned to the Ontario Veterinary College for a large animal surgical residency; in 2006 she became board-certified in large animal surgery. Dr. Bolam has spent the last 8 ½ years working for Wisconsin Equine Clinic & Hospital in Oconomowoc, WI. There she provided elective and emergency medical and surgical care, as well as attending to routine wellness and sports medicine cases. While she has always enjoyed working both in the field and in-clinic, her passion for emergency equine medicine and surgery is an important and integral part of who she is as a veterinarian, making her a great fit for this position. Dr. Bolam is very excited to be joining Piedmont Equine Practice to provide emergency equine veterinary care. Outside of work, Courtney has revisited her enthusiasm for eventing in the last few years, something she looks forward to continuing here!! She is excited to explore Virginia, especially all the great outdoor activities that our beautiful state has to offer!! Please welcome Dr. Courtney Bolam to the Piedmont Equine Practice team!!
Associate Veterinarians and Fellows
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She discovered her passion for horses at a very young age and began competitively riding at the age of 6. She has represented Bermuda in showjumping in many different countries, including the UK, Spain, and the Caribbean. She continued to compete during her years in university, both on the U.S. and Canadian A circuit.
Dr. Wilkinson enjoys all facets of equine medicine but has a strong interest in sports medicine. At the beginning of 2018, she started her own equine veterinary practice in Bermuda, where she travels periodically to provide services to the equine community there. She successfully completed the animal chiropractic course at the Options for Animals College of Animal Chiropractic at the beginning of 2020 and is certified with the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association.
Her free time is in fact filled with more horses and her dog, Nova. She simply cannot get enough of horses and feels so fortunate to have found a career as fulfilling as veterinary medicine.
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Christy performed her internship at Piedmont Equine after graduating vet school and has stayed with the team ever since, now serving as part of the associate veterinarian team. Dr. Moss completed a Theriogenology residency in 2024 and passed the College's board exam the same year, becoming a Diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists. Dr. Moss is able to bring specialized reproductive and neonatal knowledge to the Northern Virginia region as one of only a few equine-focused Theriogenologists in the state. She enjoys working with mares and foals in all capacities, offering services such as frozen semen breeding and embryo transfer.
In her free time, Christy enjoys running and hiking with her dog Barzy, as well as visiting local breweries and wineries. She lives in Gainesville, VA with her husband, Ashton.
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Lizzy received her DVM from Ross University and attended Virginia Tech for her clinical year. After graduation she worked as an intern at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Wellington Florida. She then completed a second internship at The Piedmont Equine Practice, stayed on as a Fellow and is now an Associate Veterinarian.
Dr. Aksten is certified in Equine Rehabilitation and Performance (CERP) and a FEI-permitted treating veterinarian. Lizzy enjoys all aspects of veterinary medicine with a special interest in sports medicine, emergency medicine , podiatry and geriatric care. She lives in the Marshall area with her husband and dogs, where she spends her spare time gravel-biking and enjoying the outdoors.
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Sara graduated from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. During veterinary school, she was actively involved in the student chapter of AAEP and received the Dr. Olive K. Britt Equine award. Sara loves all aspects of equine medicine, but especially enjoys general practice, emergency medicine, and building her sports medicine skills. She has a passion for low stress handling. In her free time, Sara enjoys spending time with her dog Atticus, watching Hokie football, traveling, and being outside.
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While in vet school, Jacob served as president of his class and was an active member of both the student AAEP chapter and the Omega Tau Sigma veterinary fraternity. Jacob also worked as a student vet assistant in the UGA Large Animal Teaching Hospital. During his clinical year he received UGA’s Large Animal “In House” medicine and surgery award. Jacob has special interests in emergency medicine, theriogenology, sports medicine, and anesthesia. In his free time, Jacob enjoys running, live music, spending time with his dog Murphy, following college football and basketball, and cooking.
Staff Specialists
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Dr. Bolam grew up in London, Ontario, Canada, and from a very early age was horse crazy!! She began riding at the age of 5, initially taking dressage lessons, then joining Pony Club and eventually exploring some lower-level eventing during her high school years. Dr. Bolam attended veterinary school at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Ontario before completing a rotating, hospital internship at Peterson and Smith Equine Hospital in Ocala, FL. She then returned to the Ontario Veterinary College for a large animal surgical residency; in 2006 she became board-certified in large animal surgery. Dr. Bolam has spent the last 8 ½ years working for Wisconsin Equine Clinic & Hospital in Oconomowoc, WI. There she provided elective and emergency medical and surgical care, as well as attending to routine wellness and sports medicine cases. While she has always enjoyed working both in the field and in-clinic, her passion for emergency equine medicine and surgery is an important and integral part of who she is as a veterinarian, making her a great fit for this position. Dr. Bolam is very excited to be joining Piedmont Equine Practice to provide emergency equine veterinary care. Outside of work, Courtney has revisited her enthusiasm for eventing in the last few years, something she looks forward to continuing here!! She is excited to explore Virginia, especially all the great outdoor activities that our beautiful state has to offer!! Please welcome Dr. Courtney Bolam to the Piedmont Equine Practice team!!
![](https://piedmont.vet/files/2021/02/Moore-500x500.jpg)
Christy performed her internship at Piedmont Equine after graduating vet school and has stayed with the team ever since, now serving as part of the associate veterinarian team. Dr. Moss completed a Theriogenology residency in 2024 and passed the College's board exam the same year, becoming a Diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists. Dr. Moss is able to bring specialized reproductive and neonatal knowledge to the Northern Virginia region as one of only a few equine-focused Theriogenologists in the state. She enjoys working with mares and foals in all capacities, offering services such as frozen semen breeding and embryo transfer.
In her free time, Christy enjoys running and hiking with her dog Barzy, as well as visiting local breweries and wineries. She lives in Gainesville, VA with her husband, Ashton.
Interns
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Haley went on to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science at North Carolina State University (Go Wolfpack!) and then made the move to Fort Collins, CO to attend Colorado State University for veterinary school. Haley was an active member of the student AAEP chapter and served as vice president of the ophthalmology club. Haley has special interests in general practice, sports medicine, and ophthalmology.
In her free time, Haley enjoys hiking and camping with her dog, Rue, traveling and exploring new places, and spending time with friends and family.
Licensed Veterinary Technicians
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She then spent time at a local university equine hospital administering emergency and elective anesthesia as well as performing specialized diagnostic imaging before becoming a small animal radiation anesthetist and ER technician. Casey joined Piedmont Equine in the spring of 2019 and was reintroduced to equine anesthesia and nursing..
Casey and her husband live on a farm in Northern Virginia, and enjoys spending her spare time with her 3 horses and showing in dressage and combined training competitions.
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Gretchen spent her preceptorship at New Bolton Center, working part-time for an upper-level event rider as well as doing tack and blanket repairs. At New Bolton, she developed a strong interest in equine anesthesia, and upon graduation, was hired at a private equine practice near Charlottesville, VA. In August of 1985, she joined the staff at the Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center where Gretchen first worked the night shift, then moved into the anesthesia department in April of 1988 until August 2010. Having done some anesthesia for elective surgeries at PEP over the years, Gretchen was happy to join the nursing staff part-time in 2012, helping with emergency anesthesia coverage.
Gretchen is married and has 2 horses, which she pleasure rides. She and her husband live in Star Tannery and enjoy riding the Blue Ridge Parkway and other scenic roads on their “steel horses”- a Suzuki Intruder for Gretchen and a Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad for her husband.
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Vet Assistants
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She has a long history in animal rescue (cats, dogs, wildlife and horses mostly) and looks forward to getting back into it when the time is right. Mickayla worked in a small animal GP clinic before coming to Piedmont and still assists there a few times a month for more education. Her goal is to become a Licensed Vet Tech and is studying online at Penn Foster to achieve this.
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Tori grew up in Fauquier County and currently lives in Upperville. She attended Germanna Community College. When she was quite young she developed a love for photography and thrives on going to horse shows and taking pictures of people doing what they love. She would love to further her skills.
She has been involved with horses for 12 years at KR Quarter Horses. shows Quarter Horses Ranch and Barrel Race, and is now moving towards roping. She rescued a QH cross filly named Dolly and a dog named Oakley
In her spare time she loves outdoors activities including fishing and hiking.
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Talia graduated from the College of William & Mary with a BS in Biology and Art. She wishes to continue working with animals in a veterinary setting and hopes that she may get into vet school in the near future!
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She attended Virginia Tech for 3 years and worked towards a degree in Animal Science with an equine emphasis, before deciding to come home for a while to work and gain experience in the horse world. During her time at VT she rode on both the Hunter and Western IHSA teams and enjoyed participating in the Equestrian Club and VT Clay Target Club. In her free time, she loves riding, birding, hiking, and spending time with her beloved chocolate lab Regina (affectionately called Reggie).
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Although foals and breeding are Laura’s absolute passion, she’s always had an interest in equine veterinary medicine and is very happy to be at Piedmont. She hopes to obtain my LVT in the future.
In her free time she helps her husband Cliff run his thoroughbred training operation and spend time with their daughter Hazel. We have a small herd of our own horses and 3 boxers.
Office Staff
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She is married to Randy, a farrier. They have two sons, David and Cole, and live near Boyce, VA. In her spare time, Ann loves to play tennis.
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She subsequently worked at Child Help teaching underprivileged children horsemanship skills before joining Piedmont Equine in 2005. Elaine schedules and assists Drs. Bowman, Davis, Nolan and Adams.
Elaine loves playing tennis in her spare time.
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Juliet started working at Piedmont Equine in 2004, first as a technician and now in the front office, organizing seminars, social media and the website. Juliet lives in The Plains with her Jack Russells Peanut Butter and Kaloo and spends her free time hiking and taking photos in our beautiful countryside.
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She co-owned and ran a business importing, competing and selling event horses for over 25 years, and then worked as a bookkeeper for friends Karen and David O'Connor and assisted at Stonehall Farm with various horse care duties for over 4 years.
The chance to work at Piedmont Equine came in 2018, and she works in the office on both the Equine and Small Animal sides of the practice. She lives in the village of Orlean with her corgi mix, Beau and cat, Maggie.
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She and her husband Michael live in Luray on their farm.
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equine offices and labs, her breadth of experience includes showing, Pony Club,
starting yearlings, galloping racehorses, and schooling steeplechase horses. She has
enjoyed living in Upperville, Virginia for the last forty years.
She obtained her Veterinary Technology degree from Northern Virginia
Community College in 2010 while employed at The Piedmont Equine Practice as
an evening nurse. Since becoming a licensed veterinary technician, she has worked
in an equine ambulatory practice, small animal surgery, and small animal oncology.
Most recently, she worked as a service technician in an equine medical center and
teaching hospital. There she assisted with emergencies, surgery, internal medicine,
clinical laboratory and imaging. Many days she could be found performing MRI on
both scheduled and emergency patients. On top of this array of skills, she was wellknown among the staff for her ability to calm anxious horses, helping not only the
patient, but also the technician, veterinarian, and ultimately the caretaker / owner.
Gail enjoys spending time with her husband, Raymond, their dogs, Otto and Bea,
and her family and friends. She also looks forward to her annual trip to Saratoga,
New York for more family time and horse racing!
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In 1987, Po received the Harry T. Peters award for winning the National Young Riders Championships. During that year she also won the Courtney Reeves Award for best sportsmanship. In 1990, Po was granted the Markham Trophy young riders award. She also successfully completed the 3 Star Rolex International event.
Currently, Po lives in Middleburg, Virginia, and shares her time between training event horses, running an equine rehabilitation center, and as the pharmacy technician for Piedmont Equine.
Referral Specialists
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Dr. Polkes is also the Equine Veterinary Diagnostic Specialist for Antech Diagnostics. She has helped to facilitate the expansion of Equine Diagnostic testing within Antech to provide more comprehensive and advanced equine diagnostic testing.
Dr. Polkes resides in Maryland with her husband (who specializes in small animal internal medicine), her 2 teenage children and her 3 dogs. She enjoys hiking, biking and skiing and spending time with her family at all of the various sports activities!
The most common cases that are referred for an internal medicine consultation are:
• Respiratory disease – Including poor performance, chronic cough and difficult respiratory cases.
• Gastrointestinal diseases- Gastroscopy, intestinal biopsy, weight loss, colic, chronic colic, other.
• Neurological disease- Comprehensive neurological evaluations, CSF taps. Ophthalmology-difficult ophthalmology cases.
• Cardiac- Evaluation of murmurs, arrhythmia’s, PPE including echocardiography, ECG and holter monitor.
• Other complex medical cases
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Dr. True routinely speaks at professional conferences and veterinary schools. She has a special interest and advanced training in equine dentistry.
https://truevetdentistry.com/