Veterinarians
Christine Smith DVM DipACVS
Registered Specialist in Equine Surgery & Managing Director
Christine Smith is a Registered Specialist in Equine Surgery, and has a particular interest in poor performance of racehorses and sport horses, lameness and all aspects of equine surgery including joint and gastrointestinal surgery. Christine is now a dual Canadian and Australian citizen, and is committed to life in Australia having settled in the Hawkesbury region. Her expertise, practical hands on approach and enthusiasm are known to many. Christine is Managing Director at Agnes Banks Equine Clinic.
Laura Lee BVSc MS DipACVIM
Registered Specialist in Equine Internal Medicine
Laura Lee is the hospital superintendent and has a particular interest in foal medicine and respiratory problems. Laura was born and raised in South Africa, where she completed a Veterinary Science degree at University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort from 1999-2004. Laura entered private practices in South Africa before moving to the United States where she completed her Equine Medicine Specialty training at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Laura has been at ABEC since 2011 and her patient care and compassion is second to none.
Lauren Jordan BVSc (Hons) MS DACVS-LA
Registered Specialist in Equine Surgery
Lauren Jordan grew up in Sydney and has ridden and competed with horses from an early age. She achieved her Veterinary Science Degree from Sydney University in 2011 and then completed an internship at Agnes Banks Equine Clinic. At Agnes Banks she developed a passion for surgery and moved to the United States in 2013 to complete a surgical internship followed by surgical residency training at Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Virginia. During her time in the United States, Lauren developed a particular interest in upper airway and orthopedic surgery. She moved back to Sydney in 2017 as an equine surgeon specialised with the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. In her spare time Lauren enjoys hiking and camping, going to the gym and spending time with family.
Alannah Norton BVMS MRCVS
Veterinarian
Alannah grew up in Warwickshire, England before moving to Glasgow for her veterinary degree. She completed an internship at Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital in Victoria and stayed on at GVEH for a three year surgical residency under Dr Jim Vasey. Alannah has a particular interest in racehorse practice and enjoys orthopaedic and respiratory surgery. In her spare time Alannah can be found camping and hiking with her two dogs ‘Boris’ and ‘Piper’ or riding her off the track STB ‘Diego’
Jenny Watts BVSc (Hons1) MANZCVS
Veterinarian
Jenny Watts is a valuable member of our ambulatory team and also helps out with the reproduction work during the season, both on the road and in the clinic. Jenny completed a student internship with us some 15 years ago and has since practiced in the Northern Territory and Queensland. She has a particular interest in dentistry and reproduction. Jenny is an enthusiastic and competent equine veterinarian and an avid horse rider – particularly in dressage where she has competed to Prix St George level. Jenny has also completed her memberships in Equine Dentistry.
Mark Wiggett BAnSc BSc (Hons) BVSc
Veterinarian
Mark comes to Agnes Banks having previously lived in the Hawkesbury before completing his veterinary degree at Sydney University. He has a keen interest in exercise physiology and reproduction particularly with performance horses having competed in Eventing for many years. Outside of horses Mark is sports mad, especially anything to do with rugby
Alexis Clark BSc (Hons) BVM&S Cert AVP BAEDT MRCVS
Veterinarian
Alexis joined the ABEC ambulatory team in 2015. She grew up in South Africa and graduated from the Royal (Dick) Vet School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh University. Alexis started her veterinary career in the UK with completing an equine internship and then going on to work in both first opinion and referral equine practice. While enjoying a variety of equine work and having a wide range of skills in and out of the clinic, her areas of interest are dentistry, lameness, anaesthesia, and emergency medicine. Alexis is a qualified Equine Dental Technician and she has also recently completed a masters level Certificate in Advanced Equine Practice through Liverpool University, with a focus on equine dentistry.
Alexis is a keen amateur showjumper, but is currently taking a break from riding to raise her young family, which keeps her pretty busy when she is not working.
Marnie Treseder BVSc MANZCVS
Veterinarian
Marnie graduated from a Bachelor of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney in 2013, followed by completion of an internship year at Agnes Banks Equine Clinic in 2014 before undertaking an ambulatory equine position in a private practice on the Central Coast . Marnie returns to us to pursue her interest in reproduction, as well as develop her passion for equine dentistry and gain knowledge and experience in a knowledgable team. Marnie recently completed her membership examinations for the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Equine Dentistry. In her spare time, Marnie can be found riding her own horses and keeping physically active, enjoying the gym, bush walking/trail running and playing hockey.
Mary-Jane Stutsel BVSc (Hons) MVS MANZCVS
Veterinarian
Mary-Jane came to ABEC in 2020 to complete an internship after spending a number of years in mixed animal practice in far west NSW where she had a strong focus on surgery. She has now commenced a 3 year Surgical Residency training program and feels very privileged to have been given the opportunity to continue working with the ABEC team where she can learn from the experienced equine vets and spend her time working exclusively with horses.
Katie Crosby BVSc MRCVS
Veterinarian
Katie joined us fresh from the UK in March 2023. She graduated from the University of Bristol in 2019 before working as a first opinion equine vet for a few years. She completed an internship at a busy equine hospital where she continued to build on a particular interest in emergency medicine, lameness, poor performance investigations and wound management. New to life in Australia, Katie is keen to explore all that the local area has to offer. As a keen sailor, she is planning on taking up new ocean pursuits, like surfing, as well.
Michaela Harcourt BVetBiol BVetSc MVetClinStud Diplomate ACVS (Large Animal)
Equine Surgeon
Michaela returned to Agnes Banks as one of our surgeons in 2021. Having studied her veterinary degree at Charles Sturt University, Michaela completed an internship with us back in 2016-2017. Following this she worked as an ambulatory equine vet in the western Sydney region before moving to WA where she completed her surgical residency training at Murdoch University through the American College of Veterinary Surgeons program.
Michaela enjoys all things surgical but has a particular interest in life-saving and reconstructive surgeries including colics, wounds, fractures and other injuries. She enjoys working with owners to help determine the best way forward for them and their horse with the situation they have been dealt. Out of the theatre, Michaela has an interest in sport horse lameness and poor performance cases having conducted research into nerve blocks which are so critical to these cases. In her spare time, Michaela can be found hanging with her kelpie ‘Winx’ and stock horse ‘Charlie’, exploring the mountains or training for ocean swims.
Veterinary Interns
Lucy Reichert BVSc
Lucy joined us in February 2023 after completing her studies at Massey University in New Zealand. She has always wanted to work in equine practice and is especially interested in foal medicine.
Outside of work, Lucy enjoys horse riding, hiking and spending time with friends
Stephanie Wood BVM&S MRCVS
Stephanie is from Scotland and grew up in Glasgow before moving to Edinburgh to complete her veterinary degree. Steph joined the team of interns in January 2023 and is especially interested in lameness and reproduction.
When not working she loves to play hockey, ride horses and learning to surf.
Nursing Staff
Kylie Dale
Nursing Manager
Kylie is the Superintendent of the Reproduction Unit. She is a qualified Veterinary Nurse, and is responsible for the running of our reproduction unit, including coordinating our embryo transfer herd. Kylie has an interest in all aspects of equine reproduction.
Rebecca Wyatt
Nurse
Bec joined ABEC in March 2021 and is a Cert IV vet nurse. Before joining us, she worked for 8 years in small animal practice in Newcastle and before that she was an equine nurse in Adelaide. Bec and her husband moved their family to the Hawkesbury and they are enjoying life on acreage with their 2 children and many animals.
Angie Dunsmore
Nurse
We are pleased to have Angie join the team at Agnes Banks in late 2019. Much of Angie’s extensive nursing experience was gained at Randwick Equine Clinic. In 2017 Ange started an industry role with Vetquip and Provet before returning to hands on nursing which she missed. Away from ABEC Ange enjoys looking after her menagerie including riding her horses.
Sandy Wesselink
Nurse
Sandy holds an advanced veterinary nursing certificate and also has a Diploma in Veterinary Nursing, which is a teaching level qualification. In 2015 Sandy was the deserved recipient of the EVA Excellence in Equine Nursing Award, which is a huge honour. Sandy helps out with after hours nursing at ABEC and is also a part time TAFE teacher.
Scott Shackleton
Scott started off at ABEC by doing work experience in 2019 and then continued on as a weekly volunteer. He is now in his second year of a Vet Science degree at Charles Sturt University and during term breaks his is a member of the nursing team. In his spare time, he rides his horse, ‘Reggie’, plays his cello or flies planes.
Emma Stevens
Nurse
Emma graduated as a Cert IV qualified veterinary nurse in 2015. She has extensive experience in equine reproduction nursing with previously having her own foaling down unit on the Central Coast for 5 years and also spending 2 years at Coolmore. Emma joined us in February 2021 and has hit the ground running. In her spare time, she enjoys x-fit and spending time with her cat, Gizmo.
Santiago Cardona
Santiago is from Columbia and moved to Australia in 2018. He joined the ABEC nursing team in 2020. Santiago studied Veterinary Medicine and Zoo Technician Studies (focusing on farm animal reproduction) in Columbia. He also has a degree in Agricultural Management. When not working Santiago enjoys going to the beach with his wife and surfing.
Support Staff
Linda Morgan
Accounts Manager
Linda has been a part of the Agnes Banks Equine Clinic team for many years. Linda is a qualified accountant with many years’ experience in all aspects of business and management.
Judith Duck
Reception
Judy joined ABEC in 2018 as part of our Reception and Admin team. Judy has worked in various areas of the Veterinary and Equine industry for many years but is really pleased to be part of an Equine Veterinary Clinic team again.
On weekends Judy likes to spend time with her family and exploring bush trails astride one of her 2 trusty stock horse mares.
Mel Hochkins
Reception
Melanie has been with the Agnes Banks Equine Clinic team since 2013 and is an integral part of our Office Support Staff. Mel has a strong background in Office Admin and has over 16 years experience working with Polo horses, both in Australia & Overseas.
Tim Walsh
Farm Manager
Tim lives in Richmond with his wife Janine. Tim’s interests are camp drafting and hobby horse training. Tim has one daughter, Emma, who is a Racing Manager for Champion Thoroughbreds. Tim was previously Stud Manager at Princes Farm and is looking forward to the new challenges at ABEC.
Jess Smith
Head Stablehand
Jess has been with us since June 2016. In her spare time Jess enjoys riding her horse Archie. Over the last few months Jess has been creating false tails for horses to show. Click on this link to go to her facebook page.
Natasha Brown
Stablehand
Natasha has worked as a stable hand at ABEC for 4 years. When she is not working she is busy breeding and showing stock horses.
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Misty Mitchell
Stablehand
Misty started working at Agnes Banks Equine Clinic in 2021. Outside of work she plays polo cross on her 2 horses and also dabbles in western and cow horse sports.
Clinic Cats
Joseph & Bonnie
Chief mouse catchers
