Staff

Cindy Suhonen
Office Manager

Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, Cindy was a horse lover from the start. She attended Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio and received a B.A. in Equestrian Studies. After graduation,Cindy moved to Houston, Texas, where she became a veterinary technician for Katy Equine Clinic. She also served as the president of the Houston Dressage Society for 2 years. In her spare time she competed through 4th level dressage and bred Dutch Warmbloods. Cindy and her husband also enjoy restoring and renovating houses and barns.

In 1996, Cindy moved to Warrenton, Virginia and became the office manager and first employee of the Piedmont Equine Practice.

Elaine Brissette
Office Administrator

Elaine grew up in Ellsworth, Maine where she actively competed in both english and western disciplines via the local 4-H and pony club. Pursuing her love of horses, she attended Post College in Waterbury, Connecticut where she majored in equine studies.

Following college, Elaine took an apprentice position at Rapidan River Farm training and caring for Morgans. Following this position, she joined Tyra Arabians, a farm specializing in showing and breeding arabians. Elaine then groomed professionally for Twin Oaks Farm
traveling with her horses to Palm Beach and Ocala, Florida. Through this position Elaine met and married her husband Craig, the manager of Twin Oaks Farm. Elaine spent 5 years at Child Help teaching underprivileged children riding and horsemanship skills.

In 2005, she joined The Piedmont Equine Practice where she schedules and assists Dr. Davis amd Dr. Bowman.

Sophie White
Office Administrator

Sophie White was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. Following high school, Sophie attended the University of Quebec in Montreal where she studied linguistics. During this time she also received her Canadian certification to train and teach riders of the western discipline.

Following her education in Quebec, Sophie moved to North Carolina to become an apprentice trainer under one of the top reiners, Francois Gauthier. Following her 2 year stay in this training facility, Sophie relocated to San Diego, CA for a year to train with another top reiner, Yvon Mathieu. A riding injury then forced Sophie to take a short break from riding and training so she returned to Montreal.

During her time off from the horses, Sophie decided to take a trip to visit a friend in Virginia. Fate had it that this is where she would meet and marry her husband, Bill White. Following their marriage, Sophie moved with her husband, a Virginia native, to Luray, VA where she currently resides. Sophie continues to train and ride aside from her work with Piedmont Equine as an office assistant for Dr. Theiss.

Mandy Pilgrim
Office Administrator

Mandy was born and raised in Thomson, GA, home of the Pine Top Event and the Belle Meade Hunt. Her interest in horses began with riding lessons at age 4 and has only grown throughout  the years. Mandy has worked with horses from various disciplines along the east coast, but greatly enjoys working with foals and young horses.

In 2007 Mandy was invited to Middleburg, VA by a family friend and was offered a job working with foxhunters and polo ponies. Excited by the opportunity, Mandy accepted the job, and two days after graduating with her BA in Business Management in 2008, she moved to Middleburg. Three years later Mandy and her boyfriend, Steve Steinhoff run a farm together in Bluemont, VA.

In April 2011 she joined The Piedmont Equine Practice where she schedules and assists Dr. Nolan and Dr. Anikis.

Juliet Graham
Jack of all Trades

Juliet was born in England and raised in Calgary, Alberta. She was sent from the frozen tundra of Canada to the sunny south of Virginia to attend high school at Foxcroft School in Middleburg (and wishes she hadn't skipped typing class so often). She rode on the Canadian Eventing team for 10 years, competitions included Burghley, Badminton, three World Championships and one Olympic Games on her mare, Sumatra, who was bred by her parents in Calgary.  Juliet and the rest of her team from the World Championships in 1978 were inducted into the Canadian Eventing Hall of Fame in 2009. She also had a short but successful career as a steeplechase jockey, mostly on the Virginia Point to Point Circuit.

Juliet hunts with Piedmont Foxhounds and  competes at many local horse trials,  In addition to working at Piedmont Equine, Juliet teaches local eventers and foxhunters, and is on the Selection and High Performance Committees for the Canadian Eventing Team.

She has worked at Piedmont Equine since 2004 in several capacities- on the road as a technician for 7 years and in the front office.  Her current projects for the practice include redoing the website, updating the Facebook page, and organizing seminars.

Juliet lives in Upperville, VA surrounded by many horses and her dogs, Peanut Butter and Jelly, who love to go hiking when their mommy has free time.

Alexandra Tatham (Po)
Pharmacy Technician

Nicknamed Po because as a young child she would repeatedly ask to ride Po when referring to her pony, Po was born and raised in Vienna, Illinois. After completing her education Po began her professional career as an instructor/trainer of event horses and riders. During that time, Po evented through the Advanced 3-day level.

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 The Piedmont Equine Practice.

Ann Pawlak
Veterinary Technician

Ann was born in Easton, Maryland and there her love of riding began at the age of ten. She attended both Southern Seminary College for Women and Salisbury State College and received a BS degree in Animal Husbandry. Ann has managed hunter/jumper show barns and fox hunter barns. She is married to a farrier, Randy. They have two sons, David , and Cole. David is an avid equestrian; he loves to fox hunt and event.  Cole is a very competitive tennis player and plays in many tourmaments.

Ann has been with Piedmont Equine since late 2003 as a veterinary technician . Ann performs the bone scans, and is highly capable of doing anything that needs to be done at Piedmont Equine.

She and her family live in Boyce, Virginia.

Christine Vallejo
Veterinary Technician

Christine grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Better known by her family and friends as "Chris" for short, she has been an animal advocate and lover for as long as she can remember. She received her undergraduate degree from Old Dominion University, starting out with a career in Criminal Justice. She worked for ten years as an investigator for the Public Defender's Office in Virginia Beach, VA and Franklin, VA before deciding to pursue her true passion full time.

In 2007, she decided to go back to school to become a Veterinary Technician. In 2009, Christine graduated from Blue Ridge Community College and has been working at Piedmont Equine Practice ever since. She is the night technician, so many people will not recognize her. Working with horses has become a full fledged dream come true for her.

In her down time, she tries to spend time with her thoroughbred, Berry and her kitty, Bugs.

Karen Dailey
Veterinary Technician

Karen grew up on a beef cattle farm in Middleway, WV. She was actively involved in 4H and FFA and spent many years exhibiting market steers, lambs and hogs. The lone horse lover in her family, Karen didn't start riding until high school. Her first "pony: was a 12 year old Quarter Horse named "Cricket" who was as big around as she was tall and tolerated the unbalanced floppings of a brand new rider. She began working as a veterinary assistant in 1996 and spent the first ten years of her career working in small animal veterinary practices, including Valley Emergency Veterinary Clinic in Winchester, VA.

In 2003, Karen decided on a slight career change and left the small animal practices for a chance to work at the Marion Dupont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, VA.  During her almost eight year tenure at the facility, she worked in the nursing department as both evening and night shift supervisor in the operating room, and as service technician for both the medicine and surgery teams. In 2007, she received her AA in Veterinary Technology from Northern Virginia Community College where she was awarded the Outstanding Vet Tech Student unanimously by her fellow classmates and professors. She began training in the Anesthesia Department under the tutelage of Dr. Alison Smith, DVM, DACVA.

In 2010, Karen was accepted to the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery and completed one year. She joined thte staff of the Piedmont Equine Practice in June 2011 as licensed veterinary technician. Her areas of interest are anesthesia and neotnatology and she hopes to pursue the veterinary technician anesthesia specialty and the equine nursing specialty.

She currently lives in The Plains, VA with her horse "Isabella" and hunts with Orange County Hunt. The pair hope to return to the eventing world in 2012...(with the help of Juliet and Po, I hope)

Photo by kind permission of www.janethitchenphotography.com
 

Sarah Williams
Veterinary Technician

Sarah was born in Dubuque, Iowa and her love for horses started at an early age. She began competing horses in eventing at the age of 10. She graduated from Bel-Rea Institute in Denver, CO where she received her AS in Applied Science in Veterinary Technology. She is a Licensed Veterinary Technician who wants to specialize in equine medicine and surgery. After graduating college, Sarah worked for an Equine Orthopedic Surgeon at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Sarah moved to Northern Virginia in 2006 to work for upper level event rider Allison Springer. After working in the barns for 4 years she decided to change her career back to veterinary medicine in August 2010. She started working at The Piedmont Equine Practice in November 2011.

Sarah now lives in Gainesville, VA with her wonderful husband John, and her two dogs Tex and Joey.

Lalo Gaeta

Lalo has worked at Piedmont Equine since May of '07. He is our true jack of all trades- doing  the barn, the mowing and the plowing, landscape and building maintenance , and holding for the bone scans. In his spare time Lalo does tile, bathrooms, drywall, concrete, brick and painting in the local area.  He put up a wall between the front office and the back room in one weekend!  He is an invaluable member of the PEP team.

He and his wife, Chayo, and their two children live in Marshall.