John Parbery, B.V.Sc. 

Partner

John has been in equine practice for nearly 40 years. He has a particular interest in all aspects of reproductive work. He is from the old school, which was trained in manual testing and so is able to do both manual and ultrasonic pregnancy examinations at an early stage. He has been at the forefront of veterinary medicine in the growing alpaca industry. He has been the Vice President  for the Australian Camelid Veterinary Group and is highly regarded throughout Australia for his knowledge.

If John is not busy testing mares or worming alpacas, he can be found on his beloved “Boat” either fishing, motoring around or just relaxing.

Anthony Drew, B.V.Sc. (hons) MACVS

Partner

Tony graduated from Sydney University in 1987, and then continued at Camden as an intern under Professor David Hutchins in 1988. In 1989, Tony spent the year in racetrack practice in Melbourne before settling at Clarendon in 1990. Tony completed his membership exams in Equine Internal Medicine in 1992, but has since turned his attention to surgery. Tony became a partner in the practice in 2002.

Outside of work Tony is kept busy maintaining his property where his wife Catherine runs a riding school. He also enjoys golf, watching rugby and eating out, as well as following his family's small team of racehorses.

Cris Clark, B.V.Sc. (hons) MRCVS

Cris joined the practice as a fresh-faced new graduate back in 1995. Whilst always remaining loyal to HEVC, Cris has spent time working in different mixed practices in the UK to broaden his experience. Cris pioneered our reproduction program, after spending time studying techniques in America. He now coordinates much of our semen collection, freezing, artificial insemination and embryo transfers.

 In his spare time Cris relaxes by skiing, surfing and playing with his dogs, Bella & Lucy.

Doug Fountain, BVMS (hons) MRCVS

Born and bred in Scotland, with both parents as vets, Doug graduated from Glasgow University Vet School in 1994. After working in mixed practice in the English Midlands for 2 years, he had his first taste of Australia in 1996 working for a year as a locum vet.

He then worked for 2 ½ years in equine practice in the London outskirts, before returning to Australia in 2000 to join the HEVC team.

The majority of Doug’s work is with the performance horse, with particular interests in lameness investigation and artificial breeding work.

Outside work Doug spends time with his wife Robbie and daughter Ava and also enjoys scuba diving, snowboarding and racing his motorbikes, whether that be on bitumen or dirt!

Gary joined the practice in  late 2004. He had  previously been working mainly with standardbreds and thoroughbreds in an equine practice in Bendigo, Victoria. Gary has also practised in Liverpool, England  for 2 1/2 years where he  met his wife Dianne who is a BHS accredited riding instructor. Gary also has a special interest in equine dentistry and business management gaining his Bachelor of Business degree in 1993 making him a valuable asset to HEVC.

Gary has since moved to a small animal practice but still works here at HEVC every Wednesday doing equine dentistry.

Outside of work Gary enjoys spending quality time with his wife, Dianne and their daughter Abigail and son Josh, along with their 3 Labradors. Gary's spare time is spent enjoying woodworking and sport.

Emily Streckfuss, B.V.Sc. (hons)

Emily grew up in St Albans NSW and has ridden all her life being involved in pony club from an early age. She graduated from Sydney University with 1st class honours in 2002. Emily's intention was always to work in a Equine Practice, but a position became available in one of Sydney's busiest small animal practices and she saw this as a great opportunity to develop her medical & surgical skills.

Since graduating Emily has developed a keen interest in Endurance riding and has vetted at over 25 Endurance rides including Shahzada (400km - 5 day ride). She is now an accredited vet with the AERA (Australian Endurance Riding Association).

Emily started at HEVC in November, 2005 and is a valuable addition to our Veterinary team. Since Holly's departure Emily has taken over as the regular vet for Hawkesbury Race Club. Emily is the superintendant of our hospital and is also our assistant surgeon. Emily is responsible for our embyro transfer program here at the clinic having developed an interest in artificial breeding since her time with us.

While not at work Emily enjoys training her own horses, tending her vegetable garden and going to live music shows.

Katherine (Kat)  Astill,  B.V.Sc. (hons) PGBSc (hons) BSc

Kat graduated in 2005 from Veterinary Science at The University of Queensland. She had previously studied Zoology and spent time researching Green Sea Turtles. Since graduating she completed an Internship in Equine Emergency Medicine and Critical Care in the USA at Ohio State University. After completing her internship she begun work at Scone working in the areas of anaesthesia and stud medicine. She was a resident stud veterinarian at Woodlands, Baramul and Widden Studs.

Kat arrived at HEVC in March 2010 and completed the Equine Dentistry course through Equine Dental Services. She has a particular interest in foal medicine.

Kylie Hardwicke, B.V.Sc.

Kylie was around horses before she could walk. Prior to begining her Veterinary studies, Kylie rode Quarter horses for many years and achieved both State and National championship titles. She graduated from Sydney University in 2009 with her final year rotations including the University of Pennsylvania Large Animal Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Kentucky Equine Services USA.

Kylie started at HEVC in January 2010. Her main interests include foal medicine and reproduction.

Our Nurses

Jillian Ferris - Head Vet Nurse

Jillian joined the practice in 1986 and is our head vet nurse - looking after all the surgery preparation and surgery room, as well as helping out in the stables. Jill is also responsible for training our vet nurses to the high standard of care we provide.

Jill worked on a thoroughbred stud for 5 ½ years working in all areas - handling stallions, yearling preparations, weanlings and mares and foals. In her spare time she likes to relax by gardening, reading, needlework and doing jigsaws.

Carla Downie - Vet Nurse

Carla is our youngest member at HEVC. She is a fully qualified vet nurse and was previously working with small animals at Penrith Vet Hospital for 2 years.

Carla has been riding horses and attending Pony Club for the last 15 years. She also completed the MS ride in 2006 and can't wait to do it again. When Carla is not at work attending to your horses you can find her riding her own horses or she's going out dancing with her friends.

Katie Presland - Vet Nurse

Katie joined our vet nursing team in January 2009 after completing her certificate III in Equine Nursing. She was previously working in the racing industry and has been riding track work for the last 2 years at Hawkesbury Race Course. 

Katie has been riding and competing in a range of disciplines for the last 10 years and on weekends enjoys working with  her own horses and spending time with family and friends.

Office Staff

Anne Parbery - Office Manager

Anne has been with the practice from its very beginning and has been largely responsible for keeping it going so long. Anne is a qualified Physiotherapist, however left her profession years ago to manage the practice. She is wife to John Parbery and dedicated mum to Adam, Mark and Kelly-Anne. On the rare occasions Anne is not busy working at keeping the office under control, she enjoys relaxing on the family boat, entrenched in her crosswords or jigsaw puzzles, and scuba diving in exotic locations.

Jann Kennedy - Accounts Manager

Jann has been with us for now for 23 years, joining the practice in 1987. When she’s not busy keeping the accounts in order, Jann breeds and shows Italian Greyhounds. Working in an Equine practice is obviously not enough horses for Jann as she has been competing in Endurance riding for over 10 years. She is also a huge cat lover, with an unmentionable number of pet cats.

 Jann has also been responsible for building & designing our website and her own Italian Greyhound site and now has a "pet" interest in building websites.

Joanne Swarbrick - Senior Receptionist

Jo became one of our friendly faces in reception in May 2003. Jo has lived in the Hawkesbury her entire life and has an in-depth knowledge of the area. Previously Jo worked as a marketing assistant for a large pharmaceutical company, but a desire to work closer to home and have more time for her show horses prompted the move to HEVC.  Her spare time is spent training her Arabian and derivatives show horses, with great success at Royal, State and National level.

Emma McCormack - Receptionist

Emma joined our office staff in November 2007 right in the middle of the Equine Flu outbreakl. Emma previously worked at Vineyard Veterinary Clinic for over 2 years.

Emma's life revolves around horse both in and out of work. She loves to train young horses and prepares yearlings for the Thoroughbred sales which she also attends. Emma is also a keen endurance rider competing with her mare Teecee Exquisite. Any spare time Emma has left is now devoted to completing a degree in Equine Science which she is studying part time through Charles Sturt University.

Our Laboratory Technician

Anne Raphael

With a Bachelor degree in Applied Science, specialising in Biochemistry, Anne has been our laboratory technician since 1987. Anne is responsible for all laboratory procedures and pathology tests, performing the haematology and biochemistry tests, setting up the swabs in the lab and preparing and sending away samples for other more specific tests to commercial labs.

Anne is married to Neil and they have 2 kids, 2 dogs and 2 horses. Anne is the devoted mother to Laura and Stuart and in her spare time she enjoys relaxing by swimming, gardening (with a decidedly un-green thumb) and quaffing fine wines in good company.