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Pioneer Equine Hospital, Inc.
an SBS Network Laboratory

About Pioneer Equine Hospital 

Incorporated in 1978, Pioneer Equine Hospital is an exclusively equine hospital located in Oakdale, CA. We are in eastern San Joaquin Valley, 80 miles south of Sacramento, CA, 90 miles east of San Francisco, CA and 60 miles west of Yosemite National Park. The clinic serves a large client base as a primary care facility and as a referral surgical, diagnostic, medical, and reproductive facility for veterinary care throughout California and neighboring states. The diversity of our clientele allows us to work with a variety of breeds including Quarter Horses, Paints, Warmbloods, Arabians, Lusitanos, Andalusians, Gypsy Vanners, Pony Breeds, and many others. On January 26th of 2009, the hospital opened its doors to their brand new facility located just about 1.5 miles east of its original location. Our dedication of providing superior quality of care and leading edge technology and medicine to our steadily growing client population is embodied in this 20 acre plot. The 26,000 square foot facility offers 3 surgery suites, individual treatment, radiology, and ultrasound rooms, and a covered arena and round pens for lameness examinations. In addition to our current services, MRI will be available along with eventual plans for Nuclear Scintigraphy.

Not only was the opening of the new hospital significant to our clients, it was beneficial for the reproduction program; the need for more space to support its increasing clientele was solved as the original location was converted to Pioneer Equine Hospital's Reproduction Facility. The veterinarians and staff at the Facility pride themselves on offering the highest quality of care to mare and stallion owners and are very excited about its expanded location and the possibilities that come with this advantage. It is our continued goal to maintain the integrity and quality which make up our program by assisting owners, breeders, and veterinarians through communication, education, and services. We have a great respect for our equine companions and tailor our program to fit the needs of each individual, ensuring a safe and positive environment for both mares and stallions.

We offer routine and advanced reproductive services including Breeding Soundness Evaluations, artificial insemination with fresh, cooled, or frozen semen, embryo flush, transfer, & vitrification, stallion reproductive training, cooled transported semen and frozen semen services, and mare foaling & neonatal foal care. We are proud to be an affiliate laboratory of Select Breeders Services, Inc. As an affiliate laboratory, we are part of a worldwide network of semen freezing centers; this enables all of us to freeze, quality control, store, and distribute semen using the same protocols. The end result of this system is frozen semen that is of a high and standardized quality that can be distributed easily and with minimal hassle to both stallion and mare owners. We are a USDA approved facility which means we are able to collect, store, and distribute semen intended for export outside of the United States.

www.pioneerequine.com

Staff

Dr. John Knowles, DVM, MS Dr. Knowles received his DVM & Masters in Equine Reproductive Physiology from Colorado State University (CSU) in 1991 & 1993, respectively. He was an Assistant Professor in Animal Science for 9 years at Brigham Young University (BYU) where he ran the Horse Program, taught various courses in the Veterinary Technology Program and supervised undergraduate and graduate student research. After leaving BYU, he served as resident veterinarian for Western States Ranches in Dublin, TX and then for Buffalo Ranch in Farmington, UT/Fr. Worth, TX. He recently joined the staff at Pioneer Equine Hospital as Chief Reproduction Veterinarian. Dr. Knowles specializes in assisted equine reproductive procedures for mares and stallions. His experience includes AI with fresh, cooled, and frozen semen, embryo recovery and transfer, fetal sexing, oocyte retrieval, foaling management, semen collection and evaluation, semen freezing for domestic and export use and epididymal sperm recovery. On a personal note, Dr. Knowles has been married to his wife, Kami, for 24 years and they have 6 children.

Luke Bass, DVM, MS Dr. Bass became involved in the equine industry at a young age in southwestern Louisiana. He attended Louisiana State University and secured a B.S. in Animal Science in 2001. He followed his interest in Equine Reproduction and secured a M.S in Reproductive Physiology at Colorado State University where his research thesis involved cryopreservation of equine embryos and influences of multiple embryo flushes on the uterus. Dr. Bass then continued his education at Colorado State by acquiring his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 2007. During veterinary school, Dr. Bass continued to work on several research projects at CSU in areas of oocyte transfer, embryo transfer, and West Nile vaccine development. Upon graduation, he completed a veterinary internship at Pioneer Equine Hospital and is currently employed as an associate veterinarian at Pioneer. His professional interests include reproduction, lameness, and imaging. In his spare time, Dr. Bass loves spending time with his family and friends, playing golf, and enjoying outdoor sports.

Ellen Kim, BS Ellen received her BS in Animal Science at Cal Poly, SLO. While in school, she interned at Valley Oak Ranch, a QH breeding facility in Oakdale, CA. She was the student breeding manager and general manager of the Horse Unit for her last 2 years at Cal Poly. Upon graduation at the end of 2004, she worked as an assistant breeding manager Carol Rose Quarter Horses in Gainesville, TX. She joined Pioneer Equine Hospital at the beginning of 2006 as the reproduction technician/coordinator; she enjoys the variety of horses and reproductive cases the clinic sees and has a specific interest in stallion reproductive work.