Gail Wetzler
PT, DPT, BI-D, EDO®
Gail, owner of Wetzler Integrative Physical Therapy in Lone Tree, Colorado, has spent much of her career studying the art and science of human movement and function. Inspired by her personal experiences in horseback riding, veterinary technician, athletic training, orthopedics and women's health issues, her patients became the main driver to continue her educational journey. The importance of understanding anatomy, the ability to listen to the body and the specificity of tissue dialogue became a focus of her practice. Over the years, she has listened and followed many great teachers, to be able to incorporate a better understanding of the body's deeper fascial relationships of the viscera, vascular, neurological and lymphatic systems and how they relate to musculoskeletal disorders.
Her first job was serving animals as a vet tech as she completed her college degree in physical therapy. She pursued sports and orthopedics in the earlier days of her career and went back to college for her doctorate in physical therapy so she could fulfill the qualifications to do research. She received her EDO in 2009 and loves helping horses and their owner's experience a whole health approach to recovery.
She was director of outpatient care at Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach, CA.
She was the primary physical therapist at the Center for Alternative Medicine, University of California, Irvine and also served on the advisory board for their Medical Fitness Network
She is a lifetime member of the National and Colorado APTA, has served as Educational Chairperson for the California APTA and currently teaches for the Academy of Pelvic Health at the American Physical Therapy Association.
Gail is an established instructor and Director of Curriculum and Research for the Barral Institute of Advanced Manual Therapy.
Gail is currently on the advisory board for the Women's Health Task Force for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Private Practice in Denver, Colorado
Director of Curriculum and Research, Barral Institute
Women’s Health Task Force, United States Olympic
And Paralympic Committee
Instructor: Pelvic Health Academy, APTA
Co-Director: Collaborative Care Collective (C3)
Multidisciplinary Health Continuing Education
Association
Dr. Connie Fancy
DVM
Dr. Connie Fancy grew up in various rural settings in Germany, B.C. and Alberta, where she spent an enormous amount of time with animals of all sorts, especially horses. She knew from a very young age she wanted to be a veterinarian and never wavered from that plan.
She completed 2 years of pre-veterinary requirements in the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture program at the U of A and then graduated at the top of her class in 1995 at WCVM in Saskatoon, earning a DVM degree with great distinction. She started her career at the mixed animal practice of Claresholm Veterinary Services, which she purchased from the owner in 2000, and managed and worked at until 2016.
She enjoyed all aspects of the veterinary profession, including mentoring many students and new graduates along the way, business management/human resources, and especially working as a team with her staff and the amazing clients and their animals she was fortunate to meet over the years. She put 100% effort into all aspects of the business, whether it be small animal medicine/surgery, bovine herd health, equine medicine and surgery as well as teaching students and staff, and spent countless hours continuing to learn herself at continuing education conferences, courses, hands-on labs and referral practices. Her main passion however has always been equine medicine and surgery, especially equine reproduction and lameness, which by far consumed the majority of her continuing education and practice time.
In 2017 she started an independent business, Fancy Veterinary Services, an exclusively large animal practice. The practice began as mainly ambulatory, serving both equine and bovine clients, many quite distant. It took an interesting turn (and very steep learning curve) into the world of sheep flock health as well, as there was a sudden huge demand with very few interested veterinarians to follow suit. One year into the practice, a clinic was built, pens were established and the practice evolved into more of a centralized haul-in clinic to maximize efficiency and provide great facilities for better service. The focus continues to narrow more into Equine medicine, especially lameness and reproduction which consumes most of her time throughout the year.
From the very inception of Fancy Veterinary Services, Dr. Fancy had some very specific goals in mind. She wanted to establish a practice that focused on offering the best service possible for the clients. This included having the best and complete equipment available for the diagnostics she needed to perform (including digital radiography, ultrasounds specific to various different uses, equine dental supplies, complete equine repro lab equipment, Equinosis Q sensor technology for equine lameness assessment and treatment, a fully stocked Bowie box with heat/water/fridge).
To further that primary goal, in cases that would benefit more from, or require different diagnostics or therapies that Dr. Fancy does not have available, she has a large base of referral specialist contacts, and offers those choices readily so that the case is handled the best way. Time is another factor that was important to her. Giving every case the time is requires to fully understand, diagnose and treat it can be very challenging in practice settings, but this is one of the goals she has in mind every time a client arrives: to give every case the attention and time it deserves and requires. Appointment times are therefore generally long to accommodate that. Of course some involved cases still require continuation/drop offs/re-evaluations after the start of treatment, but her hope is that during the appointment time set aside, a strong understanding of the specific problem is found, and therapies if appropriate are initiated.
It was also very important to Dr. Fancy to have excellent facilities available that are constantly maintained clean and disinfected to prevent disease transmission between animals, and to have available indoor facilities for surgeries, where wind and weather is never a factor.
Another philosophy Dr. Fancy has always had is that it takes a strong team to provide the best service. With that, she has never considered her staff as her assistants, but rather as her team-mates and peers. Nothing can function properly without a strong team, and with that, work satisfaction, a feeling of appreciation and respect is essential to any team-mate. The best teams also draw knowledge and ability from various different essential sources. Fancy Veterinary Services teams up with farriers that are interested in working together with veterinarians using diagnostic imaging to determine the best course of farriery treatment for specific conditions, specific goals for performance, as well as angular limb deformities. Some cases require the expertise and knowledge of advanced farriers who have a university degree in farriery.
We also team up with different alternative diagnostic and therapeutic practictioners such as Osteopaths that are certified and full graduates of the Osteopathy Program at the Vluggen Institute in Texas. Dr. Fancy believes strongly in being an advocate for your horse, and as such, owners must ask questions, and do their own research on the practitioners they allow to work on their horses. We live in a time that there are so many "alternative therapist" available for horses, but not all are legitimate or educated properly, or even fully graduated and certified. We would never go to see a human doctor that did not finish his or her training, could not pass the licencing exam or took a shortened version of training because it was more readily available or cheaper, and owners should expect the same from the people they trust to work on their horses. It is not always obvious though, so do your background research fully into the practitioners of new and old modalities (this includes "equine dentists", find out where they graduated from, look into the training they received (a weekend, a few weeks, or years) and ask questions from other professionals.
Dr. Fancy is constantly doing her own research and teams up with the best professionals available depending on the specific treatment requirement of the case: PEMF therapy, Shockwave therapy, acupuncture, massage, Bemer treatment, and referral surgical, physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Her goal is to keep her business dynamic, constantly evolving, as new knowledge is available and new therapeutics are developed.
Dr. Dave Warwick
BSc, DDS.
Dr. David Warwick has owned his private dental practice for 41 years in his home town of Hanna, Alberta in partnership with his daughter Dr. Robin Ermel. One of his sons, Kevin Warwick, works with him as a dental lab technician. His two other children are Sarah Warwick, who is a middle school teacher and Dr. Tim Warwick who is a naturopath in Calgary and who incidentally spends a good amount of time detoxing humans. Rounding out his family is his lovely wife of 38 years Heather, who works with him as a dental hygienist.
Dr. Warwick has worked on the two major dental catastrophes for most of his career; mercury and fluoride toxicity. He was a previous presenter at the 2016 WAEO Conference in Olds, Alberta on the topic of fluoride toxicity. Dr. Warwick has an association with two highly accessed peer reviewed papers regarding the occupational risks from dental amalgam use.
Mercury vapour exposure during dental student training in amalgam removal
https://occup-med.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1745-6673-8-27
Mercury vapor volitilization from partiucalte generated from dental amalgm removal with a high speed dental drill-a significant source of exposure.
https://occup-med.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12995-019-0240-2
These two papers and further work helped IAOMT and IABDM develop safe protocols for the removal of mercury based fillings.
Dr. Warwick has also presented on the topic of mercury toxicity from dental amalgams around the globe including Canada, the U.S., Brasil, Uruguay, Scotland and Switzerland.
Dr. Warwick had the honour of serving on the Board of Pure North and acting as a dental consultant for them for almost 10 years. Pure North was a non profit health group based in Calgary and serviced the health of close to 30,000 people using modalities beyond conventional health care. One of the primary methods we used to address the systemic health of our participants was to assess the mental status of them and remove any known sources including amalgam fillings in a safe and efficient manner.
Dr. Christina Fritz
Dr. RER. NAT
Christina Fritz graduated from the Free University of Berlin in 1998 with a PhD in Neurobiology, specializing in physiology and biochemistry. Following her academic pursuits, shepursued training in equine osteopathy, craniosacral therapy, kinesiology, shiatsu, and other modalities, with a particular focus on equine nutrition and metabolic therapy for horses. In 2006, she established her own practice for integrated equine therapy. Additionally, she serves as a trainer, lecturer, and author, contributing to various books and publications on topics related to horse health.
Books:
Kinesiologie beim Pferd, Sonntag Verlag, 2008
Touch for Health für Pferde, Cadmos Verlag, 2010
Die Anatomie des Pferdes, Cadmos Verlag, 2011
Pferde fit füOern, Cadmos Verlag, 2012
Zivilisationskrankheiten des Pferdes, Sonntag Verlag, 2016
Erkenne dein Pferd in den 5 Elementen, Crystal Verlag, 2017
Alte Pferde richyig managen, Sanoanimal Verlag, 2021
Publications:
Abfallverwertung in modernen PferdefuOermiOeln, IGFP Concerence 2014
FüOerungs- und Haltungsmangement von alten Pferden, IGFP Conference 2015
EMS / Pseudo-EMS / Cushing / Pseudo-Cushing / Insulinresistenz – das was ist was der modernen Zivilisationskrankheiten, IGFP Conference
Over 40 articles on horse health related topics for the Natural Horse magazine
Janek Vluggen
DO, MRO-D, EDO®
Born and raised in the Netherlands and since more than thirty years reciding and practicing in Germany, Janek Vluggen D.O. MRO-D, EDO®, started his Equine Osteopathy journey together with friend and fellow osteopathy student the late Pascal Evrard D.O.
The two innovators made a pact, and where Pascal Evrard developed the structural techniques applied to the horse as documented in his book “osteopathy structurel appliqué au chéval”, Janek Vluggen developed the visceral techniques in relation to the autonomic nervous system of the horse as a methodological protocol for visceral osteopathic assessment according the latest insights of the modern osteopathy.
As Pascal Evrard tragically died in a car accident in 2004, Janek Vluggen continued his work and teaching and founded “The Vluggen Institute for Equine Osteopathy and Education” and started teaching canine and equine courses simultaneous in Europe and the United States.
As today the Vluggen Institute has educated and trained according the standards of the Can-Med model for medical educational institutions, more than 600 veterinarians, equine and human chiropractors, human osteopaths, physical therapists and bodyworkers in the applied principles of equine osteopathy in all continents of the world as registered within the International Register for Equine Osteopaths (the IREO) as Equine Diplomat Osteopath EDO® a title registered and copyrighted worldwide as a quality wordmark standardized and controlled by the IREO, for the horse community
and the veterinarians to recognize the truly educated and registered equine osteopath.
The Vluggen Institute is very proud to be one of the leading forces onto global recognition for animal and in particular equine osteopathy, where the interest and recognition by the veterinary community worldwide is obviously increasing as shown by the latest scientific researches and studies started at various universities around the world.
DR. Kayte Armstrong
DVM, CVA, MOMScc
Dr. Kayte Armstrong's journey began as a dairy farmer in southwestern Ontario before pursuing her passion for veterinary medicine. Graduating from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1999, she swiftly established herself in a mixed animal practice, encompassing two small animal hospitals, equine services, and mobile care for food animals.
In 2018, Dr. Armstrong diversified her expertise by completing her education as a human osteopathic manual practitioner at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy (CAO) in Hamilton, Ontario. Pioneering a unique approach, she inaugurated the first registered "osteopathy only" veterinary practice in Ontario alongside a human practice.
Her commitment to education led her to develop and deliver the Graduate Course in Animal Osteopathy under the Canadian Academy of Animal Osteopathy, an affiliate of the CAO, in 2019. Additionally, she serves as the anatomy professor for the human osteopathy program at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy.
Currently residing in Nova Scotia, Dr. Armstrong has established the first osteopathy-only veterinary practice in the Maritimes, known as Armstrong Veterinary Osteopathy. Simultaneously, she extends her expertise to human care through Arbour Square Osteopathy in Hammonds Plains, NS.
In her rare moments of leisure, she relishes spending time with her partner Paul, indulging in golfing and motorcycling pursuits.
Follow Dr. Kayte on facebook and instagram @dvmosteo
Dr. Laura Taylor
DVM
Dr. Laura Taylor graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College/University of Guelph in 1989. The lure of the Rocky Mountains brought her west to Alberta soon afterwards.
Her initiation into holistic veterinary medicine began with certification in veterinary chiropractic, acupuncture and homeopathy in the late 90’s. Dr. Taylor also took many courses in human osteopathic techniques including craniosacral therapy and visceral manipulation and applied what she learned to large and small quadrupeds.
She completed certification EDO training in 2006/2007 with Janek Vluggen and the World Wide Equine Education group in San Marcos, Texas.
Her scope of veterinary practice is limited to osteopathy for dogs, cats and horses. Dr. Taylor treats musculoskeletal and neurologic cases and works with a wide range of animals, from puppies/kittens to elderly dogs and cats, and equine and canine athletes to address lameness, improve performance and prevent injuries. It is always her goal to improve the quality of life of animals by optimizing their mobility.
Dr. Thomas Beech
BVSc, MRCVS, EDO®
Dr. Tom Beech BVSc MRCVS EDO® is a distinguished Veterinary Surgeon and a skilled Equine Osteopath EDO® with a passion for optimizing equine health and performance. With an unwavering commitment to excellence, Dr. Beech established "The Osteopathic Vet" in 2016, offering a specialized and unparalleled service dedicated to evaluating and treating horses with precision and care.
Throughout his career, Dr. Beech has honed his expertise in equine osteopathic techniques, consistently striving to advance the field and enhance the well-being of his equine patients. His holistic approach places a strong emphasis on considering "The Whole Horse," recognizing the interconnectedness of physical, emotional, and physiological aspects of equine health.
Operating across the UK, Europe, and the US, Dr. Beech delivers comprehensive osteopathic treatments, catering to a diverse clientele of horse owners, trainers, and equestrian professionals. His extensive experience and profound understanding of equine anatomy and biomechanics make him a trusted advisor and practitioner in the field.
In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Beech serves as the President of The Worldwide Alliance of Equine Osteopaths, a role he has held with distinction since 2019. In this capacity, he leads initiatives to promote collaboration, education, and excellence within the global equine osteopathic community, further solidifying his reputation as a visionary leader and advocate for equine welfare.
Driven by a deep-rooted passion for horses and a dedication to advancing the art and science of equine osteopathy, Dr. Tom Beech continues to make a profound impact on the lives of horses and their owners worldwide.
