Meet the Piedmont Equine Practice Partner Veterinarians, Associates,
Meet the Veterinarians & Team of The Piedmont Equine Practice in The Plains, VA. We’re pleased to provide exceptional care for your horses.
Stephanie Wilkinson
Associate
Dr. Stephanie Wilkinson was born and raised on the small island of Bermuda. At the age of 18, she moved to Ontario, Canada to complete her B.S. Honors degree in Bio-Medical Science from the University of Guelph. She went on to earn her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine, graduating at the top of her class and fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian.
She discovered her passion for horses at a very young age and began competitively riding at the age of 6. She has represented Bermuda in showjumping in many different countries, including the UK, Spain, and the Caribbean. She continued to compete during her years in university, both on the U.S. and Canadian A circuit.
Dr. Wilkinson enjoys all facets of equine medicine but has a strong interest in sports medicine. At the beginning of 2018, she started her own equine veterinary practice in Bermuda, where she travels periodically to provide services to the equine community there. She successfully completed the animal chiropractic course at the Options for Animals College of Animal Chiropractic at the beginning of 2020 and is certified with the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association.
Her free time is in fact filled with more horses and her dog, Nova. She simply cannot get enough of horses and feels so fortunate to have found a career as fulfilling as veterinary medicine.
Christy Moss
Associate
Christy Moore grew up locally in Fairfax, VA. She began riding horses at a young age, training and competing in Dressage until she went to William and Mary for her undergraduate studies. There she continued to pursue her love of animals, and especially horses, by majoring in Biology and riding with the Hunter/Jumper Equestrian Program. She then ventured north to New York for veterinary school, graduating from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2018 with Honors.
Christy performed her internship at Piedmont Equine after graduating vet school and has stayed with the team ever since, now serving as an associate. Christy enjoys all aspects of veterinary medicine, especially internal medicine, neonatology, and reproduction. Christy is proud to help Piedmont Equine offer such reproductive services as management and breeding of mares with frozen semen.
In her free time, Christy enjoys running and hiking with her dog Barzy, as well as visiting local breweries and wineries. She lives in Gainesville, VA with her husband, Ashton.
Lizzy Aksten
Associate
Lizzy has had a passion for horses that began at a young age as a member of the US Pony Club and led up to her eventing at the Intermediate level. She grew up on a family farm in New Hampshire where her family boarded and trained horses. After spending a year in England as a working student, Lizzy returned home to Ashwood Farm to help her mother run the day-to-day operations.
Lizzy received her DVM from Ross University and attended Virginia Tech for hLIer clinical year. After graduation she worked as an intern at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Wellington Florida. She then completed a second internship at The Piedmont Equine Practice, stayed on as a Fellow and is now an Associate Veterinarian.
Dr. Aksten is certified in Equine Rehabilitation and Performance (CERP) and a FEI-permitted treating veterinarian. Lizzy enjoys all aspects of veterinary medicine with a special interest in sports medicine, emergency medicine , podiatry and geriatric care. She lives in the Marshall area with her husband and dogs, where she spends her spare time gravel-biking and enjoying the outdoors.
Kathryn Surasky
Associate
Dr. Kathryn Surasky hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since graduating from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in the early 2000’s and completing an internship, she has practiced in a sports medicine focused practice outside of Toronto, Ontario. There she had the opportunity to work on all levels of horses, from Olympians and world championship horses to family pets. She uses a combination of traditional sports medicine therapies as well as acupuncture and chiropractic care to manage and maintain horses of all levels. For the past six seasons, she has also traveled to Florida to help horses and clients through the winter season, both in Wellington, FL and Ocala FL. She will be traveling to Ocala on behalf of Piedmont Equine this winter, providing continuity of care to our southbound clients. When not with clients, you can find her working with her own horses, primarily in Eventing. She finds a lot of satisfaction in working with a horse’s team enabling the best performance no matter what the goal.
Sara Verghis
Fellow
Sara grew up in Richmond, VA and she started riding at a young age. She always knew she wanted to be an equine veterinarian. She graduated with her bachelor's and master's degrees from Virginia Tech. While at Virginia Tech, she rode on the IHSA hunt seat team.
Sara graduated from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. During veterinary school, she was actively involved in the student chapter of AAEP and received the Dr. Olive K. Britt Equine award. Sara loves all aspects of equine medicine, but especially enjoys general practice, emergency medicine, and building her sports medicine skills. She has a passion for low stress handling. In her free time, Sara enjoys spending time with her dog Atticus, watching Hokie football, traveling, and being outside.
Kylie Zehner
Fellow
Kylie was born and raised in the Indianapolis area and lived in Indiana up until coming to Piedmont. She grew up with an interest in becoming a small animal veterinarian from the young age of nine. She first became interested in horses by travelling to work with her dad who was part of the mounted patrol team for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. She learned how to ride with him and then later in her young teens started training with a quarter horse owned by a close friend. They rode barrels together and competed in 4-H shows around Indiana. Kylie then went on to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry at Purdue University. During her undergraduate years, she cheered for the university and participated in equine inflammatory airway research under Drs. Laurent Couetil and Katy Ivester. Her interest in equine medicine grew stronger each year and in 2018 she was accepted into Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Kylie spent another 4 years in West Lafayette, IN pursuing her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. By the summer of 2021, she knew she wanted to pursue an equine internship and began striving towards that goal. She graduated vet school in May of 2022 as a member of Phi Zeta and received the ACVS Large Animal Student Surgery Award. Kylie is interested in learning about the numerous aspects of equine medicine and has particular interests in sports medicine and surgery. In her free time she enjoys running, spending time with her cats, and traveling to visit friends, family, and explore new places.
Jacob Crotts
Fellow
Jacob grew up in Sumter, South Carolina. He began riding at an early age in nearby Camden, SC, where he developed a passion for foxhunting and steeplechase racing. As a teenager, Jacob worked as an exercise rider for trainers Arch Kingsley, Jr. and Michael Matz. Jacob graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor’s in Animal Science before attending veterinary school at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA.
While in vet school, Jacob served as president of his class and was an active member of both the student AAEP chapter and the Omega Tau Sigma veterinary fraternity. Jacob also worked as a student vet assistant in the UGA Large Animal Teaching Hospital. During his clinical year he received UGA’s Large Animal “In House” medicine and surgery award. Jacob has special interests in emergency medicine, theriogenology, sports medicine, and anesthesia. In his free time, Jacob enjoys running, live music, spending time with his dog Murphy, following college football and basketball, and cooking.