Veterinarians

​CLAUDIA SONDER, DVM
Claudia grew up in Massachusetts as the fourth of five children. She professed to her parents at the age of five that she wanted to be a veterinarian and spent her childhood years riding and caring for horses. She showed hunters and jumpers as a teenager and worked for a large equine show jumping barn. Claudia attended Tufts University as an undergraduate. where she competed regularly in the Intercollegiate Equestrian circuit while enrolled in the pre-med program. Claudia was accepted into UC Davis Veterinary School in 1990 and graduated after completing the equine track in 1995. 
Dr. Sonder has a long history with this vet clinic, both as an associate veterinarian and as previous owner. She is happy to be back in the saddle as an owner-partner at Napa Valley Equine. 
Dr. Sonder has a special interest in diagnosing and treating lameness in sport horses, utilizing the latest in digital imaging and joint injection procedures. She also enjoys equine neonatal medicine and assisted reproduction. In her "spare" time Claudia enjoys spending time outdoors with her three children, Molly, Mason and Merren. 

​Vanessa G.B. Rood, DVM, CVA
​Dr. Vanessa G.B. Rood (formerly Vanessa Gant Bradley) grew up in Marin County, but enjoyed her first gallop in the vineyards of St. Helena. Dr. G.B. Rood is a U.C. Davis Veterinary School graduate where she emphasized in equine medicine and was the recipient of the elite Hiscox/AAEP Equine Scholarship for equine health and welfare. Before starting veterinary school at U.C. Davis, she worked in the U.C. Davis Equine Intensive Care Unit.
Dr. G.B Rood has traveled and had the opportunity to work at equine hospitals in Gissen Germany, Copenhagen Denmark, and Lexington Kentucky. She did a post-graduate internship year and subsequent fellowship year at Peninsula Equine Medical Center in Woodside, CA before she was drawn back to the North Bay. In 2013 she completed the IVAS international veterinary acupuncture course in Texas, and looks forward to offering an alternative practice of veterinary medicine tailored to each individual horse.
Dr. Rood joined as an associate vet at Napa Valley Equine in 2013. When there was a change of ownership in 2019 she came on as a partner-owner in the practice. She has a special interest in acupuncture, emergency & critical care, geriatric equine care and equine dentistry. She has competed in three day evening before she found riding in the vet truck even more thrilling, however she looks forward to getting back into the saddle and competing again soon!

​Brittany Bazeley, DVM
Dr. Brittany Bazeley was born and raised in San Diego, CA where she grew up competitively riding Hunter/Jumpers. Her experience with equine medicine began as a veterinary technician while in college. She then went on to attend veterinary school at the University of California, Davis. While in veterinary school, she was recognized as a Merck/AAEP award recipient and graduated with Phi Zeta honors. Dr. Bazeley then returned to Southern California where she completed an intensive one year internship at San Luis Rey Equine Hospital, prior to staying on as a Senior Clinician. Additionally, Dr. Bazeley worked as an Associate Veterinarian at a Sports Medicine Ambulatory Practice where she developed further skills in advanced lameness exams and diagnostic imaging. Dr. Bazeley is certified as an FEI Permitted Treating Veterinarian and she is currently working towards her Veterinary Acupuncture Certification. Dr. Bazeley's interests include sport horse lameness, podiatry, integrative medicine and preventative medicine. In her spare time, Dr. Bazeley enjoys hiking, relaxing at the beach and of course horseback riding!    
KATHERINE SZABO, DVM
Dr. Szabo grew up in the Pacific Northwest with a love of animals and the outdoors, and began her undergraduate degree in Portland. She moved to Europe for a year abroad, then was accepted at the Freie Universität Berlin to study veterinary medicine. At this time she also received a unique offer to work with Olympic-level sport horses, and elected to postpone her studies to pursue this opportunity. Four years later she returned to the US and earned her DVM degree with equine emphasis at UC Davis in 2002. While at Davis, she worked as an Equine and Neonatal ICU technician, and spent summer breaks in Mongolia working on horse health projects. More recently, she has helped create continuing education courses for Mongolian veterinarians, and has been involved with medical teaching trips to Bhutan.
Dr. Katherine began working as an equine veterinarian in Sonoma County in 2002, then spent three years working at Conejo Valley Equine in Thousand Oaks while her husband completed his medical residency. Since then she has worked as an equine veterinarian in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties. She enjoys all aspects of comprehensive and preventive equine care, especially unusual and complex lameness and medicine cases, and tailoring her approach to each horse's unique circumstances. She is married to an ER doc, and yes, they frequently discuss their cases, which can lead to some unusual dinner table conversations! In her free time, Katherine enjoys making pottery and volunteering as both a UC Naturalist and Master Gardener.