About Equine All-Sports Medicine Center
About our Facility
The Equine All-Sports Medicine Center is located in Mason on a 12 acre horse farm.
The farm has a nice quiet atmosphere and is located in a nice rural setting with pastures, woods and professional equestrian facilities.
We have a 75 x 150 feet indoor arena , an outdoor arena of the standard FEI size 20x 60 meter (67x 200 feet) and an outdoor lunging area of 60 x 60 feet that facilitate us to do our exams in any weather condition.
The center has a barn area where the farrier shop is located and 2 stalls to accommodate patients.
Adjacent to the barn is the air-conditioned exam room were radiographic and ultrasonographic examination can be performed.
In the main building at the facility we have an office/client conference room where we can evaluate all results of the examination with the imaging results of X-ray and ultrasound.
In this conference room we have a large amount of anatomical samples to assist us in explaining what is going on with your horse.
Mission Statement
At the Equine All-Sports Medicine Center we focus on a healthy and happy relationship between rider and horse in any equestrian discipline.
We are dedicated to deliver top-notch veterinary diagnostics and sports medicine to improve the condition of your horse and make the relationship between you and your horse enjoyable for both.
Because we think knowledge is the best basis for any treatment or rehabilitation plan, we make it our top priority to inform and educate you about the condition of your horse and the options to improve the performance of both you and
your horse.
Our philosophy is based on the assumption that a scientific medical approach is the first step in the process to achieve complete happiness and good health with stimulation of the intrinsic healing factors, present in any living being.
Our Philosophy and View
Our main thoughts about sports medicine are based on scientific fundamentals about anatomy, physiology and pathology. We try to apply these fundamentals with an individual approach to each case; each case is unique and needs a detailed and individualized plan for diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
In contrast to most practices, we do not stop with our involvement as soon as a treatment is chosen. We will guide you in the process to bring your horse back to work with a detailed and tailor-made rehabilitation program.
We believe that in each horse there is an intrinsic capacity to heal and restore, we think that by focusing on these healing powers within the horse we can achieve a more complete and contemporary restoration of the horse’s body integrity and health.
We are convinced that with the newest developments in human and veterinary medicine, combined with a complete care for horse and rider in the process of rehabilitation, the best and most rewarding results can be achieved.
We are strong believers in the principle of prevention.
Even when your horse is having an injury or disease, on the path to recovery we are helping you and your horse in improving conditions to prevent another injury to happen in the future.
Our rehabilitation programs are designed to strengthen muscles, tendons and joint structures around the affected body region to give better support to the injured structure.
A major factor in the strive for a healthy and happy horse is to prevent injuries before they even happen.
By offering specific performance check up exams (see the website’s “services” button), focused on pinpointing weaker spots in your horse’s body we can make a huge improvement in your care for your horse.
When you are aware of specific areas in your horse’s body that are more susceptible for injury, you can act more conscientiously.
We do envision that with more detailed knowledge about your horse’s specific condition and ways to improve that condition (with special exercises, optimalization of diet and footing, shoeing, etc) we can be a major contribution to improved health of the athletic horse.
About Our Doctors
Dr. Rob van Wessum, DVM, MS, DACVSMR (Equine), Cert Pract KNMvD (Equine)
Dr. Rob van Wessum, a native of the Netherlands, received his veterinary degree from Utrecht University in 1991. He spent the next five years as an equine practitioner in a private practice in Weesp.
In 1996, Dr. van Wessum began his own equine lameness clinic specializing in in-depth diagnostics for lameness, sports medicine, and pre-purchase examinations. In 1996, he was also appointed to the Department of Equine Internal Medicine at the School of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht, where he performed research in sports medicine and electromyography. In 1999 he became a Certified Practicioner (Equine) of the KNMvD. From 1991 to 2003, he additionally served as the veterinarian for the Canine and Mounted Division of the Police Department of Amsterdam. In 2003, he was appointed as the first director of the Animal Science Center of the Dutch National Police Agency, at the Mounted and Tracker Dog Division. Some of his responsibilities included animal forensic cases and the management of all horses and dogs for the Dutch police and for all state events, such as the royal wedding of Prince William-Alexander and Princess Maxima.
In 2005 he was appointed at MSU as the Lameness and Sports Medicine Expert at the McPhail Equine Performance Center at Michigan State University and became a faculty member of the Department of Large Animal Clinical Science of the College of Veterinary Medicine at MSU. In the end of 2009 this appointment was terminated due to budget cuts at MSU and the declining economic situation in Michigan.
Doctor van Wessum has been affiliated with 3 equine clinics in Michigan, Equine Medical PC in Lowell, Oakdale Large Animal Clinic in Homer, and Dr Ryker and Associates in Ortonville, where he is available for lameness exams and sport medicine, focused on the locomotion system and the spinal structures of the horse (“legs and backs”) .
Dr.van Wessum was a member of the veterinary committee of the CDI’s/CSI’s Jumping Amsterdam and Indoor Brabant from 1991 to 2004 and served as treating veterinarian on four World Cup Finals (two jumping and two dressage).
Dr. Kimberly Johnston VMD, Dipl ACVS
Dr Kimberly Johnston was born and raised in Massachusetts. At age 12 she started riding, training and grooming horses at Janbark Farm, with a career as junior rider in Morgan Saddle seat equitation competitions around New England.
After graduating at the top of her veterinary class from the University of Pennsylvania and the famous equine New Bolton Center, she moved to Lexington, Kentucky for a coveted 1 year internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. This was followed by a brief stint in private ambulatory practice back in Massachusetts before embarking on a 6 month internship at the San Louis Rey Equine Hospital in California, with the renowned Dr Barry Grant.
In 2005 she started her residency training in Equine Surgery at Michigan State University, which she completed in 2008. She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2010 and specializes in Sports Medicine and orthopedic surgery.
In 2008 she became affiliated with Oakdale Large Animal Clinic in Homer, Michigan, and served as the resident Board Certified surgeon for that facility.
In 2009 she was appointed as research veterinarian at Innovative Biotherapies in Ann Arbor, a spin-off company of the University of Michigan Medical School, specialized in stem cell research and extra-corporal organ devices. Dr Johnston currently combines this research opportunity with her work at the Equine All-Sports Medicine Center with Dr van Wessum.
In her personal life, Kim loves to relax on the farm with the horses, ride dressage, and have fun in the woods and on the trails and tend to the landscaping of their 12 acres. After her initial commitment to the Morgan saddle seat circuit, she became interested in dressage when she met her now-husband, Dr van Wessum. With her 14 year old third-career Thoroughbred, Jazz , she has quickly risen through the levels from training level to third-fourth level in just 2 years of competition. She now loves the opportunity to work with the FEI horses Dr van Wessum brought from the Netherlands to perfect her skills as a dressage rider. She recently brought her own horse Drakensteijn, who was imported to the US from the Netherlands at age 4, to the Prix Saint George in dressage.