Dr Karen Marguerite Coumbe

Biography

Karen Coumbe has worked as a veterinary surgeon in practice since qualifying from Girton College, Cambridge in 1984.

She spent her first five years in mixed practice and then, in 1989,  she moved into purely equine work, starting at BELL EQUINE when the practice first opened. This equine clinic has developed into a specialist equine hospital (approved by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) employing over sixty staff.  She became a partner in 1995, then a director, until the business was sold to CVS (UK) Ltd in 2017 and has continued working there as an employee.

She obtained a first RCVS Certificate (Equine Practice) in 1989 and a second RCVS Certificate (Veterinary Anaesthesia) in 2008 and is now an Advanced Practitioner in both equine practice and anaesthesia.

As well as continuing to work for 35years in the same equine practice, she has been an official veterinarian for the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) since 2005. This has provided the privilege of working at many different equine events, including the last four Olympic Games.

She works regularly as a racecourse veterinary surgeon, as well as a government Official Veterinarian (OV) in relation to equine export certification, and also acts as an RCVS Riding Establishments inspector.

Beyond equine practice, she has been the veterinary consultant for the weekly Horse & Hound magazine for over 30years. She has published numerous articles, authored books for the public on equine topics and edited two editions of the Manual of Equine Veterinary Nursing.

Her outside interests include, most importantly, her 2 grown-up daughters, with gardening a close second, along with photography. She was honoured to win the BVA inaugural photography competition in 2016, and now focuses her attempts on photographing equine sport, especially anything involving her own horse.

Committee Membership

• Disciplinary Committee

Declaration of interests