Kendra Foley

MRI/CT

Kendra has been working at Pioneer Equine Hospital since January 2001. She is the MRI and CT technologist. Outside of work, she can be found riding her bike, playing with her dogs, or spending time with family.

Jennifer Mikkelson, RVT

Technician Team Leader
Lameness/Surgery

Jennifer was born and raised in Clayton, CA on a small ranch. Growing up she had a multitude of animals, including horses, and from an early age knew she wanted to work in animal medicine. Jennifer pursued her dream and graduated from Carrington College in February 2016 with an Associate’s Degree in Veterinary Technology. In April of 2016, Jennifer joined the Pioneer team and has loved it since. Jennifer received her Registered Veterinary Technician’s license in 2017. When not at work, you can find Jennifer with her horses Black Betty and Sarah, home with her cat Reese’s Peaches or out with friends and boyfriend Tyler.

Karen Shadle, RVT

Patient Care

Karen Shadle has been working at Pioneer since 2004. She is currently one of our night technicians, providing the best patient care to those horses who are hospitalized overnight or over several days. Karen graduated from Carrington College in 2017 with her Associates Degree in Veterinary Technology.

Philip Knierieme

Equine Technician

Philip Knierieme grew up in Oakdale. He recently graduated from Fresno State with a degree in Animal Science and started working at Pioneer in May! Philip has been a part of high school rodeo, college rodeo, and NCHA. In his free time he likes to rope and hang out with friends. He enjoys working at Pioneer because it’s an amazing environment for learning and has a great team/family atmosphere.

Lisa Hayes

Patient Care

Lisa enjoys working part time at Pioneer with her coworkers and the horses.

Outside of Pioneer she enjoys, spending time with her family and friends, food, wine and traveling, hiking and hanging with her dog, Wylie.

Oscar Garcia

Reproduction

Oscar has been working at Pioneer since 2020. Not only is he a great all around technician but specializes in stallion handling at our Stallion Center.

Kylar Desrochers

Patient Care

Kylar was born in Boston but has spent most of his life here in Oakdale. He graduated from Oakdale High and earned his Bachelor’s from Fresno State. He started riding at the age of five, and has trained in both Western reining and English show jumping. He trained his own Mustang in high school and enjoyed trail riding all over California with her. Before joining the Pioneer team, Kylar gained a lot of reproduction experience working on the foaling team for a local Thoroughbred breeder. During his free time, Kylar loves to travel the world, but more locally, he enjoys playing piano and reading.

Quinn Ford

Surgery/Lameness

Quinn was born and raised in Oakdale, CA. She grew up with horses and rode at a young age doing gymkhanas, jackpots, barrel racing, cutting, reining cow horse, and High School and JR. Rodeo. When not at work you can find her riding her horses Roxy, Willow, and Whisper.

James Hegedus

Reproduction

James works part time at the Stallion Center helping with collection and storage of frozen semen with his daughter Kathryn.

Kathryn Hegedus

Reproduction

Kathryn has worked at Pioneer off and on for many years, but in the last three years she has been leading work at our Stallion Center. She is in charge of stallion collection, freezing and shipping.

Jessica Larkin

Patient Care

Jessica is working on her veterinary technician certification and prerequisites at Modesto Junior College and will be transferring to Fresno State or UC Davis to get a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science (Pre-Veterinary). She has had a love for horses her entire life. She participated in 4-H, Nor-Cal Junior Rodeo Association, and California High School Rodeo Association. She is taking her passion for horses to one day become an equine veterinarian. She did four years of active duty in the United States Navy as a weather forecaster and then switched into the reserves. She received an Honorable Discharge after 10 years in December 2022. She loves camping and traveling with her husband and kids.

Charliez LaRue

Anesthesia

Charliez was born and raised in Manteca, CA. She has always been an animal lover for as long as she can remember. She started riding when she was 13 and has never looked back. It is what inspired her to go into the veterinary field. She has three horses of her own and in her free time, she loves to compete on them.

Lynsey Gookin

Equine Technician

Lynsey was raised in Columbia, CA. Growing up, she always had a passion for animals especially horses. Her grandparents used to own and operate the stagecoach that still runs through Columbia state park today. She always enjoyed trail riding her own horses through the park also. Lynsey recently graduated from Fresno State in fall of 2022 with her Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science. She is so excited to be using her education every day at work. In her free time, she enjoys riding her two horses, Taco and Chalupa, as well as painting and creating art.

Colleen Anderson

Equine Technician

Colleen Anderson grew up here in the Central Valley. She finished college with a degree in Animal Science & Dairy Science. She’s worked with horses over the last ten years and is looking forward to being a part of the Pioneer team and learning new things. In her free time you can find her rock climbing, at the beach, spending time with friends or her cat.

Marissa Raggio

Equine Technician

Marissa was born and raised in Oakdale, CA and grew up on a ranch. She is currently pursuing a bachelors of Science degree in Veterinary Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. Outside of work Marissa enjoys hanging out with friends and family.

Amanda Wiersma

Relief Technician

Amanda has been working at Pioneer since June 2017 and she enjoys all aspects of being an equine health technician. Amanda grew up in Oakdale doing junior and high school rodeo, she now resides in Turlock with her husband and four kids. Together they have nine horses and team rope.

Alyssa Costa

Relief Technician

Alyssa started working at Pioneer Equine Hospital in the spring of 2019. She has a passion for horses and has been around them since she was a kid. She has an Associate’s degree in Animal Science and Agricultural Business. Outside of Pioneer, you can find her riding her horses, reading, or spending time with her family. She resides in La Grange with her husband, her two kids, and her dogs.

Kaleena Smith

Relief Technician

Kaleena was born and raised in the Central Valley. While attending Oakdale High School she was part of the rodeo team, which is where her love for the equine industry grew. After high school, she attended Modesto Junior College and earned two Associate Degrees, one in Agriculture Business and another in Veterinary Technology. She started working at Pioneer in the fall of 2019. Outside of work she enjoys playing with her dogs and hanging out with her family. Kaleena is currently on maternity leave after having a sweet baby boy in June.

Logan Wohr

Swing Technician

Logan was born in California and learned to ride from his parents, who are trainers in the Bay Area. He has been riding his whole life and primarily rides jumping horses. When he is not at the barn he is usually driving to the barn or playing with his dogs.