Meet Our Team

Dr. Katherine Szabo

DVM

Bio:
Dr. Szabo grew up in the Pacific Northwest and, from an early age, was drawn to animals and the outdoors. She began her undergraduate degree in Portland, then moved to Europe for a “year” abroad, and 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. 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. Szabo began working as an equine veterinarian in Sonoma County in 2002 and has since worked in Sonoma, Marin, and Napa counties. She enjoys all aspects of preventive and comprehensive equine care and tailoring her approach to each patient’s unique circumstances. In her free time, Katherine enjoys creating ceramic art and functional pottery, and she volunteers as both a UC Naturalist and Master Gardener.

Dr. Georgia Macy

DVM

Bio:
Dr. Georgia Macy developed her love of all things equine growing up in Santa Barbara, CA, where she rode Hunter/Jumpers and dressage. She knew she wanted to become an equine veterinarian after witnessing how veterinarians not only helped animals achieve wellness and relieved animal suffering but also provided relief to their owners by caring for the human-animal bond.

With this goal, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in biophysics from Scripps College and attended the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where she graduated with Phi Zeta honors. While at UC Davis, Dr. Macy became interested in internal medicine and specialty practice, so she pursued a rotating internship at Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center and then was accepted into the Large Animal Internal Medicine residency program at the University of Georgia. This three-year specialty program provided Dr. Macy with additional training in many areas, including cardiology, neurology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, respiratory medicine, kidney and liver diseases, infectious diseases, and neonatal and geriatric medicine.

While horses are her first love, Dr. Macy is also experienced with small ruminant and camelid medicine. In her spare time, Dr. Macy enjoys exploring Northern California trails, spoiling her cat, and finding the perfect café where she can work on her current medicine research projects!

Dr. Claudia Sonder

DVM

Bio:
Dr. Claudia Sonder is a 1995 graduate of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and an owner at Napa Valley Equine. Dr. Sonder started at Napa Valley Veterinary Hospital under Drs. Jim & Patty Latham in 1997, and has been a fixture at the practice ever since, becoming an owner in 2001.

Dr. Sonder served as the Director of the UC Davis Center for Equine Health from 2012 to 2016. She has a specific interest in Disaster education and preparedness and has assisted large animal shelters and evacuation efforts regionally in Northern California since 2015. Dr. Sonder serves as the president of the Napa Community Animal Response Team (CART) and assists the disaster coordinator of the Northern California Association of Equine Practitioners. Dr. Sonder is a founding member of Cal CARTs, which was established in 2019 to unite animal disaster response stakeholders and bolster options for mutual aid across the state.

Dr. Vanessa

DVM

Bio:
Coming Soon

Megan Van Coutren

Practice Manager

Bio:
Megan has been in the Napa Valley since her family moved from Colorado in 1985. At the age of 6, she began horseback riding lessons and has been a horse enthusiast ever since. She attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and graduated in 2004 with a B.S. in Animal Science and a minor in Equine Science. During her time in college, she took all the equine classes she could and even lived at the Equine Unit her senior year as the manager of the school’s Equine Reproduction program. After graduation, she held a couple of different positions in the equine industry as a breeding manager at a ranch in Oakdale and as a manager of an equine rehabilitation facility in Petaluma.

After settling back into the Napa area in 2009, Megan began working at the vet clinic as a large animal assistant. During an ownership change in 2013, she shifted to the office manager position. Then, in 2019, she became a managing partner of the clinic. Megan enjoys spending time with her husband, Jesse, and their two daughters, Iris and Violet, and riding her horse, Cocoa.

Caroline Goad

Veterinary Assistant

Bio:
Caroline has been a lifetime rider, lover, and trainer of horses. Caroline graduated from Fresno State in 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science with an Equine Science focus. While there, she competed on the college rodeo team and managed the Quarter Horse Unit. After graduation, she worked for a few years as a veterinary assistant at Circle Oak Equine, an equine sports medicine and rehabilitation facility in Petaluma.

Caroline realized there was a lack of horse matchmaking in the area after she was approached many times by friends in their search for their perfect horse. She decided to start CK Equine Solutions in an effort to fill this void in Sonoma and Napa counties. She has three young children — Austin, Ruby, and Mason — with her husband, DJ, and many animals, all of whom keep her fully occupied!

Jessie Whitman

Veterinary Assistant

Bio:
Jessie was born and raised in Napa. She started in the Napa Valley Pony Club at the age of 5 and has been riding ever since. Her veterinary background was primarily in small animals until she joined Napa Valley Equine in 2018. These days, she spends her free time riding dressage and trail riding.

Alegra Negrete

Veterinary Assistant

Bio:
Alegra and her family settled in Napa in 2015, drawn by the beauty of the valley and its welcoming atmosphere. After graduating from Justin-Siena High School, she attended UC Santa Cruz, where she earned a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. During her time there, Alegra researched aquatic species, cared for alpacas, and kept busy with student organizations while embracing coastal life. Inspired by her agricultural roots, she is passionate about large animal medicine and is excited to contribute to the compassionate care at Napa Valley Equine while growing her veterinary career.

Alegra also enjoys giving back to the community, and you can often find her tutoring in Spanish at the library, “Feeding it Forward” with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, developing her skills as a Napa CART animal rescue volunteer, and supporting Napa Humane’s Wellness and Spay Day events. In her free time, she enjoys swimming, reading, and hiking with her “pocket-sized horse” Tula, her loving Anatolian Shepherd.

Xochitl Gonzalez

Office Administrator

Bio:
Xochi (pronounced so-chee) is a Napa native. She is bilingual and bi-literate, with her first language being Spanish. From a young age, she has always had a love of animals. Even though this is her first position in the veterinary field, she has lots of animal knowledge from growing up surrounded by horses and goats on her family’s farm, and plenty of office administration experience from her work in the wine industry.

In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, spending time with friends, and helping her family with their Taco Truck operations. She also rides Western pleasure on her Friesian, Warlander, and Andalusian!

 Lauren McMahon

Office Administrator

Bio:
Lauren grew up in Southern California and started riding horses at age eight. She bought her first off-the-track thoroughbred, DJ, at 15 and competed in 3-day eventing all throughout high school. Before starting college at the University of California Davis, Lauren bought her first showjumper, Galina which she competed with at the 1.30m level. After her mare developed lameness and performance issues, Lauren’s passion for equine veterinary medicine grew, and she wanted to help other horse owners make a difference in their horses’ well-being, as well as be able to help her own horses with their medical needs.

After graduating from UC Davis with a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science and Management, Lauren started as a veterinary assistant at Gold Coast Equine. At this time, she also participated in the documentary The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pain, which focused on catching equine lameness before major injury occurred. With new information and a focused passion for equine welfare, Lauren began a registered veterinary technician program in 2023 and graduated with her RVT license in February of 2025.

Besides her work as an RVT, Lauren is also a member of the Napa Community Animal Response Team (Napa CART), still regularly attends hunter/jumper shows in California, and spends her downtime reading books and hanging out with her three horses, three dogs, and cat!