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James Sutton, BVetMed CertEP MRCVS
Michael David, BVetMed MRCVS
Claire Booth, BVM&S MRCVS
Heidi Short, Large Animal Secretary
The Equine Department at the Culverden Veterinary Group was started in earnest in 1940. Peter Sutton had left his father’s veterinary practice in London because he realised that the horse veterinary work in London was going to disappear as the car and lorry took over! Thinking that horses would always be used on farms he moved out to the country to take over a one man practice that looked after the horses and farm animals on the surrounding farms around Tunbridge Wells.
Unfortunately the horses on the farms were soon replaced by tractors and for nearly 20 years there were very few horses around to treat. The men who had worked with horses were mainly pleased not to have to deal with them anymore. People at that time enjoyed the freedom not to have to feed and look after the horses 24 hours a day.
As those who had worked with horses got older and memories dimmed, also a younger generation grew up who looked upon horses as a pleasure and leisure experience. This regeneration of interest in horses began in the 1960s and the Culverden Veterinary Group was there and eager to play its part in the new life of horses as a leisure item.
Since then the practice has grown and split into separate parts. The Equine Department is now totally independent of the Small Animal Department and continues to serve the needs of horses and their owners over a wide area. Almost daily our vets travel down as far as Hastings and Bexhill, and up into Bromley and Bexley in the southern suburbs of London.
As varied as the places we go are the horses we see. Every type of horse is represented amongst our patients, from the race horse and eventer to the pony club pony and companion horse. James Sutton has been involved with the British Open Show Jumping Championships and has held the distinguished position of senior veterinary surgeon at the Horse of the Year Show for over 10 years, co-ordinating and overseeing the smooth running of veterinary services at these events. Horses being horses they all suffer occasionally from illnesses great and small, and when they do we are always there to offer a service to help.
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