{"id":4850,"date":"2025-02-03T14:25:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T19:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/?p=4850"},"modified":"2026-03-02T12:58:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:58:55","slug":"for-the-love-of-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/for-the-love-of-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Love of Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horse Whisperer<\/span><\/h2>\n

S<\/span>tephanie Williams \u201902<\/strong><\/span> started riding horses when she was six. When she was eight, she wrote that her dream \u201cwas to be a horse trainer and riding instructor.\u201d When she was 13, her parents, along with their two horses, moved to a four-stall \u201cfarmette.\u201d But that same year, she says, \u201cI discovered boys and theater, and left horses in the dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, a theatre major, began riding again seriously when she joined Goucher\u2019s equestrian team. \u201cGoucher led me back to horses,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t know, if I\u2019d gone to a different school, if I would have rediscovered that passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

After college, while performing at a theater in Columbia, MD, she learned it was struggling and for sale. She\u2019d always joked that she wanted to have her own theater company, and, in 2006, she bought it. Then resuscitated it. She describes Drama Learning Center (DLC) as \u201cholistic, ensemble-based theater education for kids from pre-K through college.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March 2020, DLC was thriving. Then the pandemic brought theater everywhere to a halt. Unsure how long it would last, and with friends asking if she would give their kids horseback riding lessons\u2014a safe, socially distant activity\u2014Williams embraced the opportunity. In between writing grants to keep DLC afloat, she gave lessons at the farmette. Demand grew, so Williams leased a neighboring property. Demand outgrew that. What started as a resourceful way to survive a pandemic was turning into another career path.<\/p>\n

At end of 2021, Williams and her fianc\u00e9 purchased a 33-acre property in Ellicott City, MD, less than 10 miles from the farmette. They built several run-ins (shelters) and a 13-stall barn for their 30 horses and ponies with an attached indoor arena. She named it Clover Luck Stables.<\/p>\n

Williams describes the program she\u2019s designed as \u201ca hunter, jumper, equitation barn with a focus on horsemanship.\u201d Her horses are not \u201clesson horses.\u201d She owns them all and prioritizes their care and health above everything else. \u201cOur program is different from a lot of the programs out there,\u201d she says. \u201cWe get our students to look at the big picture of the horses\u2019 welfare, not just riding.\u201d Williams spends her days caring for and training her horses and giving lessons, as well as doing administrative work for DLC. She still competes and, in the fall of 2024, won a competition with 24-year-old Celtic Charm. \u201cI went through a long, arduous training process with him, and he\u2019s emerged into an amazing horse\u2014my \u2018living resume.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While most of her time is still spent at Clover Luck, Williams is excited to be designing the set for a stage production of Beetlejuice<\/em> at DLC. She hopes to create a hybrid that allows her to continue pursuing both lifelong passions.<\/p>\n

Animal Acupuncturist<\/span><\/h2>\n

When a beagle mix came racing down the hallway at the practice where she was working as a veterinarian, Deborah Comings \u201998, V.M.D.<\/strong><\/span>, could not believe her eyes. The last time she\u2019d seen the dog, just three weeks before, he couldn\u2019t walk because of a severe spinal disk injury.<\/p>\n

The cure? Acupuncture.<\/p>\n

When she beheld the seeming miracle, Comings was determined to learn veterinary acupuncture herself. In December 2023, after the rigorous yearlong training, she completed the certification program at Chi University in Florida and has been using acupuncture to treat patients since.<\/p>\n

With its origins in traditional Chinese medicine, veterinary acupuncture uses thin needles inserted into the skin at specific points to \u201cregulate the flow of qi [energy], which nourishes the tissues and organs,\u201d she says, thus decreasing pain, treating injury, and improving health, according to the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture. \u201cIt\u2019s particularly effective for animals with arthritis, inflammation, hip dysplasia, and spinal disease,\u201d says Comings. While, in the last 30 years, its use in Western medicine for treating humans has increased, acupuncture\u2019s use on animals in veterinary clinics is still quite rare.<\/p>\n

As part of her training, Comings worked with Duke, \u201ca 12-year-old yellow Labrador who had two torn ACLs,\u201d she says. \u201cHis owner opted for surgery on just one of the knees. They brought him to me because he\u2019d pulled his neck and couldn\u2019t move well\u2014his owners were carrying this 70- or 80-pound Lab around in a sling. I did acupuncture for the neck and it got better quickly, but he was so active he reinjured his knees. I then focused my treatment on the knees and Duke came trotting back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also had laryngeal paralysis, \u201ca breathing problem that, in Western medicine, can only be treated with surgery,\u201d Comings says. She didn\u2019t focus on the problem in her treatment. \u201cBut after the fourth session, I realized he was breathing better. I went to my acupuncture books and discovered that the points I was using to treat the knees and neck were helping it.\u201d Duke\u2019s breathing returned to normal, but a few months later, he was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. \u201cI started acupuncture for that, and his most recent bloodwork came back normal,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing in Western medicine that can cure that. Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comings was as pleased as Duke was. \u201cIt\u2019s so gratifying,\u201d she says of using acupuncture. \u201cI love having another powerful tool in the toolbox to help my patients live long, pain-free lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emergency Services Provider<\/span><\/h2>\n

Eli Woodoff-Leith \u201911, D.V.M.<\/strong><\/span>, wasn\u2019t sure what he wanted to do after he graduated. He struggled to find a job he felt passionate about. He considered getting a Ph.D. in chemistry, but it would\u2019ve been something to do rather than something he was excited about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stumbled into a job as a kennel tech at BARCS [Baltimore Area Rescue and Care Shelter],\u201d he recalls. \u201cI\u2019d never worked with animals in my life, and I loved it. The shelter dogs and cats really stole my heart.\u201d But he was eager to find a vocation. One day he was lamenting to a retired veterinarian, who volunteered at BARCS and with whom Woodoff-Leith worked closely, that he didn\u2019t know what he wanted to do. \u201cThis doctor told me, \u2018You need to take a couple of years, stop messing around, take some classes, and go to vet school.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018That\u2019s insane. I can\u2019t do that.\u2019 I hadn\u2019t even considered it before. It was very flattering to hear that from him because he didn\u2019t say that to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few people are aware how competitive it is to get into veterinary school. Only 10% of applicants are accepted, compared to 40% of medical school applicants. Woodoff-Leith didn\u2019t get in the first two times, but he took all the suggestions he was given to improve his application, and his third try was the charm.<\/p>\n

In May 2023, Woodoff-Leith graduated from Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, VA, with a doctorate in veterinary medicine. He then decided to do a 13-month internship at Pet ER in Hunt Valley, MD. He found that he \u201cliked the pace of ER and the depth of medicine\u201d it involved. \u201cI stayed on as a full-time staff doctor,\u201d he says, \u201cand I\u2019m still learning every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that is really important to veterinarians and veterinary medicine is mental health,\u201d says Woodoff-Leith. \u201cVeterinarians have, unfortunately, one of the highest suicide rates in the country. Their job is very difficult, and I\u2019m just learning that. I\u2019ve had many friends struggle mentally and I just hope that it is something that folks feel more and more comfortable talking openly about.\u201d<\/p>\n

He works hard to ensure good communication among his colleagues and reminds himself and them that they\u2019re all doing their best to offer the highest quality care to their patients and clients.<\/p>\n

Large Animal Educator<\/span><\/h2>\n

Virginia Buechner-Maxwell \u201976, D.V.M.<\/strong><\/span>, is a professor and specialist in large-animal internal medicine at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (VMCVM) in Blacksburg, VA. Like Woodoff-Leith, she also graduated from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought about going into veterinary medicine when I was young,\u201d says Buechner-Maxwell, \u201cbut back then, it was very difficult for women to be accepted into veterinary college,\u201d especially for large-animal practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy time at Goucher woke up a love of learning and gave me the confidence to aim for a career in veterinary medicine,\u201d says Buechner-Maxwell. She had wonderful science teachers, specifically geneticist Ann Lacy, embryologist Martin Berlinrood, and microbiologist Helen Funk. \u201cWilliam Johnson, who taught environmental science, developed a course for students to complete research projects on marine life in the Virgin Islands,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI learned to love discovery and pursued an academic career that included research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buechner-Maxwell, who was a biology major, also cites Professor of English Fontaine Belford, who inspired her interest in English literature, and Joe Morton, who taught philosophy and photography and provided \u201ca broader perspective and view of the world,\u201d she says. Janet McBride, who ran Goucher\u2019s Equestrian Program, was her dorm supervisor and introduced Buechner-Maxwell to a new way of working with horses\u2014methods that she still uses. \u201cThe opportunities at Goucher were so vast. I received a true liberal arts education,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Goucher, Buechner-Maxwell taught high school. She entered veterinary college in 1982 and, in 1986, while still a student, completed a master\u2019s degree program in cell and molecular biology science at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated from VMCVM in 1987.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I joined [VMCVM] as a student, I thought, \u2018This is where I want to come back and teach,\u2019\u201d she says. After finishing that program, as well as an internship in California, and a residency in large-animal internal medicine in Virginia, she taught at Michigan State. She joined the faculty at VMCVM in 1995 and in the fall of 2025 will have been there for 30 years. She loves teaching and describes her students as \u201ctruly talented and a privilege to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2016, Buechner-Maxwell was named director of the Center for Animal Human Relationships (CENTAUR) at Virginia Tech (of which VMCVM is a part), which educates people \u201con the importance of human-animal relationships,\u201d according to its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so grateful for the time I spent at Goucher,\u201d says Buechner-Maxwell. \u201cIt was foundational to my professional journey and helped make it possible to do what I wanted to during my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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