Est. 1985
About R.D. Owen Equine Clinic
40 Years of the Practice. 50 Years of Richard's Experience.
The People
Meet the Team
Behind every good practice is a team of dedicated people. Ours has been built around shared values: clinical excellence, genuine care for horses, and a commitment to the people who own them.
Richard Owen
Director & Principal VetQualified at Liverpool in 1974. Over 50 years of equine experience. Main interests are surgery and lameness. Founder of the practice and ambulatory vet at Bangor and Haydock Racecourses.
Emily
Veterinary Surgeon
Lucy
Veterinary Surgeon
Jill Owen
Director & Practice ManagerThe backbone of the clinic. Jill also founded Merlin Animal Rescue in 2001, rehoming over 300 dogs from across North Wales each year.
Megan
Office
Karen
Office
Alice
Office
Lucy
Office
Doris
Chief Morale Officer
Every great practice needs a Chief Morale Officer, and Doris takes her responsibilities very seriously. She oversees all office operations from her chair, provides expert consultation on biscuit matters, and ensures that every client who walks through the door leaves with a smile. Her warmth, fluffiness and unconditional enthusiasm are an essential part of what makes this practice feel like family.
Our Founder
The Man Behind the Practice
Richard Owen BVSc MRCVS qualified at Liverpool in 1974. He spent his first two years in mixed practice in Oswestry, then moved to Newmarket for three years. His family had a background in horse racing, and those years among the racing yards gave him the grounding in equine work that shaped the rest of his career.
He returned to North Wales in 1985 and set up R.D. Owen Equine Clinic just outside St Asaph. Forty years on, it's a three-vet practice with on-site stabling and full surgical facilities, looking after horses across North Wales, Anglesey, the Wirral and into Cheshire.
Surgery and lameness are Richard's main interests. He also helped get the Twemlows AI Centre off the ground, and he still works as an ambulatory vet at Bangor and Haydock Racecourses.
What clients tend to talk about, though, isn't the kit. It's Richard himself — his experience, his calm way with even the most difficult horses, and the fact that he clearly cares about the owners as much as the animals. Plenty of them have known him for twenty or thirty years and wouldn't think of going anywhere else.
50+
Years of Experience
Our History
A Journey of Four Decades
Richard Qualifies as a Vet
Richard Owen BVSc MRCVS graduates from the University of Liverpool. He goes on to work in mixed practice in Oswestry before heading to Newmarket to hone his equine expertise.
Practice Founded
R.D. Owen Equine Clinic is established near St Asaph, North Wales — a dedicated equine-only practice serving the Vale of Clwyd and the wider region.
Services Expanded
The practice extends its service offering, expanding coverage across North Wales and the Wirral, and building a strong reputation for reproductive services and stud work.
Digital Radiography
Investment in digital radiography brings the practice firmly into the modern era, allowing rapid, high-quality imaging to be reviewed on-site and shared with referral specialists.
Arthroscopy Capability
The acquisition of video arthroscopy equipment allows for minimally invasive joint surgery, giving local horse owners access to cutting-edge orthopaedic intervention without long-distance referral.
40 Years of the Practice
R.D. Owen Equine Clinic celebrates its 40th anniversary — four decades of independent, family-run equine veterinary care in North Wales, still led by Richard Owen and still committed to the same values that founded the practice.
Our Values
Why Independence Matters
A lot has changed in equine veterinary work since 1985. Many practices that were once independent have been bought up by larger groups, where the decisions get made by people a long way from the yard.
We've stayed independent, and we intend to keep it that way. It means our decisions come down to one thing: what's best for your horse and for you. There are no profit targets or shareholders to answer to — just our own standards and our judgement as vets.
It also means you get continuity. The person who picks up the phone knows you and your horse, and the vet who turns up already knows the history. To us, that's just how good veterinary care should work.