The Santa Fe Pony Club announces the inaugural Santa Fe Pony Club Winter Lecture Series. This
series of three presentations at the La Tienda Performance Space to benefit the Santa Fe Pony
Club is open to everyone interested in horses.
Saturday, January 14, 2017, 5:30 pm *Dr Dan Marks will present the second half of his work
on horse confirmation
Saturday, February 11, 2017, 5:30 pm *Dr Richard Patton will talk about Equine Nutrition
Saturday, March 11, 2017, 5:30 pm Courtney Kiser Competed in the Mongolian Derby this
summer completing a life long dream.
Our presenters’ bios and more about their presentation will be on the Santa Fe Pony Club
website. Admission is a suggested donation of $25 per person.
Dan Marks, DVM
For 24 years, Dr. Daniel Marks served as the Team veterinarian for the USET and U.S. Olympic
Teams in Jumping and Dressage and was an integral part of their medal winning successes.
Highly respected around the world, Dr. Marks was a consultant to over a dozen foreign jumping
and dressage teams, and was the Team veterinarian for the Canadian team at the Olympics and
World Championships, as well as for Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Japan, Virgin Islands, and the
Bahamas.
Prior to becoming a veterinarian, Dr. Marks was a professional horseman, competitive rider, and
trainer. He began as a hot walker, groom, and exercise rider at the New York racetracks,
eventually becoming a licensed jockey, and rode races including the Maryland Hunt Cup. He was
one of the few U.S. riders to be accepted into the Spanish Riding School of Vienna at the time,
and then turned his talents to competing jumpers and hunters at major national horse shows.
Graduating Summa Cum Laude, and first in his class from the University of Pennsylvania School
of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Marks became a founding partner of the Delaware Equine Center
which grew into one of the largest private equine clinics in the world. He has had many principal
equine veterinary contributions, and credits the majority of those developed with his decadeslong partner and friend, Dr. Matthew MacKay-Smith. He coined the term "Pre-Purchase" Exam
and established many of the presently accepted guidelines, eliminating 'pass-fail' and
encouraging the practice of taking radiographs as part of the exam, which at that time was
controversial but has now become the worldwide standard. Dr. Marks was the first to devise
Laryngoplasty surgery for Laryngeal Hemiplegia, which continues to this day as the surgery of
choice, and was the first to devise interspinous back injections for diagnosis and treatment of
dorsal spinous impingement ("kissing spines"). Considered an expert in all aspects of equine
medicine, Dr. Marks has had over 40 articles featured in professional publications, and
continues his consulting equine practice.
Richard Patton, Equine Nutritionist
Dr. Richard Patton has been an animal nutritionist over 40 years, creating diets for just about
any kind animal you can imagine, from aardvarks to horses to zebras. He has mentored clients in
more than 25 countries across the globe and was an adjunct professor at Penn State for 15
years. With more than 25 scientific publications, numerous popular press articles, two patents
and a book on companion animal nutrition in its second printing, he has decades of experience
translating nutritional biochemistry into practical application for pet owners and horse owners
alike. His lectures are always informative and entertaining. Patton’s involvement with horses is
by no means purely academic. In addition to clients that manufacture innovative and popular
horse feeds, he is Joint Master of Foxhounds for Caza Ladron Hunt in New Mexico, the
consulting nutritionist for Rancho Corazon, largest Holsteiner breeding farm in North America
and the home of numerous Grand Prix winners, and for Goose Downs Farm, one of the primer
Three Day Event facilities. Patton has worked on ranches as a cowboy, raised draft horses, and
done thousands of miles of wilderness pack trips.
Courtney Kiser
Courtney grew up showing hunters and jumpers from a young age in Texas up to the junior
jumper level. After completing graduate school, she moved to Colorado to pursue her career in
architecture and focus on other outdoor endeavors that did not include the equine. Here, she
fell in love with the backcountry, navigation and getting lost in the wilderness. The 1000km
Mongol derby turned out to be the perfect marrying of these two worlds: horses + back country.
28 horses, 8 days, 620 miles and countless priceless moments culminated into the horse lover’s
trip of a lifetime. The people of Mongolia, their way with their animals and the horses
themselves were an intriguing contrast to the way we see horsemanship in the US. However,
there are many lessons to be learned from their tried and true methods dating back centuries
that can be incorporated into our western approaches to training and competition.