Meet Our Staff

Stephen D. Fisch, DVM

Dr. Stephen D. Fisch has been a horse enthusiast since early childhood. He was a jockey before pursuing his DVM degree from the University of Georgia, where he graduated in 1982. He is president of AVS Equine Medical & Surgical Hospital in Tallahassee, which is the only full service equine medical and surgical referral hospital within 150 miles of Tallahassee.

Dr. Fisch’s special interests are diagnosis and treatment of equine lameness, surgery, equine sports medicine and all aspects of reproduction. Dr. Fisch enjoys helping high caliber competition horses perform to the best of their ability. He is certified in equine acupuncture and qualified in 2001 as an FEI veterinarian. Dr. Fisch has been the official FEI veterinarian for Red Hills Horse Trials, a World Cup Qualifying Event.

Dr. Fisch's passion is family & breeding racing Quarter Horses. His spare time is spent with his wife, Kelley, and four children – Joe, Jessie, Casey, and Zoey. He avidly follows Quarter Horse racing and is working hard to bring Quarter Horse racing back to Florida. He is shown above with "First Down Straw" a Quarter Horse racing stallion that stands at AVSE.

W Joseph Fisch, DVM "Dr. Joe"

Dr. Joe Fisch grew up riding ponies. He rode and trained his Pony Finals mount in 1992. He moved from ponies to horses, showing in the southeast in USET and other equitation classes. Next, the need for speed took over and Dr. Joe enjoyed success on the Jumper Circiut before heading to college.

Joe Fisch, DVM went to the University of Florida for both undergraduate and veterinary medicine and graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine in 2004. Dr. Joe enjoys working on challenging neurological cases ranging from eastern equine encephalitis to West Nile to EPM (equine protozoal myeloencephalitis)to CVM. Another focus he has is the theriogenology (reproduction) side of the practice. Dr. Joe enjoys the variety of reproduction cases he is able to work on at AVS Equine Hospital. His cases include: embryo transfers, artifical insemination with fresh and frozen semen, cleaning the infected mare, training stallions to the collection dummy, working with stallion that have less than optimal semen and finding the right formula so they can have a successful stud career, and challenging neonatal cases.

Dr. Joe enjoys many hobbies and likes to be outside as much as possible with activities including kayaking, scuba diving, water and snow skiing topping the list. He likes playing and watching sports (A LOT!). He loves to zipline as shown in photo on right and has been know to jump out of airplanes in foreign counties.

Laura L Chaney, DVM

Intern

Laura L. Chaney, DVM is a graduate of the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. She grew up showing quarter horses and paints, and developed a sincere interest in veterinary medicine at an early age.

Dr. Chaney’s special equine interests include lameness and reproduction, and she also enjoys bovine medicine.

Dr. Chaney not only has a passion for treating the equine, but has found there are few greater places to be than on a horse’s back. In addition to riding, Laura’s spare time is spent running, fishing, cooking, playing basketball, leading a bible study, and enjoying time with dear family and friends.