Kristen Christensen, DVM, cAVCA
Equine Sports Medicine Veterinarian - Biomechanics, Chiropractic and Performance

Some people choose their career. Dr. Kristen’s was chosen for her — by a thoroughbred on the racetrack.

She fell in love with the breed as a teenager, and that was that. She started grooming on the track in high school, enrolled in the Race Track Industry Program at the University of Arizona, and set her sights on becoming a racetrack veterinarian. Every step was intentional, pointed in the same direction. She went on to earn her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of California, Davis, one of the most respected veterinary programs in the country, and learned from some of the best racetrack veterinarians while in school. She went on to get a foundation in general practice and reproduction before finally pursuing her dream and becoming a racetrack veterinarian on the tracks in Arizona and New Mexico. 

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It was during veterinary school that she first encountered animal chiropractic, and it stopped her in her tracks. Here was a tool that could explain and address the things that were hardest to diagnose: the subtle stiffness, the reluctance, the horse that just wasn’t quite right. She pursued advanced training in animal chiropractic through ACES (Animal Chiropractic Education Source) in Meridian, TX, and passed the certification examination through the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association, earning her cAVCA designation. She is one of a small number of DVMs in the Phoenix metro area with this credential.

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Her work today sits at the intersection of veterinary medicine, chiropractic, biomechanics, and posture, looking at horses not just as patients, but as athletes with a whole body to understand and optimize. She has a particular passion for off-track horses and the horses making the transition into new careers, and is currently developing a specialized program to support exactly that journey.

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When she’s not at a barn, Dr. Kristen is working with her own two off track horses, one of which is in training for barrel racing. She also shares her home with two corgis, a cat, two kids and her husband!