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About Cloverfield Equine
Dr. Denise McNitt, DVM
Denise was born in Lansing, Michigan and grew up in the countryside where her love of horses was born. She read every horse book in the elementary library, especially enjoying Big Red the story of Man O war. Her parents gave her and her sister Jan, a year old colt for Christmas and her first exposure to veterinary medicine was when a professor and 6 male veterinary students from Michigan State, all dressed in long white coats, came to geld her colt. Sixteen years later she graduated from that same school with honors and the Large Animal Clinical award. She was the first intern at the Rochester equine Clinic (now Myhre Equine) in Rochester, NH. Denise then moved to Maine and over the past 39 years has practiced Equine medicine and surgery in New England and the mid Atlantic. From 1997 to 2017 she owned and operated Blackstrap Hill Veterinary clinic a full service equine hospital with surgery and breeding facilities. She has a special interest in performance horse practice and with her Husband Kevin Switzer has operated a standardbred breeding, training and racing stable, KDK Standardbreds with much success which she attributes to the talent of her husband as a trainer and driver.
She has owned and shown quarter horses, American Saddlebreds, Morgan’s and several warm bloods and currently rides dressage on her Oldeberg Dio. She has also taken equine riding tours in Chile, Botswana, Colorado, and British Columbia. Her Saddlebred Midnight Sheik was AHSA zone 8 pleasure Driving Champion and she competed on him at the world championships in Lexington, KY. She is also the winner of one paramutaul race on her horse Spendallthemoney at the Bluberry Fair in Union, Maine. She spends her free time riding, biking, hiking, fishing and canoeing with her husband Kevin and grandsons, Garrett and Blake. She’s a foodie and loves to cook and might possibly make the best grilled salmon ever.
Chris Basford, Veterinary Technician
Chris grew up in Falmouth and graduated from Falmouth High School. He was introduced to Standardbreds when KDK Standardbreds and Blackstrap Hill Veterinary Clinic moved down the street from his house in 1999. He worked with standardbreds until the fall of 2008 when he went to work for Bobby Murray at Pineland Farms Equestrian Center. He worked for Pineland for 5 ½ years between the equestrian center, dairy farm and Gillespie Farms. He managed Northstar Sheep farm, which had around 600-800 sheep, before assuming the role of vet tech for Conaree Equine. For the past 2 ½ years he has been working at Three Crow Farm, a standardbred breeding farm in Gorham Maine owned by the late Michael Andrew, that has produced some of the best Mainebred trotters for many years. Chris is excited to be back in the role of vet tech for Cloverfield Equine.
Chris lives in Buxton with his wife Shelly, their 2 dogs (Baker and Ranger) 3 retired horses and a handful of chickens. When he is not working on the farm Chris enjoys hunting and getting away to the Northern Maine Woods, especially the Allagash area, or as Shelly calls it almost Canada.
Wendy Ireland, Office Manager
Wendy grew up in Brewer, Maine and graduated from the University of Maine in Orono with a BS in Political Science. Wendy and her husband, Kim live in West Gardiner where they raised her daughter Emily. Just a few miles down the road they have a stable of horses that Kim trains
at Indiana Meadows. Now a proud grandmother of two, she enjoys spending time with her family. Her true passion outside of work and horses is sharing her passion for fitness as an instructor at a local gym.
When her grandfather retired from the family business, he purchased a few Standardbred racehorses. Her family owned some very nice horses over the years from top conditioners like Witsend’s Sport. For several years, she volunteered on different horsemen’s associations in Maine to help push the sport to where it is today. She was the Executive Director of the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association and lobbied in Augusta for a new casino/racetrack in Southern Maine. Kim and Wendy have trained a lot of trotters over the years and were fortunate to have top horses like Kerogen and Mr Nice Guy. In their small stable they still own two retired racehorses, Pine Magic and Pine Victory.