Dr. Peter S. Conserva
Dr. Peter Conserva has practiced equine medicine and surgery in Connecticut since 1974. He is a graduate of both Villanova University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. His first two years in practice were served as an associate with Drs. Milkey & Davis in Granby. In late 1976, he started a solo equine practice based at his farm in West Suffield: Peterbrook Farm. He continues to practice from there today.
Dr. Conserva's professional interests span the breadth of equine general practice: from show and race horses to private pleasure horses. He has also taken an interest in his colleagues and his profession on a broader scale, having served as treasurer of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association since 1996.
Dr. Conserva's interest in disaster issues arose from real-world experiences in equine practice. During more than thirty-five years in practice he has been involved with more than a dozen equine emergencies that required vertical lifts or other technical expertise and equipment to accomplish. Working with various fire and police departments, and through self study, he has become knowledgable in the concepts of the incident command system, which forms the basis of all disaster management operations, including those involving horses. These experiences have motivated him to broaden his skills as a veterinarian to include emergency rescue situations.
Dr. Conserva has attended numerous multi-day training courses and participated in multiple exercises in order to learn the specific tactics and strategies used in emergency horse rescues. In particular, Dr. Conserva was fortunate to attend technical rescue training courses with Dr. Tomas Giminez of Clemson University and his former partner Major Rebecca Gimenez, of the United States Army. The Dr.s Gimenez published the book "Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue" in 2008.
In 2006., the fledgling CTSART Program sponsored a three day training course in Simsbury with Dr. Tomas Giminez. Dr. Conserva was aksed to collaborate with Tomas Gimenez in teaching the course, as Major Rebecca Gimenez was deployed to Iraq.
Today, Dr. Conserva leads the Equine Response Unit of the CTSART Program. The Equine Response Unit allows the CTSART program to offer a comprehensive, large animal rescue training program for fire departments, Community Emergency Response Teams and other groups.
Dr Conserva is married to Darlene, his practice and farm manager and who is an avid dressage rider. They live on their horse farm in West Suffield with a variety of young and older horses, two dogs and an ever changing number of cats. Dr. Conserva's newest interests include a flats boat used out of Clinton Harbor and a fifth wheel camper for horse show duties as veterinarian and for family trips. To date he has four grandchildren.