Meet the Team

Dr. Ryan Lee is very passionate about the care and maintenance of the equine athlete. While observing Dr. Lee in action during his exams you will easily see his love of the horse and the client horse interaction. His focus is to find answers for you that will keep you competitive in your discipline while being an advocate of the proper care of your athlete. There is nothing quick about his exams, he prefers to perform a well paced workup of the problem (standing musculoskeletal & moving components are separate) to fully evaluate your horse’s performance issue. This pace allows him to be more thorough & to fully uncover the answers to your performance questions while allowing Dr. Lee to take advantage of teachable moments during the process.

Dr. Lee is a family man, when he is not working on horses you may see him out in the community playing sports with & teaching kids. He can be found coaching his and other children in soccer, baseball, and basketball in the College Station city leagues. Dr. Lee’s family consists of his wife of 24 years, Kristina, who also works locally in healthcare for CHI ST Joseph’s Regional Health System. Dr. and Mrs. Lee have three children. They are members of Christ United Methodist Church, and he is a lifetime member of the American Quarter Horse Association. He also maintains an active professional membership in the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the International Society for Locomotor Pathology, the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, and the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Dr. Lee was raised in and around the greater Navarro County area.

Through his associations like the FFA, and working in rural Navarro County from childhood to his high school graduation in 1994, Dr. Lee was very active in agricultural pursuits involving both horses and cattle. Later during undergrad at Texas A&M (BS Animal Science ’98), Dr. Lee was a member of the TAMU Livestock Judging Team, he was the manager of a small ranch, and owned and operated a small business (LXR Ag-Services, LLC) catering to cattle ranchers, horse owners, and exotics all over Texas, southern Colorado, and New Mexico.

After achieving his master’s degree from TAMU, Dr. Lee taught high school Agricultural Science at A&M Consolidated High School in College Station. As an FFA advisor, he celebrated many successes with his students in the show ring and coaching livestock and horse judging teams. But still, after two years of teaching, he decided to pursue his passion for veterinary medicine and was accepted to veterinary school.

During veterinary school, Dr. Lee was very focused and active in large animal medicine. During his senior year he worked in research on equine colic and co-authored a paper published in JAVMA, “Outcome of medical and surgical treatment of cecal impaction in horses: 114 cases (1994–2004).”

Also during his 4th year, he performed summer work at Idaho Equine Hospital where he focused his study of the equine athlete to a discipline of equine sports medicine. This experience offered exposure to many facets of the equine industry, from working with the wild horses of the BLM program to the abundance of working cow horses & reiners in Idaho.

Perhaps it was all the working cow horses, or the scenery and cool mountain air, either way Dr. Lee was lured back to southwestern Idaho to work at Idaho Equine Hospital (IEH). IEH, an exclusively equine, sports medicine hospital in Nampa, Idaho. This hospital, staff, and clientele facilitated his pursuit of further study in Equine Sports Medicine & Lameness. After leaving Idaho, Dr. Lee enjoyed developing the equine practice as an associate at the newly formed Madisonville Veterinary Hospital. After leaving Madisonville, Dr. Lee worked at another referral sports medicine hospital in Bryan before starting his own practice, South 40 Equine.

Dr. Giovanna McCann never doubted she would become a veterinarian. She grew up in her mother’s clinic and watching her help animals in their time of need inspired her to pursue Veterinary Medicine. Giovanna spent three weeks at South 40 during her externship before making it her home and start of her career as a veterinarian. She has spent ample time in the small animal hospital in addition to practicing ambulatory work for South 40 Equine.

Dr. McCann believes that every animal deserves the right to the best care possible. This drives her to go above and beyond for her patients. The most important thing for her to accomplish before the end of a visit is to build a relationship with the pet and owner and ensure they feel understood and comfortable.

Dr. McCann has a dog, a cat, and three ponies. Finnegan, her island dog was adopted on St. Kitts during her studies at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Since then, he has traveled with her to several places including Barbados, and Puerto Rico.