Meet the Founders
Three people. Three entirely different trainings.
Most veterinary practices are founded by vets. The clinical side is excellent from day one; everything else — the systems, the pricing, how clients are actually dealt with — gets added later by whoever has a spare evening. We built Atticus the other way round.
Imogen has been a veterinary surgeon since 2000. She sets what good clinical care looks like here, and she does the work herself.
Penny was the first veterinary nurse in the UK to qualify as an Equine Dental Technician, three decades ago. Dentistry here isn't a service we also offer — it's a director-level discipline.
Gareth isn't a vet. He spent twenty years building people-first companies, and now runs the practice so the clinicians don't have to.
The point isn't the credentials. It's that the three things an equine practice has to be good at — medicine, dentistry, and being well run — each belong to someone who's done it for twenty years.Which is why our dentistry isn't an afterthought, why you can see what a visit costs before you ring, and why the vet at your yard isn't also doing invoices at eleven at night.
Dr Imogen Burrows MRCVS
Veterinary Services Director
Imogen knew she wanted to be a vet from the age of two and a half. Pony-obsessed and an animal lover through and through, she fulfilled that dream in 2000, graduating from the Royal Veterinary College in London. Driven to keep learning so she can offer the highest standards of care to her patients and clients, she has completed three postgraduate certificates — in equine internal medicine, veterinary professional studies and stud medicine — and was awarded RCVS Advanced Practitioner status in 2014, since becoming an assessor for equine medicine candidates. Her clinical interest lies in promoting high standards of welfare and evidence-based practice in equine medicine through a welfare-first, cooperative care approach.
Alongside her clinical work, Imogen is actively involved in education and professional development within the veterinary profession. She contributes to undergraduate teaching, acts as a VetGDP adviser supporting newly graduated vets, and in 2026 achieved Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy through her work with the University of Bristol Veterinary School. She also serves the wider profession through the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA): she is a BEVA Council member, sits on the Education Committee and chairs the Ethics and Welfare Committee. In 2025 she was appointed BEVA President for the 2025–26 term, championing her theme of "Everyday Welfare" and encouraging conversations at home and internationally about welfare-led approaches to equine care.
Outside work, Imogen is wife to Gareth, our managing director, and mum to Wren, our feisty adventure-seeker. Imogen loves the outdoors and travelling — anywhere with mountains, beaches, rich culture and history, good food and wine — and the wilder the better. Her next big trip: Everest Base Camp in October 2027.
Gareth Burrows Bsc(Hons)
Managing Director
Gareth is the business brain behind Atticus Equine Vets. A tech entrepreneur by background, he co-founded Breathe, the UK's leading HR software platform for small businesses, and spent over a decade as its Chief Technology Officer — growing it from a startup into a company supporting thousands of SMEs, and building the UK's largest HR partner network along the way. Following Breathe's acquisition by ELMO Software, he led its integration into the group as Global CTO before returning as Managing Director. His business ethos has always been people-first, and he is fanatical about businesses being accountable to the clients they claim to service.
As our managing director, Gareth brings discipline and focus to Atticus: making sure the practice runs smoothly behind the scenes so our vets can concentrate on what matters — the horses and the people who care for them. He loves to disrupt outdated procedures and processes where they don't best serve clients, and his founder's philosophy of "know what you're great at and stick to it" shapes how we work: our clinical team does the yard work; he makes sure that every decision the business makes is put through the gauntlet of our values to keep us true to our dream.
Outside work, Gareth is husband to Imogen, and dad to Wren. He's also dad to his beloved Burmese cats, and a passionate musician. He's happiest outdoors and preferably somewhere challenging — a yacht owner and keen sailor, an enthusiastic skier, and a wreck and cave diver who previously taught as a instructor with Global Underwater Explorers. Between the mountains, the sea and whatever lies beneath it, the family's adventures are rarely dull.
Penny Brownings RVN EqDT BAEDT
Director of Dentistry
Penny is our equine dental technician, and one of the most experienced in the country. A Registered Veterinary Nurse by training, she spent many years as a head nurse in equine practice before turning her focus to dentistry — becoming the first veterinary nurse in the UK to qualify as an Equine Dental Technician when she passed the joint BEVA and BVDA examinations in 2007. She is a full member of the British Association of Equine Dental Technicians (BAEDT), the gold standard for qualified EDTs.
With three decades of equine practice behind her, Penny combines real clinical depth with a calm, patient manner that puts even the trickiest patients at ease. Her nursing background means she sees the whole horse, not just its mouth — and her routine dental work sits hand-in-hand with our vets, so anything needing veterinary attention is spotted early and dealt with seamlessly.
Away from the practice, Penny lives in Lewes and loves time with friends and family, pottering in the garden, and adding to her ever-growing collection of fedora hats. Always smiling, with a sense of humour to boot, she's a firm favourite with clients and horses alike.
