Hagyard Equine Medical Institute announced Feb. 2 the beginning of its Founder's Week celebration, which officially kicks off a year-long series of festivities and events honoring the Lexington veterinary practice's unprecedented 15-decade contribution to equine care.
Known today globally for its deep expertise in horse care, the Hagyard story actually began by caring for a bull. In 1875, Dr. E.T. Hagyard, Fallon's great-great-grandfather, traveled from the Ontario Vet College to Winchester, Ky., to treat a short-horn bull. Seeing the opportunity the area afforded him, Hagyard moved to Kentucky a year later and opened his large animal practice.
Dr. Luke Hagyard Fallon, a fifth-generation practitioner from the Hagyard founder's family, attributed the veterinary practice's success over 150 years to adhering to two simple principles.
"It starts with integrity. We are focused on making sure these equine athletes live healthy, happy, amazing lives," said Fallon. "That starts with an honest assessment of their condition, communicating that clearly to their owners, then doing what is in the best interest of the case, the horse, and the owner."
"I think innovation has played a big role, too," Fallon continued. "We've always pushed ourselves to stay in front of care advancements, keeping an eye on what's new in human health care and seeing how it might apply to horses. This is especially true of thoroughbred and performance horses, where advances in human performance and care have paved the way in diagnostics and preventive care."
To that end, the Hagyard family and Hagyard veterinarians have been at the forefront of a number of veterinary medical innovations. These include the advent of the use of penicillin and antibiotics in horses, developing parasite control programs to keep foals from dying at alarming rates, the use of inhalation anesthesia, fetal sexing, and the first equine C-section. Hagyard has been involved in a majority of commercial equine vaccines used to prevent tetanus, botulism, herpes, viruses, abortions, influenza, and more.
The 150th year will be marked by a variety of activities, including a renovation of its facility in Lexington and continued investment in state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, to name a few.
One of the biggest initiatives for the year, however, is the establishment of a non-profit educational endowment designed to provide scholarships to aspiring equine veterinarians. Hagyard has set a bold goal in partnership with the Association of Equine Practitioners' Foundation for the Horse to raise $1.5 million dollars to help provide annual scholarships in perpetuity.
"For a variety of reasons—not the least of which is a significant amount of student loan debt upon graduation—we are seeing the supply of equine veterinarians falling short of the demand," Fallon stated. "While we certainly want to spend some time honoring our history in 2026, we want to focus on looking forward. Establishing these E.T Hagyard 1876 Scholarships to help maintain the health of the equine care industry as a whole seems like the perfect way to make sure we impact the next 150 years, too."
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
