Programs Offered:

Hagyard Equine Medical Institute is offering two types of Surgical training internships for either a:

-  17-month period (beginning February 2025 through June 2026)

OR

-  12-month period (beginning June 2025)

Program Description

Hagyard Equine Medical Center is the world’s largest and oldest equine hospital in the world, based in the horse capital of the world, Lexington KY,USA.   In combination with the high concentration of horses, Hagyard presents an unparalleled training opportunity for motivated and enthusiastic veterinarians.  Surgical interns work closely under the direct supervision of 7 world-renowned surgeons in both a hospital and field setting.  Additionally, interns are exposed to/rotate through with racing, sales, and sport horse focused clinicians, getting to participate in some of the most prestigious sales and sport horse events in the US.  The Davidson Surgery Center works in tandem with Hagyard Equine Medical Institute’s other specialized departments and affiliations such as The Megee Medicine Center, theriogenology, ophthalmology, field care, podiatry, dentistry, pharmacy, and laboratory for first-rate patient care.  This large breadth of specialists under one roof allows for a unique resource and learning opportunity for our veterinarians.  Interns rotate through our clinicians, anesthesia, and surgery in house.   Interns will also benefit from our Intern CE program, which boasts Practice Rounds, Lecture Series, Morbidity & Mortality Rounds, Theriogenology Rounds, and wetlabs.

Caseload:  We are a fast paced, busy tertiary care facility, with an annual approximate caseload of 6,000 surgical cases per year.  Case type is varied amongst a population of thoroughbred/standardbred/sport horse breeding, racehorses, sport horses, sales work, and some western performance and pleasure horses.  With our high thoroughbred breeding population, interns get excellent exposure to the unique cases such as angular limb deformity corrective surgery, cesarian sections, colic surgeries, reproductive surgeries, dystocias, fractures ribs, ruptured bladders ect.  Additional common surgeries/cases include (but are not limited to) arthroscopies/tenoscopies, airway surgery, fracture repairs, laparoscopy, endoscopy surgery, lameness, lacerations and everything in between.  Imaging facilities include wireless radiography, ultrasound, nuclear scintigraphy, positive emission tomography (PET) Scan, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (laydown and standing).

About the Area:  Lexington, KY, USA is home to some of the biggest equestrian events in the US including the Defender 4*and 5* Three Day Event which is held at the Kentucky Horse Park (right across the road from the hospital).  Other notable equine stapes in Lexington include Keeneland (racetrack and sales pavilion), Fasig Tipton sales pavilion, and The Red Mile (standard bred racetrack).  Lexington is a unique place in that it has a picturesque countryside and also a thriving downtown, located only 15 minutes from Hagyard.

Program Requirements:

The applicant must be a graduate in good standing from a college of veterinary medicine.  An externship is highly encouraged.

To Apply:

Applicants must submit a letter of professional interest/intent, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of recommendation.  Documents must be submitted to: studentopportunities@hagyard.com

• Graduate in good standing from a college of veterinary medicine
• Applicants must submit a letter of professional interest, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of recommendation. 
• Submit documents to: studentopportunities@hagyard.com 

About Hagyard Equine Medical Institute

For more than 147 years, the veterinarians of Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates, PLLC, have dedicated themselves to the health and well-being of the horse. In 1875, Dr. E.T. Hagyard, a graduate of Professor Dick’s Veterinary College in Edinburgh, Scotland, came to Kentucky to treat a valuable shorthorn bull. Impressed with the quality of Dr. Hagyard’s services, the shorthorn breeders urged him to move to Kentucky. Struck by the beauty of the countryside and because of the opportunities for himself and his three sons, Dr. E.T. Hagyard came to practice in Winchester in 1876. A year later, Dr. Hagyard moved to Lexington and in 1891, the E.T. Hagyard and Sons veterinary hospital was built on East Short Street. Since its inception in 1876, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute has been at the forefront of equine medicine. Its reputation is built, in part, on a continued effort to increase veterinary knowledge and thereby improve the state-of-the-art treatments and surgeries offered to its diverse equine clientele which represent international breeding operations, world-renowned racehorses as well as performance and pleasure horses. The original practice grew until Dr. Hagyard’s grandso...n, Dr. Charlie Hagyard, was joined by Drs. Arthur Davidson and William R. McGee. This newly formed partnership provided the equine industry with a veterinary establishment that could offer several talented veterinarians working as one, to provide the highest quality of equine healthcare. Over the years, the practice encountered several name changes and in 1951, after the death of E.T. Hagyard, adopted the name of Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates, P.S.C. In 2004, the current name, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute was established with the philosophy of highlighting each department and paying homage to our founders by establishing the names Davidson Surgery Center, McGee Medicine Center, McGee Fertility Center, and Hagyard Laboratory. Today, this philosophy and practice continues at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. With more than 50 veterinarians and a well-educated, experienced staff of support personnel all contributing a variety of specialties and interests, Hagyard is able – on a regular basis – to achieve superior results. No other single non-university veterinary group in the equine world is currently able to match its qualifications. The talent of Hagyard’s veterinarians and dedication of its staff provide to client and patients alike a level of care unequaled anywhere in the equine industry.

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