K-State: The Future of Equine Performance Medicine

K-State is committed to developing the best veterinarians through hands-on experiences while providing outstanding care for animals throughout Kansas and the region, including our Equine Performance Medicine Service. It is critical to prepare K-State’s equine-focused graduate veterinarians in sound clinical management of athletic injuries spanning from the diagnosis these injuries, to their treatment, through the patients’ recovery, and their return to athletic performance.

K-State’s Equine Performance Testing Center serves as an outpatient facility for the evaluation and treatment of horses with performance-related issues. Since 2017, the EPTC has grown to include diagnostic imaging, a farrier area, lameness evaluation, and an enclosed arena for year-round diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Expanding Our Commitment to Equine Performance

Equine physical therapy and rehabilitation supports safe, incremental recovery from common orthopedic injuries and return to athletic function. K-State Equine Services aims to improve the recovery of equine athletes from these injuries by expanding the services we provide to our clients.

Expansion Proposal

We propose the expansion of the Equine Performance Testing Center to include equine physical therapy services through the addition of an inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facility that includes modalities such as: underwater treadmill therapy, pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy, a cold salt water spa, and vibration plate therapy among others. A dedicated space to utilize cutting edge biologic therapies and regenerative medicine is planned as part of the expansion.

Our proposed expansion of the EPTC will allow us to keep horses and their owners closer to home for treatment and recovery. The proposed collection of equine rehabilitation services are currently not available in Kansas. This requires the region’s performance horses to travel to facilities in Texas, Colorado, Kentucky or Florida. This state-of-the-art facility expansion creates opportunities for K-State clinicians to teach equine rehabilitation and regenerative medicine to students while providing expanded treatment options needed in the region. The addition of a dedicated regenerative medicine space represents an important new research focus in equine orthopedics for clinical trials and patient care.

We are excited about this initiative, which will advance contemporary treatment services and provide learning experiences for future equine veterinarians.