By Payton Tholstrup

Dr. Melissa Luke has loved horses for as long as she can remember. As a child, she would gallop around the house on all fours, pretending to be a horse and dreaming of the day she might have one of her own. That dream became reality at age 12 when her father gave her a horse named Charger. “I knew I was going to be a veterinarian one day,” Dr. Luke said. “What better way to combine your love of horses and your career?”

Dr. Luke graduated with her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, then worked at The Walt Disney World Company in Orlando, Florida for a year before graduating. Knowing she wanted to go to vet school, she moved back to Kansas and completed her pre-requisites.

“When I was in pre-vet at K-State, I was part of the equine treadmill research team that worked with 12 retired thoroughbreds,” Dr. Luke said. At that time, K-State still had an equine treadmill, and that gave her experience in both medicine and research. 

During her time in vet school, she completed her externship requirements at equine practices and took all the equine courses possible to expand her knowledge. “I was part of the equine emergency team and was on-call for any equine emergency that was brought in so I could learn everything I could.”

Dr. Luke is now the primary equine veterinarian at Clay Veterinary Clinic. She is dedicated to her career, and her experience has allowed the clinic to expand the equine services it offers. While equine services were always available under the previous ownership of Dr. David Salava, there are now even more options for equine patients. Equine breeding and more advanced and invasive procedures are now available. “We have expanded our diagnostics, equipment, and facilities to offer more services to equine patients,” Dr. Luke said.

Services include vaccinations, dental services, wound care, lameness exams, radiology (both x-ray and ultrasound), medical care, and basic surgical procedures. “We have expanded our mare breeding services to include breeding soundness exams, ultrasound and sonograms, artificial insemination, and embryo transfer,” she said, adding that she has 10 years of experience breeding mares. She has continued expanding her knowledge about this subject by taking continuing education courses at the Colorado State University Equine Reproduction Lab over the last two years.

Consistent veterinary care is essential to maintaining a horse’s health and quality of life from youth to old age. Basic care includes yearly vaccinations, fecal tests, and teeth floating. Dr. Luke said, “We have other vets in the practice that are interested in adding equine to their caseload, therefore, we are planning to add another veterinarian in this area as the equine practice continues to grow.”