Safety First for Veteran Vet Willie McCormick

Safety First for Veteran Vet Willie McCormick

By Emma Boyce

The annual International Gold Cup races in The Plains will draw thousands to Great Meadow on Oct. 22 to witness a horse sport tradition spanning nearly a century. In addition to all those champagne-laden tailgates and derby-worthy fancy hats, Middleburg’s veteran veterinarian Dr. William (Willie) McCormick of the Middleburg Equine Clinic will be on hand to make certain that all equine athletes are fit to run.

Willie McCormick

Photo by Douglas Lees

In recent decades, the prerace vet check has become the standard in equine sports. In steeplechase, this practice includes observing the horse jogging for lameness caused by palpating tendons and suspensory ligaments, thereby avoiding further injury and potential tragedy on the field.

“The safety [of the horses] depends on professional horsemen accepting that what they think might be a minor injury should be examined more closely,” said McCormick, who specializes in sports medicine. “By the time a vet comes to the paddock and sees the horse jog lame, you know that horse should have been taken care of long ago.”

A Middleburg native, McCormick is no stranger to horse sports. Before attending vet school at the University of Pennsylvania, he competed in show jumping competitions, fox hunted, and captained the 1967-68 University of Virginia polo team. He also rode for several notable trainers, including Tommy Fields and Don Yovanovich.

Over the course of a few years, McCormick went from riding horses to working on them.

In 1974, after a year-long internship with the Delaware Equine Clinic in Pennsylvania, McCormick returned to Middleburg to practice. Back then, prerace veterinary oversight didn’t exist in the steeplechase world. An appointed veterinarian usually stood by during races with the grim understanding that they should be on the ready to euthanize an animal in the event of a career-ending injury sustained out on the course.

Not until the early 1990s did the Virginia Steeplechase Association adopt the practice of vetting horses before competition. That year, the racing committee reached out to McCormick to see if he would serve as the on-site, race-day veterinarian. He agreed on one condition: implementing some type of vet check to avoid preventable injuries.

“That was a big weakness [in steeplechase races],” said McCormick. “There was grumpiness about it, and then the [then] chair of the racing committee, Lewis Wiley said, ‘Well, we don’t want any lame horses running,’ so we had permission and a bunch of us got a protocol together.”

That marked the beginning of a new age in steeplechase safety. Despite initial rumblings in the steeplechase community, a quarter of a century later, the vet check is mandatory.

“If anybody, heaven forbid, was not ready to run, then we would scratch those horses. It’s pretty standard procedure,” McCormick said. In the 25 years, the fatalities have gone down dramatically.

McCormick added that similar safety advances have occurred in the flat racing community thanks to vigilant veterinarians and new technology.

These days, the National Steeplechase Association has a committee dedicated to assuring the well-being of both horse and jockey. On that cool Saturday morning in October when International Gold Cup race day arrives and all those tailgates are overflowing with joy and bubbly, equestrians and non-equestrians alike can relax knowing that the horses are definitely in good hands.