The Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine announced recently that the long-awaited addition to Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center (EMC) hospital complex at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia, will be complete this fall.

The groundbreaking ceremony for this project was held in 2019, but the construction had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the supply chain, among other factors.

Arena expands options

According to a V-MCVM news release, the Jane and Stephen Hale Equine Performance Evaluation Center is expected to become an integral part of the respected hospital’s equine athletic evaluation and treatment complex.

Linked to the Youngkin Equine Soundness Clinic and the Equine Podiatry Center by covered walkways, the new indoor arena will complement and enhance the capabilities of these existing diagnostic and treatment areas.

The new arena will provide a “safe, year-round weatherproof diagnostic area where horses can be evaluated under saddle, in hand and on the lunge line, ” the V-MCVM release reads. With this new addition, the EMC’s sports medicine capabilities will be increased by the integration of lameness evaluations, imaging modalities, therapeutic podiatry, and heart and lung evaluations.

As Jennifer Barrett, Theodora Ayer Randolph professor of equine surgery, explained: “The addition of a covered arena with hard, medium and soft surfaces for the dynamic portion of soundness exams, and a safe enclosed riding area for under-saddle lameness examinations and upper airway dynamic endoscopy will expand and enhance our performance evaluations.”

Horse hospital with history

Jane and Stephen Hale, the people for whom the arena will be named, were long-term clients of EMC who owned and operated an equine facility in nearby Lovettsville, Virginia.

EMC is one of three hospitals of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. It was created in 1984 through a gift from the late Marion duPont Scott, the donation of 200 acres of land at Morven Park from the Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation, and contributions from the private sector.

In addition, EMC was one of the first university veterinary hospitals in the eastern United States to concentrate exclusively on equine medicine and research. The facility offers advanced specialty care, 24-hour emergency treatment and diagnostic services for all ages and breeds of horses. 

Landing page image by Sharon Peart for Virginia Tech/Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine website