Katherine Burnett Spokane Veterinarian Has A Summer Job Of Olympic Proportions

If a horse falls during the equestrian events at the Summer Olympics, Spokane’s Katherine Burnett could be the first to dash to its side.

The petite 35-year-old veterinarian is part of a 40-person team of horse doctors nationwide who will provide care at the Summer Games.

Burnett is responsible for the cross-country portion of the three-day equestrian event. As horses run and jump obstacles on an open field, Burnett will be on-site, ready to help.

“We’re there to safeguard the competition, basically, if anything goes wrong,” said Burnett.

Burnett was selected for the position after being recommended by Kent Allen, who will head up the team of vets. Burnett met Allen, a veterinarian based in Phoenix, while working in Seattle.

Last August, the Olympic vets gathered in Atlanta for a rehearsal of sorts, to meet each other and learn what they’d be doing. The Olympics run July 20 through Aug. 4.

A total of 233 riders with horses from 24 countries including Brazil, Sweden, Japan, Mexico, Finland and the United States have qualified to participate in the equestrian events.

The logistics are complicated. Horses must be flown in weeks before the games to allow them to adjust to the heat and humidity that smothers Atlanta in the summer. They also must be quarantined initially to help guard against disease.

There are few perks associated with being an Olympic vet. The position is unpaid and doesn’t include travel expenses. Burnett will be in Atlanta from July 17 to 25 and will pay for her own room in a dorm for veterinarians and other volunteers. She does get free tickets - to the equestrian events and to a rehearsal of opening day ceremonies - “and all the Coke I can drink,” Burnett said with a laugh. Coke’s the official soft drink of the Summer Games.

Workers will have to drink lots of Coke - and the free bottled water - to combat the intense heat in Atlanta.

“I’m real concerned about that,” Burnett said. I don’t like the heat. I don’t adjust to it well.”

Still, Burnett is luckier than some - her event will end before noon each day.

Despite her concern, Burnett was elated when she found out she was selected to be on the vet team. “I felt very honored.”

Olympic officials aren’t alone in recognizing Burnett’s talent. A year and a half ago, a Washington State University researcher sought Burnett’s assistance in a study of stallion infertility, prompting Burnett, her husband and 3-year-old twins to move to Spokane from Seattle.

The renowned researcher was Joanna Ellington, a former colleague of Burnett’s. After a year of research, the pair published a paper explaining how certain drugs can enhance fertility.

“It was my research position that brought us here,” Burnett said. “It was definitely reason enough to move.”

When Burnett left Seattle, she gave up a successful practice. Nine months after she graduated from Washington State University with a doctorate of veterinary medicine in 1986, Burnett opened her own clinic. When she combined it with another firm eight years later, the practice became one of the largest of its kind in the Seattle area, with 2,500 active clients.

Still, Burnett was drawn to Spokane for the chance to raise her children in the country and leave city life behind. She and her family live on 10 acres in Mica.

“It was a real stressful lifestyle,” she said. “When I had my kids, I realized I couldn’t work 70 hours a week and be a good mother.”

As a member of the Associated Veterinary Group of Spokane, Burnett seems to have found the right balance. Spokane is a rapidly growing area for breeding sport horses, and Randy Scott, Burnett’s mentor of sorts, works extensively with Playfair race horses.

Though Burnett set out to open her own sport horse veterinary practice when she arrived in Spokane, she took the position at the associated veterinary group for the chance to work with Scott. The veterinary group specializes in horses but also cares for cattle.

“He has lots of experience working with race horses,” she said. “It was a way for me to cross over” from work with show and leisure horses.

An Air Force brat, Burnett moved frequently as a child but had had enough pets by age 7 to decide she wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up. When she was 12, she got her first pony, which solidified her dream.

“I grew up with animals. I just loved them,” she said. “People used to ask me what I’d do if I didn’t get into vet school, but that wasn’t an option.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo