Meet Surgical Resident Dr. Michael Myhre

Dr. Michael Myhre was born to be a veterinarian. In 1978 his father, Dr. Grant Myhre, developed a referral practice, Myhre Equine Clinic in Rochester, NH. After working alongside his father since middle school, Dr. Myhre, who hails from Milton, NH, believes he was always destined to be a veterinarian. Dr. Myhre graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine based in Ithaca, NY, in 2016, and he joined Palm Beach Equine Clinic thereafter as a surgical resident to work under the direction of board-certifed surgeons Dr. Robert Brusie, Dr. Jorge Gomez, and Dr. Weston Davis.

What is your background with horses?

I grew up in my father’s practice. He would bring me along to see outpatients and cut colics at 2 a.m. When I was in high school and college, I would work there during the summers as a technician. I kept learning from him and when it was time to decide what I would do, I applied to vet school.

We had some lesson horses at home and taught some therapeutic riding, so I rode on the trails occasionally, but I knew I was always supposed to be a veterinarian.

Where did you complete your undergraduate degree?

I attended Ithaca College in New York and studied computer science. It is a pretty unusual undergraduate degree for a veterinarian, but I did not want to go the traditional route of getting a biology degree. Computer technology is now involved in a lot of veterinary medicine – so much of what we do is going through computers, so it is an asset to have that degree.

I still took all the biology and chemistry classes at the same time, and I finished in three years. At that point, I applied to Cornell University and was accepted.

What led you to Palm Beach Equine Clinic?

I came here because it is the best residency program in the country. I have a big caseload and get to work on the best horses in the world. I started on July 1 and what I like the most is the diversity in cases. We have seen hunters, jumpers, dressage horses, and racehorses. I have done everything from condylar fracture repairs to MRIs, nuclear scintigraphy, x-rays, and even colic surgery on a miniature horse. Palm Beach Equine Clinic stays at the forefront of technology with a new standing surgery pit, standing MRI machine, and paperless medical records.

What goals do you have for your veterinary career?

After my three-year residency at Palm Beach Equine Clinic, I plan to move back to New Hampshire and work at my father’s practice.

What can we find you doing when you’re not working?

I am pretty much always working, but my girlfriend is a neurology resident in Manhattan, so I try to visit her as much as I can, or I take advantage of living in Florida and go swimming.

Name one thing most people wouldn’t know about you? 

I rowed for the Ithaca College crew team and while I was in vet school, I was an assistant coach for the Cornell University team.