Melbourne B. Teigland, DVM, patriarch of South Florida-based racetrack veterinary practice Teigland, Franklin & Brokken DVMs (now TFB Equine), died April 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Melbourne B. Teigland, DVM, past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) and patriarch of South Florida-based racetrack veterinary practice Teigland, Franklin & Brokken DVM’s (now TFB Equine), died April 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was 95.

An Iowa native who attended Iowa State University (ISU) as a ROTC student during World War II and graduated with his veterinary degree in 1945, Teigland embarked on his equine veterinary career in Miami, Florida. Prior to the introduction of antibiotics and most technology and equipped with little more than sulfa drugs and medical folklore, he built a successful predominately pleasure horse solo practice by using his medical curiosity to figure things out.

Following a military commitment from 1950-1953 (during which he oversaw the health of the first American primates to be launched successfully into space), Teigland returned to practice where he contributed to improvements in equine orthopedic surgery and educated others in recognizing, treating and prognosing many equine infectious diseases that emerged in South Florida. Teigland’s openness and willingness to impart his knowledge was unusual among the veterinary community at the time