Tyler Burdick: Goals, Foals, and Family

Written by Bill Kent

The calls come at every hour, sometimes late at night or even during polo practice. Somewhere in Hunt Country, a mare is about to foal.

“Horses are just like humans,” Dr. Tyler Burdick says. “The baby comes when it wants to. You have to be there to bring it into the world.”

Like his father, Flint Hill veterinarian Dr. Todd Burdick, Tyler practices equine veterinary medicine to support a love of horses and polo. Also like his father, Tyler is a local favorite on the polo pitch this summer. 

“It’s a highlight for me,” he says, adding that he plays with the Rebellis Club in Warrenton.

But polo comes second to the needs of clients and their horses. Burdick’s specialty is equine reproduction, and he is on call even on weekends. 

As a teen, Burdick accompanied his father on a drive to Little Washington to help a horse lay down and be still. “The horse was resisting. I saw my father calm him down, so that he went on the ground safely. That wasn’t surprising because I’d seen my father calm horses and I knew he could do it.”

He adds with a grin, “What really impressed me was the way he could also calm the owners, who were so worried and anxious that they were making the horse nervous. To see my father come in and take charge like that was amazing. He wasn’t my dad — he was somebody making everything better. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a vet.”

Todd tried to talk him out of it. He reminded his son of the long hours, the meals and family time interrupted to handle emergencies, and the long years of study. “When Tyler told me he could give up polo for three years to become a veterinarian, I knew he was fully committed,” Todd recalls. 

“There is nothing more important to me,” Tyler shares while sipping a chai latte on a rare day off. “Not every foaling works out, and dealing with that emotionally is never easy, for me or anyone involved. But most foalings are successful, and when that happens, everybody feels good.” 

In a given year, Burdick brings about 30 baby horses into the world. Based in Hume, he and his wife, Ali, share their farm with two dogs, two donkeys, and 16 horses.

Ali is the former Alexandra McKinley Stanley, a veterinary technician who married Tyler last September. “I used Tyler’s father as my equine vet for years before I knew he had sons,” Ali Burdick remembers. She and Tyler “were actually very good friends before we ended up together. I quickly became wrapped up in the veterinary world, which I very much enjoy, although it is all-consuming.”

Though familiar with them, the first time Burdick sat in a saddle, he wanted to be anywhere else but on a horse. “With my dad being a vet, I grew up around horses. Nothing was strange about them,” he says. “But when I tried jumping, my balance wasn’t right. My timing wasn’t right. I was too nervous. I wanted to get as far away from riding as I could.”

Instead he tried soccer, football, and martial arts, where he learned one of the secrets to shattering a cinder block with your forehead was “not to think about it too much.”

Then, Burdick explains, “When I was about 11, I saw my father playing polo. I thought it could be something I could try.”

Tyler and his twin brother, Austin, were still in high school when they began to dominate the polo fields. Todd gave both sons his blessing. “I emphasized the sportsmanship aspect of polo. Most people won’t remember who won for a week. Everyone remembers if you were a jerk or a gentleman.”

A different Todd, Todd Thurston, played with Austin and Tyler when they joined the University of Virginia’s polo club. Thurston remembers the Burdick brothers as “the best teammates I could ask for. When we all played together, we could arguably beat any team in the country. I could always count on them to show up to the gym to do team lifts, or go stick and ball together.” Thurston continues, “Austin was more outgoing and talkative than Tyler. Austin and I used to tease Tyler sometimes because Tyler at the time was easier to rile up. I think it helped the friendship we shared.”

Austin and Tyler were at UVA when their mother, Jane, was diagnosed with throat cancer. In 2015, Todd Burdick gathered his sons around him when she died. 

Sadly, two years later, Todd called Tyler to tell him that Austin had died in his sleep of an undiagnosed heart ailment. 

“That was the hardest thing I have ever done,” Todd remembers. “We were and are a close-knit family with strong religious faith, which helped. We also recognized and celebrated that Austin really enjoyed his life. I let Tyler know it was acceptable to be sad and angry, but that we should carry on, as that would be what Austin would want.”

Thurston was a pallbearer at Austin’s funeral, and, last year, best man at Tyler and Ali’s wedding. “Tyler and Austin were my closest friends at UVA. Tyler is compassionate and loyal. He is a man of few words, but I know how much he cares. I was honored to be his best man. It meant a lot to me because I know Austin would have been his best man.”

Hunt Country’s extended family of polo players came together in a memorial service at Great Meadow. Soon afterward they organized a memorial polo match to raise funds for a yearly UVA polo scholarship in Austin’s name.

Professional polo player and Middleburg realtor Isabella Wolf most admires Tyler Burdick’s kindness. She currently uses Burdick as her reproductive vet.

“I grew up playing with Tyler since I was 9 years old, and then we played high school and college polo at UVA,” Wolf shares. “He’s always been the kindest person, and very kind with horses, which is why he’s such a good vet.”

On the field, “He’s a great polo player and horseman, very consistent in his abilities, and he always keeps his calm composure,” Wolf finishes.

Burdick’s father agrees. “He is always calm and happy when he’s playing polo. He is principled, honest, and thoughtful. He’s helpful and encouraging to less proficient players.”

Tyler also shares his passion for polo with Ali. She says, “Tyler has been teaching me the ins and outs of polo since we first met. I enjoy the sport and the camaraderie that it brings. I generally play on the same team as Tyler, which is always nice for me. Tyler is a great teammate to have because he is effective and plays hard. If I’m not on his team, it is usually a practice, and he lets me win.”

Both Ali and Tyler have a special affection for two of the polo ponies that Tyler foaled a few years ago. One is from a horse owned by his mother, and the second is from a horse that belonged to Austin.

“I bred them because I think they would have wanted me to,” Burdick says, his voice becoming quiet with emotion. “Also, it’s a way of keeping my mother and brother with me.”

Looking to the future, Todd expects to hand over most of the family veterinary practice to Tyler by the end of 2024. 

“I’m nervous about it,” Tyler admits. 

And Ali hopes Tyler might also find time for sketching and painting portraits of horses, which he used to do to clear his head.

Though, for Burdick, the sky is seemingly the limit and his future as a vet and a polo player looks bright. Given he can calm a pregnant mare, say a kind word to a player who has just missed a shot, and break a cinder block with his head, one could argue there is little he can’t do. ML

Published in the July 2024 issue of Middleburg Life.