Claude Bourgelat (27 March 1712 – 3 January 1779) was a French veterinary surgeon.

[1] As an amateur horsemanship enthusiast, he developed a style of horse riding that is still used as of today.

[1] He followed through on this idea when he co-founded the first two veterinary schools in the world, the École nationale vétérinaire de Lyon in 1761[a] and the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort in 1765.

[1] He founded the veterinary college specifically to combat the cattle plague (also called the rinderpest), and students trained at the Lyon veterinary college were credited with helping to cure the disease.

[3] Bourgelat was noted for being an early practitioner of scientifically informed veterinary medicine, which incorporated ideas from natural history, chemistry, clinical medicine, and comparative anatomy.