What are the best Equine Schools?????

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lyndaelyzoo

lyndaelyzoo

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I am currently working on my veterinary applications and am interested in studying either equine (performance horse medicine) or exotic animal medicine. I would like to apply to about five schools and am definitely applying to UF (in state), but am also considering UC Davis and VAMD. Does anyone have any suggestions about the best vet schools for equine medicine??? Please advise.
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lyndaelyzoo said:
I am currently working on my veterinary applications and am interested in studying either equine (performance horse medicine) or exotic animal medicine. I would like to apply to about five schools and am definitely applying to UF (in state), but am also considering UC Davis and VAMD. Does anyone have any suggestions about the best vet schools for equine medicine??? Please advise.
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i wish florida was my instate school!!! :)
 
I have heard good things specifically about (in no particular order) Illinois, Ohio, MI, MN, Tufts, and Penn, but, honestly, it doesn't much matter. If you want to specialize in sports medicine, you are going to need to do an internship and a residency after school, and your residency (program and how you do) matters a LOT more than where you go to school. Think about it -- the first 3 years (well, 2 at a few places) are in the classroom, and you still have to do a lot of SA rotations (even if you are at a place that does tracking, you still have to do a fair amt of SA). Then, most (if not all) schools let you do externships in your fourth year, so you still have a chance to go to programs or even private practices that do a lot of sports medicine.
 
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I've always heard CSU is a great equine school...I'm pretty sure they have a residency program in equine orthopedics. I know that the board-certified equine surgeon I shadowed did her undergrad at CSU, and her residency at Cornell. I also visited WSU and got to see their high-speed equine treadmill. It allows them to scope a horse while it's running, so they can evaluate racehorses that are under-performing.
 
I would have to disagree with Tufts being a good equine sports medicine school (even though I believe it's one of their "signature programs"). I think they have a very strong small animal practice, and know they have the best wildlife program. Not sure about their exotics though.

I am from CT, living in MA, and if people from this area are going to invest serious money in sport horses, they bring them to UPenn, or sometimes Cornell. Many people will even bring their horses to private practices before Tufts.

I am starting at KSU in the fall. KSU has a decent equine program, and are about to start building a new multi-million dollar equine facility. (They are also about to start building a barn for the KSU equestrian team, if you are bringing a horse). I know that they have a strong exotics program. They are one of the schools that has at least one (I think either two or even three) full time exotics professors. Most schools have an exotics professor that are only part time. When I went for my interview, they said that within a single week, they had two zebras, a lion, and a tiger in the hospital. KSU would be a good option if you wanted to pursue either option (and they accept a lot of people from out of state)
 
I think Colorado is big on equine? Not sure though. :confused:
 
Colorado, Davis, Cornell are the top 3 for equine I would say, I've had a vet that I've used come from Tufts and she said their equine program was fabulous. Minnesota has the brand new equine center and I almost went there over Davis. Illinois also has a decent equine program. Washington specifically told me they didn't have a designated equine program and Kansas States program gives your a strong foundation everywhere and doesn't track. Ive worked with great vets from Kansas' that do equine/small animal mix practices. Ohio and Oklahoma are other ones with decent equine programs (May be better than I think but since I wasn't applying there I didn't go indepth on my research of them. Tennessee I think is fairly decent as well (was told my a recent grad that they accredidation was up and they have to do some improvements to keep it).

Editted to add: I think UPenn is another really strong choice as well!
 
CSU is huge in equine. I am going to Mn for vet school, but even with their "new" equine building, their entire VTH is smaller than CSU's equine center. Horses have their own campus at CSU. In addition to the regular equine buildings attatched to the VTH. I have heard that Ithica also has a fair sized equine facility. Davis's area cannot even compare to either of those.
 
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Caninerepro said:
CSU is huge in equine, enough so that I left them after grad school to go elsewhere for vet school.
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...lol. You left because of the equine program? Really?

Caninerepro said:
Davis's area cannot even compare to either of those.
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That's a pretty pointless comment... P.S. Davis sucks. Lol.

Sorry just... it's funny. :rolleyes:
 
twelvetigers said:
...lol. You left because of the equine program? Really?



That's a pretty pointless comment... P.S. Davis sucks. Lol.

Sorry just... it's funny. :rolleyes:
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Hey now, don't be downing my school!!! Davis may not have the newest equine facility but they still have an excellent equine teaching program with great teachers, and the hospital has a full equine ICU, isolation unit, NICU, high speed treadmill, CT, Nuc scan, and MRI! We aren't too shabby!!!:laugh:
 
I don't think anyone should take caninerepro to heart. He seems to like to insult other schools (whether he realizes it or not I'm not so sure). I have had to correct him on more than one account about Western! :)
 
Haha Penn equine has their own campus too, but that's because it would be a little awkward to have horses roaming the streets of Philadelphia...

I think the equine campus thing is more of a reflection on the schools location (urban/rural) than anything else.
 
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LLIPPY said:
I don't think anyone should take caninerepro to heart. He seems to like to insult other schools (whether he realizes it or not I'm not so sure). I have had to correct him on more than one account about Western! :)
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If so I just insulted my own schools! As to why I switched from CSU for professional school, it was because equine is so pervasive there that there are some areas that in order to take a class you MUST take an equine class, or it is 90% taught from an equine perspective. That is great for someone into horses, but if you are not then it gets a bit pointless after a while.
I was not disparaging any school, well except those in CA. We all know that CA is a different organism, and it has more to do with the state than the actual schools there. :laugh: Just kidding and perpetuating my own myth. Davis is a nice, well respected school, and I would have been happy to have gone there had I applied. All I was really saying is that as a former grad student at CSU, if you are into equine you may want to look at their program. OK?
 
lyndaelyzoo said:
I would like to apply to about five schools and am definitely applying to UF (in state), but am also considering UC Davis and VAMD. Does anyone have any suggestions about the best vet schools for equine medicine??? Please advise.
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I looked for equine last year too!! Just keep in mind UC Davis and VAMD are very difficult to get into OOS. VA-MD accepts about 10 OOS students per class and Davis I think is even less...but you Cali people would know better than I. Considering there are only 28 schools in the US, they are all pretty equal on quality of education, with some being slightly stronger/more focused in some areas versus others. If you're only applying to 5, check VMSAR to make sure your stats match up/ how many OOS people are accepted...Ohio, Kansas, and Western all accept a lot of OOS from what I remember...oh and international schools :) ...Good Luck!!!!!
 
AidanEvieCleo said:
Hey now, don't be downing my school!!! Davis may not have the newest equine facility but they still have an excellent equine teaching program with great teachers, and the hospital has a full equine ICU, isolation unit, NICU, high speed treadmill, CT, Nuc scan, and MRI! We aren't too shabby!!!:laugh:
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I'd just like to say that most schools have those types of facilities/equipment as well. It's not a distinguising factor. I would suggest going to a school with a large equine caseload.
 
I'm attempting to apply for vet school this summer for an equine focuse and would suggest: U Penn, CSU, VAMD, U of MN (I am biased here because it is my IS), Texas A and M, Cornell.

Just be aware that as mentioned some of these schools accept less then 2% oos students so it may not be super worthwhile to apply to all of them.

I am actually in this debate with myself right now if it is worthwhile to apply to CSU and VAMD. One the one hand oustanding equine programs and top notch DVM/PhD programs (what I am applying to). On the other hand they only take 2 DVM/PhD students a year! Holy cripe. That is like wining the lottery-type odds. Might as well flush the application fee down the toilet.
 
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UPenn, Ohio, CSU and Florida stand out to me as having strong equine programs and caseloads.
 
Caninerepro said:
If so I just insulted my own schools! As to why I switched from CSU for professional school, it was because equine is so pervasive there that there are some areas that in order to take a class you MUST take an equine class, or it is 90% taught from an equine perspective.
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I thought it was because you didnt get in to CSU?
 
I'm also really interested in equine and spent the last year researching at Cornell. I would have to agree that Cornell, CSU and Penn are definately very well known for their equine programs. However, they are also three of the top five vet schools so.... Also, I got really excited about the new equine facility at U of MN except I found out its only used for healthy horses and lameness exams and that the vet students never even go over there. Most schools have all the ICU, MRI, etc facilities for equine, but if you're looking for schools that are into equine then I would suggest looking at where some of the top equine surgeons or medicine practitioners work. McIlwraith is at CSU, Nixon is at Cornell, just a couple I know off hand.

If it helps any, I ended up choosing to go to Wisconsin, because even though they may not be known for equine, I realize that the most important equine experience I'll get is from externships over the summers and during fourth year.
 
CSU and UPenn really stand out when thinking equine (I'm not sure on Cornell so can't say either way)...

In defense of Tufts, a lot of people every where would go to private practice before taking to a vet school because vet schools sometimes have a stigma that its going to take longer for the patient to be worked up as there are multiple people involved as well as new student who may not be familiar with horses working on the animals. And everything goes to UPenn because it's got such a great reputation, so there it kind of sits outside of other vet schools when deciding to go private practice or not (for the owner)...

As for Equine sports medicine and Tufts, it's actually a pretty great program and has a great caseload that hasn't declined as much as other schools. The faculty in this program are great and there are a small number of equine students in each class which helps get you 'one on one' attention from some faculty and possibly greater recs for internships and residencies.

I wouldn't say Tufts is the best (the above three are def better) but just thought I would give some pros for Tufts since it was slightly written off previously... no offense to cbiscuit9 as they live around tufts and knows more about the 'stigmas' that go with the school from the local population, but that kind of goes with many of the schools when it comes to high level equine horses
 
I would definatly recommend Florida (I know you already mentioned it). But that place is amazing. I had to take one of my horses there and the facilities are amazing (I also had a tour of the large and small animal hospitals). The care is great and the people were great. They were awesome with my horse even when he decided to be a butt.
 
Gordo said:
I would definatly recommend Florida (I know you already mentioned it). But that place is amazing. I had to take one of my horses there and the facilities are amazing (I also had a tour of the large and small animal hospitals). The care is great and the people were great. They were awesome with my horse even when he decided to be a butt.
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Agreed! Florida is a great school, and they have amazing equine faculty, and their reputation is very respected within the community.

But some cons are that there are 4 or 5 private, (almost) fully equipped equine hospitals just half an hour south in Ocala, so the patient load at the vet school has declined. Knowing some of the vet students that are currently going through clinics as well as recently graduated students, there were many times during the year that the patient load was so bad that they never has in patients on their service and there out patient appointments were not even in the double digits for the two weeks they were there.
This is however strongly correlated to the economy as well as the hospitals. When you get to clinics (at least 3 years from now, should you start fall 2010) the economy may have turned around to a point people are able to afford treatment and diagnostics for their horses, and when the economy does turn around Florida has the equipment and Faculty to support an awesome education. Another pro for Florida is that even though the patient load is low, the faculty are putting forth a great amount of effort to still give you some sort of education. They take students out to the research horses to do physicals, neuro exams, etc. just to get you some hands on exp.

I would highly suggest applying to Florida if you are interested in equine, they have an outstanding facility and great faculty, but be aware of the major equine hospitals in Ocala and how that may affect what patients and how many you are exposed to while at the vet school.

Good luck deciding on where to apply, its a crazy process, you'll both love and hate it!
 
Thank you all for the wonderful insight and suggestions about the best equine schools. I have decided to apply to UF, UT (due to its exotics program in case I don't go equine), VAMD, Cornell, UCDavis, UPenn, and Kansas State. Now that I at least know where I am going to apply, I guess it is time to attempt the dreaded PS :eek:!!!! Will probably start another post on that as well! This forum is truly addictive and there should be some disclaimer to announce that this forum is habit-forming!! I am so excited and enthusiastic to be able to share the trials and tribulations of applying to vet school on this forum!! Thanks again for all of the suggestions about equine schools!
 
lyndaelyzoo said:
Thank you all for the wonderful insight and suggestions about the best equine schools. I have decided to apply to UF, UT (due to its exotics program in case I don't go equine), VAMD, Cornell, UCDavis, UPenn, and Kansas State. Now that I at least know where I am going to apply, I guess it is time to attempt the dreaded PS :eek:!!!! Will probably start another post on that as well! This forum is truly addictive and there should be some disclaimer to announce that this forum is habit-forming!! I am so excited and enthusiastic to be able to share the trials and tribulations of applying to vet school on this forum!! Thanks again for all of the suggestions about equine schools!
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yay! so exciting!!! keep us updated on your research and app, and feel free to message me with any questions about the app.
 
CSU doesn't have a Equine Orthopedic Residency, but there is the Equine Orthopedic Center which is separate from the vet school ie vet students don't have rotations at the ORC (Orthopedic Research Center). CSU has a Equine Surgery Residency along with many other equine residencies. You can get a Ph.D. through the ORC though...:)
 
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