Career Paths in Equine Med

[apoptosis09]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello All,

Current 1st year here with a mostly equine background (and others but equine mostly); my years in rural equine rescue and rehabilitation are what set me onto vet school.

I went into vet school figuring I'd end up in rural mixed or LA GP which I've had a lot of exposure to (honestly, if there was a such thing as equine shelter med that's probably what I would be aiming for 😅) but I’d like to keep my options in mind as I go through school.

Through school, shadowing, etc., I've had some exposure to the referral specialty side of LA surgery, sports med, etc., which also interest me a lot, but I'm curious about the spectrum in between. In other words, what sort of practice types, opportunities, salaries, etc. fall between ambulatory GP working 100% out of a truck (which is what my vet is/was) and a boarded specialist at a tertiary facility?

Thanks!

 

[JaynaAli]

I’m not an equine vet, but from what I see from colleagues and friends, there’s a lot of “middle ground”, especially for those people who live in heavy sport horse areas. In the very rural areas where I live, most of the horse work seems to be pretty “basic” stuff like wellness, vaccines, teeth, and maybe some breeding if you’re into that, and the horse owners haul elsewhere for a lot of stuff that requires more equipment (like BALs, imaging, etc). There are vets who travel to shows and perform on-site care there, and there’s a lot of big brick and mortar clinics that really cater to the various sport horse crowds and do tons of lameness work, breeding, prepurchase exams, etc. as well as seeing sick patients. I recently talked to an equine vet in Texas about a cytology sample I read out for him, and he told me all he does is lameness work, doing evals, joint injections, and other lameness related procedures every day. So not boarded but very knowledgeable about that topic. I have classmates that I think see almost 100% barrel horse clients, and a different friend who mostly works on reining and roping horses. I have other friends who never see barrel horses or reiners and are almost exclusively used by the hunter jumper crowd. I had one classmate that was basically a private vet for a racehorse farm mostly doing breeding management but also whatever basic care they needed, but she’s mostly a stay at home mom now. And of course there’s also racetrack medicine, doing that regulatory stuff and taking care of the horses on the tracks. One of my friends who used to be on SDN but doesn’t come around anymore is an internal medicine specialist in private practice and she does lots of illness workups and also even sees small ruminants and camelids.

I assume your school has an AAEP chapter? This may be a good meeting topic suggestion…get a few of the house officers or private practice people the students have connections to to do a zoom meeting about what their daily life is like in certain niche practices.

 

[apoptosis09]

I assume your school has an AAEP chapter? This may be a good meeting topic suggestion…get a few of the house officers or private practice people the students have connections to to do a zoom meeting about what their daily life is like in certain niche practices.

I'm trying 🥲

 

[supershorty]

Paging @mkg323

 

[apoptosis09]

Paging @mkg323

Thank you! How could I forget our token horse vet 😂

 

[mkg323]

hi hi hi!! Omg this is so exciting there’s so many equine peeps all of a sudden! As for the range: as I’ve mentioned I’m exclusively Ambo, and I do comprehensive care for a sport horse population so while I do vaccines, dentals, and emergency coverage I also get to do a lot of lameness and sports med since that’s our target demographic. One of the partners here exclusively does lameness and PPEs, we have 2 specialists that are also ambulatory and they have been such a wealth of knowledge, so we’re able to offer more advanced diagnostics and treatments than the average GP so that our clients don’t have to deal with the hassle of shipping somewhere for certain stuff. Theres also a lot of snow bird clinics in my area, they just do sports medicine and will travel with their clientele south for the winter circuit. Next step over would be a practice like the one we send colics to, it has maybe a 12 stall clinic, they have surgeons but no internist. The rest of the vets are ambo but have to rotate through hospital duty. Next step over would be a clinic with internists or at least a hospitalist where the ambo vets go back to exclusively ambo. For those middle of the road clinics the things that factor in/vary are - do they only do elective surgery or emergency surgery or both? Do they have isolation stalls and accept FUOs? Do they have advanced imaging? Do they have the facilities for ship in day time cases like a ring for lameness workups?

In terms of specialists it kinda goes the same way with time in and out of the hospital setting. I know plenty of surgeons that do sports medicine on the days they aren’t cutting, whether that’s ambo or in hospital depends on the clinic. And again, our specialists are ambo but will go into other clinics to consult. As for shelter med stuff - there’s an ambo vet near me who almost exclusively does work with rescues. In addition to joining your SCAAEP, I’d look into Starting Gate. It’s the student version of Decade One and offers additional support to those interested in joining this industry.

 

[apoptosis09]

Next step over would be a practice like the one we send colics to, it has maybe a 12 stall clinic, they have surgeons but no internist. The rest of the vets are ambo but have to rotate through hospital duty. Next step over would be a clinic with internists or at least a hospitalist where the ambo vets go back to exclusively ambo. For those middle of the road clinics the things that factor in/vary are - do they only do elective surgery or emergency surgery or both? Do they have isolation stalls and accept FUOs? Do they have advanced imaging? Do they have the facilities for ship in day time cases like a ring for lameness workups?

Thank you! In terms of this range of having a physical clinic/hospital and some surgical capability, but not quite a comprehensive referral/teaching facility, are the doctors typically boarded specialists?

In addition to joining your SCAAEP, I’d look into Starting Gate. It’s the student version of Decade One and offers additional support to those interested in joining this industry.

That sounds like a great resource! I’m in the SCAAEP but hadn’t heard about that one!

 

[mkg323]

Thank you! In terms of this range of having a physical clinic/hospital and some surgical capability, but not quite a comprehensive referral/teaching facility, are the doctors typically boarded specialists?


That sounds like a great resource! I’m in the SCAAEP but hadn’t heard about that one!

yes, the place we refer to has two boarded surgeons, the reality is that the board is so established at this point its uncommon to find non boarded vets cutting colics and doing major surgeries under GA in a clinic setting, at least in this area. Its probs a bit more of a free for all in rural medicine or in an area where the owners financials are a bit different. Field surgery though? we do that all the time as GPs. Two vets in my practice actually did a field surgery for a sequestrum removal a while ago on a budget case, and I’ve done castrations, simple extractions, and minor ophtho procedures in the field since starting. And dont get me started on what a good puzzle a laceration is - my favorite part of surgery is stitching **** up lol. I do know one practice that does not have a surgeon but does do standing dental surgeries, that are more complex than what you’d do in the field. the the vet that does it is not lettered but has extensive CE and experience focusing in dentistry.

 

[apoptosis09]

yes, the place we refer to has two boarded surgeons, the reality is that the board is so established at this point its uncommon to find non boarded vets cutting colics and doing major surgeries under GA in a clinic setting, at least in this area. Its probs a bit more of a free for all in rural medicine or in an area where the owners financials are a bit different. Field surgery though? we do that all the time as GPs. Two vets in my practice actually did a field surgery for a sequestrum removal a while ago on a budget case, and I’ve done castrations, simple extractions, and minor ophtho procedures in the field since starting. And dont get me started on what a good puzzle a laceration is - my favorite part of surgery is stitching **** up lol. I do know one practice that does not have a surgeon but does do standing dental surgeries, that are more complex than what you’d do in the field. the the vet that does it is not lettered but has extensive CE and experience focusing in dentistry.

Thank you! You've given me a lot to think about.

Now I just have to figure out how to become an expert in every kind of medicine so I don't have to decide 😃