Equine Summer Opportunities?

[Allthingsequine]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm wondering if anyone has heard of any good summer opportunities for students interested in equine practice? I have quite a bit of horse experience, but less equine veterinary experience than many of my other equine-interested classmates. I'd really like to get some quality experience this summer to "catch-up" and also confirm my interest in the field. Unfortunately, from what I've seen and heard so far it seems most equine opportunities for veterinary students seem limited to 3rd and 4th years, where as I will only be an incoming 2nd year. Any ideas?

 

[cowgirla]

I'm wondering if anyone has heard of any good summer opportunities for students interested in equine practice? I have quite a bit of horse experience, but less equine veterinary experience than many of my other equine-interested classmates. I'd really like to get some quality experience this summer to "catch-up" and also confirm my interest in the field. Unfortunately, from what I've seen and heard so far it seems most equine opportunities for veterinary students seem limited to 3rd and 4th years, where as I will only be an incoming 2nd year. Any ideas?

Check out New England Equine Medical Center. Great facility, great techs, wonderful doctors, beautiful area. I haven't done one of their externships, but know people who have, and I personally have worked with many of the people at the hospital. I will be trying to do an externship there next winter. Definitely get an app in soon if you are interseted in this summer, the summers tend to book pretty far ahead of time.

 

[shortnsweet]

Check out New England Equine Medical Center. Great facility, great techs, wonderful doctors, beautiful area. I haven't done one of their externships, but know people who have, and I personally have worked with many of the people at the hospital. I will be trying to do an externship there next winter. Definitely get an app in soon if you are interseted in this summer, the summers tend to book pretty far ahead of time.

New England is full for this summer (tried to apply 3 weeks ago), as as most of the major clinics--I would try some of the smaller clinics, or networking and finding a GP in your area 🙂

 

[Ben and Me]

I was able to put together 4 externships last summer in late April/May (my summer plans fell through) as a rising 2nd year. So, I doubt most clinics are already full -- most say to email 6 months in advance. Use the AAEP website (You have to be a member to access) to find clinics that accept externs.

 

[Ben and Me]

PS -- In my experience, the people who "talk the loudest" about all their awesome experience frequently have no idea what they're talking about. 😉 Don't let them get in your head! Everything evens out eventually.

 

[haydukelives]

Where are you looking for experience in Washington? There's a two week externship at Pilchuck animal hospital that'll take you and they have housing. The application process is online. There's some stuff close to pullman too, it just isn't advertised.

 

[cowgirla]

New England is full for this summer (tried to apply 3 weeks ago), as as most of the major clinics--I would try some of the smaller clinics, or networking and finding a GP in your area 🙂

Yikes, yes. I just talked to the people up there and they are currently booking summer of 2012. All school breaks before that are filled as well.

 

[Allthingsequine]

Check out New England Equine Medical Center. Great facility, great techs, wonderful doctors, beautiful area.

One of our residents did her internship there last year, and she speaks very highly of it as well. It is definitely something I will look into in the future. Thanks for the suggestion!

Use the AAEP website (You have to be a member to access) to find clinics that accept externs.

How useful have you found the AAEP listing versus just searching for clinics on your own? I'm a member of our WSU student chapter but haven't actually joined the national AAEP yet. Just want to get an idea of if it is worth it before I pay the $35.

Where are you looking for experience in Washington? There's a two week externship at Pilchuck animal hospital that'll take you and they have housing. The application process is online. There's some stuff close to pullman too, it just isn't advertised.

Unfortunately Pilchuck only takes students who've completed their second year, so it won't work for me this summer. I will look into it for next summer though. Staying in WA (or even Oregon or Idaho) would be a plus since I'm a poor vet student (I'm sure many of you can relate!) but I'm definitely willing to travel if a great opportunity comes up somewhere else.

Thanks so much for the great ideas everyone!!

 

[Allthingsequine]

Check out New England Equine Medical Center. Great facility, great techs, wonderful doctors, beautiful area.

One of our residents did her internship there last year, and she speaks very highly of it as well. It is definitely something I will look into in the future. Thanks for the suggestion!

Use the AAEP website (You have to be a member to access) to find clinics that accept externs.

How useful have you found the AAEP listing versus just searching for clinics on your own? I'm a member of our WSU student chapter but haven't actually joined the national AAEP yet. Just want to get an idea of if it is worth it before I pay the $35.

Where are you looking for experience in Washington? There's a two week externship at Pilchuck animal hospital that'll take you and they have housing. The application process is online. There's some stuff close to pullman too, it just isn't advertised.

Unfortunately Pilchuck only takes students who've completed their second year, so it won't work for me this summer. I will look into it for next summer though. I'm from eastern Washington (Tri-City area), but there just don't seem to be many opportunities around there even with small clinics/GPs. Anything in WA (or even Oregon or Idaho) would be a great since I'm a poor vet student (I'm sure many of you can relate!), and that would keep travel costs down especially if they provided housing. For a really great experience though, I would be willing to travel just about anywhere.

Thanks so much for the great ideas everyone!!

 

[Ben and Me]

How useful have you found the AAEP listing versus just searching for clinics on your own? I'm a member of our WSU student chapter but haven't actually joined the national AAEP yet. Just want to get an idea of if it is worth it before I pay the $35.

Well, I never really considered not joining, so I can't really gauge if it's worth it or not for you! 😉 I've used it a fair amount though -- I've found that there are a lot of equine clinics that don't have great websites -- or if they do, you won't find them thru a google search...or don't advertise whether or not they take externs publicly. But, if you have friends in other classes, you could always ask them. Our equine club put together a survey of externships for folks to complete, which I'm sure will be helpful when it comes out w/ the results -- if your club doesn't do this, you might want to ask them to.

Being a member of the AAEP does make you eligible for some scholarships fourth year, etc. Plus you get free subscriptions to The Horse, Equus, etc (all of which just stack up on my kitchen counter!) 🙂