Joys of being an equine vet

Impart your enthusiasm, experience and knowledge to the next generation of vets. But has the time come for future vets to specialise at university, or is that still too soon?

Now, I know being an equine vet in practice is not always the most joyful thing – imagine the scenario, you’ve all been there…

It’s 5:30pm on a Friday. You can practically taste the glass (or bottle) of wine chilling in the fridge. You arrive at your final call relieved – it’s only a vaccination. Five minutes and you’re out of there. But no such luck. The owner, waiting in a robust pair of wellies and full waterproofs, greets you at the gate and points through the driving rain to a dot in the distance, which – and you have to take her word for it – is the “field shelter” (a lean-to with a leaking corrugated iron roof) where little Timmy, her delightful Shetland pony, is residing.

You don your wellingtons, stuff your pockets full of everything you may need and start negotiating your way through the 800m mud bog to the shelter, slipping and sliding (and cursing under your breath – in my case, anyway). The owner casually mentions little Timmy – which, of course, turns out to be a devil pony – has been a bit lame, so needs a check. Oh, and would you mind doing a quick dental while you’re here? He’s not been done for a wee while, but he’s only little, isn’t he?

Sound familiar? Your heart sinks and the wine becomes a distant hope as you trudge back to the truck to get the hoof testers, dental kit and, most likely, a large volume of sedation.

I agree, not the most joyful scenario – and it can be difficult to drum up enthusiasm in situations like that. However, most of the time we all enjoy our job and should feel really lucky to do what we do.

In the RVC practice, our job is to impart some wisdom (ha!) about the practical, real world of equine work to students, and hopefully do that enthusiastically. My colleagues and I take a fourth-year or final-year student each with us daily (usually three or four times a week, so we have a break, too). They travel on our calls with us, much the same as any vet student who sees practice in private or corporate practice (Figure 1).

Most students are extremely enthusiastic, keen to learn and, usually, very helpful at visits. They often help with drawing up and administering drugs (under supervision), help set up and take radiographs or scope horses, and are generally a pleasure to have around.

Positive perspectives

I think it is important we try to give every student a positive perspective on the career he or she is about to embark on. Therefore, I asked my colleagues what they liked best about our job, which sparked a discussion in the office and, as a team, made us think how good equine work really was (most of the time).

Positive responses included the variety of work, and meeting different people and equids every week. All the equine vets agreed problem-solving and daily clinical challenges are a very interesting part of our job, and specified working outside is a huge plus. One colleague described it as working “in the best office in the world”, but did add “when it’s sunny”.

So, what are the worst parts of being an equine vet? Again, I asked my colleagues – and the list was perhaps a little less predictable. Being on call did not feature as a negative, surprisingly, although we do have a very fair rota here. However, clients not respecting your time and telephoning at all hours of the day and night – and, therefore, not being able to “switch off” – was cited a few times as being a downside. Also, driving time and the limitations of doing procedures on yards with inexperienced handlers were frustrations with some colleagues. Losing a patient was mentioned several times as being one of the worst parts of our job, but I’m sure all vets – whatever the species – would agree with that.

The great British weather (rain, wind and mud) was also a big negative, although we can’t have it all ways – we love it when the sun comes out, but hate it when it’s miserable. I have no doubt the weather is a factor – sometimes good, sometimes bad – with equine vets all over the world. Surely nowhere has the perfect climate? I distinctly remember digging out foot abscesses and calving cows in 40°C heat in Australia when I worked there a few years ago. A shower was very necessary after those calls.

Specialised streams?

Weighing up the pros and cons, I am very happy being an equine vet and, therefore, try to be as enthusiastic as possible with students who travel with me. As a team, we try to offer our students different opportunities if they are really keen – Figure 2 shows some of our fourth-year students at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, examining horses at the halt in the driving competition.

However, it is apparent the majority of our students at the RVC want to become small animal vets, while many freely admit they are unlikely to touch a horse – or, indeed, a farm animal – again post-graduation.

So, the question is: should the veterinary degree be broken down into a small animal stream and large animal stream, or be kept as a completely mixed course for students who don’t know exactly what they want to do? Other universities around the world – including Utrecht University and some US institutions – have already instigated partial tracking veterinary degrees, so should we follow suit in the UK?

Research by Crowther et al (2014) showed the majority UK population of practitioners, vet students and university staff were not keen for a fully streamed approach, but approved of a partial tracking education.

We do occasionally get a “smallies-biased” student who, after doing the equine or farm animal rotation, or doing EMS at a large animal practice, decides some large animal work would be something he or she would consider. This happens the other way, as well – only last month a student told me she had always wanted to be an equine vet, but had been kicked while working in a clinic by a sedated horse. She had lost her confidence and decided to go into small animal practice.

This type of scenario must encourage the vet schools to keep the mixed traditional veterinary degree, but I think, at some point in future, a purely small animal veterinary degree may become an option.

Certainly for me, it always felt important – despite wanting to be an equine vet from early on – my veterinary education involved all domestic species. I started in mixed practice before concentrating on equine work and picked up many skills – particularly surgical – from my mixed jobs that I wouldn’t necessarily have gained from just doing equine work. I am glad to have spayed a bitch, operated on a gastric dilatation-volvulus and performed a caesarian on a cow. It would, no doubt, be utterly terrifying to go back into small animal practice if I had to, but I could probably dredge some knowledge and skills back up from my previous experience, with some pretty intensive refresher CPD.

I always wonder: if I could no longer do large animal work – for example, if I got kicked or similar – would I choose to be a small animal vet or leave veterinary work completely? I think I would still choose to be a small animal vet, rather than change career entirely. However, I know many vets who would choose to leave veterinary work if they were unable to work with their chosen species and attached owners.

Our profession continues to become more specialised, so should we follow Utrecht and stream our UK vets earlier? My thoughts on this change every week, depending on the students we have, but it is an interesting concept and likely to continue to be a hot topic of debate.