Equine Vets!?

Question

I am interested in becoming an equine vet. I love working with animals, specificlly horses. Can you give me any tips/advice/opinions/stories?????

PLEASE and thank you!

Answer 1

Like everyone has said, try it out by volunteering or working at a clinic first to make sure it is something you can handle/want to do. It was a shock to me how many times there were animals we lost or had to be put down. So make sure that is something you can deal with as well. You sadly cannot save them all.

Going to vet school now is harder than med school. I would know, I am currently in school to become a vet. It has been a very very long hard road. You need to have fairly good grades and be strong in Biology and Chemistry. You need to get a degree first, then you can apply to vet school. Of the vet schools here in CA, the best is US Davis. I am applying to Davis and Colorado State. I also hope to specialize in the equine science department. It can take you up to 8 years of college to get your DVM, and getting into vet school is very competitive, but if its what you want to do than I am sure it is worth it. Try talking to a counselor at your school too, there might be lots of other jobs with horses/animals that you never knew about and might like just as much if not better. Good luck, study hard!

Answer 2

First things first... try to get a job at a vet clinic as a kennel tech or something.  If you can't do that try to volunteer at a local shelter.  You need to work in a veterinary environment to learn if you'll be able to handle being a vet.  It's alot more than just playing with the cute animals and helping them.  It can many times be hard to deal with seeing sick animals, and dying animals.  It's even harder to carry out an owners wishes and inflict painful treatments on a suffering animal with a poor prognosis.  And then the hardest of them all is having to watch, or worse be the one to euthanize an animal.

After learning if you can make it in the practicing world of veterinary medicine, you have to decide if you can make it in the academic world of veterinary medicine.  You will be in school for a minimum of 8 years, and there will be little if no animal contact until that 8th year.  It will all be books, tests, studying, notes, and big words after more big words.  

When I was young I wanted to be a vet, and after working in a clinic learned that I could handle the praticing part of vet med.  However after a semester in a pre-vet program at a university with one of the top vet schools I learned that there was no way I could handle the academic stress.  I just didn't want it bad enough.  And in the end I determined that I just really didn't want to be responsible for all that knowledge.

However, I found the great compromise between the two.  I became an Equine Veterinary Technician.  This way I get to be involved in all of the veterinary medicine, care for the horses, and enjoy my job.  Without the 8 years of school and without the stress of my decisions controlling lives.

Now I'm not telling you this to discourage you!  I work for a Veterinary Teaching Hospital at one of the largest/best Veterinary Schools in the nation, and I'm proud and happy for (most of) our graduates each year!  I'm so glad there are people out there who can do what they do!

But after being in your shoes, and now working for a vet school and in equine medicine, these are two pieces of advice I can give you!

Answer 3

Study hard and get excellent grades. Volunteer at an equine center and learn as much as you can about them. In California we have only 1 veterinary school and it is beyond tough to get in. High grades and a well rounded extra-curricular portfolio will really help, along with any letters of recommendation from breeders, vets, barn owners etc...

Good Luck!!