Instead of talking about diseases, worms, vaccinations, and poop, I thought I’d take the issue topic of “Equine Educational Opportunities” and put out a call for kids and adults that are thinking about a career in veterinary medicine to start thinking more about it.  Currently, there is a shortage of qualified large animal veterinarians in the United States.  The future only looks worse, especially in the food animal industry, but also in equine and mixed animal practices. 

Reasons stated for the shortage include:

·      Long hours and hard work

·      Large student debt out of vet school

·      Low salary to debt ratio out of school

·      Rural lifestyle in some parts of the country

·      Equine cases at some vet schools are not real life situations, frustrating some potential equine students

Rural areas are the hardest hit.  There are fewer than 4,500 large animal veterinarians in the United States (less than 10% of the private practitioners).  Many, like myself, have gone to coastal, highly populated areas that have large practices with multiple veterinarians and can share after-hours (emergency) calls with other doctors instead of being on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Small animal practices have an added benefit in urban areas that have emergency clinics that are open through the night; they may not have to work after-hours at all.  Unfortunately, this has left some rural areas with few or no large animal veterinarians.  Stories of horse farms 2-3 hours from veterinary care are common, with lay persons often teaching themselves to suture wounds, administer medications, and regrettably having to shoot animals that are suffering.

Starting salaries for veterinarians are not bad, but with many students facing $100,000 and more in student loans, higher paying jobs in coastal and urban areas are pretty attractive, further pulling veterinarians from areas that need them.  Some regions are desperate enough to purchase land and build facilities to attract new graduates to their area or even offer to help pay for a portion of veterinary school.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has pushed for a federal loan repayment program to reimburse new graduates that agree to work in underserved areas of the U.S.  Individual states have also considered similar measures.  Oklahoma is even considering a tax deduction for large animal veterinarians as an incentive.  

For anyone who loves the outdoors, science, and the challenges of working with animals, large animal veterinary medicine can be extremely rewarding.  Food animal medicine has the added benefit of helping to protect the safety of the nation’s food supply.

Veterinary practices continue to grow throughout the nation.  There are more horses now than at any point when horses were actually a necessity for work.  If you have an interest in large animal veterinary medicine, talk to your local veterinarian.  Also, the American Veterinary Medical Association (www.avma.org) has plenty of statistics on veterinary salaries and information on the current large animal veterinarian shortage as well as resources for careers in veterinary medicine.  The American Association of Equine Practitioners (www.aaep.org) and the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (www.aabp.org) have similar resources.

Photos courtesy of the Washington State University veterinary medicine program.  For more about WSU's offerings, see this month's feature, "Higher Education with Horses."