More New Vets But Less Horse Vets - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #139

The Horse's Advocate Podcast

Over the next ten years, thirteen new vet schools will be built and accredited by the AVMA to teach and add 55,000 more veterinarians to the existing veterinary colleges and new veterinary graduates.

The expansion of the profession is driven by the growth of corporate-owned veterinary clinics and the aspirations of new veterinary graduates to enhance their quality of life. However, this trend may lead to a twofold outcome: increased cost and decreased quality of veterinary care. The impact is particularly felt by owners of animals other than dogs and cats, who may face more significant challenges in accessing quality care.

80% of new graduates are predicted to enter small animal practice, leaving only 20% for all other animals. Cattle, small ruminants, swine, aquatic animals, zoos, research, government roles, and our horses are left with too few new graduates to replace the steady loss of veterinarians leaving equine practices. However, the ratio of new veterinarians per horse practice diminishes this number, as practices need to employ more veterinarians to meet young professionals' social and financial needs.

For example, to cover a large geographic area with 24-hour care, two to four veterinarians need to be available to allow time off when, in the past, one or two covered it. Additionally, non-veterinary owned (corporate) small animal veterinary clinics offer high salaries that horse practices need to match to retain young employees with high student loans.

The mission of The Horse's Advocate is to help horse owners prevent unnecessary veterinary visits by improving farm and barn safety, improving nutrition, and teaching horsemanship skills. The goal is not to replace veterinarians but to enhance their efficiency so they can attend to horses needing urgent attention.

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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.

HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment

HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.

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