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Observations on Equine Vets

I believe people drawn to a specific profession share similar traits. All the writers and editors I know are, for example, "noticers": observers who pick up on a thousand details of a situation in one encounter. As far as equine veterinarians, the ones I have met, both at Rood & Riddle and elsewhere out in the field,  are a little larger than life. They swoop in, fixing large animals in a single bound, whether it is a million-dollar mare with pleural pneumonia or a colt with a severely fractured bone. These vets are confident ("One time I was wrong, but it was a mistake."), funny ("I went into veterinary medicine over human because patients look better with their clothes off."), and pragmatic ("Look, you can always kill (euthanize) the horse. Let's see if we can save him first.") They can work all day and all night on a handful of peanuts and a Coke, and then go for a five-mile run after they punch out. Like regular humans, they like Monty Python, but unlike regular humans, they would much rather be outside doing something like bulldozing a field than inside on the couch watching John Cleese on TV. They are dog-crazy. They are sensitive to the nutritional needs of llamas. They crave the rush of a medical emergency and the calm of a morning on a farm. They want, need and have to work hard; it is part of their DNA. In their spare time, they do things like get certified to be professional dive instructors, extreme ski and play classical violin.

In a world where technology has made people more independent of the office and of co-workers (and more isolated), these vets work within a herd and like it that way. Techs ride all day with vets, providing crucial assistance. Externs (students) are often tagging along, learning and lending a hand. Vets consult with each other daily, gaining new knowledge and information. Like a band of horses in the wild, they are interdependent.