The Equine Vet Shortage

For horse owners finding an equine vet you trustand one your horse trustscan be a daunting task. In years past finding a good match might involve multiple meetandgreets with vets and equine clinics to review your horses health and history.
Today in many areas of the country the ability to choose from multiple vets isnt an option even if you dont see eye to eye or agree with the pricing structure of the practice located closest to you. In fact the shortage of equine vets in rural areas is reaching a crisis pointand horses will be the ones to pay the price. Veterinarians vet schools and equinehealth organizations like the American Association for Equine Practitioners AAEP have been sounding the alarm for years that this issue would soon reach a breaking point.

And finally it seems it has. By 2025 the U S. Census Bureau anticipates a possible national shortage of 15000 veterinarians the majority of which will be needed in rural areas.
Sobering Statistics
Taken more broadly the rural vet shortage translates into a shortage of largeanimal and equine vets throughout the United States. Amy Grice VMD a veterinary business consultant in Virginia City Mont. and current treasurer of the AAEP notes that well under 2 percent of vet school graduates take equine practice associate positions each year.
This means that of the 4000 veterinary graduates each year fewer than 50 take equine associate positions although about 100 additional graduates begin internships in equinespecific fields of practice. Add to this the nearly 60 equine veterinarians retiring each yearwhich is expected to grow by 3 percent per yearand the chasm widens even more.
If thats not startling enough this should be Nearly half of the new vet school graduates who begin working as equine practitioners are not working with horses five years after they graduate.
Why Vets are

Leaving
Multiple factors play into many vets decision to forgo the equine side of veterinary medicineand why they leave. Often cited are
Lack of worklife balance
Frequent oncall time
High stress
Low pay
Its important to consider that the more rural the service area the more pressing these issues are likely to be. While vets at larger equineonly clinicsusually in or near bigger citiescan often offer more pay and specific working hours doctors further from equine medical hubs are often on call 247365 and earn lower salaries.
With few graduates interested in working in more remote areas its understandable why some equine practitioners