This week’s letter is V.  I don’t have any jobs under U at this stage! If you missed last week’s Friday Feature, take a look at Tourism (Equine).

An equine veterinarian is someone who may find themselves needing to be familiar with all facets of the equine life.  Knowledge of stallions, pregnant mares, newborn foals, growing horses, racing horses, competing horses and older horses are all necessary.  Often if people want to specialise with horses, they will first need to gain experience in a mixed practice (small and large animals).

Once a lot of general experience has been gained, vets can often specialise. This may be in the area of:

• reproductive work
• corrective work on a horse’s conformation (generally their legs)
• working with racehorses or other equine athletes
• surgeries such as colic

All veterinarians should be familiar with horse health, their skeletal and muscular systems, cardiovascular, reproductive/urinary systems, digestive system and general conformation. Long hours should be expected, particularly if working during the breeding season or with racehorses that start work early in the morning.

For those keen to build up their experience in a particular area (for example, horse reproduction), travel should be considered to take advantage of the southern and northern hemisphere running on opposite seasons.

For some posts that relate to this topic on Equus-Blog, take a look at:

• Doubling up to Create a Niche
• The Neddy Wears Prada
• VET for Vet

“Lessons from your horse: when you’re feeling financially secure, let me teach you the meaning of “‘veterinary services, additional.'” – Author unknown

This week’s letter is T. If you missed last week’s Friday Feature, take a look at Stud Hand.

Tourism with regards to horses can come in many forms.  Chances are it’ll combine two things: horses and a chance to learn more about the location they’re in.

You may find you get to explore a particular country or town on horseback as the form of tourism, perhaps shown areas that only the locals know about or you may find that the focus is on a particular breed of horse or discipline that you can learn about only in that area.

Because it can be varied, skills of those working in the horse tourism field may differ.  Some skills required in any field could include:

• knowledge of horse health and care
• mucking out boxes, picking up paddocks/fields
• dealing with people
• local knowledge
• horse riding skills or horse handling skills

I have adored horse tourism in the form of trail rides in Ireland, Australia and South Africa; visiting many horse related museums in France and Ireland and of course studying at the Irish National Stud where you can learn horses in another country whilst also working at a property that teaches others about thoroughbred breeding and racing.  I dream of one day visiting Machu Picchu on horseback.

For some posts that relate to this topic on Equus-Blog, take a look at:

• Horse Tourism in Australia
• La Sagesse
• Living Horse Museum
• Machu Picchu
• Mixing Horses, Travel and Vacations
• Travel With Your Horse
• Wild Coast, South Africa

“We gaze upon their quiet beauty, their natural elegance, and we are captivated. They see us softly, in gentle light… rewarding human companionship with strength, grace and intelligence. As they run through arenas and open fields, past mountains and seas, moving like the wind toward heaven, we travel with them, if only in our hearts.” – Author unknown