HorseSport.com - Full Article
Equine veterinary medicine is struggling to attract and retain practitioners. Three different perspectives suggest that preserving access to care will require changes from veterinary practices and horse owners alike.
By: Horse Sport staff | June 10, 2026
When a horse colics at 10 p.m., the owner’s first thought is panic. The second is: call the vet.
For the equine veterinarian who answers, the call may come after a full day of appointments, while eating dinner, attending a family event or finally getting to sleep. When the emergency is over, the next day’s scheduled work will still begin as usual.
After-hours emergencies have always been part of equine veterinary medicine. Increasingly, however, the profession is questioning whether the traditional model is sustainable.
“The number one issue is the lack of people that want to go into equine practice,” says Dr. Mike Pownall of McKee-Pownall Equine Services, an equine veterinarian who has spent years studying and speaking about wellness and mental health within the profession. “Recent surveys show less than two per cent of graduating students in North America want to enter equine,” he says. “That’s less than 200 people a year for all of North America,” which is not enough to replace veterinarians who are retiring or leaving the field...
Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/magazine/business/who-will-answer-next-emergency-call/?vgo_ee=itb9xEAbpXVHm%2BpWDPrGyv8f1O%2FMpmeHqSoS3EM%2BfpHQW%2BO%2Bnyiv%3AqLLH0nZ3PSxoRFP3%2F26HNzRa78wzZhgu
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