More than horseplay: Challenges of profession cause decline in number of large-animal veterinarians

 

In an article written for Paddock Paper, the newsletter of the Northern New Mexico Horsemen's Association, retired veterinarian Lynn Allen of Santa Fe, citing the American Association of Equine Practitioners, writes that of the 3,000 veterinarians who graduate each year from 30 United States and two Caribbean veterinary schools, only 5.8% pursue the exclusive practice of equine medicine, and of those, half will leave equine medicine within five years. 

"There are only about 4,000 equine veterinarians in the U.S., and the number is shrinking due to retirement, those leaving equine medicine and fewer entering equine practice," Allen wrote in the Paddock Paper article...more