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In this episode, Dr. Lottie chats with Dr. Emily Hall, a new grad equine vet, to discuss her journey so far as an ambulatory vet! Em talks all about her experiences as a new grad, how she felt starting her role, how she has developed since diving straight into the deep end and what her learnings have been looking back on her first year in the job.
For anyone considering working in equine practice, those who have had their heads turned by the cushy life of car karaoke and takeaway coffees, or anyone just interested in learning more about this area of vet med, this is the episode for you!
LINK: Debra Archer’s Handbook of Equine Emergencies
For anyone considering working in equine practice, those who have had their heads turned by the cushy life of car karaoke and takeaway coffees, or anyone just interested in learning more about this area of vet med, this is the episode for you!
LINK: Debra Archer’s Handbook of Equine Emergencies
Em’s Instagram: @emtheequinevet
And TikTok: @em.the.equine.vet
Find us on TikTok & Instagram: @veterinaryvista
Timeline:
00:00 Intro
01:03 Em into Equine
05:45 Day-to-Day Life
11:30 The New Grad Learning Curve
21:43 ACTUALLY Balancing Work as a New Grad
30:36 Em Gets Out the Crystal Ball
35:50 Tips for Aspiring Equine Vets
48:43 Quickfire Qus
54:38 Outro
Current Vet is an educational podcast intended for veterinary students, veterinary professionals, and individuals with an interest in veterinary medicine.
All content provided in this podcast and its associated materials is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as, and must not be considered a substitute for, professional veterinary advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Any clinical cases discussed in this podcast are fictional, and are designed to reflect typical or likely clinical scenarios for educational purposes. They do not represent specific real-life cases, clients, or animals.
While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and alignment with current evidence at the time of publication, veterinary medicine is a rapidly evolving field, and recommendations may change over time.
Creators and Guests
What is Current Vet?
The podcast that makes veterinary medicine simple.
In each episode, Dr. Lottie breaks down clinical conditions, cases, and concepts across species, focusing on pathophysiology, decision-making, diagnostics, and what actually matters in practice. It’s the kind of context that makes your knowledge finally click.
Every month, we’ll also have honest conversations with guests about the incredible variety of veterinary medicine, what you can do with a vet degree and how to think bigger about your career.
Whether you’re cramming for exams or looking for a soundtrack for your dog walk, Current Vet will make vet med simple
Intro
Welcome back to Current Vet, the podcast that makes veterinary medicine simple. I'm your host, Dr. Lottie, and today's episode is for anyone who wants to know more about equine practice. I'm gonna be joined by Dr. Emily Hall, who is currently working as an ambulatory equine vet. So we're gonna talk all about the reality of equine practice, especially as a new grad coming straight into it, the lifestyle, the learning curve, the pros and cons of it, and what you actually need to know as a student thinking about going into equine practice.
So if you're interested in equine, if you're considering it as a career, or you're just a bit curious to hear about what it's like to be an equine vet, then this episode is definitely for you. , But Emily, welcome to Current Vet, and thank you so much for being here
No, thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to have a chat with you about what it's like to be an equine vet in the new grad life
Well, tell us a bit, how you started getting into vet. What actually made you wanna go to uni to be a vet?
Em into Equine
I think mainly, , , the lifestyle that I've had growing up. Like, I live on a sheep farm. My dad's a farmer, so I've grown up very outdoorsy. I've ridden my whole life, that sort of thing. And when I was younger, I always said that I either wanted to be a vet or, , a pop star, like a singer, and I'm not a very good singer.
So that kind of guided the path of whi- which way I
such a different
in my...
path
I know. It's like the two extremes, so I was like, "I'm gonna have to go down the vet med route then," 'cause I'm not very good s- I'm not a very good singer at all, so.
So you always had horses growing up. Like, was that a hobby throughout your whole life?
Yeah, so my mum had horses when she was younger. I've never actually had my own. They're very time-consuming, as I've learnt by working with them. but like being, living quite rural, there's quite a lot of livery yards, et cetera, around here, so I've always ridden my whole life since being very young and looked after horses.
So yeah, I've been
Nice.
up
So did you go into uni knowing you wanted to do equine vet, or were you kind of just vet in general?
Mm. I knew when I started uni I wanted to be a vet, and I chose Liverpool because of their, huge equine hospital. But throughout the degree, I definitely wavered on what I thought I wanted to do. I even considered wanting to be a sheep-only vet at one point, which now looking back I
Oh
for thinking about wanting to do that. And I definitely wavered, but throughout the whole time I always had equine in the back of my head, and I started wanting to do an equine, and then I finished wanting to do equine as well. So pretty much always knew that really is what I wanted to do
Yeah. What was your process of going and, like, applying for different unis and looking at... 'Cause you said you chose it for their equine program, and, like, Liverpool, for
Yeah
non-UK listeners, is quite well known for having a good equine program. Was that something that you went round and looked at knowing what, what you were kinda looking for before going in?
knew, I knew about the Aquine Hospital at Liverpool, but a, a major priority for me when I was applying to university was not being too far from home. I think growing up in such a rural area, uh, I would really have struggled being super far from home. So I had a look at Surrey and Bristol and,
Yeah.
down south, but really a huge priority for me was staying close to home.
So it was always sort of Nottingham or, Liverpool, being from Manchester really those were my priorities of, of options. That's really what guided me 'cause I love
Yeah.
so.
How did you find getting placements? Did you do any before you got to uni as, like, your work experience kind of thing?
Yeah, so I did a little bit before getting into uni. There's different requirements for obviously getting into universities, and Liverpool wanted, I think at the time it was two weeks, one in two different practices.
Right
I went to my dog's vets, my small animal vets, where my dog was registered, and then, I just walked into an equine practice and begged for a placement. But I found it relatively easy to get placement round by me, but I think that's because I'm so rural and, you know, farm practices, there's quite a lot around me. And obviously with my dad being a farmer, I found it quite easy to get,
Yeah
farm placements. But it is real difficult pre-uni 'cause you're not insured. So like, I do sympathize with pre-university students trying to get in because it, it's hard work 'cause you're not insured, so
Especially now when, you know, the number of vet students is going up, and I think the number of kind of independent practices, that kind of thing, is going down. So
Down.
Think I- even when, uh, my last couple of years of vet school it was getting harder and harder to get, like, a good placement. I can't imagine what it's like for, like, the pre-uni students trying to get in now. so did you have any expectations that before you went into uni and before you got into vet that you thought, equine practice or vet practice would be like that really changed once you started?
I think from university, I suppose it's quite difficult 'cause when you're, like, doing rotations and stuff, you're a referral hospital. So someone's ... So from Leah's perspective,
someone's sort of looked at that already from a first opinion point of view and gone, not too sure," or, "This, I'm a bit out of my depth here," or, "This needs further diagnostic work or treatment that we can't provide on a yard as a first opinion practitioner." you get a bit of a skewed sort of view. You do do a week of, equine practice, but, the stuff we saw at university was sometimes a bit mad. Like, it
Yeah
like, you know, we, we never really saw, like, laminitics or first opinion stuff that I now see day in, day out. So I suppose that's been different.
Like, the, the types of cases and the caseloads that I see. , You know, I do a lot more routine work than I do emergency work. that's not the type of stuff that you see at uni really. But it's also a bit of a relief that when you get out there, that not everything is falling over and,
Yeah.
leave the planet.
So
Yeah
That was a nice change, I suppose, when I actually started working
Day-to-Day Life
So what's a typical week like for you as an a- equine, like ambulatory vet?
I think it's quite common in small animal practice to do four-day weeks. Like, we don't do four-day weeks. I don't know many equine vets that do do four-day weeks. Consults for me start at 10 o'clock, um, but I have to get to the office at half 8 to do any admin, to restock the car, et cetera, speak to clients, get clinical updates from stuff they might be seen over the weekend or overnight. so we usually do about half 8 till half 9, set off, half an hour drive to, the con- first appointment's at 4 o'clock, um, so we usually s- there's, like, seven or eight appointment slots in the day, but you obviously, you can see s- multiple horses on a yard. But it, it really varies day to day and no two days are the same really.
But yeah, we do five days a week, and the out-of-hours rota at the moment is, one in eight, which is really nice. So I
Yes
surprise has been my work-life balance is quite nice, uh, even though we do on-call and ambulatory work.
Yeah
but I work at pr- I'm fortunate to work at a practice that really prioritizes having happy vets and so it
amazing actually. I think that's one of the best, schedules I've heard for ages
Yeah. It's 'cause we have, an external company on board doing our out of hours every other week. So every
Okay
So I used to do every Monday night, but now I do every other Monday night. And then I do one weekend every two months, which is like lovely. Like when I
Yeah
we were one in five. Someone would just do back to back weekends every five weeks. So it is, has improved, and I think that's surprising. But not all am- not all ambulatory vets are like that. Like, I
Yeah
don't leave the places that they're working at. So
Yeah. when I did my equine first opinion rotations, they were, like, starting at 7:30, 8:00 for consults, like early morning stuff, and then kinda depending on the, the day and whether you got called or not, potentially finishing up at, like, 6:00. So
Yeah.
yeah, I mean, and then they had on-call on top of that.
Yeah
like sometimes I'll go and see stuff, like, on my way into work or, if our last consult's at 4:00 and it's a vaccine, you can go home afterwards, then, like, fab, that's the great, like, it's
Yeah.
you have to take the rough with the smooth really, and sometimes you'll get called somewhere at half 4 and it's, you know, a neurological emergency and, and you're waiting for family to come and say goodbye to the horses and stuff, and you're there till 8:00 and you're not even on call. And that's just the nature of it, you know. Sometimes you have good days, sometimes you have bad days. But,
So what kind of cases and calls do you see quite regularly? Said a lo- like a, you see a lot more kind of low-key general stuff like laminitis and things now, but what are the, I guess, top three or four cases that you see regularly?
obviously apart from like vaccines and, and dental treatment and stuff, at the minute, we're seeing a lot of laminitics. Um, I think with the changes of the weather, a lot of sun, a lot of grass, uh, unfortunately we have a huge problem with obese horses in the UK. People will be offended if I've said that, but a lot of people think their horses are not overweight, and they are overweight. And then obviously there's a clear link between, insulin dysregulation and laminitis, so we're seeing a lot of that at the moment. also I suppose we're seeing a little bit of soft tissue injury, I think, with, at the minute, with the, increases of people doing things. They're getting into the warmer weather.
People are out competing, doing a bit more. We're seeing a bit more, sort of soft tissue strain from, know, push-off
Yeah
injuries and stuff from competing. And then we see a lot of, like, arthritis as well. I think we see it, well, degenerative joint. My, my boss would shout at me for saying arthritis.
Degenerative joint disease, we see a lot of that, I think, just with older patients. The area that we're in, we don't have loads of competition horses. We have more pleasure horses, and I
Yeah
older horses, , and ones that, you know, struggle getting up, getting down, slowing down a little bit, on long-term nonsteroidals, so lots of
Yeah
reviews. Lots of Cushing's horses, obviously that, that correlates with age as well, so we have a lot of golden oldies that we like to look after
Aw. Lots of dentals for them as well, I bet
On, oh, I did five dentals on little old donkeys today. We had a great
Oh my God
there is a lot of, they, they start losing their teeth.
I feel like sometimes they're, they can go really smoothly, and sometimes you just get an asshole horse that's not, like, sedating properly, you know?
Yeah. Oh my
absolute shit.
off the gag.
Oh, my God. When I was a vet...
off the
Yes. Oh, God. it's,
student today
Oh, really? You're taking students already?
shout out to Victor. Well, you just have to. Like, we're a small practice. Like, sometimes we have two at a time.
Yeah
like a piece of advice I'd have for new grads is, try and avoid having students. I love having students. I do love, like, shout out students if you're listening.
But but it's, we're completely responsible for students. So like if anything they do, we have to be able to fix it, and as a new graduate, that's
Ja
So like I do, I would recommend trying to avoid taking them, but I, I had five donkey dentals today and I was like, "I need an extra pair of hands to,
I
mean, yeah
them."
And hon- honestly, he was great. So,
Nice.
so
I That would be stressful for, I think I'd find that very stressful is having a student like while I'm still figuring out everything
Yeah, it is, it is stressful when you're still finding your feet And I also think in the, in the car it can be a bit awkward if, if they don't chat, but I will just speak. Like, if anyone's in the car with me, I will just speak at you. Like, there'll be no awkward silences with me, don't worry. I
Feel like you've just, woken up, like PTSD from rotations when every day,
a sandwich. Yeah. And you're just there,
was awful.
yeah,
Can
Can, I eat yet, please?
Yeah Am I allowed to go to the toilet
The New Grad Learning Curve
, How have you found the learning curve since starting as a new grad?
Oh it was steep It was so steep Like it was the steepest learning curve I've ever done in my entire life I'm definitely more confident now uh than I was a year ago but I think that was always like it's always gonna be the case But the stuff that I'll never forget I'll still remember the first horse I sedated the first horse I put to sleep
Like I'll never forget any of those things and those things stay with you But yeah it was a big adjustment But I think you know it depends on what kind of job take some jobs will very much hold your hand and guide you through it my job was just crack on um you're gonna have to do it one day might as well do it now and you know that either works for you or it doesn't And for me for I didn't know whether it would work for me but fortunately it did so it was a steep learning curve but everybody's very supportive and that's the main thing about finding a first job is making sure that you have the support just a crack on and give it a go job having that support and someone on the other end of the phone when you need it especially being out like in the field on your own it can get very lonely
Yeah
like you've got no one to ask So making sure someone's available on the phone is very useful when you're first starting out But I think hitting the year mark especially I think from the client point of view like now everybody's getting round to having their boosters again that I've
Yeah
so it's like seeing the client even it being less scary I know where the yard is now I know the clients
Yes.
Yeah
I know that one's needle shy et cetera and you know what works for them but even stuff like that like nonclinical work that really helps with your
Yeah
So hitting the year mark has definitely definitely helped me improve
Yeah
Did you go straight into ambulatory on your own and kind of just taking cases on yards on your own without support? Or did you have, another vet with you for a little bit?
My first day I shadowed my boss doing a bit of scanning mares et cetera and I went and did a vaccine on my own which I was so excited to finally use my stamp and put my little signature on there Like I was so excited to do that and that's all I did I did a lot of shadowing and I thought This is great And then I looked on the oncall rota and it was me day one Monday it said Emily said to my boss Oh have you seen that I'm on call He was like Yeah yeah nothing will come in our out of hours is relatively quiet touch wood at the minute Um you won't get anything like cause we use this out of hours the triage for us and stuff He was like Just get used to having the phone and the feeling of having the phone cause nothing will come in I was like Ugh fine then Anyway new grad curse kicked in full swing Out to a colic that evening out to a traumatic eye injury that evening and then a colic in the morning as well Like and all I'd done that day by myself was a vaccine but
Jesus.
the phone to me
Okay
so it That like that's what I mean about steep learning curve But they're available on the phone and if I ever needed anybody to come and help me and I have once said I I need someone here physically to And that was uh tubing a colic I was really scared to put fluids down I tubed
Yeah
I'd never put fluids down one and I thought I'm really scared to do this on my own Anyway it took him too long to get there so I'd already done it by the time he'd got there But I think just knowing that he was
on the way
helped Yeah like knowing that you've got support if you're going to need it but you're always way more capable than you think you are anyway starting out
Yeah
have graduated and got to the point that you are if no one thought You know if people thought you weren't
Yeah
they thought you weren't capable of doing it So
Yeah
but yeah I've al I've always had support Like I've never questioned the support I've had being on the phone But obviously it's just so different to being small animal You can't just say
Yeah
nip to the back and get my thermometer and ask someone that's 20 years
Yeah.
of that It's just
Yeah.
in a car So
And like you can't even really look something up because you don't have like a, it would be on your phone. You, you don't have loads of books or anything in the practice unless you have something in your car. It is just such a different ballgame.
I do have there's a book not sponsored Debbie Archer's Guide to Emergencies I keep that in the back of my car cause sometimes you'll just get called to something and you you've done a full day of consults or you're on you're on call and it's midnight and you're like Oh my God what am I looking at I can flick through that and then I do use I used OneNote on my phone and my laptop when I got to fourth and fifth year when you're starting getting
Right
nittygritty Like this is what it Your diagnosis this is what you treat it with Not like the what's the mode of action of paracetamol Like that's not I don't have any of that But like the important stuff I do have on my phone and sometimes you will just be like Oh I'll just go and grab something out the back of my car and just
Quick
check and call
Yeah
I've never had an owner be like You don't know what you're doing if I've rang and just said Look this is what I think but I'm just gonna get a second opinion for you and two vets opinions is better than one Uh and it's free or whatever yada yada yada And I've never ever ever had anybody be like Oh shouldn't you know that
Yeah
concerned about their animal you know So th y th there's obviously not the running in the back room to go and ask someone physically but if you can get a hold of someone on the phone or you can just research something quickly I would always take that opportunity if you had it just to
Yeah
because you don't know everything when you first start so
Yeah
And it is probably more, , comforting to the owner for you to actually go, "Okay," the, like you say, "This is what I think. I'm just gonna double-check this." But I guess it's the way you go about it and the way you say it. If you literally look beyond panicked, and you're not communicating with them, and then calling someone going, "I don't know what's happening," that's probably not a great look.
But yeah, like you say
I would never be like I've got no idea what I'm looking at and I'm just gonna go and speak to someone that's more of an adult than I am you just say like Look this is what I think Cause you'll always have an idea You'll never look at something and be like the hell is that I've never seen it before in my entire life
Mmhmm
you will You may not have seen it but you will have been taught about it or you can identify some of the structures involved or yada yada yada There'll be
Yeah
and there will be an underlying answer even if it's just someone to say Yeah I agree with you it's just to know and
Yeah.
you're on the right track with things
Just saying something even if it's signs you're seeing that are abnormal or, you know, a possible diagnostic test that you could use or like, "We could do this. We could try this. I wanna double-check that that's, you know, a good route to go down, but the options are there" kind of thing, rather than,
Yeah
know"
Yeah Yeah and then I think on the flip side of that coin is not looking at something and being like That's got tendonitis before you've put
Hmm
jogged it up or flexed it You know there's the two sides of those I've made the mistake before of saying I think this this horse might be have a bit of degenerative joint disease because what horse over the age of 25 doesn't have a bit of degenerative joint disease And the owner really honed in on that and then I felt terrible then when it had something else going on at the same time
Yeah
learning opportunity for me that I was like Oh I think it's this this might be involved as well alongside something else And if you're not sure you've done no diagnostic tests like you're better off just not saying anything because once you've said it And and I don't know what the
Yeah
of owners only taking in the last 10 of something that you've said You know you could talk to them for an hour and they'd only remember the last two minutes
Yeah
thing that they remember is the word you used of y tendon injury or arthritis or laceration of X Y Z That's the bit they remember not everything else that you might like to do or want to do et cetera So I
Yeah.
of I don't know and It's definitely this
Yeah, no, that is a really good point especially for new grads going into something, even if you've got pattern recognition pinging something up, , there's always a good diagnostic route or like double-checking, making sure before you, before you confirm something. But yeah, definitely.
You said a bit about your first couple of cases, what's been one that has really stuck in your mind?
There's a couple of things that really stuck in my mind when I first started Like there's I think the mistakes that I make and I think that's normal the mistakes that you make stick with you more than the good things that you've done or particular diagnoses on my first day cause I thought Oh nothing will come in I didn't have any rectal gloves in the car and then I got a colic so that was I didn't have to rectally cause it responded to meds thank God But I was like Oh my God what am I gonna do tried to give a IV Rumican through a green needle so obviously that wouldn't go through It's quite thick So drew back yep in the vein perfect Try and push it through exploded everywhere all over my face That was my first night on call Literally covered in blood So I was
So
let's go launch the car Thank God I had baby wipes in there I was literally like scrubbing at myself I was like This is so embarrassing
Oh my God
so it's like th those mistakes but then the more people I speak to about it they've been like Oh yeah I've done that And you're like You know just mistakes that that have
So it's
the
embarrassing things.
And then
no
of the particular cases that I've seen is stuff that I feel like I was taught at university and I thought I'll never see that what is that And one
Really?
was a hepatic encephalopathy in a horse Something about it was just like that is such a mad disease process And then I saw one and I'll never forget him just cases like that where you
Yeah
You know the first time you see one is a massive shock and you're like Oh my God that is the textbook said that that would present and the history that he had And
Seen this before?
Yeah now now I see one and I'm like Oh yes I have seen
Yeah.
You have to see it before you know. And it's kind of back to what you said about just like you, you do know the theory, but you kind of have to go through the motion of doing it yourself, and
Yeah
time doing it, it's like when you've learnt to drive a car and then suddenly you're allowed to drive without a driver, you feel like you're naked, and that it's illegal, and you shouldn't be allowed to be driving on your own.
And, and then suddenly you are. , And it's just, yeah, like you say, getting comfortable
like the first time I sedated a horse by myself I was like There's no one here to There's
To tell me if it's right. To say like, "Oh yeah, you've done the right thing," and you're like, "Oh."
oh yeah that's definitely the vein and not the artery and you can
Ja
needle and the right sedation Like no one tells you There's no one there You just But the more you do the more you get And especially like in equine I mean like everything's guesswork when it comes to weights and doses and stuff You know we
Ja
We have a weigh tape that's very inaccurate So you're just just trying your best
ACTUALLY Balancing Work as a New Grad
So you said before you have found that your work-life balance has been much better than you expected. , What kind of things do you enjoy doing outside work, and, do you find that you're able to have a good social life?
Yeah So I think especially since the out of hours has changed to a one in eight like my weekends are a lot more free and I think working out of hours weekends makes me value my free weekends so much more
Hmm
and I do all the things I can't do when I'm on call so like have a little drink or go out of area Like it feels really exciting to like be able to leave the area but yeah the main thing that I do outside of work that like keeps me zen is going to the gym Like it's always been something that I've done since being 14 and throughout exams throughout uni It was massive for helping me with my stress and stuff and I still try and do that as much as I can really But also if I've had a really stressful day and I just have want to sit and watch film then just do that You know it's sort
Yeah
myself and what I need of helps me stay because I'm very conscious of burnout and I think
Yeah
I probably did experience a little bit of burnout at the start of my career cause I think I got all excited and went all guns blazing and then all of a sudden I was like This is not a sustainable way to practice And now I think I've got a better routine and I try and do more things outside of work and you know set more work boundaries et cetera as
Yeah
and now I feel like I've got a much healthier relationship with work
Yeah
It is interesting, I think almost everyone I've spoken to for this podcast has said when they were new grads, they got very excited, they went a bit crazy, they took everything. Like, they ... I think it's also you just, you wanna do what you spent so long training for. You wanna be a vet, you wanna get in and learn as quickly as possible, and the learning curve is shit, so you wanna learn as quick as possible to get out of the, out of the shit, basically.
But l- literally everyone I've spoken to has said, "Yeah, I think after a year or so of being in practice, and, like, that first year out, it was just too much, and you had to kind of pull back a bit and, and find a better balance." But do you have any recommendations for maintaining good boundaries or, like, approaches you have to work to make sure that you're still prioritizing yourself?
Yeah I suppose it's difficult isn't it Like setting boundaries cause I feel like if I had an office job I would say I won't stay past 500 But you know it's not the
Yeah
that we're in you know technically if I'm sat in the office at 500 I do go home but if you're out on a call you can't just drop all your instruments midsurgery and go Right that's me At 500 I'm out So I think really enjoying the time that you have when you're off and and taking the rough with the smooth and sure you prioritize yourself when you're not working But my work's quite good cause we've we've now got scheduled lunch breaks which I think it like People other vets hearing this will be like Oh my God that is the best thing ever
I might be applying for your job soon
I know I know I know so that was great That's a recent development at work cause we you know flagged you know things are getting busy and the
Yeah
busy and not being able to stop for a wee in the day is just like not ideal
Yeah
So we're like scheduled a little lunch and wee break but also another thing I've did is I had my I have a work phone and a personal phone
Nice
into my personal phone for the longest time I went on holiday and I was checking my work email I just And I replied to work emails I was on a cruise in Greece And I w and I just And I
Fancy
What are you doing And I was like
But your work pointed out, miss being in Europe
and my colleague was like Do you take your work phone on holiday And I was like No And she was like Why were you replying to emails then And I was like I have my email logged on on my personal phone And she was like You shouldn't do that And I was like You're so right I shouldn't do that So I went on holiday last week and I logged out my work phone oout of me email on my personal phone and I think that's the most relaxed I've actually genuinely felt since starting work nearly a year ago is when I actually was like Right Noem like
Yeah
cases will be dealt with while you're away Cause even I'd be checking like blood results of horses of bloods that I'd taken
Yeah
general screens had come in or seeing you know what the results were and stuff And know it really does take over your life Like being a vet does take over your life
Yeah
but I try and not let it but
it's
know
you can check those
my
things. Yeah, and you can check those things, and it's because you care and because you want it to do well, and you wanna make sure that everything's okay. But it's also, like, like you say, you're a cruise in Greece. What are you supposed to do if it's not?
Yeah like I
you kind
of
airlift
myself out of
sorry, guys. I, a horse needs me. We're going back. Like,
horse has got Cushings
but it's like you, you check because you care, because you wanna do a good job,
is
but actually you end up not relaxing. You end up stressed 'cause
Yeah
something's happened that you, you kind of end up blaming yourself for. And then on top of it, you can't do anything to fix it or to help because
like
you know it works.
So it's, yeah.
Is definitely a a boundary to set I think is that like I always I think I read something and it and they said when people ask what they do they don't say I am a vet they say I work as a vet Because I think we get so embodied of being a vet and it kinda takes over our life Whereas by saying I work as a vet When I work I'm a vet but please don't ask me about your dog while I'm sat in a beer garden I don't
Ja
Like that's why I have in my bio I don't know what's wrong with your dog Like please don't ask me
let's see, while you're here,
don't ask me
just look at him.
Yeah
Do you get a...
spoken in 10 years since you left
Oh my God, yeah.
my dog has got a limp
I get so many DMs like Please can you look at my horse I think it's lame And I'm like Let me get out my crystal ball for you By diagnosis over Instagram
literally.
But yeah I think the the the main boundary you can set is just by trying to leave work at work and I think I really struggled with that originally I remember
Yeah
my bedroom floor writing out all my ongoing cases that I hadn't fixed yet and I was on like month one And now I'm so much more accepting of ongoing cases
Yeah
stuff You know laminitis can take months and months and usually it's out of my control It's usually because I've said This horse needs to be on a strict diet and they're like Oh but he looks hungry He needs a carrot And I'm like You just set us back a week So I think just being more accepting of not everything's in your control and don't work when you're not in work
Yeah No, definitely. And how do you kind of prepare yourself? Do you do anything to set up for the work week or the work day, like packing the car and things like that, to make sure that you're prepared and you're not spending ages kind of faffing about around the work day?
Yeah so th the most boring part of we do it every two weeks but it's actually a godsend is doing stock checks it is a ball ache but knowing what's in the car is so important Uh we we went a couple of weeks we we had a couple of vets off in in a row so we didn't do a stock check for ages and I was like I've just got no idea what's in the car So making sure you keep on top of what stock you've actually got in the car and what's in the practice and what you want as well asked for certain drugs to come in to come into my car that we've not had in the practice because it's what I got taught to use and it's what I'm now comfortable with using So making sure you stay stocked up And also one of the best things I've done is make like little premade boxes of stuff So like I have all my ophthalmology stuff in one box Arguably one of my most important boxes in emergency is my killing box which is like not a nice way to put it but like that is what it is Catheters small needles for blebbing Somulos uh syringes You know in an emergency if you're like This needs to happen now
Yeah
catheters are with my surgical kit and those needles are at the back of my van and those syringes are over there or whatever Like everything is there that you need I think that's really important So I have I have my colic box with my tubes and a jug and a funnel and and stuff like that and then my little dental kits
Yeah
I think equine vets get a good reputation it's probably well deserved for having messy cars but usually they're a very organized mess and you do know where everything is if you need it in an emergency I think that's
Yeah
to be able to act quickly if it's required
Em Gets Out the Crystal Ball
I wanna talk about your kind of future plans and, , going forward what you think you might do as a, like, obviously you're a new grad now, so your whole career. Do you think you're gonna stay in ambulatory and stay in equine?
I would like to think that I would stay in ambulatory equine I really enjoy emergency work and I've never really enjoyed the thought of standing in a theater all day long I didn't really
Mmhmm
about smallies Like don't get me wrong I miss the surgical aspect we don't do a lot of surgery in equine
Yeah
in smallies and even LDA corrections and stuff in cattle You probably get more surgical experience in cattle as well but I'd like to think I'd stay working with horses I suppose the only thing I do think about is when I want a family I find myself in health compromising positions more regularly than I would like and I do about that when I'm pregnant
Yeah
I do It that is something I think about I'm nowhere like I'm nowhere near that but i that is something that I think about But you could get mauled by a German Shepherd in smallies or kicked sideways by a cow You know it's there's
Yeah
every aspect of our profession but it's something that I think about I would like to say like my passion is with horses You know I've I've thought about doing other things and
Yeah
My head said to go and do smallies but my heart said go and do horses so went and did horses
Yeah
I'd like to think that I will s that I will stick with it yeah It's what I enjoy so
Yeah
I did not realize that basically to do the surgical aspect of equine practice, you have to have further training, like internship or, or residency to do that. What is that process like for anyone who may be interested in doing equine surgery?
Yeah So you'd have to do usually I think you have to do an internship to get onto a residency internships are usually a year I think the Leahurst one's like 13 months Some are two years I think the one in Newmarket is two years And then you go on to do a residency and I'm not entirely sure how long they are I think they're three or four years specializing in surgical residency it's very very competitive to get onto then yeah you can do certificates and stuff in certain areas as well But I've not done that much research to be honest into going into specialized like work cause it's never really been something that particularly wanted to do I wouldn't rule it out down the line Like I wouldn't rule out an internship But at the minute it's not really something that I would see myself doing in the immediate future But yeah there is definitely You can't just go and be a surgeon Like the colic surgery is so complex and
Yeah
the the people doing the surgeries at Leahurst are you know European specialists that have done X Y Z and got 40000 letters after their name So definitely a a rigorous
Yeah
process to get there
And it makes sense, like I know why like horse surgery is not, , easy. It's not like something to take lightly, but I was just, I don't know, I think because the rest of vet practice is once you've got your degree, you are able to do surgery. Whether you feel comfortable and confident is kind of another matter.
You are, legally able to do it if you want, even in farm, even in
Yeah
animal, whatever practice you choose, and then I, yeah, I was just surprised that equine was different, but I mean, it does make sense. And especially, like a lot of horses are incredibly valuable, animals, which makes a huge, huge difference I think
Yes Yeah I think there's definitely a lot of training that goes into doing stuff like colic surgeries and I just couldn't
Yeah
I wouldn't even know where to start really So the people that do that are are real top of the
Ja
legends
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Have you ever thought about, , opening your own practice or your own ambulatory service?
I think everybody would like to have their own name on top of the door I feel like a lot of vets would like that I don't know whether it the way that vet med as a profession is moving how achievable it would be to open up my own practice But I don't know I'm I'm really happy where I am at the minute so but never
Yeah.
I guess But
Yeah. What areas are your favorite at the moment? Like, what's the, the top things that you really enjoy at the moment?
Emergency work is definitely one of my favorites I think it's where you see the most variety of cases Like don't get me wrong some things I get a call and I'm terrified but I think it's the most rewarding work I think when you you do we do so much routine as well I think people forget how much routine work we actually do Like today I did just vaccines all morning and then five donkey dentals and vaccines and you know I've done all routines today so I think getting the variety and the caseload and I think that's where I find that I learn the most as well about my capabilities and stuff that I've not seen or done before And you know getting to do suturing a bit of a wound or practicing bandaging et cetera I think and it probably comes with an element of not being able to do much surgery I suppose Probably do more surgery in an emergency setting with lacerations and stuff like that But
Yeah
yeah definitely em emergency work is my kind of work
Tips for Aspiring Equine Vets
equine. So for anyone who's interested in getting into the area,
what are, I guess, the top three things that students looking to get into equine practice should know?
I suppose I don't know maybe this might be quite obvious to people but it's very physical it's very You know you're handling big animals and at the end of the day of them like the vet every time we go it's because we've got a needle or something that they're not gonna want to experience and you know you're han handling young horses and I think it's a lot more physical than I anticipated Um it's very unpredictable You know you can go and look at your diary and be like Okay like today Vaccine vaccine vaccine vaccine dental dental dental You've just sedated a donkey for a dental All of a sudden something's thrashing rolling around on the floor and you're like I've gotta go you know And that's an uncomfortable conversation to have with a client and I actually put a video out recently thank you to anybody that's ever moved a routine appointment while we've had to attend an emergency cause obviously they have to take priority over your
Yeah
in two weeks You know we can come and do that in a couple of hours this horse that's colicking might have a lifethreatening disease
Yeah
And getting used to difficult conversations with people There's only so much role play can prepare you with actually speaking to someone actually having a a traumatic event happen while an owner's on holiday Like I've had that and y y you know there's only so much role play can prepare you for the difficult conversations that you have with owners I think getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is quite a big
Yeah
when it comes to It's That probably applies to all medicine but you know you do have difficult conversations because horses just love to do stupid shit for
shit.
of a better Mm jumping fences headfirst you know rolypolies down a hill You name it they'll do it so It's You get yourselves in some unpredictable challenging situations sometimes so
Yeah
I don't know how many people I've actually told this, but I was always kind of a bit scared of horses when I was growing up. I feel like they're just big animals, and I did not grow up around horses. So I was just, I mean, yeah, I think we're all, we're all laughing.
But I was literally, I had no experience with horses. I was thinking of going to vet school. I was like, "I, I might not wanna work with horses, but I need to know how to be around them for vet school at least." So I went and started doing, like, Saturday mornings at my local stables, and oh my God, like, I can...
I actually really enjoyed it in the end, and it was fun, and it was a really good experience for, like, getting used to horses. Just, like, I didn't ride or anything, but just being around them in the stables and, like, m- moving them around and things like that I think was really good, , just practice and habituation.
But I remember this one time I was paddock picking, and this horse followed me, like, around the whole paddock. He just, everywhere I went, he followed. And then, oh my God, he, like, sneezed, smacked the top of my head with, the bottom of his, jaw. I was, like, concussed. I was... Oh my God, it was,
Yeah
you know, when you just go, "Ah-choo," he literally went like that and smacked the top of my head, and I was, like, dazed.
I, I, I semi-concussed and literally like, "Oh, my God, what just happened?" I got home just to, like, round everything off, this was at, like, maybe 9:00 in the morning, and I finished around 1:00 PM. Got home. I used to walk home 'cause it was, like, in my village, 10, 15 minute walk away. Got home, and I realized there was this massive clump of horse snot in my
Oh no Oh no No
And it must have been there all morning,
it's the worst
and it was like, like, oh. But I was taking my hair out, and I put my hand in this, like, ugh.
Oh no
that it was this big clump of horse snot. Big...
like
just big stupid dogs."
think we're wise to be a little bit afraid of them I mean at
Oh, for sure
f s five 600 kilograms You know I
Yeah
get too confident that's how you get injured You know that's how
Yeah
At the end of the day they're massive animals Like they've got instincts and
Yeah
as well so their instinct is flight And if you are in the way of that flight they don't really care
Yeah
it's sensible to of the back legs be wary of the teeth You know
Ja
to where they can get you not getting in confined spaces with them
Yeah
now that we wear hats with all of our patients that's come in recently in the last six months because we just
Yeah
everybody either had injury or a near miss And it's so normalized in our line of work to get injured at work and
Yeah
Uh like I don't see why we should go to work every day and and worry that we might break a finger because regularly I think I just nearly broke my finger doing
yeah well it's just like holding lead ropes and stuff and them rearing up and you use a lot of needles and you're trying to handle Sometimes you're
Yeah
horse while you're trying to treat stuff and you try and be a bit of a hero sometimes and it's not worth losing a finger
Yeah
so definitely like when I walk behind a horse, ,
say I'm a student, looking to get into equine, what kind of placements should I be looking to do?
So I think obviously if you want to go it's really useful to go to ambulatory practices obviously I'd try and go to as many as you can even different practices under the same corporate umbrella very differently I think there's differences between independent and corporate practices I work for an independent and I think we do things quite differently to some of my colleagues I've spoken to at corporates I think doing referral level work is still very interesting because like circling back to when I said about you know the referral level cases that we saw at university whenever I refer a horse now for colic surgery you know having that referral level work in my back pocket makes me think Okay I actually know what's gonna happen when I refer that horse in so it's good to
Yeah
of you know someone's seen that
Mm-hmm.
needs referral work and you you know you see both sides of the coin then and I think it's really useful to to know that
Yeah, definitely. ,
I think w what's important when when you're on placement and looking at returning to placement or even when you get to the later years of of when you're doing clinical EMS and thinking Okay maybe is this somewhere I'm gonna send my CV how they treat you when you're a student and how they
Yeah
as well is really important having a chat with the new grads trying to go out with the new grads Like I'll always say if someone comes out with me in the car I'm like Yeah I'll tell you what it's really like You know getting to chat to people that remember what it's like to be a student I'm sure
Yeah
what it's like to be a student but I definitely sympathize with the people that come and give up their summers and you know they're not getting paid and they just can't do a lot you
Yeah
so I think how you get treated as a student and and how they treat their new grads as well is is really important when you're considering potentially applying for jobs there in the long run
Yeah. No, definitely. On your little mention of job applications, is there, anything that you would recommend for standing out a little bit in your job application? I mean, my perspective of it when I was in vet school was that equine, a good equine job, and even, , a good farm job or a good mixed job are really competitive because they're just
Yeah
kind of a, a bit of a dying practice, but or there's just less and less of them compared to GP and small Es.
What could you,
comparators yeah
yeah, what could you say in terms of, , just trying to stand out a little bit more or get ahead of, of that competition?
I think one of the main things and it probably applies to most applications but just making sure your your personality and your people skills really come through there's a lot of challenging conversations and people skills that go into it and you'll find yourself using the same lines and the same small talk over and over and being able to diffuse situations I think really letting your personality come through because at the end of the day everybody that's there you know no one cares about your A levels or your GCSEs at that point everybody's got the degree and no one really cares whether you got a merit a distinction or you just passed like you've got the degree Everybody that's applied for it has got the degree so I think it's you as a person and you know proving that you would fit in with the team I think I saw something about you know you walk through the office to the back for your interview and you you say hello to all the office team and you know potential members of your team cause it's not just the vets the admin staff and nurses are the absolute backbone of a practice So I think probably offering to make everyone a brew and making sure you have a good personality and that you show you would fit in with the team is one of the most important things because have the practical skills and you have the degree you have the knowledge So it's I think it's just proving that you would fit in with their team probably the most important thing for me if I was to have my time again at an interview
Yeah. No, definitely. You can learn theory and you could kind of learn on the job once you start and you're expected to not know everything. But having social people skills and knowing how to, like you say, talk to clients, talk to your colleagues is invaluable. Yeah, definitely.
absolutely
Are there any practical skills that anyone could focus on if they're looking to go into equine that is different that you'd say from, like, smallie practice?
So I feel like for me, I know Liverpool's so different. For my rotations at Bristol, we did two weeks equine in-house and we did two weeks equine, on an external placement. And if you didn't get any more on your electives, you didn't get any more equine. That was it. You literally did four weeks. So compared to GP smallies when we did compulsory, I think we had a compulsory 10 weeks and then more in electives if you chose it.
It was so thin on the ground that unless you were lucky and you got it for elective, you kind of had no hope in, getting a good grounding. So is there anyone,
yeah
yeah, any advice for, like, practical skills or resources or things that people in that position could go over?
I suppose you do learn a lot on EMS and th I think the realistic chance you get there's no one in particular but uh like I've seen some dire IM attempts on a horse I don't know where it's come from but we used to practice on pillows and it felt so stupid but some of the attempts I've seen it's just I don't know if that's how you do it in smallies but that's not how we do it here so I think I think it's difficult with resource with the practical skills isn't it to guide someone somewhere like online to have a look at things but
Yeah
asking to do stuff especially I mean ask in the car Don't ask in front of the client because that puts you in a bit of an awkward
Ja så
is needle shy or whatever But just say like Look I'd really like to practice my IM Have you got any tips if you know I've struggled to draw back or knowing where to put my IMs in a you know to avoid the spine or the nuchal ligament in the neck or whatever making sure you just pick the vet's brain when you're out on placement because that is probably your most Especially if you build a good relationship with a practice if you you come for a couple of weeks or something and we really get to know you and we know that you've got your head screwed on and
Yeah
won't put something in, in the artery that's meant to go in the muscle , we, we will let you do stuff, and you just need to ask, and, or we will offer. But I think really when it comes to practical skills, there's obviously so- only so much you can do as a student really. But just asking to do stuff on placement, because that's definitely where you get the most experience. I think when I was on smallies EMS, I got way more out of my EMS smallies by g- building a good relationship with a small animal practice.
Yeah
cat spays and stuff with them, because they knew me, and I'd shown them that I'm capable and confident in doing equine Z, and that was the best learning opportunity I, that I had to develop my practical skills. And I think especially if, you know, like Bristol, you're not getting enough, you don't feel like you're getting enough hands-on equine experience, then go into equine practice.
I think doing plenty of, , EMS at a, a, a clinic that you can get to know and that will trust you to do things, that's probably the best way to, to develop those skills.
Yeah. No, perfect. Just before we round up, I'm gonna ask you some quick-fire questions. , So they're just literally, like, a super quick answer, like a simple answer. They're supposed to be. So,
Quickfire Qus
Okay.
um, what is your favorite call-out to go to?
An emergency one. It's probably a colic.
Nice
is a colic 'cause you never know, you never know which way it's gonna go, whether it's gonna
Never know what it is
hopefully it does respond to meds. You never know, 'cause it's an umbrella term, so like there's loads of things that could be
Yeah
So it's probably the most interesting one
So like the kind of diagnostic process and puzzling out what it is
like give it meds, see if it, see if it responds and, you know, getting a good history and stuff's really useful and you can get a lot of information and it's, uh, some of it gets a bit more complex, but it's probably the one I feel most confident being like, "Right, okay, I have a plan of what I'm gonna do when I get there," so
Nice. Perfect. What is your go-to drink order for when you're driving around on ambulatory?
Oh my God, it's a McDonald's toffee caramel latte every day of the week.
I didn't know expect
make enough use...
that
I really don't make enough use of, like, the driving around coffee. Like, I really don't make enough of it. I've never
It's the best bit
I've never bought a Starbucks while I've been out on the road.
Really?
two Costas.
Yeah, seriously. I know. It's criminal really. I
Oh.
enough use of it. But Mackey's, I'm, I'm more of a McFlurry eater any time of day than I am
Nice. I used to actually really What is one thing that has surprised you the most since starting Equine?
How much I've crashed my car.
No.
Shit.
If my boss is listening to this, he'll be like, "For God's sake, Emily." But genuinely, you do that much driving, like statistically you're more likely to get into an accident. Like, it's only been like
Shit
totaled it, but you do that much driving and sometimes you're a little bit stressed and you're like, "Oh my God, I don't know where I'm going," or whatever.
And like
Yeah
he's al- like my boss has been so understanding, bless him, but he's just been like, know, shit happens and I wouldn't be the first vet to write off my car," so. But genuinely, that has surprised me.
Oh my God
The amount of bumps I've had in it, it's, it's a, it's a tough, it's a tough little thing, my car.
Yeah.
get get good, good, good insurance.
Yeah.
what would you do if you weren't an equine vet? Like, can literally be anything not, not vet related. Oh, you said singer
would be... Well, no, that's not, it's not an option these days. It's not an option these days. Maybe when I was a toddler I had more of a chance of
offer
a child star, but now it would either be a personal trainer or a writer of some description. I love
Nice. Do you read a lot?
Mm. I do. I've, I've had a bit of a blip where I stopped reading a little bit.
I read a rubbish book and it kind of, it kind of put me off
No, it throws you off
holiday I've, is r- yeah, like, you know, you're like, "Oh, hmm." But, um, yeah, I'm back into the reading flow now
Nice. What are you reading?
, Is it called Lisa Jewell? I just read, , And Then She Was Gone, and that, I read that in a day. Like, I, I could not put it down at all.
It was so good. About a girl, a young girl who goes missing. So, and I had some good recommendations, and I put it on my Instagram story. So I've got a
Nice.
list now.
Oh, I'm gonna have to check that out 'cause I'm always looking for book recommendations
And then finally, what is the biggest success you've had since you started working?
Oh.
That's so sweet. That is definitely a, a massive success. And finally, I like to ask all of our guests, , what is one piece of advice that you would give to all vet students or new grads?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah
Yeah
Yeah. It gets better. Yeah. Yeah
Perfect. Emily, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, um, and being so open about all your work and your experience. Yeah, it's been really great, thank you. I always love these episodes. They give such like a, a nice insight into the different careers and, like, different routes that vets can go, especially, especially if, like, a student's listening and they're in the more preclinical stage or placements and they're kind of demotivated.
They're p- paddock picking or they're, like, cleaning the stables, so yeah Absolutely. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow or subscribe to Current Vet wherever you listen to your podcasts. And if you want to keep up with Emily and her journey, you can find her on Instagram and TikTok at emtheequinevet. As always, if you have any topic requests or guests that you wanna hear from next, find us on Instagram at veterinaryvista and let us know what it is,
Or leave us a comment in the section below. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you next time