NO vet has the time or money to delve more into every lightly-touched on area of equine management. Most vets are GPs, not specialists. I want my vet to know WAY more about disease and injury than nutrition or feet. I can learn most of what I need to know from nutritionists, the NRC guidelines, and peer-reviewed studies that I Have time and desire to learn. I don’t have the time or resources to learn about other things that include medications and stitches and ultrasounds and xrays
So no, most vets DON’T do much in the way of CE for nutrition and feet, and I’m ok with that.
The good vets will know they know too little about nutrition and feet and tell clients that.
The arrogant ones will think they know all they need to know, make the poor customer so afraid of protein because the vet FLIPS over a 30% protein content in a ration balance (because they have NO concept of needing the context of how much is fed), and make the poor horse so miserable and “needing” hock injections because the vet just sees a low heel, so tells the (sometimes equally uneducated) farrier to put wedges on the horse, with nobody understanding how bad the long toes are making that horse feel.
I see the results of those vets all the time. They get posted right here.
So can we give them credit for keeping up with all the latest research and developments wrt repro, sports medicine, drugs and medications and the effects and side effects, disease, parasites, but NOT nutrition?
Even then, far too many vets only know about parasites what they learned 20+ years ago. But you bet they are a lot more up to date on drugs because the pharmaceutical companies make sure of that. Vets aren’t making money staying up to date on parasite resistance. Much more comes their way via AAEP newsletters and conferences for drugs, antibiotics and disease, and as that’s the bulk of their business, yes, that’s where they are going to focus.
Maybe I’m running with the wrong crowd of vets, since the ones I know are well rounded, look at feet and legs all day long, many ride and compete, and all have an interest in the overall health of the horse to include diet and nutrition. They may not have taken a course titled Equine Nutrition, but they are intelligent people who understand the importance of nutrition on the overall health and performance of their patients and clients.
You’re lucky. But your circle of influence is not common in the general vet world.
I attend the largest equine veterinarian conference every year and nutrition is very prominent in symposiums and discussions, and every brand is represented as are all the big supplement and nutraceutical players. So it’s not just the vets in my little pocket of the country (Mid Atlantic) that I am familiar with. A vet would have to hide under a rock to avoid nutrition.
Holding symposiums doesn’t mean people are going. Of course some specialize in that. Mine isn’t a total noob to nutrition, but 15 years ago I was the one who found the connection between copper/zinc and scratches, not her, and it wasn’t that hard to find. She already offered me all she knew with the medicated scrubs and soaps and antibiotics and “immune stimulants”.
Maybe the anonymous internet posters who did not go to vet school and do not have a formal education in equine nutrition are a better source? If someone on this board has real credentials, have at it.
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t assume that all vets know enough about nutrition to help a client and at the same thing assume no mere mortal does. Besides, I am not the one saying “don’t ask that group of people, they can’t possibly know anything”. You are saying that nooooooobody in the internet can possibly know enough to guide the OP, while allllllllll vets can. It doesn’t work like that. Seriously - the number of people I’ve had to calm down about their vet totally freaking out about the “so high!!” protein level in ration balancers is cringe-worthy.
Do you know how many vets still think excess protein causes growth problems in foals? Talk about behind the times, and by decades! And some of those are “reproduction specialists”!
8 years ago I had to tell my vet about the microdosing of Lutylase to cycle a mare. It was not new then. My vet does a good bit of reproductive work. Yet she’d never heard of that because she knew what she’d known from the start and it was working for her. Unfortunately she didn’t know that simple change that had been around and easily found with any reasonable CE could have been saving many mares from the dreaded cramping associated with the full dose.
Do you know the number of vets who still think the best way to feed a foundered horse is with the lowest quality hay that can be found? And that’s all - feed that crap hay and nothing else. That too was debunked many years ago.
So no, they are not keeping up with the times on even some of the most basic issues.
Everyone has to learn enough to be able to have some reasonable level of confidence that what they are hearing from anyone is valid information. Blindly trusting someone just because they are the professional, or talk a good game, is a good way to get into trouble. It doesn’t matter who that person is.
But at least discussions here and other similar places get out some terms and issues that might have not been even a thought before, and in the end, it IS up to the OP (or anyone) to decide what to do.
