I had a huge post all written up but …
I’m happy to hear that you found another vet practice that will make farm calls. Thankfully, our area is still serviced by mobile vets who also have a clinic for haul-ins. If this particular vet can’t meet the needs of the local market then I’m sure she can find another locale that suits her desires/needs. It goes both ways.
This thread reminded me of an article I saw recently
For anyone that lives in a rural area it is a good idea to learn how to euth a horse with a firearm or to find a friendly farmer who knows how and will do it for you (or who you can teach how to do it.) I once lived in an area (pre cell phone) where it could take the vet hours to get to your farm. I asked him to show me how. If it had happened, there were farmers around that would have done it for me if I couldn’t bring myself do it.
It never happened to me but it did happen to a friend. She couldn’t do it, but it had to be done (open fracture of the foreleg above the knee.) A neighboring cattle rancher did it for her. It was much quicker than chemical euth. The thought of having a horse that is suffering terribly have to wait for hours for relief is unbearable.
Food animal vets are a vanishing group unless they sign up with a corporate farm.
It is not just the ‘flyover’ country either… The vet practice I use does do farm calls (and really is not set up to take multiple or even single horses at the office). It is 45 plus minutes if you obey the speed limit from my house to their office. There is no other nearby horse vet serving the area for general wellness and this is wealthy southern New England.
These vets also do other livestock, in fact my spring wellness visit was shortened because they had to go deal with a goat in labor (a friend as I came to find out, the goat did not survive).
And that is where the real issue is: big livestock may have medical issues that rule out getting the animal on the trailer. IF you have the trailer and tow vehicle (I can think of at least five horseowners in my town, myself included, who do not have 24/7 access to a rig). Trouble with birth, open fractures, violent colic, major lacerations. You can have the shiniest rig in the world, but there are going to be times when the vet needs to come to the animal. Now…many of those, you can also simply have a person with a gun. But I think we would all prefer the vet.
And that is why I am happy to pay that farm fee. For heaven’s sake, it is cheaper than the fee that Sears bills me when the washing machine goes out!!
I’m fortunate to live in a wealthy, horse-filled area that can support a variety of options. We have multiple vets - both 100% ambulatory, and those with both clinic and ambulatory practice. At least 6 are within the coverage radius of my barn. We also have a few specialists who visit the area on a regular schedule, including an ophthalmologist, a few eastern medicine practitioners, and a few performance horse management specialists.
I use a large clinic with both ambulatory and hospital practice. The farm call fee is basically the same as the hospital visit fee. I’ve only trailered in when necessary - surgery, higher quality scope, higher quality pelvic x-rays, etc. Happily, they let you choose which vet you want to see for all scheduled visits. For emergencies during business hours, they’ll get you “your” vet if possible. For all other emergencies, you get whomever is on call.
I have an emergency binder and have printed out a document similar to this one, with info and a diagram, which I have my husband review periodically, just in case.
I don’t disagree that an owner should know how to humanely shoot a horse. But it’s 2021. I shouldn’t have to be shooting my horses when there are pharmaceuticals and straightforward interventions that can keep them alive.
True. However, experienced horse people know which injuries are not survivable. It was obvious that my friend’s horse could not be saved. The horse was insured and was necropsied. The vet concurred that the injury was not survivable.
As I mentioned, the euth by gunfire was quicker than the euth I’ve seen by chemical means.
It would have been evil to let the horse suffer for hours. The injury was such that the pain killers available to the average barn would not have been effective.
I won’t respond to most of the back and forth here other than to say I do think your vet will rethink this, and then she’ll go into small animal practice. Unless your equine practice is offering a very high quality of equine lameness or repro care and you have all the bells and whistles in hospital that you can’t or won’t take out into the field, 99% of the things folks will pay a horse vet for are not worth the trailering. And I say that as a veterinarian who did equine work for two years. (And yes, I did farm calls and our on-call area was huge and I regularly drove hours to emergencies and routine care and it was HE**.)
Here’s what I learned working in a rural area doing mixed animal practice:
So, be nice to your vet. And your vet is definitely going to be quitting soon, so it’s good you’ve found another vet. Hopefully this one manages to stay in business.
Yes, I know this is a downer. Sorry!
Exactly. It’s not the fault of the Vet. It’s the nature of rural practice.
Really?? Wowza, I had no idea! Have never had an issue finding an equine vet. But large animal exclusive of horses? Good lord. We have one to cover like 3 counties. And he’s in his late 60’s-early 70’s. The man can’t ever die or we’ll all be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Eta: @skydy, I agree. And fwiw, having stayed by the side of 3 of my guys during euthanasia, I will opt for gunshot instead of chemical euthanasia if at all possible the next time. It’s not so much the either drug itself, it’s the pre-euthenasia sedatives. Especially with horses that suffered from leg or foot problems. It’s not pleasant watching a horse that has fought to stay on his feet for months or years struggling to stay upright this one last time 
Whereas a well-placed shot & the horse is gone in a fraction of a second.
Post removed
If you are willing to finance examination of your food animals you don’t need to find a “yahoo with a gun”. You can call a competent vet, learn to do it yourself, or , hopefully know a good stockman near you.
The root of the problem perhaps? The Sears repair person probably isn’t carrying a load of debt for their professional qualifications nor does the Sears repair person risk a life changing injury from the washing machine. And most people probably happily admit they know nothing about washing machines but horse owners sure have large opinions about their horse.
Thank you for your great post @Horse_Rider.
I think it is time to send both my vets (large and small animal) a card thanking them for always being wonderful.
It is the root of the problem. We won’t argue with a 125 dollar service fee just to get the guy to step in the door of the house, before even looking at the machine. But the farm call fees for vets are routinely argued over.
I think the practice I use is successful because they do have a farm call fee that is high enough.
Perhaps you need to live in an area where there is no dedicated equine vet when you have a real emergency. What about when you have an equine vet clinic is 50 miles away but you must have a referral and they will not do farm calls. I’ve lived in an area with no equine vet only a small animal vet who did large animals as he could fit in and had no facilities for large animals. It’s terrifying to have a real emergency and calling desperately to find someone to come to help. Many times it would take hours to finally get someone to the farm, when your dealing colic that time is critical.
I had not really considered the life and health risk component to equine vet practice before this.
We took our cat to a small animal surgical specialty practice in a nearby city. I was talking to the vet there and somehow we realized we knew some of the same MD’s. He mentioned a neurosurgeon on our faculty and said that the neurosurgeon had treated his wife, an equine vet, after a horse had injured her during an exam. My wife said “I hope she’s doing OK/”. and his response was “no, she died.”
YUP.
I live in an affluent area and there are lots of small animal vets and equine vets. There are not many large animal vets. One of the small animal practices also ran a large animal and equine practice, and they finally shut that down because they were too busy with small animal and the small animal is more lucrative. They did give LOTS of notice, and refer clients to two other area vets- one of whom was equine and one of whom is large animal. Granted, my area doesn’t have a lot of ranches or dairy farms, but there are a lot of people that have sheep, goats, alpacas, etc., plus a couple horses. The remaining large animal vet is quite busy.
The equine vets in the area are also very busy, but there are a lot more of them.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
