Stick with current job or become a EVN?

J

Jim bob

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I have always love my animals, always. First it was dogs, then horses. First I wanted to be a vet then a vet nurse. So I started on that path. After finishing school I went to a very good college to study animal management. However I then quickly decided that I didn't actually want to work with animals. That I would rather have my own horse then look after them, plan was to be an equine vet nurse. So I get my A levels and went down another path of work. However my horse hasn't been very well recently. He had to spend a few nights at the vets then a few days ago he had to go back up for a check up and I saw the nurses, doing their jobs. My next day at work I couldn't get the vet nurses job out of my head. So now I am debated whether to follow my passion... Or to stick what I am doing, I earn ok money and do generally like my job. But animals, horses in general are my passion.
 
Passion soon gets sucked out of you when its day in, day out for crap wages! Only you know if you can hack doing a job that is a lifestyle and wont ever pay very much or not. I worked with horses for 10yrs on and off and loved it! Then I started looking around at the few people older than me, who were old and worn out before their time and I beat a hasty retreat to an office :lol: I also lived in which made me feel much more affluent that I ever was!

I now work for an amazing employer, I do a really interesting job and work 35 hours a week, hours to suit me, so I work 7 until 2.30 and leave in time to have most of my day free :) With horses I started at 7 and finished at some undetermined point, much, much, much later than 2.30! And we've just bought a house which wouldn't ever have happened on my horsey wages!
 
Daughter is a vet nurse (small animals). Working with animals is all she ever wanted to do. She previously worked as a rider/groom on a professional yard. She has horsey qualifications but decided she wanted to go into vet nursing (with a view to becoming an EVN should the opportunity arise). She is supposed to work an 11 hour shift 4 days out of 7 to include weekends. However, she often works 5 days (or more) if they are short staffed and almost always goes over the 11 hours. She also does a regular stint on call and there is study to fit in as well. She can never plan anything with friends in the evening as she can never be sure what time she will actually leave work. The pay is nothing to shout about either. Getting a placement in a training practice can be extremely difficult so Uni may be your best option. Daughter recently got offered a very rare (in our area) placement at an equine hospital but turned it down as in every 4 weeks, 2 had to be worked continuously including the weekend between them meaning 12 consecutive days without a break. She has her own horse and likes to complete but fitting in time to ride, let alone training and competitions is very difficult. It can be very rewarding but it is more of a lifestyle than a job and you won't have the time or energy for much else.

If you are sure it is what you want then go for it but you may find you are better off (in more ways than just financially) staying with your current job. My daughter is seriously considering getting out of vet nursing and find a 9-5 job so she can see her horse and her friends and generally have a life!
 
I'm no expert but long ago I decided that horses as hobbies were far better than horses as work. And as I understand it equine vet nurse jobs are few and far between, there aren't as many purely equine practices as mixed/farm/small animal. Just my two pennyworth :)
 
I am a vet nurse and I do enjoy my job. The hours are long, I regularly do a lot of overtime and my pay is not all that and I depend on my OH to help keep us afloat. I never know what time I can leave work, I never plan to meet friends as I will normally always end up having to cancel. I don't think that I could both afford and have time for my own horse. I am only just about able to ride a share horse once or twice a week. Do I see myself doing this until retirement age - probably not. It is hard work, I'm 27 and already have bad knees and a bad back from wrestling animals and the never ending cleaning. Despite all these things I do enjoy my job and could never see myself sitting in an office.

Have you done any work experience at all? This may be a good thing to do to see if it is what you are expecting. Placements to train as a veterinary nurse are like hens teeth, equine placements - pretty much non-existent. There are not many ERVNS about I don't think, probably due to a combination of some vets using lay staff or RVNs with equine knowledge, and that there are not a huge number of equine hospitals about. I am also interested in becoming an ERVN but had decided to train as an RVN and then do further training to also become and ERVN in the future if I can get a placement at a practice with a large equine case load.

If you can do some work experience and enjoy it, then have a look out for some training positions. You may have to get your foot in the door as a receptionist or lay person to begin with however. So do be aware that you may not get trained for a while. Could you support yourself and a horse on a measly student wage? Could you afford the college/uni fees? Not all employers will pay for your training. I do also agree with others in that keeping your work and hobby separate is a good idea. I gave up working with horses a few years ago as I lost all interest in riding my own horse!

If you have any questions re: becoming a vet nurse then you can pm me. There are a few others on here that are RVNs and ERVNs too.
 
apart from everything mentioned on here, can you afford trainee nurse wages? Because they were always fairly abysmal for anyone other than a teenager. I don't want to put you off but be very clear what the job is first.

I worked as a VN in the 90s, both small animal and equine. I loved it-especially equine. I worked both at a very large private equine hospital and a much smaller one and had a ball at both. It used to be that equine nursing jobs were few and far between so you are better off training in SA and specialising than the other way around imho. Its hard work and expect it to be most of your life i.e. working and social. Pay wasn't bad for a horse job but I wasn't trying to keep a horse on it-I did have a mortgage on a tiny house though and sometimes rent free accommodation (though practice accommodation left a lot to be desired and was on call all the time).

I can't actually imagine really having horses on top of that job (and I wasn't on the yard, I was in x-ray and theatre in the larger practice) as it was fairly knackering plus OOH and regular weekend duties. Don't imagine either, that you will be allowed to do much hands on, I was largely a hander of things and cleaner of things-SA was more hands on (the smaller equine practice did allow nurses to do more, the big one had interns to do it all).

eta I did leave to go to uni because at 28, I couldn't see me ever earning enough vet nursing to get the life I wanted.
 
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FrankieCob said:
Passion soon gets sucked out of you when its day in, day out for crap wages! Only you know if you can hack doing a job that is a lifestyle and wont ever pay very much or not. I worked with horses for 10yrs on and off and loved it! Then I started looking around at the few people older than me, who were old and worn out before their time and I beat a hasty retreat to an office :lol: I also lived in which made me feel much more affluent that I ever was!

I now work for an amazing employer, I do a really interesting job and work 35 hours a week, hours to suit me, so I work 7 until 2.30 and leave in time to have most of my day free :) With horses I started at 7 and finished at some undetermined point, much, much, much later than 2.30! And we've just bought a house which wouldn't ever have happened on my horsey wages!
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100% agree with this. I really loathed going to my horse especially in winter after working day in day out at a yard. Went for a warm job inside instead- love my time with the horses now!
 
I'm a small animal RVN, out of practice at the moment. It's a hard job, crap money, long hours and often little or no thanks for the blood sweat and tears you pour into it. But! It is hugely rewarding, and even though I am not in practice at the moment, my RVN status is still a huge part of how I identify myself, if you know what I mean?

I too have toyed with the idea of topping up to EVN, but I decided that as much as I would love to get the knowledge and experience under my belt, my down time with my horse is worth more, I don't want my hobby to become an extension of my job
 
Thanks everyone, some fab advice here. I might take up a few offers and pm some people. I know the vets that my horse is at they have yard staff so they generally do the feeding, mucking out etc. It is a big practice here. I have done some work experience ( 7 years ago now) and to be fair, it was a mixed practice. Small animals/ exotics/ equine/ wildlife etc. The small animals I got pretty bored and fed up with. However been on the yard I loved it! Once the staff knew I was horse I spent the rest of my time on the yard, so around 1 and a bit weeks I was on the yard. Part of me does think that I would rather keep my horse separate but I see having a horse as more of a lifestyle anyway. I do really like been in the outside ( not when its -3 though!). Also apparently the wage for VNs have gone up?? When I was at college, 5 years ago now. My lecturer is vet nursing did say they were 'crying out for EVNs'
 
I've worked as a lay nurse for 6yrs both equine and small animal. I liked equine the least. We had yard staff but you still ended up just trotting horses up, lunging, clipping and leg patch if you were lucky, scrubbing and a lot of cleaning! After a while it became tedious, the cases were interesting but other than that I didn't really have to usemy brain. I resented doing my own horse afterwards as well. Weekends on call you were almost guaranteed to be in mucking out.

I'm now finally back in small animal practice and setting up to at long last get my rvn. I'm lucky in that my wage is half decent but beware training wage is often minimum wage minus accommodation. Small animal is so much better, more hands on patient care, monitoring anaesthetics, some practices you are able to do minor procedures.

I'd heed others advice and set yourself up for some more up to date work experience before deciding to take the leap.
 
I'm also a RVH (small animal) but not in practice anymore, though still in the industry.

I toyed with training to be an EVN but so many people (including several EVNs) advised me not to as it would likely kill my passion for doing my own horses. If that would've been true I'll never know as I stayed on the small animal orthopaedic referral side and never went for the EVN.

Vet nursing isn't well paid as others have said, and unless you're working as a qualified and well experienced EVN at a referral centre, you're unlikely to do much actual nursing.

That said, I know several EVNs who adore their job and wouldn't consider doing anything else. For me, 12 years in small animal nursing practice was enough before I made the move out of practice and into an industry office job.
 
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