Would you always choose an equine vet over a large animal vet (who has a good reputat

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Anyone know how equine vets (as opposed to general animal vets) are trained in addition to their basic vet training?

I'm just considering whether paying the extra to have my horses seen by a practise focusing on equines, is worth it, or whether I should start and use another clinic that looks after every type of animal but has a guy who focuses on large animals? Fact is that the latter seems to be enjoying a better reputation than the former in my area of late.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I have had dealings with a specialist equine vet practice in my area and I won't use them again.
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same here. It actually works out cheaper to get a vet down from over 100miles away than it is to use the local (4miles away) equine vets. And, i believe the 100 mile vets on their diagnoses, equine vets have ********d up far too many times. I have a better idea of the horses problems than they have.
 
It would very much depend on how experienced they both were and what were their strengths and weaknesses. I don't want a vet who doesn't know one end of a horse from the other or who will dress things up fluffily, I want them to tell it like it is and also respect that I haven't money to burn; I've called them for a specific purpose not for the benefit of my health and their pocket but to help my horse. If they can't help they should say so and in that respect I think a large animal vet might, notice the 'might', be more realistic about prognosis and their capabilities. Just my view, others will think differently.
 
We changed vets when all the equine vets left the old practise we were with and there were only large animal vets left. As good as they may be with cows, sheep etc I want someone who specialises in horses in the event of an emergency.

So yes, I would always choose an equine vet over a large animal vet personally.
 
I use an equine vet as most of the local practices are more geared to small animal with some equine rather than being large animal practices. When I used such a practice I had a wide range of vets coming out with very varying equine experience. I even had a vet turn up, when my horse had tied up, wearing a summer dress and sandals who refused to go into the stable "Oh I didn't realise I was coming to see a horse - I don't do large animal" was the quote, difficult when you are the on-call vet for a mixed practice! There are two good equine practices in the area so I now use one of them, the vets are experienced at handling horses and from the practice I use, are experienced horseman, both breed and compete themselves, I really think that makes a difference.
 
There are some brilliant equine vets where we live, the tough thing was making a descion between them. As for large animal vets I don't know because the equine vets near us are just fantastic :)
 
The large animal vet does not have facilities to take horses in and do xrays/nerve blocks and other procedures. For this reason alone, I would not use him. I don't want to be referred to another practice many miles away when whatever it is can be done a few miles down the road.
 
Yeah, but in this case they're both a distance away as I live in a rural location. But does say a junior vet at an equine practise necessarily have more experience than the older large animal vet? If as a vet you join an equine specific practise, do you have to then study for an extra year or something in order to be more specialised, or is it about learning on the job? What do you pay the extra for when you use an equine vet (so far I've been using the equine vet by the way, but considering whether it's money well spent).
 
Yes i would always use an equine vet as the large animal vets round my way are clueless when it comes to horses. I have been around when my friends have used the large animal vets and have been disgusted at the service they have provided and the knowledge they have had. I trust my equine vets 100%
 
TBH, I don't pay extra for using an equine practice (Fyrnwy) than if I used a general practice (Hampton) the only bonus from using Fyrnwy is that all the vets (9 now I think!) are very horse experienced, it's the only animal they treat so will see far more than a general practice who only might treat a few. At Hampton, you're lucky if you get one of the main vets out (who are all good horse vets that I'd trust) which is why I changed to Fyrnwy, certainly for stud work anyway although I will use Hampton in an emergency (as I did on Saturday when Kitty needed a hole in her side stitching!) as it's just up the road and was done within 25 minutes of it happening; Fyrnwy would still have been getting here; not their fault of course just that they're further away from me.
I think whoever you use, you need a good rapport with them and can trust them to do their best for your horse.
 
Would definitely always use an equine vet, although luckily where I am as some other posters have said in Glos there are several v good equine vets. However I think they are more equiped to deal with such things as nerve blocks and on site x rays etc, and also seem to have no problem referring horses if they can't get to the root of the problem fast rather than continually trying so as not to look like they don't know.

The one time I have used a non equine vet resulted in disaster, which was then rectified by an equine vet. Plus I find that because they specialise in one area they are often more clued up on the latest treatments etc
 
I use a vet from a practice which isn't specifically "equine", but who is very genned up on horses and is a super vet who really takes the trouble to get to know the client and their horses and thinks long and hard before he acts.

There is a locally supposedly renowned "equine practice" and a lot of horsey people around here think the sun shines out of their a$$ but my experience with them is that they're only interested in big (professional) yards with expensive horses and not the small people like the rest of us who think a lot of their horses and don't have big budgets.

My vet isn't afraid to ask for a second opinion if needed and I'm sticking with him for the foreseeable future.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
I use a vet from a practice which isn't specifically "equine", but who is very genned up on horses and is a super vet who really takes the trouble to get to know the client and their horses and thinks long and hard before he acts.
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Ditto. My OWN vet (and I DO own him - I've paid for him over 22 years:D) is Senior Partner of quite a large mixed practice. When I started using him he was the very JUNIOR partner - but with a special interest in horses. He still does farm animals (and exotics - as they are vet for a large safari park) but more than 50% of his time is spent on horse work. He keeps up to date and has good relationships with our nearest big equine referral practice. But the most important thing to me is that he's GOOD - and I trust him!

I occasionally have another vet from the practice if he's unavailable - most of them are ok for routine things and will listen to me - and they've just taken on another young vet who has a special interest (and quite an affinity) with horses who will be my 2nd choice when No. 1 vet isn't available.
 
Large vets everytime, I've just had my mare teeth done, by two fantasic girls, who took the time and patience and enough drugs to down 2 elephants, because she really is that bad, they also do cows,sheep ,pigs and alpacas and small animals and my horses (+dogs) always have top quality treatment:):):):)
 
Definitely! I use the same vets as Maesfen:) and have done for 15 years or so and before that I dealt with another equine vet. One of the advantages is that you can get X-rays, scans and some operations done without having to go to Liverpool and therefore cheaper and more convenient. Also obviously they're used to dealing with large and sometimes fairly dangerous animals. There are also a large number of vets in the practice so it is possible to get one quickly when necessary. I don't find them any more expensive than other vets - although slightly worried when Simon the vet referred to my daughters eventer as his favourite client:eek:
 
We have 5 vets in our local practice, 1 paticularly trained in equines, but we trust all of them, they treat everything from cows, horses, sheep to bunnies, cats and dogs etc, so i consider ourselves very lucky.
 
I have dealt with a very large equine practice and they were atrocious and would never, ever deal with them again.
I now have a fabulous local vet (has a surgery at the back of his house) that deals with all animals (hamsters, cat & dogs to farm and equine) and i have found him very knowledgeable, experienced and costs half of what the equine vets do.
When signed up with him i did ask what he does if my horse need surgery etc and he told me about the facilities he has access to if needed. I asked him if he ever uses the equine vets i have had bad experiences with and he laughed and said no. His comments were "overpriced, inexperienced young vets (because they are cheaper!!) and your horse is treated like an experiment"
I was glad i wasn't the only one to have these feelings towards the equine vets.

However, there is another large equine vet center a few miles away and they have a very good reputation, although i have never used them.
 
Maisie2 said:
Definitely! I use the same vets as Maesfen:) and have done for 15 years or so and before that I dealt with another equine vet. One of the advantages is that you can get X-rays, scans and some operations done without having to go to Liverpool and therefore cheaper and more convenient. Also obviously they're used to dealing with large and sometimes fairly dangerous animals. There are also a large number of vets in the practice so it is possible to get one quickly when necessary. I don't find them any more expensive than other vets - although slightly worried when Simon the vet referred to my daughters eventer as his favourite client:eek:
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Now, that IS a worry, lol! :D

Sedgemoor Chaos said:
I have dealt with a very large equine practice and they were atrocious and would never, ever deal with them again.
I now have a fabulous local vet (has a surgery at the back of his house) that deals with all animals (hamsters, cat & dogs to farm and equine) and i have found him very knowledgeable, experienced and costs half of what the equine vets do.
When signed up with him i did ask what he does if my horse need surgery etc and he told me about the facilities he has access to if needed. I asked him if he ever uses the equine vets i have had bad experiences with and he laughed and said no. His comments were "overpriced, inexperienced young vets (because they are cheaper!!) and your horse is treated like an experiment"
I was glad i wasn't the only one to have these feelings towards the equine vets.

However, there is another large equine vet center a few miles away and they have a very good reputation, although i have never used them.
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No prizes for guessing who the 'young and overpriced' were, sums them up nicely I think - that and their 'we are the bee's knees and too good for you attitude they have! :rolleyes: Do PM me if I'm wrong!
 
I am lucky as I live in an area with a wide range of choice of equine vets and they no doubt are competiting for clients. I do pay more to have one that comes from further away than the one just down the road (there is one within hacking distance). The reason for this is that the one I use is attached to the RVC which has a state of the art equine hospital and should he need to be admitted in an emergency it could be done quickly - whereas the practices without hospital had to refer and sometimes they refer to hospitals quite far away.

I would choose an equine vet over a large animal vet as if you specialise in one animal all your continuing professional developement will be focussed on that animal if you have a group of different animals then you have to split your time learning new things about each to keep up to date and perhaps you might not have enough time to devote to study each animal in depth.

However i would say if depends on the area you live and what you have on offer!
 
I use an equine practice and couldn't recommend them enough. They are relatively small but are always there at the agreed time and are so friendly. I love them (fingers crossed I haven't just cursed myself)! :)

The only time I used a general vet was for my horse's vetting and I waited over 3 hours at his yard. It is just the one specialist vet mind.
 
I use a mixed practice. They have 2 partners, who are experienced with all animals - 1 has a special interest in horses, the other in farm animals, but they're good with small animals too. They also employ 2-3 other vets, with different areas of interest. I trust all of them, but if given the choice (ie it's not an out of hours call), I prefer to see the farm animal specialist. He is very knowledgeable about horses and dogs (less so about cats but I trust him anyway :D ), and I would always trust his opinion.

Facilities wise, they have Xray and scanning facilities for horses, but no operation or stabling facilities. They refer to a big hospital for that, and the one time I had a referral, I found the hospital to be brilliant, couldn't fault any part of it.
 
The area I have has quite a lot of options - but no large equine only practices. The equine practices there are are quite small (3-4 vets max) and cover a large area - 2-3 hours' drive to get from one end to the other (more in bad weather/high summer). Few of these have full surgical facilities- referrals generally go to Bristol or Cullompton.

There are plenty of stories of the equine practices taking ages to turn up (including severe/surgical colic). So I'd lean towards one of the larger mixed practices who have 2 vets on call at all times as you're likely to get a vet relatively quickly and they have a phone and can talk to one of the equine vets (usually there's at least one of them on call barring accidents/emergencies) if they want reassurance. My ideal scenario (if I owned a horse, and didn't have an equine vet in my house) would be an equine only practice with at least 2 vets on call... Failing that, mixed practice with equine specialists and 2 vets on call. I wouldn't choose a single handed practice as there would be too much risk, by murphy's law that the time I need a vet urgently, they would be tied up 50 miles away! At least in a practice with more than 1 vet (and an answering service) there's a chance of other vets being around/available even though not on call.
 
My horses are not cows or pigs or sheep so why would I want a large animal practice. I only use an equine vet for my horses and for my dogs I use a very good small animal vet and with in that practice I would then choice the vet that specializes in the problem I have with the dogs.


I am lucky that I have a very good equine vet, as I have for the dogs.
 
I would actually choose the practise based on the actual vets available, rather than what kind of practise they work in.

I use an equine vet, but have used a mixed vet before, and would do so again. I have recently changed practise due to the vets who had 1) been available at my old practise, and 2) meeting and trusting the opinion of a vet at the new practise.

I think it is really important that you feel you can trust your vet.....
 
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