Australian veterinarians who work with horses: views of the future.

This research article investigates the future prospects of horse-related veterinary practice in Australia, as viewed by the veterinarians themselves. The responses from an 87% respondent questionnaire indicate that economic factors, competition, and urban expansion, among other issues, are likely to impact the future of mixed practices dealing with horses, posing a relative shift towards more specialized equine veterinary services.

Methodology

• The study conducted a survey with 866 Australian veterinarians who deal with horses. The research used a traditional method of mailing out questionnaires, achieving an excellent completion rate of 87%.
• The collected data were meticulously analyzed using the SAS System for Windows after being entered into an Excel spreadsheet.

Results and Discussion

• More than 60% of the equine veterinarians demonstrated optimism over the future of their profession, believing it to be either very good or excellent. However, this confidence was much lower among mixed practitioners dealing with less than 10% horses, at only 30%.
• The primary factors perceived to impact the future of their profession include the strength of equine industries and the economic climate impacting horse owners, urbanization infringing horse areas, competition from both fellow veterinarians and non-veterinary operators, and the ability to attract and keep practitioners skilled and interested in equine practice.
• Among those practitioners dealing with fewer horses, urban encroachment, competition, and recruitment challenges were of significant concern.
• Concerns were also expressed about the integrity and skills of fellow veterinarians, the physical demands and risks of dealing with horses, the high cost of equine veterinary services, governmental regulatory restrictions, potential legal repercussions, and insurance issues.

Conclusions

• The researchers conclude that a combination of economic and local considerations will likely augment the proportion of equine veterinary work being done in specialized equine centers.
• They additionally point out that the future of horse work in many mixed practices seems precarious at best.
• The study emphasizes the critical role of availability of competent veterinarians with a commitment to working with horses as a key factor in determining future prospects in the field.