Follow British vet nurse (technician) Vicky Gregory through a typical ten-hour work day at the busy Rossdale and Partners hospital in the horse racing capital of Newmarket, England. How would you do in a role like this? If you want to help horses in a hands-on way, working in a vet hospital might be a good career choice (or change) for you.

Are you interested in really working with horses? Then take a look at the role of an equine veterinary nurse, or an equine veterinary technician/assistant as it is more commonly called in the United States. Requirements for working in a veterinary hospital in a caregiving role vary from state to state in the USA.

Vicky Gregory of Rossdale and Partners, a large equine hospital in Newmarket, England, is the nurse featured in this film promoting this career choice. While she seems to be promoting it for young people in Britain, where career changes are less common than here in the USA, it can be a second or even third career here.

Vicky summed it up well when she said: “The best part about being an Equine Veterinary Nurse (at a hospital like Rossdales) is that you don’t really have a typical day because anything can happen at any point.” Jobs for technicians range from riding with ambulatory veterinarians on barn calls to clinic work to working in big university or referral hospital as surgical or repro specialists. I know of one technician whose job description at a university hospital is as an equine podiatry technician–he says he does everything but actually shoe horses!

In the USA, the American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians (AAEVT) is a professional organization for veterinary technicians and nurses and is a sister organization to the American Association of Equine Practitioners. Membership in the AAEVT is open to veterinary technicians, assistants, support staff and those employed in the veterinary health care industry worldwide.

by Fran Jurga | 28 April 2010 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

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