Several of my good friends happen to be veterinarians, and a lot of the anecdotes they’ve been sharing lately are about how their already long days get drawn out, sometimes crazily so, because of little details that their clients don’t think of or take into consideration.
I’m sad to say I’ve been guilty of lots of them over the years. Vets work hard – really hard – to help us keep our horses happy and healthy. They drop everything to get to our horses in emergency situations; they endure cold temps, wind, snow, rain, extreme heat and many other meteorological events; and they drive gazillions of miles every day. They educate us, console us and sometimes cry with us. I share my shameful past with you in an effort to help you earn superstar client status with your local veterinarian!
- Try to have your horse close at hand when the Vet arrives. I had a mare who could be challenging to catch at times. I knew the vet was coming but turned her out in the paddock open to the large (LARGE) grass field anyway. Whoops. 20 minutes later, sweating from running back and forth, I finally was able to bribe her to let me catch her with a bucket of sweet feed. I bribed the vet with homemade cookies and promised that the horse would be in a stall next time. It can be challenging to know exactly the vet will show up, but cell-phones and text messaging makes it SO much easier.
- Ensure your horse is clean – especially if it will be receiving injections. When I was a kid, I got the lecture of the century from a local veterinarian who refused to give my very muddy pony her spring shots until I cleaned him up. We’re not just talking dusty here, we’re talking inches thick black/green slime, still wet from his last wallow. Vets use all their senses to exam a horse, and a layer of mud makes it harder to palpate and feel the affected area. Certain procedures, such as joint injections, require a high level of cleanliness, and the procedure can be completed much faster if your horse is clean to start with.
- If your horse is having a lameness exam, be prepared to run, lunge and/or ride. I drove to the barn directly from work one day to meet the vet – business suit, high heels, the whole works. Realized after I got there (late) that I left my duffle with riding clothes and sneakers at the office. Amazing what you can scrounge up around the barn if you need to. I squeezed into a random pair of breeches two sizes too small, found some old dusty paddock boots with cracks in them and realized how much I missed my sports bra after trotting my horse in-hand and under saddle for the better part of an hour. Try to have your riding clothes on with shoes you can run in if needed, have your tack and lunging equipment out and ensure there is someplace relatively flat with decent footing that is free of distractions to trot your horse in hand, lunge or ride.
- Write down your thoughts and questions so you’ll have them ready in the moment. How many times have you watched the vet drive down the driveway and thought ‘oh crap, I meant to ask him about that other thing and I needed a tube of Banamine!’ I have been known to chase the vet truck down the driveway (once on pony-back) because of all the things I forgot. Now I start a list on the barn wipeboard as soon as I think of the first thing, and the vet doesn’t leave until I’ve checked everything off the list.
- Try to be understanding if they are running late or have an emergency and can’t come for a routine matter. The shoe could be on the other foot – someone else could be left waiting while your (naughty) horse is being stitched up after attempting a Houdini escape through the fence line.
- Be mindful of their time. I’ve really liked all the vets I’ve ever worked with – even the one who lectured me. It’s easy to get to chatting, and most vets are gregarious people who enjoy the social part of the job. Try to be aware of the time they have available and let them get on to the next stop, especially if you notice that the techs/assistants have packed everything away and are waiting patiently in the truck. On one occasion, the vet tech told me with pleading eyes they were running two hours behind. I helped her out by walking the vet to the truck as we discussed next steps and sending him on his way in record time. He accused us of conspiring against him – if we hadn’t glanced at each other and started laughing we might have gotten away with it!
I’m sure there are a million more tips – feel free to add your helpful hints to ensuring happy vets below in the comments! Thanks to all the hard-working vets out there. We appreciate your efforts to keep our horses healthy, even if we do complain about the bills.
Jen as a rider: Apparently I've been obsessed with horses since I was born, and I used to beg for pony rides on a regular basis. I started showing in 4-H, progressed to equitation and jumpers in high school and rode on the IHSA team in college where I also discovered the joys of eventing! After graduating I learned how to sit while working for a dressage trainer and now am a committed low-level eventer in the ever-elusive quest to put together three solid phases. Jen as a SmartPaker: As the Director of Web Merchandising, I get to work with a super talented bunch of designers, developers, buyers, and marketers to help you find just what you need (and a few things you didn't know you needed!) on our website. All about Intrinsic: Intrinsic, or "Trin," is a very sweet and snuggly dark bay 16.2 hand TB gelding born in 2013 who race trained but never raced. He loves hacking out with friends and is learning about dressage and eventing. He loves carrots but has no interest in apples, and makes very funny faces when he eats anything peppermint flavored!
I LOVE my vet but this blog is just one of many things that chaps me about the horse industry-stop perpetuating the culture in the industry where the customer lives in fear of the people they pay to perfp services. How about writing from the perspective of how a vet should keep customers happy. For example: “come examine lame horse” should mean “bring diagnostic equipment”-vets do this all the time. Come for a lameness exam without the ultrasound or xray that are on another truck and then they need them and have to waste everyone’s time and money coming twice. I could give you plenty of other examples if you’d like to write the sister post on being a good service provider.
Rachel’s comment sort of chapped ME. As one who worked for a mobile vet for large, small, and farm stock, I can honestly say, this vet does nothing but work to keep his customers happy.
Typical call: I think my horse has Cushings and need him tested. I make the arrangements for the three draws necessary: 1 before breakfast, 1 at noon, 1 the following day. Then the client complains because they don’t want to hold up breakfast until (or get up before) 7 (vet’s earliest non-emergency call, since his day often runs until after 7 PM), don’t want to have three visit charges (each one down priced as a package), and don’t want to be available two days in a row for his visits (can’t he just come and do it on his own?) AND the customer still hasn’t paid for the colic visit 3 months ago.
BTW, “come examine lame horse” is SO common. First question: How long has he been lame? Most common answer: Well a couple weeks or so(!).
Ultrasound and radiograph machines are large, heavy and somewhat sensitive – not to mention expensive – machines. If a vet has multiple trucks, these sorts of assets will be in the truck most capable of protecting them (the “other” truck). If the vet has only one truck, those machines will ride in the truck “as needed.” Days have many calls, many down unpaved or poorly maintained roads – not good for the machines. Machines take up space normally used for more commonly used tools, so now the vet has to return to the office, drop off the machines and pick those up.
It should, at least partly, be the office staff’s job to discern whether those machines really do need to go into the truck. That comes from asking the owner questions. Owners are often ignorant. If they cannot give good answers, it is difficult to make good calls. I often broke my questions into really simple ones: Is there blood? Is there swelling? Is there heat? Will he put his foot down? Will he put any weight on the foot? How long has he been lame? Was it sudden, on a ride, in turnout, etc.? You would be shocked how many owners cannot answer them. If an owner tells me, “well, we went on a ride a couple weeks ago, and he seemed a little dinky coming home. He’s been out in the pasture since then. I never noticed any blood or swelling. I can’t tell if there’s any heat – actually I can’t catch him. If the vet could just stop by sometime today, that would be great. I don’t want to pay for an emergency call, but he doesn’t seem to want to step on it.” then I am going to suspect a stone bruise (one guy had a stone lodged in his hoof for 3 weeks(!) after a ride. He finally called and wanted the vet to come out “sometime” to pick the hoof out!), an abscess, or other nob-radiograph needful thing.
If I have answers like “We were schooling over low fences and turns. I heard something pop. His knee is very swollen and hot and he won’t put the foot down, just rests it on the toe, ankle cocked.” You bet I send the machines out.
Best answer: have office staff well educated and able to ask good questions, then consult with vet for needs BEFORE he leaves the office. As a client, don’t be saying vague stuff like: “my horse is lame, can you come and check him out, please?”
Great comment!
I love my Vet!! We work together to keep my mare healthy. He is open to my texting and/or sending pictures of things I have questions about. As a retired RN from a very busy cardiology practice, I respect his time and appreciate his knowledge and expertise.
It’s a two way street isn’t it? Difficult clients are at risk of losing good professionals whether it’s the vet, the farrier or the trainer. And careless or unreliable professionals lose good clients, so if you have one, replace him/her if you can. If not, what can you do but make the best of the situation. For really serious issues, you might have to go out of the area with you horse.
I see some horse owners who make mistakes too. I guess we all do and we judge “mistakes” by our own perception, so we might not agree on the definition. But here are some that are worth our attention:
When the vet is talking, LISTEN. Don’t keep interrupting even if he/she is telling you something you already think you know. Save your questions and take notes.
If you’re guessing at a diagnosis, unless it’s an emergency of course, do some research so you can give an educated description of the symptoms and so you’ll understand the vet’s explanation without taking his/her time to explain every medical term.
If you’ve waited 2 weeks to call the vet about your mildly off horse who is now showing more serious symptoms, don’t make your delay your vet’s emergency. Sometimes waiting pays off and the problem resolves without a $500 vet bill. You can’t know, and either way, you can end up kicking yourself. Experience is your best friend and if you don’t have any, call the vet sooner rather than later. You’ll be paying for the vet call but also for your education.
So much depends on common sense and decent consideration for others. Like turning a horse out that’s hard to catch when the vet has been called. Yes, he/she might be late, but turn out can wait. And maybe he’s late because he had to wait for the client before you to catch her horse! LOL When your horse is sick or injured, even mildly, you have to be prepared to make some sacrifices or to suggest alternatives that will take some of the pressure off you and still work out for the vet.
Novice owners need to educate themselves, and experienced owners need be patient and professional. I don’t think we need to be afraid of professionals if we treat them the way we would like to be treated. We can stop and think instead of acting on impulse.
Unless there’s a reason NOT to haul a horse & you have access to a trailer, I would haul TO the vet for diagnostic imaging should it be required. The only time the vet should come to the farm is for an emergency, or in a situation where the animal is not transportable (injury, lack of transportation for the horse, etc), euthanasia, or there is multiple animals where it is a better use of time to have a “line up” of the entire farm’s animals (such as spring shots).
Consider it like going to a Dr’s office for yourself or your family. Same thing. The doctor doesn’t come to you (unless you luck into one who makes house calls, but that’s still quite rare).
Taking your horse to the vet’s office for diagnostics would eliminate the farm call fee (which could go towards your hauling cost). As well as give full access to all of the equipment the vet’s practice has to offer. Not to mention less travel time for the vet means more animals can get seen sooner.
I do not own a truck or trailer, but you can bet that if my horse needed to get to the vet….I would FIND a way to transport my horse to the vet.