IN early September the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) hosted a meeting of presidents from similar organisations from as far away as the US and Australia, and as near home as Ireland and the continent. Common to all was a crisis in recruitment and retention – we are not attracting enough new vets to the equine ranks and we are failing to hold on to those we have. In future we may not have sufficient resources to service the needs of our horses and those who own them, to the obvious detriment of the industries/sports of which we are part, but also the welfare of the horses at their heart.

On recruitment, one theme shone through at the meeting. There is a fall-off in the numbers of veterinary students expressing the intention of entering equine practice between their first and their final year; many toward ‘working with companion animals and scratching my equine itch in my spare time’. What do they learn while learning their trade? What do they see while ‘seeing practice’?