Texas Equine Veterinary Association

Page 25 | The Remuda | SPRING 2024 EDITION horses receive the absolute best care possible and clients are incredibly happy with the end results. This role is a huge shift from my previous practice, where even as a surgeon I often found myself as more of a "Jack of all trades," treating every problem my clients had and never wanting to tell someone "no." Now I get to do something I love (sports medicine and imaging) and I get to talk to my friends every day about difficult cases and possible solutions we can offer. We get to do some truly exciting cases and we get to involve veterinarians across the globe in our diagnosis and treatment conversations. Equine medicine is changing rapidly and is allowing a space where doctors can now choose the types of cases they want to work on and can work with colleagues to co-manage the whole health of our patients. When we look at elite-level athletes in the human realm, they have an entire team of medical professionals available to them, and we can now serve our patients in that capacity. I get to see the best part of equine medicine, where doctors work as a team to get these athletes diagnosed, treated, rehabilitated, and back to the best level. The constant sharing of ideas, experiences, technology, and techniques is making many of us better veterinarians daily. As more veterinarians are recognizing the importance of advanced imaging in making an accurate diagnosis in order to develop an appropriate therapeutic and rehabilitation plan, more equine athletes are benefiting from our team-centric approach to cases. Let's recognize that we can make our professional lives more enjoyable and practice better medicine just by working together. As an example, in order to help doctors with rehabilitation plans, we were able to offer discounted rechecks in the standing Hallmarq MRI on cases that we previously anesthetized and placed in the high-field magnet. We can now monitor the progression of healing but also help prevent further set-backs caused by returning a horse to work too early. This came about after multiple in-depth discussions with some of our referring doctors about directing therapy at known lesions. We can now do a better job for patients and clients because our referring doctors wanted to work together to provide the best possible care. If you're in equine practice in Texas right now and not excited to go to work most days, I would encourage you to reach out to your colleagues and re-establish some connections. This field traditionally attracts independent, assertive individuals with unparalleled work ethic and a healthy competitive drive. Let's recognize that we can make our professional lives more enjoyable and practice better medicine just by working together.

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