Let’s start with some good news: The average starting salary for veterinary graduates entering equine practice soared from $65,000 in 2021 to $95,000 in 2023, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
The tide is turning for horse doctors, whose income has historically lagged behind that of their small animal colleagues. “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought this disparity to light, and the pay differential between equine and small animal salaries has started to shrink,” says Adam Furlong, BA, MA, Vice President of Operations at B.W. Furlong & Associates, a referral equine hospital based in Oldwick, New Jersey.
While salaries have risen dramatically, experts say money alone isn’t enough to attract and retain associates. Beyond the dollar value of a job offer, today’s equine veterinarian is also evaluating scheduling flexibility, mentorship, technician support, emergency expectations, and overall practice culture when considering positions. Those factors increasingly determine whether a candidate accepts an offer—and whether they stay. And with the supply-demand curve heavily in their favor in the current employment market, veterinarians have leverage when negotiating and choosing the job offer that best aligns with their goals.
A Competitive Market
Equine veterinary practice has a retention issue called attrition—a gradual reduction of the workforce. According to the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), within five years, half of all veterinarians who enter equine practice either switch to small animal practice or leave veterinary medicine entirely. The primary cited reasons are burnout and lower starting salaries than companion animal positions.
As such, when it comes to recruiting associates, equine veterinary practices aren’t just competing with each other for scarce candidates. They are measured against a whole other branch of veterinary medicine that generally offers higher pay, more predictable schedules, easier working conditions, and no on-call responsibilities: small animal practice.
Equine practice remains a minority subdivision of veterinary medicine in the U.S., with a 2024 AAEP report counting just 5,785 equine-only practitioners. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate that roughly 81% of veterinarians practice primarily in companion animal settings, representing approximately 100,000 veterinarians nationwide. Small animal veterinarians vastly outnumber equine practitioners, giving new graduates more employment opportunities than in equine practice.
The Importance of Retention, Not Just Recruitment
In addition to losing associates to small animal clinics, equine medicine is struggling to keep pace with its rapidly aging workforce. The average horse doctor in the U.S. is 49 years old, according to the 2024 AAEP report.
“Practitioners are retiring faster than their replacements are coming into the industry,” notes Furlong. “Recruiting external talent has become very difficult. Every applicant in equine practice has, on average, 16 to 20 job openings to consider.”
Most recently, he says, recruiting two surgeons was a multiyear process for their practice. As a result, Furlong says the industry has doubled down on retaining and developing its own talent rather than seeking new, external candidates. “For our practice, this means having strong pipelines for veterinary interns and externs and keeping a select number of interns as permanent associates.”
“I really think one of the most effective recruitment and retention strategies is a strong externship program,” agrees Mike Pownall, DVM, MBA, co-founder of McKee-Pownall Equine Services, a three-location veterinary clinic based in Ontario, Canada. “If someone has a positive experience and feels supported as an extern, they’re much more likely to come back as an intern or associate later.”
Gen-Z Veterinarians Are Setting New Standards in the Workforce
Furlong, who is heavily involved in talent recruitment and retention at his family’s practice, has learned that in this day and age, the importance of work-life balance and career sustainability is taught early in veterinary school, before candidates even enter the workforce.
“As a result, graduating veterinarians have a much healthier perspective overall. They value having balance and a career they enjoy. As a business, we’ve adapted,” he explains, citing flexible working schedules and the option of a four-day workweek, along with paid parental (not just maternity) leave for associates who wish to build families alongside their careers. “The goal is to create a sustainable career that’s compatible with personal life.”
Pownall agrees that expectations around work-life balance are reshaping the profession. “The old assumption that an equine veterinarian should always be available is becoming less realistic,” he says. “Younger veterinarians are looking at career opportunities with more predictable schedules, more flexibility, and better work-life balance and naturally comparing them to opportunities in equine practice.
“It’s important to note that they’re looking for more flexibility not just in hours and days worked, but also in how they practice medicine and what areas they want to focus on,” Pownall adds. “More and more veterinarians are saying, ‘I really enjoy sports medicine,’ or ‘I’m passionate about reproduction,’ or ‘I love imaging or dentistry.’ We need to be more open to allowing people to develop those interests rather than expecting every veterinarian to handle every aspect of equine practice equally.”
Additionally, in an age when a strong focus is placed on developing and retaining in-house talent, Furlong emphasizes the importance of making work a place people are excited to come to. “We give our associates autonomy and flexibility,” he explains. “They have control over their day-to-day schedule. We don’t micromanage. We also make sure their environment feels supportive, we say ‘yes’ as much as possible, and we provide adequate support staffing.”
Furlong notes that his family’s practice works just as hard to retain veterinary technicians and assistants, who make veterinarians’ lives easier. Among the new associates coming to them, Furlong says a lack of technician support is a top reason for leaving their previous practice.
Compensation Models
Under a salary-based model, veterinarians earn a fixed annual wage. Under a production-based model, compensation is tied to the revenue they generate for the practice, with earnings increasing as their caseload grows. Production-based compensation models remain common in equine practice, but some industry leaders are reconsidering the potential risks of new graduates relying heavily on them early in their careers.
“New veterinarians are still developing confidence, efficiency, communication skills, and medical judgment,” says Pownall. “They’re out on the road making medical decisions on their own for the first time, communicating with clients independently, and managing difficult situations without someone immediately beside them. If they’re overly focused on hitting production targets immediately, there’s a risk that financial pressure becomes the dominant focus.”
Instead, Pownall favors a gradual transition toward production-based compensation models for newer associates. “The first year might be primarily salary-based to provide financial stability and allow them to focus on mentorship and skill development,” he explains. “The second year could move toward a blended model with both salary and some production incentives.”
Past the first few years in practice, Pownall notes the importance of appreciating that different professionals prefer different compensation structures. “Some people are highly driven by production and want to work long hours and build a large caseload quickly. Others may value flexibility more—whether that means a four-day workweek, reduced emergency duty, or more balance for family and personal life. Practices need to recognize those differences and adapt accordingly if we want to recruit and retain talented people in equine medicine long term.”
Mentorship Matters
Equine practice has a very steep learning curve, Pownall admits. “It takes time—often two to three years—before a new graduate becomes truly comfortable and efficient. If we expect new veterinarians to immediately hit the ground running, that’s unfair to them.” Instead, he advocates for robust mentorship programs to boost both career satisfaction and employee retention.
“Ideally, there’s a clear outline of clinical skills and competencies that an associate is expected to develop over time, and the new hire is paired with a senior veterinarian who helps guide that process,” Pownall says. “Regular check-ins should cover not only clinical skills, but also communication, medical records, client management, efficiency, and overall confidence. Young associates need colleagues who say, ‘Call me anytime if you’re unsure,’ and practices need to proactively check in to make sure associates are getting the support they need.”
He emphasized the importance of developing those mentorship goals collaboratively. “Sometimes, graduates come out of an internship very confident in certain areas but a little gun-shy about trying procedures or making decisions independently,” says Pownall. “The approach can’t be purely top-down, where someone says, ‘You need to learn this by X date.’ It needs to be more about mutual understanding and a shared plan for growth. The more we can do to mentor, coach, and nurture young veterinarians during that transition period, the more successful they will be—and the more likely they are to stay both with the practice and within the profession long term.”
A Big Pain Point of Equine Practice: Emergency Coverage
The expectation regarding emergency response in equine practice is finally changing, with fewer horse owners feeling entitled to seeing their regular veterinarian for every urgent call, day or night. Pownall believes these changes reflect a broader shift in the profession away from outdated expectations around constant availability and toward more sustainable practice models.
“As a referral hospital, providing emergency coverage remains essential not only for our long-term sustainability, but it also plays a critical role in supporting the entire equine community in our region,” Furlong says.
To reduce the on-call burden placed on each individual doctor, neighboring equine practices—that are often, in theory, competitors—are teaming up to create emergency cooperatives with a rotating on-call schedule divided among all veterinarians. B.W. Furlong & Associates adopted this model a few years ago with a “really great, collaborative local ambulatory practice,” says Furlong, and never looked back. “When the whole team is contributing, we feel as if we’re all in this together,” he says. “We’re not dumping the majority of on-call work to the one or two youngest associates, as was common in the past.”
And while you can’t eliminate on-call responsibilities, Furlong says practices like B.W. Furlong & Associates are finding ways to make the burden more sustainable through financial incentives. “Emergency fees are not cheap for the customers, but they are necessary to retain exceptional veterinarians,” he says. “The proportion of emergency visit fees paid to veterinarians has increased drastically over the past few years.” Practice managers realize that time is a highly valuable currency to veterinarians. For example, if an associate at Furlong’s practice is on call for a holiday, they receive extra PTO that year.
Final Thoughts
So, what do today’s equine veterinarians look for in a job offer? Beyond increased salaries, Pownall has seen more equine practices experiment with flexible scheduling, robust mentorship, and collaborative emergency coverage models to improve practitioners’ quality of life. “The key is to listen more carefully to what individuals want out of their careers and to create supportive environments where mentorship and professional growth are prioritized,” he says. “That’s what will make the profession more sustainable and more attractive moving forward.”
References
- American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) & American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP). (2024). Economic state of the equine veterinary profession. Schaumburg, IL: AVMA and AAEP. https://ebusiness.avma.org/ProductCatalog/product.aspx?ID=2138&utm
- Larkin, M. (2023, October 31). New equine practitioners’ salaries see big increase. American Veterinary Medical Association. American Veterinary Medical Association
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025). Veterinarians: Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Veterinarians.htm
Related Reading
- The State of Equine Practice in 2026
- Early Career Insights: How Revenue Production Affects Compensation
- The Business of Practice: The Ethics of Equine Emergency Care
Stay in the know! Sign up for EquiManagement’s FREE weekly newsletters to get the latest equine research, disease alerts, and vet practice updates delivered straight to your inbox.
