To become an equine veterinarian, you earn a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree from an accredited vet school, pass the national licensing exam, get a state license, and build your horse experience along the way, usually through externships in school and often a one-year equine internship after it. Board certification in surgery, internal medicine or equine practice is optional and takes several more years.
For most people that means about eight years after high school (a bachelor's degree, then four years of vet school) before you are a licensed horse vet, and longer if you specialize. Below is each step, what it really involves, and the parts of the job people only tell you about once you're in it.
What Does an Equine Veterinarian Do?
An equine veterinarian is a vet who works mainly with horses (and their relatives, donkeys and mules). The work runs from a foal's first exam to the end of a horse's life: breeding, vaccines, treating disease and injuries, imaging, surgery, euthanasia and necropsies, according to Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Many equine vets also advise owners on the rules of racing, showing and competition.
It is one of the few corners of veterinary medicine where house calls are still the norm. A lot of the job happens in barns, paddocks and the cab of a truck.
How to Become an Equine Veterinarian, Step by Step
1. Get a bachelor's degree, the prerequisites and real horse hours
Most vet school applicants hold a bachelor's degree, often in biology. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that programs expect a lot of science (biology, chemistry, animal science) plus some math, humanities and social science, and that some prefer applicants who have worked with animals on a farm, at a stable or in a shelter. Prerequisites differ from school to school, so check each school's list early.
For a future horse vet, the most useful thing you can do now is spend time around horses and the vets who treat them. Shadowing an equine practice, working at a barn or a breeding farm, and riding along on farm calls show you what the day really looks like. They also give you the animal experience admissions committees look for.
2. Earn your DVM at an accredited vet school
Vet school generally takes four years, and students typically spend the final year on clinical rotations (BLS). Your degree must come from a college accredited by the AVMA Council on Education; the AVMA keeps the list of accredited veterinary colleges.
There is no separate "equine vet school." Every DVM student learns all the major species, and you steer toward horses through electives, clubs and the rotations you choose.
3. Build equine experience during vet school
Vet school is where most future horse vets get their real equine time, and it comes from three places:
- Join your school's AAEP student chapter. The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has student chapters at vet schools, and student membership opens up its internship and externship listings.
- Do externships. An externship is a short placement in a working practice while you're still a student. Equine practices post them on the AAEP Career Center; listings there often run one to two weeks, and some take students from any year.
- Pick equine rotations and electives in your clinical year: ambulatory, surgery, medicine, reproduction.
Treat externships as job interviews that run both ways. You see how a practice treats its new vets, and they see how you handle a long day and a fractious horse.
4. Pass the NAVLE and get licensed
To practice, you need a license from the state (or province) where you'll work. The North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE) is required for licensure in every US and Canadian licensing jurisdiction, and most states also require their own licensing exam (BLS). The details vary by state, so check the board where you plan to work.
5. Decide: equine internship or straight into practice
Once you're licensed, you can go straight into an associate job or take a one-year equine internship first. An internship is paid, supervised training in a busy practice or hospital, and it is the usual first step if you want to specialize later.
It is a small group either way. According to the AAEP, about 1.3% of new veterinary graduates go directly into equine practice each year, and another 4.5% start equine internships.
Internships vary a lot. The AAEP has published best-practice guidelines for equine internships, including red and green flags and the core skills an intern should build (dvm360). Before you sign, ask:
- Who mentors me, and how often will I actually work alongside them?
- How are emergencies shared, and when will I start taking them on my own?
- How many interns or new associates stayed after their first year?
6. Optional: residency and board certification
Board certification makes you a specialist ("boarded"). You don't need it to work with horses. The three routes horse vets most often take:
Board | Equine route | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) | Large animal surgery | At least a 1-year internship, then a 3-year residency, published research and board exams (ACVS) |
American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) | Large animal internal medicine (LAIM) | An ACVIM-approved residency (programs such as Tufts run three years), candidate registration and exams (ACVIM LAIM manual) |
American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP) | Equine Practice | At least 4 years of full-time practice with horses, or a 2-year ABVP-approved residency; written case reports and an exam; recertify every 10 years (ABVP) |
Other specialties, such as theriogenology (reproduction), radiology and dentistry, also have horse vets in them. See our guide to the recognized veterinary specialties for the full list.
Where Do Equine Veterinarians Work?
Most equine vets work in private practice, and nearly all of them offer ambulatory (farm call) service with a lot of driving, according to Ross Vet. Here is how the main settings compare:
Setting | What the work looks like | Good fit if you |
|---|---|---|
Ambulatory practice | Farm calls from a fully stocked truck: wellness, lameness, wounds, colic, emergencies | Like variety, independence and time on the road |
Hospital or referral center | Surgery, intensive care, imaging and referred cases, often with specialists | Want caseload depth and a team around you |
Sport and performance horses | Lameness, sports medicine and pre-competition work for racing, show and event horses | Love athletes and fine-tuned lameness exams |
Reproduction | Breeding management, foaling season, mares and stallions | Don't mind long nights in breeding season |
University, industry, government | Teaching, research, regulatory work, pharmaceutical or feed companies | Want a steadier schedule or a non-clinical path |
Still deciding between species? Compare this path with becoming a zoo veterinarian or becoming an aquatic veterinarian.
The Honest Part: Hours, On-Call and Who Stays
Equine practice is a calling, and it is also a hard schedule. Ross Vet describes long hours, weekends and frequent on-call duty. Across all vets, BLS notes most work full time, often more than 40 hours a week.
The AAEP is unusually open about the problem. An AAEP analysis found that within five years, about half of the vets who enter equine practice leave for small animal practice or leave veterinary medicine altogether (AAEP). The AAEP gives no year for that figure; it is the problem its sustainability work, started in 2022, set out to fix. The main reasons it names are burnout from the personal demands of the job and lower starting salaries than in companion animal practice. Debt adds pressure: the AAEP notes many new vets start with more than $200,000 in student loans. Our vet school scholarships guide is worth a look before you borrow.
Emergencies are a big part of it. In the AAEP's 2022 salary and lifestyle survey, 42% of the equine vets surveyed said they earned no extra money for emergency visits (dvm360).
Some of this is being fixed. The AAEP formed its Commission on Equine Veterinary Sustainability in 2022, and the commission finished its work in 2024, with resources on compensation, emergency coverage, practice culture, internships and students. For you, that means the questions you ask a future employer about mentorship, the emergency rota and pay for after-hours calls matter as much as the salary line. If the stress is already building, our piece on burnout and compassion fatigue has practical help.
How Much Do Equine Veterinarians Make?
There's no official salary figure for equine vets alone, so here are the two most useful sources side by side:
Figure | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
Median pay, all US veterinarians | $130,100 a year | BLS, May 2025 data |
Lowest 10% / highest 10%, all vets | under $73,920 / over $215,700 | BLS, May 2025 data |
New graduates taking equine associate jobs (no internship) | $94,389 average starting salary | AVMA data reported by the AAEP (2023 senior survey) |
New graduates taking equine internships | $44,889 average | AVMA data reported by the AAEP (2023 senior survey) |
The equine figures are guaranteed salaries that leave out production bonuses and emergency fees, which the AAEP's compensation column says can add at least 25%. Pay then grows with experience, production, board certification and practice ownership. BLS projects employment of veterinarians to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035.
Is Equine Practice Right for You?
It probably is if you:
- Light up at the idea of a lameness workup in a muddy field at 7 a.m.
- Can handle large, frightened animals calmly and safely.
- Are fine with weekends, nights and a phone that rings during dinner.
- Want a career built on long relationships with owners, trainers and barns.
If that sounds like you, take the next small step: shadow an equine vet, join the AAEP student chapter, or line up your first externship. And if you already know a horse vet who runs on barn coffee, a horse pulse travel tumbler makes a good thank-you.
FAQ
How long does it take to become an equine vet?
For most people, about eight years after high school: a bachelor's degree, then four years of vet school. An internship adds a year, and a residency for board certification adds two to three years or more.
Do you need to grow up with horses?
No, but you need real horse experience before and during vet school. Shadowing, barn work and externships teach you safe handling and show admissions committees and employers you know what the job involves.
How much does a horse vet make?
New graduates entering equine associate jobs averaged $94,389 in the 2023 senior survey (AVMA data reported by the AAEP), and the median for all US vets is $130,100 (BLS, May 2025 data). Pay grows with experience, board certification and practice ownership.
Is there a shortage of equine vets?
The AAEP says the field struggles to recruit and keep vets: only about 1.3% of new graduates go directly into equine practice, and an AAEP analysis found about half of those who enter leave within five years. Rural areas are hit hardest, according to Ross Vet.
Originally written by Amber LaRock. Updated by the I Love Veterinary editorial team.
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Veterinarians, Occupational Outlook Handbook
- AAEP: Equine Veterinary Sustainability Initiative
- AAEP Career Center
- EquiManagement (AAEP Commission column, Amy L. Grice, VMD, MBA): Good News About Compensation
- dvm360: AAEP announces initiatives to recruit and retain equine veterinary professionals
- AVMA: Accredited veterinary colleges
- ICVA: North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE)
- American College of Veterinary Surgeons: What is a veterinary surgeon?
- ACVIM: Large Animal Internal Medicine Specialty Manual
- Tufts Cummings School: Large Animal Internal Medicine Residency
- American Board of Veterinary Practitioners: Become a Specialist
- Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine: What Is Equine Medicine?
