<p>Last time I was here was two years ago… now sending my second round of kids off to college, so I’m around again!</p>
<p>I became an equine veterinarian and came “home” to a relatively small city to practice with a well established practice. That was great! But, sadly, the practice owner had family troubles and ended up moving out-of-state. </p>
<p>I was fairly well settled where I was and gave it a go on my own for a while with good success. Frustratingly, the other large animal vets around were very independent and “protective” of their clients and didn’t want to “merge”… (barely took call for one another despite my attempts to organize something). I was close to hiring an associate in from out-of-the-area when my own world turned upside-down with a couple of big crises (family deaths, a fire, etc.)… so turns out I dropped it all and ended up being a stay-at-home mom. I regret not keeping my finger in the door now, I really enjoyed the work, but never really made any money at it. It was a great hobby, but I HATED being on-call. Even when I wasn’t on call, people would call or show up. Had a horse trailer show up in front of my house on Christmas morning once… and no, it wasn’t a gift pony! :)</p>
<p>If you love a university environment, I certainly think aiming for an academic/research career in vet med would be wonderful. :)</p>