western australia

endurance riding

A horse with measles

@JudyEv (352987)

Rockingham, Australia

March 26, 2023 7:05am CST

The title is a joke! Here is another photo from the endurance ride we attended recently. The veterinary surgeon is checking the horse to make sure it is fit to complete. The markings on the upper neck show that it is a Standardbred, a breed normally used harnessed to sulkies for racing. However, they are a very tough breed with a calm, laid-back nature and well-suited to endurance although not as competitive as horses with Arab breeding. This horse also has spots on its rump and back which is reasonably uncommon. A horse will have white spots if it has had sores from where a saddle has rubbed but these are just naturally occurring. Nowadays, many horses are micro-chipped on the neck. In some breeds, it is a requirement. After the ride, this vet was off to see what will hopefully be her new horse. She wants to get back into endurance riding. Many of the vets that help out at the endurance rides are women. Are women vets as common as men in your area?

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21 responses

@Fleura (31668)

• United Kingdom

26 Mar 23

When I was a teenager I wanted to be a vet. At that time we had horses and a few cattle. My mum was very derogatory of that idea: 'How will a slip of a girl like you deal with handling big cows?' she asked. She made me doubt myself and I opted for something else. Then a few years later she told me all about how they had had the vet out and what a lovely young girl had come

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@Fleura (31668)

• United Kingdom

26 Mar 23

@JudyEv I realised I hadn't answered your question. I would say perhaps the majority of vets these days are women, certainly when we had our trainee assistance dog and had to take him for check-ups etc, every single one we saw was a woman. When I still had a horse only some of the vets in the area would take on large animals and in that case the main vet in the practice was a man, but several others were women. Living in a more urban area many vets specialise in small animals anyway, in fact I think I have seen one exclusively dealing with cats.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

@Fleura We have some 'small animal only' vets here too. My nephew has a lot of trouble getting any vet at all to see to his goats but he is a slightly more isolated area. Not so much isolated as not having too many vets close by. But for some reason very few in the district are interested in treating goats.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Mar 23

@JamesHxstatic I guess most are in it because they love animals. They would see a lot of suffering in their patients and some very distraught owners, not to mention those customers who have trouble paying and have to be hounded to pay their bills.

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@shaggin (74174)

• United States

26 Mar 23

The equine vet here is a woman and so very nice! What do they use to get the writing on that neck.

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@shaggin (74174)

• United States

26 Mar 23

@JudyEv so it just always stays there on their fur or is it something that is just for the show?

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

@shaggin Yes, they used to use red-hot branding irons like in western movies but freeze-branding isn't as cruel or as traumatic. The freezing causes the affected skin to grow white hair so the markings are always visible.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

26 Mar 23

They call it a freeze brand. The branding implements are made super cold before being placed on the neck.

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@rebelann (113918)

• El Paso, Texas

26 Mar 23

Yes, in fact most of the vets I've taken my kritters to over the years have been women and the one I take Roscoe and Tuffy to is a woman.

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@rebelann (113918)

• El Paso, Texas

27 Mar 23

Yes, perhaps it's because many women love animals and want to help them, men just don't have the same nurturing quality a woman has.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

It seems there are a lot of women vets around.

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@LadyDuck (474006)

• Italy

26 Mar 23

This horse looks lovely, so quiet and calm. We have more women vets than men in my area. They are more patient with pets, particularly cats.

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@LadyDuck (474006)

• Italy

27 Mar 23

@JudyEv I have two friends (women) who are vet and one takes care of horses.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

From the responses, it seems there are at least as many women vets as men, if not more.

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@wolfgirl569 (115834)

• Marion, Ohio

26 Mar 23

Women vets are getting pretty common here. If not for the neck brand I would have said the horse had appaloosa in it

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@wolfgirl569 (115834)

• Marion, Ohio

27 Mar 23

@JudyEv I know standardbreds are allowed a lot more markings than many other breeds. The neck brand is common here along with lip tattoos

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Mar 23

@wolfgirl569 And are they micro-chipping horses now?

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

I can understand that but it's a registered standardbred. Occasionally there will be an appaloosa doing an endurance ride but we don't see too many.

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@LindaOHio (188285)

• United States

16 Apr 23

We have some women; but the vets are mostly men. The horse looks like he was spattered with paint!

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Apr 23

Or maybe a few snowflakes! Not that I know what snowflakes would look like on a horse. lol

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

19 Apr 23

@LindaOHio I've wanting to see a lot of snow. I have myLot to thank for that. lol

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@LindaOHio (188285)

• United States

19 Apr 23

@JudyEv Spend a winter here. You'll be so tired of s**wflakes.

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@ptrikha_2 (47853)

• India

26 Mar 23

I have rarely intercted with Vets and I think hardly any in the real life. There used to be a user AKRao who is a vet and familiar with treating horses. Yet I think we don't have sufficient vets in India and females are likely to be lesser. Yet if we can have a complete Missile Squadron of the Indian Air Force having a female commander, then in the future, we could see female vets as well! Looking to your Horse Endurance ride posts. Is the weather getting colder in your place?

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@ptrikha_2 (47853)

• India

27 Mar 23

@JudyEv Yes he was active on another site but not active there these days.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

I remember AKRao. I haven't seen him for a while. Yes, it's slowly cooling off.

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@allknowing (145386)

• India

28 Mar 23

So far I have only dealt with Vets who are men. My friends however told me that there is a female Vet in the clinic close by The guy got a transfer.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Mar 23

Years ago, you never saw a female vet. Now it seems the majority are female.

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@jstory07 (143901)

• Roseburg, Oregon

27 Mar 23

What a beautiful horse. Enjoy the rest of your day.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

This is a very big horse but he is as placid as anything.

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@moffittjc (124240)

• Gainesville, Florida

26 Mar 23

Every vet I've ever been to has been female, although I'm sure there are male vets out there somewhere. Actually, I stand corrected....one of the local vet clinics that used to sponsor our dog events at the swimming pool (when I worked for the city) was a male. But I think he was more the owner of the business than an actual hands-on practicing vet. I think his wife was the main vet at their business.

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@moffittjc (124240)

• Gainesville, Florida

28 Mar 23

@JudyEv Maybe it’s because females exhibit more patience and compassion towards animals than men do.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

29 Mar 23

@moffittjc That could be so and brute strength isn't such an issue any more with better ways of calming animals.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

Isn't that interesting? Most of the comments seem to suggest that women vets are the norm rather than the exception.

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@sol_cee (38216)

• Philippines

27 Mar 23

The white spots must be their freckles? lol

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

You could call them that for sure.

@Ronrybs (20544)

• London, England

26 Mar 23

Didn't realise that horses could get measles, but I knew that cats could get acne!

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

I didn't know about acne but really I was just trying to use a funny title. I've never heard of horses getting measles.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Mar 23

@Ronrybs What else do you think you may not know?? Maybe I can enlighten you.

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@Ronrybs (20544)

• London, England

27 Mar 23

@JudyEv There ya' go, learn something everyday and now I know horses don't get measles!

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@thelme55 (77372)

• Germany

26 Mar 23

Yes, women vets are common in our city.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

It seems strange that there are so many women but possibly there are just as many men.

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@thelme55 (77372)

• Germany

27 Mar 23

@JudyEv Probably. Both genders love animals.

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@CarolDM (203410)

• Nashville, Tennessee

28 Mar 23

We do have a lot of female vets here. There is one my cats see actually.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

28 Mar 23

It seems there are a lot of female vets around. Nearly all the ones at the endurance rides are females.

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@CarolDM (203410)

• Nashville, Tennessee

28 Mar 23

@JudyEv That is great. As long as they are experienced and know what they are doing that is what is important.

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@RebeccasFarm (94525)

• Arvada, Colorado

26 Mar 23

Oh gosh I didn't know horses get measles too.

Oh yes in these parts you can see lots of women riding horses just a little ways out from here in Golden.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

Maybe by now there are equal numbers of male and female vets.

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@DWDavis (25809)

• United States

26 Mar 23

I've never seen a horse with spots like the one in your photo. It's a very interesting patterning. Woman vets are relatively rare in our area, but their numbers are growing.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

Most of the vets at the endurance are women but there are also a couple of men.

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@RasmaSandra (84795)

• Daytona Beach, Florida

27 Mar 23

That is a handsome horse, He looks like he got sprinkled with sugar, I have no idea about vets here but will find out when I finally bring my cats in,

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

He does look like he's been sprinkled. That's a good description of it.

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@JamesHxstatic (29411)

• Eugene, Oregon

26 Mar 23

I don't have a pet at this time, but my daughter uses a woman vet in Portland and I know I met one at the emergency vet office when we had to take my daughter's dog that were sitting last year. I think they are far more common these days.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

From the comments it seems female vets are at least as common as male.

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@Icydoll (36713)

• India

26 Mar 23

We don't have many horses. I rarely see them at beach only .

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

So do they give rides at the beach or are they perhaps racehorses being trained on the sand?

@Beestring (15339)

• Hong Kong

26 Mar 23

I have the impression that there are more men vets than women in my location.

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@JudyEv (352987)

• Rockingham, Australia

27 Mar 23

It seems touch and go in most places with numbers nearly equal.

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