Working with animals

[tagimnottheit]

DD14 says she wants to work with animals. She is academic, not top 5% more top 25% in her high-achieving state comp. Vetmed is one option, but it’s very competitive and sounds incredibly intensive.

I saw someone mention their DD studies around 60 hours a week including lectures, which made me wonder what other options there are for working with animals. DD is very hands-on, natural problem solver and not phased by much.

She’s previously been sharing a pony, helps run pony club at her yard for DofE and has a natural way with animals, as well as a genuine interest in them. How about equine physio? What other fulfilling careers or degree options are there that would allow her to work with animals?

I would say right now she is making a great start with the horses. Well done her.
As she has a few years left to decide i would br ensuring that the maths and sciences were top priority. This will give her the best choices come university.
Careers advice ...there is an excellent web site , the National Careers Service which gives you all the options.
They are not vast and with so many youngsters wanting to work with animals it's often poorly paid, vets aside.
I wish her loads of luck.
My daughter did her undergraduate in wildlife conservation but did end up doing a PhD in urban sustainability.
She still gets to work with animals, but more the "critter" types.
Keep up any practical volunteer work she can get.
This is so often the way in. NETWORKING she yelled.

From your description she'd not make the grade for vet med. It's very competitive, but you need to be able to absolutely breeze the work at school because the jump up in speed of delivery and the amount of content means if you are having to work flat out to get an A at school you just don't have enough in reserve to do well at vet school. I had lectures 9-3 most days, so it wasn't as intense as your friend said, but when I was revising it was 7am-2am. Also most of it isn't really working with animals the way it sounds like she wants - it's dealing with customers (pet owners) and time pressure.
Horses are a good route. Or dog training could be another good option.

I'd recommend she takes a look at Harper Adams for some inspiration. Lots of different animal/vet adjacent degrees there.

Animal Sciences and Zoology
Veterinary Sciences and Professions

Feel free to totally discount this but I want to put forward the piece of advise my parents gave me when I was her age! I was smart - not top 5% but in the top group for any subjects where classes were split by academic capability. I love animals. I was involved with horses, had a loan pony, etc. My dread future was anything where I spent my day with animals.

My parents pointed out that many jobs working with animals tend to be low paid (unless you have the academic capability to become a vet or the likes!) They asked me to consider whether I would want a future in which I spent my day with animals to earn minimum wage, therefore impacting my ability to afford animals of my own. Or did I want to chose a career that did not involve animals, but paid me enough to have my own pets without worrying so much about counting the pennies.

I am now a structural engineer which I enjoy. And it pays me enough to have my pets and spoil them without considering the cost!

I understand this isn't what you're asking. And she has a few years before she's making the choices. But I really valued this piece of advice from my parents and it set me on the road to being comfortable AND indulging my love of animals.

What are your nearest agricultural colleges for 6th form? So many courses available.

Like PPs said, she'd probably like an agricultural college, or one specialising in animal care or equine, like Myerscough, if you're in or around Lancashire.

By far the most popular university for the students leaving the agricultural college where I work is Harper Adams (it has a beautiful campus, too!), though the Royal Agricultural University gets a mention sometimes (but is much further away for our students).

My family discouraged me from working with animals, because unless I intended to be a vet, it wasn't a 'proper job'. The 'proper job' that I got, and they were proud of, sucked and gave me a breakdown. Let her do what she wants! No amount of money is worth her mental health... and if anything, I work less hours, don't take work home, and make more money than I did for my 'proper job'!

I actually think this is good advice. This was just the discussion I had with my DD - but she's always ignored our advice, and is now a vet!

However, if your DD does have any other interests, I think it would be a good idea to explore these as well, as she is academic. I would discuss salaries and career progression, as even today, girls often don't seem to consider that.

Hartpury have lots of equine science degrees: https://www.hartpury.ac.uk/university/study/undergraduate/equine-degrees

My daughter loves it here! Apart from equine facilities, they have all kinds of amazing animals big and small living on site - they have their own zoo and working farm. Anyone can do a pre-vet course as enrichment if they like even if you don't want to become a vet.

The campus is huge and gorgeous.

I was a veterinary nurse for 32 years, maximum I ever earned was £30k and that’s pretty much the ceiling.

Very physical, stressful at times and for a lot of my career long antisocial hours. But also incredibly fun and rewarding and got many many happy memories of It.

I left that career with many transferable skills and now work in NHS. So much of working with animals is less about that and more about very quickly forming a relationship with their owners, especially in often highly emotive situations.

How about army? They offer funding for vet students, she could join cadets to see if she likes the military side of things.

Also, the defence army training regiment (where a lot of the animal things happen) based at Melton Mowbray have an open day every 2 years, next one is next year over the summer, very worth a visit

I too was a veterinary nurse. Would she be interested in that?

What about equine physio?

There’s a big difference in earnings between vets and just about every other animal job. I do know equine vet specialists and this avenue might be of interest. There’s horse dentists too. Bristol does vet nursing and companion animal behaviour which might be of interest. It’s a 4 year degree.

With vet nursing, isn’t it better or at least more cost-effective to do an apprenticeship? Or is there actually a difference in the final level of expertise, experience or qualification?

And what does equine physio actually entail? It sounds like it might not be particularly well paid. Maybe Equine vet nurses train as physics for an additional skill set?

Dd would love to be a vet. I remember reading on here that it isn’t necessarily the top academic stars from each year group who end up getting into Vet School, or manage the degree. I wonder how much of it comes down to the right combination of academic ability, practical skills, resilience and just really wanting it.

I think the people who can make a lot of money with horses (aside from vets and the top trainers) are farriers and saddlers.

Farriers are HUGELY in demand but it's a very difficult job I think. Also, saddlers. Those are quite special skills and if she's good - she'll be earning really well.

I wouldn't want to be a farrier. It's quite a dangerous and very demanding job I think, but good farrier is worth his way in gold and usually fully booked up immediately.

@tagimnottheit Are there apprentice degree vet nurses who go to the veterinary schools? I suspect these are not the norm. I would check out the quality of apprenticeship academics vs a 4 time degree full time at a veterinary school.

Yes. Farriers are worth their weight in gold but they are hoof specialists. Certainly for competition horses. I’ve never seen a women farrier for racehorses. They are shod more often than other horses.

Very few racehorse trainers make money (and connections mean nearly everything!)!but a senior job with a top one is going to pay reasonably well but it’s very long hours and responsibility for extremely expensive horses. Brilliant riding skills required too.

There's not just money in racing though. Good jumping coaches earn very well. Juniors are a huge money-making source also.

Hartpury University offers an MSci in Veterinary Physiotherapy covering both horses and canines, and ARU offers an MVetPhys in Equine Veterinary Physiotherapy. Does anyone know anything more about these courses? he website isn't terribly informative. Is it generally better to focus only on equine (more in-depth?) or cover canines too? My sister is actually a (human!) physio therapist.

@XelaMYou have to be a top rider to coach though. You have to have a very good cv. In racing there aren’t really coaches. The staff essentially care for the horses and prepare them for racing.

I certainly know of race horse physios and I guess other competition horses have them too. However many horse owners would see it as a luxury whereas a vet isn’t a luxury expense. I would check on job availability for a physio degree as I imagine most would start working in equine vet practices if treating horses. No idea about dogs! Im also not sure about earnings either.

My friend is an Equine Physio and she did a 2yr fast track at Nottingham Trent Uni, as its normally four years. She worked incredibly hard. She had animal nursing: small animals background. She is ACPAT registered, has her own very successful business, has to be available during the day, early evenings and weekends for her clients who often work full time. Her wait list is approx 6 weeks she's so busy.

My DD is similar. She is bright but all she wants to do is work with horses.
She doesn’t want to be a vet although getting the grades is probably not an impossible aim for her.
Would a degree in something like equine studies/animal science actually be worthwhile or would she be better off not going to university and working in a stables, which is all she actually wants to do? She wants to be a “horse trainer” or riding instructor at the moment.

Is she wants to 'work with animals' she should consider a position in the Houses of Parliament.