From sewing up lacerations, breeding mares, saving foals, colic surgery to fracture repair or cataract surgery, the internship at Brazos Valley Equine Hospitals – Navasota is a one year wide ranging program. We promise to provide our interns with personalized mentorship, case volume, patient variety, and hands-on experience.  In return, we ask our interns to have a positive attitude and to work hard.  We are a full service, equine referral hospital located in the heart of Texas between Houston, Austin, and Dallas.  Last year we treated 8,000 patients covering nearly every equine North American discipline and dozens of breeds.

Mentorship is personalized by working closely with each doctor on cases, daily stall side rounds, reviewing cases after conclusion, and weekly webinars with interns across multiple practices discussing personal growth and clinical skills. Interns rotate through all the doctors in the practice in two-week blocks and work closely on each of the cases. Our doctors see all types of primary and referral cases and are board certified in Surgery, Internal Medicine, Emergency/Critical Care, Acupuncture, or advanced training in business and Theriogenology. We also partner with additional specialists in Ophthalmology and a licensed Equine Dental Provider.

 In the last 12 months, BVEH-Navasota saw 18,1250 appointments.

• lameness = 7,000 - 7,500 / year 
• pre-purchase = 250-350 / year
• surgery = 400 - 600 / year (40% orthopedic, 50% soft tissue, 10% emergency)
• reproduction = 1000 – 1,200 / year
  • 300 – 400 semen collections,
  • 40 - 50 ET flush,
  • 30 -50 high risk pregnancies
• internal medicine = 1,000 - 1,500 / year
  • 60-80 neonatal cases,
  • 250-300 ophthalmology,
  • 350 - 400 gastrointestinal,
  • 300 - 350 respiratory,
  • 40 - 50 cardiac,
  • 150 - 200 neurologic,
  • 50-75 dermatologic
• general health = 1,500 - 2,000
• corrective podiatry = 400-500
• dentistry = 600-700 floats and extractions
• chiropractic/acupuncture = 200 - 250
• emergency = 600 - 800

The amount of supervision will depend on the intern's experience and may vary as the year progresses. The intern is expected to develop skills to allow handling of in-house appointments and emergency cases under direct or indirect supervision, as well as, ambulatory calls without supervision. Primary duties include daily treatments and examinations of hospitalized patients, assisting staff veterinarians in lameness exams, surgeries, dentistry, reproduction, and neonatal care. Night duties consist of intensive care monitoring, assisting night technicians with complicated treatments, and assisting with emergencies. Interns will split emergency and night duties. An expected breakdown of your time includes management of inpatients 30%, outpatient exam 30%, ambulatory calls 20%, surgery 10%, and anesthesia 5%.

The internship in Navasota is supported by seven veterinarians:

• Ben Buchanan, board certified Internal Medicine and Emergency Critical Care
• Terrell Buchanan
• Ricci Karkula, MS, certified acupuncture
• Weston Warnock, board certified Surgery
• Joe Pluhar, MBA
• Kurt Heite
• Ted Kellerman
• Evan Scott

In addition to the professional staff there are 7 registered technicians, 3 farriers, and 1 licensed dental practitioner and 30 other support staff supporting the business.

Interns will work out of the hospital in Navasota, but there is potential to spend time in our hospital in Salado, at horse shows, and with our ambulatory outpatient lameness service.

BVEH also offers internships in Salado

• Salado - https://jobs.aaep.org/jobs/13012302/equine-rotating-internship

As a first job after veterinary school, our programs will provide the you a solid foundation to be a success.

Applicants should be graduating or recently graduated from Veterinary School.

Internship applicants should have general experience in equine medicine and surgery, and basic knowledge of horsemanship. The ability to work as a team, a positive attitude, and people skills are a requirement.

A prior visit/externship and interview is strongly encouraged. A personal meeting is weighted the most when considering applicants.

A decision will be made as soon as excellent candidates are identified.