Veterinary Sector Spotlight: Equine medicine

A career in equine veterinary medicine was a natural fit for Dr. Sara Langsam, who grew up in a family that owned and bred Thoroughbred horses in New York.

“That was my earliest exposure to horses and horseracing. I fell in love with it and decided to pursue a career in it,” Dr. Langsam said.

After receiving her veterinary degree in 2002 from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Langsam spent a year as an intern at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. The following year, she joined Teigland, Franklin, and Brokken DVMs (TFB Equine), becoming a partner in 2009. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, TFB Equine provides care to Thoroughbred racehorses at racetracks in five states, including New York, where Dr. Langsam provides TFB Equine’s veterinary services at Belmont Park on Long Island.

The day begins at 5 a.m. for Dr. Langsam, starting with rounds to check on her patients. On any given day, Dr. Langsam, along with two associate veterinarians, may conduct lameness examinations, take radiographs and ultrasounds, and perform castrations, laceration repairs, endoscopic procedures, and throat surgeries.

While the basic tenets of equine veterinary care have essentially remained the same during Dr. Langsam’s veterinary career, she has witnessed a rapid advancement in veterinary medical technology.

Diagnostic imaging has become more sophisticated, and new tools have become available. For example, Dr. Langsam now uses an app to assist with complex lameness examinations. She takes a video on her phone of a horse as it jogs, and the app uses artificial intelligence to analyze the video and provide an assessment of the horse’s gait.

She’s also currently leading an American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) study comparing the effectiveness of six biometric sensors for horses. Throughout this year, a hundred 2-year-old Thoroughbred racehorses will wear the sensors to determine their reliability and sensitivity at detecting musculoskeletal injuries.

“The hope is if one or all six are reliable, they could be employed on a nationwide basis. We could make a recommendation to the horse racing regulatory body (Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority), and they could roll out some sort of requirement to wear them to increase equine safety and use them as screening tools,” said Dr. Langsam, who is also a member of HISA’s Horsemen's Advisory Group.

What she most enjoys about her work is spending five days a week with horses. “Horses are very intuitive beings, and very sensitive to your emotions and their emotions, and I just enjoy being around them,” Dr. Langsam said.

It’s gratifying to see her patients win, too.

“When they have a success on the track, it is a team effort, and it is a very exhilarating feeling to be part of that athlete’s success and see them make it,” she said.

A major challenge for equine medicine is persuading new veterinarians to enter a field perceived as having grueling hours and intense pressure. That perception is becoming outdated because the field has evolved to accommodate a better work-life balance, Dr. Langsam noted.

Another challenge is changing what Dr. Langsam described as misconceptions about horse racing. She attributes this partly to a lack of exposure to horses among the general public.

“We are a much less agrarian society, and people are much less likely to ever touch a horse in their lifetime,” Dr. Langsam said. “We have made huge strides in our injury rates in the past 15 years, and last year it was 0.8 injuries per 1,000 starts. Overall, the sport is much safer, and the horses are very well cared for with a lot work done to find them good second careers and good second homes.”

Dr. Langsam, who serves on AAEP’s board of directors, advises veterinary students interested in a career in equine medicine to spend time with an equine veterinarian and observe what they do.

Equine veterinarians must enjoy working outdoors, as that is where they will spend most of their time. Other than that, the only requirement is a love of horses.

“Even if you didn’t grow up with horses, as long as you have a passion for them at whatever age that develops, you can be successful,” she said.

Julie A. Jacob is a freelance writer based in Racine, Wisconsin.