P.E.I. horse owners worried about lack of veterinarians

Christina Lecky is worried about something happening to her horses. The owner and operator of Bracken Hill Stable in Baltic says she doesn't have a veterinarian if her horses need one.

"If there's an accident or there's a reason to need a vet for emergency purposes, there's no one I can call," Lecky said. "So it's pretty precarious right now."

Lecky's stable houses seven horses right now, and while she started breeding in 2019, she won't have any foals this year.

"Last year I had a foal that needed to have a plasma transfusion and I had a mare that needed emergency care and both wouldn't be here if I didn't have emergency services," she said. "So I'm in that position where I'm nervous about expanding my business."

'Very few horse vets on P.E.I.'

Lecky has joined a group called Concerned Equine Owners of P.E.I.

It was started by Julia Smith of Briarrose Stables in Indian River when Kensington Veterinary Clinic stopped treating horses.

"There's very few horse vets on P.E.I.," said Smith.

"We can't get any medications. If our animals get injured or hurt, we can't have them humanely euthanized.... It's terrifying. Absolutely terrifying."

Smith said the group has more than 125 members and that at least 800 Island horses are affected by the lack of veterinarians. 

The Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown provides referral and emergency care in hospital for horses.

It also has an ambulatory service that does farm calls, though the college said in an email that it's currently at capacity "due to a veterinary shortage within the service," and that it's unable to take on more clientele at the time.

P.E.I's Emergency Animal Response Team has approached the AVC and offered to transport horses from farms to the college, a representative of the group said through email.

However, it's hard for people to bring their sick or injured horses to the college to be treated, Smith said.

"Maybe they broke a leg, or they're in the middle of having a foal and there's complications, or they're having a really bad colic episode and they're thrashing around," Smith said. 

"Not only is it a danger to the horse, the trailer, the truck driver, the general public, because they're going to be bouncing that trailer all over the road. It's just not safe."

'Knowledge is our best bet now'

Alison Lecky, also at Bracken Hill Stable, said she's considering taking an equine first aid course so she can help her horse in an emergency.

"I imagine that's gonna be something that I will take in the near future. There's a few different people offering it on P.E.I., that would be where I would start," she said. "Knowledge is our best bet now."

Christine Lecky says she's spoken with other veterinary clinics about caring for her horses, but they don't have any availability.

"It's the whole industry; they're spread thin," she said.

She and Smith both said they hope more veterinarians want to treat horses on P.E.I. in the future, and they're surprised at the difficulty finding care considering the harness racing industry's prevalence and the local veterinary college.

"We need to be promoting the equine industry and getting more vets out here in P.E.I." said Smith.