A Day in the Life of an Equine Veterinary Nurse | British Equine Veterinary Association
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A Day in the Life of an Equine Veterinary Nurse

blog Vet Stories Nurses
18 May 2020 BEVA Member

Equine Veterinary Nurses are an essential part of maintaining high standards of veterinary care. Their role includes a variety of jobs, from assisting in surgery to feeding and mucking out, but what does a typical day involve? We asked Kassie Hill of Cliffe Equine to talk us through it. 


  • 6am - I start my day by walking my sprocker spaniel Tigger.
  • 7am - My favourite hour of the day: taking care of our inpatients, mucking out, feeding and ensuring they're happy.
  • 8:15am - The whole team gathers to discuss our inpatients and any day cases coming in/news from the previous day.
  • 9am - Clinical work starts and we run our first visiting hours of the day so I get to chat with clients about how their patients have been overnight and plan for the day. 
  • 10am - We aim to operate on any elective surgeries in the morning so it's all hands on deck!
  • 11am - Theatre is one of my favourite areas, as the circulating nurses we ensure that everything runs smoothly.
  • 12pm - It's time for lunch for our inpatients and Tigger (and hopefully for me, but if not it's grabbing a quick slice of cake!)
  • 1pm - The afternoon looks busy for visits so I load up our trusting nurses vans with the mobile x-ray to go out for a lameness examination. 
  • 2pm - I assist the vet with a full clinical examination, performing nerve blocks before x-raying to identify the problem. 
  • 3pm - After arriving back at the clinic I ensure that everything is unloaded and recharged ready for the next call. I also get round to my emails and ensuring that x-rays that need sending to the farrier are sent. 
  • 4pm - It's time to get the inpatients put to bed and speak with any of the owners coming in for the afternoon visiting hours. 
  • 5pm - Time to go home and take Tigger for her evening walk.