More than 100 million horses, donkeys, and mules around the world spend their days working for a living: not necessarily working on their sliding stops, tempi changes, or jumping technique, but working to provide their human families with a means of transportation and a source of livelihood. These equids represent not only the family horse but also an animal that is a major player in the global agriculture market.

Unfortunately, these animals don't always receive health care that meets the standards many veterinarians or horse owners would consider acceptable. But a group of veterinarians ("The Equitarians," led by Jay Merriam, DVM, of the Massachusetts Equine Clinic) has taken on the task of helping these working horses, mules, and donkeys. In turn, they're helping the animals' owners. Merriam described this movement at the 2010 American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention, held Dec. 4-8 in Baltimore, Md., and explained how veterinarians and equine enthusiasts in general can become involved in the mission.

The horse owning families in the developing world view their animals through a different lens, and it's not always rose-colored. They rely on them for work and transport in ways a developed world can't imagine. For instance, children ride them to school. If the children can't get to school and learn to read, they are forced to go to work at an early age instead.

With the support of the AAEP, The Donkey Sanctuary, Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, and the University of Mexico (UNAM), a week-long Equitarian Workshop was held in Vera Cruz, Mexico, in October 2010. The purpose was to train practitioners to work in field conditions with actual communities where working equids are the source of work and survival. Twenty-six veterinarians from North America and an equal number from Mexico joined with the faculty of the UNAM veterinary school to teach and serve. Some key components of the session were learning to interact with indigenous communities and to see, identify, and treat many health conditions unique to equines living in tropical conditions