A unique internship program developed by the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), the first of its kind in equine medicine to offer equine veterinary students a practical and “real world” look at equine veterinary practice, begins its second year.

The AAEP Practice Internship Program, with internships already in place for 1999, is designed to provide equine veterinary practices with quality students who are dedicating their field of study to equine practice. According to Nathaniel White, II, DVM, chair of the AAEP Internship Program Ad-Hoc Committee, the program began with four goals.

“First, we obviously wanted to be able to create a large number of equine practice internships,” he said. “By providing more opportunities for these students to experience the atmosphere and demands of an equine practice, we will be providing a higher quality practitioner and therefore a higher level of care to the veterinary community and patient.”

Other goals were to increase the skills and practical knowledge of students prior to becoming associates in equine practice; to assure quality in training and to provide a source of enthusiastic graduates for equine practices