The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) has unveiled MumsVet, a new online information and support network for equine veterinary professionals who are balancing work with parenthood.

MumsVet is the brainchild of four equine veterinarians who have all encountered first-hand the hurdles and headaches associated with juggling the demands of equine practice with family life.

Females now account for 76% of new graduate intakes and currently 55% of equine practitioners are female. Personal expectations are changing, with many vets now wanting greater commitment to family life and a better work-life balance. A debate at last year’s BEVA Congress saw 92% of voters agreeing with the motion, “Does equine practice need to change to become more compatible with family life?” MumsVet has been created “by equine vets, for equine vets” to help redress the work-parent balance and eventually to transform the profession’s inherently traditional structure.

The nature of equine work presents different challenges for pregnant women and working parents. Lone-working, often out of hours in potentially dangerous environments with unpredictable patients, and the paucity of trained support staff in an ambulatory setting are specific challenges to equine veterinarians both male and female. Add pregnancy into the mix and the challenges suddenly increase even further. The absence of a single, authoritative site for referencing relevant information invariably has led working parents to seek the advice of colleagues, friends, and family, often with a potentially precarious reliance on anecdotal information rather than broad opinions or facts