Why did I become a veterinarian?

I began my vision to become a veterinarian when I was very young. I assisted my father with horse shoeing from a young age and gained a respect and knowledge that every part of the animal is vitally important. My family always had pets including dogs, goats, rabbits, chickens and horses that helped me to understand husbandry is a key component of health in animals.

In middle school I bore witness to our local veterinarian being called to see a very sick horse. The horse had colic and was in an exorbitant amount of pain. The veterinarian attempted treatment and realized quickly that the pain could not be controlled. The horse would not survive even if surgery was performed. He was able to euthanize the painful horse and stop his suffering. This ability to quickly diagnose a non-treatable source of pain and stop that pain guided me to become a veterinarian. In high school I learned more about cattle and horses in a medical sense through 4-H live-stock showing, working on local ranches and continuing to assist my father in his horse shoeing and our local veterinarians in their work.

I had already made my mind up as to what I would do well before I entered college. For me there was only one choice. To become a Veterinarian. Texas A&M University was my first choice but was unavailable financially and Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas was chosen for my undergraduate school to obtain a degree in Animal Science. This choice greatly strengthened my want to enter veterinary school through working with my mentor Chris Womack, DVM on cattle, goats and other ranch animals as well as dogs and cats in his clinic and on his family ranch.

I entered Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine with the goal and aspiration to be a food animal veterinarian in rural Texas. After graduating I obtained this goal in the small west Texas town of Winters. While moving around Texas to follow my wife’s pursuit of becoming a medical doctor I continued to work in mixed animal medicine, small animal emergency and eventually opened my own equine and food animal mobile practice that I ran for a number of years throughout Texas.

My family and I spent the last few years in Tampa, Florida, for my wife's medical residency. While there I worked as an ambulatory veterinarian at Brandon Equine Medical Center, a busy referral equine practice. Recently, we returned to Texas, and I am excited to finally offer the services of a mobile veterinarian for horses, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and cats through my own practice.