Upon graduation you will have all the information you will need to start working on horses. Like any endeavor, you will need time to hone your skills. To this end, you will have continued access to the course material for review as well as continued support from all the other students and graduates through several avenues. The goal of The Horsemanship Dentistry School is to help you become the best equine dentist you can be.
How long will it take to become good at equine dentistry?
This question is very personal. The purpose of the school is to give you a solid foundation to grow on and start a career. The bottleneck in your growth is you and your ability to believe that you can do what we do. I personally have become better since I have mentored Melissa and started this school.
One of the basic tenants of this school is to develop students into amazing equine dentists and we will encourage you as well as challenge you. But we will never push you to move faster than you feel comfortable in moving within the school.
Can I make a living at equine dentistry?
Yes. There are over 100 million horses, asses, and mules in the world – all with teeth that continually erupt and sharpen with every chew and lick from the tongue. While there are many equine dentists in the world, this school will also teach integrity and horsemanship skills that will separate you from others whose standards and abilities may not be as good as yours.
In my practice today, there are many weekly requests for the style of dentistry we teach at this school. Horse owners everywhere are increasingly looking for dentists that do not automatically drug their horses or use a speculum, immobilize their horses, or use power equipment.
Horsemanship Dentistry is active through social media, blogs, articles, live events, and personal contacts in educating horse owners everywhere that there is a better way to perform dentistry on their horses.
The movement has begun and hence there is a greater demand for Horsemanship Dentistry.
How much does it cost?
How long does it take to complete the school? Is there a time limit?
There is no time limit for completing the coursework and graduating. The course does progress from start to finish, one course unit at a time but there is no time limit for each unit. The units are sequential so there is no skipping around but you can take as long as you want. Your access to the material will not end. The only exception is the final exam which is a timed unit.
There are about 82 course units and each may take on average 1 hour if studied and comprehended. In addition there are many hours of videos in the resource section.
Depending on your current knowledge, it may take a veterinarian or trained equine dentist a week or two while someone learning this for the first time may need a month to complete the studies.
You will need to add 5 days (plus travel) for the hands on training in Florida.
Why become certified in Horsemanship Dentistry?
Graduates who become certified are being evaluated by us to determine if the dentist fully understands this concept of equine dentistry. When certified, you will be recognized and listed as being certified on the Horsemanship Dentistry web site.
Certified graduates will also be eligible for the Post Graduate Success Systems designed to support your growth in this profession. For those using Horsemanship Dentistry as a career choice, there is a system designed to make your career move as easy as possible.
Do I need to travel to Florida to become certified?
The simple answer is yes.
Certification is offered regularly here in Florida on the Saturday following the hands on training days. You will see the calendar dates once enrolled in the resource section. Just select your date and reserve your space.
If I am certified, am I legal in my state or country?
Becoming certified in Horsemanship Dentistry is important to assure horse owners of a level of competency and integrity. But certification granted by me or any anyone else has no legal meaning in most states or countries as far as the legality of practicing equine dentistry. The exceptions are in states and countries where they explicitly say in their veterinary practice acts that a described certification process allows non-veterinary equine dentists to float teeth.
The school will be seeking approval from a continuing education certification organization in the future followed by becoming accredited in as many states as possible to allow non-veterinarians to provide the husbandry aspect of equine dentistry (floating).
You must check with the veterinary practice act of the state or country you are working in to determine if you are legal. Be assured that becoming “certified” by any organization has no legal authority for you to practice in every state or country.
If you are a veterinarian, however, you may become licensed in any state but there are some states that even if you become licensed in the state they will make it difficult to practice in if you are not a resident
Is there hands on training offered?
Students who have completed the coursework and passed the final exam of The Horsemanship Dentistry School become eligible to visit an instructor in south Florida for 5 days. This hands on training will prevent the development of poor techniques as well as help you develop good techniques and horsemanship skills.
Hands on training is offered regularly here in Florida. You will see the calendar dates in the resource tab of the school once enrolled. Just select your dates and reserve your space.
How can equine dentistry be learned online? Don’t you need to work on horses to be good at this?
Every coursework I have ever taken through all my years of school including veterinary medicine, SCUBA diving, and driving a truck, have in common a training portion involving classroom study. Now that computer connections are common, online education has become commonplace in every training situation you can think of.
The online coursework, like the classroom training in vet school, gives the foundations of terminology, theory, and techniques without the hassle of leaving your family or job. I have had people interested in becoming equine dentists travel to south Florida to train for a few days WITHOUT the coursework only to become frustrated when they were unable to understand the language, the theories, the principles and the variety of specific techniques involved in equine dentistry. This foundation of knowledge is so important to know before doing any hands on training.
The computer environment is perfect for online training. Through writing skills that thoroughly describe in words what I need you to see along with over 2500 photographs that I have personally taken, white board presentations I have done and videos of floating techniques, the computer proves to be the best medium for learning. It is like the classroom coming to you.
Both Melissa and I use a helmet camera and a moving stall camera to simultaneously film complete floats on horses. These 2 videos are synchronized and shown on the same video screen (picture within a picture) with the floater’s actual voice coming through the left ear and my post production narration added to the right ear. These videos can be scrolled through and paused to learn exactly as if you were there with us.
The short answer is no, you can’t learn equine dentistry completely from a course on a computer. But what it can do is make it a lot easier and more efficient when you come here for hands on training. After all, didn’t we read the driver’s manual before learning how to drive?