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

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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.

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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?

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