Horse owners reveal their sources of information and what they want to learn
Where do horse owners get their info? Sometimes from you, sometimes from less-reliable sources. Here's what they want to know-and how they'd like to learn it.
Equine clients come to you with diagnoses courtesy of the farrier, the owner in the next stall, the feed store owner, and now the Internet. With everybody throwing in their two cents on a horse's condition or symptoms, you may feel your two cents are a little undervalued. Who's the expert here, anyway?
Don't fret, says Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board member Dr. Jim Guenther, MBA, CVPM, a consultant with Strategic Veterinary Consulting in Asheville, N.C. After all, clients are still coming to you. A Brakke Consulting study published last year and data from a University of Minnesota study (left) show that other horse owners and veterinarians were top sources for medical and product information. "Most equine veterinarians don't see themselves that way, but horse owners do," Dr. Guenther says. When asked whom they'd like to see offering equine education programs, horse owners in Minnesota said veterinarians and universities. They may also turn to other sources, such as magazines and fellow horse owners, but they hold you in high regard when it comes to the facts.
Read on to find out more about where horse owners go for information, what topics they're interested in, and how you can diplomatically satisfy that client who's just sure that his filly's lameness is in the left-front leg when you can clearly see it's in the right-front leg.
Who's most important in developing educational programs for horse owners?
Where do horse owners go for information?
Here are clients' top 10 they want to learn about:
1 Basic training
2 Vaccinations
3 Hoof care
4 Nutrition
5 Colic
6 Behavior
7 Tack fitting
8 Fly and pest control
9 When to call a veterinarian
10 Poisonous plants
