On January 11, 2024, EquiManagement’s Disease Du Jour podcast — a show for equine veterinary professionals, sponsored by Merck Animal Health — released Episode 125, “Fear Free Veterinary Care,” with Stacie as the sole guest. Host Carly Sisson, EquiManagement’s digital editor, spent the episode walking through the three core Fear Free concepts — touch gradient, considerate approach, and gentle control — and how practitioners can apply them in the clinic and in the field.
Disease Du Jour Ep. 125: Fear Free Veterinary Care
Stacie G. Boswell, DVM, DACVS-LA, sole guest — Disease Du Jour, EquiManagement, January 11, 2024. Excerpts below are lightly edited for clarity.
On why it matters that Fear Free writes down what good horsemen learn by instinct:
Nearly all equine practitioners that have been working on horses for any number of years will already be using some form of touch gradient. … I really appreciate the way Fear Free talks about it and documents it, so that we can teach it to veterinary students, our technical staff, and young practitioners without them learning the hard way and getting hurt.
On pace, in the clinic and everywhere else:
It takes a few years to figure this out, but going slow actually results in going fast. If you try to rush things, it always takes three times as long as it needs to. Just taking that extra time to slow down helps our overall clinic environment.
And the story that shows what the approach can undo:
I have a horse in my practice that I’ve been seeing for the last five years. … He came to me having been at an academic university where no students were allowed to touch him. He got loaded in the stocks and he got twitched on his ear in order for them to get an intramuscular dose of sedation in him. I can do injections on this horse now. The owner still keeps a halter and lead rope on him; we feed him a treat, and I use a small needle — and he doesn’t look here. He’s super happy.
Listen to the full episode at EquiManagement. For the resources she mentions: veterinary professionals can start at fearfreepets.com (the equine modules are free for veterinary students, technician students, and academic practitioners), and horse owners at Fear Free Happy Homes. Stacie’s book, The Ultimate Guide for Horses in Need, is available directly from Stacie or from Trafalgar Square Books.