Equestrian Life September 2016 Edition

John Mason Reflects on his 60
Years in Veterinary Practice
Local Equine Vet, John Mason
has racked up an astounding
60 years in Veterinary
Practice this year. John is
a well-known and popular
horse vet, based at Scarsdale
Vets, where he still sees a
number of cases and is on
the Joint Measuring
Board (JMB) for
the Derbyshire
& Nottingham
region. Here
he reflects on
how he got
into veterinary
medicine and
how times have
changed during his
career.
Many vets know as children
that they want to go into
veterinary practice, and John
is no exception to this! As an
11 year old lad, whilst playing
out in the snow with friends
and his dog, he noticed
his dog was lame. After
examining his paws, noticed
ice in between the pads. He
picked out the ice and thawed
his feet before venturing out
into the snowy fields. His dog
was happily bounding around
again in the snow. John says,
“I realised that day that I had
done a good thing, so decided
that I wanted to become a
vet.”
He continued, “I was called
up for national service in my
youth, and applied to join the
Veterinary Corps. I was due
to join the Royal Veterinary
College (RVC) after National
Service had ended. I had to do
10 weeks of Infantry training
first, then the Unit Selection
Board decided that, with my
High School Certificates,
and background in military
cadets, I was suitable Officer
material. No matter how
much they tried to ‘sell’ the
idea of being an Officer to me,
I was determined to join the
Veterinary Corps!”
It was during National Service
that John learnt to ride horses
and began his interest in the
care and health of horses.
After Vet School, John found
his first job as a vet by
accident! “My family were
farmers, and one day my
Father found one of his cattle
had been struck by lightning.
In order to move the body, he
needed a vet to blood test for
disease. A vet was called out
and my Father spoke about
me to the vet (KS Cochran)
who had also been RVC
trained. He offered me
his first job!” John
added.
“Over the past
60 years not a
great amount
has changed.
There are far
more female
vets now. At
University, there
were just 3 women in
my year of 75 students and
that was a high proportion
compared to some of the Vet
Schools.”
“Equine medicine in
particular has become less
dangerous. The choice of
sedation has improved
drastically. Now there are a
number of options, whereas
when I first started out, you
gave a horse a mask full
of chloroform and waited
until the horse fell over!!
There were also the very
obvious risks of being the vet
administering the mask of
chloroform – many became
dizzy themselves!”
“One thing that has not
changed over the years is the
value of a ‘thank you’. The
consistently great thing about
being a vet is the ability to
treat animals and hearing a
Thanks from a client.”
John’s advice to anybody
wishing to enter into equine
medicine is that you need
a good basic knowledge of
horses, be used to handling
horses, in particular being a
rider is a great benefit. You
also need an affinity with
horses. There have been many
times when a general vet
has dealt with a particularly
awkward horse, but the horse
has calmed down once a
‘horsey’ vet has arrived.
Scarsdale Vets would like to
send their congratulations to
John on 60 years in veterinary
practice.
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