Calin Melu Maierean

“Since I can remember, I loved animals. I became a vet in order to help them: to heal their pain, or at least to ease their pain.

“It is difficult as a countryside vet in Romania, there are only two or three private veterinary offices in the entire County. “I do believe that it is very important to inform the farmers on how they should take care of their animals. There isn’t much interest in caring for the working animals.

“It is the veterinary’s responsibility to spread specific information regarding the health problems of the animals. This approach is quite new in Romania. The farmers must be better informed about when they should bring their horse to a vet, that their horses could work better and the risks of not going.

“I don’t think it is a matter of money: a preventive treatment for one horse wouldn’t be more than ten pounds per year, meaning four treatments for parasites. Only thirty per cent of the horse owners in the area come for this treatment. This is better, when I came here only ten percent were interested in this kind of prevention. Generally people are quite open, but it’s not easy to change old habits, the ‘ways of the elders’.

“Without a minimum training on caring and using an animal, it’s difficult to tell if or when it is in pain. It will be better tomorrow, they say, but that’s simply wishful thinking. There are diseases that can’t be identified only by looking at the horse and the gravity of a situation can be underestimated.

“The stables are a concern of ours; every animal needs a minimum space for a healthy living. Feeding is another important issue, one shouldn’t give the horse to eat only what is handy, or what the horse prefers to eat. There are specific rules regarding the nutrition.

Romanian farmers use carts that are not always what they should be. Harnesses that are not fitted well can cause wounds. When a farmer sees his horse suffering from a wound caused by the harness, he should first go to the vet, not the saddler. An improvised harness will never be as efficient as a proper harness.

The terrain is quite rough in the area; there is a lot of pressure on the horse’s joints and shoes. A well trained farrier available in the area would help reduce a lot the problems with working horses around here: proper shoeing significantly diminish the walking problems of the horses.

“We actually didn’t study harnessing and farriery much at the veterinary school. A vet should be able to tell immediately, when seeing a horse, that there are shoeing or harnessing problems. I am happy with the theoretical preparation we got school but we needed more field work.

The diagnosis side of the veterinary medicine has changed for the better but I wish our school was more updated with current practises and nutrition science, there are newer theories available.

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