VET TRUCK CONFIDENTIAL: Pioneering Equine Veterinary Success by Connecting With a Personal Mission

This episode centers around the evolution of equine veterinary careers and personal missions - highlighting how three colleagues redefined their paths with the support of community and programs like Decade One. Through candid conversations, Stacey, Kelly, and Misty explore the challenges of finding fulfillment in a demanding profession and the importance of collaboration, personal growth, and sustainability in veterinary practice. 

• Discussion on personal career evolution from vet school dreams to current realities 
• Introduction to Decade One and its role in fostering community among veterinarians 
• Sharing journeys of career transformation and embracing flexibility 
• Conversations about the challenges faced by recent graduates in equine practice 
• Insights on the significance of mentorship and supportive networks 
• The creation of Sustainability and Equine Practice Seminars as a response to industry needs 
•  Plans for future collaborations through Decade One and the Sustainability in Equine Practice Seminar series 
• Encouragement to pursue personal fulfillment and redefine veterinary paths

Find out more!
www.decadeonevet.com
www.sepseminars.com
AAEP Scholarship for Decade One Membership

Chapters

• 0:08 Evolution of Equine Veterinarians
• 16:25 What happens when this equine career is no longer serving you?
• 22:33 Expanding Support for equine practitioners with the creation of SEPS
• 29:31 The aligned mission of Decade One and SEPS

Transcript

Stacey Cordivano: 0:08

Welcome to the Whole Veterinarian podcast. This is a place where we learn to be happier, healthier, wealthier and more grateful for the lives that we've created. Hey, there, just a quick little introduction to this episode. We cover a lot, so Vet Truck Confidential has been a little bit of a side project offshoot of the whole veterinarian podcast. You may have seen those come out the last few episodes. It's kind of a more casual chat between colleagues. So they are going to become an integrated part of the decade one modules and some of them will become exclusive content to decade one and some will be shared here as well. If you don't know what decade one is, stay tuned to the episode because we talk about it quite a bit. But this episode covers everything from news and updates from the Sustainability and Equine Practice Seminar Series to updates with Decade One and new formatting and new mergers, and it also covers the evolution of three friends and equine veterinarian colleagues on what they thought their lives would look like and what they kind of currently look like and how that happened. So a wide ranging chat today. But I hope you find it helpful and if you have any questions about the programs that we do talk about in here, they will be linked in the show notes or feel free to reach out to me. Thanks for checking it out. Talk to you soon.

Stacey Cordivano: 1:42

Welcome to Vet Truck Confidential. If you're new here, welcome. We've done a couple casual talks in the past, but we're starting a little bit more of a deep dive into this series. So I want to introduce everybody that's involved in this and give a little backstory on how this came to be and what our future plans are. So my name is Stacey Cordovano. I'm an equine practitioner, mom, podcaster, lots of other things also that lives in Pennsylvania, and I am happy to be joined by two dear friends. So, Kelly, introduce yourself please.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 2:20

Hi, I'm Kelly Zeytoonian. I am a practice owner in the Northern California area and also have a business consulting practice specifically for equine veterinarians. I am also a mom and hiker and dog lover and try to be everything outside of work as much as possible.

Stacey Cordivano: 2:42

All right Misty. How about you?

Misty Gray: 2:50

as much as possible. All right, misty, how about you? I am Misty Gray. I am in practice in New Jersey. I originally was in big group practice and I have shifted to do a more like boutique chiro and acupuncture practice at the moment. I also work on the admin side for the decade one program and I am also a mom. I have two little boys, I'm into nature, I like painting. I really like to volunteer and overcommit myself to things Like volunteering all week long in a classroom.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 3:24

I wish everybody could see your amazing Christmas outfit that you had on today.

Misty Gray: 3:29

I am an unhinged Christmas spirit today.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 3:35

I love it. I love it While you're unhinged you mentioned decade one, and that might be something that our listeners are unfamiliar with. So what is decade one?

Misty Gray: 3:45

Okay, decade one is actually where the three of us reconnected. We all knew each other before Decade One, but reconnected as a group in Decade One. It is a program that was the brainchild of Dr Amy Grice Grace, and it's really set up to be a place of community and a place to learn how to thrive, how to be a better, more successful equine veterinarian really in line with our kind of goal of sustainability in equine practice. But it's just a really great place for people to come together to learn business content, personal development, professional development. It's a three-year program so you take the different modules of content over the course of the three years and you kind of traverse equine practice as you change your practice with your cohort, which happen to be people that understand where you're coming from and can see your struggles or your visions, but kind of from an outside perspective, and really help you tailor making practice.

Stacey Cordivano: 4:57

What you want. Like you said, we all connected there, and one thing we all left out of our bio is that we're three of the four founders of the Sustainability and Equine Practice Seminar Series, and so you know, we'll probably get into all of this later on in the episode, but I don't think, without the Decade One program, that we would have found ourselves in the position to create a program, an in-person program that is geared toward supporting our colleagues. And that kind of leads me into this topic for today, which is this idea of did you picture yourself doing what you're doing now when you first started in practice or when you were in vet school? Like I actually know the answer, and I think the answer is similar for almost every equine vet that I talked to. But what did you guys start out picturing your career to look like? And then where? How has it evolved?

Kelly Zeytoonian: 5:56

I thought I was going to be frolicking in the hills of Southwest Virginia working on all creatures, great and small, um.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 6:04

So that is totally different from being in silicon valley working with high-end sport horses and you know, just horses, um, for for work, and you know, and not just working with horses, right, like managing a practice and teaching at the local, you know RVT school, and consulting, like getting an MBA, getting an MBA.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 6:31

I think the really cool evolution is that I've been able to do that in the last 15, you know, practicing 15 years of post-graduation and have had like multiple iterations of myself as a veterinarian and I think we've talked about this before as a group. And it's like when you first graduate you're sort of take, take, take, like you need so much mentorship, you need, you need a lot from your career, and then you get to this phase of you know, kind of being steady and being able to just kind of hold your own within practice. And then you hit that point and feel that need to contribute back to this career that has given us so much during the decade one sessions, and that you're right, like that was the catalyst for where we are today and being able to talk on this podcast and provide content and support to our fellow veterinarians which is cool.

Misty Gray: 7:48

Yeah, I initially. This is so funny to me. Initially I thought I wanted to be an equine surgeon. Then no offense to surgeons, missy is just no, that is not me. No offense to surgeons Missy is just not one of them, that is not me.

Misty Gray: 8:06

But so then I pictured myself to be like classic sports medicine equine vet, like khaki pants vest Crisp, polo Crisp collared shirt, fancy horses and I did an internship at a practice that would set me up to do that and I was surrounded by people successfully and happily doing that. And while I was there, in order to stay in that role longer, at the practice that I was at, I really did want to be there. A reproductive spot opened and in order to kind of stay on and not move back home to Louisiana and start from scratch, I needed to step into this reproduction role, which the two things I said in vet school I would never do were reproduction and dentistry. But I thought it would give me an avenue for another year or so. And it turns out I loved reproduction, loved it. I loved the people. I really liked seeing the same like crew of salt of the earth kind of people over and over again, and I really love mares and the babies were amazing. And so my career kind of took that path and I did that Also. It was great because nobody else really wanted to do it, so there was no competition. I could make it what I wanted. So I did that up until around the time of the pandemic and by then I had gotten married and I had kids and I kind of had an inkling that, despite it being the career path that I loved, it wasn't a great fit for also loving to spend a lot of time with my family. And so I had taken some other courses, I did the chiro and acupuncture courses and had woven that into the area of sports medicine practice that I still participated in in the hopes that, like that might be a place for me to get some flexibility and practice later on.

Misty Gray: 10:18

And then I don't know, and then we had some trouble. We had some medical stuff with my son. It required me to leave practice kind of completely for a while. Failure because I wasn't doing the thing that I had said I was going to do.

Misty Gray: 10:51

That was a really big transition for me to kind of come to grips with the fact that I could change my mind or, you know, do things differently, and it's it saved me in a lot of ways, like that shift in mindset really saved me and I became invested, especially working with Stacy as a friend, um, but having somebody that really helped me to do some introspection, learn more about wellbeing and, you know, like this crazy idea that you can choose who you want to be and and actually do that. You're not like stuck in a defined path and, um, I became really excited and passionate about helping other people feel that way, like gaining the freedom of being able to live in association with your values or have the courage to make change. So now I kind of do a little bit of all of those things, so it's actually fits very well for me.

Stacey Cordivano: 11:49

Awesome, yeah, I mean when I graduated or going through vet school, I guess I just assumed I would graduate time. I graduated in 2008, which was a major financial crisis. No one was hiring. Everyone thought the world was ending and I think equine vets probably did okay, but certainly no one was willing to take a risk on another salary. So I was.

Stacey Cordivano: 12:30

After my internship I did another sort of sports med focused internship that, luckily, was sort of created for me to kind of bide the time. But then after that I just hung out a shingle and started practice on my own. I'd gotten married and was settled in an in a horse stance area and it really seemed like the only option if I wanted to stay here, which was already happening. So I was a solo practitioner for 11 years. It worked really well for a while for me. I, like I said, I live in a horse dense area, so there are also lots of other horse vets, and so I created some great relationships that I could lean on, you know, for sharing coverage or just bouncing questions off of people, and I also live very close to a referral hospital, so that certainly made things easier during that time. But after having two kids, it also felt really overwhelming to kind of manage all of that on my own and, looking back, I of course course did not hire enough support staff. That is a huge life lesson is that I should have been hiring support staff way long ago, and a lot of them, but it almost felt too overwhelming to do that at the time anyway. So I had an associate join me a couple of years ago and now I practice very part-time.

Stacey Cordivano: 13:57

I do chiropractic work. I still do a little bit of lameness work. I split emergency call 50-50 because I actually really like it and it fills up one of my core values to do that type of work. But it allows me time to do a lot of these other projects that are also really fulfilling to me as a person. It allows me to be a very hands-on mom and, yeah, so fitting. You know, sometimes it's still a juggle fitting all the different pieces together and I'm not going to pretend like I have it all balanced or feel not chaotic a lot of the time, but it's certainly not what I pictured work looking like, but it is fulfilling to me and enjoyable.

Stacey Cordivano: 14:40

And, um, I just think it's important to kind of talk about this because I think as young vets or as as students right, you have this picture in your head of what it's supposed to look like, and if your career path varies from that and you don't have support like if you don't have Misty and Kelly to be on a Zoom with to talk about then you're kind of left, feeling like you failed and you only have one option and that's to switch careers and go and be a small animal vet or work at Starbucks or whatever you choose to do, and that's really not the case. I honestly think that E-Cline VetMed can be one of the most flexible careers and I am like proud of that for us, and I think there's so many alternatives that we can take that aren't what's shown, maybe as you're going through vet school, or maybe what's in your head. So that's kind of why I brought the topic up. I don't know how you guys feel.

Misty Gray: 15:39

Well, I will say we had a big externship program in the practice and so I did get to spend a lot of time with students and I would say now, granted again, it was a sports medicine practice. That's probably why these people were choosing it. But almost all of the students that came with us had a very clear desire or clear vision of themselves as high level sports medicine and lameness practitioners, and I think that that position in particular is like very glorified in practice, at least from the outside. So, and it's okay, it's okay to set your goal and to think that that's wonderful. It's also okay to set yourself up. I mean, most of us, if you go to vet school, you have the drive to and the stubborn will to make it happen. But let's say you make it happen and it doesn't serve you any longer. It's okay to change your mind. There's a lot of other options for you.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 16:44

I think that's why we see so many like ultra runners and marathoners and people that do triathlon. Like we are trained and we are so targeted from elementary school on that. Like we want to be veterinarians and we need to get good grades and we need to have extracurriculars and and then we need to make it through the application process and get in and do an internship or do a residency. Like there's so many goals along the way that I feel and this isn't specific to equine, right, this is veterinary medicine and really many professional degrees but it's so goal oriented and results driven that you come to a place where there's no more milestones, there's no more end goal necessarily, um, or it's not career related, and creating that shift from these are my career related goals and milestones that I'm trying to hit too.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 17:52

There is a world outside of vet school and there's a world outside of horses and, um, it's okay to pivot that focus a bit and look at other goals, um, I think that's where we have such a hangup right, and that's where people feel like they are failing if they're not doing you know what Misty said, or they're not working six days a week, sunrise to sunset, because that's what the you know older crew of veterinarians have done and that's what videos that they see posted tell them it takes 10 years for them to be a great veterinarian, and that's just not true. And so you know, if you're here and you're listening, it's just not true. And there's so much that you can do and so many different directions that you can take, so let's talk maybe a little bit about how we can support that process.

Stacey Cordivano: 18:56

Yeah, well, I think that all these ideas right, we were discussing them. Then this idea of having a seminar came from it. Right, like we see our colleagues suffering, we see them stuck, we see them not able to set boundaries, we see them thinking they have to work 70-hour weeks to quote unquote be valuable to the industry, their boss themselves, whoever. And we basically were like, okay, what can we do? And, like Kelly, you said, we were at this point where we felt fulfilled in careers and we felt like, okay, the next step for us, right, a new goal for us, is what can we do to help other people? And that's really where this idea of our first kind of quote was, like disrupting the equine veterinary industry.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 19:48

Yeah, I mean we would leave the decade one meetings and go and sit and talk in our Airbnb together about you know, how is it that we can find ourselves in this situation? How is it that that person is stuck in such a toxic job or whatever? And we're like the missing link is an accountability partner and somebody to really like validate their feelings and validate that what they're experiencing is not okay. And so the sustainability and equine practice seminars were the baby of those conversations and the goal was to think about you know what are the reasons that 50% of equine practitioners leave within the first years of first five years of practice? And it's physical issues, it's workload and lack of work-life balance, it's poor pay, and so the the SEP seminars had this goal of bringing in outside of the box thinkers, people you know from outside of the industry and inside the industry, to really dive into physical wellbeing, nutritional wellbeing, personal finances and really like helping people with some of those softer but essential skills to develop professionally and personally.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 21:15

And we had this great idea and we're like how do we make it happen? Here's what we want to talk about, and you know we have to give big thanks to the partners who stepped in and took our idea and saw it and supported it and gave us really the wind behind our sails to get the ball rolling and and have that first meeting that we hosted in um seattle, right at the end of covid. So, like everything was planned, sight unseen, all via zoom, meetings with each other and um well and um well and of the four of us, nobody was based in Seattle, like what we picked, the farthest away.

Stacey Cordivano: 21:59

No shout out to Cara Wright, she found it and she did check it out for us. She did after we'd booked it, but she didn't.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 22:10

But it was like such a beautiful meeting, right Like we got together with 30 people and we had this content and we created this community where, much like decade one, like people could come together with similar values and missions, you know, and the mission being like staying in equine practice and thriving in equine practice. And, you know, we walked away from it with people saying, god, I didn't know how much I needed this Right, and so to have this idea to think like, gosh, this maybe could help some people, and then to really like see how impactful it immediately was, that was incredibly validating to all of the efforts that we'd made to put it together and, honestly, I think it just like left us ready for the next one. Right Like, all right, we got to help more people. That was only 30 people. There's, you know, 3000, right, we've got to get. We've got to get more people coming to these things.

Misty Gray: 23:11

Well, and the the kind of mission for us, which is, you know, disrupting we wanted to be disruptors of e-fine medicine or of the traditional model also came from the fact that we sat there and like we also came to their crossroads. Or I mean, I came to their crossroads, I'm like I don't even know if I can do this anymore. Do I? Do I just give it up? Like is, am I, is it just not a place for me here?

Misty Gray: 23:38

And then pushing back and saying like, almost like, rattling the cage was like no, I want to practice, I I want to be an equine vet, I love being an equine vet, where is there a place for me?

Misty Gray: 23:49

And like, like, like, how can we make that more accessible? And more like there aren't the rules that we think that we put on ourselves to be able to do this one one certain way. So like we really did want to come in and kind of like shake it up a little bit so that there was room for new ideas to come in, like new and different ways, and kind of again give people courage to come together and say they want to do it differently. And in that first meeting we realized that there were 30 other people that felt the same way, that and they're like, look like me and you that you don't necessarily see when you go to the big meetings, like it's easy to kind of feel like you don't fit in, that I it was easy for me. I'm not going to speak for the people, it's, it was easy. It's easy for me to go to those meetings and feel like I'm the outlier.

Stacey Cordivano: 24:38

Yeah, and again like shout out to our original partners right, like we had this crazy idea and probably that was three and a half, four years ago, like even just that short of a time ago.

Stacey Cordivano: 24:51

It was like a little bit of a different landscape.

Stacey Cordivano: 24:53

So for us to be like, hey, we want to disrupt equine, like we need to shake, like our website literally said, like we need to shake things up, and for Merck and BI and Zoetis and Platinum to like jump in and be like, okay, we know kind of you, we don't know about this idea, but here's some help to get some speakers there and to pay for some lunches and dinners, it was amazing and like we certainly wouldn't be here without them.

Stacey Cordivano: 25:23

And I think that just goes to show you know, kind of in that alignment idea of like aligning with your mission, like if you have a practice or if you're involved with a practice, like developing relationships, meaningful relationships with those kinds of partners is helpful, because that is the only reason we got that funding initially is because we each individually had developed relationships with some of the people working in those companies and and they, you know we're behind the mission as well and that's part of all of those companies missions is to support equine vets in whatever way they can, so we are eternally grateful for them helping to get off the ground.

Misty Gray: 26:00

And also points to the. It helps us remember that you're not in. You know you're not alone. It's not just you as an equine practitioner, it is an industry there. It's a full-bodied, full-pictured industry, like there are multiple facets, there are lots of people around you, support is out there. It's so easy for us to, especially as a ambulatory practitioner, kind of to lose sight of the fact that there's a whole industry around us, or kind of to lose sight of the fact that there's a whole industry around us and everyone does better if the vets are in it. You know, if we're in it with hearts, if we're well-balanced, if we're healthy, if we're feeling good, I mean the industry does, the whole industry does better, yeah.

Stacey Cordivano: 26:45

So before this gets too, too long, let's talk a little bit about maybe not that the mission of SEPs is changing, but let's talk about how it's evolving, and personally how we're evolving, and kind of future plans and goals, aside from taking over equine practice and making everyone happier and healthier.

Misty Gray: 27:09

Well, part of what makes us work, what makes it so valuable to us, is that it continues to reach people, and so it really is in line with our mission to try to reach as many people as we can. And in alignment with that, and because we are graduates of the Decade One program and have had such a meaningful relationship with Amy and with the program and our other fellow alumni and, interestingly, many of the Saps alumni are Decade One alumni also but part of our support is to merge with Decade One, to support Decade One as it transitions to be more available to practitioners that are busy and out there doing the work. So we are partnering with Decade One and with Amy to support switching the Decade One content to be available via a virtual platform and then the in-person meetings. They used to be two a year Now with everyone's comfort, with Zoom meetings and virtual meetings. We meet monthly and we're going to continue to do that in Decade One.

Misty Gray: 28:36

But the new Decade One group will be facilitated by the three of us Stacey, myself and Kelly and we'll go over the content that Amy has shared on the learning platform each month with the cohort for 2025. And then at the end of the year we'll do one big in-person meeting and it's going to be open to all past and present decade one members, and so there will be opportunities for small groups, you know, like our original Southwest group, to have one-on-one time to see one another and reconnect. But they'll also have access to kind of the full support of Decade One and their alumni, and that will come in conjunction with the regular content of the Sustainability and Equine Practice Seminar.

Stacey Cordivano: 29:31

Yeah, that's exciting. This is an exciting year, you know, for our kind of combined mission of shaking things up and making sure people see themselves as whole individuals, not just equine vets that have to slave away and work their butts off forever. It just aligns so nicely with decade one. Everyone can get lots of business education how to run their practices more efficiently why that discount costs way more than you think it costs to and then really kind of at the end of the year at that in-person seminar, get a chance to pause and really look at their own life and make sure that they're aligning it the way that feels most true to themselves.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 30:17

All with CE credits to support it right and with support and backing of AAEP through their scholarship fund. Support and backing of AAEP through their scholarship fund. So, if you're listening to this and interested, they do offer a scholarship that pays for half of the annual enrollment fee for the decade one membership. So thank, you for seeing it and supporting it as much as they have for seeing it and supporting it as much as they have.

Misty Gray: 30:53

AAEP has been wonderfully supportive in wanting to do whatever they can to help equine practitioners access Decade One. The statistics show that people that complete the Decade One program are gosh. What is it like? 96% of people that complete the decade one program are gosh. What is it like? 96% of people that complete the decade one program have continued to stay in active equine practice, which you know significantly different than outside statistics.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 31:27

Tell me another support system and curriculum that can do that. So I'm just so excited and honored that Dr Grice Amy you know tapped us to help her in making this transition. And I do think you know we've said all along that the programs are very complimentary to each other and very well aligned with this idea of supporting the industry and supporting the individuals. So this year is the transition and we've got big ideas for years to come and hope that everybody will come along for the ride with us and you'll be getting updates via the podcast and our online platforms and everything else. So it's a pretty exciting time.

Stacey Cordivano: 32:18

Yeah, throwing something at you that we didn't plan for. One word that maybe describes your hopes, thoughts, feelings about the upcoming year, and don't say excited, because that doesn't count.

Misty Gray: 32:37

Peaceful. Had a rocky year last year but outside of my unhinged holiday spirit, I'm actually feeling peaceful as I think about what we're doing.

Stacey Cordivano: 32:49

I'm actually feeling peaceful as I think about what we're doing. I think I would say rejuvenating, because I agree like thinking about all this stuff and the people we're able to collaborate with and connect with. It's that really lights me up and that's, for me, rejuvenating.

Kelly Zeytoonian: 33:07

I'm going to say content because I have, just like we talked about that tendency to always be looking for the next project or the next thing to say yes to, and this has been a year of saying no to more than I've said yes. And so, taking this project on, I feel like we're able to as a group because we have each other, but I I'm also able to feel really invested in it because I have turned away from some other things that have not been filling my cup. So, um, I'm, I'm liking that. I feel content and happy with where my current status is. So thank you all for being part of that journey.

Stacey Cordivano: 33:48

Yeah, All right. Well, thank you guys for being here today and we'll chat again soon. Thank you, as always, for sharing some of your precious time with me. I so appreciate it. If you're enjoying this podcast, please hit, follow or subscribe If you feel so inclined. Leave a review on Apple podcasts, or just send me a direct message and let me know what you think. I always appreciate the feedback. I hope you have a wonderful week and I will talk to you again soon.