Rotating Internship

The Department of Clinical Sciences and the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University offer a one-year equine field service internship with rotations with in-house equine services at the Johnson Family Equine Hospital.

The internship is designed to provide a broad base of clinical experience in many aspects of equine practice including equine field service as well as rotations through the medicine, surgery, sports medicine, theriogenology, and critical care services within the equine hospital. The successful candidate will assist the existing equine ambulatory faculty with clinical duty throughout the year and will be expected to participate in the clinical teaching of veterinary students. After hours ambulatory emergency duty will be expected and will be shared with the existing ambulatory resident and faculty. Responsibilities for this internship include significant primary on call emergency work which provides the intern with the opportunity to advance their independent diagnostic thinking, client communication skills, and on the job problem solving capabilities.
Primary case responsibility will be expected once the intern and faculty are comfortable. The candidate will also be expected to rotate through the in-house equine services within the veterinary teaching hospital for up to 12 weeks during the year. The equine ambulatory service sees approximately 2000 cases per year. Lameness and dentistry are the predominant presentation with reproduction, vaccinations, infectious disease, pre-purchase exams, regulatory (Coggins and health certificates) and emergencies (colic, lacerations, choke) comprising most of the remainder. The equine hospital sees a wide variety of different types of cases with approximately 2200-2500 horses seen yearly. All 12 of our previous interns secured equine residencies or equine associate positions and are still in equine veterinary medicine. This internship will prepare you to be a very good equine general practitioner that can enter any job and function at a high level.

A WEEK LONG EXTERNSHIP IS REQUIRED FOR STRONG CONSIDERATION FOR THE POSITION

PREREQUISITES
* Graduate of an approved veterinary college.
* Completion of an application form, curriculum vitae, college transcript (only graduate school needed) and three letters of recommendation.
* The successful candidate will require licensure, see below.

TRAINING
1. Program Dates: June 1, 2026 – May 31, 2027 (includes required 1-week orientation period). We are flexible by one week on a start date.
2. Clinical Rotations (51 weeks – with one week vacation). The schedule is variable according to the interest of the intern. The approximate distribution of time spent in the various disciplines is as follows:

SERVICE / WEEKS
Equine Ambulatory Service – 38
In-house rotations, research weeks – up to 12
Vacation – 1
Holiday Break – Each DVM on the team gets 9 days off during winter holiday season. This includes 4 weekend days and 5 week days.

Responsibilities
* Case management (including patient care and medical records) under the supervision of faculty on the assigned rotations.
* Participation in clinical rounds and training of veterinary students.
* Participation in equine ambulatory emergency duty (17 weeks/year).
4. Course Work: No formal course work is required but interns are welcome to participate in resident graduate courses and seminars.
5. Research project: No formal requirement but intern interest can be explored for a review article, case report, or AAEP “How to” presentation.
6. Journal Club: Intern will participate in bi-monthly journal club with ambulatory faculty.
7. Seminar presentation: Intern will present three lectures to include client continuing education seminars or veterinary CE recap if they choose to attend a meeting.
8. Wet laboratory instruction: Intern will assist the field service faculty in teaching of second- and third-year veterinary student laboratories.

Internship Certificate
An internship certificate is granted to interns successfully completing their internship program.

Please click on the following link for an informational video on our program:

Internship Compensation Package:
-$50,000 salary
-health benefits
-$1500 CE allowance

In accordance with College policy, residents and interns are not permitted to practice veterinary medicine in private/specialty veterinary practices in Colorado during the course of their program.
An assignment as a veterinary resident with the Department of Clinical Sciences will require you to serve in the capacity of a veterinarian. The State of Colorado amended the “Colorado Veterinary Practice Act” (12-64-103(9)) in 2007 to require: “A veterinarian who is employed at a school of Veterinary Medicine in Colorado and who practices veterinary medicine in the course of his or her employment responsibilities shall either make written application to the board for an academic license in accordance with this section or shall otherwise become licensed pursuant to Sections 12-64-107 and 12-64-108.” The department will reimburse applicants for the initial application, and also for renewals of academic licenses every two (even) years. You must obtain this academic license before you start your residency training, you cannot practice veterinary medicine at the CSU VTH without this license (or a CO Veterinary License). More information on this process can be found at the following link: http://www.dora.state.co.us/veterinarians/academic.html

In order to be eligible for consideration, applicants must provide proof of identity and right to work in the United States at the point of hire (July 15, 2022) and throughout the residency/internship. Proof is established through the provision of applicable, original and unexpired documents (Permanent Resident Status). The Department of Clinical Sciences will not provide financial support for acquisition of appropriate documentation of proof to work in the United States, and this documentation must be in place at the time of the residency/internship start date. CSU is an EO/EA/AA employer and conducts background checks on all final candidates.

Postdoctoral Fellows (Veterinary Residents) and Interns with appointments of half-time or greater are eligible for a suite of benefits including: Medical, Dental, Vision, and Disability Insurance, Life and Voluntary Accidental Death Insurance, participation in Flexible Spending Reimbursement Accounts, Sick Leave accrual and Employee Study Privilege. Enrollment in a retirement plan is required and is effective upon the date of employment and includes an employer match starting in year 2 of at least half-time employment.