Intern Veterinarian

General Information

Position

Intern Veterinarian

Last Updated

July 1, 2026

Internship Type

Combined

% of time spent on ambulatory vs in-hospital

80% Hospital, 20% Ambulatory

Position Full Description

Pioneer Equine Hospital is located in California’s central valley in Oakdale. We are nestled between the foothills of the Sierra Mountains and the valley’s vast agricultural landscape. Pioneer opened its doors in 1973 when two veterinarians had a vision to form the premier equine veterinary clinic in the area. Drs. Britton and Black built one of the most recognized equine hospitals in the country for equine surgery and lameness. From those deep roots, Pioneer has grown to become a full-service referral hospital. In addition, we provide full service primary care on both an outpatient and ambulatory basis.

We are a 100% equine practice – predominantly performance horse with emphasis on western, hunter/jumper and dressage. We also serve our local non-performance horse community. The hospital is a 22,000 square foot full-service facility on 20 acres in Oakdale, California. It has two spacious surgical suites with adjacent viewing rooms. There are four padded induction/recovery rooms which are utilized by surgery and MRI. There are seven large examination rooms including specialty rooms for standing surgery, radiology, ultrasound, and endoscopy. The covered lameness area is 140 x 300 feet with hard and soft ground for optimal evaluation. We have the only high field MRI in northern California and an Asto CT. There are two 20 stall barns which separate the surgical and lameness patients from the medical, emergency, and isolation cases. The on-site podiatry center offers highly skilled farriers who see outside appointments and work closely with the veterinarians in cases that need therapeutic or corrective shoeing. Our reproductive services include assisted reproductive technology, artificial insemination, sub-fertile mare management, foaling, full-service stallion management, breeding soundness evaluation, and collection of semen for shipping and freezing both domestically and internationally.

Number of intern positions of this type

This internship is a good fit for prospective interns wanting to pursue:

Equine general practice
Sports medicine practice
Equine/LA surgical residency
Equine/LA medicine residency
Equine/LA critical care residency/fellowship
Theriogenology residency
Dentistry residency
Imaging residency
Anesthesia residency

Anticipated Start date

June 1, 2027

This can be flexible by a few days based on graduation dates.

Anticipated End date

June 1, 2028

One intern will be asked to stay on to train the subsequent intern class and will be paid accordingly.

Preferred Application Date

September 15, 2026

Does the practice offer externships?

Yes, please email the practice contact for details

Is an in person visit or externship with the practice required to be considered for an internship?

No, but recommended

Contact Information

Practice City

Oakdale

Practice State

[USA] California

Practice County

Stanislaus

Practice Zip Code

95361

Practice Address

11536 Cleveland Avenue

Practice Mailing Address

11536 Cleveland Avenue - Oakdale - Stanislaus - [USA] California - 95361

Clinical Experience and Responsibilities

Intern rotates between services

Yes

Service rotation description

Interns rotate between anesthesia/surgery, lameness/ambulatory, and hospital/internal medicine every two weeks.

Intern is primary case responsibility for first opinion and emergency cases

Yes

Intern has primary case care responsibility for complex cases with supervision

Yes

Intern is primary doctor performing entry-level procedures

Yes

Intern is primary surgeon on any procedures

Yes

Percentage of time intern is directly supervised

50-75%

Patient rounds held daily with senior clinicians

Yes

Teaching rounds held

Yes

Frequency of teaching rounds

Formal teaching rounds are held once weekly

Weekly journal clubs held

Yes

M&M or other specialized rounds held

Yes

Intern has opportunity to attend a professional CE meeting

Yes

Intern has opportunity to complete a study or publication

Yes

Intern has access to current medical textbooks

Yes

Intern has access to online journals

Yes

In the past 5 years, how many studies/cases have been published by interns as the primary author from work pursued primarily during their intern year?

Equipment the intern has exposure to within the practice

Advanced podiatry/therapeutic farriery
Arthroscopy
Blood gas analysis
CT
Digital radiography
ECG
Endoscopy
ETCO2 monitoring
Fracture repair sets
Gastroscopy
Laparoscopy
MRI
On site diagnostic lab
Power dentistry
Stall side orthobiologics
Stat CBC analyzer
Stat whole blood chemistry analyzer
Stem cell capability/utilization
Shockwave
Ultrasound endorectal probe
Ultrasound linear probe
Ultrasound macroconvex probe
Ultrasound microconvex probe

Any additional information the practice would like to share on their internship program:

Interns are gradually given primary case (management, client communication, diagnostics, procedure, etc) responsibility as the associates gain familiarity and gain comfort in the interns’ skill sets over the first 6 months. During the second six months, they will see both emergency and some elective cases primarily, but will continue to have associate oversight throughout.

Interns are given primary doctor responsibilities on both procedures, diagnostics, and client communication gradually over the first 6 months as the associates become comfortable with each individual interns’ skills and comfort level.

All interns will learn to be the primary surgeon on routine castrations throughout their internship. They will be given opportunities to perform portions of other surgical procedures based on the intern’s skills and the surgeon’s comfort.

Interns will often be the primary case managers for in hospital cases. They will work directly with the associate or specialist to make a diagnostic and treatment plan as well as implement it. However, the interns will have direct supervision on all complex cases. During the day, there will be nearly 100% supervision, but autonomy with communication and technical activities will grow over the course of the internship. On an emergency basis, the supervision will gradually decrease to about 50% over the course of the internship.

For our rounding schdule, interns will discuss individual patients with their senior clinician on the cases at least twice daily. Formal, all-doctor, patient rounds are held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Formal teaching rounds are held once weekly on Thursdays.

Journal club rounds are included in our teaching rounds schedule and are held about 6 -10 times throughout the internship. Interns are each asked to present one formal case presentation and two topic rounds presentations over the course of the internship.

If an intern is interested in publishing during the course of their internship, they are highly encouraged and supported. If interested, we ask that you be the primary driver of organizing the project and you will be provided thorough support in data collection, statistics, writing, and publication. It is not a requirement of our program.

Interns are given 5 days off to attend a CE meeting as well as a stipend that is included in our compensation package.

Caseload

Total number annual cases

9000

Total number ambulatory cases

2000

Total number in-house cases

7000

Avg number of after hour emergencies per week in the busiest time of year

10-25

Avg number of after hour emergencies per week in the least busy time of year

10-25

Significant seasonality to the caseload

Yes

Seasonality description

Busiest season is April through October.

Species other than equids

Number of specialty certified clinicians

Number of clinicians in direct support of program

Diplomats of the following specialties (including their European Equivalents)

ACT - American College of Theriogenologists - 0

ACVA - American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists - 0

ACVECC - American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care - 0

ACVIM - American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine - 1

ACVO - American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists - 0

ACVR - American College of Veterinary Radiology - 0

ACVS - American College of Veterinary Surgery - 2

ACVSMR- American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation - 0

AVDC - American Veterinary Dental College - 0

Diplomates of other specialties

Other personnel of note (outside specialists, farriers, dentists, etc)

We have one doctor certified in chiropractic and acupuncture.We have onsite farriers present all week days with a variety of specialty shoeing and learning opportunities. We have an associate that is an ultrasound specialist.

Additional certifications/area of expertise represented in the practice

Acupuncture certification
Certified journeyman farrier (CJF)
Chiropractic certification

Technician present on ambulatory calls

Yes

Overnight technical staff (if hospital present)

Yes

Other details about technician support of intern doctors

Intern will have technician support as needed during daytime in hospital and ambulatory calls. Externs are often asked to accompany the interns after hours.
There is full time technical patient care/barn staff including overnight as well as one call technicians for surgeries and critical cases.

Compensation

Annual Salary

$72,000 + provided housing

Total benefits package
Download the Benefits Worksheet

Additional opportunity for emergency compensation

Yes

Interns receive 25% of the after-hours emergency fees from January 1-June 1.

Opportunities for additional income (production bonuses, working horse shows, etc).

Benefits

Benefits offered

Yes

Click here to download the Benefits Worksheet

Value of total annual compensation

72000

Housing offered

Yes

Housing Type

On-site

Paid time off (PTO) offered

Yes

# of PTO days

PTO stipulations

7 days PTO, 3 days for job interviews. 5 additional days given for CE.

Health insurance offered

Yes for employee plus dependents

Amount of health insurance premium intern is responsible for

A portion is subsidized by the practice. Exact amount is 50-100% depending on the plan selected by the employee. It can be applied to both the employee and dependents.

Dental insurance offered

Yes

Life insurance offered

Yes

Short-term disability insurance offered

Yes

Long-term disability insurance offered

Yes

Liability insurance offered

Yes

CE stipend offered

Yes

License/DEA fees reimbursed / stipend offered

Yes

State license required

Yes

USDA license required

DEA license required

Association fees reimbursed / stipend offered

Yes

Student loan payments reimbursed / stipend offered

401K program offered

Yes

Employer matching offered

Yes

3% employer match

Clothing / logo wear stipend offered

Yes

Phone or phone stipend offered

Maternity / paternity leave offered

Yes

Discounted pet care and / or a pet medications policy offered

Yes

Practice vehicle or mileage reimbursement offered

Other benefits offered

Liability insurance is provided by the practice.
In addition to health insurance, we provide access to programs including legal support, wellness, pet insurance discounts, and more. Free mental health services are provided on day 1 of employment.
Dental, life, disability is available but not sponsored.
State licensure is required and USDA is recommended, both are covered by the practice.
DEA is not required and not covered by the practice.
Association fees for AAEP, AVMA, and CVMA are covered by the practice.
Polos and some additional clothing is provided at the start of the internship.
Discounted pet care/ medications - 40%
Vehicle is provided for all ambulatory calls.
Work phone can be provided by request.
Group pasture board is available for one horse per intern at a reduced rate of $250/month.

Contract

Non-compete clause required

Non-US residents may apply

Yes

Is visa support provided?

Yes

At this time, we are willing to accept candidates with green cards that may not be licensed, but may not be able to sponsor Visas.

Method internship offers are made

By phone or emial

Earliest date of internship offer made in the last 3 years

June

Latest date of internship offer made in the last 3 years

October

Average time provided to internship candidates to consider an offer

2-4 weeks, or until September 1st if offered early.

Outcomes Assessment

How long has the practice offered internships?

30 yeards.

Avg number of interns who completed the program per year for the past 5 years

Number of interns from this program who applied for a residency in the past 5 years

Number of interns from this program who entered a residency position directly out of the internship in the past 5 years

Number of interns from this program who accepted a second or specialty internship in the past 5 years

Number of interns from this program who accepted a residency position in the past 5 years

Number of interns retained by the practice as associates in the past 5 years

Of the interns that started the program in the past 5 years, how many are still in equine practice (and/or in an advanced training program targeted at specialty equine practice)?

70-99%

Number of former interns currently employed by the practice

Are current or former interns from the practice available for reference?

Yes, email the practice contact for details.

Additional information about the internship program

The intern performs morning treatments and assessments of the patients prior to morning rounds. Interns will rotate through multiple departments during the internship. Interns will spend two-week blocks on anesthesia/surgery, lameness/ambulatory, and hospital, seeing daytime emergencies and facilitating in-hospital case therapy.

Approximately 30% of an intern’s time will be spent performing anesthesia or assisting on surgical cases, 30% assisting the primary clinicians with lameness evaluations including performing perineural and intraarticular injections, 20% performing diagnostics, 10% assessing and treating hospitalized patients, and 10% ambulatory duties. Routine treatments including overnight care and monitoring are performed by the technicians. Interns are responsible for all daily treatment sheets in hospitalized patient records and performing call backs on each patient seen at Pioneer Equine Hospital.

Rounds are frequent at Pioneer including didactic, clinical skill and journal club. Additionally, interns will sharpen their presentation skills by presenting monthly ground rounds as well as giving hospital tours and participating in community equine activities.

Philosophy of Practice Internship:
Pioneer Equine Hospital strives to provide the highest quality care for our patients in a friendly and fun work environment. Interns are considered an integral component of the practice. We rely heavily on the interns to use their knowledge and skills as veterinarians and not as inexpensive labor to perform duties the primary clinicians do not want to perform. The interns will gain a great deal of hands-on experience and should be very competent at the end of the internship in performing equine surgical, medical, and reproductive skills. In the past, we have had outstanding placement to academic residency programs and associate positions around the country. Please contact us for a list of previous interns.

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