EquiManagement highlights decision-making discipline in equine practice
Bottom line
EquiManagement has published a new Business Briefs column by Amy L. Grice, VMD, MBA, focused on decision-making in equine practice. In the October 7 article, Grice argues that practice leaders and ambulatory veterinarians can make better choices by broadening the options they consider, testing their assumptions against real-world evidence, allowing enough time before committing, and planning for the possibility that a decision may not work out as expected. She frames the advice around common cognitive traps identified in Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath, including narrow framing, confirmation bias, short-term emotion, and overconfidence. (equimanagement.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the piece lands in a part of the profession where business decisions can carry outsized consequences. Equine practice remains a small segment of the veterinary workforce, and the field continues to face retention and sustainability pressures tied to compensation, emergency coverage, and practice culture. In that environment, choices about equipment, vehicles, staffing, scheduling, and service models aren't just operational, they can affect burnout, margins, and whether a practice stays viable. (fvma.org)
What to watch: Expect this kind of business-process guidance to stay prominent as equine organizations continue pushing sustainability and retention strategies across the profession. (aaep.org)
EquiManagement this week published a new installment in its Business Briefs series, with consultant and veterinarian Amy L. Grice, VMD, MBA, urging equine practitioners to make more deliberate business decisions. The article, published October 7, 2026, argues that better choices come from widening the set of options under consideration, reality-testing assumptions, taking adequate time, and preparing for the possibility of being wrong. (equimanagement.com)
The advice is rooted in a familiar management framework rather than a new study. Grice explicitly points readers to the decision-making model popularized in Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath, which describes four common barriers to sound judgment: narrow framing, confirmation bias, short-term emotion, and overconfidence. In the equine setting, Grice applies those concepts to everyday practice choices, including capital purchases and ambulatory vehicle selection, where a feature that solves one problem may create a different operational constraint. (equimanagement.com)
That framing matters because equine practice has been under sustained pressure for years. Amy Grice has previously written that equine medicine is a small share of the profession and that emergency duty, economic strain, and demographic shifts all shape the field's future. AAEP has also treated the shortage of equine practitioners as a welfare and access issue, launching its Commission on Equine Veterinary Sustainability in 2022 and later publishing resources on compensation, emergency coverage, practice culture, internships, and student support. (fvma.org)
In the new column, Grice's examples are practical rather than abstract. She notes that veterinarians often default to familiar choices, such as buying another truck for ambulatory work, without fully considering alternatives like a large SUV or van. Her point isn't that one option is universally best, but that each choice carries tradeoffs, including opportunity costs. In her example, an SUV hatchback may offer shelter while unloading supplies in bad weather, but it can also reduce storage capacity and limit onboard systems such as hot water. (equimanagement.com)
Outside reaction appears limited so far, which is typical for a trade-practice management column rather than a regulatory or corporate announcement. Still, the themes align closely with broader industry conversations. AAEP says about half of new veterinarians entering equine pathways leave within five years, and its sustainability initiative has emphasized better emergency coverage models and healthier practice structures. AVMA-linked workforce reporting also shows equine practice remains a relatively small slice of the profession, which can magnify the impact of poor business decisions at the clinic level. (aaep.org)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this article is less about theory than decision hygiene. In equine practice, a misstep on a vehicle, imaging unit, staffing model, or after-hours policy can ripple into cash flow, clinician workload, client service, and retention. That's especially relevant in a segment where many practices are small, ambulatory-heavy, and operating in a labor market shaped by burnout and limited pipeline growth. A more structured approach to decisions may not solve those structural problems, but it can reduce avoidable errors and help practices make choices that fit their economics and team capacity. (equimanagement.com)
What to watch: The next signal to watch is whether business education in equine medicine continues shifting from broad advice to more concrete implementation tools, especially around emergency coverage, staffing, and capital planning, areas AAEP and practice-management leaders have already identified as central to long-term sustainability. (aaep.org)