Chat with Christine Long, DVM

Meet Christine Long, DVM. Christine is a mother of 3 (which incudes a set of twins), busy Veterinarian, workout and fitness coach. How does she do it? Let's find out.

Transcript

Rose Cushing 0:15

Thanks for tuning in to today's Horsewoman podcast. Our show explores women in the horse industry as they share their dreams, challenges, and successes. What drives these women? Well, let's find out. This is Rose Cushing with Today's Horsewoman, and we are down in Chatter, North Carolina today with veterinarian Christine McPherson Long. And Christine has a pretty amazing story about success and challenge. So I thought you'd enjoy visiting with her a little bit today. So, Christine, tell us a little bit about how you came to Horses.

Christine long DVM 0:45

Oh, I really appreciate you having me. Let me just say that because I would be showing my hand probably a little bit here, but I'm I'm a little bit nervous myself about uh just a podcast interview in general. So I um thank you very much for having me, and I'm looking forward to sharing my story with you. I'm honored that you would consider me uh part of it because I am just an average everyday 35-year-old mom and vet, but um I do I do have uh a story to tell just like everybody else, right? So um so I'm 35 years old. I own Pineview Veterinary Hospital in Bolton, North Carolina. Um I graduated in 2011 from vet school at NC State University. Before that, I did my undergraduate at NC State as well. Um I say that to say I was a little bit of a special college kid, if you will. Um I tracked focused on veterinary medicine from the start of my college career, but ended up coming home the first summer to a father who played football for NC State and was used to summer school. So uh I remember sitting up in my room the first summer coming back, and he looked at me and said, What are you doing home? And I was like, I am on summer break, so I've come home. He said, No, no, no, you've not. And we signed up for 14 credit hours in five minutes, and my tail went back up Raleigh. So I was a summer school, you know, uh lover, um, if you will, in undergraduate. Uh so I graduated, I did two summer sessions, um, full semesters at a time, each summer session, ended up graduating a year early, which worked out very well because my uh husband now, um, then you know, fiance boyfriend, we got married in between undergraduate and vet school, which was nice. Um, so I am I am living proof for all uh veterinary-minded um listeners or veterinary interested listeners or those that are out of vet school listeners, you can survive vet school and be married. It's hard. Um, but you can. So graduated from NC State with my bachelor's in animal science in three years, um, and then got married in between that and vet school, went to vet school at NC State, and tracked actually rose food animal focused. So I love cows. I do. I I grew up with them. I actually grew up on a hog farm, um, which was a pretty rough upbringing. There were definitely lots of days where I would get up in the morning and get ready for school, go to school, do the usual after-school activities, um, come home, homework, and eat dinner, to then put on the farm clothes, right, and go down to the hog houses and scrape pens and and you know, do all the chores down there. To then load out hogs at 2 or 3 a.m. in the morning and then go in the house, take a shower, go to sleep for a couple hours, get up and do it all over again. So that that was, you know, that's what I grew up. That was my life. So um, all that to say, uh, Dustin and I lived in Raleigh for vet school, obviously, and then graduated from vet school in 2011. When I graduated from vet school, I was truly blessed to have the opportunity to come home here to Columbus County in North Carolina for my first job as a large animal vet right out of school. So even though in vet school I tracked food animal focused, um, my last year of vet school, I really became very intentional about the horse. And truth be told, I never grew up with a horse. I've never really been professionally taught how to ride a horse. I wasn't until my fourth year of vet school that I really started to pay attention to the horse. And what I mean by that is just their behavior, uh, not just their physiology and the medicine that I was learning, but the their mind, right? And that human-horse connection. And I really enjoyed learning that. Um, super blessed to have some great mentors that helped me navigate that learning process, um, and was blessed to to actually experience a uh a very specific rotation my fourth year, where we I was paired with a chinkate pony, right? Like right off the island. And they that pony knew nothing. It didn't even know what a human was, let alone a halter or pick up all four feet. And so that course, that horse handling course, which was taught by two other veterinarians uh affiliated with the vet school, was my turning point to becoming an equine practitioner. Um, so this little old you know horse novice turned into a horse lover from a veterinary aspect, and it really brought a lot of value to my career now. So after I graduated from vet school in 2011, uh Dr. Heidi Hart, who then owned Pine View Veterinary Hospital, had a position for me. So I was one of those graduates that went straight out of school. I was ready to talk to clients, I was ready to touch the horse to make a difference, and by golly, I did. And I came home and within uh two years of working, um Dustin and I decided to start having kids, which is the normal process. Um at that point, he and I had been married for I think about six or seven years. Um actually four, yeah, six years. And we got pregnant with twins. Wow, right away. Exactly. So I'm I'm definitely uh was blessed with the fertility gene. Um and can't blame it on him, despite the fact that I would love to blame having twins on him. Uh no, that was totally my fault. Uh so boy-girl twins, and I loved being pregnant, um, loved being active and working. And during my pregnancy, uh Dr. Hart came to me. So again, I'd been working for two, two little over two years as her associate, and she came to me and and she offered me to buy her business. So that was a huge opportunity. And I, you know, am a firm believer that when God hands you uh opportunity, it's your job to pay attention and to listen to those whispers and those nudges, and it it was the right thing. Um, yes, I was fully pregnant with twins, and we were also building a house at that time. Um, we had a lot going on, but when when God hands you that set of cards, uh you play them, and that's what I did. And uh we spent uh the year of 2015, 16 or so um transitioning ownership of Pine View Veterinary Hospital, and so I bought the practice from her about that time and have owned it ever since, and that has been a blessing, it really has. Um since then, obviously, the twins have grown up and now they're eight and a half years old, so I juggle the hat of mom and business owner. I do still work full-time as a part of my my team, uh, my staff as a full-time veterinarian as well. Um, and we had one more baby in there, Ella. She is two and a half now, and um again, fertile myrtle over here, the husband doesn't even remember when that one happened. Um but, anyways, uh it's a blessing to have the hats that I wear. It is a challenge for sure. Like anybody who tells you that being a mom and a business owner and whatever your career path is, it doesn't matter if you are a veterinarian like myself or if you you know have uh an at-home job or you go somewhere to it doesn't matter, it's hard, it's very hard. And you I have really tried to be intentional about you know navigating this part of my life as gracefully as I can for my children and for my team and for my clients. And so fast forward to the present day today, and um I so I own a business that's been established for almost 20 years now. That's huge and wonderful. Um, I'm honored to have a staff of multiple veterinarians that um we we are a family and another ourselves. Got the kids and Dustin and the house and and life. So that's kind of my story and um how I've got to where I am today.

Rose Cushing 10:16

Now tell us a little bit about your I know on Facebook and social media you do a lot with motivation and you certainly do a lot with fitness. So tell us a little bit about how that plays in. Sure.

Christine long DVM 10:27

So I was I I and I think many women in general can relate to this, right? Like you get to the age, and for the majority of us, um, the 30-year mark is kind of our first um physiological transition, right? So I was post-having the twins um when I was 30, and I'll never forget I was laying in the bed one night, and um I just felt like I just felt tired. I felt tired, and and given that you know, a large animal veterinarian in general has a physically demanding job. Of course, we work on you know big animals, but still for 30 and to be in a decent physiological state myself, I felt like I shouldn't feel like this. I shouldn't be this tired. I was just getting and that was a hormonal shift. It happens.

Speaker 11:19

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Christine long DVM 12:18

So at 30, you know, you experience that hormonal shift where um you you just your body's changing. And so I wasn't out of shape terribly by any means. Um, just an average 30-year-old white woman, you know. So I uh but I decided I didn't want to feel like that. That was my why. That was my why power, right? Like your why, your drive for whatever it is you're going after in life, there's power in that. And so for me, that's what it was. As selfish as that may sound, it was all about me. I didn't want to feel that way. I I wanted to do the things, my everyday tasks, with a thriving type of energy that I had always had in my 20s. Um, so that was that was it. I pulled my phone out and I was like, I'm gonna figure this out. I don't know what's going on, but I'm gonna figure out who, what, where, how, right? And I came across um Beachbody. I came across Beach Body and um a coach. It actually wasn't this infomercial about Beach Body in general, it was just the coach, and she was running a group, and I thought, oh, well that might that might be fun, you know. I can participate in her group and see what happens. So that was my first dive into uh an accountability group, if you will. So I did that. I started off easy with myself and doing uh low-impact kind of yoga and Pilates. It was a program called PyO, and it was 30 minutes a day, um six days a week, and it came with a nutritional program, the little, you know, uh what's now the ultimate portion fix containers. And so I learned what were the good things to eat, what were the bad things to eat. You know, I learned about water, I learned about sleep. I did my workout um 30 minutes a day, six days a week. Of course, I I chose a program that I enjoyed doing, so it was fun for me. Um and the pounds came off, the inches came off. It it I had more success than I ever even imagined, and of course, all of my energy came back, and uh I learned how to portion my food, and that's big because I am a food-e, you know. I love to eat, love, love to eat. Um, and so I learned how to eat the right things, and I wasn't depriving myself, I wasn't starving, I wasn't uh I was eating, you know, several meals a day, and so that that was huge. I lost 13 pounds and 13 and a half inches and off my whole body. Um, that that was the results that then you know pushed me into where I'm at. That was almost four years ago now, four or five years ago. And since then I have become a coach myself and um periodically will coach, take on individual, um mostly women, although I have coached a few men in the day, um, but you know, women to kind of take back their power by figuring out their why power. And my whys have changed over the years, they change all the time. Um, my why for every day in the routine that I establish is is very much driven by the perspective of my children. I want them to see a mom that is, you know, um grounded, that's not stressed every day, that is present, that is um intentional about her her focus and her work, uh that gets things done and is um kind and considerate and healthy. And you know, you what people I think fail to understand is that true connection between mind, body, and soul. And it doesn't matter which one you start with, mind, body, or soul, okay, you can pick one and start there, but they all connect to each other. You fix one or you straighten out one, and then that gives you the liberty or the energy to then straighten down the next one. So if you're starting with your soul, wonderful, right? Like that's a great place to just really dive into your beliefs and who you are as a person. Um chances are when you start to figure that one out, you're gonna figure out that there's a whole lot more in different areas of your life that you can you can start to change. And you know, I reminded myself just this morning that change in general is very scary for a lot of people. But here's the thing: it's messy in the middle, or excuse me, it's messy in the beginning, um, and it's awkward in the middle, but boy, Rose, is beautiful in the end. And if you will continue just be graceful with yourself and and ease into these little small but consistent changes, through very small changes, you're gonna see some huge results. And so, you know, I um I try and preach that in in a message to people. Um mind, body, and soul, pick your path, start and just make these little changes. Um, for me, it started with body. I didn't like the way my body was. Since then, I have worked on my mind, I've worked on my soul, I continue to every day. My a day in the life of Dr. Long or Chris, if you will, looks a lot like this, right? So I um I get up at uh between 4:30 and 5 every day. I start my day um focused on Chris. If I can be the best version that I can, then everything else that I pour out of my cup, fill my cup in the morning, I can pour out throughout the day. If you're not taking care of yourself, then you're gonna give out at some point. And whether it's your husband, your your children, your staff, your friends, your other family, just the people you meet, if you have nothing to give, you have nothing to give. Okay. So I start my day with with really re you know, charging up my battery. So I get up between 4:30 and 5 every morning, even on the weekends, yes, even on the weekends, they count. Um I first thing I do, 20 ounces of water. Absolutely. Hydration is so important. I drink 20 ounces of water, and then I sit down, I start with God and gratitude, because they are they are number one, period. Um, I have a devotion that I follow. Um, there's lots of good devotions out there. I write my prayer. I I started doing that a couple of years ago. Um, you know, I felt like by writing out my prayer every morning, um, it at least once a day. I mean, I pray multiple times a day, but that prayer in the morning, it I connect with God in a different way. Um, and so I I write what I'm grateful for. I write an affirmation about myself, whatever that may be, how I'm feeling that morning. I do my prayer. And then I have a personal development book of some kind. And so I'll have, you know, a topic that I'm working on for leadership or communication or consistency, habits, emotional stability, whatever it is that I'm uh focused on, I'll have about 10 or 15 minutes, really, no more than that is needed, and I'll read in that personal development book. Um during that, I I do drink my. Pre-workout supplement, and after I'm done with my 10 or 15 minutes of personal development, I'm ready to do my workout, and so my clothes are on, and I work out on the back porch. I like to be with nature to have that connection, and so yes, even though at this day at this time, I don't know when you're listening to this podcast, but it's January right now, it is 30 or 40 degrees on my back porch. So, yes, I get that from people. You're crazy, but um, just like anything, you do it long enough you get used to it. So I do my workout. I don't work out any more than 30 minutes, Rose. You don't need to really, like science has proven over and over again, you don't need to do much more than that to make a difference. I do remind myself though, it's 30 minutes. Y'all, that's like 2% of your day. You can give 2% of your day. Um I uh I focus on my workout 30 minutes and then I'm done. Uh by that time, it's about 6:37-ish. Um I'm back, I'm back in the kitchen, I'm getting the kids up, I'm getting breakfast done, I'm getting bags packed, I'm getting them ready for school, I'm getting ready, um, and then it's out the door. Um, school by 8, and my workday usually starts between 8 and 9 o'clock, 8:30, 9 o'clock. And depending on what day of the week it is, um, my schedule changes. Um, again, I work full-time as a vet and business owner. So some days are business days, some days are vet days, and um pick up the the baby from daycare. She is a daycare baby, the twins were daycare babies. Um and we come home, dinner's around seven, everybody's in the bed by about between 8:30 and 9.30, and that's it. That's that's a day. And you know, it's not super complicated, um, but that's kind of that's my routine, and and that's kind of where I've how I've established it.

Rose Cushing 22:01

I really admire you because I from my own experience when I get real passionate about something, I tend to run at it like my hair is on fire. Yeah, and I don't have any balance. Right. And so now, since Rodney had had my husband was real sick with COVID, I've learned to force balance into my life, which is something I needed to learn a long time ago. But I really admire that you um can accomplish all these things, and when you when you leave your vet practice and you come home, that's left behind. Yeah, and it's time for your kids and time for your husband and time for your life, and then you do you in the morning. So often women don't take care of themselves, they take care of everybody else.

Christine long DVM 22:39

That's right.

Rose Cushing 22:40

So that's really awesome.

Christine long DVM 22:41

It's hard, it's hard to, and you I've had to really take time to self-reflect on, you know, and and ask yourself multiple times what's important. And what's important, you know, what was important four years ago, is it looks different right now, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. I tell so part of my veterinary practice is we we will practice a learn do teach method, right? Like we learn so much, and then we get out and we do it, but then we teach it. So we take students. Um, we take uh some high school, mostly college, pre-vet um, or and then vet students, lots of vet students, and we teach. We teach to solidify what we know. That's action, right? If you take action on what you are doing, what you're trying to work towards, then you're gonna see a result, okay? And as long as your actions are aligned with your goals, with your um your personal value, your core values of who you are, then you're not gonna veer very much off course, okay? But here's the thing: before you get to that point, you gotta know what your core values are. I know what my core values are. You're God and family. Like those are those are the top, top to me. And so I structure everything else around that, and I live my life with that purpose. And it it when you when you do that, all the things that seemed like they mattered really don't matter anymore. It becomes easier to make a decision of no, nope, I don't need that, I don't need that right now, or that relationship, or or that opportunity that came up, or whatever it is, or that piece of you know, sticky gooey, you know, Cinnabon, whatever. Depends on what your goals are. But when you when you wrap them around your core values, they're in line. And when things are in line, nothing else really matters.

Rose Cushing 24:47

I agree. I think it's the magic of knowing when it's enough. Yeah. Because sometimes you you don't think you're enough, so you push too hard in one area or the other and you lose sight of the the rest of it.

Christine long DVM 24:57

I was bad, I was really bad for much like you said, um, I tend to be a sprinter. I used to be a very very much a sprinter, but true success really comes in the slow game, in the small, steady, consistent, little things that you can do every single day. It's like the compound effect. I don't know if that's anything you've heard of before, but the compound effect, if there's a book that I would encourage anybody to read, Darren Hardy Compound Effect, because it it can be that concept of the small things compounding over and over and over. It's kind of like the penny that doubles in value, right? Um, over a period of time, you end up having millions of dollars versus, you know, which would you rather have? If I gave you one million dollars right now, or if I gave you a penny that doubled over the same period of time, I'd take the penny that doubled over the same period of time because you're gonna have three or four times that value, but it's in the slow game. It's in the slow game. And that that analogy with the penny, if you look really closely at it, the the true huge strides and the value of that penny, they don't happen, Rose, until like the last week, right, of that period of time. Um that's that can be you know extrapolated into so many examples through our everyday life. It's in the little things done over and over. But I I much like you, I was bad about like sprinting and burning out and you know, making big, extravagant decisions rather than small, consistent decisions about anything. And then I'd get overwhelmed. And then I'd I would displace that burden of that worry, that stress onto the kids and onto my husband or you know, my friend, or you know, heaven forbid a client. Um, but it it becomes hard to manage that. And so for us and my team, I really do preach for them to have uh a thriving quality of life and be happy with what they do in their job. If they're happy with what they're doing in their job, their life is thriving. I mean, that everything is gonna be just fine. But you got it's in the long game. You shoot for the long game, you don't shoot for the short, the short successes.

Rose Cushing 27:19

Really, really good advice. And and what else would you say to young women coming up that want to be seen in the horse industry as a mover and a shaker?

Christine long DVM 27:26

Yeah. How do you get there? So, for first and foremost, you know, really get to know yourself. You are your best friend, you know, and you you really need to take time to get to know yourself. Know what you love. What do you love? What do you not like? You know, what what makes you tick? Um, and that's gonna look different on you than it does another another young lady. Um, and that's great. That's a great there's only one you in this world. You are so different in your own unique way. Um, but if you don't know what that is, then you know it can be hard to navigate the decision-making process as you go through life stages. Heaven forbid you add children and a family to the mix, it becomes very stressful. So get to know yourself. That's number one. Number two, find a mentor, find somebody that um that you want to emulate, right? Like a mentor can come in many different shapes and sizes, um, and they don't necessarily have to be in the same field that you are in, um, but find somebody who has a life that uh and an outlook on life that you want to emulate, that you want to be like and strive towards. Because chances are they've gone through similar struggles that you have to get to that point of realization, and they can help you navigate that. So find a mentor. Um, number three, do what you love. Life's too short to settle. Um, I'm a big believer on no regrets. Um, I don't, you know, I wanna they say, they say that uh when you get to heaven that you'll have a twin there, right? And that that person is exactly who God intended for you to be. I want to be exactly like her. You know, when I get to heaven, I want to be able to look at her and say, I know you, I know you very, very well. Um so you know, really align, align your daily activities with what you love, what are you passionate about and do what do what you're passionate about. And I guess the last thing a piece of advice I would give a a young young lady um in you know in the horse industry would be to um to just be good, be kind, share love, just love people. You love people and you'll get love back. You will and um and and just just be good. Just be good to others. You know, it it really that it comes full circle. It really, really does. Um if you just love love others.

Speaker 30:05

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Rose Cushing 30:30

And the last question is what's left on your bucket list that Chris wants to achieve?

Christine long DVM 30:34

Oh, achieve. Oh my goodness. I that's like a whole nother whole nother podcast. I mean, because I'm definitely a um a uh opportunistic person, right? Like I I do like to sometimes I have to hold back the reins. Um but I have discovered that, and it's just recently, it's funny. Um, I've made this connection with myself that I it's gonna sound silly, but I love I loved being pregnant. I loved having and carrying my babies. I would have a tin more if Dustin would let me. Um, but I enjoy creation. I've learned, I'm not a very creative person in general, um, but I love creating things. One of the things that I love about being a business owner is because my business allows me to create. It allows me to create opportunity for my vets in their careers, um for my staff in their careers, for my clients, for their horse, opportunity for greater health, greater performance, longevity. It's creating, creating babies, creating opportunity, creating results for other people, those that I coach. Um, I like to do that. And so, so that has really that realization has just recently come to me. And and so when I look at my career as a veterinarian and a business owner, I'm now looking at opportunities in ways that I can create more opportunities for others, whether it be students that come and ride with us or more veterinarians that come and work with me, not for me, with me, um, to bring value to our clients in in the southeastern part of North Carolina and the northeastern part of South Carolina. Um, so I believe that um I'll be a multi-business owner and own other veterinary practices. Um, I have felt that way and that calling for a long time. The intention with that is to create opportunity for other veterinarians, young veterinarians that need um, you know, mentorship. Um that may look different. You know, right now I am a large animal uh veterinarian and business owner in the in predominantly in the horse world. 80% of all the clients that we have and take care of at Pine View are horse owners. And so that that puts us, um puts our fingers in a lot of different disciplines. You know, um we do everything at Pine View from reproductive services to orthopedic services to standard preventative health care and ophthalmic care, um routine, routine work, dentistry, I mean you name it, we pretty well do it. Um and we do that in North and South Carolina. So that that in and of itself in the coverage area that we have, we we can provide opportunity for our clients to partake in the services that we we have. Having a staff and being able to give these young vets a job with the mentorship that comes with it, that's that's become something that has been a passion of mine. So how how I do that, I don't know. I think that's somewhat in God's hand. Um see what opportunities come up.

Rose Cushing 34:08

Very good, very good. Well, if you guys enjoyed talking with Chris today, follow our Facebook page, today's Horsewoman, and we'll put Chris's contact information on there. So if you ever want to ride with her or have questions or you know just need some advice, perhaps you even need a vet, you'll be able to contact her. Thanks for listening.

Christine long DVM 34:26

Thank you for having me.

Rose Cushing 34:27

You're very welcome. I hope you enjoyed today's show. Our souls wander in similar places. Even though we may not know each other, we touch the same wind, we walk under the same sky, and our hearts wander in the same dreams. We are one. Women, just like you and me. Thank you for listening.