Introduction to Dr. Leslie Easterwood
Dr. Leslie Easterwood tends to thousands of animals at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo every year. As you wander the grounds of NRG Park, perusing the many attractions and competitions the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has to offer, you might spot Dr. Easterwood weaving between a row of cattle, tilting her head to check for ringworm, or fielding a student’s frantic question about a pig’s scratch.
The Role of a Rodeo Veterinarian
Dr. Easterwood is one of two official onsite rodeo veterinarians making sure every animal is healthy and compliant with Texas Animal Health Commission requirements. In her words, she has “a three-pronged job”: treating sick or injured animals, enforcing health regulations to ensure arriving animals have proper paperwork and show no sign of contagious issues; and facilitating the drug residue avoidance program for the market animals, to protect both the fairness of the competition and the food chain once those animals, err, move on.
A Typical Day
Her days never follow a set structure. Dr. Easterwood might start the morning addressing health certificates at one gate, answer a call about a horse cut on the trailer ride over, then speak with an exhibitor about a sheep separated from the rest of the herd. If an animal arrives with a contagious problem, she checks it and sometimes has to send it home. Or she might clear an animal for entry if everything else is in order. She never knows what will come next.
Background and Experience
When Dr. Easterwood got her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Texas A&M in 1995, she was already familiar with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. She’d interned as a student in the late 1980s and never fully left. Over time, the event grew too large for any vet to handle alone, so in 2003, she and Dr. Gregg Knape came on full-time. Back then, the show sprawled across various areas; for nearly a month each year, they coordinate minute by minute.
Collaboration with Exhibitors
When it comes to interacting with exhibitors, Dr. Easterwood walks a tightrope. She wants to guide young exhibitors in real time while respecting each animal’s regular vet back home. “[Exhibitors] go home with an invoice that has everything that I saw [and] did,” she says. “They can send to their veterinarian so that they can follow up with them. Sometimes I’ll call them. The veterinary community is very small, so most of them I’ve either taught or I know.”
Overseeing the Drug-Residue Avoidance Program
One of her major tasks is overseeing what she describes as the largest drug-residue avoidance program “not just in the state, but anywhere.” Every youth market animal that comes through must pass certain tests to confirm it has no lingering medications or performance enhancers.
Unusual Cases
Despite the high stakes, she rarely sees show-related emergencies. Most of the injuries are the same ones that might happen at home—a horse might develop colic, or a steer gets stiff after a long trailer ride. That doesn’t mean every day glides by without surprises. In one especially memorable instance, she was called to see a sloth someone had brought in as part of a petting-zoo exhibit.
Overcoming Challenges
In 2020, Dr. Easterwood’s skills were put to the test. On the 12th day of that year’s show, officials trying to curb the spread of COVID-19 closed everything just as the lamb and goat competition began. She helped compress what would have been a two-day youth event into a single day so those kids could still compete. By two in the morning, she had helped send nearly all the animals home. In 2021, there was no public at all—just masked exhibitors, with no shopping or major attractions.
Conclusion
Even though it felt strange, that scaled-back show introduced online paperwork and other streamlined processes that remain useful today. By 2022, spectators were back, and the grounds were buzzing. It’s a period Dr. Easterwood still finds emotional to recall, but she acknowledges that a few of those COVID-era adjustments have helped the entire operation run more smoothly. Now, with the rodeo back to full capacity, Dr. Easterwood’s days are as unpredictable as ever. Some nights run late. Others pass quietly. On the best days, she doesn’t get any urgent calls at all, leaving time to stroll by the barns and smile at the contented shuffle of hooves settling in for the evening. For her, that’s enough of a reward. By the end of the rodeo’s 24-day run, she’ll have walked miles on the grounds, checked hundreds of animals, and fielded countless questions. But she’ll also have kept one of the world’s largest livestock shows running as smoothly as possible. And that, she says, always makes every bit of effort worth it.
