Kicking it off in Cleveland

            Cleveland Equine Clinic is an ambulatory and in-patient practice that truly sees a little bit of everything. It currently staffs seven (soon to be eight) ambulatory veterinarians who service a Standardbred racetrack, a Thoroughbred racetrack, numerous show and breeding facilities of various disciplines, and your backyard horses. Dr. Genovese holds down the fort at the clinics, evaluating lameness for horses that are trailered in. On certain days a board certified surgeon, Dr. Robertson, performs elective procedures with the aid of one or two ambulatory doctors. Last but not least, Dr. Cumming – a small animal vet and MSU grad – pops in on occasion to see ophthalmic cases. The clinic also houses a full service ICU and a standing MRI.

            So far, my experience has reflected the diversity of CEC’s caseload. On weekdays, I ride in the truck with one of the ambulatory vets and act as their tech. The clinic services a vast area, so I get plenty of opportunities to ask questions and pick up helpful tips on the long drives. Being on the road can bring anything from vaccines/coggins to lameness exams to repro checks to emergencies. On my very first day, we were called to see a foal that was down and lethargic. When we began to work it up, it went into hypoglycemic shock and started seizing and we were able to stabilize it with IV fluids. And silly me, I thought that would be the biggest excitement for the week. Nope. The following day, we hit up the Standardbred racetrack to see a horse with pleural pneumonia. Drs. Hill and Latessa performed a bilateral thoracocentesis and drained over 5 gallons of bloody fluid from the pleural cavity. Needless to say, the horse was able to breath considerably better after the procedure. But the biggest highlight (for me at least) was performing a caslick’s procedure, putting my newly gained suturing skills to good use.  The surgical closure of the top of the vulva helps prevent contamination of the reproduction tract, especially in mares with poor vulvar conformation. Under the direction of Dr. Hill, I completed the procedure start to finish, making it my very first surgery!
            When I am not in the trucks, I spend time with Dr. Genovese at the clinic learning the finer points of lameness. I could write another whole page about working with him, but I will save that for another time.