The theme of this week has been rain. We were in Michigan on Monday and Tuesday and then traveled to Ohio for Wednesday and Thursday, and we got rained on every single day. We spent the whole day on Monday looking at horses at one barn; we start by watching them move then Dr. Hill palpates the horse. Both of these things help determine what treatment the horse will get. On Monday alone we saw close to twenty horses. We started each one on the lunge line, which allows you to observe the horse's natural movement. After lunging Dr. Hill performs flexion tests; This helps to localize where the horse is sore by flexing the upper or lower limb of both the fore and hind limbs. After each flexion the horse is jogged in a straight line to see if flexing the limb has made them more lame. On Monday I was the jogger, so I got a lot of exercise! Once all the flexions have been done Dr. Hill palpates to try and feel any abnormalities in joints, tendons, and ligaments. This helps him see where the horse is hurting, and helps him choose what treatments to do. Depending on the level of lameness he may inject a joint, or use the shock wave on a tendon. If the horse needs a joint injection I do a sterile scrub of the joint; Dr. Hill does a lot of injections, so I do a lot of scrubbing. If we use the shock wave, which emits sound waves into the tissue like an ultrasound,  I have to clean the leg as if we were doing an ultrasound. The sound waves do not penetrate as well if the area is dirty, so it is important to clean the area before the treatment.
After treating more horses in Michigan on Tuesday we drove down to Ohio to look at more horses. We worked on horses at one farm in Ohio on both Wednesday and Thursday. Most of Wednesday was watching the horses get ridden, flexion tests, and palpation exams. We looked at about forty horses those two days, and saw most of them work on Wednesday. After all the tests we started treatments on the horses. I did a lot of scrubbing for injections those two days. We had all the horses we needed to treat done by about four thirty on Thursday because Dr. Hill had to catch a flight, and I drove back to Lansing. Today I have to drive to Indianapolis to meet him, and we will be looking at horses in Indiana for the next two days. He is getting the horses ready for a horse show in Ohio next week. This week has been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I can't wait to see the show next week!

Me scrubbing for a fetlock injection. 

Dr. Hill performing an ultrasound-guided sacroilliac joint injection.