Cleveland Equine Clinic Week 1

Hello from Cleveland! I am working at the Cleveland Equine Clinic this summer and am loving it here. The clinic currently has six doctors, an intern, rotating clinical students, and myself. The clinic is primarily an ambulatory service, although they will hospitalize some patients and do some minor surgical procedures in the hospital. You wouldn't know that they don't take many inpatients though because the hospital is beautiful. There is an indoor arena that sits between the barn stalls and the rest of the clinic. There are stalls for colic cases and separate ICU stalls for more critical patients. There are two work up rooms, a straight away to trot horses for lameness exams, a surgical suite, and a room for radiograph review with clients. Surrounding the clinic are rolling hills with a pond and white picket fences. The owners of the clinic have a few horses of their own, one of which is a cute Thoroughbred colt named Mr. Ned. 

In addition to the great facilities, I have an awesome place to stay this summer. The owners of the clinic bought a house that is basically on the same property as the clinic. I am sharing the house with the intern this summer. I honestly could not have asked for better living arrangements. They put a lot of work into the house and it definitely shows. I am really lucky. 

My days are really busy. I rotate between doctors each day, which has been great because each doctor works up a case in their own way, which is nice for my learning. Right now the case load is even higher than normal since the breeding season is still going on. The doctors here work on everything from lameness to breeding to emergency to routine vaccinations. No two days are alike. The culture of the clinic is extremely encouraging and focused on student learning. In the short time that I have been here I've learned so much. I usually head down to the clinic around 8:15am and we are on the road by 8:30am. The days have been pretty late so far. I usually get back to the clinic around 7pm at the earliest, but honestly the more experiences, the better. I have also been assisting the weekend doctor on call with emergencies as well. Sundays are a free day. The Cleveland area is truly amazing. There are great parks around the clinic including the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This park is a must see for sure!

When we are out on the road, I assist with a variety of medical procedures such as taking radiographs, drawing blood, scrubbing for joint injections, and getting supplies ready for the appointment. I am also getting much more proficient in identifying lameness, which was a big goal of mine coming into the summer. The process of working up a lameness and analyzing radiographs has been a big learning curve, but I am really happy with how far I have come already and the summer has just started. 

While I enjoy lameness, my favorite cases so far are the cases that are more internal medicine focused. I also really enjoy using the ultrasound. I have scanned lungs and tendons thus far and can't wait for the next opportunity. I am also much better at identifying pregnancy and ovarian follicles on the ultrasound as well. The clinic also has a standing MRI machine. At some point this summer I am hoping to see the machine in action and go through some scans with the doctor on the case. 

The summer has just started and I could not be more excited for the cool cases that will come up as time goes on. I'll be back soon with some awesome stories. Until next time! 

Liz Ritchie