Hello from OHIO!

            I have worked for about three weeks at the wonderful Cleveland Equine Clinic! I have started to get into the routine of the clinic and really love working with all of the staff! My days tend to start at about 8:00 am at the clinic, where I then either begin assisting the doctor with in-hospital appointments or, more often, I hit the road with one of the other doctors. My day continues until all the appointments and patients are taken care of for the day.

It is breeding season here, so I have been able to see a lot of repro ultrasounds, inseminations, and even semen collection. The amount of work and time that both the vets and owners spend trying to get these mares pregnant is quite impressive!

I have also been able to see several lameness exams. We start by palpating the entire horse, followed by a motion exam which includes walking, trotting, circling, lunging, and flexion tests. After this, the doctor may follow up with nerve blocking and retesting, radiographs, or ultrasound. I have been lucky enough to actually see a standing MRI done on a horse’s foot. The MRI takes several hours and definitely takes a trained eye to notice subtle changes. It was certainly an excellent anatomy review for me!

Colorado, Week Three!

Hey everyone! After 3 weeks at Littleton, I’m starting to feel like I know my way around now. I’ve been helping with a lot of the regular treatments, which occur every three hours throughout the day. It’s been really nice to develop confidence in my ability to take vitals such as heart rates, assessing gut sounds and mucous membranes, and feeling for digital pulses. So many of these skills are easy to learn about in class, but the only way to get good at them is to practice doing it every day.

The majority of the cases we see in the ICU are emergency colics. One case that was particularly interesting to me last week was a horse that had been brought in right at the start of my shift on Tuesday because of moderate discomfort. He was worked up by an intern doctor, who determined by ultrasound that he had a nephrosplenic entrapment. The nephrosplenic ligament connects the spleen to the left kidney, and for reasons that are not well understood, the colon can displace from its normal position on the abdominal floor and become lodged over this ligament. This can become problematic because intestinal contents cannot move past this point, causing the colon to distend, which can be incredibly painful.

After his condition was diagnosed, our first goal was to treat him medically, which is both less expensive and less invasive than surgery. The common treatment for a nephrosplenic entrapment is to give phenylephrine, which causes the spleen to contract and shrink in size. The hope is that this combined with trotting will help the colon slip down from the nephrosplenic space. While initially this seemed to help, after a few hours on intravenous fluids he quickly became dramatically painful. At about 7 pm he was taken into surgery and I was able to sit in and watch. I love watching surgery because it really helps solidify my understanding of anatomic relationship of different structures. What I wasn’t expecting was to be quizzed on all of it by Dr. Toppin! Definitely a reminder that I need to hit the books! This particular horse came through the surgery very well and is still recovering in the ICU barn. I have really enjoyed following his case from the first moment.

In addition to all of the horses, I was able to take some free time this weekend to explore Boulder with a co-worker from the clinic. We went on a long, steep hike (seriously, the altitude here is pretty killer!) in the flatirons to one of Colorado’s few natural arches. Afterwards we explored downtown shopping and spent a few hours at a rooftop bar. Every new place I go in Colorado, I fall in love with the state a little bit more. I’ve only been here for three weeks and I’m already wishing I could stay.

‘Til next week!

Kiva

Hello from Somerset

Hello from Somerset, Pennsylvania! Somerset is a cute little town in the beautiful Laurel Highlands. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I would be surrounded by such a gorgeous landscape this summer. I hope to take advantage of some of the many hiking trails in the hills in my limited free time.

After a very busy week, I already feel right at home here at the clinic. Brown Equine Hospital is a small referral hospital that currently staffs four veterinarians. Dr. Keith Brown is the practice owner and a board certified surgeon. Dr. Jennifer Brown focuses primarily on breeding management and artificial insemination. Dr. Travis Tull, also a board certified surgeon, is the doctor on call for emergencies. Dr. Jason Dickey, the veterinary intern, has worked the hardest and the longest this past week. A slew of great veterinary technicians keep the clinic running smoothly around the clock. Everyone has been so friendly, going out of their way to teach me new things.

This week has been jam packed with a variety of different cases. I have gotten to try my eye at detecting lameness and learned to shoot radiographs. I also helped prep for and stood in on several surgeries, including a joint arthroscopy, a periosteal strip, and several castrations. I actually got to scrub in and assist on a cryptorchid castration, which was very exciting.

The case that has consumed the most of my time this week has been a miniature foal that came in Tuesday afternoon. The filly’s mother had died the night before and she was combating both failure of passive transfer and hypoglycemia. She was treated with a dextrose drip and plasma transfusion. She has needed constant monitoring and I took my turn with her Tuesday night. She looked to be doing better by Wednesday morning, taking fieldtrips up and down the barn isle. Unfortunately, she took a turn for the worst on Friday and now she is just barely hanging on. She has been a rather sobering reminder that sometimes, you can do everything right and still not make a difference.

I am still extremely excited for what the next nine weeks will bring. I can already tell that this will be a fantastic experience. I can’t wait to get started again tomorrow.

Summer in Lexington, KY

Greetings to everyone from Lexington, KY!

My name is Megan, and I am working for the summer as a surgery technician at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. This hospital employs over 50 veterinarians, and currently has approximately 10 interns (both rotating and ambulatory) and 2 residents. RREH serves just about every type of horse you can imagine, but as you might guess, we see quite a few racing thoroughbreds from this great Bluegrass state. The hospital provides services in internal medicine, podiatry, surgery, radiology, neurology, theriogenology, regenerative medicine… really, almost any equine medical service you might ever need. Thus, even in the few short days that I have been here, I have been exposed to many new techniques and services that are rarely offered elsewhere.

For instance, today Drs. Steve Reed (neurology) and Brett Woodie (surgery) performed a “basket” surgery on a show Hackney pony. What is a “basket” surgery, you ask? This procedure was developed at Washington State’s CVM in order to stabilize vertebral bodies that are injured, arthritic, etc. and are causing damage and functional impairment to the spinal cord itself. It involves fusing two adjacent vertebral bodies by means of an implant, specifically in this case, a Cloward Bagby Basket or a Seattle Slew implant.

This surgery aims to correct cervical stenotic myelopathy, a.k.a. Wobbler’s Syndrome, a condition in which the vertebral canal impinges on the spinal cord, especially when the neck is flexed, causing the horse to become ataxic (exhibit abnormal gaits), and lose motor and sensory coordination in its limbs. The most common reasons that this condition occurs include cervical vertebral stenosis (the canal or points along the canal may be too narrow for the spinal cord to pass through), cervical vertebral malformation (deformities of the vertebral bodies or the canal itself), or osteoarthropathy/degenerative joint disease affecting the articulating surfaces of the vertebrae.

Here’s a fun fact about basket surgeries: one of the first successful basket surgeries was done on none other than Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown winner, in 2002. His owners began a fund through the Washington State CVM to promote equine spinal cord research.

Enough with the veterinary jargon… I will probably say this in every blog, but I feel so blessed to be in such a beautiful city that truly values its equine industry. Lexington is truly one of the meccas of the horse world - if you are an equine enthusiast and have never visited, I highly encourage it! Hopefully I will be able to share some photos of the big, fancy farms, the rolling hills, and the Horse Park in the next few blogs, but I will leave you with this for now: 

This is a statue of the legendary Man O' War at the entrance to the Kentucky Horse Park. (http://kyhorsepark.com/)

The first two weeks in Colorado

Hi I’m Kiva, a third year veterinary student. Thanks to this amazing opportunity through the Equine Fellows Program at Michigan State, I get to spend my summer at the Littleton Equine Medical Center near Denver, Colorado. I have a long background with horses and have been riding for most of my life, but over the last few years I have questioned whether equine medicine is where I want to go with my career. This will be my first experience with an equine vet clinic that is this large and advanced, and I’m really excited to get back into equine medicine!

It was a whirlwind trip driving out here and getting settled in. Starting at any new place can be overwhelming, let alone a clinic that staffs 17 veterinarians! The clinic is beautiful and laid out over several buildings with the Rocky Mountains looming to the west. My position at the clinic is as an Intensive Care Unit assistant. The ICU is staffed by veterinary technicians 24/7, with round the clock treatments. I’ve been really impressed so far by all of the protocols that are in place to protect the sick horses in the ICU barn, as well as any other horse coming on the property. I’m still amazed that a clinic so large can function so seamlessly, especially when we are all in different buildings.

Everyone I work with has been really friendly, which I’m starting to discover is true of just about everyone I’ve met in Denver.  I’ve been in the city for 2 weeks, and I’m falling in love with it quickly. Because of the large number of veterinary student externs coming through the clinic this summer, I was unable to live on site like the previous fellow. While initially I was disappointed that I couldn’t be close to the action at the clinic, I was able to find an apartment within walking distance from downtown Denver, which has turned out to be awesome! Since I’ve been here I’ve gotten to explore some of Denver’s parks, farmers markets, and night life. I’ve been up hiking in the mountains, which I plan to do much more of.

That’s all for now, stay posted for more details about the clinic and what all the cool stuff I’m seeing and doing!

Week Two at Clinton Veterinary Service

This week, I was given the chance to try my hand at floating teeth on a mare that was staying at the clinic. I have only ever witnessed hand tools used when doing dentistry, but Dr. Trombley primarily uses motorized tools. Being able to put on all of the equipment and file down the sharp edges that this mare had on her teeth was a great experience and taught me that I still have a LOT of learning and practice to do. The veterinarians that have worked on my horse in the past have made dentistry look a lot easier than it actually is! Trying to coordinate hand movements while holding the file and working around the speculum that holds the horse’s mouth open is quite challenging.

Even though I am focused on becoming an equine practitioner, one of my goals when I first began veterinary school was to never turn down an opportunity just because I wanted to work primarily with horses. On Saturday, I volunteered through the clinic to administer intranasal vaccines to calves at the tagging and weigh in session for Clinton County 4-H. The INFORCE 3 vaccine from Pfizer (Zoetis) is a three-way respiratory vaccine to provide protection from bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and parainfluenza type 3 (PI3). It has been a few years since I have worked with calves and it was refreshing to see how enthusiastic these children and young adults were about their animals. It was a reminder that even though I want to pursue a career in equine medicine, becoming a veterinarian involves a working knowledge of all different species.

Week One at Clinton Veterinary Service

Hello everyone!

I am participating in the Equine Fellows Summer Program at Clinton Veterinary Service in St Johns, which is a rural town about half an hour north of Michigan State University’s campus. I am incredibly grateful to Zoetis for providing funding for my summer experience through their Animal Health Externship Program.

I have just completed my first week at the clinic and I could not be more excited to see what the rest of the summer will offer. The clinic focuses primarily on equine and bovine medicine, with a large practice area in central Michigan. All of the veterinarians and staff have been incredibly helpful when I have any questions and they are always willing to let me get hands-on during examinations and treatments.

Field work is an interesting aspect of veterinary medicine that has allowed me to see all different varieties of horses and living situations. This includes everything from grade ponies living in backyards to fancy imported horses in gorgeous boarding or breeding barns. However, there is one common denominator in every case: the love that each owner has for their horses.

This spring has brought many new foals and a lot of reproductive work to be done! Watching newborns attempt to coordinate four legs that are disproportionately long always puts a smile on my face. So far this week, we have been lucky to visit relatively healthy foals and none that have been critically ill.

I look forward to the rest of the summer and seeing what it will offer. I have absolutely no doubt that it will be full of learning experiences!

Week One in Ohio!

Hey Everyone!

I have just completed my first couple of days at the Cleveland Equine Clinic in Ravenna, Ohio. The clinic is absolutely beautiful! It has a standing MRI machine, ultrasound, x-ray, basic in-house lab, surgery suites, ICU, and a beautiful barn and arena. The staff and veterinarians have been absolutely wonderful! Everyone has been very willing to answer my questions and show me the ropes of the hospital. My schedule changes day to day and I get to see something new every single day, which is what I love! In general, I start at 8 am and continue until all the cases are completed for the day.

             I have mostly been on the road with a few of the doctors, but have also seen some in hospital cases. The clinic covers an extremely large area, so there is often a lot of driving involved. So far, I have been to racetrack (TBs and Standardbreds) farms, large hunter barns, and even a private school equestrian center!

One of the more interesting cases for me was when we performed a pre-purchase exam for a client. This particular pre-purchase was fairly intensive, including a full physical exam, x-rays, and bloodwork. For me, it was interesting to see how the veterinarian communicated to the client about the findings.  This particular horse had some expected ‘wear and tear’ for its age, but had a wonderful attitude and brain, which is very important for its intended use as a child’s horse. The veterinarian worked with the client to explain the importance of both the horse’s body and mind for its intended use and designed a medical plan for the future. This is what I love about veterinary medicine!

This summer looks like it is going to involve a lot of hard work and long hours, but is going to be full of unique opportunities and just a wonderful learning experience!