Rood and Riddle Weeks 1-4

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel Butler and I am completing my Equine Fellows at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY for the summer. I am working as a surgery tech. It has been very busy at RREH and the time has flown by! I can't believe I am about to begin my 5th week! Over the past month, I have learned and experienced so much. The people I work with are wonderful and I am gaining many new friends.

As far as surgeries go, there are a lot of screws and joint arthroscopies, but I have also had the privilege of watching other surgeries, such as various fracture repairs, colics, tie backs, tie forwards, arytenoidectomys, tracheostomies, PTs, a pin cast placement, various eye procedures, abscess drains, joint flushes, and laceration repairs. I am sure there are a few more that I am leaving out. As a surgery tech, you basically have a front row seat to everything since you are in the surgery suite working.

I came in with very little experience with surgery and have really improved my knowledge and skills by working here. As a tech, your basic duties include dropping the horses for surgery, prepping the horses for surgery, work the surgeries, setting up for the next surgery, recovering the horses, and sterilizing instruments. While that doesn't sound like a lot as I write it out, there is a lot that goes into it, especially coupled on the case load of RREH. I have been in training for the past 4 weeks and feel as though I am just now starting to get the swing of everything. This past week I felt very accomplished as I was finally to the point where I could tech a case from start to finish without the observation or assistance of my supervisor! I hope to continue to build on my skills from here.

This weekend, I went to my parents' house in Columbus, OH to visit and ride my horse. The weekend has been very relaxing and I am getting ready to drive back to Lexington. I can't wait to see what this week brings. I will try to take some cool pictures this week for next week's blog entry. Happy Sunday everyone! Have a great week!