Hi everyone! My name is Natalie Hershenson and I just completed my first year! This summer I am working for Equine Athlete with Dr. Brad Hill and Dr. Bailey Smith. Equine Athlete is an ambulatory veterinary service. We primarily service horses and barns that are involved with the Arabian horse show circuit. However, we are not limited to just Arabians – we see a lot of Saddlebreds and Quarter horses as well. Our primary job is a little confusing for those that are unfamiliar with the horse show world, so I’ll do my best to give the reader’s digest version of what we do. Dr. Hill has known most of these horses from the day they were born and has relationships with trainers and clients that dates back 10+ years. Every week or two before the big shows, we will go to the barns and do lameness exams and treatments on the show horses. These treatments are predominantly injections of the joints. Then we go to the shows that the horses/barns will be competing at and do additional treatments such as shock wave therapy, laser therapy, therapeutic ultrasound, chiro, etc. Our job, especially when pertaining to these show horses, is to help them perform as well as they possibly can at horse shows.
My first day we jumped straight into the deep end. We drove down to Ohio to one of the largest barns I have personally ever seen. The facility has over 200 horses in training and multiple trainers. The first day we do all the lameness exams – for over thirty horses. Lameness exams involve lunging the horse followed by flexions. This barn also rode every horse as well because sometimes specific problems only occur or are exacerbated under saddle. Needless to say, these lameness evaluations took us a full day. The next day we came up with a plan and started treatments. As stated before, these treatments are primarily injections. We don’t typically do injections at the horse shows because the horse needs three days off afterward. We also note if the horse needs to have therapy done at the show – which will offer a more immediate but short-term effect in comparison to injections. We then drove to Indiana to do it all over again at another barn. Week one was full of a lot of learning. I had to get my sea legs, as anyone does who starts a new job. I had to learn where everything was on the truck, learn how all the equipment works, what it’s used for, how to use it, how to prepare for treatments, etc. It was A LOT but Dr. Hill, Dr. Smith, and Christina were super patient and helpful.
The second week marks the start of my first horse show. This horse show was held in Columbus, Ohio. We arrived on Monday and we stayed through the following Monday. This was a fun week for me. We were a tad slower than we usually are at horse shows, but this allowed me the opportunity to watch the classes. It gave me a chance to figure out what the heck was going on – what the significance of it all is, what our goal is, what we want the horse to look like, what makes a winner, etc. I come from a hunter/jumper world and having shown AA/A circuit all over the country I thought I was prepared. I quickly realized it was an entirely different world and language. Watching the horses show, going to the schooling ring to watch them warm-up, and watching lessons really helped me put it all together. It helped me understand the mechanics behind it all and really helped me in evaluating lameness because to be quite honest, if my horse came trotting like these horses do, I would be SERIOUSLY concerned. On a general scale of lameness evaluations, I’d say I’m pretty good at knowing what leg(s) the horse is off on, but this helped me understand a lot of the subtle changes and understand what the trainer is talking about when they are describing their concerns. I also picked up some terminology. For example, the trainers will often say things like, “He’s [the horse] is showing in country,” or “I think he [the horse] will be a nice English horse.” And it might seem insignificant but knowing the difference between the two and what they mean really helps give some insight into what we’re doing and why.
The third week consisted of a lot of local smaller barn calls. When we are home, for the small amount of time we are, we try to “tidy up” and get as many people in as we can. These calls are different from the big show barns because they will range from 1-4 horses, so it doesn’t require such an extensive operation, but we do the same things. We had a couple of neuro exams, a handful of pre-purchase exams, and some dentals. We will also do vaccines, coggins, and follow-ups on bigger injuries like torn tendons.
I am going into my 4thweek now and I’d say I have the hang of it, we’re developing into a pretty well-oiled machine! I am currently in the car driving to Ohio to the barn I mentioned in week one to prep for a horse show next week! I think the way I’m going to do my blog is by picking one unique case, one cool thing we do, or a general topic per week. This way it isn’t 10 straight weeks of me talking about driving to barns/shows and injections. However, if anyone has any questions about my day-to-day life and what we do regarding injections, SWT, TUS, lasering, etc. please don’t hesitate to reach out! My email is hershen1@msu.edu
Overall, I’m having a great time. My favorite part of it all is getting to know these horses. We see a lot of each other – I’m beginning to know them on a personal level and become familiar with their history. I’m beginning to put their puzzles together which is neat because it gives the medicine significance (what it’s used for, why I’m using it, what it’s going to do) and it allows me to put my heart into it – I’m not simply injecting a horse, I am injecting Manny with IRAP because he has a bad left fetlock. It also is very rewarding when the horse performs well, and even more so when they win! It gives you a sense of purpose. Although my role is tiny, sometimes almost insignificant, it makes the crazy hours, long dives, and excessive amounts of sweat worth it.
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