Equine RotationI was looking forward to being back in the large animal hospital, in my overalls and

Equine RotationI was looking forward to being back in the large animal hospital, in my overalls and boots, with the smell of fresh air, hay and manure wafting through the barn. Out of the group of eight students, only two of us had an interest in working with horses, which meant I’d have more opportunities to practice things over the next two weeks. It became evident early on that the equine department had an innate distrust for students and wouldn’t be allowing us to carry out anything but the simplest tasks under extreme supervision. This sentiment was only reinforced by a recent incident involving a student and a feisty stallion.After a brief introductory session, a couple of the equine vets conducted a lameness practical with the assistance of two of the teaching horses. We practiced palpating limbs, using hoof testers, and performing flexion tests. After a couple of hours of trotting horses up and down the asphalt outside the barn, both students and horses were knackered.Also on the first day, we assigned ourselves to each of the hospital cases which would be our responsibility until their discharge. We were to feed, water, medicate, exercise and groom our charges, take and record their vitals each morning and night, write their hospital records, communicate their progress to the responsible vet, perform any procedures required, and present a case summary to the group at morning and evening rounds. My first case was a two year old thoroughbred filly named Sentimental Queen who had a wound over her left elbow (due to a run in with a fence) and a septic joint was suspected. She was a gentle horse and I really enjoyed looking after her and following her case over the week she was hospitalised.I am the first person to laugh at the ridiculous names given to horses, and for some reason I got it in my head that my horse’s name was instead Independent Sunshine. I made the mistake of sharing that with my fellow students, who then made it their mission to confuse me into calling her Independent Sunshine during rounds by dropping the two words into conversation just prior. I’m pleased to say they didn’t succeed, though there were often long stretches of silence while I tossed up which name was correct in my head.After a couple of ultrasound scans, and an attempted arthrocentesis and joint flush, we concluded that the wound didn’t in fact communicate with the joint, which made the prognosis considerably more favourable. Each day I brought her into the stocks, cold hosed her leg for 10 minutes to reduce the swelling, re-bandaged her leg, administered her penicillin intramuscularly and phenylbutazone orally, and gave her plenty of love and attention. The swelling over her elbow gradually reduced, as did her temperature, and the wound healed steadily. It often seemed as though the equine staff were out to get us. They just revelled in any opportunity to scold us for the silliest things. One of the hospital patients developed a case of diarrhoea and I enthusiastically volunteered for the glamorous job of collecting a fresh sample. I gloved up, armed myself with a faecal pot, and stood ready for the next stream. When it came, I extended my arm from where I stood safely at the horse’s side, and filled the pot with the green goodness. At that exact moment, about three voices all yelled at me simultaneously to stay away from the horse’s rear. Err… how can I collect a fresh sample without standing in the vicinity of the horse’s rear?It wasn’t long before we got to put our new skills from Monday’s practical class to the test with the endless flow of lameness cases that graced the hospital. Solar abscesses, ligament injuries, joint disease… it was one lameness examination after another! The students watched as a nurse trotted the horses up and down in front of us. We scrutinised every movement, wishing so hard to see a head bob or a hip hike that half the time it was imagined. Just when I thought I’d localised the lameness to a single limb, the horse would trot back and I’d pick the opposite limb. The movements were so subtle that I often doubted whether the vet could see it either. Afterwards they would turn to the group of students and say, “you could see that lameness in the the near fore, couldn’t you?”. “Yes” was the answer, whether we could or not!During the first week, I went on a couple of call outs with a fellow student, a vet and a nurse. At the first property, the owner was really friendly and while the vet was taking radiographs, she showed us around and took us to meet all her horses. When she introduced a gelding as Dark Romance, I struggled to contain a snigger, but she quickly followed with, “I know the name is ridiculous, he came with it”. Finally, someone who understands the joke, I thought. With a straight face, she continued, “I would’ve named him Demi Devine!”. It was too much. I had to turn away to hide my laughter!Students also took responsibility for outpatients, and a single student was assigned to each case. When my grey warmblood mare arrived at the hospital, I introduced myself to the owner and attempted to gather a detailed history for when the vet arrived. Each of my questions was met with either a single word or a grunt. The man couldn’t have made it plainer that he didn’t want to speak to me. Of course, when the vet arrived, he became Mr Chatterbox and the history changed entirely. Charming.Towards the end of the first week, the vet responsible for Sentimental Queen (Independent Sunshine) approached as I was hosing her leg and expressed his delight at her progress. He congratulated me on my work and suggested she could be discharged on Friday. It was really gratifying to receive some praise for my efforts - a rare occurrence for a vet student! Friday rolled around and it was a bittersweet moment when she was loaded onto the float and driven home.For two weeks I had my fingers crossed for a colic case. Please let me have just one more before I graduate! Finally, on the second last day of the rotation, we had an urgent call from an owner whose horse had been collicking since the day before. Supportive treatment from the regular vet had little effect, so she’d opted to bring him to the specialist hospital. A combination of the signalment, history, physical exam and ultrasound findings lead to the decision to perform an exploratory laparotomy. Our patient was anaesthetised and prepped for surgery. The surgeon allowed me, as the primary student, to scrub in and I couldn’t have been more excited. He suggested I wait until he had opened the abdominal cavity and determined the cause in case it was irreparable. Soon after the first incision was made, a horrible rotten smell filled the room and black fluid leaked from the abdomen. The cause was a strangulating lipoma - a small fatty mass which restricts the passage of digesta and the blood supply to the intestines. The built up pressure had resulted in a perforation, explaining the black fluid within the abdomen. The vet identified an 18 foot section of necrotic intestine which would need to be resected if the horse was to have any chance of survival. Even if that went ahead, the prognosis for recovery was grim. The owner opted for euthanasia, which everyone agreed was the kindest option. Instead of scrubbing in, I changed into my overalls, put a rectal palpation glove on each arm, and helped the vet stuff the organs back into the abdomen and suture it closed for disposal. The job was comparable to stuffing a sleeping bag into a too-small sack - far easier said than done!As usual, the final day of the rotation was reserved for assessments. After our morning computer exam, we all reluctantly moved into the conference room for grand rounds. This involved each student presenting on a topic related to one of our cases during the rotation. I chose septic arthritis as my topic. Public speaking is not my strong point and I was relieved when it was over.Mid afternoon, one of the vets informed us that a newborn foal was en route to the hospital. The mare had sadly died during birth and the foal had not received sufficient colostrum. We were all super excited for the new arrival. The foal was less than a day old, yet almost equal to me in weight, with limbs to rival a spider monkey, and a whole lot of attitude! It took four of us to restrain him on his side and stop his knobbly legs from flaying everywhere while we did a plasma transfusion. With the new addition to the hospital requiring constant monitoring and frequent bottle feeds, we had our work cut out for us on the weekend shifts! -- source link

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