Week at an Equine Clinic

April 6th-9th 2009
I spent a week working with 2 vets within a successful equine practice in Norfolk.
I spent minimal time actually at the practice and most of my time out meeting the clients and their equines and watching the vets work with them.
Some of the cases I witnessed were:

• Routine vaccinations and their importance. The vets explained that much of their time was spent on these vaccinations and other preventitative measures such as checking teeth. The vaccines admistered were: Tetanus and Influenza.
• Several equine castrations done at the clients own premises and the vets explained the desisions they must make and how they make them such as when to castrate, whether the horse should be brought into the clinic, if there are likely to be post-surgery issues (i.e- a very hairy horse --> more chance of infection), the age to castrate, any problems with the surgery etc
• A horse who had a consistent cough even when not in work and watery discharge from the nostrils. The vet showed me how you could see the horse in trouble while breathing as you could see an increase in movement of the ribcage. She also let me listen to the horses breathing where I could distinctively hear a wheeze during inspiration and see the nostrils flaring. The horse was diagnosed as having COPD, and the treatment was to come of hay and go onto haylage and also to have the horse living out to see if that helped.
• A horse owner who had decided that euthanasia was the option for her horse and I saw how the vet dealed with the lady in an empathic yet proffesional way.
• A horse where a twitch had been left on for too long causing the horse to fall severely in its stable and damage nerves. I saw the horse 3 weeks after the accident when the owners where still contemplating euthansia.
• I went to a suspect colic of a pony who was restless, not eating their food and kept laying down. The vet showed me how the gums often change colour for colic from pink to grey/purple.
• A horse with a puncture wound to the hoof (sole of hoof - foot). A nail had penetrating through but had missed the frog. The vet removed the shoe as this was caused pain to the horse and poulticed the foot.
• A horse with lice
• A mare 6 hours after giving birth. The vet layed out the placenta out and talked to me about the importance of ensuring its all completely out otherwise a serious infection can follow quickly. She said how the placenta looks like a Y shape
• Horses that had been tied up on land without any water. Water was provided and the horses were checked over to ensure they were well. This showed me the importance of working together as for this case vets, an equine sanctuary, ILPH and the RSPCA were all involved. Communication was key
• Sedating a large group of RSPCA horses for the farrier.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my work experience with the 2 vets aswell as talking to me about each case they gave me a real insight into the job with the goodpoints and the bad. They also said they would welcome me back if I wanted to do more (I am calling nearer christmas to get some more W.E)

Lambing in Wales - 13/3/09-22/3/09

I went to wales on a lambing course and to help out on the farm either side of the course.
At the farm they had over 100 sheep, a few cows and pigs, as well as a variety of poultry.
My daily jobs included feeding; the ewes (pre-lambing), ewes (post-lambing), the sows, boar and weaners, the rams and the calf. Other jobs included cleaning out the animals, refilling waters and general maintenance and care of the farm animals. The lambing course was extremely useful.

On the Monday I learnt how to tube feed lambs and witnessed an injection into the eyelid of lamb.
In addition, I watched an assisted birth of a Texal ewe where the lamb had its head out and one front leg out and the other tucked up. I watched a lamb being fostered from one ewe to another after the birth mother ewe rejected it - it was a shearling. I learnt about the fostering techniques such as skinning and using a bag.

I used an artificial ewe where I practised assisting births where the head was back and learnt the normal position for a lamb in the womb. I placed lambing ropes onto the head and 2 front feet. I also used the artificial ewe for the delivery of twins where 1 was in the posterior position using lambing ropes.

We had a talk from a local vet who talked about common problems associated with sheep such as ORF, hypo/ hyperthermia, foot rot, twin lamb disease, calcium deficiency, listeria etc and the importance of vaccinations. In addition, a nutritionist came to give information on livestock feed- and levels of different nutrients in the feed.

I was educated on dealing with prolapses and the advantages and disadvantages of treatment methods such as a prolapse spoon and/or stitching. I took part in worming, delousing and numbering lambs and ewes ready for release into the field. For me to be able to do this I learnt how to turn over many sheep including the large texal sheep and clip their tails and feet. I checked the teeth of the ewes and condition scored them. I discovered that the back teeth are very important and that swelling from bad back teeth can appear as liver flux.

I had to help with modifying the horn shape on rams where the horn had grown into the eye.
At night, I took turns being on shift in the lambing shed with the 2 farm owners. Some nights I done over a 24 hour shift at the farm and this allowed me to see just how much I could do when pushed through the exhaustion barrier.

As I had been able to spend so much time watching the ewes normal behaviour I was able to see the signs of imminent birthing and difficult births (crouching etc) I was able to conduct an initial examination of 2 ewes to check that the lambs were in the correct position after the ewes appeared to be straining more than usual at birth.