On Sunday I had the opportunity to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and drive a couple of hours away to work with some horses! For a vet student I have been feeling particularly animal deprived so I was pretty excited for this day. We don’t see too many live animals in our classes or practicals at school. I don’t have any pets here and I don’t work at a vet clinic here either so I was needing a little time to do what I do best– be with animals.

This was a cross country and jumping event with a couple hundred horses. After the horses were finished competing the riders would bring them to our vet paddock where they would walk them and cool them off. I was there with a couple other first year DVM students and some second year DVM students. It was then our job to assess the horses’ demeanor, heart rate, and if there were any obvious injuries present before allowing the horse to go back to its trailer. The vet supervising us was amazing and made sure that the vet students did all the work so we got quite a lot of practice! By the end of the day I was feeling really comfortable with taking heart rates on horses! There was a couple of horses that passed through with slightly more medical problems and then we could ask the vet questions on how she would handle the problem and future concerns.

I have only a couple days of classes left before heading into the exam break… pray for me, wish me luck, and I’ll see you on the other side!