20th July-24th July 2015
8:30am - 5:30ish
- On day one, there were a few vaccinations against flu and tetanus, there was a horse that was micro chipped, there was a horse that had a bent leg so the vet advised the owner that it would probably be best for the horse if it was put down for its welfare. There was also a horse that had a foot disease that worsened with the location of the horse - the horse was located in the hills and was walking on the cobblestone every day and was exercised a lot every day. So, the vet advised the possibility of moving yards/stables in order to keep the horse for as long as possible.
- On day two, there were 2 vaccinations for flu and tetanus. There was a pony and a donkey that had been rescued by the owner. I was told a bit more about grass sickness disease and how it isn't that common in horses. It is derived from eating from an area where there is bacteria within the soil. The horse ends up losing a lot of weight and in more cases of grass sickness, the horse almost definitely ends up dying as it is very difficult to recover from as weight is lost within a short period of time. Was told about shoes for horses - it is advised that you get shoes for your horse as it can be less painful for the horse. Shoes can be made from steel, aluminium, plastic but steel is best as it can melt when heated whereas aluminium has to be hammered into shape. X-rays were done onsite at another yard, because it had a lame leg. The vet watched it walk/trot and thus decided to take some x-rays to take a better look at the foot and hoof inside, and nothing abnormal was found. At another yard, one horse had a wound on its leg and did have a bandage on it but the vet took it off. Shetland passport was done and the vet also did an examination of another shetland to check that nothing was particularly wrong with it physically for breeding etc.
- On day three, there were a few tetanus vaccinations. Poo samples were taken from some horses at one yard, one of the horses hadn't done a poo all morning so after a lot of waiting, the vet decided to go up the horse's back end but the horse was tensing so much that the vet couldn't go any further. She said it wasn't worth the risk of damaging down there as it was only a poo sample and could be taken later that day.
- On day four, myself and another vet student did worm egg counts in 3 poo samples. We grabbed 6-8g of each sample of poo. We placed this in a thick plastic test tube with salt water and some crystals which help break down the poo. A filter was then placed at the top and a smaller test tube was placed on the other end. We tilted it upside down so that the liquid poo was filter into the smaller test tube to remove any solid parts. A syringe was then used to extract the liquid poo from the smaller test tube and was put onto squares to see under a microscope. Under the microscope, there were circular shapes which were air bubbles which you wouldn't count but there were oval shaped things which were the eggs. We then counted these and made a tally chart.
- On the last day, there was mostly vaccinations for flu and tetanus. There was some microchipping of fowls. There was an appointment for the vet to examine the hooves of a donkey and one of the hooves has a crack in it. There was also an appointment to look at a puncture - looking wound on a horse. It actually wasn't a wound, more like a dent in the skin but hadn't actually punctured through the full thickness of the skin. There was some swelling but it wasn't too bad, it just looked like another horse kicked him.
