- Dentistry - mostly grinding off sharp points, and a few extractions.
- Scanning mares - rectal ultrasound for detecting heat, pregnancy, twins, etc. Pretty cool but very difficult to see the screen when it's so sunny.
- Castrations - everything involved in horse surgery is size massive. The endotracheal tube is as long as my arm and probably thicker around. The rebreathing bag is the size of my torso. Don't even get me started on the vaporiser and breathing circuit.
- Feet - horses are all legs. Lots of lameness exams. Abscesses, bruised feet, fractures, and more.
- Skin - poor itchy horse with a tick allergy. Ticks are horrid things.
- Eyes - saw a horse with uveitis (made the eye look all cloudy). My classmate got to see a squamous cell carcinoma (looked like white spots on the side of the eye).
- Pre-purchase exams - vets need special insurance to do these. Very thorough, including a general exam, lameness exam, scoping, and many radiographs. Possible to induce much trouble and lawsuits if done poorly.
- Laryngeal endoscopy - for various reasons including horses making noise when exercising. Very cool gadget and neat to be able to visualise the larynx of a live horse as it breathes.
- First aid sort of things - lacerations from kicks and whatnot.
Still not going to be a horse vet. But I wouldn't mind some riding lessons one day. There's something about the power and grace of horses--so big and beautiful and strong. As long as they don't try to kill me, that is. I'm sticking to my original opinion of "I appreciate horses at a distance."
As an aside, it's interesting and alien to see the horse world. Everyone seems to be born into it. The horsey people and horsey vets have all been riding and owning horses since they were children. The racing industry is unlike anything else, with all sorts of quirks and peculiar rules. It's a completely foreign world to me, so spending a week involved in it was something of an adventure.
As an aside, it's interesting and alien to see the horse world. Everyone seems to be born into it. The horsey people and horsey vets have all been riding and owning horses since they were children. The racing industry is unlike anything else, with all sorts of quirks and peculiar rules. It's a completely foreign world to me, so spending a week involved in it was something of an adventure.
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