Day 24 ~ 3 Counties Equine Emergency Hospital

Today I spent another day at 3 Counties. So far, this week has been my favorite week of the internship because I have kept very busy and been able to see a variety of things such as the stud farm and helping out in the veterinary hospital, which I am used to from home. After breakfast, a van from Hartpury drove me to the hospital (I just want to make note how thankful I am for Hartpury and all that they have done for me! 3 Counties is a good 20-30 minute drive away, and Hartpury has been awesome with getting me to and from the places I need to be FOR FREE! And petrol/diesel is NOT cheap over here! They have really been taking great care of me!). I started out by chipping in with cleaning. I scrubbed out all the wash buckets and feed bins, held hot compresses on the horses that needed them, led horses out to graze, filled syringes with heparin, counted pills, and got to watch a vaccination and 3 dentals! They are beginning to use me more at the hospital so I don't just stand awkwardly around. The dentals were great. The first one was a float (grinding down the sharp edges on the teeth), the second one was removing the wolf teeth from a three-year-old mare (wolf teeth are kind of like canine teeth the horses are born with and should fall out - like baby teeth - before they reach age 2 otherwise they need to be extracted so as not to cause pain and discomfort or interfere with a bit in their mouth), and the third one was to check a rotten tooth. the 4th cheek tooth on the upper left quarter of the horse's jaw has split into two. One edge is jabbing into the horse's cheek causing great pain and the other is crooked, pointing inwards. No one knows how long the poor animal has suffered with this terrible tooth ache, its been at least a year! So the tooth will need to be surgically extracted at a later date (probably next week). It is a molar, and the roots run deep into the sinus cavity so it will be a tricky procedure. Also, the root is stuck in tight so its not wobbly at all, unfortunately, which will make pulling it very difficult and time consuming. Maybe I'll get to watch it next week! After doing some more hot compressing and grazing, it was time to leave for the day. I returned to Hartpury Equine Therapy Center and took command over the new canine water treadmill! Kathryn has been instructing me on its care and maintenance so its my job to check the chlorine and pH levels. Today I had to drain the tank and refill it with new water to begin another chlorination cycle (which is done weekly). Next week we will test a dog in it! Oh, dad, so the filtering system they use on the tank is EXACTLY like what we have for our pool! So, Kathryn was kind of impressed with how I new how to use the chlorine tablets and backwash the system :). Tonight I'm going to watch a movie with some friends then skype with mom, dad, and Brad. Tomorrow is Friday!!! Oh yeah, 18 days until I come home!!!