Internship Day 3 ~

Today was yet another day of scheduled events for me. We began the day by excercising Ding in the Aqua-fit and then Madge on the highspeed treadmill.

Then we lunged Badger one last time and she was put on the high speed treadmill in the afternoon before she went home. Next, the vet came to a x-ray a horse's cannon bone for a possible bone splint (unfortunately I did not get any pictures of this). The horse gotten a little too frolicy in the field and got kicked just below the knee. The vet sedated the horse with a sedative (not Rompun or Xylazine, but a similar British sedative, as well as Butorphanol which we use in the states. They also use Torbugesic which we use in the US). Luckily, there were no bone fragments but only a "splint" which means swelling or reaction of the bone. So we sent her home with directions from the vet to give Phenybutazone (aka. Bute) as an anti-inflammatory. After a lunch break we worked Madge again on the treadmill. I was able to take some pictures of her to begin my case study:

This is Madge, my case study horse. She is a bay  colored thoroughbred (more information to follow later). She is in the Equine Therapy Center on the original complaint of having an "off walk". When we brought her in and had her evaluated by Liz the orthopedic vet, she determined that Madge's "Off-ness" is being caused by multiple problems such lameness in her front R and hind L foot. She also has a soar, crooked back (c-curved), and an inequality of muscle tone in her shoulders and rump. Now, the program that will be developed for Madge will depend upon the collarboration between the vet, the owner, and our ETC manager, Kathryn. They will decide on which problem to work on first and then continue on from there and then estimate a length of time the Madge needs to stay at the ETC. Liz will then return in a week or two to evaluate her progress.

Here you can see the inequality of muscle mass. Her right gluteal muscle is larger than her left.

These are Madge's front feet. They are very boxy, squared, and have little toe. The above picture is her corrective shoeing with the use of Hartbar shoes that the farrier applied yesterday. These will help you to distribute her weight more evenly over a larger surface area and allow the toe to grow out. Shoes are checked, adjusted, and repaired every 2-6 weeks for the therapy horses.

After Madge finished her workout, I was allowed to watch a dressage and jumping clinic with clinician Eric Winters, then we cleaned the yard, and I distibuted some Hershey's milk chocolate bars to the girls that I work with so that they might try some American goodness! They still like their Cadbury's Belgian chocolate better - I will be bringing some of that home for you all to try!!! They said that Hershey's was more bitter and tasted like their dark chocolate! Then they insisted that I try Cadbury's and bought me some. I ate it, it was good, but I thought it was very creamy and less flavorful than Hershey's. I'm sure I'll being to appreciate it soon though! I met several other girls that are from the USA today! Several were from Delaware Valley College in Philly, and another was from Centenary in NJ. They were very friendly and offered to show me around since they have been here for the entire semester. I very much appreciate their company! Also, tomorrow, Sam, Grant, and Sabrina are coming to visit me for the evening and possibly Saturday afternoon so I am very excited to see them. It will be weird to see them way over here, being 6,000 miles away from home! Well, I miss you all, can't wait to hear from you, your messages are GREATLY appreciated and encouraging!!! Love, kacie

P.S. here are a few more pictures of Hartpury:

One section of stalls, very fancy!!!

Some horses out on one of the many beautiful pastures!

Another block of stalls

SHEEP!!! on the 3-star cross country course

Baby Sheep!!!

awesome cross country jump.

this was HUGE!!!

this log was like 3 feet thick!

so, these are cross country jumps, you jump the first one, cross the road, jump the second one, and race throught the pond!!!

An awesome table-top, yes, you're supposed to jump on-top of this and its like 4 1/2 feet tall atleast!

They have lots of these cool what I like to call mushroom jumps

This is such a pretty tree!!!

SEE YA TOMORROW!!!