Where in the World is Shannon?!

Whoa! Two Posts in One Week?!

2012-01-29T20:38:00.002-07:00

Building up towards last Thursday was kind of a big thing. I was going to the orthopedic surgeon to get the interpretation of my MRI. It was probably one of the best times at the doctor because he informed me the cartilage of my knee looked fine! This is good news because cartilage damage is practically impossible to fix. I do have fluid in my knee caused by inflammation. So I got a lovely shot in my knee to reduce the inflammation. Right now it still hurts, but it is supposed to be much better once the inflammation goes down. Great news for me!

Now I just have to get my leg stronger and hopefully the pain will go away for awhile! Just an FYI shots in the joint hurt really, really bad and prescription narcotics make boring classes so much better!

Ciao!

Best Day so Far in Vet School? Not Actually Being at School!

2012-01-28T21:39:00.004-07:00

This past weekend was one of the best weekends in vet school. Saturday I went to Atlanta. Of course that evening the group of us had to find some soul food...it is the South after all. We ate at a place that had some great food, the cheese grits were to die for! The scenery, food and people reminded me of South Carolina. I am starting to think the Southeast just might be my home.

The next day we attempted to figure out the public transit system because unfortunately the hotel we were staying at was far away from any grub, etc. I got to have my first train/subway ride in a big city (I've only ridden on the ones at airports). The transit system there is pretty good and not too hard to figure out. However, by the time we got downtown it was almost time to hurry back (we might have slept in pretty late that morning) to get to our reception which kicked off the "Veterinary Student Day at the CDC" event. It was fun interacting with other vet students interested in public health.

Monday was just packed full of people talking about great opportunities for veterinarians in public health. I got to talk to people in the industry and have a better plan in mind for my future! A couple of the people helped walk us through the process of disease investigation in the case of an outbreak. Contagion anyone? (I have not seen the movie, I guess it related to some sort of disease outbreak).

The next day our flight did not leave until the evening so we decided to go to the Georgia Aquarium, it is the largest aquarium in the world! We got to see so many cool creatures, including four whale sharks! I want to go diving with whale sharks now. We even got to hav

e a tour of their veterinary facilities and briefly met the veterinarian. It was such an awesome experience.

The only downfall to this whole trip was I missed seeing my brother and

my sister-in-law while she was at WSU getting her veterinary school interview. It sounds like it went great and I have a good feeling she will get in, at least so I can bum dinners from them :D

Here are just a couple pictures from the Aquarium. I will post more later. This was me hanging out with penguins.

Hurry up and wait...

2011-06-28T19:23:00.002-06:00

Today was a pretty big step forward. In other words, G-dawg does not have to go to the hospital tomorrow!

This morning I was in clinical pathology spinning blood for the research I am helping with and I had to resist the urge the harass the clinical pathologist about Guimauve's cytology of his lymph nodes. I was almost done when who wanders in but Dr. Costa. The good news was no obvious neoplastic changes! On to the biopsy!

I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Costa and Marcie for the biopsy. I have to say it is a little weird seeing your own dog hooked up to anesthesia and then watching them put an endoscope down his esophagus. It was pretty cool from the veterinary student standpoint!

They took several biopsies of his duodenum (the part of the small intestine right after the stomach) and several in the stomach. I even got to help take the biopsies. It is kind of interesting. The biopsy tool is a small cable that goes through a port in the endoscope. It has "pincers" at the end to take the biopsy. Dr. Costa directed the endoscope and the end of the biopsy tool and then would ask Marcie or I to pinch it and then pull the tool back out and put the biopsy in a jar for toe lab. Pretty crazy procedure to watch!

Afterwards I walked the samples to the diagnostic lab where I work and now it is just waiting until tomorrow when the pathologist can look at the biopsies under a microscope and later in the week for the blood test results...

But G-dawg is playing and is very glad to be home and eating again!

Karo Syrup Cure?

2011-06-28T01:39:00.002-06:00

Ah another day in frustration paradise! Guimauve got his blood drawn today for the previous mentioned tests. Then it was time for the barium study. Just as a preliminary, radiology took lateral radiographs (on his side) to see if he had any food in his stomach. Guess what?! Even though he had not eaten since 6 pm and it was about 11 am, he still had food in his stomach. So much for the barium study!

The decision was made in the afternoon to do a fine needle aspirate of his mesenteric lymph nodes to rule out lymphoma before we do any more diagnostics. I will know the results in the morning.

However, in anticipation of a possible endoscopic biopsy of his intestine. Dr. Costa gave me Karo Syrup for his dinner today (6/27). She said it was mostly so I felt better because he has not eaten anything in over 24 hours. I think she feels guilty. Funny part was, tonight he was acting like his normal self for the first time in awhile. He was stealing my socks and was just a ball of energy. Maybe I should invest in this sweet elixir...

Crossing fingers biopsy tomorrow, answers by Thursday!

Your Dog is Weird

2011-06-27T00:38:00.002-06:00

The words you definitely want to hear coming out of your vet's mouth right?

Last night Guimauve had diarrhea every two hours. This sort of started Friday with some diarrhea, but Saturday his stools were mostly normal until the evening. I had a suspicion it was the metoclopramide we started him on to increase his gastric motility.

This morning I had to go into the hospital early to run blood from the research project I am working on, so I figured I would stick my head in and see if Marcie was in. Voila! I was in luck she was in. I told her what was going on and she said she would call Dr. Costa in a bit when it was not quite so early. I spun the blood down and returned to find Marcie.

Today was my lucky day, Dr. Costa happened to be working at the hospital today and was learning about the cases received overnight and then I could talk with her. Not long after Marcie tells me this Dr. Costa walks through the doors and stops dead in her tracks and looks at me then Marcie and back to me with a look of "Oh no, now what?!" on her face. I felt kind of bad, but at the same time it was a pretty priceless look.

I explained to her the diarrhea and we decided to take him off the metoclopramide which seems to have worked so far.

As I was walking away Dr. Costa told me I had a weird dog and I just smiled and shook my head saying I know.

The Saga: Part Deux

2011-06-24T22:59:00.002-06:00

I forgot to provide the results of the fecal received yesterday!!! So working in WADDL I had the inside, unofficial results. 10 oocysts (a cyst containing a zygote of the parasite) per gram of coccidiosis. So of course I tell Dr. Costa and the problem is it is not enough to be pathogenic. However, never hurts to treat! So he got Drontal Plus (anti-parasitic) as well as Albon an antibiotic.

And now for today. I bring him in early and Marcie (the awesome and stupendous 4th year student on his case!) tells me they have two options for his endoscopic biopsy. At 11am or 3pm. So of course at 11 I call and find out he is going in. Not even 30 minutes later I get another call, Guimauve's stomach was full of food! So I get the (nice) Spanish Inquisition as to how he might have grown opposable thumbs and opened a refrigerator door to get to the canned food. For everyone's knowledge he is on z/d at the moment. z/d is a food for dogs with allergies so it is pretty much hydrolyzed chicken (easily absorbed) corn starch and water with vitamins and minerals. Guimauve practically inhales it though!

+1 on the problems list. Delayed gastric emptying. (I can't help but picture House and his white board and thinking "One of these problems is not like the others"). The food in his stomach prevented them from getting a biopsy. I talked with Dr. Costa and Marcie about our weekend strategy when I picked Guimauve up. The top of the differential list is still a protein losing enteropathy.

So we have several directions to go now. First choice was to put him on metoclopramide to treat the vomiting that occurred from a full stomach and going under anesthesia as well as increase gastric motility for the weekend. Continuation of the plan is to have him off food and medication on Sunday night/Monday morn. Then he goes through a Barium study. Barium is a mineral that will show up on x-ray or in his case fluoroscope. Fluroscope is like an x-ray type machine that gives "real time" x-rays. This way they can determine strength of gastric contractions, motility and measure the amount of time it takes for food to pass through his digestive tract.

Once the time is determined we will then know how long to fast him before the endoscope and potentially solve why he has reduced gastric motility.

Plus Guimauve is becoming a blood donor, he gets to donate again Monday for cobalamin/folate levels. These tests measure the amount of cobalamin/folate absorbed. Folate is absorbed in the proximal intestine while folate is absorbed in the distal small intestine. This may help pinpoint where the problem is in the intestine. Another test is the trypsin-like immunoreactivity (TLI) which is an indicator of pancreatic function.

So that is where we stand now!

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes and for stopping by and visiting me and Guimauve!

The Saga Continues

2011-06-24T22:33:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Guimauve went in for some more tests. Dr. Costa (the intern working on his case, she's awesome!) told me his second bile acid test was slightly elevated but not to the point of providing any direction. His cortisol baseline was also tested to rule out Addison's Disease. It was not abnormal so they put that aside for the moment. Normal baseline cortisol levels do not completely rule out Addison's, but it is a good indication.

Addison's is a disease where the body does not produce enough cortisol which is important in helping the body respond to stress, maintain blood pressure and cardiovascular function, slow the immune system's inflammatory response, maintain levels of glucose in the blood, regulate the metabolism of proteins, carbs and fats; etc.

There was still no specific indication whether or not his problems were GI or liver related. The next decision was made to do a focal ultrasound of his abdomen (focal is cheaper and they look at only specific areas). They checked his liver, bowel loops and mesenteric lymph nodes. The liver looked normal, putting shunt at the bottom of the differential list. The bowels looked normal. His mesenteric lymph nodes were slightly enlarged. Add another problem to the list.

This gave some more options for diagnostics. Aspiration of the lymph nodes which would determine whether they are normal or not. I declined because it would not lead to a specific diagnosis. The only way to specifically diagnose what is wrong with his lymph nodes is surgical biopsy, which is not an option. Plus, they could just be enlarged due to GI issues. The other option for enlarged lymph nodes is lymphoma which is at the bottom of the differential list.

After the ultrasound Dr. Costa and I discussed the next options. Surgical biopsy of liver, lymph nodes and intestine OR endoscopic biopsy of his intestines. The pros of surgery: we get to see more and get good biopsies of everything. Cons: His low protein means lower ability to heal and he would have to be under anesthesia longer. Pros to endoscope: Get to see the stomach and intestines from the inside. Cons: Biopsies are not the best and usually not full thickness of the intestine. Cannot get biopsies of liver and lymph nodes.

Based on pocket book I picked endoscopic biopsy. I fed him about 9:30 last night and then took him in this morning. And now for part deux....

The Inevitable of Being a Vet Student

2011-06-22T20:55:00.006-06:00

Not that many people really follow this since I am a major slacker! But for the benefit of my fellow vet students and other curious folks, I present a case. The Case of Guimauve (Pronounced Ga-move or Gi-move depending on your French accent).

Guimauve is my 18 month old papillon. When I got him the end of March he was fairly thin. The breeder stated that he was at a show facility and came back to her that thin. Got him back to Pullman and he was eating like a pig and doing great. Took him in to the vet hospital at the beginning of April for a severe cough. They put him on drugs and he got better. Beginning of May got the little bugger neutered and his teeth cleaned. Before his surgery he had gained almost half a pound! Yay! (For a dog about 4 lbs that is quite a bit)

I took him to Spokane and left him for a bit so he could adjust to farm life and socialize with some other dogs. Mum began to worry because he had a gastrocolic reflex of a puppy which he did not have when I got him. Gastrocolic reflex is the reason why puppies have to poop 20-45 minutes after they eat.

Mum took him to a vet in Spokane on June 8th. They ran a fecal and it came up negative for parasites. Vet advised her to continue as she was.

I talked with the breeder on 6/21 to see if she had any knowledge of something similar in any papillons. I was informed that coccidiosis was found in Guimauve's littermate and one of her other dogs.

On 6/22 mum took him to the holistic/acupuncture vet in Spokane. He had been depressed for a couple of days and she was still concerned by his lack of weight gain. The holistic vet determined he had abdominal pain and bradycardia (low heart rate) and he needed to get some blood work done and possibly an abdominal ultrasound to determine liver or GI disease.

Mum brought him to Pullman and we took him to the hospital. The doctor looked him over and determined a basic chemistry profile and CBC were warranted. Some of their differentials included a Protein Losing Enteropathy which is a condition of the GI tract that causes a net loss in proteins, liver shunt, fat malabsorption (pancreas) and parasites. Also, she took blood for a fasting bile acid level test. The acid bile test came back as not too high but enough to get the second bile test that evening.

When I took him in that evening I was informed that his albumin was very low. Normal is 2.5-4.3 and his was 1.6. Albumin is a protein that is produced by the liver. It is the main protein in blood plasma and is very important in transport of things through the blood as well as platelet function. Needless to say hypoalbuminemia is bad.

Today (6/23) I am waiting on bile acid test #2 results and fecal results. Next step is possible intestinal biopsy via endoscope. Funny part of all this is the fecal samples and, if the biopsy is performed, those samples will all go to the lab I work in, WADDL. Not my specific division, but just the lab next door.

Well ladies and gents, there is a case study for you! I will keep you updated as things progress.

They Say It's Hard, But Never Say It's Fun

2010-08-26T22:06:00.002-06:00

The first week before vet school was actually vet school 'orientation'. They call it COLE- Cougar Orientation and Leadership Experience. We had lots of fun games, communication lectures and team building exercises. I had a ton of fun and really learned a lot. We were 'camping' (sleeping in cabins is really not camping) on the Spokane River in Post Falls. It was great to help us get to know each other, all 99 of us first year vet students. Plus second and third year students were there as our mentors and talking to them really helped to settle my nerves.

Then there is this first week of actual school. My class list is as follows:

Small Animal Gross Anatomy
Microscopic Anatomy
Cell Physiology
Principles of Surgery
Animals, Society and Vets (Continuation of COLE through our 3rd)
Animal Handling and Ag. Animal Orientation

Electives:
International Vet Medicine
Colic Team

So far in anatomy we have studied the bones of the thoracic (front) limb. Today we started dissecting our cadavers. We are working on learning the origin and insertion of the muscles of the thoracic limb.

In micro anatomy lab we spend our time looking under a microscope. This week we have been looking for parts of the cell in different tissues.

Cell physiology has no lab. In class we are learning about DNA/RNA replication, transcription, translation, etc.

Principles of surgery is once a week with a lab every other week. I have not had my lab yet, but my classmates have said the lab was fun working on gowning up while keeping sterile, suturing and learning the various instruments.

Animals, society and vets is an interesting class. It is kind of a break from all the intense vet learning and focusing on important topics in veterinary medicine and working on our communication skills. We start various readings next week.

Animal handling and Ag. animal orientation sounds like great fun. We basically had an introduction to what the class is and we start labs next week. We have labs within the various clinical areas such as Small Animal, Equine, Ag animal and veterinary teaching hospital orientation. We get oriented to the hospital because we have badges which allow us total access to all the buildings of the vet school.

Today I watched a student put a catheter in a calf, nothing new for me to see, but good to see how they do things differently around here.

The International Vet Med class is pretty fun. It is during our lunch hour so we pretty much listen to a lecture on opportunities abroad or Animal-Human issues abroad while eating lunch.

Tomorrow I have colic team for my lunch elective. We will see what that entails. I hope we do have some colic cases this semester so I can learn from them, but then again any colic cases is a bad thing because someone has to go through that experience with their horse.

Tomorrow is also the club BBQ where I can sign up for clubs and see just how busy I can be this semester!

All in all I'm enjoying every minute I am here. A little sleep deprived, but not too much yet. Once I get my schedule down I will be working hard but loving it!

The Start of the Vet School 4-Year Run

2010-08-07T09:59:00.003-06:00

I WILL be better about posting, especially since I will hopefully have some great stories going through school! First post has to have this weird video that the vet school e-mailed to all the students. It's not really funny, but it is interesting. Enjoy!

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6868901/

Update!

2010-03-24T21:46:00.002-06:00

1. I'm in vet school, barring some disaster where I fail Biochem. I've only received one packet from them, so not sure if I should be worried or not lol.

2. I am working part time for the 4-H extension office as a "Clerical Assistant III" AKA anything the rest of the staff doesn't want to do...yeah that's me. I've determined I'm office or "four walls" claustrophobic when it comes to working. Plus who wants to be inside on such beautiful spring days?

3. I am again working for Ore Grade, Inc. I've got to work with manners on a two-year-old gelding and the two yearlings (foals last year) that I halter broke. I've also got to retrain a quarter horse that is off the track. Should be an interesting experience.
I've got to come up with a nickname for the yearling. He is light on his front feet (basically he likes to rear and/or strike).

That's all for now!

The Crazy Life

2009-12-18T09:48:00.002-07:00

So I forgot the most important part of why I posted last. Thanks Christy for reminding me! I have an interview with Washington State University for vet school. This process has been so long and I've still got a long way to go, but this is a nice little boost. The whole thing starts in October, applications are due the first week of October. I had heard from three of the other schools (Colorado State University- will know about an interview the end of this month, University of California-Davis - will know of an interview in February, University of Pennsylvania - can be notified of an interview two weeks in advance all the way through March) but I had not heard a word from WSU until I got the letter the other day.

Also, last night I got to participate in the best family tradition. We pick a family in need and then do the "12 days of Christmas" to them. Last night was the fifth day so we did a couple of pineapples (they can be cut into golden rings :) ). I had to deliver last nights, usually dad and the young men do it because he is young men's president. Of course it is not easy, they have a window right by the door so I could only place it on the front porch. Plus they have a motion sensor light, but I think they are honoring our first night wishes to not try and catch your "pixie friends because they are small and their hearts couldn't handle a scare". Still gets your heart going when the light comes on!

Winter is here!

2009-12-16T17:07:00.010-07:00

And I want out! I know people say they like four seasons, but is there anywhere where they aren't quite as extreme?! Granted we do not have the Wyoming wind, but snow, rain, freezing rain and sleet all in one day? Whew. So three of the Thoroughbreds are down in New Mexico, I'm not sure how they are doing, but I hope it's great!

I've posted some fun pictures, so enjoy!

McGee the Papillion, the picture is from last year, but it's festive

Two time Horse of the Year Curlin

Who totally would not want to stick their dog in a pillow case, it's only natural right?

Bad ear hair day for McGee, static and Papillions don't mix well

An elk I saw on the way to my grandparents, here they are a nuisance

We released these little gals (& guys?) in the spring on

Bet on the Bay, or little miss temper as I nicknamed her, she's still here in WA got hurt

The handsome devil Trigg. A Lapponian Herder puppy.

My horses are all becoming racehorses!

2009-11-21T00:41:00.002-07:00

Only one of my four T-Breds that I broke was able to get on the trailer. I was not there and they had some problems (not on the horse end, more on the handler end). I have had to work with one of them because she is now afraid of the trailer. Anyways, the rest are leaving after Thanksgiving. Woohoo!

Got a notification that my little Devil Child (my favorite 'evil' foal from KY the first time) had his first official workout. Hopefully soon he will be racing! He will be three next year.

My life right now consists of a two hour round trip to school each day. I have not heard from any of the vet schools I have applied to in regard to an interview. Apparently I will not know until next year. I applied to four schools: Colorado State University, Washington State University, University of California-Davis and University of Pennsylvania. I am still working on a backup plan if I do not get into school!

The Latest and Greatest from the Lamest Life :)

2009-08-07T22:49:00.002-06:00

I have neglected my blog! And just about anything that relates to a computer. Here is what is happening lately in my life and what I will give some updates on.

Last month (July) I worked at a horse camp. All girl camps for a week. My duties included: (before the camps started) riding horses to get them ready for beginners to ride, riding a horse that only had ten rides to help sell her for the elderly owner, (during camp) helping instruct the girls on grooming, saddling, riding, etc., giving horsmanship lessons on first aid, riding on the trail ride with them to insure safety and other various tasks (i.e. farm hand, landscaping, veterinarian, horse manager, baby sitter ... you name it I probably did it).

Some scary tales from the camps: Had to pony a pregnant mare that had grumpy horomones halfway up a mountain and all the way down the mountain...the whole time she was trying to bite/kick Sax who decided to be the weeniest pony horse that day, oh and console a scared/crying girl half the time. Had one girl on the same aforementioned mare, who is a very well trained reining mare that had her saddle slip on the side of the mare. The greatest part was the little girl just kept riding like it was normal, clip clop clip clop. Finally, same mare (Starting to see a pattern? Bad things only happen in three's right?) who belongs to a veterinarian began to colic, also known as life threatening stomach ache. This particular mare was one of the most painful mares, she would hardly walk without wanting to lay down and roll. Needless to say, was hauled to Washington State University veterinary school and avoided surgery.

At the same time as all this, in the evenings I was helping halter break some Thoroughbred foals for a gentleman that races in New Mexico. Then we hatched this crazy idea to break four of his horses to ride before he sends two of them in September.

And at the moment I am at my grandparents ready to go to a wedding reception tomorrow, so pretty quick deadline to get a couple of horses ready to go!

I'll keep y'all posted!

Raise Your Hand If You Agree

2009-03-28T01:10:00.004-06:00

(To start I'm back in Washington State...more information on next post)

Please read with lightheartedness!

1. You are sick of winter.

2. You look at pictures of flowers and house plants to imagine what Spring is like.

3. You can wake yourself up at 4 a.m. when by yourself, but you cannot seem to wake-up at all on your own at your parents.

4. You can't make up your mind.

5. Your sick of hearing about the economic crisis from a media that blew it out of proportion in the first place.

6. Enough with the 'global warming' (See comment #1)

7. We should be able to make up our own words that make it in the dictionary, just like Shakespeare. (This would be splendiforous!)

8. Mundane is, well, mundane.

9. Winter clothes are way too bulky.

10. Arizona sounds nice right now.

11. ...or Grand Cayman...

12. ...even California!

13. Writing in a blog late at night when you cannot sleep might not be the best idea.

That is all folks...thanks for reading!

Renfield

You will be missed.
We will always love you Butter-Boy.
You have touched the lives of many.

Stuck in the Grand Ol' Bluegrass

2009-01-08T11:33:00.002-07:00

Made it to Kentucky alright. Now I'm just here, most likely waiting for my future boss to come up for one of the horse sales so I can go around with him there and then mosey on down to South Carolina. Unfortunately everyone is working, so I have had some unexciting days. A foal was born last night on the farm, first one of the season here on the farm. A little bay filly I guess. Let the foaling/breeding season begin!

Major Update

2009-01-03T22:54:00.007-07:00

Ok, so I really promise to be better about updating this thing. I guess that's my New Year's Resolution. And I suppose I will be breaking that resolution for the first month because my computer has gone kaput.

Dead in the water as they say.

Anyways...
I successfully completed my second KEMI course. Yippie! All the yearlings were really good. Unfortunately our riding time was cut short b early cold, the ground just got too hard and we started to have some leg problems associated with hard ground (splint bone problems), nothing too serious, just leaves an unsightly bump on the leg.

To add to the unfortunate news, I believe I lost one of my memory cards that had all my pictures of the yearlings out in the snow while visiting the fam. Maybe it will be discoverd in August when the mini Himalayas of Snow are all gone.

However! Bad news is usually followed by good news right? The good news is I was awarded a scholarship through the internship. It is called the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club Award Week. I got some money and then I got to spend a week doing something of my choice. I got to spend a week with the Darley training/rehab/recuperation/transfer/etc. barn at the Keeneland racetrack. I also got to go with the Darley horses and watch them get loaded on a plane destined for Dubai and spend a day with a track veterinarian and a day with a racehorse to see the typical going ons 'behind the scenes' at races. I had great fun learning from the trainer at Darley and the riders. Darley is owned by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum who is the prime minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Dubai.

Ok now for the fun of this post!

White Tie, one of the Darley horses after a morning gallop

I like the blury background pictures

Got to love five o'clock in the morning!
The key to this picture is really
knowing how many horses are in it

There's just a taste of some other pictures I need to put up here. Just so everyone knows though, I am moving to South Carolina for a new job where I get to ride crazy two-year-olds in training. I will send another update from there when I can!

Hope everyone is enjoying the New Year!

I AM still alive :)

2008-09-15T20:53:00.007-06:00

The past few weeks have been crazy! Can you tell? I haven't posted lately lol. Let's see I did start riding a racehorse every morning since my last post (Mon.-Fri.). He is a two year old that got injured so they are getting him back in shape. I jog him twice around the 5/8 of a mile track every morning. (1 1/4 miles). He is a jerk some days! The first day my farm manager gave me a 'stick' (whip) cause he said he can be bad. He was a perfect little angel, actually I got through a week and a half with him without any problems. I only had the whip the first day and then I never got it again, until one fateful day. My roommate and I went down to the track as usual, however, on the way down Varinsy (The horse I'm riding) decided it would be a good idea to plant his feet and not move. I try everything to get him to go and he won't. So Brent smacks him on the butt with the lead shank. That worked. We get on the track and go to start jogging and he only goes a little and stops. Brent had to smack him again. Then he went a bit and stopped. Brent then started jogging with him and that only worked for a bit....well we went around half the track this way before I finally got him to go forward. As we were rounding our final turn of the first lap Varinsy decided to kick up. I lost my left iron and then he ducked out from under me...So basically, I fell of. How humiliating! I had to buy the whole farm donuts for that. Oh well...The second lap went well because Clifford (The farm manager) brought me a whip. Ever since then, I've had one. He's been alright, he has to throw a fit every day, but he gets over it. He's just bored with jogging around.

Varinsy~ I tacked him up...he is very heavy for a racehorse

Varinsy and me leaving the track

Varinsy and Me

We have been line driving (like draft horses pulling the wagons minus the wagons, so we walk behind them) the yearlings all over the farm for 30-45 minutes. We have been doing it with the rollers and now the saddles. Thursday we strapped a dummy, which is a pair of coveralls stuffed with straw that weighs about 40 lbs, to half of the yearling colts. They all handled it fairly well. Then in the stall Paul laid across their backs and then sat in the saddle as Brent led them around the stall. The next day we did the same thing, only this time I got to 'back' (ride) the yearlings because Paul was gone. They were all good, one of the boys I didn't get on because he did not handle the dummy well.

Sunday, Ike decided to share his wrath with us. We had a horrible wind storm. It would be a usual windy day in Wyoming, except here there are more trees that are not accustomed to wind. There were trees and limbs everywhere. Plus the horses were all nuts because of the wind. My poor housemate got kicked in the face by one of the weanlings because the filly was freaking out from the storm. She's going to be fine, a couple stitches, broken nose, and a black eye fine.

Today (Monday) I got to put the first ride on three of the boys. I tacked them up and walked them down to the round pen. Clifford then legged me up so I was laying across their back. As he walked the colt around and he felt comfortable I swung over and had both feet in the stirrups. Then I patted the horse and got him used to the feel of me moving and my legs putting pressure on his side. Clifford would jog with me and the horse and then let the longe line out slowly so we were almost going on our own. After a few laps of jogging we would then walk. Clifford would unattach the line and then we would go the other direction and jog with limited help from Clifford. Everyone I rode was great! One of the boys was like riding a Cadillac! Smooth and very responsive to cues. Clifford even mentioned he looked like a dressage horse. It was a great day.

On my day off last week, I got to go to the most lucrative Thoroughbred sale in the country. It is the Keeneland September Yearling sale. I have even seen some of the yearlings I helped foal out last year! This one sold for $240,000! She was a pretty nice foal last year, so I'm not too surprised. I'm going to have to go again on Wed. and see three others I worked with.

'07 Angel Gift

Oh, and the craziest thing I saw was this:

The wildest colored purebred thoroughbred I have ever seen!

There is an update, hopefully I will be able to update soon again!

I Love It When It Rains...maybe...sorta...ok not really

2008-08-25T17:32:00.008-06:00

Well, at least not today. I think today was the most humid day yet and it was just building up to the afternoon rainstorm. It was so crazy, I know all that water on my skin was not sweat...I don't even sweat that much!

Anyways, here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Morning workouts on the track at Pin Oak...this is from my back porch! :D
Soon this will be me! (Next week actually I get to ride, hopefully one of the racehorses!)
First week in KY I got to play jockey at the Kentucky Derby Museum
Me and Big B at the KY Derby Museum
Where I work everyday.
Ooo....a clown! In riding gear?
I'm branded...yeppers! And this vest is supposed to protect me how? It's so light!

Final Word:
I'm tired of eating sandwiches for lunch so if any of you have any good ideas for lunch other than that and microwave stuff like hot pockets...please share! Crockpot recipes would work as long as they don't take too long to prepare in the morning.

Thanks! Adios amigos!

And The First Casualty Is....Me

2008-08-21T11:05:00.002-06:00

Well, we are two weeks into our breaking season and all was going well, until Tuesday. For the past two weeks (Mon-Fri) we have been putting the colts on the walker and then three times a week three of the fat fillies have been going on the walker. Monday afternoon I was off work and had to go back at 5 pm because it was too hot for the weanlings and foals to go out. So this week is my "Foal Turnout" week. Basically, I work 7-12 and before lunch it is determined if it is going to be too hot to turn the foals out. If the temperature is cool, I would work a normal day (7-4) if it is too hot I leave at 12 and do not return until 5. Because of this situation I missed Monday afternoon when they put rollers (AKA Surcingle) on the colts in the stalls. They just laid them over their backs, no tightening or anything. Apparently this went pretty well except two of them squealed and bucked a little in the stall. On Tuesday I had to work a full day because I have class that evening and cannot do foal turnout.

So Tuesday we put the rollers on the horses and tightened them down. Basically the way it is done is we put four of them on the walker and then pull one out at a time and take him in the round pen. On each horse we have our own specified 'set'. So I went in with my first horse and
Brent coached me on what we do. We have a really soft bit in their mouth (its got rubber around the metal parts so it hardly pulls on their mouth hard). Brent attaches a longe line to the bit and then I stand in the middle as he gets the horse to trot quietly around the round pen a couple of times, the whole time using his voice to teach them voice commands. Then he brings the horse into him. As he is holding the horse and leading him around, I am putting the stuff on. We first start with a saddle 'blanket' (basically just a sheet like seen on racehorses under the saddle) and then a small cotton pad that is actually a cotton leg bandage folded in half. Then the roller goes on. This is all done while the horse is walking. (I will have to get pictures one day). Then we slowly begin to tighten the roller around the horse. As soon as it is saddle tight, I move back to the middle while Brent sends them around the round pen at a trot again. Most of the boys were really good. One of them bucked and the rest did great.

Until my last horse. The hot walker and round pen get picked out of poop after every set. Well there is a new girl in the barn (Tryn, my roomie is now down in the filly barn) and she picked the round pen first before the walker, which isn't a problem except we put the horses in the walker first. So we had to walk around the round pen for a bit before putting them in the walker. My horse was getting really excited in the round pen, so I was trying to calm him down. Then we went in the walker and I had to stay with him because there are only two horses in the last set, so he is still on edge and I am still trying to calm him down. The other horse got the roller on fine and then it was my turn. Do Nice, the horse I had, decided not to live up to his name that day. As I walked into the round pen Brent went to close the door behind us while he went to grab the equipment. Do Nice did not like that and blew up, he reared up hitting me in the back of the ribs with his hoof on the way up. When he came back down he kind of bucked and was still spazing out. I did not have time to think about being hit until I got him calmed down right after Brent came back. I am fine, I'm barely even sore, but it sure was not fun. We ended up not putting the roller on him, just getting him used to the round pen.

This just added insult to injury though. That morning was my first bite, too. I was unchaining the gate and did not realize one of the colts had walked up. He thought it was play time and reached over and bit me in the arm. I have a bigger bruise from that than from Do's kick.

Such is life around horses! Especially yearling, testosterone full, thoroughbred colts!

Let the 'Breaking' begin!

2008-08-08T19:17:00.004-06:00

So today was the first day of the 'Breaking Season'. I'm not sure if it is officially started yet, but close enough. We had polytrack installed in the round pen and the Eurosizer hot walker and they just barely got done working on it yesterday. So four of us walked the horses down the path leading to the round pen and walker. The first horse I led did not want to go, he was pretty scared of the railing and change of surface. Well, there is limited patience on this farm so they let him look at it for a minute and then two of the guys linked arms and pushed behind him onto the path. I then walked him down the path and we walked the four horses around the round pen until Brent (the assistant/yearling manager) decided everyone was quiet enough to go into the hot walker. The horse I had was a little leary of everything, but he willingly went into the hot walker and started to relax in there. He was real easy to walk in the hot walker. After a few times around there we went back up to the barn. Then I grabbed another horse. This guy had gotten kicked in the knee a week ago and still has a small cut. He was in the stall for a couple of days and then in a small pen outside for another couple days. Yesterday we turned him back out in a small paddock with his pasture buddy. So he was feeling pretty good. He is a fairly large horse and pretty confident so when I walked him over to the path he looked at it for a second and then just walked right on. Walking around the round pen with him was interesting because he kept wanting to lay down and roll, so I had to keep him walking, which he did not want to do. Also, we walked around the round pen for quite awhile because one of the horses did not want to go onto the path. When we finally went into the hot walker, this guy really relaxed and seemed to enjoy the change in routine, which is not normal for most of the thoroughbreds I have experience with. They usually like their routine. On Monday and Tuesday we are going to walk them in the hot walker for 15 minutes. We have to walk with them and then hopefully on Wednesday they are comfortable to walk on their own.

Round pen and hot walker under construction:

Some of the other things I have been doing:
I got to ride on a horse van for the first time. The best way to describe it is basically a Uhaul truck with two 'stalls' in the back. The horse is loaded and then backed up into one of the stalls that is fairly wide. I do not even think a very heavy pregnant mare could fill the spot. Well of course I get to ride in the back with the horse with the pelvis issue (this is before we knew what was wrong with him). We have nicknamed him Bird. Well, Bird has been in the stall or a small pen for three months. He is a yearling thoroughbred which I would equate to a teenage boy with way too much energy and way too high hormone levels. Though despite all this he is a pretty good horse, he is fairly calm and easy to handle. So Brent loads him in the van and then I go in there and hold on to him. I had a lead shank with a chain over his nose so hopefully I would have pretty good control. But before they close the door on me, Brent shows me a buzzer that I can hit that he will hear in the cab and then he can turn the intercom. I'm supposed to hit that if I have any problems. The vans ride very different then a horse trailer because you are so far off the ground. Poor Bird cannot stand up very well in the back anyways and a couple of times we had some sharp turns and I thought his legs were going to come out from underneath him. All I kept saying to myself was 'Don't need to hit the buzzer, don't need to hit the buzzer..." Well, I sang some Broadway songs to Bird, particularly Jekyll and Hyde and Les Miserables. And we played "Try to bite Shannon's hand without actually biting Shannon's hand" to distract him. It seemed to work, the only time he got upset was when we both just about fell over because of the turns. When he really got upset, I would whistle to him and he liked that. So that was an interesting experience. I also got to ride back from the vet with him a few days later, he was much better at keeping his balance that time.

Big Bird:

Probably the most exciting thing was I got to ride last week! On the track even! Granted it was just on a 12 year old quarter horse AKA 'pony'. Pony designates any horse that is not a racehorse or a breeding horse. Basically riding horses are 'ponies'. Rooster is about 16 hands and 1400 lbs. (Yeah, a little overweight) He is a very easy ride in the sense that he won't spook and he's fairly push button. So I got to put on racing tack for the first time. First a chamois goes on the horse to keep the piece of leather they consider a saddle from slipping to one side of the others. Then the saddle 'blanket' (it's really a cloth) goes on with the farm logos to the back. Then the foam saddle pad goes on. The front half of the chamois and the cloth fold over the saddle pad and then the saddle, (ok, it is a little bit more than just a strip of leather because it's an exercise saddle not a racing saddle), goes on the horse. They ride all their horses in just an eggbutt snaffle and with a martingale to keep them from throwing their head up. They always give a leg up to get up on a horse. It took me until the end of the week to get that down. Then Brent taught me their favorite little rhyme "Ride long, live long". This is referring to the stirrups. Well he set the stirrups for me and then I got on. Well, the stirrups would be good for jumping, not flat riding. So I lengthened them two holes...he looked at me like I was crazy! Then I remembered he has dealt with jockeys so their 'long' stirrups are about a 45 degree angle bend in their knees. So I was VERY long to him. I guess the way they ride their yearlings is the reins are crossed and you hold onto them with this 'bridge' in them and then you stick your finger in the neck strap of the martingale so that it is harder for the babies to pull the reins out of your hands. So I rode around the training barn for awhile before Clifford, the farm manager showed up. He mounted his horse and then we rode down to the track. The first two days I jogged with him for about half of the track (it is 5/8 of a mile in length) and then he stopped and I continued to jog the rest of the way. Then I would stop and watch him gallop (more like canter but that is the terminology) his horse. The next day I stopped with him and then turned and galloped about ten lengths behind him once around the track. Well, trotting on Rooster is very hard. He is so lazy that trying to keep up with the racehorse is next to impossible! Also, he has a shorter stride so posting the trot took a lot of energy. However, galloping Rooster was only a problem because sometimes he wanted to take it faster than 'easy'. He is a good horse though. It was so cool galloping on a track...practically a dream come true, minus the quarter horse and the slower pace. Well the third morning it was raining so the track was way too wet. So we went on the grass gallop. That was too firm to gallop, so we trotted about a mile and 1/4. The next day the gallop was soft enough that we jogged most of it and then we galloped a mile 1/4. This time we took it even easier, but Rooster really wanted to go, especially since there is a downhill dip in the gallop and he tried to pick up some speed there. Fortunately, I shortened my stirrups a little because I'm barely in good enough riding shape to stand in my stirrups for that long. Actually, I do not believe I ever have stood galloping for that long. Whew!

So that is pretty much most of my happenings right now. I will probably post more to try and keep ahead this time!

I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying life as much as I am!

Boys will be Boys

2008-08-02T19:00:00.002-06:00

Time flies when you are having fun, that's what they say right? Well it is true! Right now things are "slow" on the farm. Or so they told me... I guess I've been working on the farm for three weeks now. I've been in the Yearling 2 barn the whole time. This barn has the colts. Yearling 1 has the fillies. Tryn, my roommate, has been back and forth between Yearling 1 and Yearling 2, but has mostly been in Yearling 2 with me. Our 'barn foreman' is an Irishman named Paul. He has shown us how to do things the "Pin Oak Way". That is the farm I am on. It is an awesome farm. They breed to race so they have only about 40 mares and they keep all/most of their yearlings to break and then send to South Carolina for further training and then send them off to different trainers based on how the horses are doing and where they think they will succeed. The farm manager is also from Ireland, though he has not lived there in 25 years or so.

The first day Tryn and I rode around with our farm manager and looked at most of the horses on the farm. We also helped bring in some horses. He told us that they look at all the horses every day. In the afternoon I went to Yearling 2 and finished the day there.

For most of the first week it was just Paul and I in Yearling 2. I basically followed him around and he showed me what to do. Then Tryn joined us and we divided the horses up so we each have our own set to take care of. Paul and Tryn have 5 horses and I have 4 horses. A typical day on the farm (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) starts at 7am. We put feed and water with electrolytes added in the stalls. Then we go out and get the horses. The horses are divided into different paddocks. At first we started with paddocks of 2, 2, 1, 4 and 4. We have one horse on stall rest but he gets to go out into a small pen in a pasture for the night. They thought he had a broken pelvis, but discovered he has a severely strained sacral ligament. (Attaches from the back bone to the pelvis). He walks funny on one of his back legs. Due to injuries and other problems, the paddocks switch around some.

We bring the horses in with these rubber bit things with lead ropes because they are very bitey and it helps to give us some more control as well as hopefully give them something to gnaw on other than us. Some of the boys are just nibbely while others want to make breakfast of my arm. So I always have to be on my toes.

We have one yearling about 16 hands (64 in. tall at the withers) that just likes to walk over people. Literally. When bringing in we have to do a bit of juggling around because we are supposed to start with the closest horses first so we aren't walking horses by other horses in paddocks and we cannot leave one horse in a paddock by himself.

After we bring in we take temperatures and pick out their feet. Then we bathe all the horses. The four I take care of have some little bumps/scabs on their legs so I have to wash them with special shampoo on their legs. We take turns washing, so while one person is washing the rest of us are doing something else. I have some medicine I have to give three of my horses for their leg condition. One of the horses gets 'ice boots'. These are boots that we put ice in them and then wrap around their legs. He gets these to keep his growth plates from getting inflamed. Another one of my horses gets the Equissage. This machine goes on their back like a saddle and massages their back. This is because he has a bit of a sore back. We only have one Equissage and two ice boots. So we juggle these around too because we have several horses that need these for one reason or another. Sometime during all this one of the managers (there are three, the farm manager, assistant manager and broodmare manager) stops by and we pull all the horses out of their stalls one by one and he feels them all over and tells directions such as bandages, meds, etc. Then we walk them down the shedrow and back so he can watch them walk. We also pick out the stalls as we go in and out of them. Then we groom the horses that are dry and braid (or plat as Paul says) the manes that do not lay on the right side of the horses' necks.

Sometime during the day one person drives around and checks paddock. This includes making sure the automatic waters are clean and are working properly. Also, we fill hay racks with hay. We have to 'fluff' or pull apart the hay in the hay racks to make sure it fills them and so it looks nice. Once the thoroughbred paddocks are done, I have to go and check the retired mares, teaser and ponies (AKA riding horses) paddocks and hay and water them. We have a golf cart to do this in and good thing because the retired mares and teasers are far away.

We blow the barn and water the horses before we go to lunch at 12. When we get back we have to feed grain again. Then we medicate. We put on more ice boots and Equissage if necessary. (Both have to stay on for about 20 minutes, so when 4 or 5 horses are on them it takes awhile to get done). Then we finish grooming if necessary. At this time I put on poultice. This is to help cool the joints on the one horse of mine. It is a fairly sticky substance and then I have to put brown paper on it to let it dry and hopefully not get straw in it. Also, I have to put mineral oil on the legs that have the bumps and any other medication on little nicks and injuries. Sometime during the afternoon we have to move the pen for our stall rest horse. It is heavy and we basically drag it to a new spot. Then we take the horses out. We start with the farthest horses first and then work our way closer to the barn when turning out. We take them out together so again no horses are by themselves unless they are supposed to be. The barn is blown again, all the rooms are swept and cleaned, the water buckets dumped, the feed tubs washed, hay shaken out in the stalls and stalls picked. Then we are finished at 4. On Saturdays and Sundays they finish at 3 so we quickly groom and we usually do not have to do any extra things like clean halters and whatnot.

Tuesdays and Fridays the stalls are mucked out. We clean out the stalls except for the clean straw and then re-bed them then bring in and do the typical. These days are usually hectic so we just give the horses a rinse and quick groom. Sometimes we get more done than other days.

More on next post...do not want to overload your eyes!

Dirt, Turf, and Thoroughbreds

2008-07-18T16:58:00.007-06:00

I'm finally in Kentucky! Ok, well I've actually been here over a week, but in order to have the Internet, I had to sit outside the farm office. Fortunately I now have readily available Internet. Last week was "Orientation" week for the internship. Basically, we toured the area and saw certain sites. Most of the places I have already been, but some are new. Also, every morning before we left, we would watch the morning workouts here on the farm since the track is right next to where we live. That is a great sight to wake up to in the mornings. Here is a basic run down of where we went:

MONDAY

Fasig-Tipton: One of the large sales companies in Lexington. This was their July Yearling Sale that is made to 'preview' the upcoming offspring of new sires. It was kind of interesting because two foals that I dealt with on Cobra Farms were at the sales (they were with their moms that got shipped up from Florida to be bred). Also, one of the foals I foaled out was supposed to be in the sale, but was scratched, so he wasn't there. That was pretty neat seeing them there.

Keeneland: There is an all horse library there. They have a ton of interesting books. One of the oldest books is written in Latin and is from the 1600's or something like that. Also, they have several horse shoes from great racehorses, like War Admiral. Then we toured the racetrack and grandstands. Keeneland's track is a polytrack which is a synthetic surface supposed to be better on the horses' joints and all weather. Keeneland is a pretty prestigious track and they only race twice a year, in April and October. Also, Keeneland is probably the largest sales company in the U.S. Their biggest sale is in September. It's an all yearling sale and the first few days most the bids start at $1,000,000. I might get to work a couple days at the sale, but on my farm our job is working on breaking and training of the yearlings.

Keeneland Backside, Kenny McPeek Racing Stables: One of the former interns that was actually with me on the internship Spring 2007, works as a barn foreman for a trainer at the track. She talked to us about her job and about what goes on in a training barn. Also, I got to help her feed. I think I might spend a day with her just to see what goes on there at the barn.

TUESDAY

Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Center (KESMARC): This is an awesome place. There is a pool for swimming the horses, an aqua tread (treadmill under water), a hyperbaric chamber (high oxygen and high pressure chamber to help accelerate healing and helps with certain bacteria that are anaerobic), a free walking hot walker, UV lights and an indoor jogging track. The owner gave us the tour and he also showed us their new dog rehabilitation center: Bluegrass Animal Rehabilitation and Hyperbaric Center (BARHC). There have been some pretty famous horses through there. Racehorses and Olympic horses. There was actually a show jumping horse from Brazil there when we went.

Three Chimneys Farm: One of the most well known farms around because Seattle Slew stood at stud there for his life after winning the Triple Crown. We saw some of there stallions while we were there. This years Kentucky Derby winner is going to retire to stud at Three Chimneys. They are unique as a stud farm around here because they ride most of their studs, unless they have a career ending injury or are too mean to ride. I might go there one day because they sell quite a few yearlings at the Keeneland September sale, I believe over 100. Also, one of my favorites is here...Dynaformer...he's mean...

....really, he is mean.

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital: One of the top equine hospitals in the world. They have several surgeons, ambulatory and specialized veterinarians. They have their own MRI, treadmill for scoping and bone scan. They even have veterinarians specialized in hoof care/horseshoeing.

WEDNESDAY

Juddmonte Farms: This is one of the farms that has a couple of interns. One of the interns on this farm is from France. We saw two of the stallions that stand at this farm. This farm is strictly a breed to race farm. They keep most of the horses they breed. They do breed to a few outside stallions, but mostly they breed to their own. They have three stallions, but one was on his way to South America somewhere. Also, they have a farm in England and a farm in Ireland. We also went to their training barn and had the yearling manager talk to us about how thoroughbreds are broken. They do their breaking the 'traditional' racehorse way. They will start by putting a surcingle on the horse and walk him around the stall in a figure 8 for a couple of days. Then they walk him around the training barn which has a path around the outside of the stall. Then they will put a bit in the horses mouth and walk him around with the surcingle and the bit in the stall and on the path for a couple days. Then they will put the saddle on and repeat. Then they put weight in the saddle. (AKA a person crazy enough to hop on...heh) They walk the horse with the person on them around the stall and around the barn. The horse and rider are not allowed out of the stall independently until the horse will easily guide around the stall in the figure 8 pattern. Then they move to a large round pen or an arena and get the horse to respond to being guided and able to trot and lope. He explained all of this to us and then we watched them exercise a few horses that were lay-ups on their own private polytrack track. it is a fairly small track there, only about five horses wide and maybe a half mile long.

Lane's End: Here we saw some pretty impressive stallions. A former KEMI intern works here and showed us the stallions. One of the stallions we got to see was A.P. Indy. He is a son of Seattle Slew and out of a Secretariat mare. His breeding fee is $300,000. This is the farm the queen stayed at when she came for the Kentucky Derby.

Lane's End/Oak Tree Division: This is a farm managed by Lane's End. Here they house broodmares and yearlings. The yearling manager showed us several yearlings. He showed us some that will sell on the first few days of the sale (A million dollars or more) and then yearlings at the end of the sale (some are lucky if they go for $5,000). He told us how to look at conformations and how to show the yearlings. He also talked a bit about how to fit them for sales.

THURSDAY

Keeneland: We watched morning workouts, pretty exciting stuff to watch.

Adena Springs Farm: This is a brand new farm location for this farm. They have only been there 6 months. Not only that, but it is not completed still! They have an 'employee village' that houses about 34 employees, has a pool, volleyball and basketball court. The farm is really nice. It only has broodmares and stallions. The weanlings are sent to the farm's location in Florida. Every stall is large enough for foaling. It is a really nice farm and they do not give tours so it was pretty cool that we got to go.

Hagyard Equine Medical Center: This is the other top veterinarian in the world. This is the vet clinic we used last time I was here and I guess it is our vet clinic at this farm too. They also have an MRI, treadmill and bone scan. They just recently installed their own hyperbaric chamber. They also have lots of veterinarians employed. Even an acupuncturist.

Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Facility: Here we saw many retired racehorses that have pretty impressive histories. Some have won lots, and some none at all, it just depends on who have donated horses. The main one that I recognized was a horse that was supposed to run in the Kentucky Derby in 2002 but had to be scratched due to a condition called "tying-up". It was neat to see all the racehorses. We even got to see one of the horses that played Seabiscuit in the movie. They said he wasn't a very good racehorse in real life, but he just had to act like one.

FRIDAY

Churchill Downs Racetrack: We toured the facilities and watched morning workouts. Then we went to the museum and walked around looking at all the neat exhibits.

River Downs Racetrack: Our internship sponsored a race so we got a picture in the winners circle and watched a couple of races.

Whew! That was long, tomorrow I will probably post on how work is going. But for now I'll give you guys a break from reading all of that!

I Can't Come to the Phone Right Now...I'm busy putting an embryo in a cow!

2008-07-01T21:09:00.003-06:00

So, Monday was not such a manic one. Actually, it was a turning point from last week. Monday of last week in my Advanced Reproduction class, we artificially inseminated (AI) some heifers. This should not have a been a problem for me especially since I successfully had several pregnancies from my AI class two years ago. However, I was having major problems with it that day. Then, on Friday we practiced passing embryo transfer (ET) 'guns' into the uterus of a cow so we could put embryos in cows. I was unsuccessful at that as well. And I even practiced with the AI class hoping that would help. It did not help that much. Well, yesterday changed all that. We palpated ovaries and then I got to transfer a frozen embryo into a heifer. It went pretty fast and I was successful! So guess what... I'm ba-ack!
So the title of this post is because last week when I was splitting embryos, someone called me and my phone vibrated, that made me jump. And then Randy called me when I was transferring the embryo, that made it a little difficult to keep the 'gun' still.
Well, I've only got one week left and a ton left to do. Keep in touch!

Happenings

2008-06-26T23:34:00.003-06:00

This week has been insane! I keep thinking I will have time to do actual school work, but all the fun school work/work/volunteer stuff keeps getting in the way. On Wednesday I got to try my hand at splitting cow embryos. That was way cool! There is this little joystick thing that controls the razor blade. You have to do it under a microscope so you can see the embryo really well. We were working with old embryos...apparently they don't want us students messing up the $1,000+ embryos. I think my hand would be shaking then. Also, we preg checked our seven mares and found out 5 of them are pregnant. So that's pretty good for our little podunk operation. I had a good day today though, I got to jump a little on the horse I'm working with for a class. He is a dream to jump. He knows his job perfectly. Plus I'm seeing more and more of his personality come out. Now on to the homework rush and teaching myself the last two weeks of stats! Yay!

Ta-da!

2008-06-24T22:01:00.000-06:00

So I've started a blog because when I go to the Bluegrass State I do not want to have to worry about sending everyone updates. So this way you can check it whenever and I do not fill up your Inbox. Yay! So it's 14 days before I leave and I've still got a lot to do before I can leave. I think it's ironic because I had to do my finals from LCCC (Laramie County Community College) up here at BYU-Idaho when I first moved up here, and now I am going to be e-mailing some back when I go to Kentucky.