Day 3: Elbow deep in a penile sheath

As Dr. Schmall predicted, the boys (and by boys I mean my dogs) couldn't get enough of me today when I got home. That would be due to the remnants from cleaning horse sheaths that ended up on my scrubs and undershirt (note to self: don't wear a long-sleeved shirt next time you clean horse sheaths). Luckily, it was the last stop of the day. We laughed about how gross it was, Dr. Schmall joked that I went to school for 3 1/2 years to be able to do the job, and told of a friend of his who charges $300 to clean horse sheaths (needless to say, he does about one per year and thinks that's one too many). It is, according to Dr. Schmall, the least favorite job of any equine practitioner. I didn't realize so much dirt and grime could be up there, and I definitely didn't realize I would need to stick half of my arm inside the sheath to fully clean it! Oh, and the smegma beans... they really look like beans when you pull them out of the diverticulum with your finger. I successfully cleaned two horses today!

I also sedated both of these horses - we used a combination of xylazine, butorphanol, and detomidine. By the end of the day, I was comfortable sedating horses. Earlier this morning I wasn't 100% confident that I could quickly administer IV sedation, and passed off the task to Leighanne (a "super senior") as Dr. Schmall was holding an ornery horse that doesn't like needles and instructed us "get over here, and do it fast". However, after sedated we were able to use the endoscope up the nose to get a visual of the guttural pouch, insert a tube into it, and administer meds (I actually injected the meds!). Dr. Schmall has been treating this horse for a few days for the guttural pouch infection, but there is still exudate and he will continue treatments daily until she's feeling better.

To backtrack a bit, our first stop of the morning was pretty uneventful. We just dropped off some meds for a horse with inflammatory airway disease and talked with the owners for a bit. From there, we went to a farm where a horse was experiencing lameness in the right forelimb. The radiographs showed that the shoe was bent in a manner that was likely caused by catching the heel of the shoe and forcing the center of it into the hoof. Not by coincidence the farrier was at the farm during our visit. He removed the shoe, flattened it, and replaced it on the horse's hoof. The guttural pouch was the next stop, and it was a fairly quick visit. From there, we headed to our most involved appointment of the day - the farm where I was lucky enough to clean the male horses.

We also vaccinated 15-20 horses, and drew blood for Coggins tests on most of them. I can say with confidence that I feel comfortable drawing blood from horses after today! It's very rewarding to begin to have confidence in my abilities. While it was a stressful day riding with Dr. Schmall (he even got out of the truck once and before we could get out of the truck, he had vanished into one of the surrounding barns), I learned a lot. The conversations in the truck on the way to and from farms are definitely beneficial in building my knowledge bank. I also learned today that Dr. Schmall is from Iowa, he grew up working with pigs, did research with pigs, and really likes pigs - score! Here's hoping next time around won't be quite as awkward.

On call again tonight, but still haven't been called in for an emergency...