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07.22-24.2012
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WEG The Tale
Thirty-three of the top veterinary students from across the country are experiencing the opportunity of a lifetime as they work with and around the World Equestrian Games veterinary team. Follow along with their amazing stories of day-to-day life from the veterinary perspective.
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This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to work at the finish line of the Driving Marathon. After a day of Driving Dressage, these same horse teams were asked to harness up again and complete 8 km of walk, trot and canter. Following completion of this aspect of the marathon, the teams were challenged by a total of eight very complicated obstacles at fast speeds. When walking through the tightly designed, zig-zagging sequence of gates within the obstacles earlier in the day, I ran into a judge who informed me that many of these obstacles can be completed in 30 to 50 seconds! I was astonished to hear this as I had never been exposed to driving before. At the start of the competition, we were informed that the whole course should take approximately 30 minutes for a team to complete. This gave my colleagues and I stationed at the finish line some time to observe the first two teams complete obstacle one, which was nearby. I stood right at the start of the obstacle as the first team came galloping in. The speed at which these horses whipped in and out of these tightly packed walls of wood and trees was unbelievable. At one point, I think the horses faced the opposite direction of the cart, that’s how tight the turns were. Amazing! I couldn’t help but respect these horses as versatile athletes as I recollected watching them drive as a team in dressage, all prim and proper less than 24 hours earlier. That’s talent. About 30 minutes later, the first team rolled up to the finish line. Here, a team of veterinary students were responsible for taking the heart rate, temperature and respiratory rate, then rapidly cooling the team down with fans, hoses and buckets of ice water. At the completion of the course, most of the horses had heart rates from 120-130 bpm with respiratory rates within the same range. The temperatures of the horses ranged from 103.0-105.0 F with some over 106.0 F. There were an exceptional few that had heart rates below 90 bpm and near normal temperatures, a sign of ultimate conditioning. It was also brought to my attention to acknowledge the trend that with every team, the wheeler horses (the ones in the back) were consistently running significantly higher temperatures, heart rates and respiratory rates than those horses leading, indicating the extra strength and work it takes to be the wheeler horse. Overall this day of work was an outstanding learning experience that I will never forget. I saw first hand how the horses respond to this level of competition and was impressed with how quickly the horses recover to baseline vitals. These are true athletes that deserve the utmost respect and I am so happy to have the opportunity to have worked with them and learn about a new discipline.
The 2010 World Equestrian Games have a number of firsts associated with the competition. It is the first time the Games have a title sponsor, the first time Paradressage is held as an official FEI competition, the first time all the disciplines are held in one venue…It is also the first time that the official team veterinarians must administer any injection under the supervision of FEI stewards. Under this new regulation, the team veterinarian must submit a form detailing the medication, amount, and route for the approval of the FEI veterinary commission. From 6-9 p.m. on Monday evening, I assisted the FEI stewards in the treatment stalls for the Show Jumping horses. I worked with stewards, Ray, Stella and George from New Zealand to ensure that drugs and horses matched. Furthermore, I was responsible for ensuring that the medication was drawn from a sealed bottle and administered via the proper route and to the correct horse. The veterinarian, handler and medication route and amount needed to be documented during the entire procedure. In between horses, I exchanged stories with the stewards. I learned about the duties of show stewards and the interesting medications requests, (such as 1.5 L vodka via stomach tube!) seen by these veteran stewards. It was an interesting shift that went by quickly, another experience to add to the thrill of my past three weeks at the World Equestrian Games. My favorite aspect of the Games has been the opportunity to interact with top veterinarians and competitors from all around the world. The insight into the function of an international competition has also been once-in-a-lifetime. From the challenges of stamping and organizing 100+ endurance horse passports to taking temperatures in the Eventing Finish Box, I have enjoyed every moment of this externship and I am extremely grateful to all the people who made this opportunity available!
My day started with observing the jog for the vaulting horses. It was intriguing to see the variety of shapes and sizes of horses participating in the competition. The horses are jogged to be evaluated for lameness prior to competing. This was a great experience to work on my lameness evaluation skills. Any horse that received a hold was sent back to be evaluated by a veterinarian prior to their second attempt at a jog. I videotaped any horse held for further examination during its second jog so the examination could be evaluated at a later time if necessary or used in training stewards. I also had an opportunity to go to the main stadium to watch a few of the show jumpers perform. Prior to vet school I was just starting to get into jumping and the opportunity to see it at this level was breathtaking. Our scheduled jobs vary from day to day giving us the chance to see a wide variety of roles of veterinarians in international competitions. One day we will be working in the clinic assisting with treatments and diagnostics and the next we will be on course with a veterinarian to assist in the event an accident occurs. Every new day entails different challenges and achievements. Being able to have a variety of different jobs has exposed us to wide variety of experiences and introduced us to many people that share our passion for the health of the horse. This truly has been a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and work with veterinarians from a variety of different countries. Not only have I made connections with veterinarians from foreign countries but I have also been fortunate enough to meet and work with a variety of wonderful veterinarians that call the USA home.
Cross-country day arrived, which meant the WEG Veterinary Clinic was anticipating a large influx of horses, riders were anxiously waiting to see how the course rode, and the crowds were multiplying by the minute. As we made the walk into the clinic that morning three hours before the first ride, I was stunned to see the volume of people already starting to line up at the obstacles anticipated to be challenging. We started the day with a quick meeting with Drs. Wilson and Turner defining our assigned tasks for the day. Each student was assigned to a morning and afternoon assignment which ranged from working with on-course veterinarians at a particular obstacle, working in the start/finish box, being in the equine ambulance or in the horse transporter. My morning assignment was working in the finish box and monitoring the regression of the horses’ heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature back to a normal state. Two students were paired with either Dr. Matthesen for the initial TPR, or Dr. Nyrop or Dr. Miller for the TPRs taken in 10-minute intervals. The horses came in hot and emitting adrenaline. During the 10 minutes between each of our TPRs, each country had their own crew working in synchrony to cool the horses off as quickly as possible. Most teams used the traditional convection methods of removing heat using ice water and squeegees with 3 to 4 people applying the water then quickly removing it. Throughout this time the horses were also being walked, evaluated for any abrasions or loose or missing shoes. For the morning shift, most of the horses came in around 104-105 Fahrenheit with heart rates ranging from 60-110 beats per minute. The majority of horses were released after two checks or 30 minutes after their initial TPR. Within the defined area of the finish box, a large tent equipped with two large flat screen TVs allowed the trainers, riders, and crew members to monitor the riders on course and see which fences created the most difficulty. At noon, we all changed assignments. I was assigned to work with Roger Lauze, the Massachusetts SPCA Equine Rescue and Training Coordinator, in one of the four horse ambulances on course. During the first two hours we sat parked between fences 12 and 18 with the ambulance attentively listening to the radio transmissions for any signs of needed deployment. Unfortunately that dreaded transmission came across the radio and we jumped into the truck and headed to fence 20. We arrived to a horse with a severe deep laceration over his left elbow leaving him unable to fully support himself on that limb. We immediately gathered up our splinting material while veterinarians from Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital quickly assessed the wound. I was most amazed at the coordination and efficiency of the emergency crews as they worked to stabilize the horse. We had a catheter in, fluids running and the limb stabilized within minutes of the incident. Now stabilized, the horse was transported to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital for further evaluation of the injury. When we pulled out of the park, we were surprised to find two police officers waiting to escort us to the hospital. Roger had a camera set up inside the trailer allowing us to listen and watch the horse throughout the short drive to the hospital. Once we arrived at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, there was a very large crew of veterinarians, staff members and students all waiting for us. Once again, I was impressed by the professionalism and efficiency displayed by everyone involved. People jumped in when needed, and stood back when there were obviously too many bodies around. Fortunately radiographs showed no major fracture, and the laceration was sutured. A touching sideline emerged: an Australian team member near the accident quickly jumped in to help the horse before emergency crews arrived and wrapped her own personal vest around the wound to apply pressure. We ended up wrapping her vest up with the splint and later found out that her keys were in the pocket of that vest. Oops. Her vest and keys were later returned with the first group returning to the horse park. The whole experience of cross-country day from start to finish was exhilarating. As a student of University of California Davis, we have a club on campus called the Veterinary Emergency Response Team (VERT) where students gain invaluable training for scenarios just like I encountered today. Knowing now that the horse is recovering, I have to say it was exciting being able to put in some of the training I’ve received at Davis to work in Kentucky. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to Dr. Kent Allen, Dr. Julie Wilson and Dr. Tracy Turner for allowing the students to encounter these opportunities. I will be forever grateful!
Where do I begin to describe how amazing this experience is? I am usually not starstruck by celebrities but between the horses, the riders, and the veterinarians that are here, I am completely starstruck!Each day we are assigned to different areas of the competition, whether it is working with the clinic veterinarians, team veterinarians, physical therapists, farriers, or just having the opportunity to watch the competitions, and the knowledge I am acquiring is ten-fold. One area that I found very interesting was working with the farriers.A lot of the competition teams have their own farriers, but there is a group of WEG farriers that are available for those teams that do not have farriers or if work is needed ring-side.The benefit of being ring-side was that I was able to watch the horses warm-up and compete but the learning experience came as the horses came into or left the ring.The horses had to walk past us, and as they did, we were able to get a good view of how the horse landedon its feet and also what type of shoes it was wearing. It was excellent to listen to the farriers discuss the different types of shoes and technique styles that were used on each horse.We also discussed how a horse’s discipline, i.e. dressage, jumping, reining, can change the way the hoof wall forms due to additional pressures consistently applied to certain areas of the foot, something that I had not thought of.I also had the opportunity to visit the forge where they made shoes from rods of steel.Another student that was with me had the opportunity to pound out the steel rod into a flat shoe – she has the blisters to prove it! I definitely want to say thank you to the farriers out here that are taking the time to teach us about their profession.For anyone that wants a vet career with sport horses, I highly recommend spending a couple days with a farrier in your area and learn what they see when they look at a horse’s conformation and feet. And to just rub it in a little bit about how amazing it is here, when I was with the farriers I was able to be less than 2 feet away from the iconic dressage horse, Moorlands Totilas!I’m definitely starstruck!
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American Association of Equine Practitioners |
