TheRealitiesOfBeingAnIntern

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Weekends.

9-5 office job means you have a weekend. So what to do on a weekend. Last weekend I went to Torquay. I will try and not make this sound like a dusty travel guide. But I will have to go on a bit about this place. ( if you’ve been, just bare with). Weather: 20 degrees, sun. Location: seaside. Firstly I have to say, I love my parents. But as a family we were not very active. We never went on any sort of strenuous holidays, no seaside holidays, no walks, no fishing adventures. It was all about the culture. Quiz me on art and churches, I dare you. I arrived in this seaside resort, and quite honestly became a bit overwhelmed. It was just amazing. Yes, it was busy, restaurants were overflowing with evening settlers and the arcades were playing their usual looped tunes. But it was exciting. All weekend we played on the beach, went out. (I forgot half way through I was still in England). The company you are with is also critical for the puzzle pieces to fit together. I could not have had better and nicer company to conquer my, rather pathetic, prude approach to a ‘sea side holiday’. The brewers; thank you so much for this amazing time.

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Placement number 2

I work with Parelli. For the 50% of you who will read this you will all be scorning right about now, for the other 25% you may be open to it and the 25% of you probably have no interest in horses, and wont really know what it is or care. 

Obviously i love it, so I love my job. Packaging up orders for people and then working at the desk with memberships etc. Its a lot harder that expected phoning up people and having to ask them why their transaction hasn't gone through and then asking them for money. I feel morally morally, but i can tell i will be learning lot whilst i am here. 

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NEW PLACEMENT- NEW FIRST DAY EXCITMENTS

So, as some of you may have read, my 'first day experience' was not something to write home about. So this time i wanted my first day experience to be perfect !! Arrive on time, in clothes that were suitable, with brushed hair, and an average sandwhich. ( you win some, you loose some, here i lost the importance of making a good sandwhich)

Location: Coventry ( estimated travel time 1hr20mins, including traffic)

Start time: 8:30 ( later turned out I only had to be there at 9:00)

The night before, clothes were laid out, alarm clock was set, and I was ready to go. My body had been warned not to wake up late, so it naturally woke up at approx. 5:15. Not being able to go back to sleep, I got up, got dressed and off i went, at 5:30. PLAN HAS GONE WRONG. at 5:30 there is NO traffic, i did the journey in approx an hour. I arrived at 6:30. I was sweating days before, praying that i wouldn't arrive late, and then theres arriving to work 2 hours early. .. deciding I didn't want to be labelled a total looser on day one. I drove to a lay-by and had a 2 hour nap. 

In theory great idea, but my hair then became unkempt (again), i woke up with morning breath, not having packed essentials. I turned up at 8:30, and my boss turned around and said i only had to be there at 9:00, so i was just then in the way for half an hour. 

Who needs a great first day at work. 

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My finals days at the Horse therapist

As my finals days close to an end, and i put down my cobweb duster, i can happily look back on the 3 weeks that i have been here with delight. I have met some really nice people who have showed me what it is like working in this environment. I have had the privilege to see some great surgerys ( which sadly i couldnt get any photos off), i saw a Hobday, tie back operation, a donkey castration and a cancerous eye operation. 

The hardest part was actually parting with the horses when they go back to their owners, especially the ones who have been in the clinic for quite some time who you've grown an slight attachment too. 

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Orphan Foal

We had a few quite days, where not many patients came in. These few days i got to learn the ins and outs of preping for surgeries, putting through medication orders for customers. So, when I came in after the weekend, to hear that we had a new patient was very exciting especially when i found out it was an 8 hour old foal !!!

He was an orphan foal whose mother died during birth. We had him in the clinic to check he had sufficient colostrum levels (IGG levels). Colostrum is produced by the mare and is the first milk, she produces just before she foals The colostrum is filled with immunoglobulins which will give the foal protection from invading bacteria, this will keep the foal healthy until its own immune system is adequate, which is at about 8 to 10 weeks. 

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Bertie, the Vets 3 month on golden Retriever. The perks of working in an animal based placement, you are bound to see many animal babies. 

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The Interferential Therapy, control panel. 

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Interferential Therapy

This horse came in today with severe back pains. She was experiencing severe muscle discomfort. In the morning she received a massage and in the afternoon we put this contraption on her. She had Interferential Therapy.

Interferential therapy is used to relive discomfort in tissues experiencing pain. The current applied is used to invoke the body's own defence mechanisms. You can increase or decrease the current manually by a little handheld box which is connected to the pads on the horses back. 

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Accidents Happen

This was one of the first cases i saw in the surgery. A beautiful 17hh hunter, who was out hunting and galloped into an an coming car. The car came around the corner to fast and the horse had no chance to move out the way. I am not here to write you any annoying reminders, but seeing the results of what can happen is a harsh reminder of the naive un horsey people who still go out on the roads. 

He had been in the clinic 2 weeks prior my arrival, apparently he had, by the time i saw him, already significantly improved. He arrived, with deep lacerations all across his chest and a deep open wound on the lower half of his chest. Wounds like that are usually left open because they heal better from the inside out. 

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The treadmill. ( with an inbuilt incline and decline function)

Its all a bit self explanatory, so i wont explain much about this. The horses which come out of spinal surgery ( kissing spine etc), once the swelling on their back has significantly gone down they can start using the treadmill. This particular treadmill only allows the horse to walk and trot, but it can also incline whilst moving. ( that function is to help the horse slowly build its core body muscle)

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Horse and Hound day.

This particular morning i woke up, looked around my room and saw that i had put absolutely everything in the wash. My options were minimised, but feeling quite relaxed, i found the one remaining jumper. It's a dark purple-ey shade with probably one too many wolves on it. In general, my work attire is very laid back, so i thought i wouldn't come across any major issues, with my (yet again) foolishly bold decisions. 

But as always, my clouded vision of the general norm, had come around to bite me. Today was the day I arrived at work to be told that Horse and Hound were coming around to have a look at the yard. I am a huge fan of Horse and Hound, I wanted to impress. So, whilst i stood in the office, watching the others frantically clean their desks and themselves, i just had to look down at myself and think: Fuck. 

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Supermarkets

Which ever supermarkets are around your placement, you definitely will learn to love them (or 'it' in my case). 10 minutes drive from my work is a Spaar, (not only is it german, but cheap, two very great combinations). You learn to love the small things in life; the bakery section where everything has a 'made on site' sticker on it. I arrived early one morning and witnessed the delivery lorry roll in the 'made on sight' bakery section; what liars. the fruit and veg section where your bananas are either black or green, NEVER YELLOW.. didn't really want a banana anyway... and the plastic spoons in a cup ( you can take a spoon with each muller corner). I had to decline a muller corner yesterday, as i went to grab a spoon and realised that not one but all 20 spoons in this cup were broken. 

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The excitement of not having a horse in but a donkey !!!!. This guy was due for a castration. Definitely one of the most bizarre operations to sit in and watch. 

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For my first week, i had my trusty companion with me, always alert and ready to go, and of course making my days a bit more exciting. 

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Aclimitisation

I was asked earlier on in the week as to what im expecting, and to be totally honest i really have no idea what i should or would be seeing, my knowledge of the veterinary and physiotherapy side is pretty minimal so anything i see is a bonus.

I have been riding for about 11 years now ( and i am 21), but it has been very casual, New forest ponies do not need that much looking after. They live in a field all year round, in the winter they have rugs, and they live on hay and grass. Mucking out a stable was a novelty to me until last year, and different types of equine hard feeds are still quite alien to me. 

This week 6 horses were in and needed mucking out. When i arrive, the other two girls who work with me start earlier than i do so most of the mucking out is already done. I think they may have sussed out my expertise in the field of mucking out and sweeping, sooo after day 2 they have given me the mammoth and important task of..... mucking out their 8hh miniature shetland, who lives in a 3by3 metre, low roofed, garden shed.

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Day 1

My chosen area: Equine Physiotherapy.

Placement: Peasebrook Eqine Rehabilitation Centre.

The night before the first day. 

I think everyone goes through the same pre work worries; what should one wear, what time should you be arriving, and what your colleges  people would be like. I can assure you i was worrying about none of those things, the only thing i really cared about was if and how much i should be bringing in for my lunch. Worrying about the sad possibilities of not having time to eat lunch, maybe eating my lunch on my own or potentially just in my car.

My first day.

Inevitably, my greed took over the more sensible and realistic 'first day' worries. i turned up half an hour late, in clothes which were probably more fit for playing the role of the mother in About A boy, hair untied and unbrushed. But of course, i glazed over all of that, to me none of that really mattered, because whilst being late and being told off i was of course clutching my pre made, beautifully made sandwhich.