Vet Times

Tag: horse

  • The camelid conundrum

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    Despite expecting a purely equine placement, I’ve had a bit of a crash course in camelids over the past two weeks. As alpacas and llamas continue to increase in popularity throughout the UK, more and more first opinion vets are having to apply their knowledge from other species to these slightly odd creatures. Having had…

  • The unfortunate adventures of Lucky the horse

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    Although the UK’s fire and rescue services are not obligated to rescue a cat stuck up a tree or a horse stuck in an overturned trailer, the skills and resources of their firefighting teams lead to the assumption that they are the best people for the job – but while they are excellent at what…

  • MOOC popularity

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    Following a previous blog in which I mentioned MOOCs (massive open online courses), I took the plunge and signed up for a University of Edinburgh course on Animal Behaviour and Welfare – along with more than 23,000 other people from around the world! As MOOCs go Animal Behaviour and Welfare is quite short at only five…

  • IVSA SpringBreak in Naples

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    A friend who had attended an International Veterinary Students’ Association trip told me I should definitely attend any of its future events if I had the opportunity. Hence, when an email arrived about the IVSA SpringBreak in Naples, I applied immediately. In all honesty, by the time I received an email confirming I had a…

  • CPD in the sun?

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    I’m revisiting the eternal question of how to achieve 45 hours of CPD over the course of three years. One of my previous blog posts named vet specialist sites offering free and low-cost CPD and is worth a look, but more recently I have been exploring the world of MOOCs (massive open online courses). Simply…

  • Glasgow Vet School Rodeo

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    The Glasgow Vet School Rodeo is an annual charity event organised by vet students. It is traditional for second year students to make the event happen, and so this year, I was involved in its organisation. My responsibilities included taking minutes at weekly meetings, correspondence with print media for advertising, compiling the programme and poster/flyer…

  • The German attitude to learning

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    The vet handed me the needle and vacuum tubes and, at the slightly bewildered look on my face, asked if I’d ever taken blood from a horse before. Upon my answer of “no”, he shrugged and said: “I’ll show you the first one, instruct you for the second, then you can do it by yourself.”…

  • Role play… at vet school?

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    A role play class with professional actors brought in to help out would be commonplace on a course such as drama, and may sound a little odd for veterinary medicine. But is it really? Communication is a vital part of being a vet and can often be the “make or break” factor for client satisfaction.…

  • Food (with added equine) for thought

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    For a nation of horse lovers, the discovery of equine DNA in food products earlier this year was horrifying. It caused nationwide outrage, with many people sickened that they may have unknowingly consumed meat from the same species as their beloved pets and, in many cases, best friends. But are we just being a bit…

  • Social mobility and the vet profession

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    I can’t help thinking that efforts to improve “social mobility” and help people from all backgrounds to get into “the professions” are looking at people from disadvantaged backgrounds only, and not looking at the whole picture. This means they miss out on a group who really would enrich and diversify our profession: the mature student.…