We had lab number two today. This time they split us in half and we practiced haltering a horse for a bit and then switched to compare/contrast three horses. We were given a list of questions and asked to pick "which horse" essentially. Example: Which horse has 2nd degree AV block? Horse 1, Horse 2, Horse 3? 2nd degree AV block is essentially a skipped heart beat. So you hear a steady rhythm, and then all the sudden you'll hear nothing for a little bit longer than the normal rhythm. Sounds bad, apparently it's normal in resting horses. The way you find out if it's actually related to a cardiac problem is to exercise the horse and then listen. It should be gone, it it's not it indicates a problem. Dogs and cats should not have 2nd degree AV block. The fun things ya learn in school.
The things we had to compare on the horses were heart rate, heart sounds, temperature, mucous membrane capillary refill time (Google if you want to know), weight, height, and gut sounds (borborygmi). It was a lot of fun! I took my first horse rectal temperature today! It was very useful to be able to compare 3 different animals to each other. How do we measure weight in horses? A measuring tape! Kid you not, we have a measuring tape-like strip that you wrap around the horse in a specific location and it basically tells you how much they weigh. It's really cool! http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Tape-to-Weigh-a-Horse
Anyhow, next week we're onto cows! Should be interesting. And even further out of my knowledge and comfort zone!
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