Relaxing Week

I'm looking forward to a more relaxing week ahead. I may actually have some free time. Who knew? Free time is that very elusive thing that most college students don't actually have. But, this was my last week at the vet hospital so this frees up six more hours a week. And this is the first Sunday that I don't have anything planned. Whoo!

Luckily, today was a very good day at the vet hospital. I'm a little bit sad to be leaving (for now) but at least it was a very interesting and educational four weeks! Today there was two cases that I got to watch. One was a cria (baby alpaca) with an infected eye and blocked tear duct. Cutest thing ever!! Then they handed the baby and the mom to me and left the room... I have absolutely no experience with alpacas. Do they spit? Or is that just llamas? Do they strike with their front feet and kick backwards with their hind feet? Will the mom get mad when I get inbetween her and the baby? What do I do?!?!?! It was all good, but being with the mom and a barely halter-broke baby was interesting. But I still would have taken the fluffy baby home with me if I could :)

Not the alpaca I was with, but you get the idea.
Look at the fluffyness! And those fuzzy ears :)

The second case was a foal with contracted tendons in the front legs and an umbilical hernia. Interesting. They ended up cutting the check ligament in the front legs which will allow the DDFT to stretch downwards. Supposedly, not having the check ligament will not impede her performance in the future. (If I understand the procedure completely, no guarantees). It was really neat to hear the doctors describe the tendons and ligaments and how to differentiate them. The DDFT is "shiny & bright" compared to the others, while the fibers in the check ligament run horizontally while the others' fibers run vertically. Very cool. I don't know about you, but I'm now off to research more on alpacas and contracted tendons ;)

And guess who arrived tonight? Colton is here!!! I'm so excited, I've got a new pony :) I skipped all the way down to the barn to see him tonight. I promise I'll take some pictures tomorrow. Be prepared for an enormously overweight hunk of adorable pony flesh. He is a huge honkin horse. He needs to lose at least 200 pounds. And that's being conservative. I'm so amped though to have a new horse to train, I just love doing it. I have over a month off for winter break where he's going to learn some ground manners and how to lunge, maybe introduce the bit and weight on his back, then summertime I'll start him under saddle. Can't wait!