Day 6- Bitter Sweet

     For once in my life I can honeslty say that the rumors were right! Everyone said that my forth year of vet school would be the best and worst year of my life, it turns out they were on the money! Week one has been extremely bitter sweet! With lack of sleep and feet that are throbbing by noon I can honestly say I can't remeber the last time I was this exhausted. One the other hand the learning curve is unbelievable! I give so many shots a day and get so much hands on experience with not only handling the horses and cows but also using the different drugs. I am allready feeling comfortable with syncronizing the mares for artificial insemination and it has only been six days since I started this endeavor. This last week has felt like a month!
     Today we finished treatments by 11am and made a skeleton crew for the day so I got the afternoon off for a much needed nap. Tonight (1am) I have to go bottle feed our little filly that can't have her mom's colostrum (first milk). But the good news is after testing the mares milk today at noon her colostrum level was very low so after tonight's 1am feeding she can go back in with mom so she can begin to learn to nurse. She is not only a high risk baby due to the fact that she couldn't have her mom's colostrum (which contains all the antibodies she needs to fight off infections she will encounter when leaving the foaling barn), but after examination of the placenta we found several suspicious areas that may have been a fungal or bacteria infection that could have been passed onto the foal. So this little girl has alot going against her, and it is our job to monitor her very closely and make sure we catch anything that might come up very early!