About extra-mural studies (EMS)

Hi, I'm Grace. I'm a training officer. We've got Tara and Zoe here with us today, who are on their EMS placement, and I think they're just as keen as we are to broaden our knowledge and get to know each other.

Hi girls, welcome back. So today we are going to have a bit of a different day. We've got a farrier day today. So every Tuesday, we have external farriers that come in and they trim the horses' feet or shoe them. With them being older, we sometimes get quite a lot of remedial shoeing, so hopefully you'll get to see some of that as well.

Hand-in-hand with the farrier day is also weighing. So we will take you up to our weigh bridge, which is at the top of the yard, show you how we put them on the bridge.

We've got a weigh tape and also body condition scoring, so you'll get a bit more of a hand-in on that, a bit more practical skill. And then we've got also a general husbandry thing, so we've got some mucking out to do, some poo picking and checking the horses, picking out feet, that sort of thing. Happy with that? Sound good?

All good. Looking forward to it.

Brilliant.

Yeah, so I'd continue going around the bed, levelling off the banks. So, like we were saying, making sure that there's plenty in there and that when you push on them, they don't go to nothing. 

We'll just go across the base of the bed and see if there's any areas that might need topping up. So I think, yeah definitely, I think that needs a bit of topping up. 

So that's a really good method that you use there with dropping the fork. We often say that that's a good, good test.

So if you can see here, so that really should probably follow straight down like that.

What like? Oh okay.

So he has actually got quite a cresty neck.

I was a little bit nervous because I don't have that much experience with horses, apart from the stuff that we've sort of done at uni’. Really getting close up and feeling a lot more comfortable with them has just been amazing really, been really enjoying it.

I think it can be quite easy to come and expect it to be quite tough or expect people to sort of either not let you do as much as you're a vet student or expect you to do loads because you're a vet student, but it’s been really good. It's led, what I would say, by us and what we're comfortable with.

We've been very involved in the team and definitely felt like we're helping out and being allowed to do what we feel comfortable doing.

There was some nerves, but actually I've come, and I found this with most of my placements, that it's all been absolutely fine and everyone's been lovely, so yeah.

Yeah, no, definitely the same. Obviously some nerves before I came here, but it really helped at our vet school doing sort of practising the skills that I knew that we'd be using. I'd also say with that such a big part of it is being able to speak to people, being able to be in new situations and articulate and communicate well.

I had so much fun today. It was a bit different for me that we got to go and see the farrier. That was so exciting: we've managed to take off a shoe.

Using the weigh bridge. I've never seen a weigh bridge. It's quite an unusual thing to have. So to be able to do that and then use a measuring tape was really exciting for me.

Yeah, no, definitely, especially with little things like putting on the horse head collar, like Grace going over it like three or four times until I actually understood exactly how to do it safely. And absolutely with the farrier taking off the shoes, it took a long time to say the least being able to do that, but Dan the farrier was so patient and definitely felt very supported and not like we were being rushed to do anything.

This is sort of my first sort of insight to the horse world, and being able to be in such close proximity with them and be trusted with some responsibility with handling them and dealing with them has been so beneficial, and just I feel like I've come a long way even in the past few days of being here with how comfortable I feel out around them as well.

I'd say for anyone that's gonna come on EMS to not be afraid to ask the questions. It is a little bit daunting for most placements coming in on the first day, but actually trying to get through it and ask questions.

I think also to really come in with a positive mindset because I think you get out of EMS what you put into it. So, I think coming in and giving it a go, just getting stuck in. It's more practical. It's where you get to see your lectures come to life. So actually to be more hands-on, just approaching it that way and knowing that actually you can get involved and they want you to.