Our First Ride

Last Friday, Cherokee and I had our first ride together out of the pasture. We were accompanied by Chadwick and my father-in-law, Steve, who owns the other two horses. We rode just east of Boise about 45 minutes in the foothills, which were still quite green. It was a beautiful day for a ride, though I haven't been able to walk normally after being on horseback for 4 hours! My saddle was a graduation gift to me from a group of dear friends, the saddle blanket and pad an anniversary gift from my hubby, and the bridle a gift to myself. This was the first ride of many, and I am so grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have Cherokee in my life - thanks!!

The Hard Work Paid Off!

And we graduated on May 4, 2008.

What a great feeling to be done, though it's weird to think that our days of summer vacation, Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks are now over. Our families and several close friends were able to join us in our celebration. We also celebrated the graduation of my youngest brother, Sean, from a bachelor's program in engineering. He will be attending the University of Illinois in the fall for a masters degree.

Where are we now? We said good-bye to Pullman and moved south to Boise, Idaho to start our careers. I am working at a mixed animal practice in Caldwell (~30 miles west of Boise) and Chadwick will start his internship at the referral center, WestVet, on July 7. We are renting the house next to his parents, and part of the rent includes yardwork. Chadwick has been busy building a new corral fence, moving dirt, and pulling weeds. He is anxious to start his internship as he is getting tired of the daily manual labor. I am enjoying my job at Blayney Veterinary Clinic - our staff is wonderful, the clients have been nice, and my veterinary collegues have been so helpful and patient as I strive to get my feet under me! Each day is a challenge, and this week I will start hitting the dairies with the other large animal veterinarians to learn the ropes. Whee!

My First Horse!

I've wanted a horse for as long as I can remember - and I am finally getting one in a few months! He is a 12-year-old Paint gelding named Cherokee. My good friend, Alexis, has owned him for many years and used to show him when she was younger. He is currently a pasture ornament in Idaho Falls and Alexis thinks that we'll be a good match. Chadwick and I are going to make a trip to visit him at the end of May to make sure that we all like each other, but I think it will be a good fit! I'm going to board him with my in-laws who have 2 horses already....and he'll be in our backyard since we're moving nextdoor to the Hunts. Isn't he cute?

Award Ceremony - Pullman, April 18

Each year the College of Veterinary Medicine hosts an awards ceremony in which scholarships are presented to the veterinary students first-through-fourth year. Many of the scholarships are given based on an application process, but several fourth year awards are nominated by the clinicians. These are the most fun since no one can apply for them specifically. Overall, there is a large amount of money awarded to the student body. (A fact that is clearly made known to us at the beginning of the evening.) I drove home for the event from Western Washington and managed to accomplish tons during the two days spent home.

My old roommate, Anne (above with me), was nominated by her classmates as the person most helpful, optimistic, and overall great - something like a Miss Congeniality award, but I can't remember the official title. An award much deserved, I might add.

My amazing husband received first place for best senior paper!! Each fourth year student had to research, write, and present a topic of his/her choice. Three awards were given for the best papers. I'm so proud of him! His paper was the culmination of 2-3 years of research which looked at dogs who underwent orthopedic surgery and had a metal plate placed in their knee. He wanted to know if there was increased use of the limb post-surgery if the plate was removed several weeks after being placed compared to those dogs whose metal plates remained in the knee. At this time, there was no statistical evidence that removing the plate increased use of the leg. Like all research, more needs to be done in this area!

My classmate and friend, Milo Andrus, and I received an award for proficiency and work in reproduction. I am particularly proud of this because I worked for 2 years as president of the student chapter of the Society of Theriogenology (fancy word for study of reproduction).

Definately a fun night! Many of our friends received awards and it was nice to see everyone again for a while.

Duck Feet in Western Washington

My last rotation of vet school is a 4-week preceptorship in the western side of the state. Basically, it's a 4-week block that each student is required to complete at a veterinary clinic outside of the veterinary teaching hospital in Pullman. Chadwick spent his time north of Seattle at a small animal clinic last September, and I am near Maple Valley at an all-horse clinic. I arrived - in the rain - last Monday and it continued to rain throughout the rest of the week. I realize that the western side of the state is quite a bit wetter than the eastern side, everyone knows that, but what I didn't realize was that 40 degrees in the rain is downright cold when one spends all day outside! After purchasing long underwear and some wool socks, my disposition improved greatly since I was no longer freezing all day, every day.

Northwest Equine is an all ambulatory practice, which means that the vets travel to the barn where the horse is kept rather than have the horse come to the clinic. Needless to say, we spend a large amount of time in the truck. The people here are wonderful and I've learned a ton in the 5 days I've spent with them. Each doctor is good about letting me participate in the treatment of patients, and I am staying at the office in a little room upstairs, which saves on rent.

Chadwick is finishing his rotations in Pullman - he is currently "enjoying" large animal overnights, which is one of the longest and worst rotations required. The shift itself is from 5pm-7am, though the students split the evenings into two little shifts. I think it has been relatively quiet for them, which is nice. His last rotation is vacation, and I have a feeling he will be busy packing our belongings for the move to Boise, ID.