Large Animal Handling/ Restraint

[Hobiecat1642]

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I am very seriously considering pursuing a large animal/mixed animal track. I have some LA experience, but not nearly as many hours as I have logged in SA. I know we will learn some basic skills when I start vet school in the fall, but I wanted to ask for some pointers for handling large animals, including horses. Are there any books, articles or websites that might be helpful to a novice such as myself? I know hands-on learning is probably the best, and I plan to participate in LA summer externships. I'm just looking for some reference/supplemental sources. Thank you very much!

 

[Jochebed]

I'm also considering large animal, with very little large animal experience. Just plug into whatever your large animal club is at school (FAPC, etc) and go to whatever wet labs they have. We do palpations every Saturday mornings, foot trimming this spring, etc. I've learned tons! We don't have any really "teaching" hands-on stuff until 2nd year though and these are the 2 books on our recommended reading list:

Fowler ME. Restraint and handling of wild and domestic animals. Ed2. Ames: Iowa State
University Press. 1995.
Leahy J and Barrow P. Restraint of animals. Ithaca. 1951.​

 

[BrumleyVet]

Not trying to be funny, but the 4-H clubs have excellent "manuals" available for almost any animal. Each state college has an extension, and you can also check online. These are great if you have not handling experience because they get down to basics and also explain why you have to do things a particular way. You can also contact a local club who would love to help you out. They may also "tap" into you to speak to the group about careers!

 

[Capella]

Large Animal Clinical Procedures for Veterinary Technicians

This book covers basic handling and many basic clinical procedures you will encounter in a veterinary setting, and it is my favorite of the Vet Tech books I've checked out of our library. Descriptions are clear and well written, and there are many excellent pictures. This book has been invaluable to me on two fronts: 1) I didn't have much experience with horses and 2) my local vet that I shadowed before vet school didn't use the level of technology that you will encounter at a veterinary teaching hospital, so I was ignorant of a lot of things.

 

[Capella]

And on second thought, there are also the lovely DK publishing "picture books" that may be available at your school or local public library.

Complete Horse Care Manual

The Visual Dictionary of the Horse

And here is a good website I used when we learned horse colors:
http://www.equusite.com/articles/basics/basicsHome.shtml

 

[aretoo]

If you can get your hands on a Pony Club manual (probably C or D...H/A and A are pretty advanced), they're really helpful for basic horse handling and management. You'd be able to find them on Amazon or ebay, I would think.

I'd also encourage you to volunteer or work at a horse farm if you have time, along with Large Animal externships...horse people generally like to have vets who have horse experience outside of vet school (not saying you can't be a successful equine vet without previous horse experience, of course, but it is helpful).

 

[Hobiecat1642]

Thank you for your replies--I will look into the texts you guys mentioned, and large animal externships are tops on my list for this summer. I actually don't want to be an equine vet, I'd like to be a mixed animal vet--so I'd like to be able to treat them if I had to. Currently, I have to admit, I'm not too comfortable around them. Thanks!!