Student Blog from Patrick Doyle (Ireland) and Sarah Rohan (Ireland)

Patrick

This week I have been based at the Maddenstown Yard, which is where all the “Dry Mares” or more commonly referred to as the Maiden and Barren mares that are located on the farm.

The daily routine consists of teasing and vetting mares, followed by various other normal everyday tasks due to be done in any working stud farm yard, like mucking out, bedding down stables, haying stables, cleaning water troughs and cleaning the yard with the blowers and rakes. The morning starts with teasing mares that are due to be teased by the teaser pony. Following this we may turn out some mares that are not to be checked by one of the farms Reproductive Vets.

When the Vet arrives we try to scan the mares that are usually the closest to being ready for cover, to give administrative staff as much time to try and organise coverings. Followed by the mares that have only recently been covered, this is usually a two day post cover, ovulation scan, if there has been no ovulation it is possible a phone call may have to be made for a possible cross-cover on the same cycle, depending on the Vets opinion, how busy the stallion is and what the mares owner wants to do. Some mares may be required to be flushed if they have too much fluid in them also, again this is based on the Vet’s opinion and usually the notes on the mares that have been kept for as long as they have been on the farm play a part, so often knowing the mares historical oestrus cycling is a major benefit to all involved!

On both Monday and Wednesday we had Dr Vincent O’Connor as our lecturer. Mondays lecture was based on a stallions reproductive anatomy, the names of the different parts of the physiology and the uses of each part. Vincent also went into some detail into why some stallions may be possibly sub-fertile, why they may be slow in the shed and some of the other reproductive challenges that Repro Vets face during the breeding season, with regards to the stallion. Wednesdays lecture was based on castration and the vasectomy of male horses. He gave an insight into what is necessary for a castration to be successful and what can also go wrong, what to look for, if these issues arise its likely the Vet will be required to call back out to check the horse out. Vincent also gave us some of the reasons why some horses only get a vasectomy, instead of getting a full castration, he did this while going into some detail as to what part of the anatomy has to have some work done to it!

Tuesdays lecture with Lauren Eisemann was predominately about the foaling down of a pregnant mare. She went into great detail, coupled with great photographs of good and bad placentas. She went into great details of the different parts of the placenta. How to check if the mare may possibly get placentitis immediately post the foaling down process, this information may be crucial for the mare to get back in foal within the same year, so checking the placenta that its in its entirety is a good habit to pick up immediately post foaling!

Following the lecture on Tuesday evening with Lauren the group of students went to Gowran Park Racecourse for the annual Mark O’Hanlon memorial quiz. Fair play to both, Joey Cullen and the Foley family of Ballyhane Stud fame for organizing the quiz, and Joe’s fondness for Showcasing as a stallion particularly shown through with some very niche questions. Thanks to Gowran Park for the Finger food halfway through the Quiz also!

Our last lecture of the week was with Martin Leahy, this lecture was based around the bone structure of the horse below its knees or Carpus. How the shape of the foot will affect the bone structure, laminae, tendons, and blood vessels around and above the hoof. Fortunately, with Martin’s experience of over fifty years within the industry he has been able to collect some bones of some deceased horses over the years and he explained why some of the bones would have remodeled into different shapes and sizes over the horses’ lifetimes. The one I found most interesting was the canon bone that had experienced a fracture at some stage, ended up getting a plate and screws during a surgical procedure, then followed this the bone reshaped itself by calcifying over a part of the plate, arguably making the canon bone stronger than ever before!

 

Sarah

My first 6 weeks on the Irish National Stud course has flown by. I started my week 6th by ending my block of night shifts delivering a beautiful Frankel filly. Overall, I really enjoyed nights as I was up close and in the action with delivering five healthy foals. I was able to apply the theory I had learned from lectures into a practical sense, I found this very beneficial and helped further my understanding of foaling. This gave me great satisfaction knowing I could confidently do the job.

Tuesday evening started off with an online lecture presented by Lauren Eisenman. She discussed placentas and how to examine a placenta after foaling. After our lecture, the whole group went to the Mark O’Hanlon Memorial Quiz ran by the ITBA at Gowran Park Racecourse. It was a very enjoyable night even though we did not win anything. Wednesday morning started off a new adventure with the Legends and in Blandford. In Blandford it mainly has mares and foals who are a few days old. Leona explained to us the mares teasing programme for mares after foaling and what we should be expecting when the mare goes up to the teasing board. It was lovely to be working with mares and foals, I had foaled over the weekend and see how quickly they grow up and become cheeky. I then got to meet a horse I know well in Sizing John. He was a horse that we consigned as a foal under the Ballincurrig House Stud banner. It is lovely to see him after he has gone on and had a successful career winning a Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2017 and is now in the Irish National Stud for everyone to get to enjoy him. It was also great to see Beef or Salmon, Hurricane Fly and Faugheen.

It was coming towards the end of a very enjoyable week in Blandford with Leona. First, we teased a mare who was foaled 28 days and was starting to come into season. The vet came to scan the mare to see the size off the follicles and evaluate when she would be ready to be covered. Then it was onto mucking out and getting the hay and feeds ready for the mares and foals. In the afternoon we brought the mares and foals in. When they were all settled down the vet came to microchip them and take the markings for their passports. We finished our day off grooming the legends and of course we could not forget to groom the teaser Joey, who is such a character around the yard. I am really looking forward to my next few months at the Irish National Stud

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