I survived a weekend out in the Australian Bush!!!
Yep, I spent the weekend in a very productive way indeed. I narrowly avoided being stepped on by a horse, I slept in a horse stall in a horse truck, I got through 2 full days without a bath, I'm sporting a leech bite and quite a number of other insect bites too, I have a sunburnt left shoulder, and I've got a horrible cough. And most of all...I HAD A TRULY AMAZING WEEKEND, and learnt LOADS too!!
Ok, back from the beginning. I'm actually really exhausted now, so I'm gonna try to finish this and then crawl into bed. Class tomorrow.......*sigh*
About a week ago, I received an email from the Vet School regarding an opportunity to TPR in the Tenterfield Endurance Race. TPR: Temperature, Pulse, Respiration...its to ensure that the horses in the endurance ride are not overstrained or injured in any way.
Well, being a young, enthusiastic, animal-contact-deprived vet-to-be who is jumping at any oppprtunity to be with animals and gain experience, I decided to call Michael, the chief steward, and volunteer for it. He was really good about the whole thing, and didn't mind that I had utterly NO experience with horses. He told me that I'll be doing pencilling for the TPRs and the Vets, but I'll definitely learn loads.
Well, that's settled then. Only problem? TRANSPORT.
The Tenterfield Endurance Ride would be held in the Girard State Forest that's in NEW SOUTH WALES. That's practically another state away!!! Now how on EARTH was I gonna get down there?
Michael gave me the contact number of Leigh, a good friend of his. I contacted her, and she graciously agreed to pick me up in Goodna station. In fact, throughout the entire weekend, we would be truly grateful to Bruce and Leigh for quite a number of reasons.
I convinced Jillian and Nellyn to come along, as I got a little nervous of boarding a strangers vehicle and staying in a forest in another state!!
Another problem aroused just a day before we left. My sore throat had progressed into a full-blown flu and cough by Friday. However, I didn't want to back outm as Leigh and Michael had painstakingly ensured that we had a ride down.
So on Saturday morning, I leapt out of beed at 5am, and rushed to the University, where I was supposed to meet Nellyn and catch the CityCat to Regatta (Toowong). However, we missed the 1st ferry by mere moments. left with no other choice, and the promise of meeting Leigh by 7am, we decided to WALK to Toowong.
Wow, now that was EXERCISE.
We reached Goodna station 10 minutes late, and met up with Bruce and Leigh. They were really friendly, and ushered us into their horse truck which bruce had built himself!! It was amazing in there! There's a table, some seats, a foldable bed on top, kitchen cabinets, a stove, a fridge, a sink, a little television, a mobile toilet, and a stall for the horses too!
And so, we were off on our 1st ever road trip in Australia. It was a little celebration of the 1st month anniversary of our arrival in Aussie (We arrived on the 14th of February). We had no clue where we were headed to (we only knew it was a forest), and like Leigh said later on.." We just boarded them in the truck, and told them 'sit there':...lol....
After a while, Bruce turned off the road and stopped at the spraying area. Apparently, the horses had to be sprayed before they entered the Tick-free area (there're ticks in Queensland...we learnt that in class..).
It was there that we 1st met their 2 horses; Magnum and Thaleah (which I fell in love with after she blew at me when we 1st met. Bruce allowed me to hold and lead her, and that was the 1st time I've ever held a horse on free rein!!
After the horses had been sprayed, we resumed our journey. It was quite a bumpy ride, especially when we entered the Forest, and I started to get dizzy as usual...
There were many riders, horse trucks, and handsome horses already set up when we got there.
Once we disembarked, there was immediately a flurry of activity. Jillian and Nellyn helped Bruce and Ray set up the horse fences, while I helped Leigh to hose down the horses. It was then I learnt how dangerous a horse's hoof can be.
No, don't worry, I didn't get kicked. I just NEARLY got stepped on. Thaleah took a step, and her hoof came down on my shoe. I only managed to scrunch my toes and foot away in time. And man, with the weight of one leg on my shoe, I was ANCHORED to the ground, unable to move until she decided to move! After that, I was very careful about avoiding the hoofs of any horse...
We met Michael, who gave us our meal tickets and told us to report to the TPR and vetting ring after we were done eating and relieving ourselves. Our meals throughout the weekend would all be sandwiches. And the toilet...it was a seat, and a hole in the ground...lol....
For the 1st day, I helped to pencil for the vets, while Jillian and Nellyn pencilled for the TPRs. Frankly, the vets didn't really need help with the pencilling, as they usually just do it themselves, but I used the opportunity to learn a lot.
I was paired with the Vet named Amanda, and she showed me how to judge the body score of the horse (1 for emaciated, up to 5 for an obese fellow with a heart shaped butt...oh man, we really wanted to see one of those...), how to test the jugular flow of the horse, how to check the mucous membranes, how to see whether a horse is lame by the movement of its hips....and she also gave me a lesson on the different names for the different colours of horses (grey, buckskin, palomino, paint, apaloosa, mahogany and honey bay, etc etc...)
Oh, and Michael taught me how to shovel horse poo off the grass too! Lol...
I visited the TPR ring several times too, and got a chance to listen to the horse's heartbeat using a stethoscope.
Nellyn saw some blood stains on my shirt later on, and it was then I realised that I had been bitten by an enormos leech (the 2 bite marks were very far from one anothe), and my VLE shirt and jeans were flecked with my blood. Jeez, now that's gonna itch for weeks...
The 20km and 40km intro rides were successfully completed. The next day would be the big ride: the 40km trainee ride, and the main 80km one.
After dinner, we stood st the back of the pre-ride speech. We were pretty embarassed when Michael publicly addressed us, told us to come forward, and introduced us as "possible future vets of the sport". I'm sure all of us were blushing brick red...
We were allocated places to sleep at the back of the horse truck, in the horse stall where Magnum and Thaleah were standing throughout the journey. Bruce and Leigh had allocated us with swags(something like a sleeping bag, except that its much tougher and thicker), as well as extra sleeping bags to act as mattresses. We chatted for a while, sang a few songs, and finally lay down to sleep in the amazingly comfy horse stall.
It was pretty warm at first, but by about 2am, I was freezing cold and burrowing deeper into my swag and blankets.
The next morning, we were all shivering as we cleaned ourselves up. The 40 and 80km riders had already left early that morning, we were just about time to receive the 1st few riders who would be coming in for the 1st leg of the 80km.
This time, I worked in the TPR ring with Jillian and Nellyn, and learnt another set of skills. I learnt the procedures of TPR-ing: if the heart rate is too high, you'll have to call the chief steward and the vet for a second opinion. Horses that have an overly high heart rate, or are lame when asked to trot out by the vets will be vetted out from the ride.
After a few tries and tips from the friendly TPRs on duty, I more or less picked up the right way to count the horse's respiratory rate as well.
During the periods where there were no horses coming into the ring, we went around to socialise with the dogs in the area. There was collie that was obsessed with horses, a 3 legged terrier, a number of chihuahuas, a hyperactive kelpie (I think??) puppy, and an AMAZINGLY adorable husky that we couldn't stop cuddling!!!!!!
Well, back to work. It was a tough ride, and many horses were vetted out due to a high heart rate. There were a few that went lame too. One horse had "thumps", a kind of hiccup that's a reflex action associated dehydration and calcium deficiency.
And sadly, one horse came down with colic and collapsed. I felt so bad for the poor horse, he looked simply exhausted but he had to be shoved up, as colic can be fatal if the horse lies down. His legs kept trembling and threatened to buckle, but the brave animal managed to stay upright.
We watched in sympathy as the vet gave him some painkillers, and inserted an IV drip after he was hosed and cooled off (His temperature was very high...38.9...normal horse temp is 37.7...)
Leigh and Bruce called us, as it was time to pack up and leave. We managed to take a picture with 2 of the friendly TPRs, as well as with Leigh, Bruce, and Ray's dog Woody at their truck.
We started the bumpy journey back, and us 3 tired-out vet students dozed off in the truck. We woke up when Bruce stopped at McD for us to get a bite (Coffee,in my case...they have McCafe here is Australia!!)
As the sun set, the view outside the truck was amazing.....
However, it soon got very very dark outside, and we felt a little nervous in the truck. It took quite a while to get to Goodna station, and by then, the horses were feeling pretty restless (we could here them kicking the door and walls)
We shook hands with Bruce, hugged Leigh, and thanked them profusely for their hospitality and graciousness. They told us that they would wait until we had boarded the train before they left.
It wasn't goodbye, though. The 3 of us were stunned when we realised that there was no evening train back home from Goodna. We had no choice but to return to the truck.
Leigh and Bruce offered to send us all the way back to Toowong, which was way out of their way. We felt really embarassed by the offer, and very very grateful indeed. Here, I must really express a very big THANK YOU to the both of them; its rare to find people who are that gracious and caring towards total strangers like us.
As they did not know where Toowong was, I had to resort to using my phone's GPS system. My trusted N79 was already very low on battery, and I was pleading for it to survive; at least until we could get to Toowong village. And THANK GOODNESS for GPS...it managed to direct us until we reached that familiar area where we could board the bus back home, where I enjoyed a nice warm shower...(completely disregarding the 4 minute shower rule too)
Well, it really was an amazing experience; and though I had doubts before I went, I really don't regret a single moment of it. I've met so many friendly people who never hesitated to offer us transport and places to stay for the next endurance rides...people who kept mistaking us for Japanese, but never once treated us at outsiders. I've stroked, scratched, and got headbutted and swatted by countless beautiful horses. I've learnt that blue ribbons signify stallions, and red ones warn people of potential kickers. I've seen how to treat colic, slept in a horse stall, and used a stethoscope for the 1st time. And most of all, I've gained truly valuable experience from every single experience, that will undoubtedly help me in this course.
Once again, my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who was involved in getting us safely there and back, and to everyone who took care and taught us while we were there.
8:59 AM
