Externship Grant Report

My name is Samantha Cubbage, and I am a rising second year student at Virginia Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Over the summer, the Theriogenology Foundation sponsored me to spend two weeks working for Belle Fourche Veterinary Clinic in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. The clinic is a mixed animal practice with five practicing veterinarians. I was lucky enough to be able to shadow all five clinicians during my visit. I worked in the equine hospital shadowing Dr. Elizabeth Boos, who strongly focuses on equine reproduction and osteopathic orthopedic medicine. I was able to assist her in ultrasound pregnancy checks and four castrations. Interestingly, Dr. Boos found correlations between lack of reproductive success and forelimb lameness to deficiency of dental care and temporomandibular joint dysfunction. I was also able to shadow Dr. William Marlatt with food animal reproduction. Over the course of two weeks, the clinic performed over forty breeding soundness exams on multiple bulls. I was able to assist in multiple breeding soundness exams, palpating for the prostate and seminal vesicles and evaluating the semen under microscope. I was also able to assist in caesarian sections. Working at Belle Fourche Veterinary Clinic was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was able to cross the country and learn about large animal medicine from different positions. I plan to take all that I learned over the summer and apply it next year during my clinical rotations.