Recently, I have a working student (Coralie Morauw from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.) She is originally from France and her parents own Versailles Equestrian, an eventing facility in Virgil, Illinois. I thought it might be interesting to let her talk about her experiences in veterinary school related to equine emergency rescue topics, how she is preparing for a career in the equine industry, and her perspective on how to have the best client and vet relationship.

I asked her “What must a person remember in an emergency?”

To start with, you must stay calm Ð or else everyone around you will panic, too. For some people, this is harder than for others, but practice and exposing yourself to these kinds of situations helps. The first thing we vets do upon receiving an emergency call is ask “how bad is it?”, and then we decide “what is the most life threatening issue?”. We need a good concise description of what happened, what you see, and what first aid is being applied. (Anything that is life threatening should be addressed first, the rest can be cleaned up and stitched up last.) Also, it is critical to remember to stay safe and keep people safe. In emergencies we vets are the worst – we tend to forget where the safe spots are for us to be, and may stand or position ourselves in a place that can result in an injury. It is critical to you keep yourself in a safe position, especially as a veterinarian and as a horse owner. If I get hurt, then I definitely won’t be any help to my client and their animal patient

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