March 7, 2016 – Tacoma, WA. Last Friday, we had our first gelding clinic as a nonprofit organization and I’d say it was a success! 11 horses and a mini donkey we’re gelded thanks to the team at Tacoma Equine Hospital. Thank you to Dr. Linda Hagerman, Dr. Christina Howard, Dr. Ashley Galen, Vet Assistants Renee DiGiorgio and Shana Cozza, and Karen Sonju and Roxanne Argyle in the office for the time you all put in preparing for the event and the 10+ hours of hard work on Friday.
We were lucky enough to have three students from the Vet Tech program at Pierce College join us: Kate Harpel, Sarah Noss and James Barnett. They were professional, upbeat and eager to assist all day and it was great hands-on experience in surgery, anesthesia and handling large animals. Best of luck as you prepare for your externships and start your careers in veterinary medicine! Thanks to Dr. Hurtado for offering this opportunity to your students- we hope to work with you again in the future.
A great big thanks to Leona Lisa (gelding clinic volunteer extraordinaire) and Wendy Carpenter (for keeping things “organized”). It was great having you two to rely on.
I also have to give a shout out to Dr. Dana Westerman for loaning us her equipment and to Mike & Miya Tabor for getting it all the way from Monroe to Seattle just in time for Friday.
We had a roomy arena to work in and lots of trailer parking thanks to Vanessa Kuhlman of High Point Equestrian Center. She graciously donated the facility to us for the day and it turned out to be a great venue for our event.
And lastly, thank you to the owners who participated in this clinic. A few longer recovery times early in the morning threw off our timing for the rest of the day and I appreciate your patience as you had longer wait times to get your horses in. I hope all of your (now) geldings are having a quick and easy recovery!
It was a long day and I’m sure there are still a lot of sore muscles- but thank you all for working with me on this to help improve the lives of these 12 animals.
The next gelding clinic is in Bothell, WA on April 16th. Please contact Washington Stallion Support if you’re interested in volunteering or helping to sponsor that event.
Want to know more about Washington Stallion Support and how you can support this wonderful organization? Check out them out at Washington Stallion Support and follow their Facebook page.