Anne Werum
This summer I went to México with RVETS Mexico. I assisted in providing free services for horses, donkeys, and mules to communities throughout Sierra Gorda. Not only did I choose this experience to be able to learn more about equids, but I also was excited to go to Mexico for the first time. I’m half Mexican and wanted to use this opportunity to learn more about my culture.
To prepare for this trip, I attended orientations over Zoom. This covered basic handling techniques, IV injections, record keeping, anesthesia protocols, castration, suturing, dentistry, and hoof care. Aside from the orientations, I also learned how to do a physical exam and basic hoof care on horses and donkeys that belonged to Dr. Eric Davis and Cindy Davis.
I arrived at Querétaro International Airport on July 1st and was on my own that first evening. I settled into my hotel and got dinner at a restaurant nearby. Leading up to this trip, I was a little nervous because I’m not fluent in Spanish and didn’t have that much experience working with equids. The program coordinator had mentioned that most, if not all, of the other students wouldn’t know English, and I was worried about not being able to communicate well with the people I was working with.
The next day, I met everyone at the Querétaro bus station, and we went to our motel which took a few hours. Once we settled in, we had our last orientation session which covered cryptorchids. After this, we took our exam. The exam was written in Spanish, so one of the vets translated some of it for me. After our exam, we were assigned partners for the week and tasks to be completed on the last day of clinic. Luckily, my partner was the one student who was fluent in English and Spanish. Despite not being fluent in Spanish, I was still able to make friends with the other students and had a wonderful trip.
Each day we helped a different community. We went to Tialco, Encino Solo, Valle de Guadalupe, La Florida, Santa Maria de Cocos, and Concá. The flow of the day started with two people checking in clients and their patients while the rest of the team set up the clinic. Some of the different roles for the day included castration surgeon, anesthetist, dental flotations, hoof caretaker, and ectoparasite dewormer. We also vaccinated the patients for tetanus and rabies. I was able to do my first castration on a horse at the first clinic with the guidance of one of the veterinarians. Throughout the week, I was able to castrate other horses and even some donkeys. It was a great experience learning how to castrate equids and be more comfortable handling them.
On our last night, we went into town where they were having a festival and were dancing Huapango. It was a great experience to see what the community does in their free time. I was thankful for all the communities because they provided us so much food throughout the trip.
Overall, I’m grateful for this opportunity to experience Mexico, help out rural communities, and make new friends. I have a new appreciation for equids and am thankful for the hands-on learning from this trip. I loved learning more about these communities and how heavily they rely on their equids to be able to live their day to day life. Some clients traveled over 3 hours to receive care and it just shows how appreciative they are of what RVETS Mexico does for them. This trip has only further solidified my desire to help out rural communities and access to care clinics.
