06 February 2024

National Apprenticeship Week: Lizzy, Equine Veterinary Nursing apprentice

Chestnut pony Thaxton stands in his field, looking at the camera, while being cuddled by Equine Veterinary Nursing Apprentice Lizzy.

As we continue to celebrate Apprenticeship Week today we trot across to the Horse Hospital to meet Lizzy King, who is a student vet nurse and in the second year of her apprenticeship. In between her patients we managed to ask her a few questions so we could find out more about it!

What apprenticeship are you doing here at Redwings and how are you finding it?

“So I’ve been at Redwings for around four years now and I’m currently in the second year of my Equine Veterinary Nursing Apprenticeship so it’s quite specialised, no dealing with dogs and cats and things like that, just the good ponies here at Redwings!

“I am really enjoying my course. I’m one of those people that really enjoys education and I really enjoy learning. By working here you learn so much anyway but by doing this course I’m learning a lot more things, that as I go along, have become really handy. 

“Being within the workplace and being able to study at the same time, as difficult as that is sometimes, it is also really beneficial.”

How do you balance studying and working together, especially in the Horse Hospital because it is such a busy place, isn’t it?

“It can be very full on as I have a lot of exams and assignments but they are really flexible and Lou, my manager, gives me plenty of time to work with my clinical coaches. She also gives me plenty of time to get some studying done during the day when I can because as part of the course you are entitled to so many hours of study each week. 

“I'm very lucky that I've been to university, so this is my second time around studying and I've learned a lot in terms of being able to manage study, so I've kind of had the upper hand a little bit in terms of being able to organise myself.”

What has been your favourite aspect of your apprenticeship so far?

“At the minute we're working on general anaesthesia, as boring as that sounds, I'm actually finding it really interesting. Looking at horses under general anaesthesia when we're doing surgery on them, which could be on the table in theatre or standing surgery, and after all the theory studying it and then be able to come in and watch it all in front of you, I am finding it really interesting.”

Equine Veterinary Nursing Apprentice, Lizzy King, kneels next to a black Shetland pony in the Redwings Horse Hospital.
Lizzy King with a pony patient in the X-ray room of the Redwings Horse Hospital.

What would you like to do once your apprenticeship finishes? Do you have a particular pathway you’d like to pursue?

“Well I plan to stay here for forever. I love it here so I quite enjoy X-raying and general anaesthesia and things like that, but my goal is just to be a good nurse."

Do you have any tips or advice for anyone considering an equine veterinary nursing apprenticeship?

“It's definitely quite hard to get into if you are just wanting to do just equine because there aren't that many places in our area of the country that offer just equine. Doing the small animal nursing route first might be easier to get into but if you look around and are patient there are some equine places available.

“We get a lot of opportunities here at Redwings that maybe vet nurses at private practices wouldn’t get. For example if you call a vet out for your horse at home probably only the vet will attend, whereas here our vets will often take a nurse out to visit their sanctuary patients, so we get a lot of experience. 

“I think as long as you're organised and or try to be organised when you can and as long as you love what you do, because the hours can be very long, I think you’ll be ok. I'll often end up doing some practical college stuff while I'm here in the middle of the night which works out quite well whilst I am in anyway!”

Do you have any favourite residents? 

“I’ve got so many favourites but pretty obviously to those that know me, Thaxton is my number one favourite! He was in a stable a year ago for a lameness issue and he was in for a long time because he had surgery on his foot. He’s very lovely and we got to see him every day to do his dressings and we taught him lots of tricks at the same time. He was a very good boy.

“Ponies like Thaxton become the highlight of your day because they become part of our clinics on a daily basis. We get to know them really well and their personalities. Like Flynn, he’s another one of our favourites we get to see every day. He comes across like he’s really brave but if you give him really big cuddle and scratch he absolutely loves it and goes all soft. Sometimes it feels like my job here is mostly going round cuddling ponies whilst we treat them. It’s a pretty lovely job to have!”

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