Author: Jen Wood
By Alice Collins / Jump Media
Originally from Virginia, Mackenzie Harmon completed her undergraduate degree at Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL, in May of 2023. Later that year, she joined the Palm Beach Equine Clinic (PBEC) team as a veterinary technician for Dr. Tyler Davis.
What is your background with horses?
I have a big background with horses. My dad bought a farm in 2007, got a few horses, and had my sister and I start riding. I was seven at the time, and I’ve been riding ever since. I always took every opportunity I could to watch and learn as much as I could, whether that was from a vet, a farrier, or a barn manager. In 2020, I worked as a barn manager for a few weeks and really enjoyed that.
When and why did you decide you wanted to become a vet tech?
When I finished school, I was torn between going to nursing school and being an ER nurse, a scrub nurse in the OR, or becoming a vet. I looked for a job as a nurse for months and was unsuccessful, so I decided to apply to an equine hospital and see if I would get a position. When I got the job at the equine clinic, I figured it would help me decide whether I loved working with animals and wanted to become a vet, or if I hated it and wanted to become a nurse.
Originally, I didn’t think I had enough experience to be a vet tech so I applied to just be a vet tech assistant, cleaning stalls and helping hold horses if the techs were too busy. After doing that for a few weeks, I realized I was over-qualified and should have just been a tech. I worked as a vet tech assistant at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, and after being there for a few months I got a job offer from Palm Beach Equine Clinic to be a hospital technician. As soon as I started I realized it was way more up my alley.
What does a typical day look like for you at Palm Beach Equine Clinic?
I currently work as an ambulatory technician, so my days are spent in the car traveling to different farms to treat horses. My boss, Dr. Davis, specializes in dentistry so we float a lot of teeth. During the winter season, it’s pretty much non-stop and we generally put in 10-hour days or more. The summertime slows down a little bit, but there are still some days when we go non-stop. If we aren’t doing dentals, you can find us doing sports medicine work, such as injecting joints and taking x-rays.
What aspects of equine medicine interest you most, and what types of cases do you find most rewarding?
Even though I’ve been working with vets for about a year, I’m still not sure what aspect interests me most. I find surgery really cool, but I also enjoy the sports medicine side of things. I find every case rewarding in its own way because we are always there to help the horses feel better and perform their best.
What is one of the most interesting cases you have worked on?
There was a horse who kept coming to the clinic due to not eating. We started by scoping him for ulcers and then treating him for ulcers. Several weeks later the same horse came back because he still wasn’t eating, so we pulled out all of his incisor teeth. After doing that, the horse has been thriving and is now eating like crazy.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
It’s hard to pick just one part. I am such an animal lover, so I just enjoy being with the horses. I also love it when we’re able to fix a problem that a horse might be having and then seeing them thrive later on.
When not at PBEC, what do you enjoy doing?
When I am not working, you can find me at my own barn riding my horse, or at Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center, helping staff with lessons, teaching lessons myself, or schooling their horses.
To learn more about the full range of services on offer at Palm Beach Equine Clinic, call 561-793-1599 or visit https://equineclinic.com/.
By Alice Collins / Jump Media
Wellington, FL – Miss Miami is one of Miami’s longest-serving and most-valued police horses, having joined the team 21 years ago and been through six police chiefs. In the early spring of 2024 at the age of 26, Miami Police Department (PD) had begun to wind down her workload and prepare her for retirement. However, on April 10 Miss Miami looked uncomfortable, and officers called their veterinarian.
“She was not feeling good, and it looked like colic,” explained Lieutenant Redondo of Miami PD. “The vet came and saw she was in distress and said we’d probably have to do surgery. They couldn’t do it and referred us to Palm Beach Equine Clinic [PBEC].”
Miss Miami was driven straight to PBEC in Wellington, FL, where the team carried out a physical exam, blood work, nasogastric intubation, an ultrasound, abdominocentesis, and a rectal exam. Their findings were consistent with a surgical lesion, and she was diagnosed with a strangulating lipoma, a small, benign, fatty tumor that develops within the abdomen and occasionally develops a long, string-like stalk. The lipoma and stalk can wrap around a part of the horse’s digestive system, cutting off the blood supply and resulting in death of that section of intestine.
On the day she arrived at PBEC, Miss Miami was taken to emergency surgery after an initial evaluation and operated on by Dr. Weston Davis DVM, DACVS, who ended up performing a resection and anastomosis, which is where a part of intestine is removed and the two ends are rejoined.
“Miss Miami was routinely induced under general anesthesia; the abdomen was clipped and aseptically prepared for surgery,” explained Davis, who is a native of South Florida and whose father was also a veterinarian. “A midline incision was created, and exploration revealed a large segment of mid-jejunum [the middle part of the small intestine] that appeared to have been strangulated by the stalk of a strangulating lipoma.”
The portion of the small intestine affected was no longer viable, so Davis removed the two-foot long segment of jejunum. Miss Miami’s abdominal incision was then closed with absorbable sutures in the deeper layers and stainless-steel staples in the skin.
Miss Miami was given intravenous fluid therapy including pain relief, electrolytes, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and gastroprotectants. She recovered from the anesthesia without incident, and a large abdominal support bandage was applied in recovery.
She was not yet out of the woods, however. Miss Miami’s forelimb digital pulses were mildly elevated in the first 36 hours after the operation. She was managed with digital cryotherapy, and frog supports were applied to both front feet. Her appetite was also diminished following surgery, and she was fed via nasogastric intubation until her appetite began to increase. At that point, her rations were given normally, and the quantity was gradually increased. Her digital pulses returned to normal.
After a week at PBEC, Miss Miami was bright, with a good appetite, passing normal manure, and walking comfortably. She was ready to be released back into the care of Miami PD. Their local veterinarian oversaw the removal of Miss Miami’s stitches a week later, and her belly bandage was reapplied. The Miami PD team was also given four daily exercises by PBEC for Miss Miami to start at home two weeks after surgery to help support her recovery: barrel lifts, butt tucks, stepping backwards, and walking over poles.
“She would have died without the surgery,” stated Redondo. “She has recovered really well. She is still here with us in Miami, but we have started the paperwork to retire her to farmland up in North Florida. Everybody around here knows her and loves her; she’s one of our most famous horses. She’s been here longer than I have, and she’s one of the horses that we liked to use on the regular. Having a horse that already knows the job and is used to all the traffic and loud noises makes it easy, so we are going to miss her.
“The fact that the department agreed to take care of a horse who is old or not being ridden anymore says a lot, and the fact that PBEC took care of her was so great,” he concluded.
PBEC’s kindness and swift action ensured that Miss Miami will now be able to enjoy the retirement she deserves after her years of loyal service. If you or your veterinarian would like to learn more about Palm Beach Equine Clinic and how it can help your horse, call 561-793-1599 or visit www.EquineClinic.com.