University of Edinburgh students attend WETRA for additional training

By Ron Giofu

A trio of students attending the University of Edinburgh needed further training with animals and came to McGregor to do it.

The Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association (WETRA) hosted three students from the University of Edinburgh that are completing their first year of veterinary studies in Scotland.

Gavin Shamandy, Robbie Cooper and Mia Valente did their animal husbandry for the last two weeks at WETRA, which is a mandatory part of their semester.

Shamandy pointed out he is actually from Windsor but studying at the University of Edinburgh.

Cooper, who is from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Valente, who is from Fife, Scotland, joined Shamandy in this trip to Canada.

Shamandy explained they are required to perform extra-mural studies as part of their veterinary studies and that he believes it is good to get some practical work experience. He said he was aware of WETRA and reached out to see if they were open to them coming there.

Cooper said the work they did while at WETRA included everything from caring for the horses, leading them from their stalls and “mucking out the stalls” and feeding them.

“It’s been a good learning experience,” said Valente. “I’ve worked with horses before but I’ve learned more than I thought I would.”

The others had more of a learning curve with horses, but they found WETRA’s methods of working with and caring for horses to be very organized.

Shamandy stated he became more comfortable working with larger animals like horses through his work at WETRA while Cooper called it a “steep learning curve.”

“You work with these animals for a few days and you realize they are pretty harmless unless you are being stupid,” added Shamandy.