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He’s worked with horses most of his life — from guiding and outfitting, horse logging, ranch work and 12 years as a farrier — and now Christian Peterson is starting a new career as an equine veterinarian.

“I thought maybe I should branch out, I really like cattle a lot, too,” says Peterson, who graduates from the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program this spring. “But I think sometimes if you’re comfortable and better in one area, it’s not a bad thing to keep going with it because I think animals benefit from it, too, if you’re comfortable with them. And I like the lifestyle of working with horses.” 

As Peterson embarks on his new career, he’s leaving something behind for future students at UCVM: a simulator model he created for teaching students how to do nasogastric intubations on horses.

The procedure, which is a common therapeutic and diagnostic technique for horses with abdominal pain, involves inserting a tube into a horse’s nostril, guiding it through the nasal passage and the esophagus before entering the stomach. Peterson says without being able to see where the tube is going, learning the procedure by feel can be difficult for both student and horse.

“What we wanted to do is come up with a model that would show the anatomy, where the tube is going, what kind of structures you’re encountering inside the horse’s head when you’re performing an NG tube, because otherwise you’re just sticking it in a horse’s nose and it disappears and you’re hoping you get it in the right place,” he explains.

Peterson made a fibreglass cast of a horse cadaver head and poured a mold into the nose and recast it to the fibreglass head with silicon rubber. He then molded clay to make a simulated nose, used a bicycle tube as the esophagus and hot tub tubing for the trachea. Peterson started working on the project in the summer of his second year and continued the work off and on during the school year when he had time. 

“What we wanted to do was have a half of a head model so you could actually watch the tube go up the nasal passage. Plexiglass covers the section, and you can look through the Plexiglass and see the tube as it enters the nose and goes along the nasal passage and then into the esophagus.

“We wanted to minimize the live animal use and have the students get some practice on the model for the first, second or third time around,” he says. “Students get to practise on the model, see the structures, get a feel for what’s going on and then by the time they try it on a live horse, their skills have already been honed.”

Peterson is looking forward to starting his new career but says UCVM has a place in his heart.

“I have a connection to the school. I really like the school and the teachers and I want to keep that connection going,” says Peterson. “They haven’t seen the last of me and I’d like to keep working with them on things like this in the future. And I’m glad I can help future students as well.”