Amanda enjoys gaining education and experience, regular community involvement and educating others in the area of equine dental care. Recent activities on what Amanda is involved with include:

  • Amanda was recenlty asked to write an article for the February 2012 edition of Animal Health Solutions published by Butler Schein. Entitled “Improving a Horse’s Performance & Increase Their Longevity Through Better Dental Care” the magazine will be distributed to over 22,000 veterinarians. Click the following link to view it! Feb 2012 Equine Dentistry article

  •  Amanda will be guest speak for the James River Driving Association’s monthly meeting. The topic will be “Dentistry – How it Can Improve Your Driving Horse.” The meeting will be held Friday, March 2, 6:30pm at the Ashland (VA) Fire Station. You can reach the JRDA by visiting their website www.jamesriverdrivingassociation.com

 

Amanda competing Louie Louie at the 2011 Walnut Hill Driving Show in Pittsford, NY

 

  • November 10-13 Amanda attended the 25th Annual Veterinary Dental Forum in Boston, MA and obtained 17 continuing education hours in Equine Dentistry.  Topics included Masticatory Forces (Staszyk), Peridontal Biomechanics (Cordes), Oral Pathology (Lowder), Imaging & Interpreting Dental Disease (Reiswig), Occlusal Equilibration (Klugh), and a variety of topcs including topics on Endodontics (Stasayk, Kimberlin, Klugh, etc).

Science Photo Library image

  • In October 2011, Amanda  instructed a lecture and wetlab on equine dentistry for Northern Virginia Community College’s Veterinary Technology students in conjunction with Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center. The students were shown dental anatomy, basics of dental exams, ageing of equine teeth and had the opportunity to see (and feel) 5 horses of various ages from start to finish on their dental work.  A huge thank you to Priscilla Blackburn (Vice President of AAEVT & assistant hospital administrator of patient care) and Dr. Martin Furr (EMC professor and internal medicine specialist) for their assistance in this lab.

 

  • Amanda attended the Purina Mills conference on Equine Nutrition in St. Louis in October along with 300+ other equine technicians, assistants, veterinarians and veterinary students.  Members of the American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians and Assistants received complimentary transportation and accomadations for this fantastic series of lectures and tour of the Purina Mills research farm as well as their exersicse physiology barn. 

 

  • Volunteer instructor for the annual Potomac Highlands 4-H Horse Camp located at the Tri-County Fairgrounds in Grant County, West Virginia.  Amanda has been donating her time, expertise and horses for the “Horseless Class” for over 10 years.  This year Amanda’s class consisted of 11 girls, many first time attendees, ages 9-16.  Not only did the group learn the basics of riding, but were instructed on a variety of other topics including barn care, horse health, nutrition, diseases and of course, dentistry.

    • 4HClass

  • In February 2011, Amanda attended the International Association of Equine Dentists conference held in Austin, Texas.  Three days of continuing education on a variety of equine dental topics were offered through talks and wet labs by other dental technicians and veterinarians.

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  • In December 2010 Amanda was awarded the Melissa Finnegan Scholarship from the American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians (AAEVT) while attending the annual conference held in conjunction with the American Association of Equine Practioners (AAEP) in Baltimore, Maryland.  Amanda’s work in the nursing department at Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center helped make this award possible.

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  • August 2010 Amanda was accepted into one of the top veterinary technology programs in the country at Northern Virginia Community College. She will continue to provide equine dental services while enrolled in their part time online veterinary technology program over the next three years. Amanda has assisted the program by giving lectures to students on equine dentistry and was encouraged to apply by the program’s director.