Seeing Practice in North Yorkshire Dales

This cold windy weather reminds me of my first visit to Yorkshire. Philip and I were getting ready to make a big move to the United States (well, move for him; return home for me), and he had several weeks bookings in a club in Keighley. We stayed in an upstairs room in a pub, and I don't think it had any visable forms of heat. During the day we would ride around in our little van to get warm. One night it was so bitterly cold, we used my portable hair dryer to heat the bed. It makes me miserable just remembering the freezing cold, but somehow we survived.

Now, my second visit to the Yorkshire Dales was much, much more pleasant. It was during my senior year of veterinary college, and part of my training was to occur in a veterinary surgery in England. I shall never forget those days. Mr. Jack Watkinson and Mr. Nick Naish were partners at Watkinson & Naish, Veterinary Surgeons, Leyburn, North Yorkshire. Jack was one of the veterinary advisors to All Creatures Great and Small, and most days he was on the set filming with the BBC. That meant that most of my time was spent working with Nick, and we saw everything. Mr. Watkinson was very well liked by his equine clients, and many times they would question Mr. Naish about where the more popular equine veterinarian was that particular day. This had happened a few times, and Nick was getting tired of it. So on a visit to one of the racing stables, Nick introduced me as a veterinarian from the United States that had come to examine their colt with the hernia. Well, I was a very good senior veterinary student so I rose to the occasion. Following a thorough exam of the frisky colt, I presented my opinion of the medical situation, upon which Mr. Naish & I departed the stables with no questions of why Mr. Watkinson was not the one to call that day.