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Growing up in Shelby Township, Michigan, Nicole Bone (BS-LVT ’06) was passionate about animals even as a toddler, though her parents only allowed the family to have one pet at a time. MSU was the only university she considered, in part because it had the only veterinary school in the state. Still, Bone, who is now the surgery and anesthesia supervisor at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, says she never pictured herself where she is today.
“Anesthesia terrified me in class,” she says. “But I was intrigued by it in clinical rotations. The different combinations of drugs for different animals were fascinating. But I never imagined I would be anesthetizing up to 40 horses per day. My career has definitely evolved.”
Bone initially thought about applying to veterinary medical school. But while volunteering at a veterinary practice in Imlay City, she talked to one of the technicians about the differences between being a veterinarian and being a veterinary technician and ultimately decided that being a technician—a role similar to that of a nurse in human medicine—would allow her to be more hands-on with the animals.
After graduation, Bone was searching for jobs online and saw an opening at Rood & Riddle.
“My two favorite animals are dogs and horses; I knew I didn’t want to be in a small animal practice,” she says. “I applied for the Rood & Riddle position. It seemed almost fated. Dr. Lori Bidwell, an anesthesia resident from Rood & Riddle, had been my clinic instructor at MSU and she was the one who interviewed me for the job.
Located on 24 acres in the heart of Kentucky horse country, the Rood & Riddle facility can house up to 150 horses at a time in 9 barns. The 24/7 facility has a staff of more than 300 people and is even larger during breeding season.
“The practice is all horses, all day,” Bone says. “Though we did recently fix a baby giraffe’s broken leg for the Memphis Zoo, which was pretty amazing. We see all kinds of horses: miniature ponies, draft horses, world-class racehorses, and even the family pet. But 80 percent of the patients are racehorses.
“I felt very prepared for the position,” she says, “but there are some things that you just don’t see in school. In college, we anesthetized maybe 2 horses per week. Now, I can be doing up to 20 times that many animals per day.”
One of Bone’s responsibilities at Rood & Riddle is hiring new technicians, so she’s very aware of the skill and knowledge levels in graduates of other programs.
“The MSU veterinary technician classes are not easy. I see the difference between graduates of MSU and graduates of other programs,” she says. “In some cases, there’s just no comparison; MSU is the gold standard. One of the vets here said, ‘You MSU grads know your stuff.’ And we do.”
Living on her own, Bone has voided the one-pet-at-a-time rule and shares her space with Parker, a 13-year-old Golden Retriever, Louis, an 11-year-old-black Lab, and Miss Kitty, a 15-year-old feline.
“I really can’t imagine doing anything else,” she says. “Every day is different, and every animal presents different challenges. I love it.”
