http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving.html AAEP, Inc. Online Blog en-us Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:10:42 -0500 Copyright: (C) 2012 AAEP, Inc. It can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Deciding what is important and what is not can be hard for all of us. Some of us want to be presented with all the information and make our own decisions about what is important. These people don't mind TMI (Too Much Information). Others just want the pertinent info so they don't have to cipher through the chaff. They like JEI (Just Enough Info). I tend to fall into the latter because it seems more efficient. My wife on the other ... Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:10:42 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/tmi.html It never ceases to amaze me how the horse-owning population prepares for their appointments. For example, on a hot Friday afternoon I arrived at our last appointment which entails vaccinating four horses. We were actually on time and no one was home. The owner arrived about five minutes after the appointment time and was happy she was able to go to the post office and get back in time for the appointment. What is missing here is that the horses are on 20 acres, they are at the bottom of a h... Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:06:35 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/theimportanceofvetiquette.html I have a client that was in New Mexico at a team roping competition. On the way back to Central Texas, he felt his trailer moving and heard the banging of a horse hitting its walls. At the time he was close to nothing but Mexico and a solitary gas station. You know the kind with tumbleweeds blowing across the parking lot. He pulls up at the gas station and gets the horse out of the trailer. The horse is obviously showing signs of colic. The man runs into the gas station and asks if there... Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:24:35 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/theteamroperthetwinandthebellyachinhorse.html A little over a week ago, the farm I work for lost a cherished member of the family. His name was Boundary, and he was a 22 year old stallion that had been pensioned from stud duty since 2005. Following this time, he lived the life of luxury in one of the former stallion barns, where he spent the majority of his time grazing on bluegrass in a nearby paddock. While Boundary was best known for being the sire of Big Brown - a Triple Crown contender in 2008 until a poor trip in the Belmont co... Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:46:59 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/knowingmyboundarys.html I don't consider myself a superstitious person. It has always seemed silly to believe in such things. As the Stevie Wonder song lyrics go, When you believe in things you don't understand Then you suffer Superstition ain't the way, no, no, no. That's right, Stevie. Superstition ain't the way. No. No. Maybe? I have to admit, I have started to allow some twinge of belief in things I don't understand. The list of things I don't understand is pretty darn vast. What I am referring to are thing... Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:11:32 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/superstition.html As I was driving along in my wife's vehicle - which is equipped with satellite radio - I flipped to the "80s on 8" channel and was greeted by the ageless voice of Casey Kasem as he was deejaying a Top 20 hit list from the 1980s. Hearing his voice got me thinking about - if given a chance - what would be a Top 20 list of the best "horsey" songs? The only qualifications to make the list were that the songs: (a) had to be about a horse(s); (b) were about something equine-related; or (c) referenc... Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:01:01 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/top20horseysongsofalltime.html What is in a horse's name? Some are descriptive like the team roper that names every horse by its color. This is not real creative, but I like it because when I show up there I know I won't forget their names: Bucky, Grey, Sorly, Roany, Yeller and so on. It's like they have nametags on. Still other descriptor names may not be so obvious but can tell you a lot about the horse. Any horse named Lucky is going to be a real money maker for the clinic because he will be anything but. Gator ... Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:27:26 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/whataname.html It seems that social media is the latest "en vogue" management tool. I have to admit I have been a part of the anti-social media group until recently. I do remind myself that one day my son will be more "techie" than I will be, and that scares me (and ages me). I have always been one who wanted to be as young as I felt and not let the age thing catch up to me. Plus, I want to be considered the "cool" mom by my son's friends. We can all agree that we may not necessarily use all the benef... Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:46:23 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/embracingsocialmediamynewyearsresolution.html I absolutely love this time of year. I love holiday parties, yummy sprinkle bedazzled cookies and all manner of treats, spending time with family and friends, and most especially, I love searching iTunes for new Christmas music to add to my collection. My favorite this year (don't laugh) is Justin Bieber's version of "Little Drummer Boy." Thanks to a background beat reminiscent of Missy Elliot's classic "Work It" and the lyrical genius of Busta Rhymes, it is destined to rival Brenda Lee's "... Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:38:36 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/dontbuypresentsmakememories.html This past weekend, I took my 6 year old son to a tryout for the local youth basketball team. As we were driving there, I was offering him some fatherly advice about how he should approach the tryout; among other things, I was reminding him to show the coaches that he knows how to dribble with both hands (but not at the same time), dive after loose balls, and play "in-your-face" defense. I've always prescribed to the theory that there's always a place on a team for someone who can handle the... Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:14:34 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/listenclosetowhatisaybecausethistypeofstuffhappens.html This holiday season may find most of us preoccupied with what to purchase for our family members and maybe even how in such a bad economy. We have probably formed our list with some ideas for gifts or asked each person on our list what they may want or asked someone else to help with the gift ideas. This year I am finding it especially hard to purchase those gifts, either due to lack of time or lack of funds. I am reminding myself that it is definitely not due to lack of love. I have tak... Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:44:38 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/thegiftoftime.html Though my daughter no longer leaves the "s" out of the word horse, I thought it would be fun to bring back Peyton's mispronunciation to again summarize the AAEP Convention. The weather was thankfully much warmer in San Antonio than last year's meeting in Baltimore. I noticed more than a few hore doctors out enjoying the Riverwalk . The first day started with a great talk on service excellence. The speaker encouraged us to try and look at things from the perspective of the hore owner. I ... Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:53:36 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/thesstillmakesadifference.html Two weeks ago I had a night I won't forget for a while. I was called out to suture a laceration above the eye of a weanling. About the time I got the filly sedated, I got a call for a horse that impaled a T-post between the hind legs and fractured the front leg. I was an hour drive time away so I had another vet go out that was closer. I got the laceration sewn up and was headed home when I got a call for a colic. Luckily I was already close by and got there in a few minutes. The horse w... Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:18:55 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/rattled.html I recently attended a bachelor party for one of my vet school classmates. Don't worry. This is not a version of The Hangover. It was good to see a lot of the guys that I had not hung out with in over six years. Looking at the group I graduated with, it was striking the number of guys that once did equine work who now only practice on small animals. This realization was further compounded by learning two equine practitioners in our practice area have left or are leaving for small animal p... Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:18:27 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/thisso-calledlife.html If I can pass on one piece of wisdom to new veterinarians, it is to always say "no" to the question, "Do you have a dart gun?". There are rare occasions that I really wish I had a dart gun. It sounds fun and adventurous, plus you get to shoot something (hopefully without killing it, of course). It is tempting to be able to say, "It's not a problem that you can't catch your horse, I have a dart gun right here", as opposed to the less exciting "call me when you catch the bronc." In my young... Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:09:13 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/doyouhaveadartgun.html This entry doesn't entail a trailer accident or even a horse for that matter. However, I did want to pay quick homage to Dr. Whitaker's trailer rescue. That's what I consider stick-to-it-tiveness! Instead, it concerns the newest addition to our family: a 3 ½-month-old female German Shorthaired Pointer puppy named Nellie. She first entered our world as an 8- week-old pup in late June, and, after two months, we are now living in her world. She has us completely wrapped around her finger, and t... Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:46:10 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/anothershorttail.html The economy may play some role in this, but I have recently had more clients trying to save money by self-diagnosing. They still want me to treat the horse but for what they (or Google) have determined is wrong and without an exam. Now, there are several approaches one can take to this. You can refuse to work on the horse without doing a full exam first. This is the best way to go. You can also humor the client and let them end up spending more money on needless diagnostics or treatments... Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:03:08 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/itsintheshoulder.html I got a call late in the afternoon last Thursday from the Sheriff's Department. They had a horse down in a trailer and needed me to come sedate it so they could get it out. I arrived to find a 1,200-pound Quarter Horse pinned under a steel divider in the front of an old but freshly painted straight load trailer. The temperature was 107 and the horse had been struggling for a while with multiple lacerations and contusions. I sedated the horse and the fire department began trying to remove... Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:43:46 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/ashorttale.html I recently returned from vacation in Seaside, Florida. This is where the Jim Carrey movie The Truman Show was filmed. I also recently watched the movie The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon. Both of these movies address the issue of free will in different ways and how much of our lives we actually decide. I have heard opposite opinions on the subject, from the opinion that everything we do is predetermined and I don't even choose which kind of toilet paper I buy, to the stance that we are com... Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:47:58 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/thebeaushow.html As I sit here at my desk preparing to write, I become acutely aware of how hilarious it is that I am writing for the "Stable Living" blog when only moments before I had to look at my to-do list lest I forget what it is I am supposed to be doing. So, I am not the poster child for stable and balanced living. I am, however, a card carrying member of the "I am going to do the best I can" club. My guess is several of you also carry that same card. There are 32 items on my list. If you look at... Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:04:25 -0500 http://www.aaep.org/blogs/stableliving/theimportantthings.html