Writing Letters

Even in my short career, there have been many times people have asked me to write a letter: to describe a prepurchase exam, to describe something to a farrier, to state the condition of humane cases, etc. So when a client called our practice wanting us to write a letter, it didn't throw up any red flags. However when I arrived on the farm, it was clear to me that this was something different...

As the first order of business, the owner wanted me to palpate a mare that was VERY pregnant. They decided that she was not in fact pregnant because she "shoulda had it by now". Ok. Not the soundest logic, but whatever. I stuck my arm in about wrist deep and confirmed that she was indeed very pregnant. (The fetus was large to say the least.) What was the most striking about the mare is that she was extremely thin. (2-3/9 BCS). This is what they wanted me to write a letter about. Apparently someone had called the Humane Society about this mare due to her condition. They wanted me to write a letter stating she was healthy. I told them I'd write them a letter, but it would not say what they probably wanted it to say.

After talking with them, I found out that this mare (a small Quarter Horse type mare) was bred to a Percheron "by accident". They apparently rescued (I use this term loosely) this stallion as a weanling; it is now 7 years old. They were unaware that it was a stallion and put the mare in the same pasture with it. Apparently they thought the testicles of stallions just fell off at some point during their young life; thus, magically rendering them sterile.

So writing this all down is filling me with rage all over again. At any rate, we had a long discussion about proper feeding, how much hay is adequate, improper breeding, and the birds and the bees of the horse world. These people were just plain ignorant, and unfortunately not interested in learning anymore.

Needless to say, I didn't write any letter. It's better that way.

Back to Work

It was a good weekend. I was not on call and in the next state over showing my own horse. I very rarely get to escape from it all, so it was VERY NICE to do something for me, to not evaluate any other horses, and do something I love. (I keep it a close secret that I'm a horse vet at these shows so I don't get tricked into working on my 'vacation'!) I have a Reining horse who is my pride and joy. I saved up all the money I could to buy her and she is just everything I expected and more.

This is only my second show season showing in the NRHA (National Reining Horse Association) so I'm still not that great at it. Luckily, my horse is really good at it, and often does the right thing even though I consistently tell her to do the wrong thing. She is saintly most of the time! I am learning and she is patient.

This weekend was exciting because we did well enough to win our first NRHA check! Woohoo! The run where we won a check wasn't very good. Lucky for us, everyone else in the class did poorly too--and we just did a little less worse than the rest.

It's always so hard to go back to work after weekends like this that make me forget about real life. First step is to call back all those people who called my cell phone and left non-emergency messages over the weekend. I'm happy to help, but some people just abuse the service of free advice. I'm thinking I'm going to change my cell phone number to a 1-900 number so that they have to input a credit card number before they talk to me and then I charge by the minute. :) I think it would be a great idea!

Welcome! Now don't waste my time!

Alright! I finally can knock this off my bucket list: starting a blog. After spending 4-5 intense days of researching, reading, and following several medicine related blogs (a few from ER doctors, one from a vet), I decided that I could also add to the internet blog-issphere. I have plenty of sarcastic remarks, funny stories, complaints that I could input. So here we go. What the world desperately needs: a blog from an equine veterinarian, finding her way through the world.

I'm going to start with a story that happened today. A message was left for me regarding someone seeking a personal reference. Occasionally we get calls from rescue organizations wanting references for people seeking to adopt a new horse. I called the place back expecting this. After some awkward questions, the caller explained that the reference was for a dietician position for someone who isn't one of our clients. Hmmmm...that's weird. I'll ask Bossman about this. I'll remember that for my next job; put name of someone I don't even know as reference. Recipe for success! Why do people insist on wasting my time??