Post roundup and some other announcements

First up, 2 blog recommendations:

I’m a regular reader of this blog. More than any other book, tutorial, or website, the posts here have helped me understand my camera and how to take pictures of horses. There’s always just enough information to be helpful, not overwhelming, and there’s enough examples of the concept to make it “stick”. My biggest fear is that when I have to replace my camera, they will no longer have a manual setting in the smaller sized camera. The cannon I use is already a discontinued line and the line that replaced it does not have a manual mode. :( http://www.capturethelightphoto.net/2012/03/need-for-speed.html


Excellent article on animal welfare, abuse, and training philosophy. Most of us here are already mugwumps readers, but just in case you haven’t checked out her blog, read this: http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-light-of-some-of-our-recent-mouthy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FhveA+%28mugwump+chronicles%29&utm_content=Google+Reader


Now on to a couple of announcements -


As usual there are too many blog posts to write and not enough time. Thus, some topics that I would love to devote whole posts to that agonize and explain my "feelings", and "doings", and "rationalizations".....end up like this - little paragraphs in a "ketchup" post.


1. Farley is moving Saturday to a boarding situation. It's time to see if it works, especially because the riding situation has turned impossible at my parents - what little piece of decent riding there was has been completely eliminated by the rain. Moving her now means that I'll get to ride more this spring, and I have time to find alternative arrangements, while still having the option of my parent's pasture for a couple of months. In the end the compromise I had to make was the size of the pasture she's in - however she has gained a couple of "roommates", so I think if anything she will move around more even in the smaller space. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time about the move.


2. I'm continuing to refine my career aspirations. I am SUPER interested in behavior, including a possible behavior residency. I'm also leaning more and more in the direction of holistic veterinary medicine...including acupuncture. I came into vet school as the biggest skeptic and it's been a slippery slope....starting with recognizing the value of the barefoot horse. Then moving onto the raw versus kibble debate in dog food. And then.....acupuncture - maybe it isn't as big a tub of hog-wash as I thought or I've been told by some people. Yeah....I'm officially the crazy person in the community.


3. Tess is continuing to do better after her spay. One week post-spay she's still not "normal". She avoids activities that cause her to stretch her abdomen (like standing up on her hind legs) so while I've started to let her run around a little bit (as long as her arousal level remains low so she doesn't overdo it), I've discouraged her from doing anything like tug, fetch, active play etc. I've reached the limit of how long I can keep her confined and quiet, so starting tomorrow I'm going to try doing some activities that are a bit more active, without asking anything that might cause her to overexert herself. So while we will stay away from jumping, handstands, I'm thinking a little bit of tug, fetch, and maybe even some tunnel work is in order.


4. Go over and read this blog (http://avetsguidetolife.blogspot.com/2012/03/getting-rid-of-prescriptions.html) and my comment.  I was going to do a whole rant on this and name some specific medications I especially HATE the fact that are prescription when it's totally hypocritical considering their ingredients are over the counter......but I don't have time and need to move on to more interesting things like the human-animal bond over at Tess's blog, the mixed breed/purebred debate, finishing up my convention comments, what I learned in my behavior block, some product reviews, and Farley's progress towards an LD.  So....I really don't have time for another rant against the status quo......