Thoughts? Suggestions?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Senior Paper....thoughts?
Before being allowed to graduate, all DVM candidates must write a paper and then present their topic in front of an audience of professors and whoever else decides to wander in. I've been back and forth about topics, but have finally decided I want to do something endurance related. However, the possibilities within this are endless. I've started the process of researching research to get a feel for what's out there, but the more I see the more interested in EVERYTHING I become.
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5 comments:
Gosh - that is a large topic....Here's a few off the top of my head:
electrolyting. There is so much different information. How often, how much, how to give it (salty water, in food, applesauce, syringing, with a stomach buffer?), the risk of mouth or stomach ulcers etc.
Time in the saddle versus speed. Is there a happy medium between going too fast (minimum time in saddle) and taking the maximum amount of time (LOTS of time in the saddle). Sometimes I feel like a 12 hour 50 is harder on the horse than an 8 hour fifty.
I've always been curious about: during conditioning, is it the miles, or time in the saddle that counts more? During marathon training we were told that distance doesn't matter. As long as you put in the TIME on the conditioning runs (run for 4 hours, run for 3 hours instead of runinning "20 Miles" or "15 miles"), everything would come together on race day. Is it the same for horses? I'm finding it to be so in my one rat study.
Does this mean doing some research in the field?
You're right, there are tons of topics! Good luck finding one.
I'd love to know what the recovery rates are for endurance horses that are shod, barefoot or booted using various types of hoof boots (some with vetwrap). I've been finding that Chief is recovering so much better with Renegades then he did when he used boots with gaiters and vetwrap.
Great suggestions! I'll look into each and let you guys know!
Karen- I don't really get to do any real research other than looking up other peer-reviewed articles or the like. However, I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate a survey or two into my paper that I could bring with me and distribute at rides. I'm a total research geek, though, and am usually a glutton for punishment. :)
Elly
You could come to Tevis (tho you may not have that much time?) and find something that you can do there.
You could calculate out among the finishers versus the non finishers what their previous AERC experience was and their previous rate of travel was. Or find some other significant type of factor contributing to success or failure?
I really like Karen's idea. How about something like recovery /soreness/ energy levels between horses who are ridden with a tree based saddle vs a treeless saddle??
Or , my favorite most recent topic is nutrition. There are tons of topics there..
Wow, the field is wide open
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