The Value of Time

I received the best advice this week: "The person just does not have regard or value for your time. You need to value everything that time entails"

It made me strongly reconsider the way I value my time and approach  the people I want to interact with: business, personal and beyond. 

Time is not minutes. 

Time is: energy, money, assets (and the "time" that went into the accumulation of assets), worry, strength, fortitude, planning, coordination, sacrifice, backup plans, opportunity, and on and on. 

Time is the most precious resource because once you spend it, you can’t get it back.

People do not know what a person does throughout their day. I have been a tractor mechanic lately and first thing I realized is it took 10x longer than anyone thought it would, no wonder it's expensive to fix your car. From this I learned I must always assume that I don't know how anyone spends their time. 

I have found that many people either underestimate or overestimate how I spend my time, but few see a realistic view. The person who undervalues my time is unfortunately myself. I must value this and stop enabling others to do the same. 

Parrot Mouth: an ongoing observation of Apollonia

Apollonia (named after the patron saint of dentistry) is a cute little APHA paint baby living at Painted Bar Stables. She was the product of a breeding by their stud and a mare in OH. While her body is very well proportioned and her temperament fantastic, at 2 months of age it was noticed that she had developed a terrible parrot mouth. 

Parrot mouths are not a "genetic issue" from one or both parents. They are the result of a genetic incompatibility between parents resulting on mismatched jaw/head or problems with how the jaw naturally ties into the rest of the skeletal structure of the head. Basically, the mare and stallions heads just do not fit together (Reference:http://evds.net.au/article_parrot_mouth.php).

Because the owner of the foal had exclusively bred for halter - and a parrot mouth eliminates a foal from competition - it was decided that Apple would move to NY to become a trail horse at Painted Bar Stables and a long term procedural example and model for Endless Mountain Equine Dentistry. 

Apple will need regular appointments to continue to correct the angles of her teeth and to encourage proper placement of her jaw. While she may never be fully corrected, our goal is to at least restore some occlusion between her incisors. 

Apollonia: progress at 1st dentist appointment (age 7 months, 1 week)

PHOTO 1:The first photo shows Apple's natural alignment at 7 months & 1 week of age. As illustrated in the photo her top incisors protrude nearly 1" past her bottom incisors providing zero contact and occlusion. As a result both sets of incisors have no wear as they grow and are overgrown, giving a "buck tooth" appearance. 

What you cannot see is that the molars are also not aligned either. As a result large hooks have developed on the top front molars (1/6 & 2/6) and large ramps on the lower rear molars (3/8 & 4/8 - the rest of the molars have not yet emerged. The result is that the entire jaw is locked backward. 

PHOTO 2: The second photo is after molars have been treated. All of the molars have been filed and a new angle has been introduced to the entire surface of the molars, shortening the lower rear molars and the upper front molars to encourage the entire jaw to sit further forward. 

After this procedure, there was still a lack of occlusion of the incisors but the overbite was greatly reduced. 

PHOTO 3:The third photo shows the final stage after this first visit. The incisors have been realigned and shortened to their proper length. 

After this was done the jaw now was able to move forward significantly. While there is still a significant overbite, there is finally the beginnings of occlusion as the incisors touch.

MARCH 2014 UPDATE: http://paintedbarstables.blogspot.com/2014/03/parrot-mouth-2-ongoing-observation-of.html