The Horse's Advocate Podcast: Recent Episodes
Geoff Tucker, DVM
The Horse's Advocate radio show is all about helping horse owners find the missing horse owner's manual of owning and caring for horses. Hosted by Geoff Tucker, DVM (aka "Doc T"), he brings to you wisdom from almost 50 years with horses. But beware - some of this stuff is NOT what you might expect. When the "box to think outside of" was built, he was never included and remained outside! The goal of this show is to Help Horses Thrive In A Human World.
Three articles from the AVMA arrived in my inbox this week:
- Gap shrinks between new graduate, overall veterinary salaries
- Midlevel practitioner proposal secures enough votes in Colorado
- Federal appeals court reverses Texas VCPR ruling
These articles drove me to make this podcast, the third in a series, about horse veterinary care. It emphasizes the need to prevent illness and injuries.
In summary, new vet graduates' mean starting salary (adjusted for inflation) has steadily risen since 2000, while the income of established veterinarians (adjusted for inflation) has not. The educational debt to become a veterinarian has also risen, but the ratio between debt and income on average has fallen due to increasing salaries. However, after removing the 17% with no debt, the debt-to-income ratio is higher and less sustainable.
All veterinarians are young, with 8% older than 65. Thus, the pool of experienced veterinarians to mentor graduates is shrinking.
Colorado approved the development of a midlevel practitioner to "fill the gap" between technician and veterinarian. Almost all veterinary organizations opposed this; however, the voters accepted this idea. Is this different from non-veterinarians already diagnosing and prescribing (dentists, farriers, bodyworkers)? Will this become available in other states? How will this affect the safety and cost of care for our horses?
Texas accused a retired veterinarian of offering advice to a patient via email without first establishing a VCPR (veterinary-client-patient relationship) in person. The federal court overturned the lower court's guilty decision, saying that offering advice by email without a VCPR is a right under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. How will veterinarians and state boards use this decision?
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Forgive me as I rant about veterinary care. This week, I experienced or heard of four events between veterinarians and their owners that have me asking: Are the schools teaching integrity along with veterinary medicine?
There are 13 new vet schools in America, spawning 55,000 more veterinarians in the next decade. Most will go into small animal practice. Driving this growth is a demand for pet owners to access care everywhere and corporate strategies to use more veterinarians at higher salaries to remain competitive. In essence, the forecast is for ample demand for services and a need for more veterinarians to meet this need.
Stepping away from this "supply and demand" model, I now see evidence that integrity is being replaced with a "fix-it" mentality. New veterinary graduates are well-trained in the science of "fixing" an animal's problem; however, are they also advocating for the animal and, importantly, the owner?
Regrettably, the era of the "country vet," who took the time to educate, advise, and console the owner, seems to be fading. The high cost of training and the standardization of care have led to a "cookie-cutter" approach to animal care. This approach, while efficient, may seem superficial to older vets who, though impressed with the knowledge young vets bring to the practice, miss the days of explaining how to prevent problems and advocating for the animal above all else.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Over the next ten years, thirteen new vet schools will be built and accredited by the AVMA to teach and add 55,000 more veterinarians to the existing veterinary colleges and new veterinary graduates.
The expansion of the profession is driven by the growth of corporate-owned veterinary clinics and the aspirations of new veterinary graduates to enhance their quality of life. However, this trend may lead to a twofold outcome: increased cost and decreased quality of veterinary care. The impact is particularly felt by owners of animals other than dogs and cats, who may face more significant challenges in accessing quality care.
80% of new graduates are predicted to enter small animal practice, leaving only 20% for all other animals. Cattle, small ruminants, swine, aquatic animals, zoos, research, government roles, and our horses are left with too few new graduates to replace the steady loss of veterinarians leaving equine practices. However, the ratio of new veterinarians per horse practice diminishes this number, as practices need to employ more veterinarians to meet young professionals' social and financial needs.
For example, to cover a large geographic area with 24-hour care, two to four veterinarians need to be available to allow time off when, in the past, one or two covered it. Additionally, non-veterinary owned (corporate) small animal veterinary clinics offer high salaries that horse practices need to match to retain young employees with high student loans.
The mission of The Horse's Advocate is to help horse owners prevent unnecessary veterinary visits by improving farm and barn safety, improving nutrition, and teaching horsemanship skills. The goal is not to replace veterinarians but to enhance their efficiency so they can attend to horses needing urgent attention.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Perception management is a real industry that affects everyone in every aspect of our lives and our horses. In a spy thriller I'm reading, one man hires a perception management team to turn the world against Russia, causing everyone to purchase more weapons from his arms company while almost ending the world. It's scary stuff but relatable in the news today.
Can someone manipulate our perceptions of horse care for their advantage? Absolutely. The critical question to ask is, "How effective are your current horse care practices?" If the answer is a disappointing "They're not," it's crucial to reconsider your approach and critically evaluate who truly benefits from your methods. This process of critical evaluation is not just necessary, but it's empowering. It will engage you in thoughtful consideration of your horse care practices and a purpose and willingness to change them. However, effort is needed to distinguish good information from bad.
This podcast provides two relatable examples of perception management in horse care: Is 24-hour access to hay good, and should you feed processed foods? By listening to this, you can empower yourself to ask questions and build new strategies to improve your horse care practices. The knowledge you gain from doing so will give you a sense of control over your horse's well-being. I also provide a simple image to illustrate how life is fueled, with advice on managing food intake with energy output. This image of energy flow will help you focus on where change is needed: diet, exercise, or both.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/)
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Horse owners are being told to purchase feed and supplements with the promise of improving everything with their horses. They do this by confusing you, forcing unproven marketing on you, wasting money, and harming horses. This course will empower you to understand more fully what goes on inside the horse, helping you make informed decisions for their care.
I launch the Advanced Equine Nutrition course this month and wanted to give everyone a preview of its content.
Chapter 1 - Energy Balance
Chapter 2 - DNA and Protein Synthesis
Chapter 3 - Determine How Much To Feed Horses
Chapter 4 - Proteins As An Essential Nutrient
Chapter 5 - Fats and Carbohydrates As Non-Essential Nutrients
Chapter 6 - Cell Metabolism Of Glucose And Fatty Acids
Chapter 7 - Lactate As The Universal Fuel
Chapter 8 - Fructose and Its Master Effect On Survival
Chapter 9 - The Addiction Of Sugar
Chapter 10 - Unraveling The Complexities of Stress and Its Impact On Horses
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Understanding glucose and fructose metabolism within the cell and the effect each substrate has on ATP, the energy currency, is not just for advanced horse owners. This knowledge is crucial to anyone caring for horses as it explains why Equine Metabolic Syndrome, Insulin resistance or dysregulation, misbehaving issues, and a generalized unwillingness are prevalent in every aspect of the horse industry.
Fructose is not just a dietary component but also produced in mammals through the Polyol Pathway. Its purpose is to prepare the horse for challenging times like winter. However, when produced throughout the year, fructose metabolism leads to depleted energy within the cell, increased cellular and body inflammation, body fat production, and heightened hunger and aggressive behavior. These are serious issues that every horse owner should be aware of and motivated to address.
Exercise is a key player in reducing the effects of fructose metabolism, but it's not always feasible for many horses. However, controlling fructose intake and the triggers that convert glucose into fructose are practical, effective solutions that every horse owner can and should implement, empowering them to take control of their horse's health.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Stephanie Brown-Beamer is a horse trainer on Long Island, NY, who discovered firsthand ten years ago that a properly fitted bit could resolve horse training problems. This experience motivated her to become trained in fitting a bit to the horse. No, it's not all about math and physics; it's about finding what bit suits the individual horse.
This podcast delves into how Stephanie assesses the horse under saddle, determines the rider's purpose and skill, and then uses her extensive knowledge of science and experience to match that horse to a perfect bit style, shape, and material so that the horse becomes comfortable with it. She also uses science to counter claims that all bits should be avoided; instead, she discusses how a bit can help frame horses to improve their performance while removing pain from improper bits.
From her website: "I strive to always share my in-depth knowledge of bits, bridles and the latest research with each rider with whom I connect, for the betterment of the horse. This is what you can always count on from me."
Stephanie’s website: horsebyhorse.com
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
During my insightful conversation with Merja Sumiloff, we delved into the common thread of emotional blocks from our past that hinder our ability to form meaningful connections with ourselves and our horses. While our experiences may differ, the impact of trauma is a shared human experience. Whether it's a challenging childhood or a difficult relationship, these traumas can create emotional barriers that impede our potential for personal growth and healing.
For instance, my academic journey could have been smoother—I was a mediocre student in high school and a three-time college dropout. However, my experience as a member of our high school football team, which never lost a game, may have instilled in me a determination to succeed. Could these seemingly unrelated events have influenced my eventual graduation from Cornell's vet school?
Merja, with her diverse background, embodies the spirit of self-discovery. Born in Finland, she honed her skills with horses in Ireland and now resides in Australia. She conducts clinics in Finnish and English in person and online, guiding individuals to unearth their horses' hidden strengths and transcend the fear and doubt that often plague horse owners.
The Sumiloff Academy: https://sumiloff.com/
Coaching and mentoring: https://www.merjasumiloff.com/
Her book called “Safe Spaces:” https://www.merjasumiloff.com/safespacesbook
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. For our swag, go to this link: (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Kerry Hayes joins me today. She is a life coach and a business coach who uses horses to accelerate people's ability to find their inner power and confidence. She takes people who know nothing about horses and uses the horses to help them find their true selves. The results can be magical, revealing, and life-changing.
Kerry shares a wealth of insights to help anyone working with horses foster stronger connections with their equine companions and those in their lives. If you're feeling stuck or out of sync with your horse, this podcast is a valuable resource. And if you're ready to take the next step, you can even schedule a session with Kerry.
Kerry's website is: www.experiencingequine.com
The article she mentions about heart rate variability (HRV) is: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/paij/vol1/iss1/5/
She also recommends this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaheenajanjuhajivrajeurope/2024/03/29/unleashing-the-power-of-horses-for-leadership/
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Welcome to this crucial podcast, where I introduce a concept that is not just limited to humans but also affects animals: the ability to convert glucose into fructose within the body. This process is significant as it can have detrimental effects on cells, leading to a range of health and behavioral issues in animals, including horses.
While the chronic metabolic effects of fructose may seem negative (obesity, cognitive decline, inflammation, decreased cell metabolism, and cell death), they serve a survival purpose for animals during times of food scarcity, such as winter. However, in today's world, where sweet-tasting foods rich in fructose are readily available to horses year-round, these effects can lead to serious health issues, including obesity, behavioral problems, illness, and lameness.
The goal of upcoming podcasts is to break up the information on fructose production and metabolism into small, digestible chunks so that all of you listening will quickly understand why fructose, fed or made year-round, causes many problems in our horses. Part 1 introduces the novel thought that horses can make fructose. In the upcoming episodes, I will delve deeper into how glucose becomes fructose, the triggers causing it, and how fructose metabolism lowers energy and drives the degradation of the body.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
On this podcast, Linda and I discussed the basis of all dealings between horses and humans, emphasizing connection at the core, followed by communication and leadership. She also described the other seven parts of her curriculum, which she calls "The World's Best Horse Training Program for You and Your Horse!"
From the website's about page - Happy Horse, Happy Life:
"Linda Parelli is co-founder of Happy Horse Happy Life, Parelli Natural Horsemanship and Pegasus Personal Growth, a dynamic public speaker, and the author of numerous articles, books, courses, DVDs, self-development and equestrian programs including her new Happy Horse training program, How to Talk Horse."
"She is considered the leading female expert on horse psychology based training and mindful riding, empowering her students to be better leaders, riders and communicators with her unique approach to teaching."
When you spend decades working on tens of thousands of different horses, you will eventually learn to connect almost immediately. However, because Linda is a teacher, the path to creating a willing partnership with horses can be shortened through her teachings. As soon as you finish this podcast and get back to your horses, you can use several of the points made in our conversation. So, take some notes as a pro opens up about her life teaching horse owners to find the true meaning of horsemanship.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Geoff Teall, a seasoned horse trainer with an impressive 60 years of experience, has been a client of mine for over half of that time. His expertise is widely recognized in the show jumping community, and if you're not familiar with him, you should be. This discussion is not about the sport of jumping horses but about horsemanship, training, philosophy, and the crucial aspect of feeding horses (hint - he soaks the pony hay for 12 hours).
One thing I know about Geoff is that he genuinely advocates for the horse above all else.
There are several reasons why Geoff joined me for a discussion on horses. In no particular order:
- Placing the horse's health is a primary focus of owning and training horses.
- Competing with horses should be fun, not an obsession with winning.
- Hard work and discipline are the only ways to succeed.
- Mastering the fundamentals is required before advancing.
- Become confident through mastering the basic skills.
- Sugar creates problems in horses, especially ponies.
- Keep things simple in training and caring for horses.
The following are his credentials:
- United States Huter Jumper Association (USHJA) Board of Directors
- USHJA Judges Committee Chairman
- USHJA Officials Education Committee Chairman
- USHJA Trainer's Committee Co-Chairman
- USHJA Trainer's Certification Committee Member
- American Hunter Jumper Foundation President and C0-Founder
He is an R-rated judge for the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), judging for prestigious events, including the Pony Finals, the Pony Medal Finals, the National Horse Show (N.J.), and the Washington International Horse Show (D.C.).
The horses Geoff has trained have achieved remarkable success, winning championships at all the major horse shows. He has shared his knowledge through clinics and judged horse shows both domestically and internationally. Despite his achievements, he remains humble, a quality that is truly admirable.
Geoff is also the author of "Geoff Teall On Riding Hunters, Jumpers And Equitation: Develop A Winning Style."
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
I start this podcast by describing Memorial Day in America, then tie this idea into what is happening in the equine veterinary profession. I only dwell on this briefly because there are more upbeat things to discuss, such as the Klotho protein.
The Klotho protein was discovered from an experimental failure and found in all animals. This protein, made up of one thousand amino acids, is primarily produced by the kidneys. A portion of it is then released from the cell, acting as a hormone that can influence cells in distant locations, including the brain.
Klotho affects platelets, causing them to release PF4, one of many platelet factors. PF4 stimulates the brain's synapses in 4 hours, causing a profound increase in cognitive functions lasting for 19 days or more after administering it to mice and primates. The hope is that giving this protein will reduce or eliminate cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease in humans.
An even more exciting result is the reduction of "all-cause mortality" in mice and primates after raising the amounts of Klotho. Could this also be true in horses? The best way to increase Klotho is exercise, which causes a 30% increase. Feeding adequate amounts of high-quality protein may also help increase Klotho.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Building muscle in horses is a two-stage process. Many horse owners expect results when applying only one factor. This podcast shows that ignoring one of these factors results in poor muscle formation.
In the first stage, the key is to prioritize protein in the horse's diet, particularly the amino acid leucine. Leucine, a branch-chain amino acid, plays a pivotal role as a signaling molecule when it attaches to the mTOR receptor on muscle cells. This crucial process alerts the muscle that the necessary materials for muscle building are available. Understanding this, horse owners can better cater to their horse's nutritional needs, knowing that the right protein, high in leucine, is essential for effective muscle formation.
Step two is to add exercise to the horse to build muscle fibers. More importantly, this also consumes the excess glucose in the diet. Exercise decreases the need to convert the free amino acids into glucose, thus preserving the pool of recycled amino acids.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
There is a turf war between veterinarians and non-veterinarians, both wanting to provide horses with preventive dental care. It started in the late 1990s and has gained protection behind laws meant to protect horse owners. But is there proof that any approach to floating is better than another? Or is it just positioning based on territorialism? I used the following script to make this podcast, but I also added to it freely to emphasize several points.
This podcast is more formal than usual because I am reading a script I wrote in response to a graduate of my dentistry school challenged by the Veterinary Medical Association of her area. She is a non-veterinarian working in equine dentistry. Most of the United States allows individual states to determine what a profession is, and most states broadly state that veterinarians are the ones to perform medicine, surgery, and dentistry on any animal. This statement includes fish, reptiles, birds, and any other animal other than humans. It is the prerogative of the veterinary board to investigate anyone who does any work on any animal in their state. However, routine care of animals, including preventive medicine, is usually avoided. You can purchase and administer vaccines and dewormers, adjust angles on hooves, apply therapeutic shoes, prepare any mixture of medicinal supplements, breed horses, deliver foals, apply linaments, clip the hair of horses not shedding, splint crooked legs of foals, adjust bones, massage muscles, use red light, PEMF, and a dozen more things to a horse without being a veterinarian. But you cannot remove the unworn parts of the cheek teeth in horses, digging their sharp edges into the tongue and cheeks and causing pain with every movement of their jaw and tongue.
I have been training veterinarians and non-veterinarians in the technique of Horsemanship Dentistry. My definition of this form of working on the teeth of horses is as follows:
1) Removing sharp points from horses' cheek teeth by filing them to a smooth edge is commonly called "floating teeth" but is also known as odontoplasty. The root cause of most dental problems is pain in the tongue and cheeks caused by sharp enamel points. Therefore, routine maintenance of the horse's teeth removes pain from these sharp points. Secondary to the removal of sharp points is finding pathology and addressing this.
2) Administering sedatives to horses for routine floating is unnecessary; instead, horsemanship skills are used for 97% of horses (from annual data consistent over the past decade). The remaining 3% are horses that are reactive to pain, fear the process, or have a painful procedure done, such as extracting a fractured cheek tooth. With those, I administer pain and anxiolytic medications.
My name is Geoff Tucker, and I am a veterinarian who graduated from The New York State College of Veterinary Medicine (Cornell) in 1984. I have worked professionally with horses since 1973, starting on a Saddlebred farm in Ohio and moving to a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm in New York that same year. I completed my undergraduate degree at Cornell University in 1979 and graduated from veterinary school in 1984. In my autobiography, I tell my story: "Since The Days Of The Romans; My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses." It's available on Amazon, and I have also read it here on "The Horse's Advocate Podcast."
While in veterinary school, my mentor told me the importance of maintaining horses' teeth. With him, I floated my first horse in 1983 and made this a part of my practice in 1984. Since then, I have logged the number of horses I have worked on or who I have taught. In February 2024, I recorded my 80,000th horse. But I always continued learning about horses' teeth and oral cavities. I have attended many continuing education courses offered by veterinary professional organizations in person or online.
The New York State Equine Practice Committee invited me to join them in 1996. The reason for this invitation to the board, they told me, was because I performed more dental care on horses in NY than any other vet at that time, and veterinarians were becoming interested in claiming this aspect of horse care for themselves. Non-veterinarians did much more, including all the racehorses at Belmont, Aqueduct, and Saratoga. As one board member stated, this discrepancy between veterinarians and non-veterinarians floating horses was because no good horse vet has time to add floating teeth to their busy schedule. There was one practitioner on the board who, at that time, was stating that only veterinarians should be floating horse teeth. I and the others were somewhere in the middle of these two thoughts. We could not reach a consensus, and we dropped the discussion, knowing it would require much more work than anyone wanted to do for an issue being done well by non-veterinarians.
The interest of the practice committee and the NY veterinary board came from the introduction of sedation and power floating equipment, and veterinarians started claiming their position from the non-veterinarians to broaden their base. There was no discussion that a non-veterinarian was less able to float teeth, nor were non-veterinary dentists cheating owners with poor quality of service. Cases of lapses in integrity came from both sides, mainly because floating horse teeth is hard work and requires horsemanship skills, and visualization of the finished float by the horse owner is within the depths of the mouth.
In 1999, I attended the Ocala Equine Conference, where a non-veterinarian spoke about filling cavities in horses' cheek teeth. I was shocked when he stated, without any evidence, that horses would live, on average, five years longer if we all started performing this procedure. This same man was later banned from working on horses in several states, became the president of the IAED (International Association of Equine Dentistry), and became the director of equine dentistry at the University of California - Davis veterinary school. While this non-veterinarian was working at this vet school teaching veterinary students, he caused injury to a client's horse. According to her (she emailed and called me all of this information), the man was sued, and then he and the director of the veterinary hospital who had hired him were fired from the school.
On another front, a non-veterinary equine dentist taught non-veterinarians how to float teeth in South Dakota in the late 1980s and 1990s. He was vocal that veterinarians should not be allowed in the horse's mouth because they had no training. His voraciousness upset the veterinary board, forcing him to leave the state and reestablish his school in Idaho.
Throughout the turf battle of who should be allowed to float teeth, I continued to apply and improve my skills throughout New York. In 1984, no textbooks on equine dentistry were available except one written by a non-veterinarian: "Sound Mouth, Sound Horse," by Ed Gager (published in 1983). Toward the end of the century, more veterinarians started to stand for horse owners' protection by demanding that only veterinarians work on horses' teeth. More textbooks by veterinarians came in 1998 through 2011, but few have come since. In the United Kingdom, veterinarians and non-veterinarians made up an exam so that non-veterinarians passing the exam would be listed officially and allowed to float horse teeth.
In 2002, I flew to Glasgow, Scotland, to attend the annual BEVA (British Equine Veterinary Association) conference, which focused on horse dentistry. I attended because of this subject, but I was one of only two veterinarians interested in equine dentistry traveling from the United States to attend. When the conference coordinator heard about my presence, she arranged for me to have a one-on-one lunch with Professor Paddy Dixon of the Veterinary College at Edinborough, Scotland. He has authored or co-authored more published papers and textbooks on Equine Dentistry and the teeth of horses than anyone. He presented the Frank J Milne State Of The Art lecture to the AAEP (American Association of Equine Practitioners), the highly prestigious, invitation-only lecture, where he discussed the evolution of the horse and equine dentistry. The interest could have been better, as seen by the mostly empty seats in the 1000+ seat lecture hall. The following day, he joined a panel discussing equine dentistry, which maybe had 80 people attending. Only the best get invited to give this talk at the AAEP conference, yet very few attended. This is because (then and now) only a few equine veterinarians are interested in equine dentistry. Let me address this.
There is a crisis in equine veterinary medicine, where only 1.4% of all veterinary graduates in the United States (58 out of 4000 in 2023) go into a practice limited to horses. Of these, 50% quit within five years (these statistics are found on the AAEP and the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) websites. The number of new veterinarians entering horse practices is less than those leaving, and the AAEP and the AVMA are moving fast to entice new graduates to join our ranks and, more importantly, stay. They do this by increasing the starting salaries, among other incentives. The cost of employing veterinarians or maintaining the horse practice places more pressure on owners to generate an income. Some look to dentistry to help with their profits, which is a good plan, but there are drawbacks.
One of the first hurdles to becoming good at equine dentistry is becoming good at doing this. It is a skill that takes time to improve and becomes more challenging when the patient moves or objects. The solution for many is to sedate the horse automatically, doing nothing for the pain they are experiencing. Is this the best option for the horse? How does any medication affect horses that are healthy or who have underlying conditions, such as metabolic syndrome or gut ulcers? All medicines, such as antibiotics, antiinflammatories, and sedatives, cause a change in the gut microbiome (dysbiosis), leading to malabsorption and even ulceration. Would a technique that floats the horse while minimizing their pain without medication be better?
Another hurdle is the lack of scientific evidence proving the causation between any dental disease espoused by the American Veterinary Dental College—Equine and their solution. For example, recently, a board-certified veterinary equine dentist suggested that removing all incisor teeth is an acceptable treatment for a disease (EOTRH) they don't have a cause for, nor any proof that tooth removal is more than palliative. Worse, alternative options with a history of helping these horses are not only not mentioned but laughed at publically, as I heard several times at the AAEP meeting with Dr Dixon—laughed at!
An even more complex problem exists in areas where only veterinarians are allowed to float teeth. This limitation prevents horse owners from choosing what is best for their horses without evidence of a superior technique (hand floating without medication versus power equipment on restrained and sedated horses). Many owners do not want their horses automatically drugged, often to the point that they fall to the ground. They don't want their horses immobilized through medications, speculums, braces, stocks, and helpers holding their heads. However, with the restrictions imposed by government regulations, the horse owners have only three choices:
- They don't have their horses' teeth maintained.
- Suffer through a technique they don't like.
- Ship their horses to a place where floating is legal.
This last choice places a financial and time burden on the horse owner and increases the horse's risk. The first choice neglects the pain the horse suffers from sharp teeth but addresses the suffering the owner goes through as their horse becomes an object. Further, what if the horse owner feels that the veterinarian isn't good at this job? They can't mention this observation because there are too few veterinarians willing to come to their farm as it is without offending the floating veterinarian with their concern about their competency. Worse, many veterinarians include dentistry in their annual wellness visit, forcing the techniques veterinarians use on the horse and owner because of the discount given for the wellness visit package.
In other words, forcing horse owners to use a veterinarian for routine dental maintenance performed for over 100 years by non-veterinarians is unfair to owners wanting to use a time-tested approach to dentistry for their horses. But let's look at time-tested, observational, anecdotal evidence and ask if it is better or worse than peer-reviewed, randomized, controlled trials (RCT). The first thing to do is find quality RCT papers in equine dentistry; none are available. Quality comes from various factors including, but not limited to, confounding variables, the power of the study (how many horses), the statistical analysis (significance), and bias of the subjects and the study in general.
The papers and texts I read on dentistry in horses published in veterinary journals or presented at veterinary conferences are mostly case reports or collections of case reports to establish a pattern. These collections often have dozens to hundreds of horses nicely grouped by age, breed, or pathology. Occasionally, an RCT appears with 10 to 20 horses selected due to age or breed, and an attempt to show causality made using poorly formed statistics for all horses on the planet. It is ridiculous to think that a dental disease studied in Thoroughbreds stabled at a race track eating pounds (kilos) of grain will have any association with the outcome of horses living in another country fed differently with a different use.
No RCTs determine the long-term outcomes of floating teeth using any technique. This statement means no person can accurately say what is best for horses regarding their dental care. All there is is anecdotal evidence and observational studies. Yet, in the past 25 years, no governing body has asked me to contribute my accumulated knowledge from 41 years of looking at 80,000+ horses. Instead, they say I do not "fit the standard of practice," according to a handful of people unwilling to find the answers needed to help the horse. These same few people determine the laws based on no scientific evidence of what they say.
There are good and bad equine dentists, regardless of having a degree in veterinary medicine. What counts is experience, but more importantly, sharing this experience. I have done so since 2007 on all social media platforms, several websites, and my podcast. Horse owners know there are other approaches to dentistry, but because of laws, they cannot use them. Veterinarians are worried about their practice, either in the solvency or their credibility, if non-veterinarians float teeth. However, we became horse vets to help horses, and we can do this by using non-veterinarians to be our eyes on the dental issues of the horses we care for. Legislation in the US states where non-veterinarians are allowed to work on horses' teeth states that they only use hand floats and do not give any medications. Allowing them to work frees up the veterinarian's time. They can even be part of the practice, bringing in a portion of that income without the time needed to perform the routine float. With training, non-veterinarians are sentinels for further problems, and the veterinarian can apply the training and skills required to address the pathology. This approach of working together becomes a win-win for the horse, the horse owner, the non-veterinary floater, and the veterinarian. Further, in an age where the supply of equine veterinarians is shrinking, and their location of care is focused on urban areas, the following can occur:
- Horse owners will be more willing to provide their horses with the necessary routine care, which is a win for horses.
- More people can make a living income in the horse industry by providing horse maintenance, which farriers have done.
- The vet can employ a non-veterinarian to increase their income by offering floating through their practice. The owner can choose between the non-veterinarian's hand floating or the veterinarian's "advanced" approach.
- The horse owner can feel confident that if pathology is discovered by the routine floating, the veterinarian can follow up.
After 51 years of working with horses and 41 years of floating their teeth, it is becoming evident that the turf battle between the veterinarian and the non-veterinarian over who should be floating horses is doing nothing but making it difficult for horse owners to get the routine care they need. We can create a better solution for our horses if we all start working together. More horse vets are needed, especially in rural areas, to provide basic care, but the number of them is growing smaller. Owners cannot afford the time or money to ship their horses to a clinic for this routine care, and they don't have the skills, and possibly the physical ability, to float horses. Horsemanship dentistry is teachable and can be done effectively without medication. I know this because of my experience with the number of horses I have floated and the success of students learning this technique.
A simple fact about horses' teeth remains: If a horse is chewing, the teeth need doing (floating). With the decline in available horse vets in rural areas, their work is spread thin among the horse population. Non-veterinarians are performing a needed service, and veterinarians can learn to work with them as they have with other non-veterinary horse professionals. They are not there to diagnose, but as primary service providers with eyes and ears, they can help promote the local veterinarian for things they are well trained for.
This podcast is about sugar as a fuel for our horses to use when it's needed to run away from danger. However, I also tell the story of the risks of eating more sugar daily than is required to fuel the body.
The first thing to know is that the body can make all the sugar needed to make it through the day. Adding sugar to food is required for only two things: replenishing stored sugar as glycogen for the next emergency and storing it as body fat for future use. Think of it as cash that you have either quick access to on a bank debit card (glycogen) or cash stored in a long-term asset requiring time to get, such as stocks or property (body fat). Further, think of using fat as fuel steadily released from body fat into the cell, like dividends automatically deposited into your bank.
When sugar is released freely into the blood or cells, it sticks to proteins, preventing them from doing their jobs and causing damage. Over time, this damage will cause the demise of the cell and the horse.
So why are you still feeding grain and giving hay 24/7?
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast breaks down how to feed horses into five simple rules based on what the food does, good and bad, within the horse. It is a short discussion that avoids a deep dive into science. Instead, it is a to-the-point instruction set for those wondering why their horses are falling apart in front of their eyes and what they can do to help the horse survive.
There are no gimmicks or supplements. If your horse is sick or lame, there is a strong chance it has been caused by the food they eat. I tell you in the first part my five rules for feeding horses. After this, if you want to understand why I made these rules, I lightly go into the science. Future podcasts will go deeper into details to strengthen your ability to share what works for your horses with those still feeding the foods that make them unsound, unhealthy, or both.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast provides an alternative perspective to an interview published in an equine veterinary magazine with a board-certified veterinary equine dentist about EOTRH (Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis). I am troubled by what was said.
Professionals are skipping to conclusions in a world demanding scientific evidence for decision-making on health issues. Worse, their focus is on treating this disease while saying multiple times that the cause is still unknown. In addition, alternative views are ignored and never mentioned, while there is good anecdotal evidence of many more cases of this disease.
I hold nothing back but often become speechless. After 41 years of working on horse teeth, I have some thoughts that need airing, and I do so here.
This podcast discusses the basics of breeding the mare and delivering the newborn foal.
The number one rule of getting your mare bred is to develop good daily observational skills and record what you observe. This will show the subtle signs needed to get your mare bred successfully. The next most important thing to do is to create a good working relationship with a veterinarian skilled in reproduction.
Delivering mares requires no intervention 90% of the time. However, you should still attend because they will need help for the remaining 10%. Of these problematic births, one will be life-threatening for the mare, foal, or both. I discuss how and when to intervene and when you need to call your veterinarian.
This podcast discusses two significant thoughts about equine veterinary medicine. The first is the breadth and scope of veterinary medicine, which is so much more than just horses. This is evidenced by my discussion of all the articles presented in this month's Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA). The second is that most new veterinary graduates are being trained for and applying to small animal medical practices.
Horse owners have two responsibilities: first, to prevent disease and lameness in their horses, and second, to nurture their relationship with their veterinarian.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
This podcast discusses a comment by a listener who likes what I'm saying but doesn't like to feed herself or her horses anything genetically modified or treated with chemicals. All of us will agree with her. But is it possible in today's world?
Is avoiding these two criteria (GMOs and chemicals) important relative to other factors, such as chronic protein deficiency? What can we control with the care of horses, and what is beyond our control? Most horse foods are altered and treated worldwide, keeping production costs low, yields high, and making horse food affordable. However, removing processed food with multiple ingredients from your horses' diet decreases exposure to GMOs and chemicals and removes their inflammatory effects.
We need to work with what is given to us to make choices about feeding horses. Realize what is in our control and exclude things beyond it. Evolution perfected horses, but not for today's world. If you can find and afford organically grown food or turn them out on chemically free and ancient seeded pasture, then do so. But if you cannot, remove what you can from your horses' diet to reduce inflammation and add high-quality protein. The benefits of feeding to follow their evolution outweigh the effects of feeding imperfect food.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
In this podcast, I discuss two diseases that affect horses: Kissing Spine, which involves the overriding spinous processes, and peripheral vestibular disease, which is discussed at about the 16 to 17-minute mark.
Kissing Spine is a relatively new condition discovered thanks to advancements in X-ray technology. The images show abnormal bone on and between the upright vertebrae spines. However, some veterinarians question the significance of finding these lesions on the X-ray of the thoracolumbar spines as the cause of pain in the horse. According to a new paper, lesions seen on X-rays may be developmental in young horses and not necessarily a result of weight placed on the horse's back.
Peripheral vestibular disease causes a head tilt, one drooping ear, one half-closed eyelid with an unconstricted pupil, and a nose drawn to one side. There are several potential causes, the most common being "idiopathic," which means the cause is unknown. Fortunately, advancements in diagnostic technology are providing more information to identify the underlying cause.
While advanced technology is critical to understanding equine health, it is essential to use it cautiously to avoid accepting visible differences as causal. Just because we observe them does not necessarily mean that they are problematic. Sometimes, we need to look elsewhere for the root cause of the issue.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Many people face difficulties in convincing horse professionals such as vets and farriers to consider alternative approaches to horses' health. These professionals tend to resist change, making it uncomfortable to persuade them to adopt new ideas.
I have recorded a podcast to discuss a book on horse health that was written over a hundred years ago in 1916.
During the podcast, I read some paragraphs from the book and encouraged the listeners to question why certain diseases occur in horses. By taking a historical and worldwide perspective on horse health, we can gain a better understanding of how to prevent and limit disease and lameness.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Published March 13, 2024
The First Law in my book, The Ten Irrefutable Laws Of Horsemanship, states, "A Horse Can Kill You." They are quicker and more muscular than humans, with clubs at the end of each limb. My original mentor, John Steiner, DVM, was killed by a horse while he was working on a stallion after his retirement. This week, two horses tried to add me to the list of fatalities caused by horses.
But they didn't.
This podcast is about why they didn't, how I use the knowledge of the brain, and how both horses and humans think to connect and prevent a disaster. It might be refreshing, or it might be something you have heard before but need help understanding. Either way, it is how I have learned to connect with horses I've never seen before and, within 30 seconds, start floating their teeth without medication. What I do can be used today by you without any other gear. It is all in the way you think.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Published March 6, 2024
Feeding grain and processed feeds and supplements are killing our horses, yet these companies continue advertising to horse owners in all the horse magazines. However, with the Spring 2024 issue of The Horse, I discovered there were no ads for these foods, except for three supplements. Why? Because this issue focuses on equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). How can they do this and simultaneously promote the cause of EMS?
They can't!
Kudos to this magazine for taking a stand. It is the start of Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World™, and I am grateful. I discuss the article and add other ideas that will interest all owners, including metabolic flexibility, a description of the batteries within all cells, and a brief discussion using physics to explain why athletic horses do not need an extra 200 pounds (about 100kg).
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
February 21, 2024
I floated my 80,000th horse this week since my first one in May 1983. I include horses I helped in training others and a low estimate of the numbers I did from 1983 to 1997. So, if you want to be picky, you can reduce this to about 65,000 horses.
But this podcast isn't about me and the enormous amount of horses I've seen for dental care. It is, instead, a call for help for the profession to start listening to horse owners who want their horses treated with respect and themselves fairly. They want dental care for their horses based on evidence, on one hand, and on the other hand, what is in the best interest of their horses.
There will never be randomized, controlled studies with enough horses and without bias done over long enough periods to answer, with a reasonable degree of specificity, the questions asked by horse owners: is what we do necessary and not harmful?
We do, however, have anecdotal evidence that has accumulated over a long time with many horses: 80,000 horses in 41 years. The purpose of this podcast is to say that while there is no proof of the causation of specific dental conditions in horses, abundant observations show strong correlations. With the AVMA pronouncing February as Pet Dental Month, horses (and all farm animals) are not mentioned. This absence is not encouraging.
Many horse owners want an alternative to what their veterinarian offers for the dentistry of their horses. I worry that the horses will go with no dentistry if they decline the advanced dentistry techniques of the veterinarians, who cannot offer both styles. This decision may not be an issue with the declining number of veterinarians electing to work with horses.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
I attended the 2024 Ocala Equine Conference for my continuing education credits. While attendance is mandatory for maintaining my veterinary license, I have always found that these meetings fall short of inspiring me to learn. Instead, they help confirm that I am on the right track in bringing current information to you, the horse owner, while also generating more questions for me to investigate.
In this podcast, I cover three topics discussed at this convention: free fecal water syndrome, ultrasonography of the equine tendon sheaths, and equine asthma. Each topic was informative, helping at a basic level with terminology and mechanics. But I add to the discussions to give you more depth and clear conclusions that will help your horses.
Join me as I review my notes and add more in-depth details to bring relevance to horse owners and Help Horses Thrive In A Human World™.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
The first six weeks of 2024 have the highs of positive comments about horse owners changing the way they care for their horses, with them seeing positive results, and the lows of horse owners on the point of frustration because they can't get the care they need. The lift I get from those who have found my information helpful is the fuel to keep me going. However, in the past seven days, several stories have come to me describing ineffective care, advice, and even outright inability to get anyone to visit a farm with a horse needing care.
My podcast examines what might be happening and where to assign the blame. If you are listening to this podcast, please look at the images in the show notes or listen to my description of the paintings.
You may be surprised at who I blame, so don't get upset if I mention you in the run-up to my conclusion. As always, thank you for listening or watching. If you want to be part of the solution, pass on this information.
above - Veterinary care for a horse in 1895
above - Veterinary care for a horse in 2005
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
When used to understand nutrition, "calories in equals calories out" is the message of the First Law Of Thermodynamics. Everything on Earth, including horses, abides by this law; however, many factors affect both sides of the equation. It makes sense because every horse responds differently to the foods eaten and the amount of work done. Identifying the factors affecting a horse's response to what they are fed starts with understanding this law.
I offer the vision of "adjusting the dials" when feeding individual horses, but this concept is lost in modern technology. Computers automatically adjust factors in engineering, such as automobiles. However, when feeding horses, what kind and how much going in will be balanced with their overall health by systems within the horse. Adjusting the food and its associated inflammatory factors will positively or negatively affect these systems. It is one example of the many "factors" affecting both sides of the "calories in equals calories out" equation.
Helping to understand this complex concept, I use a simple banking analogy called the balance sheet: money in versus money out. Having too little makes painful problems, but having too much can too. Balancing the stress of taxes and excess work associated with more income offsets the extra work involved in maintaining what the money buys. To this point, horse owners work harder and longer to create the extra cash for the care of horses (or eat more food to build body fat reserves), while enjoying the use of the horse requires time and energy in training and competing (diet and exercise to maintain the ideal weight).
Adding the work needed to keep both sides close to balance is a lifelong challenge for all things, including our horses. The better we do this, the healthier our horses will be.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Stress comes in two parts: the immediate response from the adrenal glands with adrenaline and the longer-lasting response from the adrenals with cortisol. There are specific reasons all mammals (humans and horses) have these stress systems: life is stress-filled.
In the past, stress factors were much less frequent, so the body had a chance to "reset." Unfortunately, in today's world, the effect of continuous stress adds to the "set point," causing it to rise with the result that more cortisol circulates in the body. This higher level affects systems, causing increased appetite, body fat storage, and muscle degradation. Over time, obesity occurs along with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), muscle wasting, lameness, hoof problems, immune suppression and autoimmune diseases, and other ailments commonly seen today.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast continues the simplification of one of the 7 "things" placed into our horses. These are air, water, minerals, various plant compounds, sugar, protein, and fat. The last two podcasts covered sugar and fat. Today, I discuss protein in the diets of horses.
Proteins are the most important of all the ingredients that horses need besides air and water. When planning horse diets, you must determine how much protein is required before adding carbohydrates and fats. This podcast explains what proteins are and why it is essential to start here.
Using a protein-first approach to feeding your horses, you are arming them to fight disease, illness, and lameness; all of these will end your horse's usefulness prematurely or worse. High-quality protein is the key to giving horses a healthspan and improving your return on your investment.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast continues the simplification of one of the 7 "things" placed into our horses. These are air, water, minerals, various plant compounds, sugar, protein, and fat. The last podcast covered sugar, and the next podcast will cover protein. Today, I discuss fat in the diets of horses.
Where do horses naturally get their fat in their diets? Is adding fat to the diet good for horses? What exactly is fat, the Omega fats, and how do fats get from the gut or the fat cells to the muscle cells for use? I answer these questions to clarify the confusing information we all get from the noise of experts and marketing.
In a nutshell, horses get their fat from the cellulose they eat. If allowed to migrate over great distances, I'm sure there are other sources, such as oils from grains eaten in a short growing season. But when fed only pasture and hay, horses do very well in making what they need from the bacterial digestion of cellulose.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
PLEASE NOTE AN ERROR AT 32 minutes and 25 seconds: I said (and wrote) pyruvate, but I meant to say PROPIONATE as one of the short chain fatty acids.
Welcome to 2024! This year, I aim to break down all the details of what we feed our horses into bite-sized, easy-to-digest pieces of information. Based on feedback, when we get an overload of information, only parts stick in our memories and knowledge base. When challenges, either by ourselves or others asking questions about what we've learned, our memory fails.
This podcast is the first in a series that starts this process. I take one of the seven things placed inside the horse - sugar - and I define it and then discuss its relationship to the other things placed in the horse. Future podcasts will do the same for fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins. Later, I will bring these concepts together and look at how they work in our horses (metabolism) both on the cell level and the whole body.
If I do this correctly, everyone will have the information to feed horses in a way that will help them thrive. But only some people need the details to think that what I say makes sense. They "get it" but may not be able to defend it. These podcasts will help those who want to spread the information to others, and this is as important as helping your horses because there are so many more horses out there waiting to hear this message.
Let me leave you with what my client said yesterday, after switching over to a no-grain diet plus soybean meal eight months ago, "all of my horses are happier, fitter, healthier, coats are beautiful, weights look consistently perfect, and the performance has been nothing but fantastic!" Let's get this message out to others. Thank you for watching or listening. Doc T
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast is a mix of two subjects. The first subject concerns oral care and teeth health in horses. I go over a paper about peripheral carries, which is the decay of the outer edge of the cheek teeth near the gum line. I explain how the tooth is demineralized (loses minerals) as the pH of the oral cavity changes by the food and water consumed.
I also looked at two related papers. One goes over the prevalence of EOTRH (a disease of the jaw, incisors, and canine teeth of horses) in Icelandic horses living in Germany, and the other paper discusses the incidence of oral health of the incisors and canines of Icelandic horses residing in Iceland, their natural environment.
The second subject of this podcast is understanding the scientific method of reporting studies and the interpretation and further questioning I have after reading them. It requires a mind willing not to take things at face value. There is no right or wrong to my interpretations. However, I make a clear point: reading scientific papers requires a lot of thought. Being spoon-fed information gets us all in trouble while thinking “outside the box” creates more questions than answers. Through better questioning, better solutions evolve.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
James Belden, DVM, is a quiet horse vet who became a friend when I helped him find the Hertz car rental facility at Newark airport on a cold January day in 2006. From that serendipitous meeting, James became a mentor and kindred spirit. He is my colleague with more horse experience than I can imagine with all types of horses and veterinary cases.
James worked with horses on the farm as a boy and moved quickly through school, graduating from Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1964. For over 31 years, he helped Thoroughbreds compete at the New York race tracks, working with some of the best and famous. He left the racing world and moved to South Florida, where he and his wife built Left Bank Equine, a farm for rehabilitating horses, and a thriving sport horse practice.
Today, at 83 years of age, Dr Belden is riding reining horses and specializing in "project horses." He took some time to sit with me to discuss a variety of subjects you all will find interesting. Whenever James and I meet on a farm, time stops as we talk endlessly about horses and veterinary medicine. Sharp as a tack and with deep knowledge over more years than most, he offers his thoughts on today's approach to horse care. He agreed to spend his time tonight as we would on any farm on any day. Our live audience had questions for him, and he gave his best thoughts based on a world of experience few other vets can match.
This discussion took place at a "Rounds With Doc T" meeting available to members of The Horse's Advocate (TheHorsesAdvocate.com). Attendees were able to ask questions throughout our time together. It's on this podcast for all to hear worldwide because Dr. Belden's knowledge is worth sharing with everyone.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I have a special message at the end of this podcast, but the essence of it is this - I am thankful for each person who takes the time to listen to my podcast and then share it with others. Together, we all will Help Horses Thrive In A Human World!
I ran across a brief article filled with so much misinformation about dentistry in horses and its relationship to their nutrition that I had to pick it apart. Join me on this quick rant about science (or the lack thereof) and the efforts of its findings to mislead horse owners about their horses' care. I then added the dental report that came with a horse I saw today. The bottom line is this: Floating teeth is all about removing oral pain from horses, nothing more.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Here are the lectures covered on this day.
1) A Review Of A Novel Treatment For Equine Osteoarthritis: Intra-articular 2.5% Polyacrylamide Hydrogel - Megan Green, DVM - A product manufacturer presented this talk. She described using a registered medical device injected into the joints of horses (and humans) that helps cushion the concussion and provides a scaffolding for cartilage repair.
2) Diagnosis Of PPID In Practice - Dianne McFarlane, DVM - "This is a dopaminergic neurodegenerative disease." You must have clinical signs despite the blood work. It is a catabolic disease, so the horse must be losing weight: these and other tidbits.
3) Prevention Of Endocrinopathic Laminitis By IDing ID - Dianne McFarlane, DVM - She discusses how insulin is involved in laminitis, though it raises some questions about other causes. Testing, including the oral glucose tolerance test and others, are discussed. Prevention and treatment are also touched on.
4) Treating Equine Endocrine Disease: Is There Anything New? - Dianne McFarlane, DVM - Diet, metformin, and SGLT2 inhibitors are discussed.
5) Vitamin E For Horses: What Veterinarians Need To Know - Kelly Vineyard, PhD - The diseases of vitamin E in horses are discussed, along with familiar dietary sources for horses. She promotes a Purina balancer product, explaining why all horses should be fed this supplement.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Here are the lectures covered this day.
1) Relevance Impact of Common and Lesser Characterized Respiratory Viruses Associated With Upper Airway Disease. Nicola Pusterla, DVM. Identifying common viruses and separating them from the common bacterial infections of the upper airway is the main focus of this talk. Discussion includes Equine Herpes Virus 1&4, 2&5, Equine Influenza Virus, Equine Rhinitis Virus, and the bacteria Strep equi. Prevention is touched on.
2) Coronavirus In Horses: Any Reason To Panic? Nicola Pusterla, DVM. Whether horses can get or give Sars-CoV-2 from or to humans is discussed. The Equine Coronavirus, unlike Covid-19, affects the gastrointestinal tract. Should we worry about this?
3) Protozoal MuloWHAT? Updates You Must Know. Nicola Pusterla, DVM. Equine Protozoal Myelitis (EPM) is one of 3 protozoal diseases horses can be affected by. How they are differentiated and treated, and preventive measures are discussed.
4) Gait Deficits Associated To The Cervicothoracobrachial (CTB) Syndrome - Jean-Marie Denoix, DVM - This part of the spine includes the neck and vertebrae near the withers. It also includes the forearm area, specifically the innervation of the forelimb and the relative position of these nerves to the vertebra and the 1st rib.
5) Gait Deficits Associated To Thoracolumbar Conditions - Jean-Marie Denoix, DVM - This part of the spine is the collection of the vertebra between the front limbs and the hind limbs. He discusses Spondylosis and Kissing Spine.
6) Gait Deficits Associated To Sacroiliac Injuries - Jean-Marie Denoix, DVM - The discussion revolves around injuries to the pelvis and its connection to the spinal vertebra and the associated neurologic damage.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Here are the lectures covered on this day.
1) Why Understanding Injury Pathogenesis Is Important, Chris Kawcak, DVM. He first discusses why understanding injury is essential, then moves to define lameness versus asymmetry. The problem is predicting the outcome for individual horses.
2) Using What We Know To Influence Injury Prevention, Chris Kawcak, DVM. The task of identifying at-risk horses before they are injured. This discussion is divided into 1) external data using wearable devices, 2) internal data, 3) perceptual well-being, and 4) readiness. He touches on machine learning (AI), reiterating the importance of easily predicting before they occur.
3) Medical Perspectives in the Equine Social License to Operate, Chris Kowcak, DVM. This talk was about how the world perceives the use of horses in sports, creating a loss in industries such as Greyhound racing and reducing the workforce in all horse-related endeavors. He discusses the industry's efforts to provide transparency to make things better for horses.
4) Update on Yearling Thoroughbred Repository Findings, Chris Kowcak, DVM. This well-funded study brought radiographs of 2-year-old sale Thoroughbreds that independent radiologists assessed. Then, race results analyzed a year later helped to look back on the radiographic findings with a clearer insight into their ability to predict injury or lack of further damage based on lesions seen.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Here are the lectures covered on this half day.
1) Healing With Horse Power, Liberty Getman, DVM - discussing regenerative medicine for osteoarthritis using IRAP (interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein), PRP (platelet rich plasma), Restigen®, Pro-Stride® and PPP (platelet poor plasma).
2) Emergency Service: Thinking Outside The Box, Amy Grice, DVM - The crisis of the reduction of equine veterinary practitioners is addressed, specifically in the ability to provide emergency care for clients. 24/7 availability ranks as the #1 reason a client chooses a veterinarian and the #2 reason practitioners quit.
3) The Science Of Joint Supplements: What Does The Evidence Say? Chris Elliott, MRCVS - A discussion of the various supplements used to remove pain from joints with osteoarthritis. He notes that we are moving away from pain medication towards antioxidant supplements that remove the cause of pain.
4) This wasn't at the meeting but was worth reporting on. The Horse magazine posts a question about soybean meal (SBM), which the principal equine nutritionist at Purina answers. I discussed her response. Interestingly, I met her a few days later at this conference.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
The annual Florida Association of Equine Practitioners meeting is in Palm Beach, FL this week. I review the topics to be covered, helping you see what the world of practicing equine veterinarians is discussing.
I also discuss the importance of the insulin-to-glucagon ratio in adding or removing body fat as a glimpse of the detailed discussion on the recent membership “Rounds With Doc T.”
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
I want to give horse owners a different perspective on whether to feed their horses vitamins. Most discussions on this subject discuss what diseases are prevented by supplementing with which vitamin. I will not repeat this because 1) others have done this, and 2) there needs to be more good science behind their findings. Instead, I will tell you how vitamins work, if supplementation works, and the difference between vitamins from food, food sources, and chemicals like coal tar.
Doing a thought experiment, I asked listeners if giving synthetic vitamins (and amino acids) can cause inflammation. I also ask if processed foods have more benefits to health than whole foods, identifying some unique situations where they may be indicated (soybean meal).
These are the linked articles mentioned in this podcast:
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Vitamins and Minerals | NCCIH
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Vitamin | Definition, Types, & Facts | Britannica
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Vitamins: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
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Vitamins and Minerals | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
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Dietary Supplements: Separating Fact from Fiction
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Natural vs. Synthetic Vitamins – Why It Matters | Dr. Berg
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Avoid this List of Synthetic Vitamins for Gut Health
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Synthetic vs Natural Nutrients: Does it Matter?
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90% of Vitamins are Synthetic - Myersdetox.com
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All About Where Vitamin Supplements Come From - Precision Nutrition
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‘Synthetic vs natural’: Start-up targets fortification category disruption with organic plant-derived nutrients
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Big Pharma or Family Owned - Who Makes the Vitamins You Take?
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The 10 Largest Vitamin Companies In The United States - Zippia
- Where Do Supplement Ingredients Come From, and Why Does it Matter? | Vitacost Blog
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
TheEquinePractice.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag.
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
What is an identity? Is it the thing that makes you an individual, or does it make you identical to others? Which one is it for an equine veterinarian? As the number of veterinary schools and new graduates increases, the latter definition of identity generates like-minded, cookie-cutter professionals focused on themselves rather than the people they serve.
Yes, after today's farm visits, I'm a bit angry. I talk about it on this podcast, knowing that some veterinarians may not like what they hear. I hope you hear my passion and don't call me names like "old school." But too many horse owners spend their time with me complaining about the veterinary care available to them. These complaints range from no veterinary care offered in their area to new vets afraid of horses to high prices with poor outcomes.
Only 1.4% of graduates in the United States become horse vets (56 total in 2022), and half quit within five years (28). Why? Could the vet schools be training students to look inward for satisfaction rather than outward at who they serve? If veterinarians forgot about work-life balance, inclusion, equality, and salary and focused on serving people as an honor and a privilege, being grateful for every opportunity to do what we only dreamed about before graduating, there would be less quitting and more happiness. However, in every professional journal, much attention is spent on making the veterinarian happy through social programs and money.
The solution is simple. Veterinarians serve the person asking for help through their animal. Thinking about this may take a moment, but passion develops by serving the owners through their horses. Passion drives you to do more than is expected, and gratefulness is the reward that is addicting. While this applies to all vets and other professionals, large animal vets (horse, cattle, swine, poultry, small ruminants) are unique because they must work in harsh environments and risk their lives driving and working in uncertain environments with large animals. I wouldn't want it any other way.
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
TheEquinePractice.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag.
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is a collection of factors and events within the horse affected by food, stress, and sleep. This podcast focuses on the fact that behind the top three causes of medical deaths in humans (atherosclerosis/cardiovascular disease, cancer, cognitive disorders) is a metabolic system not functioning to its full potential. Could a poor metabolic system also be causing health issues in horses? I believe it does.
In the last podcast (Part One), I overviewed the basics of the ingested materials (air, water, minerals, fats, sugars, and proteins) and what they do within the body. It covered the role of insulin, insulin resistance, and its relationship to metabolic syndrome. I also discussed the secondary diseases of EMS, including laminitis, muscle loss, and others.
In this podcast (Part Two), I narrow the discussion to fat storage and its' role in inflammation, mitochondrial flexibility to partition the fuels used in power production, the role of exercise in glucose uptake, and balancing the amount of calories in with calories used.
Correct metabolic functioning depends on balancing food consumed (as calories in) with using that food (as calories used). When this balance is heavy on the food eaten, metabolic syndrome follows with its associated illnesses, breakdowns, and early death. But if the balance goes the other way (excess work, stress, poor sleep, or absence of food), death will occur, too. Healthspan and longevity come from a perfect balance between the two.
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
TheEquinePractice.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag.
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is a collection of factors and events within the horse affected by food, stress, and sleep. This podcast summarizes information in general terms for most horse owners. While preparing it for broadcast, I realized that making a part two would help further understand the questions raised within this podcast.
This podcast covers the ingested materials (air, water, minerals, fats, sugars, and proteins) and what they do within the body. It covers the role of insulin, insulin resistance, and its relationship to metabolic syndrome. Also discussed are the secondary diseases of EMS, including laminitis, muscle loss, and others.
I make this all understandable for those without scientific minds. After all, if you can't understand how to feed them, how will you be able to Help Horses Thrive In A Human World? Unfortunately, we depend on misinformation from product marketing, causing most of the lameness and illnesses of horses today. We must get our horses' metabolism right to do "the best for our horses." Feeding them according to their evolution, adjusting to their current environment, reducing their stress, and improving their sleep are all necessary.
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
TheEquinePractice.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag.
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
For many of us, it's hard to understand math. But twisting numbers to explain what we observe only makes things worse. With confusion in our understanding of what the scientists find in an experiment, we turn to others, like magazines, news articles, and social media, for a distilled explanation. Further, we assume these distillers of information have it right, but unfortunately, they usually don't.
Most horse owners only want to do what is best for their horses. We spend money on anything that sounds good. Yet, we often don't see the results claimed by the science-backed studies. Why is this? Are the products made poorly? Or could the science these products are based on be wrong?
In this podcast, I explain in easy terms how a thought becomes a study and how the results are analyzed with math to predict if something causes disease and, more importantly, if it is clinically meaningful. The bottom line of how science affects our horses is why we must consider these basic ideas and analyze the data ourselves to Help Horses Thrive In A Human World™.
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
TheEquinePractice.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag.
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
The Beatles played music from the 1950s through today, though two of the "Fab Four" are now dead. Their "invasion" of the United States occurred in 1963 when I was in 5th grade. While some of you listening to this have probably never heard of this iconic band, their music still plays around the world. Their song, "Here Comes The Sun," is one of the top songs, if not the #1 song, ever played by listeners. And at its roots is what is at the core of horsemanship.
I go a bit esoteric on this podcast, relating what all of you know as horsemanship to a song. Over the past several decades, adverbs added to modify the word "horsemanship" imply that you need to do something, be something, or join something to become a horseman. Of course, there is the gender issue, but I'll ignore that because "man," when used in "horseman," implies "human." So far, no one has wanted to create the word "herman" other than using it as a surname.
But I wanted to make this podcast when I worked on several horses last weekend regarded by their owners as "unpredictable," "bad actors," and generally horses that caused anxiousness in these seasoned owners. After successfully making them willing partners in the floating process, I decided to listen to music on the ride home. That is when I heard this song, and that is when I realized the secret to working successfully with horses that I have never seen before and having them become willing partners within a minute of starting.
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
TheEquinePractice.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag.
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
The road near our house is under construction, causing traffic snarls for over a year, and completion this year is unlikely at the work rate seen this weekend. Two days are dead quiet on the construction site. From Friday night to Sunday night, workers do everything except build the new highway: family time, sports, and recreation. Why? Because road construction is a job. These people may be good, or even the best at what they do. But at the end of the day, making a road is just a job that doesn’t call you when the road develops a pothole.
Veterinary medicine is a calling, a passion, that drives people to do extraordinary things, such as commit to healing animals at any moment, despite the personal cost. Today, however, veterinary medical organizations are spending a lot of time working to change the profession to meet the perceived needs of veterinarians. Ignored are the animals and their owners. I discuss in this podcast rather than adjusting to the social norms and a balance of work and life goals, vet schools and professional organizations should focus on returning to the passion of helping horses and their owners.
The obstacles to returning to passionate care seem insurmountable: debt, low pay, and the social perception of family over job. And to this last thought, family always trumps job. But is being a veterinarian a job? Only if horses are robots. Being a vet, especially a horse vet, is a calling that is not for everyone and does not fit the standard social patterns of today. It is similar to deciding to have a child or committing to a relationship; it is a commitment to passion, and there are no days off.
I finally offer the only solution - Enjoy every moment with every horse and accept the challenges and hardships, as nothing is better than helping horses (and their owners) thrive in a human world. If you are faithful to your calling, your friends and family will understand, but never forget them and deliver to them your all when you can. You will always satisfy your family if you remain passionate about giving to others.
This podcast covers three topics within the interest of dentistry in horses. EOTRH (Equine Odontoplastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis), dentistry in donkeys at The Donkey Sanctuary in the UK, and the problems that can occur with cheek tooth extractions in horses.
Dentistry in horses is what I have done since 1983 and exclusively since 1998. I have drawn my own conclusions by studying the correlations of diet, age, surgery, and other factors on the teeth of horses. But in an era where we want evidence-based studies to prove causation, no randomized, controlled, double-blinded studies have come about in the field of oral health for horses. The section on EOTRH comes from finding an osteopath on Facebook who questioned the validity of removing all incisors affected by this disease. The other two sections are good-looking papers discussing the titled subjects but raise more questions while avoiding other reasonable points.
As usual, I discuss the ideas and observations honed from experience and question some of the authors' and FB posters' conclusions. This rebuttal is needed because well-done articles published in prestigious journals by sincere and experienced authors may erroneously persuade readers to accept the findings without question. Facebook posts often receive unwarranted validation just based on their online existence. Worse, this information may cause acts on horses (extraction of incisors, extraction of cheek teeth, not feeding enough protein) based on this information without a rebuttal argument to the conclusions stated, which is not in the horse's best interest.
More data is needed, which will never happen because of the cost of studying these problems with no return on the investment. All we have is experience and observations. We need an open conversation without fear of challenging rebuttal to find what is valid.
This podcast is chapters sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. If you are new to this podcast, please go to podcast # 078 to start from the beginning of this book. This podcast is the final episode of the reading of this book. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient, discovering horses, my wife, and gaining entry into Cornell University and then Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this and future podcasts. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
It is a simple math problem, as easy as a homeowner’s budget. If more equine vets leave practices than there are coming into practices, there will be fewer to care for our horses. Just like the expression, there is more month than money.
The reasons fall into several groups. The first and most important reason is money. Small animal vets make about double what a horse vet makes. The second reason is time. This is divided into the time behind the wheel traveling to farms in rural areas and the time required for a few vets to cover the practice over 24 hours, seven days a week. The third group is defined by this generation’s work expectations, where life outside of work is expected.
This podcast only partially discusses all factors involved in the diminishing supply of equine veterinarians. It can’t. The AVMA and the AAEP are working tirelessly to correct the imbalance. The veterinary schools are doubling their annual output of veterinarians. However, it is essential to understand the horse owners’ effect on the equation. In basic terms, if our horses were less sick or lame, the need for horse vets would decrease. Veterinary organizations will never address this concept for obvious reasons. But here, at The Horse’s Advocate, I can look at this approach to resolving the problem.
Getting your horse’s house in order is a concept that reduces illness and lameness in horses, making their lives better. It also lowers horse owners’ costs and loss of use of their investment. This is a win-win situation. As a result, the veterinarian’s workload is reduced, allowing them more free time. But there is a problem. Veterinarians’ expenses are increasing (education, medicine, equipment, labor) while the workload decreases (population of horses and owners willing to pay), driving up the cost of care. Adding to this is the combination of work sent to dentists, bodyworkers, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and other “para-veterinary” workers, which removes income opportunities for the equine vet.
Equine veterinarians are in a crisis with no single viable solution appearing. Vets want to do all the work on your horses within a 9 to 5 workday and have weekends off. Air conditioning, heating, and you bringing your horse to their clinic would be sweet. Horse owners making their horses healthier may be the best solution where all parties win.
This podcast is chapters thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. If you are new to this podcast, please go to podcast # 078 to start from the beginning of this book. Over the next few months, I'll record and put out all 18 chapters of my autobiography. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient, discovering horses, my wife, and gaining entry into Cornell University and then Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this and future podcasts. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
TWITTER:
I read chapters two and three of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. I found my passion while overcoming my obstacles. I wrote this to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path.
This podcast is chapters eleven and twelve of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. Over the next few months, I'll record and put out all 18 chapters of my autobiography. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient, discovering horses, my wife, and gaining entry into Cornell University and then Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this and future podcasts. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
This podcast reviews a vet school’s economic impact statement and a special Equus magazine about the health of our horses. When I read these, my first reaction was a concern for my colleagues and, worse, all horse owners.
To appease the workforce demand for quality time and a work-life balance, veterinary schools are increasing the number of veterinarians graduating yearly. An assumption is that this would lead to more equine veterinarians and, thus, more choices. An equal assumption is that they will all go into small animal practice. With either belief, the cost of veterinary care for our horses will rise outside of inflation due to the cost of employing any extra veterinarians to achieve the coveted time off or due to the compensation for the lone equine veterinarian to offset the lack of free time.
I follow the report with a page-by-page analysis of the articles in Equus, first showing the heavy influence of the advertisers in their content. I then bring to light the absence of information and some misleading advice, but also deliver the thrust of everything written is about fixing a problem, not preventing them. Covered in this podcast review of articles include topics such as nutrition, colic, laminitis, asthma, skin diseases, joint soundness, gut health, and ulcers.
The conclusion I discovered to the problem of increasing health issues in our horses and the future ability of veterinarians available to rural areas came to one point. We must do our best to prevent health issues in our horses. It’s time to look inward, focusing on improving the ability of our horses to fight against toxins, bacteria, viruses, and environmental factors by getting their house in order from within so they may have the best chance for Thriving In A Human World.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast is chapters eight, nine, and ten of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. Over the next few months, I'll record and put out all 18 chapters of my autobiography. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient, discovering horses, my wife, and gaining entry into Cornell University and then Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this and future podcasts. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Dr. Martin Goldstein is known as "Dr. Marty" and "The Dog Doc." He earned his veterinary degree from Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine in 1973, as I did in 1984. We walked the same halls and learned from the same professors. Yet Dr. Marty saw something wrong early in his career. The animals he treated with academic knowledge should have improved, but instead, they became sicker and died.
Through a chance of fate, Dr. Marty discovered a book that started his journey to discover that we needed to stop treating diseases, as taught in our education, but treat the animal's immune system to improve its chance of fighting the disease.
Dr. Marty became a pioneer in "holistic medicine," "alternative medicine," and "integrative medicine." In 1977, he became certified by the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, a modality not taught in our veterinary curriculum. He was one of the founding members of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association.
He and his brother started Smith Ridge Veterinary Center in South Salem, NY, specializing in integrative medicine and complementary modalities for maintaining animal wellness and treating chronic and degenerative illnesses, especially cancer.
He has given seminars on alternative therapies nationwide and appeared on numerous regional and national radio and television programs, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Martha Stewart Show, and Good Morning America. For six years, he hosted his weekly program, "Ask Martha's Vet with Dr. Marty," on Martha Stewart's Sirius/XM satellite radio network. He is also the author of "The Nature of Animal Healing," published in 1999, and "The Spirit Of Animal Healing," Published in 2021.
"The Dog Doc" is a 2019 movie directed by the same director as the movie "Buck" that takes you along with Dr. Marty as he uses integrative medicine in his daily life as a veterinarian. It gives insight into how he discovered the modalities he uses daily and compelling cases to familiarize you with what he does. It is excellent and worth the time to see. DogDocTheFilm (https://dogdocthefilm.com).
Dr. Marty® is his freeze-dried dog and cat food offerings, made with real meat, vegetables, and fruit. Our two Airedales love it and are thriving on it! There are also time-tested treats and supplements to help pets achieve maximum health by supporting their immune system and other health systems to oppose whatever may be causing their disease.
It was fun to start our friendship and to discover another like-minded veterinarian who was well ahead of his time, willing to go against the status quo, risk his veterinary license, vilified, yet true to his passion of helping the animals coming to him in last-ditch attempts for life. His love of helping patients and his purpose of bringing his message to everyone worldwide showed in every minute of this podcast.
Thank you, Dr. Marty, for inspiring me to do the same.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website about horses, horse barns, and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast is chapters six and seven of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. Over the next few months, I'll record and put out all 18 chapters of my autobiography. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient, discovering horses, my wife, and gaining entry into Cornell University and then Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this and future podcasts. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
How long ago is relative to how old we are. To a baby, yesterday seems so long ago. A 24-year-old may think they have "forever" in front of them, hoping the past stays in the past. As a 70-year-old, I believe that my "runway" is short and often reflect on the past, as I did last week attending my father-in-law's funeral.
Relative to me, one or two hundred years ago doesn't seem that long ago. My 50 years of working with horses give me many reference points; how they were cared for has dramatically changed. The opportunity to reflect came several times as I drove home through the massive humanity of the Bronx, NY, the rural mountains of Virginia, and the reconnection with a client who told me her experiences as a child living with limited resources in the woods outside San Francisco.
This podcast is these thoughts put together in my attempt to tell all horse owners and caregivers to stop pushing our horses into the future. The past has worked well, and what we are doing with them today isn't.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast is chapters four and five of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. Over the next few months, I'll record and put out all 18 chapters of my autobiography. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient, discovering horses, my wife, and gaining entry into Cornell University and then Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this and future podcasts. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Evolution defines the development of a species, such as the horse, throughout all time on Earth. However, the starting point may be adjusted to any moment we choose, for example, identifying a particular breed, when man domesticated horses, or when the first resemblance of a horse appeared. The time between the selected point and today is thousands to millions of years ago. More importantly, the rate of change is relatively constant.
Technology is the development or engineering of devices using science to build upon what is known to solve a need. However, while the length of time may also be thousands to millions of years, the rate of change is exponential. For example, a long time passed between having no wheel to its acceptance as a work-saving device. Then, a long time still before axles, brakes, and multiple wheels became common. Rapidly, other technology followed: roads, engines, safety restraints, and driving rules with speed detection devices.
As technology advances at an increasing pace, the evolution of the horse does not. This podcast reminds us that while we can do much with and for our horses, have they paced it through their evolutionary development?
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast is chapters two and three of my autobiography, Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses. Over the next few months, I'll record and put out all 18 chapters of my autobiography. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient, discovering horses, my wife, and gaining entry into Cornell University and then Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this and future podcasts. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
Four decades of floating horses have filled me with experiences hard to gain from a textbook. In fact, in 1983, there was only one book on equine dentistry written by an equine dentist from New Jersey; however, other mentions in textbooks on horse care date back 100 years.
The questions often asked by horse owners about the care of the teeth in horses are the basis of this podcast. Using the guide of the questions in my blog, "Horse Dentistry - Frequently Asked Questions," I cover most topics in my daily travels to horse farms.
- Does my horse need dentistry?
- Why dentistry is an essential part of a veterinary practice.
- Expectations between the client and the vet or dentist.
- How often should dentistry be performed on horses?
- The purpose of floating teeth (basic dentistry).
- Are your horse's teeth floated well?
- Why should dentistry be performed on my horse?
- Why do I not use power equipment to float horses?
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
May 2023 represents my 50th year working with horses. So how did I get here? What brought me from being a wandering young man to becoming an equine veterinarian?
In 2014, I wrote my autobiography to help others trying to find their way but having obstacles block their path. This recording is my story of finding my passion while overcoming my obstacles: a poor reader and student, a three-time college dropout, and good at everything but finding no spark to become proficient.
As homage to my half-century, I read my book, "Since The Days Of The Romans - My Journey of Discovering a Life with Horses," on this podcast. But there's more! At the end of each chapter, I tell a "True And Incredible Story Of A Horse Vet." These tales are from my life as a veterinarian to break up my life's journey in the book from childhood to my graduation day from Cornell's Veterinary College.
This podcast is the forward, the introduction, and chapter one. Over the next few months, I'll record and put out all 18 chapters of my autobiography. I hope you enjoy hearing my story and find inspiration if you need help finding your journey.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Make an appointment in FL.
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
I received the following emails targeting equine veterinarians with various messages last week. You must be “cognitively diligent” to read the subtle messages and misdirection, confusion, and sometimes utter nonsense within their messages.
Everyone has an agenda. As veterinarians or horse owners, it is up to us to read between the lines, question what is being said, and discover if the information is good, relevant, or, most importantly, what parts they are leaving out. Lying by omission is still covering the truth. Marketing is so good at this that the government forced certain industries to rapidly read all the negative side effects of medicines, alcohol, and smoking, finally banning from commercial airwaves smoking.
However, when it comes to marketing to professionals, there is an understanding that what is being said is well understood. We are humans, though, susceptible to misdirection like everyone.
As horse owners, we need to embrace the concept of Medicine 3.0, the prevention of disease, rather than Medicine 2.0, the fixing of problems. What some call “Whack-A-Mole Medicine.”
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message, helping to spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
This podcast answers a question about the feeding of young, growing horses and their mothers sent to me by someone in Thoroughbred breeding and sales. Here is the question:
“I assume that your no grain diet is only for mature non-pregnant and non-lactating mares. I'm interested in trying to find a way to use less grain, but it seems impossible with raising Thoroughbreds to sell at auction. They would be midgets compared to all of the other horses. Do you have any feeding solutions which work for that situation? Also pregnant and lactating Thoroughbred mares can't possibly get by with just hay and pasture, unless there is some trick that I don't know about.”
I discuss the six nutrients that every horse of all breeds, genders, and use requires for their stage in life, focusing on the three under our control; sugars, fats, and proteins. I describe in a broad sense how each is important in the development of young horses as well as the maintenance of all older horses. I break down the simple formula to get the most out of your horse while aiming for a “health span” of long-term soundness of limbs and the mind.
However, the overarching factor is not so much what and how you feed horses but the importance of the caregiver in observing and adjusting the mix for individual horses. The formula is protein + forage + (if necessary) cleaned oats, corn, or Coolstance (shredded coconut - I forgot to mention this in the podcast but it works well for horses needing more body fat without the sugar load). The “trick” is to observe and adjust for each horse as an individual and as they grow and the seasons and their use change.
In my last episode (#074), I discussed "Cognitive Laziness," as defined by an article in The Wall Street Journal. I suggested that artificial intelligence in the form of marketing has been shaping our minds to do things around our horses that may not be in their best interest. However, the lines blur between beliefs in what is right and what is wrong. Further, we cannot live in a world of uncertainty, not knowing what is really "the truth." So, to protect ourselves from worry, doubt, and anxiety, humans create rules to bring comfort in an uncertain world.
This podcast looks at a human study that initially solidified the benefits of consuming EPA, one of the Omega-3 fish oils so popular today. However, recently, the same investigators of this study reviewed their data using different biomarkers and found that their results were not statistically significant. In other words, what they had said about EPA helping to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease in humans was wrong.
In a leap of faith, horse supplement and feed manufacturers had climbed on board the original studies with this one general thought; if Omega-3 fat is good for humans, it must also be good for horses. It will be interesting to see what they do now that the research on humans is in question. But I wouldn't waste time looking for updates in their marketing because flax seeds are flying off the shelves of the feed stores.
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
I am returning to podcasting after a 6-month break. I will tell you about why in the NEXT podcast. Instead, in this podcast, I want to read a blog I wrote back in March 2020.
There are two drivers for my action here. The first is the recent uptick in the discussion about artificial intelligence. The second is the observation that most horse owners I see or hear from are still listening to this artificial intelligence.
My example is old, both in when it happened and my use of it. About 500 years ago, we believed the Sun circled the Earth. Then Galileo taught his belief that the Sun was in the middle of Earth's orbit. The church sentenced him to death but then changed to house arrest for life, and all his books were burned. Then Copernicus, who was NOT cognitively lazy, found the truth. Few people today think differently about Earth's orbit around the Sun.
Elon Musk is at the forefront of the warning that artificial intelligence can enforce lies. From there, people take sides, fervently believing what they know. But, taking a step back, isn't this just marketing? Knowing what is "truth" and "accurate scientific data" are becoming more complicated.
Enjoy my perspective in my March 2020 blog, "Get Your Brain Right, Get Your Horse Right ("Cognitive Laziness")."
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website to learn about horses, horse barns and farms. There is a membership side of the website where horse owners can attend live meetings to ask questions and get a deeper understanding of things they have learned on the site.
HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment
HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.
Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag.
Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."
The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) meets annually to offer continuing education for horse vets worldwide. They meet in a major American city every autumn (this year is in San Antonio, TX); however, they also offer a virtual meeting for practitioners who cannot attend. That appeals to me as November and December are my busiest months as my clients get ready for their show season.
Why do I attend this meeting? The answer is to collect my credits for maintaining my veterinary licenses. It is also my way of conveying to horse owners listening to this podcast an interpretation of the information my colleagues are receiving from the "experts." I listen to what is said, but I also listen to what they don't say.
In this episode, I review a recommended paper by the prime speaker of this conference called "Review of Considerations When Feeding the Equid with Insulin Dysregulation" by Dr. Pat Harris. It is an interesting paper that states six things horse owners can do for horses with ID (insulin dysregulation). I agree with some of the recommendations, especially when it suggests that owners should not feed "cereal grains" to horses with ID. I further say that no horse should be fed grain to PREVENT ID. But what was not surprising to me was at the end of the paper, the author states that s/he works for Mars Petcare. This relationship means that the information is biased toward the company's interests. Also, there was never any mention of protein, which I consider an important factor in ID.
Thank you for listening and forwarding this to other horse owners.
“In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. (…) Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress(…). According to this theory, when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do all in their power to change them until they become consistent. The discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new information perceived, wherein the individual tries to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.” - from Wikipedia 2022
I discuss how we get bombarded with contradictory information in the world of horse care. To preserve our sanity, we tightly hold to what we believe, given to us by trusted sources. Who to believe? That depends on how hard we want to dig for information.
In the past week, I have had three clear examples of cognitive laziness (from the Wall Street Journal investigation into “fake news”) of horse owners wanting to give and willing to pay for “the best for their horses.” Yet what they are doing is far from that goal, and have horses suffering in health.
Awareness of the need for effort in learning and finding the truth is the first step in advocating for horses. It is uncomfortable. If you are listening to this podcast, you do more for horses than most owners, trainers, and horse professionals. The only thing to do to leverage your effort is to tell others. Together, we will Help Horses Thrive In A Human World.
Over the past month, I have heard many great stories about how well the no-grain plus soybean meal diet works from my dentistry clients. However, they also tell me how difficult it can be to tell others about it.
This episode starts by explaining why I have been absent for a few weeks. Sorry about that! Then I mistakenly said this would be a short and brief review of the basics of feeding horses. But like a runaway horse, I go from one basic point to another, attempting to tie together ALL the basic points.
So, don't become overwhelmed with all the bits. Rather, take one or two things I say here and keep those parts handy the next time someone says, "What! Don't feed grain to horses? Then how will they survive???" Use the things you feel confident about and then send the bewildered person to this podcast or the website, TheHorsesAdvocate.com, for more information. I don't mind doing the heavy lifting, but I'm counting on all of you to get them here.
I am grateful for all of you supporting this mission and Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World™. If you want to dig deeper, join The Horse's Advocate and take the nutrition course. Doc T
In 1979, I memorized the standard chart for aging the horse using the ware patterns of the teeth. Specifically, the incisors because they were readily available by lifting the lips. The features used included the cups, dental star, and Galvayne's Groove. Horse owners and buyers used the chart for maybe a century, but in the 1980s, many equine dentists described the incisors' bite. They noticed uneven wear patterns representing them as a smile, a frown, a diagonal, or a V-shape.
In 1983, I floated my first horse and, since, have floated over 77,000 horses. I was asked to age a horse many times officially. I started to notice that if horses wore the incisors unevenly, the horse could be one age when viewed from the left side and another age when viewed from the right. The old aging chart wasn't working.
Several years ago, I asked owners with horses of verified age (papers or lip tattoos) to allow me to photograph the incisors. I shot the left and right lateral, the straight-on, and the open mouth of the lower occlusal surface views. My goal within the project's time constraints was to get ten random horses of every age between 2 years and 30+ years. At some ages, I was able to do this, while at several ages, I could only find one or two. This podcast describes my findings.
Water is one of the necessary ingredients to maintain life. Every animal and plant on Earth knows this, but because of the familiarity, we often don’t think much about remaining hydrated.
In this episode, I read an article from the August 2022 issue of “The Horse” that Purina sponsored. During the reading, I added my thoughts to broaden your understanding to ensure your horses remain hydrated throughout the year. I also add side notes about feeding salt, electrolytes, and protein that will be a review for some and new for other listeners.
My guest today is Dr. Denny French, a second-generation large animal veterinarian from the midwest United States. He was a professor at Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Veterinary Medicine for 30 years. In 2009, he migrated back to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Veterinary Medicine as a professor and head of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine. He presently is a co-owner of a private large animal practice.
I met Denny a few years back, sitting at a kitchen table at a mutual friend's home outside Shreveport, LA. I asked him how many students were graduating from his school that year. He said 119. I then asked him how many of those were good horse vets. He scrunched up his face and questioned me, "Good?" Then, with only a slight pause, he said, "I can say two. And with a lot of work, maybe another two." This statistic aligns with the current, official 1.4% of all students in the United States becoming equine veterinarians. However, the worse news is that half of these will leave in the first five years of practice.
I have written about this equine veterinary shortage and made the podcast, "Houston, We Have A Problem." Unfortunately, this is a crisis for horse owners, especially in rural areas. Because of this, I wanted a different perspective from someone involved in academia and the selection process of future veterinarians. Dr. French offers his thoughts in this casual conversation.
I talked with Bonny Barry of Equine Reflections (EquineReflections.org), a non-profit horse therapy center in Folsom, Louisiana. They offer these programs:
- Horses For Healing
- Professional Development Retreats
- Whoa to Bullying, Giddy Up To Kindness
- Horsemanship Empowerment
- Saddle Up for Success
Bonny’s honesty about her journey into this field will affect you whether you have been abused or not. Her stories of patients, unable to speak, connecting with the horses and then expressing thoughts locked up in their silent consciousness will shake you. Knowing that the horses used in her program are also from abuse, magnifies the significance of her work.
The use of horses to connect with broken minds is well known. I use Bonny’s stories to help listeners understand the effectiveness of the special connection horses and humans can have without effort. It shows that communication is a two-way street. You are not here to help the horse, and the horse is not here to help you. However, people and horses can heal by being in the moment with a horse and allowing for what follows.
Equine Reflections is one of many centers located throughout the world. All horse owners of every breed and sport are encouraged to get to know local therapy centers and support them through volunteering or financial support. Many operate on limited budgets, and maintaining horses, farms, barns and offices is expensive. Volunteers are always needed, and you can also attend fundraisers for therapy centers. Anything helps.
Below are links to several organizations to consider.
- EAL Academy - ealacademy.com
- Arenas For Change - arenasforchange.com
- Horses For Mental Health - horsesformentalhealth.org
- Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association - eagala.com
- PATH International - pathintl.org
- HeartMath Institute - heartmath.org (search for “horse” or “equine”)
Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World is a tagline of two parts: Thrive and Human.
Horses thriving is open to interpretation, but as we look at our horses, we all see the difference between thriving and existing. We see this in ourselves. Thriving is a goal we all want, but life usually is about surviving.
The human world adds restrictions to the horse, often proclaiming to help horses thrive. But do they? Are they adding a burden to their lives, driving them away from thriving and eventually causing their premature demise? I discuss these ideas in this podcast.
We are all students; we usually believe the teachers that teach us. Math was easy. 2+2=4, and there is no getting around that. Then, over 500 years ago, teachers taught that the sun circled the Earth. In a short time, that was proven to be wrong. Unless you believe the Earth is flat.
Veterinary medicine, human medicine, and every other profession not using physics (engineering) come up with theories they test. But are the results accurate? Do plaques cause Alzheimer’s disease or not? It depends on whose research you believe and, more importantly, what research hasn’t been doctored to make the facts fit the theories.
Horse owners are overwhelmed with conflicting “facts” about the care of their horses. Yet, an underlying theme of all the research I find is that everyone wants to treat a condition rather than discover the cause of it. After all, if we could prevent disease and injury in our horses, would veterinarians and human doctors still be relevant?
Shaming was a way for people in the past to look at those with excess body fat. Excess body fat on people is now considered normal and accepted as a part of normal health and life. The same is happening with our horses. Today, most people want extra fat on their horses and consider this a sign of health. But is excess body fat healthy? Do we see excess body fat on healthy, thriving older people or horses?
The excess body fat represents the body’s efficiency in storing excess calorie consumption for use later when calories are not available. The mechanism for doing this is complex, but the efficiency comes from generations of improvement through genetics. However, what complicates this is the abundance of readily available food sources every day of the year. The consequence of this is the storage of overabundant fuel as body fat. Everything is working perfectly for the future ice age several thousand years from now when the thin horse will die sooner than the fat horse.
As long as there isn’t an ice age, the thin horse will survive and thrive longer than the fat horse because the downside of excess body fat is the propensity for unsoundness and illness. Fat horses don’t thrive while the food remains available. In this podcast, I review why it is important to reduce body fat and increase protein intake to help our horses thrive in a human world.
In this podcast, I talk about a variety of subjects. Some I have discussed in detail elsewhere, and some are new. These subjects include the microbiome of horses (and what we know in humans), prebiotics and probiotics (and what I will be taking), what happens to sugar in the diet, how body fat forms, and why excess body fat is unhealthy.
I also share my adventures with floating horses and meeting equine dentists this past week. Some were inspiring, and others were frustrating.
I end by briefly discussing ketones, where horses get their dietary fat and my upcoming use of exogenous ketones.
This eclectic assortment of horse subjects should pique your curiosity about what else there is to know about our horses and, more importantly, how true and accurate our beliefs are.
Arrogance (dictionary.com): the offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.
Confidence (dictionary.com): belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance.
These two human traits are often confused, especially in horsemanship. In this podcast, I discuss the difference between these two attitudes and their bearing on how we interact with horses. I also describe the four basic personalities of horses and how we can build a relationship with each type even when they are so different.
I also discuss how we can change ourselves in a way that doesn't complicate our life but enhances our ability to connect with those horses who would not otherwise want to. I use these principles daily and describe the horses we saw during the past week to show how Melissa and I used them to teach a new dentistry student how to connect within 30 seconds, not 30 minutes or 30 days.
This podcast was updated on July 8th due to an incomplete audio upload on July 6th. Thank you all for noticing and bringing it to my attention. Doc T
Many horse owners associate weight loss in horses with dental issues. The most common sign of a dental problem is “Quidding” or the formation of a “Quid.” When a horse chews food, material moves in an orchestrated relation between the teeth, jaw and tongue to auger from the front of the mouth back to the swallowing mechanism of the throat. However, when this food bolus is unacceptable for swallowing, the horse will spit the soggy, half-crushed material out onto the ground; horse owners call this a “quid.”
Will the horse lose condition (weight) because of this? I discuss the other reasons for weight loss, the most important being that losing body fat may be a sign of health after ruling out starvation. In simple terms, the only way a horse can lose body fat is by taking in less sugar (glucose) than is needed in a day to survive. Going through the mechanics of glucose use in the body, I not only touch upon horse health, but I correlate excess sugar with the health of humans. I propose a possible connection between laminitis and atherosclerosis/cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in humans.
Dennis Brooks is a great guy who owns a small woods in central Florida and, with his wife (a veterinarian), cares for three horses and a clan of small animals. So why is he my special guest today? This explanation may take some time.
To start with, Dennis Brooks is a veterinarian, a Ph.D. researcher, a diplomat in the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmology, a professor emeritus in ophthalmology at the University of Florida's Veterinary College, and has a consulting service for equine eyes.
Dr. Brooks also is the recipient of the Frank J. Milne State of the Art Award of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) (a 2 1/2 hour presentation on the eyes of horses to all equine practitioners), the recipient of the British Equine Veterinary Association's Sir Frederick Smith Memorial Lecture and Medal Recipient (and the only person to receive both the AAEP and the BEVA awards), written the text on equine eyes for veterinarians, published hundreds of articles and lectured to thousands of horse vets worldwide.
Did I mention that he has done this for over 42 years and is still going strong teaching others? Those he has taught are now teachers themselves in veterinary colleges throughout the world. And above all, he remains humble and grateful, always looking forward to each day for the one small nugget of information that will prevent blindness in horses, his one permanent goal.
Please join us today for a chat about many subjects:
- Where are veterinarians and the profession today?
- How is today's veterinarian different from 40 years ago?
- Why are suicides increasing in veterinarians, more so in females?
- What got him started in looking at eyes, and what keeps him going?
- What new therapies are coming to fruition in horse eyes?
- What new diseases are in horse eyes today?
- What do you do when a horse becomes blind?
- What can you do for an eye problem when a vet isn't available for a while?
There are a lot of gems throughout this episode. I hope you enjoy my visit with Dennis Brooks, DVM.
Note - Images can be seen at TheHorsesAdvocate.com/dennis-brooks-dvm-horse-eyes-and-veterinary-medicine-podcast-060
Do you know what is in your feed bad? And if you do, do you know why?
Millions of scoops of grain are fed to our horses every day around the world, yet when I ask horse owners what they are feeding their horses, I usually get blank looks. I grab a feed tag from any bag in the feed room and start reading the first ingredient to the 5th, or 8th, or 10th, but usually, within a quick time, my point is made. Feed companies are dumping their waste products into the horse feed expecting great results in the horses fed.
So it is more than just feeding good, whole grain to horses. Much more. Inflammation in the gut lining is probably the root cause of many problems seen today in our horses. Grain by-products have consequences, yet they are being fed daily under the assumption that feed companies are doing the best for our horses. As bad as these inflammatory ingredients are, there are other factors.
In this podcast, I tell a story of a barn worker who tries the no-grain approach with added soybean meal getting fantastic results, only to be ordered by the manager, six months into the improvement program, to return to the way things were. He is to add back a large amount of daily grain and remove all soybean meal. This order is despite the manager's observation that the retired horses in this barn are looking better than the competition horses under her care. Now human jealousy is added to the complexities of feeding horses. At this rate, our horses will fall apart long before they reach their peak of life.
This podcast is the second time I have picked up a popular horse magazine, reviewed the articles and added my thoughts on the ones I selected. I received some positive comments the last time I did this and thought I would do this again. After all, you are reading these magazines without any balancing views. It is like watching one station's newscast and then hearing the same story on another station with a completely different take on the same information.
With your horse's health at stake, it is important to understand that if a published article is in a scientific journal, you shouldn't think that the information is accurate or not agenda-driven. But it is worse when a lay person writes an article about this scientific information using authoritative language and structure, publishing their views as accurate. While these authors try to remain neutral, they often miss the subtleties or omit alternative views.
I try to bring depth to each article, often with opposing ideas or interpretations. I try to be thought-provoking but constantly ask, "Is this in the best interest of you and your horses?" With a magazine filled with dozens of paying advertisers, how can the magazine stay impartial?
Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome, or EGUS, is being treated in more horses today than almost any other disease considered "routine." The advent of visualizing the stomach lining using a fiber-optic endoscope is now available to nearly every horse owner through their local veterinarian. In addition, medicines are available to treat horses suffering from this condition, and they are effective.
Nutritional changes are a basis for improving horses' health. Still, few have associated a specific nutritional change in concomitant use with prescribed medication to enhance the effectiveness of using the medicine alone.
In this podcast, I discuss a study where horses with EGUS are treated with omeprazole (Prilosec in humans and GastroGuard in horses) alone or with porcine hydrolyzed collagen. Adding the collagen protein had a local effect in reducing the number of gastric ulcers in the non-glandular portion of the stomach.
I add that the benefit of collagen is the amino acid glycine which is beneficial to maintaining all connective tissue, including the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. I hypothesize that preventing gastric ulcers (and ulcers in other parts of the gut) may be another benefit of the addition of high-quality protein to horse's diets.
My equine veterinary practice is limited to horses' teeth and oral cavity. Almost all of this practice is removing the sharp enamel points that cause discomfort within the oral cavity. I have been doing this since 1983 (39 years) and full-time since 1998 (24 years).
This episode goes over some frequently asked questions I often get asked as I meet horse owners. My answers are not based on scientific facts because there are no clear scientific facts in equine dentistry. Instead, I base these answers on the more than 75,000 horses I have performed dentistry. Technically this is called anecdotal evidence. I invite anyone, especially veterinarians, to discuss what I say here to help better understand what is going on inside horses' mouths.
These questions are not a complete list about equine dentistry. More can be seen at TheHorsesAdvocate.com and at HorsemanshipDentistry.com. I also offer a course called The Essentials Of Equine Dentistry for horse owners to learn more about this fascinating aspect of horse care.
I am so grateful when I hear someone listen to these podcasts from all parts of the world. But, more than that, people listen and apply what I say and find excellent results from their changes. I am so humbled.
In this episode, I go through an email I received from Africa with a connection in the state of Washington here in America. Their results with laminitis are remarkable. But this is not the only feedback I receive. I get messages from around the world - and almost every one of them is positive beyond words. Unfortunately, a few can't understand what I am saying or are unable to gain improvements from the information I give. Some are downright rude!
So what!?! I am not here for everyone and there are doubters everywhere. Luckily they are few and far between so I don't spend my time there. Instead, I focus on the great connections I make throughout the world. The influence made with horses everywhere through the internet is mind-blowing. This invention, made only a short time ago, fills the information gap. Now, this gap is becoming crowded and filled with information and misinformation. It is hard to sift through it all.
I am so grateful for all of you who have found my voice in the crowd. This responsibility also humbles me. My mission is to continue to discuss information that will help our horses thrive in a human world. It may be very different from what you have been told. It may cause you to become upset with what is thought to be familiar and acceptable knowledge; however, if you like what you hear, please forward this podcast to others and become part of the "Web Of Influence."
Entropy means the natural and required decrease in energy, moving organized things into disorganized things and eventually ending in complete chaos. It is the description of the Second Law of Thermodynamics (one of the only three laws that forces everything on earth to respond the way things do).
An example of entropy is when your farrier heats a horseshoe to red hot and leaves this hot shoe on the anvil. Eventually, the shoe will have the exact temperature of the surrounding air. But how does entropy affect our horses?
To live requires energy. Food moves through thousands of chemical reactions, becoming fuel and finally becomes stored energy in our “batteries.” Stored energy makes something happen within each of our cells. The result is the transformation of energy into heat plus the action that uses the energy (ex, moving, breathing, heart beating, thinking, etc.). When this process stops, death occurs.
There is a middle point where there is still enough energy produced to live but not enough energy produced and stored to remain healthy. All diseases (ex equine metabolic syndrome, Cushing’s disease, etc.) and breakdowns of connective tissue (ex, suspensory ligaments) come from a lack of abundant energy within the cells and the lack of materials to build tissue. I will show you how and why in this episode.
Robert Frost, the poet, wrote about coming across two roads in the woods. One shows a lot of activity while the other is pristine and unused. Which way do you choose? Suppose you know the active path and it feels comfortable. There are known obstacles along this path, but these difficulties can be trusted because they are known, and many others have taken this route. So you move forward down the used way and accept the results.
What if you chose "the road less traveled?" There could be far more dangerous obstacles, or you never arrive at your destination. You are scared because the road the others have not taken may have a good reason for avoidance. On the other hand, taking this unworn path may have the thrill of exploration. What if the road less traveled brings you to a better destination? What if the obstacles are less of a problem and you arrive in better shape?
Luckily, you find a guide for this untraveled road. You start with confidence, but soon you toss aside this booklet because you think you can travel the road without help. All you need to do is get started and the rest should be easy - until you get lost, never reaching your destination. Panicked, you run back to the fork in the road and take the well-worn path, willing to have the problems you know will arise.
Feeding our horses as they have for the past 30 years is the "well-worn path." Insulin resistance, Cushing's Disease, suspensory ligament disease, decaying teeth, dropped fetlocks, early retirement, obesity, and more are the "known obstacles," but we know them and therefore are comfortable with them. But feeding horses as they were for millions of years before 1990 is the "road less traveled."
Or is it?
My last podcast (#051) was about the infodemic we are experiencing in the horse world. This is where there is so much conflicting information about the care of horses. In this podcast I want to look at the infodemic in only one aspect of horses - how we need to feed them.
As with most of my nutritional information in horses, I use the current knowledge of human nutrition. I assume that while the raw materials are different (the foods placed in the mouth), what happens at the cell level is the same. This assumption is made throughout science because the cell process has been studied in many species. For example, rats, mice and other lab animals are used for human studies. While this is questionable for absorption of food and medicine, it is accepted that glucose, fat and proteins are handled pretty much the same in all animals.
However, within just one specific section of cell metabolism there seems to be various approaches on how to make needed changes. I identify 4 different pathways mentioned in human nutrition that all are attempting to change the same thing (NAD+ preservation within the electron transport chain). It exemplifies the expression “All roads lead to Rome.”
I am not trying to make you all cellular physiologists. I am trying to point out that there are a lot of people working on the same problem in human metabolism and their findings will help us in the care of our horses. this podcast will help you understand why we are all a bit confused as to 1) what to do and 2) why it works in some horses and not others.
Infodemic is a blend of "information" and "epidemic" that typically refers to a rapid and far-reaching spread of both accurate and inaccurate information about something, such as a disease. As facts, rumors, and fears mix and disperse, it becomes difficult to learn essential information about an issue. - Merriam-Webster
This will be a podcast where I vent my frustration in my attempts to help horse owners help their horses thrive in a human world. All I try to do is get the information out that is as unbiased as I can possible make it. But in the past week I have had several troubling stories come to me from people who have been told about the dangers of inflammation and yet each have a tragic or difficult outcome from ignoring it.
Worse, they are like most horse owners who are turning to the “experts” that are either not well informed on the root causes of gut inflammation or have an agenda to offer conflicting information. Both of these are not helping the horses they are serving. These sources include my colleague veterinarians and the large producers of horse grains.
We cannot afford to just believe what we hear from experts including me. We all need to ask better questions and demand alternative and thoughtful answers. When we discover conflicting answers we need to ask who is correct and then search for the answers. Or, it might be easier to just ask this question - “How is what you are doing working for you?” Or this question, “If I keep doing what I’m doing will my horse become healthier?”
I attended 3 equine seminars all with veterinarians discussing different matters:
1) “How Horses Think” put on by Cornell University (not the vet school)
2) “Laminitis Rounds” put on by the American Association of Equine Practitioners
3) “Fiber intake, Fermentation and Dental Condition” put on by the European Equine Health and Nutrition Congress.
I also listened to a podcast from Purina called “Mythbusters.”
This podcast presents my summaries of these events. Frankly I was disappointed and I tell you why.
In a world filled with information, misleading information, agenda driven information and siloed information a horse owner may become confused as to what they need to know. The experts in these presentations are real experts with credentials and strong beliefs. However, when I listen to their presentations I come up with more unanswered questions than answers.
But I do find some gems too. I will give you both and my reasons why as I continue to show all horse owners that there are many sides to a coin.
Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World is what we do at The Horse’s Advocate. But what about us? How do we thrive in this human world filled with tragedies and unrest? The answer is simple. We go to the barn!
What is the mechanics of this desire to spend our time and money in the harsh elements of weather soiling our hands and clothes and leaving social occasions early because we hear thunder? Do we become so wrapped up in the thought of the world that we bring all our burdens to the barn? Why? We think we need our horses to be our therapist. In reality, there is a simple explanation of what is happening and I try to help you visualize this.
Once you see that over time we have turned a two way street in our brains into a one way street, we can understand that this roadblock prevents us from feeling happiness. Going to the barn is the exercise we need to unblock our thinking. This opens up the needed two way flow between our overwhelming analytical thoughts and our present, in-the-moment thoughts. The horse then becomes our mirror to tell us if we are successful. Through practice we help ourselves thrive in this human world.
Links to help horses and all animals in the Ukraine - Russian conflict:
https://www.foundationforthehorse.org/impact/disaster-relief/
https://www.avmf.org/main/disaster-relief-in-ukraine/
I mention the AVMA's relief for Afghanistan but was unable to find this link.
Every day someone asks me about feeding their horses. For me it has become simple only because I have repeated this information but for you.... maybe not so simple.
I review a lot of what I have said before and I use some different approaches to help you understand. It comes down to a few things:
- Protein, fat and sugar are the 3 main ingredients that enter the mouth (we won't worry about air, water and minerals here).
- These ingredients are broken down into fuels and building materials in the gut.
- The fuels and building materials are transported throughout the body to be either burned to make energy, stored for future use or used to make things. Nothing is wasted or goes wrong when the rules are followed.
- Humans break the rules all the time.
I go over some of the recent articles showing up in the magazines and news feeds for horse owners discussing 1) cavities in the cheek teeth of horses and 2) the inhalation of tooth dust from motorized dentistry tools. I read the lay article and then look at the scientific journal where the information came from for the article writer. I then compare these two to see if there is any valid communication going on that the horse owner can take away and apply to their horses.
I try to present everything in an unbiased way but as most of you already know, there are a lot of pot holes in the road to knowledge. I hope there is something in here that will help you navigate the road to Help Your Horses Thrive In A Human World ™
Today's guest is Dr Jenny Susser, a sport and performance psychologist from Ocala, FL. In her words, she "successfully applies her years of experience merging mind and body wellness with performance, helping people making a lasting and positive difference in their personal and professional lives."
Dr Jenny also loves horses and applies her training to horse owners and riders helping her connect them to their horses, overcoming their blocks and helping them become successful at whatever level they aim for. This includes new riders to Olympic riders.
One question I always have for Dr Jenny is how does the brain of the horse work? We actually don't have much information on this but what we do know can be applied to how we interact with them. In this podcast we cover a bit of anatomy and poke around in what we feel is important for all people to think about when connecting with horses. Thank you for joining us!
The top line of horses is the muscles along the back bone from the withers to the rump. It is where the saddle or load goes onto the horse. It is an indicator of the overall athletic condition of the horse and is often seen as a "poor" top line when the back bone (spine) is higher then the surrounding muscle.
My view of the top line is an early indicator of chronic protein self absorption and chronic intake of dietary high quality protein.
This podcast has a visual component as I use the white board feature of the iPad. However if you are just listening, I use descriptive words to paint what I am saying. When you get a chance, visit my YouTube podcast channel called The Horse's Advocate. Or visit TheHorsesAdvocate.com.
I report here on the safety and side effects of 4 different therapeutics used for specific purposes in horses. These 4 studies were presented at the 2021 AAEP meeting I attended virtually.
- Using butorphenol and detomidine in scoping TB yearlings for laryngeal function.
- Using Equioxx or Banamine to determine if there is sub grade colitis.
- CBD use in horses safety.
- CBD use in horses for sedation and ataxia.
This is some pretty dry stuff but I wrap each one up with what it means to horse owners and at the end, I conclude with the problems in good scientific research in horses. Hang in there because understanding how constricted the science is reflects on what we as horse owners can understand from the good intentions of researchers. This is a slow process for most of us including the veterinarians listen to or reading these studies.
This is a review of what kind of wounds occur in the horse, what needs to be done about them and how to make them heal with the best possible outcomes. In a nutshell, there are partial skin thickness wounds and full thickness wounds. Partial skin thickness wounds can be bloody and will heal without much attention needed for their good outcomes.
Full thickness wounds can be divided into fresh and chronic. All can be declared infected with possibly the surgical incision made in a controlled environment. How they heal can be divided into primary intention (suturing) and secondary intention (not sutured). The key to success is to first eliminate infections.
I discuss all these factors based on attending the virtual AAEP meeting of 2021 where there was a multi-part series of presentations that discuss biofilms, debridement and grafting. All of this needs to be understood by the horse owner as quick action in fresh wounds or appropriate action in wounds discovered a day or more later will determine how successful the outcome will be.
I am on a path of revealing just how science works and why it is a well orchestrated drama to usually promote an agenda. I try not to be cynical or even blind but in this age of slogans such as “Follow the science” I need to define not what science is (I did this in a members only “Rounds With Doc T”) but to give examples from a popular magazine.
I read and then summarize each article in the Winter 2021 edition of Equus to give an alternate point of view. What I cover here also applied to videos, podcasts and social media rants. I describe the importance of reading who has sponsored the article and if there is an author willing to take responsibility for what is written. I look at information and judge it for the value and honesty it brings.
There are some really good articles and there are some so embarrassing in bias that it brings into question the validity of the good articles. But in any event I really want listeners to understand that you MUST question everything you read, hear or watch and ask questions. In fact, one of my benchmarks I have for judging whether something I am reading is valid is to notice if I have more questions at the end than I did before starting.
The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) held their annual meeting last month and offered a section on the current state of equine dentistry.
There were 8 lectures and a panel discussion. I report here what they said in each lecture and then add my commentary and interpretations as to how it applies to horses from an owner's perspective.
- How to Perform a Thorough Oral Examination
- How to Obtain Diagnostic Dental Radiographs
- How to Recognize and Evaluate Periodontal Disease
- Equipment and Treatment of Periodontal Disease
- How to Recognize and Manage Age-Related Dental Problems in Geriatric Patients
- How to Refer: What to Obtain, Gather, and Share for a Consultation or Referral
- How to Perform Minimally Invasive Sinoscopy
- How to Identify and Extract Blind Wolf Teeth
- Panel Discussion
I am still not clear that what they can now offer with detailed examinations (digital X-rays, CT scans, Sinoscopy really advances the health of the horse teeth more than good, regular and routine care. You be the judge.
Horse owners are facing a shortage of equine veterinarians if they live any distance from horses living in a dense population. The cost of a veterinary education and the poor return on the student’s investment compared to their small animal colleagues is the biggest reason. While you think the vet’s bill for work on your horses is high, the group practices pay the new vet little. And if they are a woman, they are paid less than a man with the same credentials.
There are more reasons including the work load and the lack of a balanced personal life. I discuss all the reasons why there are few good horse vets coming out of vet school and settling in your area.
The podcast is based on information presented at the 2021 AAEP annual meeting discussing the 50% attrition rate of new graduates leaving the AAEP organization after 5 years - and becoming small animal vets or just completely leaving the profession.
Sand colic in horses is defined as a blockage in the digestive tract due to the accumulation of sand. It is common where horses graze on land with a sand base. But even if your horses live nowhere near sand, this podcast has value. The root cause of sand accumulation may be experienced by your horses even up in the mountains where no beach can be seen. I report on a podcast heard from the Equine Veterinary Journal where they interview Dr Ben Sykes in New Zealand. His interest as an equine surgeon in sand colic comes from years of looking at cases presented to him. He reviews the literature and science behind sand colic and gives recommendations. And I add my twist to this.
Horses have been around for about 55 million years. They have been with humans for about 4000 years. They have been replaced with machines in many parts of the world in the past 70 years. Diseases including obesity, Insulin Resistance, Laminitis, Cushing’s, Developmental Orthopedic Disease, Tooth Decay and more have all either started or have been on the rise during the past 40 years.
We look to science to find the answers and yet it appears that science is either failing or is being usurped by marketing to sell agenda driven scientific results to horse owners. Today’s podcast will look at the complexities of the art of scientific research and how it is being manipulated by marketing with the result not always in the best interest of horses. Is it the scientists fault? Not really. It is the art of science that non-scientists)don’t realize is fallible. This leads to lack of trust at best and at worse, the harm of us and our horses.
This is just a discussion not really of science but of all horse owners and technicians (including veterinarians) who want to trust the science but are confused when we see that the science isn’t always working. Instead, maybe we should start subtracting what we think we know in our additions to the lives of horses and look at what evolution has taught us and trusting in the great experiment of nature.
I just finished half of an old book on feeding the horse written by a professor of nutrition. It is called “Horse Feeding And Nutrition” by Tony Cunha. It was first published in 1980 and this was the second edition in 1991 - 30 years ago.
What was so striking to me were these several points:
- I know personally the people who were referenced as the scientists, researchers and students after each chapter.
- The information here is exactly what I knew when I attended vet school at Cornell.
- The author quickly points out that there is little known about feeding horses that has a scientific basis and that most of the information presented in the book is from pigs, chicks and ruminants.
- The feed companies took this information and ran with it creating most of the feeds and feeding information we have today.
- Most of the “new” research has been driven by feed and supplement companies and that this bias has been harming our horses since this book was written.
This book has strengthened my conviction that the food and the way we feed our horses has to change. Only research in humans has recently re-worked their plan fighting back the bias of food and drug companies. However all of this has led only to more confusion. I don’t want this for you the horse owner. However it was necessary for me to step back in time to understand where we have all come from in our education. And like ghosts, the people in this book have reached me on a personal level and have given me insights on the level we would never see otherwise. Because of this, I will continue to honor their work but challenge it all the same.
I attended a Zoom meeting hosted by the FVMA with the presenter Dr Jane Manfredi of Michigan State. The title of her talk was Endocrine Disease And The Equine Athlete. I arrived a few minutes late but from what I could tell, this was a presentation on equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), PPID / Cushing's Disease in horses, insulin resistance / dysregulation and other points.
I go over her presentation discussing the good points and, once again, my disappointment that diet is not placed more prominently. Some of the information was old and not current with human investigations. The usual advice is about diagnosing early and getting the horse on an effective treatment based on lab work and flow diagrams. For this, Dr Manfredi did an excellent job.
What makes this podcast interesting was her association of EMS with joint pain in horses using data extrapolated from human studies. She also mentions the importance of the proportions of bacteria living in the microbiome of the gut in having the horse be thin, just right or obese. This has been shown in rats as well as humans.
Further, Dr Manfredi includes her opinion and studies of using a blend of polyphenols (specifically resveratrol) with a blend of amino acids to reduce general inflammation and specifically joint inflammation (osteoarthritis). What made this point so strong for me was a podcast I had listened to the day before where a legend in the field of human functional medicine had also said how effective adding the polyphenols resveratrol and curcumin were in reducing inflammation. By the way, Wikipedia says there is no evidence of this effect with resveratrol.
This is the second part of a discussion I started in episode #030. I continue that discussion of relating the brain of the horse with the human brain as the recent discovery of 4 distinct centers of the mammalian brain described by Dr Jill Bolte-Taylor in her book, “Whole Brain Living.”
In the past, I had described these centers based on Hippocrates (about 400 BC) as Choleric, Melancholy, Sanguine and Phlegmatic. I have described these 4 primary personalities in my book, “The Ten Irrefutable Laws Of Horsemanship.” I now associate these personalities with the 4 sections of the brain in anatomical locations: Left Brain Thinking (Character one), Left Brain Limbic or Emotional (Character two), Right Brain Limbic or Emotional (Character three) and Right Brain Thinking (Character four).
It is my hypothesis that humans in today’s world live in the left side of the brain which is analytical and temporal (past and future, identity, judgmental) with poor connection with the right brain (connected to the present and the universe). The horse, on the other hand, has access to all four sections of the brain and while judging you can also amend that judgment based on the sincerity and integrity of the human before them.
I include a simple way we can expand into the present moment and become an honest, three dimensional communicator with all horses, humans and everything in our lives. This is NOT hocus-pocus. It is based on anatomy of the brain and my use of this approach daily for the past decade. It allows me to connect with horses in 30 seconds, not 30 minutes or 30 days and hand float thousands of horses while medicating only 3 in every 100 I see. If you understand this real connection you will also be able to connect with the horses in your life in a more meaningful way. But it is YOU that has to change, not your horse.
The temporomandibular joints connect the jaw (mandible) to the skull. It is the most active joint in the body of the horse moving on average 25,000 times per day - or 9 million chews per year. It has evolved over the evolution of the horse to be a very sturdy yet flexible joint.
The TM joints are often defined by horse owners as a condition rather than a joint. My horse has “TMJ” is describing a syndrome that may not involve the joint at all. Rather, the connective tissues may give rise to pain. But is this true? Could there be pain located elsewhere that is causing a secondary discomfort in the general area of these joints?
This podcast discusses my experience with tens of thousands of horses and discusses what I have found in my observations and I compare this to what others say about “TMJ” in horses.
As a veterinarian, I have seen many horses with colic and as a horse owner, I have experienced colic personally. There is one thing for certain and that is we need to prevent it from happening in the first place. This is why The Horse’s Advocate explains the harm of inflammatory diets in other podcasts and materials. However, even with the best precautions, colic can still occur from other causes.
Last week I listened to a podcast from Platinum Performance which provided an overview of what colic is and what to look for if you ever have a horse suffering with abdominal pain (colic). The host did a fairly good job but the end turned out to be a promotion for their colic protection plan offering up to $10,000 for surgery. The restrictions for this program seemed great in terms of cost versus other programs of prevention.
I also attended last week a program from Cornell’s Veterinary College on colic with the perspective of a veterinarian working up a colic case. What goes through the decision making process is vast and includes a thorough knowledge of anatomy, statistics (age, use, diet, breed, etc), lab tests, diagnostic tests and experience. It was a detailed and thorough trip through the mind of the attending vet before a diagnosis and treatment plan can be made. Honestly, it was probably too much for a horse owner to follow.
This podcast splits the difference of these two presentations by providing what horse owners really need to know in simple and memorable terms about colic.
1) Make colic preventable.
2) The severity of pain does not equal the severity of the colic.
3) Increasing the delay of diagnosing and treating causes the decrease in a good outcome.
4) A heart rate above 60 beats per minute is usually a surgical colic.
5) Pain unresponsive to pain medication is usually a surgical colic.
On October 13th, 2021 The American Association Of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) had a virtual meeting of 4 professionals involved in the care of horses suffering from laminitis. This is a crippling and often life-ending painful affliction of the hooves of horses. I attended in hopes of updating myself with new information I could pass on to you listeners.
Discussions revolved around the determinants of severity from diagnostic images. It involved high resolution X-rays with specific measurements, venograms (images of the blood flow in the hoof) and even advanced imaging machines practitioners don’t have access to. The application of support in shoes and the use of cushioned boots was discussed. The benefits of cold therapy, shoeing angles and even deep digital tenotomy (cutting of the tendon) were discussed in respect to relevance and effectiveness.
There were two mentions of nutrition. The first was a brief comment that the insulin needs to be reduced. The second was a mention that increased survival rates were associated with higher rates of hoof growth. However there was no mention of how to do these in horses.
I review how insulin is involved in a response to nutrition as well as the roll of protein in the development of hooves. I believe that preventing laminitis is far better than curing it and the hoof can never be restored back to the original configuration after the laminae are destroyed. While these men would be the ones to seek out when laminitis strikes, I believe that ALL practitioners (vets and farriers) would love the day they never see another case of laminitis. This podcast is about doing just that.
Reducing the extra body fat on our horses is the best, if not the only, way to improve and eliminate metabolic syndrome. But is there a cost to their health in the increased production of molds with mycotoxins when doing this?
I attended a symposium put on by the European Equine Health & Nutrition Congress in the Netherlands that addresses molds and mycotoxins in forage. I thought this would be where I could get all the answers to the questions horse owners had asked about mold development in soaked hay. However, all I got was confusion and little evidence based answers. The clearest answer I received which was directed to my question asked in the Q&A section was given by a representative of the hay steaming company Haygain.
If you are frustrated at the end of this podcast I understand as I am frustrated too. However, some insights were gained and some validation achieved.
Humans now live in a world where communication is one or two dimensional. The telephone or video meeting is two dimensional conversation and texting, writing or email is one dimensional. These types of communications don’t employ the depth of vision to notice the subtle nuances of facial expression. Wearing a mask will also eliminate noticing the slight smile or frown.
There is actually a forth dimension with the use of the hormone oxytocin which is delivered between people in conversation but I don’t believe it has been studied in horses. However, I would propose that this could be viewed as our energy and if correct, this is absent in most human conversations when using any technology from pen to paper on up.
How we communicate with horses is through the use of 3 (or 4) dimensional conversation but most people today are not good at this as personal face to face talking is rare these days. In addition, humans live in the left half of the brain which houses our identity (ego) and our emotions tied to fear and joy among many other emotions that complicate our thinking. This podcast discusses how our brain works based on the experiences of Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. in her book “Whole Brain Living.” Through the loss of her left half of her brain through a hemorrhage, this Harvard professor of neuroanatomy pieced back the lost functions and through her 8 year journey discovered new concepts of how our brain works.
I attempt to tie together Dr Bolte Taylor’s expert information with my experience with tens of thousands of horses and deliver to you my understanding of how we can improve our communication with our horses. As I say in the podcast, ask yourself how well you communicate with other humans (spouse, siblings, parents, strangers in the convenient store) and if THAT isn’t good, then start with your own species. Once this is improved AND you also learn to understand how your brain / thinking works then use this skill to connect with a horse in 30 seconds, not 30 minutes or 30 days. We all can do this and in the upcoming podcasts I’ll continue with the other parts of the brain and expand on what I say here. Doc T
After floating 75,000 horses since 1983, Dot T discusses the valuable observations he has observed. Without funding available to do significant scientific studies involving a broad spectrum of horse breeds with a large number of participants for long periods of time, only observational studies can be used to understand dentistry in horses.
Dr Tucker discusses a variety of issues commonly asked by horse owners and veterinarians. Specifically, myths are evaluated and theories offered and also evaluated. This podcast crosses a dozen or more ideas you have often wondered about the teeth of horses, their care and why it matters.
Be sure to go to TheHorsesAdvocate.com for more images and blogs about equine dentistry. While you are there, become a member and join the discussion and ask your questions. Doc T will take a break from floating to answer.
Horse owners want to do the best for their horses either because of the large investment in their purchase and training / showing or because they are guilty or worried that they are missing something important in their care. The responsibility of providing care has been given by agenda based products as the sole mentors. Wisdom has been lost over time.
The reaction to this is to continually add food and supplements in hope that whatever might be missing is now covered. Yet holes in the nutrition still occur. Worse, the veterinarians and other horse professionals seem unable to offer any help.
When I see across this country the same illnesses and lamenesses increase and worse, see new diseases that were not in the text books in the 1980's, I have to ask this one question. "How is what we are doing helping our horses?
It's time to get back to the basics. That is what The Horse's Advocate is all about. Together we can all help horses thrive in a human world.
www.TheHorsesAdvocate.com
Protein is a word in nutrition that horse owners have difficulty understanding. There is good reason for this - because it is more complicated than carbohydrates (sugar) and fat. But why? Horse owners aren't stupid and on top of this, they want to do the "best" for their horses.
Protein is used to make the hair coat, top line muscles, hooves, suspensory ligaments, neurotransmitters (Cushing's disease), the immune system (allergies, skin conditions, disease), enzymes (digestive disorders) and hormones (hormone disorders). In addition, the DNA, RNA and all viruses are all made up of the stuff proteins are made of - amino acids.
I explain what a protein is and the amino acids that make up all proteins. Then I describe the two reasons why horses are chronically deficient in protein: 1) lack of intake of high quality protein having all the essential amino acids and 2) increased destruction of proteins by the body trying to survive living in a high sugar world.
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Daniel Dauphin is a horseman from Lafayette, Louisiana with a passion for training horses using horsemanship skills he learned from mentors. His website and social media are listed below.
We discuss a variety of topics including what drives us to become better horsemen, how to become a leader and overcome fear and how we connect with horses.
Daniel also used engineering (math and physics) to describe how bits work and has produced a series on this subject available for you to download. Through this series a better understanding can be achieved and a clear perspective on how bits should be used. If you are against the use of a bit in horses that's OK. This is not about that but what happens if you do use a bit and how you can avoid damage to the horse when you do. Worth the investment.
Daniel also travels throughout the country giving clinics to any discipline and age group. He also analyzes videos of riders with their horses to discover where connections can be improved.
I enjoyed Daniel's perspective on the relationships we can achieve with our horses without using aggressive tactics but rather through intelligent communications. It was a joy to find a like minded person who works with horses. The point of this of course is to help others understand what we are blessed to do every day - to connect with horses at a deep level to earn trust, confidence and respect. I hope you enjoy this interview as well as I did. Doc T
Video sales page: https://www.dauphinhorsemanship.com/mercantile
Website: https://www.dauphinhorsemanship.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU7PYYaPkTOE2D5kF7OxdRA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ddauphin77
email: daniel@dauphinhorsemanship.com
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TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
All things in life experience an ebb and flow much like the seasons, the loss of leaves of the oak tree, the tides or the birth and death of all living things. What seems to be the challenge for all of us and our horses is not just having a long life but to be healthy through that life. To help us remain healthy, all things go through a period of stress physically. This triggers functions within the cells to clean up and repair damage.
The pieces are coming together in human studies and these data are being found in all animals - and so I assume horses as well. To gain the healthy ebb and flow needed for cell maintenance, beliefs need to be changed. This becomes hard to do when we just want to nurture our horses with continuous access to food. However once the reality of what continuously feeding our horses causes in them, it will become easier to try to adapt what is being proven in science to how we care for our horses.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
Within the cells of our horses are power stations where fuel is converted into energy. Without this power station called the mitochondria, the cell and thus the horse dies. In reality, the mitochondria are organisms living within our cells as a symbiotic relationship - where each can’t live without the other.
How well the mitochondria work is related to the fuel it is fed. The good fuel is fat with clean and abundant energy production. Sugar (glucose) on the other hand burns dirty with less energy produced. When glucose is fed in excess of the needs of the horse, the muscles become insulin resistant and the fat cells become good at becoming larger. The result is the horse getting hungrier in an abundance of food.
This podcast explains everything in a simple and story like fashion so once it is understood, owners will never feed starch in excess of their horses’ needs.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
The equine veterinary profession is at a breaking point. There is little incentive for developing new horse vets. The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) knows it and is putting together a task force to address this. They are asking all but the people they should be asking - the horse owners themselves. Their efforts to discover the reasons are long overdue and in fact, are probably too late.
I have been writing for a while about the inevitability that horse owners, especially those in rural areas, would soon be out of options for finding expert veterinary care for their horses. There are 3 reasons:
1) the high cost of receiving a veterinary education and the low return in salary (money competition).
2) the generational changes for the desire to have a “quality of life” in a profession with high personal time demands (time competition).
3) the demand of horse owners driven by agenda driven companies for reactive veterinary care diminishing the observance of proactive, preventive horse care (bias competition).
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
I attended two meetings recently. One was about parasites in horses and was worth revisiting for a fresh perspective. The other was about liver disease in horses.
While these sound beyond the routine needs of horse owners, I know that many of you want to bridge your knowledge between you and your veterinarian. I break down what they say and interpret it so that you have the basics to have a conversation with your veterinarian about these two important issues. And when you hang around horses long enough you will know someone who has experienced diseases related to these two areas.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
I attended a conference called the EquiSummit produced by a major manufacturer of horse feed components and sponsored by the horse feed companies dedicated to supplying horses with feed and forage. Their representatives along with equine nutritionists (consultants and professors) and veterinarians (industry employees and professors) discussed the following topics:
- A Horse Owner's Guide to Leaky Gut Syndrome
- Managing Stress Through Functional Nutrition
- Proper Forage Feeding
- Feeding the Senior Horse and Addressing "Inflammaging"
- Hindgut Health: Practical Considerations
- Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) vs. Equine Cushing’s Disease (PPID)
I analyze their content which was available for all horse owners and professionals to attend. I then give my opinions. As you might imagine, any delivery from an agenda driven source will have omissions and twists of truth. I will guide you through the conference sessions and then summarize what they said.
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Most horses are used for strenuous competition and we would think that they need to be feed differently from retired horses that are in the field. This podcast looks at the requirements of these athletes from a point of view where the basic foundations of nutrition are placed first in our thoughts followed by what they really need to survive and thrive in their sport.
The idea of a grain free life seems appealing but is it also helpful in the working horse? I take a look at this idea and discuss this concept with the working horse in mind.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
Oils and fats seem to confuse a lot of horse owners and because of this, terminology such as “Omega 3 oils” are used a lot but without understanding what they are. As a result, horses are fed a lot of oils with good intentions for their health. But does it?
This podcast reviews what fatty acids are especially the saturated, MUFSA’s and PUFA’s. It also goes over where horses get their fat out in the “wild.” It is obviously not fish or fish oils nor is it flax or other seeds or seed oils. Once understood, horse owners will then understand what to feed horses to get the fats they need to survive and thrive.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
As horse owners, we have a right to protect and to prevent injury and disease from happening to the horses under our care. However, owners are being blocked at every turn by caring people trying to make the lives of our horses better. But are they able to do this while also being driven by an agenda?
The horse owner’s manual that was supposed to come with every horse is missing a lot of pieces - or maybe it never came with your horses. We turn to professionals to ask what to do but no advice is given to prevent disease. Specialists with a narrow field of offerings only to fix what is wrong, not prevent it from happening.
What if colic, laminitis, lameness and more were preventable? Owners and their horses would be happy but many specialists would lose their authority. This podcast discusses this place horse owners find themselves in - between those good people who help by fixing and those who help by preventing.
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This is a question asked on the FB group - If all seeds cause gut inflammation in horses and the core belief of this group is to go back to feeding horses the way they were created, how then is feeding soybean meal (SBM) a good choice for horses?
This podcast discusses the reasons for supplementing the amino acids lost every day and why they are lost. More importantly is the discussion of how SBM actually has a long history of safety and why this is so.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
This is not your average discussion about what to vaccinate your horses with. That would be a discussion to have with your veterinarian who knows you and what diseases are in your area.
However, to prepare you for that discussion, I will attempt to give you a bit about immunology, a bit about vaccination and disease history and a bit about false advertising by vaccine companies.
You should NOT be anti-vaccines but you should be aware of how they are just one tool in your tool kit protecting your horses from disease.
In a nutshell: vaccinate for diseases that can kill your horses but for those that will only make a healthy horse mildly sick, use all the tools in your kit in addition to vaccines.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
There is a point where the pain we are experiencing is beyond our ability to control our reaction to it. This point is our pain threshold and it is different for every person and horse alive.
Discovering if your horse is a wimp or a tough guy will help in how you work with them or if you need to medicate for something another horse tolerates.
But pain can be more than physical. There is mental pain from a past experience that also has a threshold. This needs to be addressed as we work with our horses. It is a combination of physical and mental pain that we apply our horsemanship skills to - and our use of medications.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
Horses are like humans in the way they express themselves as blends of four basic personalities. When working with horses, it is important to understand that we cannot change them just like we cannot change another human. The only one we can change is ourselves.
Once we understand the personality of the horse we are working with we can then work on changing our own expression of ourselves to match that of the horse we are working on. Matching our energy to that of the horse and then leading them through our own energy control will magically bring results you thought wouldn’t be possible without adding medications to the horse.
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Sleep is something every animal on the planet does including insects, birds, fish, aquatic mammals, you, me and our horses. We humans spend a third of our lives sleeping and in that time we repair and strengthen our health systems. So do our horses but little is known.
There seems to be an increase in “narcolepsy” in horses which really isn’t an accurate use in horses of this human disease. Now it is known as Sleeping disorder in Horses (or something like that) . But this podcast doesn’t spend a lot of time on this one problem that seems to be escalating in number over the years. Rather Doc T just talks about the things that happen when we sleep. From there we look at what might be happening in our horses when they sleep.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
Doc T discusses the portions of the brain responsible for the horses identifying danger, analyzing the threat and then responding to the go / no go for launch into either a fight or running from the area.
Understanding the separate locations within the brain and then the connections between them helps to identify where you, the horse owner or trainer, need to interject yourself to defuse a dangerous situation.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
There are 3 very basic classes of medications in horses that I want to describe today to help horse owners understand what they are and why there is a price difference.
Legend drugs are the original product protected by patents and are sold under a famous marketed name. These are approved by the FDA to meet strict standards.
Generic drugs are almost exact copies of legend drugs but without the fancy and well known name. These are also approved by the FDA to meet strict standards.
Compounded drugs are mixes of ingredients that are similar but not the same as the legend drugs. They are NOT controlled by the strict standards of the FDA.
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Physics is a collection of laws that control how things work in this world. They have no allegiance to a country, religion or even if you are a plant, animal or mineral. Physics is the rule book by which we all play.
How the laws of physics apply to our horses is something that has intrigued me since about 1978 when I noticed that there were scientists looking at how these laws made our horses lame. I was hooked.
Long toe and low heels is a combination of physics that does harm to tendons and hooves. Here is another favorite: Force = mass times acceleration (the reason overweight horses break down). Both of these are at the root of most lamenesses in horses.
Come along and find out how physics will help you to keep your horses healthy.
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This was a parody published in a top medical journal to bring attention to the fact that there are few research papers published that we can believe. Couple this with the fact that retractions in medical journals are at an all time high, both humans and horse owners really don’t know anything but what they know based on their life.
Who do we believe? Where do we go to get information. It boils down to two things: 1) listen to your gut to determine if what you are listening to is reasonable and 2) do what works for you and your horses. And if it isn’t working, change something so it does work.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
Equine endocrinology is a deep and complicated subject but in this podcast, Geoff Tucker, DVM (Doc T) reports on a webinar he attended for continuing education credit presented by a pharmaceutical company. Dr Tucker addresses their perspectives as compared to what he sees as a slightly different opinion.
This presentation reviews PPID (also known as Cushing’s disease) and insulin resistance.
TheHorsesAdvocate.com - Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World
Equine asthma is similar to human asthma based on several factors that have now been associated with this lung disorder in horses. It has had several names in the past including heaves, COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and others.
In the past allergens have been blamed for triggering the airways to constrict which in turn makes it almost impossible to exhale. Horses can no longer breathe effectively. This can be at worst deadly but usually limits the horse's ability to function at any sport or effort. But could there be another cause? Could this be associated with chronic inflammation?
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Geoff Tucker, DVM (Doc T) explains what is known based on a recent webinar he attended on Equine Asthma.
Calcium (Ca) and Phosphorus (P) are two of the most plentiful minerals in your horse and are required for bone structure, muscle function and hundreds of other metabolic functions. However they compete for uptake in the digestive tract.
When there is more phosphorus than calcium in the diet, calcium is prevented from being absorbed in the diet so the body extracts calcium from the bones to maintain a precise and critical level in the blood. All grains are high in phosphorus and when fed over time cause calcium deficiencies.
Feed manufacturers add calcium and phosphorus in a ratio so Ca is greater than P but in doing so, they prevent the absorption of Magnesium (Mg).
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Every horse owner fears the green grass of spring if they have ever had a case of laminitis. In this episode Geoff Tucker, DVM (Doc T) reviews an article written in a magazine for horse owners and analyze the information they are giving about this subject.
He doesn’t agree with most of it. He counters with his views and experiences. He focuses on glucose from starch and what happens to it in the body and the damage it does. After hearing this podcast you will have another point of view that will help you with this difficult period of caring for horses. - Doc T.
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The frequency of floating a horse is variable and is related to the individual horse. Often, we think of prevention on a mechanical device, like how often do you change oil in a car’s engine.
A horse is a living being and not a machine. It is the threshold of pain that determines how frequently you need to float. In other words, how they perceive the sharp points against their cheeks and tongue. It is also the hardness of the enamel and the number of chews in a day / month / year that also determine how fast they become sharp.
Be sure to tune in to find out what other factors influence when is the right time to float. Hosted by Geoff Tucker, DVM (Doc T)
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The pituitary is a small gland at the bottom of the brain that regulates so many hormones in the horse. Without it, the body of every mammal (horse and human) would become unbalanced and eventually destroy itself. And it is only the size of a pea!
Disease of the pituitary in horses is called PPID or Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction. But I disagree that the pituitary is "dysfunctional." Rather, it is functioning perfectly - but is not stopping doing its job causing several diseases in horses, most notably Cushing's Disease.
Join me for a discussion of what this tiny part does to horses, some ideas of mine as to why it often becomes broken, and why the term “Cushing’s” is a hot button for me, Doc T.
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What is carbohydrate (sugar) dependency in horses and how does it lead to chronic protein deficiency and insulin resistance? This is a fundamental question every horse owner should try to understand in order to 1) feed horses correctly and 2) prevent most diseases in horses.
Welcome to episode number 2! This series is now officially live and new content will be coming regularly, be sure to subscribe! Also check out the new look of The Horses Advocate at www.thehorsesadvocate.com for more podcasts, articles and so much more from Doc T.
Medications in Equine Dentistry are essential to understand as to why they are used and more importantly, why they are often not used properly. One of the buttons you can push on me is this - I really dislike using the terms "tranq" and "sedate." These imply that the cause is the human working on the horse. I prefer the term "medicate" as this implies there is thought and reasoning behind the selection of the medications for the individual horse they are being used on.
Welcome to Horse Talk with Dr Geoff Tucker. This is his tech team just getting things set up. You are welcome to enjoy the content but please be patient with us while we get things polished up. This particular podcast may be taken down and re-uploaded as we get things finalized.
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