Re: RC: FEEDING BEER TO HORSES

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/8/00 12:47:21 AM Pacific Daylight Time, tracey@tbt.co.za 
writes:

<< 1.  How can any human being be so stupid as to agree to put something in 
their horse's food without first investigating it fully.  >>


Because it works. 

There are genuinely dumb morons, and then, there are really bright morons.   
In between is everybody else, encountering problems, trying to solve them, 
talking to their friends about them, talking to the "experts"--flailing 
around for solutions. And once in a while, a solution pops up out of the 
blue, with absolutely no academic knowledge about it whatsoever. 

The true morons in the game are those whose minds are paralyzed. It might be 
because they can't think at all. It might be because they thought about 
things when they were younger, had some success, and then stopped thinking. 
And it might be because they have such a fear do doing something incorrectly 
that they have to read a large body of scientific literature that actually 
forces them to make a decision, before they can actually implement a change 
in daily routine. All are mentally paralyzed, and thus, morons, by my 
definition.

As far as beer is concerned, I don't think there is a racehorse in Ireland 
that DOESN'T get a bottle of Guinness every day. It appears to be beneficial. 
Why? Who knows? Certainly there have been no studies done on it. 

Similarly, though, firing and blistering are still widely practiced 
treatments. At one time, vets made a larger percentage of their income that 
way than they do today with corticosteroids--and all three treatments, the 
way they are used, are damaging to the horse. And they are typically 
administered by the scientific experts at the track--the licensed medical 
people. Today, most bucked shins and splints are fired, tendon and suspensory 
injuries are blistered. Moronic in the extreme.

A guy named Lubecki invented a treatment for bows and suspensories (actually, 
learned it from Sir Charles Strong) using a mucle stimulator to cause 27,000 
contractons of the deep and superficial flexor muscles a day. It works. 
Quickly and efficiently. Has been working for years. The very first paper on 
the technique appeared in 1999. Yet, the typical vet will tell you you're a 
moron for trying it. He'll suggest blistering, tendon splitting, superior 
check desmotomy, Bapten, or a year in the paddock--none of which are 
particularly effective. 

I read science every day. And I talk to dozens of trainers every day. Some of 
the science I read is written by morons, and some of the trainers I talk to 
are morons. That is, people who have stopped thinking. Most solutions to 
problems arise from a series of stumbles and bumbles--not from research. They 
arise from people flailing around, trying to solve a problem, trying this, 
trying that. People whose brains are still alive--if not correct at every 
stop along the way. 

And so, my First Law is a very intellectual one: What works is real. 

ti