Re: RC: Tieing up

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/19/00 8:53:12 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com writes:

<< The horse is the 
 SINGLE exception among species that have been studied, as he can elevate his 
 heart rate as much as SIX times over his resting rate, making his anaerobic 
 threshhold considerably higher by comparison than other species, as he can 
 get oxygen and fuel out to the muscle tissue at a much higher rate.  >>


You're incorrect. You're looking at one parameter in your typical tunnel 
vision fashion. Athletic performance is measured in absolute speed, sustained 
speed, attained skills, and power output/body mass. The horse is outperformed 
by many species in many aspects. Start with the hummingbird, move to 
gazelles, and then to human power lifters. Romanticising the horse's 
capablilities simply leads to false conclusions about fitness and readiness 
for sport that, in turn, lead to disaster in human hands. 

The horse has some limited advantages and many disadvantages for the purposes 
we use him. Your simplistic views, iterated long before you went to school, 
have now been passed to a couple of generations of horsemen who, in turn, are 
perfectly willing to forget their responsibilities in preparing these animals 
for athletic competition based on the assumption that the horse is already an 
athlete and they are simply caretakers of his genes. This stupidity has made 
its way to the racetrack, where horses are conditioned less and less and 
break down with increasing frequency. It's a boon for needle-pushing 
veterinarians, and for breeders, and an "out" for trainers, who can pass the 
blame for their mistakes to the horse--his genes, his conformation. 

This is your legacy, your responsibility, as the sole purveyor of science in 
the industry. You're the one with the medical license. You're the one who is 
supposed to know the physiology of the horse.  What makes the horse different 
from a cow or a zoo animal is that we use him for athletic purposes. The 
assumption that the horse is a ready-made athlete is a horrific mistake, made 
tens of thousands of times each year. It is this kind of stupidity that I've 
spent 27 years working to correct. And this is the heart of the reason why 
you and I will continually disagree. 

ti