ad hominem attacks

[SL S <stepnout@swva.net>]

Hi Sue,

Politicians resort to character assassination and insults to distract
attention from their perceived weakness in a debate.  When parties to an
argument run out of ideas, they turn to insults, and then to blows.  No one
learns anything useful from that point on, though they might be amused.

What I'm hearing from the TI-Heidi tete-a-tete is something of a parallel
argument:  under current ride circumstances, vets mostly just have their
powers of observation and experience to evaluate horses under field
conditions.  TI says that's not nearly enough; what's needed is hard data
from measuring instruments that are not as vulnerable to human error.
Therein lies a logistics challenge, but from my experience flogging
physiology in the anesthesia suite, time and competition will eventually
produce field-worthy lab instruments to make it workable.  (I personally
would love to try a telemetry arrangement sending realtime data to a central
lab while I'm riding, with feedback to me via my headphones or cellular
Internet connection.  Wouldn't become obsessed with it, since I ride for
other reasons than curiosity about training effects, but the option should
make for a very steep learning curve.)

Sally in Floyd, VA