Re: Glucosamine discussion

[Tara Wheeler <harpy@io.com>]

Title: Re: Glucosamine discussion

>But they are NO substitute for fitness, suitability, and good nutrition.  And a well-suited horse >that is well-fed and fit does NOT need them to compete at the level that most of ours do, and to >continue doing so for a great many years. 

Who said anything about *substituting* supplements for fitness, suitability, and good nutrition?!?

I'm adding to, to make my horse as comfortable as possible.

I'd really like to ride my horse for twenty years and I'd like us both to be as comfortable as possible.  I'm taking vitamins and glucosamine, why can't my horse?

I pay for the best vet care I can afford, wormer, equine dentristy, a saddle that stays off his backbone and flexes with his movements, lessons for the both of us so we can move with each other more effeciently.  I'm learning natural foot trimming, equine massage, and about to spend a butt-load of money on a trailer that's safer than my current stock trailer.  And I don't even want to get into how much barbed-wire fence I've removed from my property in the last three years and how much I'll be removing this year alone.

If there's anything else out there up to and including burnt offerings to Epona that will help me out with my horse, I'll do it.

We're not talking Bute, or Ace or nerving or anything else that alters a horse's natural state.

We're talking over-the-counter supplements.

Nobody objects to adding corn oil, 22 percent protein feed, biotin or Source.

If it's not a controlled substance, I don't see the harm in it.

If it's against the rules, I won't use it.  But I'll keep an eye out for something that *is* legal.