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    RE: [RC] ARE THESE SUPPLEMENTS NECESSARY FOR MY HORSE TO BE IN COMPETITION - Bob Morris


    Allison:
    
    My comments were not about what was being used or why it was
    being used. My question was, why is the first question "will
    it test?".
    
    I acknowledge that supplementation can be beneficial.
    However, the majority of questions most always are not in
    direct regard to what are the benefits to the horse, but are
    if I feed this stuff will it test.
    
    To often the implications are, this will give me an
    advantage I need but will I get caught if I use it.
    
    To me that is not in the best interests of the equine. To me
    the question is, if I need this supplement, why. Is the
    necessity caused by over training where I can modify the
    program and decrease the need or is it due to a sickness
    where I should bypass competition until the horse is well.
    Or perhaps it is a case of the horse really needing the
    supplement as is our case with selenium.
    
    To often the supplementation of horses is done on something
    less than scientific basis.
    
    You stated <<<I have spent the last year working with an
    anti-aging specialist (I'm in
    my 40's) to maximize my physical well being. Please note
    those words; they are important.  MAXIMIZE MY PHYSICAL WELL
    BEING.>>>
    
    You think you have a problem now wait till you get to your
    mid 70's as I am.
    
    Bob
    
    Bob Morris
    Morris Endurance Enterprises
    Boise, ID
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Alison
    Farrin
    Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 1:38 PM
    To: ridecamp
    Subject: RE: [RC] ARE THESE SUPPLEMENTS NECESSARY FOR MY
    HORSE TO BE IN
    COMPETITION
    
    
    This thread has been working its way under my skin for
    awhile, with its
    implications that scientific understanding and efficient
    utilization of
    the processes involved in exercise and nutrition lead to a
    horse that is
    somehow competing on other than its own ability.   I have to
    reply to
    this from my own perspective as a middle aged, middle of the
    road
    athlete - and I personally don't use any drugs other than
    tylenol/advil
    when I've overdone it.
    
    I have spent the last year working with an anti-aging
    specialist (I'm in
    my 40's) to maximize my physical well being.
    
    Please note those words; they are important.  MAXIMIZE MY
    PHYSICAL WELL
    BEING.
    
    20 year olds take this for granted.  40 year olds have to
    work at it.
    To do this, I have an exercise and conditioning schedule,
    tailored to my
    needs and increased as I get in better shape.
    I also take a pharmacopoeia of supplements designed to put
    back in my
    body what it no longer makes because its older than it used
    to be.
    These include, precursor hormones, hormones, vitamins,
    minerals, fish
    oil, thyroid, condroiton and a few more I've forgotten.
    
    After a year,
    my cholesterol is lower
    my body fat % has dropped 5%
    I've thrown away my reading glasses
    I can lift 2.5 times the amount of weight I started with.
    I have more energy
    I have more stamina
    My skin is soft for the first time in 30 years, despite all
    the time I
    spend outside.
    I'm not anemic for the first time in 18 years.
    My doctor oohs and aahs over my bloodwork, which has also
    apparently
    regressed to a younger, healthier state.
    
    There are NO DRUGS involved in this regimen.  Just the stuff
    my body
    used to make and doesn't anymore, or used to metabolize well
    and doesn't
    anymore, or never metabolized well in the first place.
    
    
    If I am going to take my horse and make a competition
    athlete out of
    him, doesn't he deserve the same good diet and vitamins and
    minerals and
    proteins that I give myself?
    Doesn't he deserve a diet tuned to his needs?  Doesn't he
    deserve
    supplements if his natural diet is inadequate to support the
    workload I
    am asking of him?
    
    Carbo loading
    BCAA's
    joint supplements
    aloe vera juice
    and all the others I missed
    
    all fall under the heading of MAXIMUM WELL BEING.
    
    Some horses have the genetics to be phenomenal athletes and
    just need
    some conditioning.
    Most horses have the potential to be much better than their
    base, but
    need the optimal diet, joint maintenance and extra sugar
    during a race
    to excel to the level the phenomenal athlete reaches on pure
    genetics.
    Both kinds of horses deserve the chance to be competitors.
    Neither need
    to compete on drugs.  But they each use different, legal
    avenues to get
    to the top levels of competition.  Science and technology
    have gained us
    windows into what is happening inside our horses.  We KNOW
    so much more
    than we did 20 years ago.  It gives us the chance to take a
    medium
    athlete and make him into a top athlete because we have the
    tools to
    figure out what is missing, in his diet, in his training, in
    his
    genetics that keeps him from attaining his best.  If we use
    what science
    has given us, that missing link often comes in powdered
    form.  I could
    probably feed a small dose of molasses and sugar and ground
    cob and come
    close to the medium chain complex carbohydrate that is Carbo
    charge.
    But if you think I come in covered in dirt now, what would I
    look like
    drenched in sugar and molasses as well?  Come on, some
    things are meant
    to make life more efficient.  Use them.  Don't whine that we
    no longer
    live in the dark ages.
    
    This reply is not in reference to MSM, bute, or gastroguard,
    all of
    which are drugs, and just MHO, don't belong in competition.
    
    
    Alison A. Farrin
    Innovative Pension
    Innovative Retirement Services
    858-748-6500 x 107
    alison@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    
    
    
    At 12:02 PM 7/29/02, Bob Morris wrote:
    >  "ARE THESE SUPPLEMENTS NECESSARY FOR MY HORSE TO BE IN
    COMPETITION!"
    >
    >If they are not necessary, then why use them?
    
    And if they are necessary, is your horse really healthy and
    sound enough
    to
    be competing?  Is competing with drugs really  just a subtle
    form of
    abuse?
    
    
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    Replies
    RE: [RC] ARE THESE SUPPLEMENTS NECESSARY FOR MY HORSE TO BE IN COMPETITION, Alison Farrin