1) Drug... An arthritic horse goes sound. Is it right to
use them and ride, or retire the horse, or stick to pleasure
trail? [Mostly, activity is good for arthritic horses]
2) Supplement... Just like balancing Selenium, Calcium,
phospherous, magnesium, potasium, Vit A, Vit D, Vit E, etc..
both Chondroitin sulfates and glucosamines occur naturally in
the body.
I can ride Magnum horse without these. He was sound. The reason
he is on them is to give him the best possible shot at preventing
injury and degeneration... or at least slowing it down... given
what we know about him. Would it be right for me to ride him and
not provide for him? I sure would feel awful if I rode him hard
and didn't provide the calories necessary to keep him from becoming
bone thin. His diet is different given his job than it would be
if he were a pasture ornament (what a waste *That* would be).
And then we can get into Dynamite. OK out there, raise your mice.
How many people use Dynamite? Have you looked at the amount of
Beta Carotine that's in it? Beta Carotine is found naturally in
horse feeds anyways, but not in nearly the quantities that it's
found in Dynamite. I could care less if you feed it. It think
it's a great way of keeping horses who need it healthy.
What about biotin? Should we ban horses with weak hooves? I know
that TB's are affected (But I have found out that SOME are racing
barefoot. I'd like one of those next time!) and now I know that
some arabs have the same hoof troubles too. Being an Arab does
not mean great feet. If we get into the no biotin, then we have
only horses with naturally good feet and we are getting into the
NATRC relm of no boots, etc.
You wouldn't compete knowing you had an imbalanced diet for your
horse. One of the most said things about tying up is that you
should test your horses blood to see what the levels are and feed
*for your horse*. That's what I figure I do with these supplements.
Feed the best I can for my horse. I see it as a tool.
:) - kat
... in No. Cal with Magnum the TB