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Thanks. But, I’d rather do without.
My doctor looked at me sideways. Just because I'm down, doesn't mean I need an anti-depressant!
Time heals, I told him. And it did. I feel better.
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My horse got a bad scrape. I made sure it was clean and left it alone.
It’s 2010 and far be it for me to think that better care does not
always mean using every medication, every treatment, every technology at our disposal.
-- Unpasteurized cider won’t kill us.
-- Kids with attention deficit don’t necessarily need to be drugged.
-- That horse doesn't need asthma meds, he just needs get out of his 24/7 stall and get some fresh air!
"Benign neglect is best."
That’s what Dr. Cynthia Reynolds told me when we were discussing horse care the other day.
“In the East, horses are loved to death,” chimed in Elijah Moore, Reynolds’ husband and a
longtime horse trainer from Utah.
Once there was no Smartpak.
Once there was no anti-bacterial anything.
Once there was no UnderArmor and five other layering options for horses.
When did we lose our faith in our horses' self reliance and self preservation?
Why do we need to contract out their health and welfare to every commercial entity available?
Where can I buy a bottle of
Intuition?
We spend billions on products to help our horses gain weight, lose weight, have shiny coats, run faster, run longer, recover better, etc. etc. etc.
In our quest to optimize our horse’s quality of life and performance, we can get lost in the miasma of choices made available to us. And so we listen and, to the delight of the horse product industry, we buy.
As consumers, we seem to have come to the conclusion that doing something, applying something, treating something, adding something, feeding something, blanketing something, is somehow better than doing nothing.
This optimization pull is especially strong in the East.
I was chatting with a sales representative from Triple Crown Feeds at
the Equine Affaire a few years back. He noted the contrast between here
in the East and out West.
“I was talking with a California woman who turns her horses out to a
big pasture. She visits them once a week and wondered about grain.” He
continued with a smile, “ I’m sorry, ma’am, we don’t have a Thursday
feed.”
When did we lose so much faith in a horse’s ability to take care of itself?
“Martin always says that if you treat a horse like he’s made of glass, then he'll break,” said Kim Stone. She’s a longtime Maine horsewoman who’s seen both sides with extended work
on Martin Black’s ranch in Oregon. "He'd rather teach a horse to have some self-preservation."
I ran a not-so-scientific experiment the other week:
My horse happened to cut herself just above her nose. It wasn’t anything serious. Took the skin off a small area the size of a nickel.
A client’s horse had a similar booboo.
I made sure the area was clean and left it alone.
My client scrubbed it with Nolvasan, then applied SWAT.
Over the course of several days, he repeated this procedure.
In a week, my horse’s cut had scabbed over, sloughed off the scab and was completely healed.
My client’s horse’s cut was still healing…slowly.
“Every Cut. Every Time.”
That’s the Neosporin logo.
Why?
I heard a news feature on the radio the other day. A doctor was saying that folks should be given anti-depressants if they exhibit grief for more than two weeks. Even if it’s over the death of a loved one.
Really?
We life in an age of hovering. Helicopter parents and helicopter horse owners.
My take?
It’s a waste of gas.
Great article! We do tend to love our horses to death, especially here in the East. Sometimes letting nature take care of itself these horses are far healthier than what we can offer them in a stall, or on multiple medicines/supplements. Thanks for putting this out there.
Great article Maddy. I really enjoy your words of wisdom. How is the beautiful Ms. Brooke doing?
Keep the news coming, some days it seems to make my day a little easier.
We have kept backyard horses for 19 years in New Hampshire, always with run-in stalls and shelters; they stay out by choice 24/7, and are never blanketed. Their fur coats are such good insulation that the snow on their backs does not melt. We maintain them barefoot and they are quite healthy, but mostly they are happy and content and come when we call them or just to visit. Reading all the product literature and advertising, it is easy for some folks to forget that horses were designed by nature to take care of themselves!
Great article. I find that most times we feed/care for our horses the way we do to make ourselves feel better not our horses.