Some lessons apply across the board. One of these lessons involves revolutions. Take a look back at Crane Brinton's ground breaking work, "The Anatomy of a Revolution."
Revolutions begin by fighting the status quo. All too often they end in a viscous struggle of various factions, each of whom claim to be the true heirs of the revolution. These purists generally share the belief that the revolution did not "go far enough."
There is, as Dr. Miller entitled his great book, "A Revolution in Horsemanship." That revolution needs to stay on track. I am a strong proponent of natural horse care. I have no doubt that the healthiest way for any creature to live is to live as close as possible to how it evolved to exist.
But I recognize exceptions, and the most important exception is the prudent use of dewormers. The reality is that nearly all young horses and nearly all aged horses are very susceptible to worm infestation. The reality also is that many other horses naturally fight off over infestation to the degree that they never need worming.
For those horses for whom parasites are a problem I see no advantage in not using effective dewormers. Dogma should never be allowed to trump reality. Ideas weaken when they become ideology. And horse health should never be sacrificed on the alter of acceptable doctrine.
True believers have a hard time with this concept.
The problem with any sort of absolutism is that the perfect man is not always hard to find...but what happens when he gets a bellyache?
ReplyDelete"What bit do I....?"
Oh...shut up and think. Start with the question, "do I even need a bit?" Go from there.
Should one deduce that question to he a pet peeve of mine...one would have much to go on.
We struggle here, on occasion with modern technology, vice what really works.
There is a whole library full of great information, technique, and technology is the world of the horse....but that library is very much like a truffle...it is surrounded by 100 times the volume of...umm....garbage.
The trick is to distil what is useful from what is not.
I believe it was Bill Dorrance said that the horse brings 90 percent of the physical strength to the game, and that the human must bring 90 percent of the mental to the game....this concept extends to care of the horse as well as training and riding.
Caveat Emptor Equus...
Lloyd
I have read (I don't recall where, now) that most of the digestive problems experienced by older horses are the result of damage to the digestive tract that slowly accumulated due to parasite infestation over the live of the horse. If you want to have a healthy older horse, you must maintain good health throughout the life of the horse.
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