Oops...Animal By Products in feed

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

I don't like seeing unfounded accusations thrown
> around without basis, data or even an understanding of digestive
physiology,
> nutrition or research methodology, regardless of who those accusations are
> being thrown at.  Unethical is unethical, people.  Stacy, sorry if this
> seems like a flame---I'm angry at ignorance and closed minds, not at you
> personally.


On re-rereading my own post from last night, I realized that this last
paragraph especially comes off exceptionally strong and sounds like a
personal attack on Stacy.  By *NO* means was this meant to attack Stacy's
opinions or herself personally.  My above reference to 'unethical',
'ignorance' and 'closed minds' was not aimed at Stacy---I think Tracey said
very well that alot of 'natural' or 'homeopathic' remedies are based on
fear, rather than reality or scientific data, that all corporations are bad
and making a profit thereby excludes any possible benefits.  Stacy has just
been exposed to this idea and it really aint true.  The unethical, ignorant
ones are those that havent a clue about nutrition or physiology, but pass
off such hysteria as fact (I don't mean your post, Stacy, I mean some of the
"articles" spamming around the 'net, or in non-science based horse
publications.)

I see _alot_ of questions from people concerned about their horse's who are
spending way more money than they can afford on 'natural' remedies and
supplements, believing the marketing heaped on them that this is the only
way to provide top health.  I HATE seeing that, and the 'unethical' comment
above was aimed at those who market such fluff along with all kinds of trash
about how evil the feed companies are.  It makes me *nuts* to see people
misled and ripped off that way.  Anybody that was at my seminar at Reno last
week knows that---IMO, there is alot more damage done through the sense of
false security they provide, and thinking that because you feed extract of
ragweed and infusion of crabgrass, you don't need to educate yourself about
what, how and why horses require certain nutrients in certain levels and
ratios.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, if any of you had been there at the
CSU-VTH to see the uncontrollable agony of that dying horse whose owners had
been assured that dandelion extract would 'cure' a problem (colic that
progressed to a twisted large bowel) that could have fixed
medically/surgically two weeks earlier, you too would have cheerfully
throttled the sadistic monster that knew about the severity of the colic,
but just sold the owner a couple more bottles of lawn clippings. Now who was
interested solely in profit and be damned with the consequences to the
horse?

Please, people, if you are concerned about your horse's nutrition, educate
yourself with independent, unbiased and data-based information, and not
Terrorist Nutrition nonsense pumped out by the popular press.

Stacy, I apologize if my earlier words hurt your feelings.  I was ranting at
businesses that prey on people's emotions this way, not at you.

Susan G