Re: Re: Think! Animal By Products in feed

["Robyn Levash" <questarabians@inreach.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>
To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>; <stacy.a.berger@intel.com>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 8:02 PM
Subject: RC: Re: Animal By Products in feed


> > Now my horses - that is entirely different.  Horses are herbivores, ie
> vegan >vegatarians!  Even when starving, I don't believe a horse will eat
> the >deceased members of its herds...
> > dogs will, as will humans.  Horses should not be eating animal by
> products, >in my opinion, because they are not designed to do so by mother
> nature.
>
This post is no way intended to flame, criticise, or demean Susan G's
perspective on the subject, just offer a different perspective on this
subject.

The feed companies high-tech approach focuses much more on nutrients and
chemical formulas that it does on ingredients. If you accept that this way
of thinking is suitable for horses, then it is to be said that the feed
companies are doing a very good job. But along the way, we *** the
consumers*** are blinded with science, (and no longer trust our own common
sense) and so many different claims are made for so many horse feeds that it
can be hard to know where to turn.

In the old days when ignorance was bliss, we had little more to worry about
than protein, carbohydrates, and fiber. Now we have to deal as well with
micronutrients, and there has been such an explosion in our knowledge that
more has been written about the roles of vitamins and minerals in disease
during the last twenty years than was written in the previous two hundred!
Micronutrients are needed in only the tiniest quantanties, yet they play
vital roles in the maintenance of strong bones and teeth, normal nerve
conductivity, muscle contraction, vision, and so much more. Within the
complex processes of metabolic activity, a whole chain of interactions can
be stopped in the absence of one vitamin or mineral.

The explosion in scientific knowledge makes it apparent that the role of
micronutrients within the equine (as well as the human) diet is an
exceedingly complex subject which only a biochemist could expect to
understand! Yet the truth is that horses are more than test-tube processes:
they have evolved to eat grasses throughout the seasons, and to deal with
flucuating mineral and vitamin levels (in contrast, the vast majority of
feeding regimes must make it seem like spring every day!) Their ability to
store, conserve and manufacture micronutrients is almost without parallel,
and it is a godsend to us that horses are so adaptable.

In the case of feeding, there is no third party in between us and the feed
producers - no equivalent of saddlers and farriers - whom we can easily try
to blame for our problems. The feed companies do what they do extremely
well, and their technical know-how is not in question. So as we work our way
through the jungle of information about feeding, how much do we need to
know? The nutritionists in the feed industry want us to defer to them, and
to question the accumulated wisdom of our forefathers. They want to convince
us that common sense, a keen eye, and the traditional ' rules of good
feeding' are no longer enough. Unfortunately, in view of the complicated
choices we face about the contents of our feeds, it is all too easy to
become so blinded by science that we forget about simple wisdom, and our own
common sense.(e.g - I don't buy into the argument that it is OK to feed
horses animal fat just because scientific research (at this moment in time)
states that horse's appear to digest it just fine, or the theory that
nothing we do with our horse's anymore is natural to their design,< so
hell>, let's just give up on everything evenly remotely natural for the
horse while we are at it. The brain that I was given tells me that animals
products of any kind should not make their way into the horse's digestive
system period! Of course this is only ***my conclusion/ personal
opinion***.)

Today's good feeder (so the feed companies want us to believe) relies not
just on the traditional rules, but also on the latest in biochemistry.
Although, the feed companies stop short of blinding us with the chemical
formulas which guide and fascinate them, the basic premise of their
advertising is that ' the more scientific it is, the better it must be'.
Once we accept that, it follows that we should indeed leave them to
formulate our horse's rations. This allows us to remain relatively ignorant,
and simply to follow instructions. All I am suggesting is that you owe it to
your horse, to read your labels on your horse feed. Research and learn what
those ingrediants "really" are, use the common sense and the brain that God
gave you ( you are given the same brain as doctors, scientists, chemists
etc.) and make the most 'logical' conclusion for your horse.
THINK!
Robyn
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