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[RC] Thoughts on science - Bruce Weary DCThere have been many thoughts shared lately about science, its importance, and the role it should be playing in how we manage our horses, including the recently updated drug rule.There are some important things to consider regarding science, which is a term we all know, but may not understand how it works and its limitations. First, most scientific investigations are formal attempts at understanding and explaining what we have observed anecdotically in our world. We notice trends, natural phenomena, have experiences and create needs that we want to meet, and we use science to help us understand how things work, predict outcomes and derive answers that can improve our quality of life. That being said, science rarely comes up with clean-cut succinct and complete answers to a given problem. Usually answers come from several different sources, over a long period of time, and only after a thousand different approaches have been tried. Even then, we lead our lives with a good bit of intuition and personal experience guiding our decisions, not pure laboratory science. On top of that, not all science is good science. If we don't have the insight and ability to discern what science is useful, and that which is not useful, or even dangerous, then banging the "science drum" becomes useless and potentially damaging dogma, which is something that science itself tries to eliminate. If we always follow what scientific studies tell us, we would still be taking Thalidomide and Vioxx. Science told us they were okay, at one time. Anecdotal observation told us they weren't okay when the birth defects and deaths began. THEN, science went and found that they indeed aren't good for us. Who'da thunk? Science has shown, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that most low back surgeries are not only unnecessary, but often harmful and lead to the need for future surgeries, yet they continue to be performed in record numbers. Science has shown that antibiotics don't affect viral infections, yet we take them anyway. We tend to pick and choose what science we like, and often browbeat others with the science we approve of in order to see things go the way we would prefer.That happens here on RC, alot. Science has built bridges that have collapsed, some cars that proved to be deadly, and drugs that have killed thousands. It's also built better bridges, safer cars, and life saving drugs. It's a mixed bag, and a tool, not the Oracle at Delphi. The process of building a workable drug rule, is one that requires perspective, experience, education, training, discernment, and knowledge of the endurance horse. It is a work in progress that may always need some tweaking, but the main infrastructure is there, and can be added to or taken from until it's safety benefits are maximized. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will the drug rule be. But, we'll get there. Bruce Weary =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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