Probiotics battle

["Lysane Cree" <cree_l@LSA.Lan.McGill.CA>]

It is normal that different people will have different opinions about 
products - that is why there are many products out there and some 
people will prefer one product over another. However, the level at 
which the arguments are now has become a little distasteful. I for 
one, have never questioned the "truthfulness" of Ridecampers 
opinions. We say what we think on either side of a an issue or ask 
questions about things that are not clear to us or things which we 
would like to hear other opinions/ideas about, but I can't see why a 
person would not be honest about an opinion, idea, statement, etc. 
and "manifest" an opinion, idea, statement, etc... What woould be 
the point? We are all free to agree or disagree with the person.
Some people are able to offer their personal opinions through their 
personal experience with a particular product and they can let us 
know whether such a product helped them, did not help them, was 
problematic, etc. And the rest of us can form our own opinions on 
whether or not we should give those same products a try or go with 
a product which has a bettter "rep". The choice is ours to make 
and for some of us, like me, who find themselves in an area which  
although it is rural, is flooded with dairy cows rather than horses 
and the opinions of horse people are harder to find...the farmer 
down the road, although very friendly and kind, cannot give me his 
opinion on the use of electrolytes or probiotics or beet pulp since 
he has no use for them. 
Others on ridecamp have scientific backgrounds which can provide 
us with some answers about why things happen metabolically, 
physically, chemically, etc. They don't always agree on everything, 
but here again I have never seen anything less than opinion based 
on research and experience in a particular field. And I have never 
been suspicious of a person's credentials not being what they say 
they are. Why should I? Again, you can accept their opinions or 
you can reject them (if you can come up with a better scientific 
argument to oppose them). I have a limited science background, 
but I know enough, to know that what I have read on ridecamp so 
far makes sense and isn't just junk pulled out of thin air.
Some may never agree on which probiotics brand is best, but I 
think posts to ridecamp discussing valid scientific research, as well 
as personal experiences can allow the rest of us to make a proper 
and educated choice on which brand we will use for our horses. 
And if we don't make a good choice or it doesn't seem to work as 
well for us, we can get back on ridecamp and ask some more 
questions or offer up ideas for discussion purposes...not to be torn 
apart for the sake of being torn apart.
Well, that's just my opinion, take it or delete it, but spare me the 
nasty and pointless attacks. You can post those on some other 
list.
Lysane and Buck