READERS
FORUM
Dear BYRH
Here's something you could put in your newsletter if you have room. Since
my article on the internet on the Thoroughbred Racing Bulletin Board, many
people e-mailed me with requests for the "natural list". The list includes
breeders, trainers and owners that DO NOT USE drugs or legal medication on
their horses. There is enormous need for "natural people" in the business.
If you could ask your readers for names to add to the list (and a way to contact
them) it would help. Of course, if you know anybody let me know too. The best
way to contact me is on the net: elucerne@praxis.net or else mail it to me.
I am enclosing a copy of the article so you have an idea what I am talking
about. Time is flying. I have final exams to get my diploma in homeopathy!
That's it! Love Eve..
It is gratifying to see how many people speak out about drugs in racing. I
don't think the majority of people realize how serious the situation is. Being
a breeder, owner and licensed trainer perhaps gives me a different perspective.
Medication abuse starts really early, in the breeding shed. Mares are routinely
put on lots of medications including a variety of hormones without a second
thought A Study in England shows that hormones cause bone mineral depletion
in women. We are trying to breed athletes, are we not? No wonder we can see
a virtual epidemic of pelvic fractures in racehorses, as well as other fractures.
Steroid implants in 3 day old foals (so they look great for the sale - all
legal), over medicating and over vaccinating gets only worse with time. If
buyers knew what goes into the average sale yearling or two year old, perhaps
they would not touch them with a 10-foot pole. Last year a friend of mine
consigned a yearling with a very well known top Keeneland outfit. I read the
medication requirement with pure horror. 2 pages long, it spelled out when
to give what so the colt will scope well at the days of the sale (and who
cares about the long term effect), and other "health" issues. It is even worse
with two year olds. Recently a nationally known pinhooker was the speaker
at the Farm Manager's Club. He enlightened the audience with specifics of
his program, including mandatory treatment of the yearlings for EPM.
"You treat them no matter whether they have it or not?" somebody
asked. "Yes," the pinhooker proudly announced, "this way it
does not interfere with the program.." So here is this young horse that
just went through the stress of the sale and a 14 hour van ride to a new place
- Ocala - to be subjected right away to (even if improved now) the treatment
that a year ago more horses were dying of than being cured. Like "Johnny,
you've survived your first day in school, we are going to put you in chemotherapy
now, because statistics show that you might get cancer sometime in your life"!
And then, some of these horses make it to the racetracks. You all know the
rest of the story. There are lots of the trainers who never should have a
license and they give all that goes through the test. And there are the better
trainers that, in all fairness, are trying to respond to getting less and
less sound horses the only way they are told to - by adding more medications,.
Of course racetrack's vets add insult to injury. A few South Florida veterinarians
are well known for their resolve to make "at least $75.00 worth of treatment
of any horse before the race, needed or not." And they go back to the breeding
shed. As much as I would love to see "no medication" in racing, realistically,
I don't see it happening very soon. I think the most important thing now is
educating the owners. Making sure they realize they do not have to pay for
destruction of their own horse. I am slowly compiling a list of "natural"
breeders and trainers that listen when told that owners will NOT tolerate
drugs. If we let it continue, this magnificent creature known as the American
Racehorse will not survive.
Eve Marie Lucerne, Lucerne Farm Ocala Florida
Dear Eve, You are opening the eyes of many with your
comments. I hope all the readers understand that I am not opposed to medicine
in general. Medications, when properly used, have saved many a life and relieved
tremendous suffering. But when you see a vet bill at the race track as high
as the training fees, you have to wonder if the animal should be racing if
he needs THAT much "help". For centuries horses have raced, run, and set records
without this "help." I've seen a great deal of misuse of medications that
definitely have caused MORE HARM THAN GOOD. I am thankful for all the medications
that heal. But the misuse and overuse of medicationss is becoming a huge problem
both at the sales and at the track. Be informed. Ask questions. And take a
stand on how you want your animals handled. Ask: "is this to help heal
the horse... or to mask a problem or to mask pain?" Then make your own
decisions based on facts and knowledge - not hearsay and legend. Editor
Dear BYRH,
Why didn't we make it over for Thanksgiving? Let me count the ways. After
almost three years of having to tear up everything in our house/apartment/condo-barndo(?),
the permits were finally in hand, and we were busy rebuilding. We got moved
in two weeks ago, and got the dogs out of the old house a week ago.
We have two foals, two mares back in foal, and Shine on Texas is still playing
around with World Appeal, not cycling properly. She had a really difficult
pregnancy with her first colt, so we skipped a couple of heats to let her
rest. While she was resting, she managed to step on the colt's face, fracturing
both the maxilla and mandible. The vet attended to the situation without surgery,
and the colt is fine even though the stress did give him an ulcer.
It's a dream come true to wake up in the morning and look out and see our
horses. We're still dealing with finishing up lots of stuff, and deciding
how to decorate the 22 foot long 2x10 board that the carpenter bolted in on
the inside of the north wall. It has no structural value, but is so imbedded,
glued, and attached with 1"x20" bolts that there was no way to remove it.
We did remove the carpenter. We thought about putting sheet rock over it,
then decided that since we have exposed beams throughout, that we'd just stain
it and leave it, bolts and nuts and all. We put in whitewashed pine floors,
and the ceilings slope up to 15 feet. We're happy as clams. I personally was
not a happy clam a couple of issues of BYRH newsletters ago. I burnt the issue
rather than sharing it with friends (as usual) so I don't remember the name
of the vet who wrote about Chiropractic treatment of horses. First, I would
never claim to do "veterinarian" work on a horse, as I'm not one. I take exception
to people who are not Chiropractic Physicians claiming to do "Chiropractic"
on horses. Mostly, she took the stand that anyone who adjusts with anything
except their hands doesn't know what they're doing. I will adjust a horse
or a baby human with a board, or my hands depending on the situation, with
a touch so light neither would be hurt. I've spent years treating people and
animals too, and am damn good at what I do. I use a non - forces technique,
and cringe when I see or hear about people, including vets who should know
better, inducing trauma with too much force, hands only. Give me my adjusting
board anytime.
Met a trainer willing to work with BYRH owners in Houston area. Will send
info soon as I can find it- it's in a box somewhere waiting to be unpacked.
Broadway Stroll, our orphan hellcat, is taking to training like a duck to
water. The more she's given, the harder she works. Loves the attention and
routine. She has always preferred to be in front of the herd and the boss,
so all she needs is the ability. Aiming for first start late in year, as she's
developing fine as a 2 yr. old, but I don't want her to run too early. Unfortunately
we weren't in a position to run her off the farm, but we really like the trainer,
a lady from Florida named K.C. Wojciechowski. Pronounce THAT! Not a backyard
trainer, but she listens and is good.. This filly lost her dam at 8 hours
old and we brought in a nurse mare from Kentucky. Every time we entered her
paddock during the first year of her life, we also brought in a weapon of
defense. Stroll was determined to be boss of her herd, which included all
humans!
Hope all is well with you- when are you coming back to Texas? You have an
open invite here, and a sofa bed if you want. Sorry this almost became a book
instead of a letter.
Sandy Montgomery and Joee Schapiro Cypress, TX
I first met these two ladies at a seminar in Texas. At that time they were
talking dreams. Today they're in their farm and their dreams come true...they
look out their window and see their horses... Congratulations! Keep us informed.
Texas seems to be "racing friendly" at the moment...although I hear
the problem there is getting your horse into the race, as they fill with thirty
or forty head. I'll be trying to get back to Texas... maybe for a seminar!
Editor
Dear BYRH,
I just finished reading your book Backyard Race Horse! After, I watched your
seminar tapes part I & II. Anyway I have been a horse lover and a race fan
for years and a horse owner for a few months. Now I am interested in doing
what you are doing, which I think is great.
Most information I have received, I have found through books & tapes like
yours, but I can't get my hands on a copy of the rules of horse racing, I
called everyone from the Florida Racing Commission to the horsemen's office
at Calder where my horse is stabled. Are they the ones that appear in the
condition book? What I'm looking for, is what would be on the Trainers test.
Although I'm not ready to take my Trainers' Test I do need to read as much
as possible on the Rules of Racing. I hope you can help me. PS. - I hope to
see you at Calder someday. Maybe next year on vaction I can come to one of
your seminars.
Dale A. Edick West Palm Beach, Florida
Ask at the racing office where you're stabled for the
Rules of Racing. The HPBA should also be able to advise you. My recommendation
to anyone wanting to train is to read, learn, and work with horses at training
centers or at the race track. There are subtleties of the business that you
can only learn by apprenticing with a knowledgeable trainer. Seminar attendees
who live in Forida often meet me at the track when I'm shipping in and are
welcome any time to learn and ask questions. I try to expose them to every
situation. The trainer who has your horse now may let you come to hot walk
and clean stalls and become familar with backside routine. With this experience,
you'll learn what you need to adjust at the farm in order to acheive your
goals - i.e. turning horses out to graze or free round penning them, instead
of hand walking them or putting them to circle in one direction on the walker.
You'll figure out what works to keep your horse sound and capable of running
many years. You didn't mention whether you have had experience with horses
in general. If you haven't, it may be good to go to a local stable and get
comfortable with "regular" horses before you attempt to handle the higher
strung Thoroughbreds. The more hands-on experience you have, the more capable
you'll be as a trainer later on. I wish you luck! Editor
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