Horse Health: The Human Factor
It isn’t that horses lived under Utopian conditions before humans became involved with them. Wild horses definitely had their problems. Being deprived of the freedom to locate the nutrients they needed for optimum horse health was not an issue for them until they were captured by man.
Horses and most other animals have an innate sense which directs them to seek, find and partake of the natural resources that most benefit them. Before their range became limited by fences, horses would roam as many miles as it took to find natural deposits of zinc, copper, etc. They also have a sense of which edible vegetation is more abundant in the nutrients required for optimum horse health. What has been called “horse sense” certainly has a strong sub-component that could be accurately called “horse health sense.”
Man’s profit motivation and desire for convenience over quality have further disadvantaged horse health through the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and herbicides. These result in imbalanced, nutritionally deficient, toxic hay and grains which are not only incapable of supporting horse health, their effect is to further impair it.
Very few horsemen, trainers or veterinarians have had the opportunity or the time to learn the intricacies of true horse health to the degree that they can compensate for the adversities that man has imposed on the natural health of horses. This writer has the privilege of knowing a man who has taken the time and has embraced the opportunities to deeply understand horse health, and how to restore and enhance it. His name is Dr. Regan Golob.
Dr. Golob has aligned himself with several companies that produce and distribute extraordinary products that help fill in the holes that man has imposed on horse health. Two worth mentioning are Dynamite® nutritional products and Wachters’ Sea Meal®.
Even more exciting is that Dr. Golob travels the world facilitating seminars which teach horsemen, veterinarians and trainers how to identify deficiencies in horse health, then make the adjustments required to bring them to optimum health. For those who are unable to attend the live seminars, or who choose to have a refresher course later, he has produced the DVD “Health Talk for Horses” through which he demonstrates the essentials of recognizing and supporting horse health.
To briefly summarize, the human factor has been largely detrimental to horse health. Through caring enough to learn what is taught in Dr. Golob’s seminars or the DVD “Health Talk for Horses,” individuals can learn to compensate for the harm that human society has done to horse health and give them a chance to thrive–just like nature had intended.