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  Discussion on Herpes, EPM .. herbal remedies !!!
Author Message
Member:
Nanb

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2004 - 10:24 pm:

Hi Dr O:
For the past 30 yrs., my husband has trained and
driven Standardbred racehorses professionally. Last fall (end of his 2yo season), a horse he broke and trained was turned out at another location to freshen up. During this time, the owner of this horse sought the opinion from a herbalist/massage therapist to examine another horse (yearling) who had been diagnosed at Mohawk vet clinic with wobbles.

Without any physical exam or tests the herbalist literally looked at her while she stood in her stall with this reaction .. ohhh, I can feel her pain! She said the filly did not have wobbles, rather had suffered a traumatic blow to her neck by either a kick or getting her neck wrenched. Elated with the news that she could "fix" the problem with the promise of her being able to race/broodmare (not be put down) was when this owner requested she examine his 2yo colt.

She diagnosed him with physical ailments requiring chiropratic adjustments, herpes, EPM and ulcers whereby various homeopathic remedies were administered as prescribed. The colt had @2wks remaining on this stuff when he returned back to resume training in our stable.

Never in 30yrs of conditioning racehorses had we seen a turned-out horse come back looking so ragged. He had no energy, a dull coat,lethargic ate his manure and had severe bouts of diahrea that literally flew out of him. This one morning he was so weak from jogging he relied solely on the cross-ties to hold his head up!! The owners explanation to the colts condition was ... a cleansing stage .. the herbal remedy was merely ridding the toxins from his body. On the advice of 2 vets and on behalf of the horse (not the owner)further administration of this undefined/unlabled crap came to an abrupt halt.

With each passing week the colt regained his strength until eventually he returned back to himself and .. has certainly made his presence known with his return to the track. He has improved his mile in each of his 5 starts, has beat the top NA pacers from last year, has earned $160,000 his last 3 starts and is currently regarded amongst the top 10 3yo's in NA. One would think the owner of such a horse would be estatic, however, inconceiveably that's not the case.

While finishing 3rd in a stakes record of 1:49.4, this disgruntled owner returned to the paddock accompanied with this herbal miracle-worker. Her interpretation to why the horse lagged (tired) in the stretch wasn't the fact that he'd just paced 5 lengths quicker then he ever had but because she detected him favouring a shoulder!! What's apparent is; no matter how bizzar and without a shred of evidence this owner professes he wants to do what's best for the horse and agrees to whatever this woman prescribes.

My question: One thing I've learned from this site whether the topic is products, fads or testimonals is the importance of relying on scientific studies and evidence as proof. What compounds our concern for the well being of this horse is this owner is well educated (dentist) yet he resorts and supports such unfounded practices. As if this owner hasn't seen for himself, perhaps reading the negatives .. harm, damage and ill effects caused by herbal treatment in horses will wake him up. If you have ANY INFO }}I would greatly appreciate it.

NanB
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jun 7, 2004 - 7:27 am:

Hello NanB,
I don't think I have any info that will convince this person otherwise, after all they have ignored what they have seen with their own eyes.

I do have some advice for you. If you find this whole episode an aggravation, politely refer them to another trainer. Do it while you are on good terms and can do it with a smile, you will be amazed how much better you will feel.
DrO
Member:
Nanb

Posted on Monday, Jun 7, 2004 - 4:44 pm:

Dr O:
I completely agree with your sound advice but what has prevented us from nicely asking him to take his horse somewhere else is .. he also owns 50% of a 2yo filly .. with us!! (big mistake!!)

We're hoping that either 1) the owner accepts one of the many offers for the horse (turned down $300k US)and sells or 2)try to compromise; allowing some alternative therapies such as; massage & chiropractic but disallow the horse ingesting any herbal concoctions and sprays.

As I write, this "quack" is diagnosing what she believes is "wrong" with this horse. Her so- called finding will be reported back to us from the owner later tonight.

NanB
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 8, 2004 - 6:31 am:

If you will post the specific diagnosis and therapies recommended I will see what information I can find.
DrO
Member:
Nanb

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 8, 2004 - 9:50 pm:

Thanks Dr O. The herbalist didn't have time to do a "shoulder adjustment" (her diagnosis) on the colt .. thank goodness she had to fly back to Arizona!!

All of her prescribed homeopathic tonics (liquids/sprays) came unmarked so its contents remain unknown. With each diagnosis .. ulcers, EPM and herpes, the owner was supplied with the correlating remedy for each accompanied with only instructions referring to; the amount to be administered, how often and its duration ... that's it!! When the colts condition worsened we discontinued giving it and disgarded all contents in the trash.

Hopefully I can get specific info that identifies "what" exactly was in the bottles and forward it on to you.

NanB
Member:
Sparky

Posted on Friday, Jun 11, 2004 - 5:00 pm:

Nancy - one of the things that really sounds off to me is that the horse is so toxic? I understand how us humans can become toxic with all the junk we eat but a two year old horse on the same program (I assume) as many others is toxic? Some one slipping him potato chips and a beer? A good question to ask her is just how this horse got toxic? You would think she would be interested in his food source and water source?
Janet Schmidt
Member:
Cara2

Posted on Monday, Jun 14, 2004 - 8:49 am:

Sadly quacks are particularly common in the horseworld as many owners seem only to happy to part with their money very readily eg. rugs with fancy patterns on costing twice what a plain colour would - they all get ripped up the same. However there are some genuine people out there in several "alternative" fields. Here in the UK properly qualified physiotherapists are very strictly regulated and many vets are training in homeopathy. I would only use someone who is open and up front about their qualifications. I know of one horse that sustained what amounted to a chemical burn by a local "expert" who put a poultice straight onto a horse's back to "treat" it for kissing spines.

Regarding your horse's owner - just because he is well educated and obviously intelligent doesn't mean to say he is well endowed with common sense. In fact brains and good sense are often indirectly proportional to each other. Some of the most brilliant people I've ever met were as daft as brushes!
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