There are two reasons for horses to become obese. The first reason is that they eat more calories daily than they use. The intake of calories is in the form of excess starch from hay and grains and excess fat from the digestion of cellulose in the hindgut. The second reason is often misunderstood. There must be a demand for the fat stored in the body fat; otherwise, it will remain or even increase body fat. The demand is created when muscle cells are used to the point of exhaustion, which, in te...
Mar 11, 2025•23 min•Season 2024Ep. 149
In South Dakota, the legislature is working on a bill making it legal for non-veterinarians to float horses' teeth by hand or with power and possibly using sedation. The same is happening in Oregon, with the addition of non-vets pregnancy-checking livestock. In Colorado, a mid-level veterinary practitioner has been established, helping fill the void where veterinarians are not filling the need. Eleven new veterinary colleges are being developed in the US, yet there is a shortage of horse vets. T...
Mar 03, 2025•34 min•Season 2024Ep. 148
Uncertain people do uncertain things. This uncertainty affects everything, including people and horses, and not necessarily in good ways. Most people have addressed the quest to conquer their inner self, but few become successful. Our horses know this. This podcast looks at the essence of all horsemanship, or, in other words, leadership, because horsemanship IS leadership. It comes from within us, but most people react to things in our lives. To improve your poor relationship with your horse (or...
Jan 29, 2025•25 min•Season 2024Ep. 147
Horse hooves can experience various problems that farriers and veterinarians work to address with their specialized skills and equipment. These issues include crushed heels, splayed walls, cracked walls, dropped soles, bruised soles, and sole abscesses. However, in every conference I attend, every article I read, and every podcast I listen to, I notice that veterinarians and farriers seldom mention the importance of feeding high-quality protein to strengthen hooves. Over the past two years, I ha...
Jan 22, 2025•20 min•Season 2025Ep. 146
Two factors drive food aggression in horses. The first factor is the foraging behavior created by converting fructose into uric acid. The purpose of fructose is to prepare horses for the upcoming winter. However, not only is it fed throughout the year, but the high-sugar foods being fed cause horses to make more fructose. The second factor is stated in the protein leverage hypothesis, which says that humans (and all animals) will continue to look for food until they consume their daily amino aci...
Jan 15, 2025•18 min•Season 2025Ep. 145
Who do you believe? Is it the person with credentials or the person with experience? Maybe neither, because whenever anyone says something, there is an agenda. The need to talk is to communicate with someone to gain a response. Here are examples: "What is your name?" is a question wanting an answer. "The sunset is beautiful!" encourages others to look up and share what I see. "Feed your horse with my grains and supplements, and they will win the championship." solves the desire of sport horse ow...
Dec 11, 2024•36 min•Season 2024Ep. 144
Dr. Maria Katsamanis (Dr. Maria) joins me on this podcast to discuss how science can help us create better connections with our horses. I do these things every day, but I need the science or research behind why I do what I do. She delivers on this and more! Dr. Maria will be delighted if you learn something from listening that helps you connect better on a molecular level. Her life's work is to scientifically understand and improve on why we would rather be in a barn asking horses to help us fac...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 2024Ep. 143
This podcast is a special Rounds With Doc T with my friend and colleague, Dr James Belden. Usually, Rounds are for members of The Horse's Advocate, but as an annual Thanksgiving treat, it is available for everyone to watch or listen to. Dr Belden graduated from Cornell's veterinary school in 1964. He has worked on horses in 30 countries, many Triple Crown winners in the Thoroughbred racing world, and many elite show horses in Wellington, FL. He has also competed with his reining horses. His know...
Nov 24, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Season 2024Ep. 142
Three articles from the AVMA arrived in my inbox this week: Gap shrinks between new graduate, overall veterinary salaries Midlevel practitioner proposal secures enough votes in Colorado Federal appeals court reverses Texas VCPR ruling These articles drove me to make this podcast, the third in a series, about horse veterinary care. It emphasizes the need to prevent illness and injuries. In summary, new vet graduates' mean starting salary (adjusted for inflation) has steadily risen since 2000, whi...
Nov 13, 2024•31 min•Season 2024Ep. 141
Forgive me as I rant about veterinary care. This week, I experienced or heard of four events between veterinarians and their owners that have me asking: Are the schools teaching integrity along with veterinary medicine? There are 13 new vet schools in America, spawning 55,000 more veterinarians in the next decade. Most will go into small animal practice. Driving this growth is a demand for pet owners to access care everywhere and corporate strategies to use more veterinarians at higher salaries ...
Nov 06, 2024•23 min•Season 2024Ep. 140
Over the next ten years, thirteen new vet schools will be built and accredited by the AVMA to teach and add 55,000 more veterinarians to the existing veterinary colleges and new veterinary graduates. The expansion of the profession is driven by the growth of corporate-owned veterinary clinics and the aspirations of new veterinary graduates to enhance their quality of life. However, this trend may lead to a twofold outcome: increased cost and decreased quality of veterinary care. The impact is pa...
Oct 31, 2024•30 min•Season 2024Ep. 139
Perception management is a real industry that affects everyone in every aspect of our lives and our horses. In a spy thriller I'm reading, one man hires a perception management team to turn the world against Russia, causing everyone to purchase more weapons from his arms company while almost ending the world. It's scary stuff but relatable in the news today. Can someone manipulate our perceptions of horse care for their advantage? Absolutely. The critical question to ask is, "How effective are y...
Oct 09, 2024•28 min•Season 2024Ep. 138
Horse owners are being told to purchase feed and supplements with the promise of improving everything with their horses. They do this by confusing you, forcing unproven marketing on you, wasting money, and harming horses. This course will empower you to understand more fully what goes on inside the horse, helping you make informed decisions for their care. I launch the Advanced Equine Nutrition course this month and wanted to give everyone a preview of its content. Chapter 1 - Energy Balance Cha...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 2024Ep. 137
Understanding glucose and fructose metabolism within the cell and the effect each substrate has on ATP, the energy currency, is not just for advanced horse owners. This knowledge is crucial to anyone caring for horses as it explains why Equine Metabolic Syndrome, Insulin resistance or dysregulation, misbehaving issues, and a generalized unwillingness are prevalent in every aspect of the horse industry. Fructose is not just a dietary component but also produced in mammals through the Polyol Pathw...
Sep 25, 2024•40 min•Season 2024Ep. 136
Stephanie Brown-Beamer is a horse trainer on Long Island, NY, who discovered firsthand ten years ago that a properly fitted bit could resolve horse training problems. This experience motivated her to become trained in fitting a bit to the horse. No, it's not all about math and physics; it's about finding what bit suits the individual horse. This podcast delves into how Stephanie assesses the horse under saddle, determines the rider's purpose and skill, and then uses her extensive knowledge of sc...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 2024Ep. 135
During my insightful conversation with Merja Sumiloff, we delved into the common thread of emotional blocks from our past that hinder our ability to form meaningful connections with ourselves and our horses. While our experiences may differ, the impact of trauma is a shared human experience. Whether it's a challenging childhood or a difficult relationship, these traumas can create emotional barriers that impede our potential for personal growth and healing. For instance, my academic journey coul...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Season 2024Ep. 134
Kerry Hayes, a life and business leadership coach, is here with us today. She harnesses the unique power of horses to catalyze personal growth and confidence. Even those with no prior knowledge of horses can embark on a transformative journey with Kerry. The results are not just magical, but also deeply revealing and life-changing. Kerry generously shares a wealth of insights to help anyone working with horses foster stronger connections with their equine companions and those in their lives. Thi...
Aug 22, 2024•54 min•Season 2024Ep. 133
I take a quick break from discussing fructose to return to the metabolism of glucose. There is a concept of flow (or flux) that, when understood, helps us feed our horses better. When energy flows in and out of a cell, everything works well. But when flow becomes restricted or stops, horses become unhealthy. Using a product of glucose metabolism called lactate, I show how this movement moves throughout the horse with few borders to stop it. The muscles, brain, liver, and all organs love lactate,...
Aug 14, 2024•26 min•Season 2024Ep. 132
Welcome to this crucial podcast, where I introduce a concept that is not just limited to humans but also affects animals: the ability to convert glucose into fructose within the body. This process is significant as it can have detrimental effects on cells, leading to a range of health and behavioral issues in animals, including horses. While the chronic metabolic effects of fructose may seem negative (obesity, cognitive decline, inflammation, decreased cell metabolism, and cell death), they serv...
Aug 08, 2024•24 min•Season 2024Ep. 131
On this podcast, Linda and I discussed the basis of all dealings between horses and humans, emphasizing connection at the core, followed by communication and leadership. She also described the other seven parts of her curriculum, which she calls "The World's Best Horse Training Program for You and Your Horse!" From the website's about page - Happy Horse, Happy Life : "Linda Parelli is co-founder of Happy Horse Happy Life, Parelli Natural Horsemanship and Pegasus Personal Growth, a dynamic public...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 2024Ep. 130
Geoff Teall, a seasoned horse trainer with an impressive 60 years of experience, has been a client of mine for over half of that time. His expertise is widely recognized in the show jumping community, and if you're not familiar with him, you should be. This discussion is not about the sport of jumping horses but about horsemanship, training, philosophy, and the crucial aspect of feeding horses (hint - he soaks the pony hay for 12 hours). One thing I know about Geoff is that he genuinely advocate...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2024Ep. 129
I start this podcast by describing Memorial Day in America, then tie this idea into what is happening in the equine veterinary profession. I only dwell on this briefly because there are more upbeat things to discuss, such as the Klotho protein. The Klotho protein was discovered from an experimental failure and found in all animals. This protein, made up of one thousand amino acids, is primarily produced by the kidneys. A portion of it is then released from the cell, acting as a hormone that can ...
May 29, 2024•26 min•Season 2024Ep. 128
Building muscle in horses is a two-stage process. Many horse owners expect results when applying only one factor. This podcast shows that ignoring one of these factors results in poor muscle formation. In the first stage, the key is to prioritize protein in the horse's diet, particularly the amino acid leucine. Leucine, a branch-chain amino acid, plays a pivotal role as a signaling molecule when it attaches to the mTOR receptor on muscle cells. This crucial process alerts the muscle that the nec...
May 22, 2024•37 min•Season 2024Ep. 127
There is a turf war between veterinarians and non-veterinarians, both wanting to provide horses with preventive dental care. It started in the late 1990s and has gained protection behind laws meant to protect horse owners. But is there proof that any approach to floating is better than another? Or is it just positioning based on territorialism? I used the following script to make this podcast, but I also added to it freely to emphasize several points. This podcast is more formal than usual becau...
May 15, 2024•42 min•Season 2024Ep. 126
This podcast is about sugar as a fuel for our horses to use when it's needed to run away from danger. However, I also tell the story of the risks of eating more sugar daily than is required to fuel the body. The first thing to know is that the body can make all the sugar needed to make it through the day. Adding sugar to food is required for only two things: replenishing stored sugar as glycogen for the next emergency and storing it as body fat for future use. Think of it as cash that you have e...
May 08, 2024•35 min•Season 2024Ep. 125
This podcast breaks down how to feed horses into five simple rules based on what the food does, good and bad, within the horse. It is a short discussion that avoids a deep dive into science. Instead, it is a to-the-point instruction set for those wondering why their horses are falling apart in front of their eyes and what they can do to help the horse survive. There are no gimmicks or supplements. If your horse is sick or lame, there is a strong chance it has been caused by the food they eat. I ...
May 01, 2024•31 min•Season 2024Ep. 124
This podcast provides an alternative perspective to an interview published in an equine veterinary magazine with a board-certified veterinary equine dentist about EOTRH (Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis). I am troubled by what was said. Professionals are skipping to conclusions in a world demanding scientific evidence for decision-making on health issues. Worse, their focus is on treating this disease while saying multiple times that the cause is still unknown. In additi...
Apr 24, 2024•49 min•Season 2024Ep. 123
This podcast discusses the basics of breeding the mare and delivering the newborn foal. The number one rule of getting your mare bred is to develop good daily observational skills and record what you observe. This will show the subtle signs needed to get your mare bred successfully. The next most important thing to do is to create a good working relationship with a veterinarian skilled in reproduction. Delivering mares requires no intervention 90% of the time. However, you should still attend be...
Apr 17, 2024•53 min•Season 2024Ep. 122
This podcast discusses two significant thoughts about equine veterinary medicine. The first is the breadth and scope of veterinary medicine, which is so much more than just horses. This is evidenced by my discussion of all the articles presented in this month's Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA). The second is that most new veterinary graduates are being trained for and applying to small animal medical practices. Horse owners have two responsibilities: first, to preve...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2024Ep. 121
This podcast discusses a comment by a listener who likes what I'm saying but doesn't like to feed herself or her horses anything genetically modified or treated with chemicals. All of us will agree with her. But is it possible in today's world? Is avoiding these two criteria (GMOs and chemicals) important relative to other factors, such as chronic protein deficiency? What can we control with the care of horses, and what is beyond our control? Most horse foods are altered and treated worldwide, k...
Apr 03, 2024•42 min•Season 2024Ep. 120
