The Horse's Advocate Podcast

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 because I am reading a script I wrote in response to a graduate of my dentistry school challenged by the Veterinary Medical Association of her area. She is a non-veterinarian working in equine dentistry. Most of the United States allows individual states to determine what a profession is, and most states broadly state that veterinarians are the ones to perform medicine, surgery, and dentistry on any animal. This statement includes fish, reptiles, birds, and any other animal other than humans. It is the prerogative of the veterinary board to investigate anyone who does any work on any animal in their state. However, routine care of animals, including preventive medicine, is usually avoided. You can purchase and administer vaccines and dewormers, adjust angles on hooves, apply therapeutic shoes, prepare any mixture of medicinal supplements, breed horses, deliver foals, apply linaments, clip the hair of horses not shedding, splint crooked legs of foals, adjust bones, massage muscles, use red light, PEMF, and a dozen more things to a horse without being a veterinarian. But you cannot remove the unworn parts of the cheek teeth in horses, digging their sharp edges into the tongue and cheeks and causing pain with every movement of their jaw and tongue.

I have been training veterinarians and non-veterinarians in the technique of Horsemanship Dentistry. My definition of this form of working on the teeth of horses is as follows:

1) Removing sharp points from horses' cheek teeth by filing them to a smooth edge is commonly called "floating teeth" but is also known as odontoplasty. The root cause of most dental problems is pain in the tongue and cheeks caused by sharp enamel points. Therefore, routine maintenance of the horse's teeth removes pain from these sharp points. Secondary to the removal of sharp points is finding pathology and addressing this.

2) Administering sedatives to horses for routine floating is unnecessary; instead, horsemanship skills are used for 97% of horses (from annual data consistent over the past decade). The remaining 3% are horses that are reactive to pain, fear the process, or have a painful procedure done, such as extracting a fractured cheek tooth. With those, I administer pain and anxiolytic medications.

My name is Geoff Tucker, and I am a veterinarian who graduated from The New York State College of Veterinary Medicine (Cornell) in 1984. I have worked professionally with horses since 1973, starting on a Saddlebred farm in Ohio and moving to a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm in New York that same year. I completed my undergraduate degree at Cornell University in 1979 and graduated from veterinary school in 1984. In my autobiography, I tell my story: "Since The Days Of The Romans; My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses." It's available on Amazon, and I have also read it here on "The Horse's Advocate Podcast."

While in veterinary school, my mentor told me the importance of maintaining horses' teeth. With him, I floated my first horse in 1983 and made this a part of my practice in 1984. Since then, I have logged the number of horses I have worked on or who I have taught. In February 2024, I recorded my 80,000th horse. But I always continued learning about horses' teeth and oral cavities. I have attended many continuing education courses offered by veterinary professional organizations in person or online.

The New York State Equine Practice Committee invited me to join them in 1996. The reason for this invitation to the board, they told me, was because I performed more dental care on horses in NY than any other vet at that time, and veterinarians were becoming interested in claiming this aspect of horse care for themselves. Non-veterinarians did much more, including all the racehorses at Belmont, Aqueduct, and Saratoga. As one board member stated, this discrepancy between veterinarians and non-veterinarians floating horses was because no good horse vet has time to add floating teeth to their busy schedule. There was one practitioner on the board who, at that time, was stating that only veterinarians should be floating horse teeth. I and the others were somewhere in the middle of these two thoughts. We could not reach a consensus, and we dropped the discussion, knowing it would require much more work than anyone wanted to do for an issue being done well by non-veterinarians.

The interest of the practice committee and the...

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 tell you in the first part my five rules for feeding horses. After this, if you want to understand why I made these rules, I lightly go into the science. Future podcasts will go deeper into details to strengthen your ability to share what works for your horses with those still feeding the foods that make them unsound, unhealthy, or both.

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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.

HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment

HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.

Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).

Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."

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 have asked numerous farriers and veterinarians why hot shoeing produces such a stinky odor. Only one veterinarian was able to provide the correct answer. After listening to this podcast, you will learn the reason behind the smell and discover why this strengthens the hooves from the inside, supporting the horse's weight and athletic performance.

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 either quick access to on a bank debit card (glycogen) or cash stored in a long-term asset requiring time to get, such as stocks or property (body fat). Further, think of using fat as fuel steadily released from body fat into the cell, like dividends automatically deposited into your bank.

When sugar is released freely into the blood or cells, it sticks to proteins, preventing them from doing their jobs and causing damage. Over time, this damage will cause the demise of the cell and the horse.

So why are you still feeding grain and giving hay 24/7?

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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.

HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment

HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. There are eight spots a year for interested students PLUS, there is a separate online course for those wanting to learn how to do this but can never get to South Florida for hands-on training.

Show support for The Horse's Advocate by wearing a hat or shirt or drinking from a cup, all with the official logo. Go to this link for our swag (https://the-horses-advocate.creator-spring.com/).

Please give a thumbs up or 5-star review and share these everywhere. I know horse owners worldwide listen, and the horses need every one of you in "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."

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 face the world and heal our minds.

Some philosophies of Dr. Maria as stated on her website:

• "Horsemanship is more than the horse. Horses are brought to us and challenge us to reconnect with ourselves. This reciprocal "helping" —helping of the horse, helping of the human often challenges people to find training methods that will help them grow with their equine mate."
• "Committed to studying human and equine physiology, her training focuses on the self-carriage of the horse and rider. Only in balance and relaxation can the correct muscle formation occur, physical blocks be dissipated, and mental communication be facilitated."
• "It is always very important to remember that each horse is an individual and with Dr. Maria they are treated as such and their education is tailored to their personality and physical profile—all with a solid foundation in a classical French recipe."

Dr. Maria Katsamanis is an author, educator, and advocate for horses. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and maintains an appointment as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Rutgers Medical School. Her background in biofeedback and psychophysiology is central to her training approach, dubbed "molecular equitation," which examines the connection between horse and rider on a molecular level.

Dr. Maria has co-authored "The Alchemy of Lightness: What Happens Between Horse and Rider on a Molecular Level and How it Helps Achieve the Ultimate Connection" and authored her latest book, "Riding In Dignity: A Philosophical Foundation to Finding the Ultimate Connection."

Dr. Maria is very busy with several endeavors:

• She offers several online courses to help improve your connection with horses.
• She trains and boards horses in New Jersey at her Mythos Farm.
• She has a line of equipment and tack to help riders connect with their horses better.
• She advocates for the Marwari horse, a rare breed in India.

Dr. Maria has also founded the non-profit organization Friends for Pegasus, whose mission is to promote a better understanding of equine wellness through the rehabilitation and transformation of horses who need a second chance.

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TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a website for learning about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its membership side allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide working with horses.

HorsemanshipDentistry.com is a website that discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. TheEquinePractice.com/appointment

HorsemanshipDentistrySchool.com is a website for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentist...