Being Your Horse’s Advocate Won’t Change The World, But It Will Change Your Horse’s World!

The Missing Horse Owner’s Manual

There is a difference between someone who owns a horse and someone who knows horses.  Separating them is either a teacher or the lack of one.  And who taught that teacher?

Horses are complicated to care for, but only because they have been made complicated by people wanting to sell you something. I call this ‘COMPLEXICATING,’ a term I’ve coined to describe the unnecessary complexity pervasive in the horse world.  This complexification frustrates, confuses, frightens, and causes horse owners to become burned out.  They quit because their desire to enjoy their horses, provide them with a good and healthy life, or succeed in their sport is never fully achieved.  Worse, they spend more money than they have, or the horse becomes unusable or worse.

Some horses enjoy living in a human world, but most horses in human care have no choice.  They thrive or suffer at the hands of their caregiver.  They have no advocate to explain their needs, which isn’t because you don’t try. However, the owner’s manual for horses is missing.  Mentors would hand this knowledge to their offspring, but those days are gone.  Many horse owners are searching for answers, and you may have found this site because of the need to find the missing horse owner’s manual.

Horses have not changed in millions of years.  What has changed is their service to humans, starting about 4000 years ago.  The last three decades have been a rollercoaster ride of “do this” and “don’t do that,” unheard of in thousands of years. Imagine finding an original copy of the manual with the horses that told you how they worked.  You would be surprised that it isn’t very thick. Caring for horses is very easy when they live on their own.  But in the human world that they live in, most horse owners need some help.

The Horse’s Advocate is about understanding what makes a horse work and then adapting it correctly to thrive in their current human world. Using over 50 years of working with horses, veterinary training with over 40 years in practice, and learning from cutting-edge research, the information on this website is an effort to reconstruct and update the horse owner’s manual so that all horse owners worldwide can understand it. It is a constant and never-ending process of learning for all of us.

The topics are filled with articles, images, videos, and podcasts. Everything you need to know is organized and accessible right now, with no gimmicks and nothing to buy. By bookmarking this site and returning to it often, you’ll have a powerful resource at your fingertips, empowering you with the knowledge and understanding to make informed decisions about your horse’s care.

How Can A Website Help My Horses?

This website started as a two-year project of taking many pictures daily at the farms I visited, developing, organizing, adding descriptions, and uploading them to my Facebook page as BarnPics™ became an obsession.  People worldwide looked forward to my travels in my images. I took thousands of pictures depicting scenes and details of the farms and horses I saw.  These images included gate latches, manure pits, ceilings, stalls, and more with the farms.  It also included injuries, coat colors, diseases, parasite control, and more with the horses. Soon, I had a catalog of thousands of pictures organized into groups. This website is not just a resource but a community of horse owners, enthusiasts, and experts, all sharing a common goal of understanding and improving horse care.

The original website was a pictorial of horse and barn care divided into sections.  Then I re-developed the images, re-described them, and re-posted them on this website you are looking at today with the addition of videos and written material.  I did all of this because I realized that the horse owner’s manual was missing, and if I didn’t do it, this information would be lost forever.

The material on this website represents my experiences, training, and conclusions. It will differ from what you know because of my deep conviction to question everything. I am not a parrot. I say things on this website to start an intelligent discussion of important subjects.  It stems from the ‘But why Mommy?’ game we have played as children, where we incessantly ask ‘But why?’ to understand the world around us.  This website continues that game, asking essential questions and seeking better answers. Mommy is the agenda-driven marketing material and research telling us how to care for our horses. Never getting a good enough answer, we are told to ask Daddy who represents the professional (trainer, veterinarian, farrier, bodyworker, psychic, and many more “experts”). Unfortunately, Daddy’s most common answer is, “Because I said so.” This dismissal doesn’t help.

This website is about asking, “But why?” and realizing the answers are evolving. Good science always asks questions, assuming what we know today is wrong or could be more accurate. The material here is NOT medical advice. Instead, it is a conversation starter. It is digging for more precise answers while dispelling myths, throwing out unfounded explanations, and removing agenda-driven bias. Enjoy the refreshing air here. We ALL are in training to ask better questions.

Doc T

I started with horses in 1973, working professionally on a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm. I completed my veterinary training at Cornell University in 1984.  I had my equine practice for 12 years, and since 1998, I have performed Horsemanship Dentistry exclusively on over 80,000 horses (achieved February 2024).  If you want to know my story, read my memoir, “Since The Days Of The Romans – My Journey Of Discovering A Life With Horses.” (This link will take you to the Amazon site in a new window – read the reviews!).

What makes this site unique is the simplicity of the information I give.  I break it down into small steps in easy-to-understand words.  I know you well because I have been with so many of you throughout my professional life.  I have heard all of the questions you have asked and have listened to the frustrations you have experienced.  This site is my way of putting all I know together to respond clearly and with the actions you can take to help in this overwhelming situation you have found yourself in.  I clear away the clutter because I know the mess, identify it, and eliminate it.  What is left are answers that make sense.

One website – 2 parts

Part one is free to everyone.

All the information you need in the missing horse owner’s manual:

• Barn Topics: everything found in, on, and around the barn.
• Farm Topics: everything found outside of the barn but on the farm.
• Care Topics: caring for horses to keep them healthy.
• Systems and Disease Topics: the veterinary aspects of horse ownership.

These sections have sub-sections, further organizing the topics for drilling down into a subject. There are blogs (articles), podcasts, images, videos, and webinar recordings, and they are available here for free to view at any time.

Part two is the membership site.

The key differences of membership are:

• Membership allows you to interact with like-minded people through forums, discussions, and postings. The forums are where the action is, but there is more to this. It is a social network without the politics of other public mega social media sites like Facebook. Only horse advocates are here, and you can DM (direct message) each other and even start a group without fearing the world watching you.
• You get exclusive access to special live podcasts and live webinars. I call these “Rounds With Doc T,” and they are held every other Thursday at 8 pm New York time.
• You will have included in your membership access to these courses: 1) Basic Equine Nutrition, 2) The Essentials Of Equine Dentistry, and 3) Advanced Equine Nutrition. And there are more to come! These courses offer a deep dive into subjects, quizzes after each unit, and a final exam.
• I spend my time here and will answer all comments and direct messages. I do not offer this consistently on any social media platform.
• Your membership supports the costs of maintaining this website and shows your commitment to becoming your horse’s advocate.

Our mission is Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World™.

The overarching goals are to:

• Help the horse by honoring them as a species. They are NOT humans.
• Provide a safe and healthy place for horses to live.
• Provide economical and efficient solutions for horse feeding and care.
• Provide an understanding of the horse’s body, organs, and systems.
• Provide information without any commercial agenda.

Horses and humans have coexisted for about 4000 years, according to historians. Horses needed to remain healthy and sound until cars, trucks, and railroads were used. In the 1940s, tractors replaced field horses. In the 1960s, President Eisenhower gave cars and trucks paved interstate roads. In the 1980s, the distribution of horse feed and materials became abundant. Suddenly, the horse became a “beast of recreation” rather than a “beast of burden” in all developed countries. Yet there are still tens of millions of horses, asses, and mules in the world where the equid is still the primary tool of work (Ethiopia has the largest population of equids per capita in the world).

I’ve been with horses since 1973 and have experienced the transition in America of horses from a requirement to an option. This experience included the horsemanship, feeding, care, and structures used to maintain them. There is no going back in the size of the farms or barns we can afford to house them in. However, in the cleverness of humans, we have found millions of ways to make their lives “better” that, in many ways, parallel the improvements in our lives. But are these ideas really “better?”

This website dedicates itself to guiding you through the maze of theories, products, and services, all trying to improve your life but not always our horse’s life. In addition, it looks at housing and caring for horses that honor the horse. By understanding horses’ physiology, physical and mental requirements, and psyche, we can all improve our horses’ lives as they still meet our current needs. These ideas apply to all breeds, sports, and all areas of the planet because the species called Equus is similar genetically and physically worldwide.

The mission of Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World™ includes the following:

1. Provide information based on science, not on a product or service. There will be product and service endorsements because they need to help horses that are no longer living in the wild. I will offer these only if they are in the horse’s best interest, given their current situation.
2. Provide information based on decades of successful use or experience, and good scientific research, but not on gimmicks that only appear to work but cover-up an underlying problem.
3. Provide medical guidance based on a thorough understanding of the medical literature, experience, or both. This information will continue to dig deep to understand the root cause rather than remain superficial to giving a treatment. Prevention is always prioritized over treatment and convenience. Proper treatment and nutrition is prioritized over improper treatment and nutritional fixes.
4. Provide a visual tour of thousands of farms where you can take advantage of their ideas and apply them to your farm.

Some Notes About This Website

This website will be an ongoing work in progress, constantly adding or updating material. Become a member of The Horse’s Advocate to receive notifications of these additions.

The website’s contents, including articles, text, graphics, images, demonstrations, presentations, links, and other material on the site or any supporting material (for example, our newsletters and books), are for informational and educational purposes only. The content and products on this site should not be considered a substitute for professional veterinary advice. Always consult your veterinarian with any questions regarding a diagnosis, medical condition, or treatment of your horses. The use of the website and its content is a choice you have voluntarily made, and The Equine Practice, Inc. assumes no liability for your use of the website. Reliance on the website and any materials is at your own risk. Our website and forums do not supply medical care or medical services. For medical services or medical emergencies, please call your veterinarian immediately.

I welcome you here and encourage you to share this with other horse owners and Help Horses Thrive In A Human World™.