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Articles tagged with "horse"

Parelli Natural Horsemanship: Horsing around with pseudoscience?

Parelli Natural Horsemanship: Horsing around with pseudoscience?

I just got back last week from my third experience riding in the Cavalcade. This year it was held in Twizel and, the same as last year, we rode with the heavy wagons. To clarify, we rode our horses alongside and around a bunch of wagons, carts, and buggies of all shapes and sizes. Part of the deal when you get to ride with the wagons is you should be ready to jump off and assist at times. For example, when a buggy with no brakes had to ascend a steep slope, another person and I had to jump off and be the brakes by hanging onto a rope tied to the back of the buggy. I can feel the anxiety just recalling the memory.

Equine Touch

Equine Touch

Equine Touch (ET) is a horse therapy modality started in 1997 by Scotsman Jock Ruddock. Ruddock, who passed away in 2011, was an interesting character. Here's a brief list of his past occupations:

A steaming pile of Horse Homeopathy

A steaming pile of Horse Homeopathy

I stated on the podcast a few weeks ago that I think I could cover a different horse pseudoscience in each issue, and keep going for an entire year. That was before I looked into it…

Stop crediting the placebo effect, it doesn't make you better!

Stop crediting the placebo effect, it doesn't make you better!

Over a year ago my wife and I were on a cavalcade. Present on the same cavalcade was a woman who was an equine vet. While we were discussing various 'alternative' treatments and such she happened to say “but I'm a real believer in the power of placebo, though…”. I found that statement a little surprising, coming from (I assume) a qualified medical person, but perhaps in a way this is telling.

Don the Astrologer

Don the Astrologer

Forgive me this short item, as it's been a pretty busy weekend. I had good intentions, but today my wife and I decided that we needed some more shelving space in our garage. I'd mentioned putting in another shelf below one that I had already installed some time ago, but she managed to convince me that it would be better to extend the Elfa wire rack system that we already have in our garage. What was intended to be a half hour job turned into a couple of visits to Mitre 10, and several hours of moving stuff around and installing everything. Still, we're very pleased with the result and we now have considerably more space to store various garage essentials.

Equine Pseudoscience

Do horses really have a distinct set of personality types or is it just a load of equine excreta?