The Horse's Advocate Podcast

Geoff Tucker, DVM
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The Horse's Advocate Podcast is about helping horse owners find the missing horse owner's manual for owning and caring for horses. Geoff Tucker, DVM (aka, "Doc T"), brings you wisdom from almost 50 years with horses. But beware - some of this stuff is NOT what you might expect. When the "box to think outside of" was built, he was never included and remained outside! This show aims to Help Horses Thrive In A Human World.

  1. 1D AGO

    The TMJs Of Horses Are Not A Problem, But Our Thinking Of It Is - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #163

    The temporomandibular (TM) joints in horses are evolutionary masterpieces that have evolved over 55 million years. But suddenly, the experts are saying that the joints are failing because the mouth has become "unbalanced." I disagree.  The experts say that unridable horses have pain in the TM joints that connect the jaw to the skull. Their conclusion is that the teeth are "unbalanced," with an uneven bite seen with the incisors and an imperfect angle of the cheek teeth's chewing surface. Their conclusions cannot be resolved using First Principles Thinking. I've worked with horses for over 50 years, and for over 40 of those, I've floated teeth on over 80,000 horses, but I cannot draw the same conclusions these experts can about the association between the shape of the incisors and the TM joints.  I am referencing an article printed in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (March, 2024) by James L. Carmalt, VetMB, PhD, DABVP, DAVDC, DACVSMR, DACVS from the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada. The title is: "Equine poor performance: the logical, progressive, diagnostic approach to determining the role of the temporomandibular joint." There are numerous quotes from this paper I could use to substantiate my position on any dysfunction of the horse's TM joints; however, the author's words are worth reading in their entirety. It must be noted that humans, according to my dentist, chew about 2000 times a day, or 735,000 chews in a year. However, horses chew between 10,000 and 40,000 times a day, with the median being 25,000. This number becomes 750,000 chews in 30 days, which is more than humans chew in a year. Horses chew about 9 million times in a year. So, to assume that all horses are developing TM joint problems because their teeth are not "balanced" seems preposterous. If you are interested and have time, please read Dr. Carmalt's paper, which is available as an attached PDF at Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com or online. ********** Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a place to learn about horses, barns, and farms. Its information is free, and a membership option lets horse owners attend live meetings to ask questions and deepen their understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide who works with horses. The Equine Practice, Inc. website discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Click here to make an appointment. The Horsemanship Dentistry School is a place for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. Thank you for sharing and "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."

    9 min

  2. FEB 25

    What Is First Principles Thinking and How Does It Apply To Horses - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #162

    First Principles Thinking involves examining complex problems in terms of their most fundamental and undeniable truths. Applying First Principles Thinking to everything we do with our horses to help them, and us, in every task, is what I have been doing for a while at The Horse's Advocate. Over 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle said that "the first basis from which things are known" is where we need to start thinking to solve a problem. In other words, First Principles Thinking is when you take basic assumptions or truths and break them down further or deduce from them something more fundamental to the point that this action can no longer take place. I can make the concept simpler: play the child's game of "But why, Mommy?" Do this until you are satisfied. Unfortunately, Mommy often says, "Go ask your father!" And his answer is usually, "Because I said so!" Indoctrination starts this way. This podcast is about a way to find answers and avoid the indoctrination forced on us by marketing and horse professionals. ********** Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a place to learn about horses, barns, and farms. Its information is free, and a membership option lets horse owners attend live meetings to ask questions and deepen their understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide who works with horses. The Equine Practice, Inc. website discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Click here to make an appointment. The Horsemanship Dentistry School is a place for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. Thank you for sharing and "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."

    23 min

  3. FEB 18

    Is A Ketogenic Diet For Horses Possible? - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #161

    The Ketogenic diet is popular for weight loss in humans, but does it work, and can it work with my grass-eating horses? The simple answer is yes, and you don't need to make them carnivores! A ketone, also known as beta-hydroxybutyrate, can be produced in two ways in horses. The first is the bacterial breakdown of cellulose in their hindgut. I have discussed this elsewhere, and it is the primary source of this ketone. The second way occurs when a horse consumes its body fat, which then forms ketones. The most common way to force a horse to consume its body fat is to starve them, and this is exactly what happens in starvation. But we don't need to go that far. What starts the horse making its own ketones is deciding to stop eating. There are two ways to do this: feed adequate amounts of high-quality protein, and stop feeding excess glucose (sugar) in the form of starch found in grains, grain mixes, balancers, supplements, treats, and excess hay. Believe it or not, but the more you feed food filled with glucose, the hungrier the horse will become. It is a paradox, but it is essential to understand if you want your horse to lose body fat, maintain muscle, become healthy, and remain sound. ********** Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a place to learn about horses, barns, and farms. Its information is free, and a membership option lets horse owners attend live meetings to ask questions and deepen their understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide who works with horses. The Equine Practice, Inc. website discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Click here to make an appointment. The Horsemanship Dentistry School is a place for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. Thank you for sharing and "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."

    18 min

  4. FEB 11

    Horse Care - Indoctrination Or Education - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #160

    Indoctrinate is a verb defined by Apple's Dictionary as "teach (a person or group) to accept a set of beliefs uncritically." Apple's thesaurus offers these similar words: "BRAINWASH, propagandize, proselytize, inculcate, re-educate, persuade, convince, condition, discipline, mold; instruct, teach, school, drill, ground." It implies that the students, or the horse owners, believe everything they are taught. The "teachers" of horse care range from marketing ads and barn gossip to social media fodder, to poorly trained and unlicensed professionals, and even to young licensed professionals. Missing are mentors with decades of experience who have learned from experience and have no agenda in their teaching other than to support and nurture the student. The Wall Street Journal wrote an article in their newspaper titled "Cognitive Laziness," where the author was tasked to determine if "fake news" existed. The article didn't answer the question because it was so obvious that it didn't need to. However, the conclusion was that the receiver of any news, fake or not, was too lazy to verify its validity. Are horse owners also too lazy to do critical thinking of what we are told is "good" for our horses? I don't think horse owners are lazy at all! They work more than one job to pay for their care, then wake before dawn, get dirty every day, and risk everything to drive to an event to win a ribbon. Most horse owners don't have the time to even read this summary of my podcast. But when something goes wrong with a horse, the natural response is to do "research," which is a very precise science most horse owners aren't trained to do. Further, research takes time, which busy horse owners don't have. Indoctrination is the result rather than critical thinking, and often, the horse suffers. The purpose of what I do here at Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is to do the work for horse owners. However, I expect you to ask questions and to challenge what I say, or at least take a moment to think it over. Continuously ask this question: "Is what I'm doing the best for my horse?" Together, we can Help Horses Thrive In A Human World™. ********** Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a place to learn about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its information is free, and there is a membership side that allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and deepen their understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide who works with horses. The Equine Practice, Inc. website discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Click here to make an appointment. The Horsemanship Dentistry School is a place for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. Please give a thumbs-up or a  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."

    31 min

  5. FEB 4

    The Catabolic Crisis In Horses - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #159

    Every day, all body proteins break down into the small building blocks of amino acids, sending these free molecules into a recycling program for use in building other proteins. Why this happens remains a mystery, as does the reason we don't lose our muscle shape or our memories during the process. Over time, our horses show loss of protein as weakened hoof walls, crushed heels, poor hair coat, lost top line, tendon and ligament strains, poor immune response, and behavioral issues. A "Catabolic crisis" results from processes that break down proteins in our horses. It describes the imbalance where more protein is used up by horses than is taken in to replace the loss. An obvious example is when the hooves are trimmed, or the hair coat is shed or clipped off. On the ground is lost protein that needs to be replaced through the food our horses eat. However, there is also an invisible loss of protein, commonly seen as lost muscle beneath a layer of fat. I discuss in this podcast the two major reasons for catabolic crisis in horses: 1) The intake of more glucose than a horse needs, and 2) the lack of intake of branch chain amino acids used in replacing lost muscle. The solution is to feed more high-quality protein than the horse loses daily. It's just like making more money than you spend to avoid a budget crisis. ********** Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a place to learn about horses, barns, and farms. Its information is free, and a membership option lets horse owners attend live meetings to ask questions and deepen their understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide who works with horses. The Equine Practice, Inc. website discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Click here to make an appointment. The Horsemanship Dentistry School is a place for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. Please give a thumbs-up or a  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."

    21 min

  6. JAN 28

    The New Food Pyramid For Horses - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #158

    The Horse's Advocate Podcast

    30 min

  7. JAN 21

    How Should Dentistry Be Performed In Horses? - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #157

    The debate over horse dentistry needs to be resolved before it escalates into an all-out war, leaving horses without the dental care they need. The two main issues fueling this conflict—hand floating versus power equipment, and the debate over whether only veterinarians or non-veterinarians should perform dental work—have been ongoing since the 1960s. I know this history well, as I began my own journey into equine dentistry in 1983. Like many forgotten histories, this discussion often pits people against one another without understanding past mistakes and solutions. Those involved focus solely on their own perspectives, turning the debate into a personal battle in which the horses are caught in the middle, suffering as their needs are misrepresented or ignored. As this conflict continues to play out on social media and in veterinary meetings, an increasing number of horse owners are opting not to have their horses' teeth cared for. Consequently, horses are left chewing in pain or struggling with the bit, only to see a dentist when the dental issues become severe, rather than receiving preventive maintenance. In this podcast, I will discuss this dilemma by examining the various schools of thought, which often rest on unproven theories and distorted facts. It's time for all parties to cease fighting and for veterinarians to expand their scope of care, offering more options for horse owners. By doing so, we can ensure that more horses receive the dental care they need, which is essential to Help Horses Thrive In A Human World™. ********** Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a place to learn about horses, barns, and farms. Its information is free, and a membership option lets horse owners attend live meetings to ask questions and deepen their understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide who works with horses. The Equine Practice, Inc. website discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Click here to make an appointment. The Horsemanship Dentistry School is a place for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. Thank you for sharing and "Helping Horses Thrive In A Human World."

    33 min

  8. JAN 14

    The Spectrum Of Care In Horses - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #156

    The model for training veterinarians is broken. Horse owners complain about the cost and the outcome of advanced procedures and diagnostics. Young veterinary graduates quickly become disillusioned, experience declining morale, and elect to leave the profession. The veterinary crisis is real and is occurring mostly in the horse and food animal care. As horse owners, the decline is affecting all but the elite horse centers; rural horse owners are either struggling to choose or decline expensive care options, facing ineffective or nonexistent care providers, or losing their horse prematurely. This podcast looks at the December, 2025 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Supplemental Edition, which focuses exclusively on a new concept in veterinary medicine: Scope of Care (SOC). Veterinary colleges are incorporating into their pedagogy (the art, science, and profession of teaching students) the idea of offering a broad selection of care, including different costs and outcomes. This approach effectively removes the time-honored tradition of providing the "Gold Standard" of care as the only option for horse owners. While on the surface, the offer of less costly care for horses by veterinarians appears to be a win for horse owners, it masks the fact that horse practices are failing. Declining morale among young veterinarians and owners' loss of confidence in these vets is a double punch; the result is fewer horse veterinarians charging more for diagnostics and procedures that are not scientifically compared to other, more traditional treatments. ********** Community.TheHorsesAdvocate.com is a place to learn about horses, horse barns, and farms. Its information is free, and there is a membership side that allows horse owners to attend live meetings to ask questions and deepen their understanding of what they have learned on the site. Membership helps support this message and spread it to everyone worldwide who works with horses. The Equine Practice, Inc. website discusses how and why I perform equine dentistry without immobilization or the automatic use of drugs. I only accept new clients in Florida. Click here to make an appointment. The Horsemanship Dentistry School is a place for those interested in learning how to perform equine dentistry without drugs on 97% of horses. Please give a thumbs-up or a  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."

    58 min
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4.9
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About

The Horse's Advocate Podcast is about helping horse owners find the missing horse owner's manual for owning and caring for horses. Geoff Tucker, DVM (aka, "Doc T"), brings you wisdom from almost 50 years with horses. But beware - some of this stuff is NOT what you might expect. When the "box to think outside of" was built, he was never included and remained outside! This show aims to Help Horses Thrive In A Human World.

Information

  • Creator
    Geoff Tucker, DVM
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    163
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Horse's Advocate, LLC
  • Show Website
    The Horse's Advocate Podcast

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