Equine Dentistry - A Letter To RFD TV
Posted by Geoff Tucker on Sat, Oct 03, 2009
Patrick Gottsch
Founder and President
Butch Morgan
Equine Programming
Andy Denes
Executive Producer/News
Heather Spillman
Director of Programming/Production
Gentlemen and Lady;
Equine dentistry is a divisive subject with people entrenched in polar camps - much like the political landscape.
I am an equine veterinarian (Cornell 1984) who started floating horse teeth in 1983. To date I have over 41,000 floats to my name. For 11 years I have limited my practice to equine dentistry - the "old fashioned" "traditional" way.
My style of Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ is based on generations of experience and horsemanship. It is polar opposites from the dogma of the AAEP and lay dentist organizations. It is also separate from the poor dentistry practiced by many individuals who have not received proper guidance.
Your programming is an avenue to the education of horse owners who thirst for accurate information to make decisions. I assume that it does. I have not had a TV signal in my house for some time so I have not watched any of your shows. A friend reported to me the details of one of your shows about equine dentistry that was aired a few days ago at 3 in the morning. From how it was described, maybe your audience would like to see to another side of this story.
You have aired a program (or maybe several) discussing equine dentistry with the perspective of modernization. I would like to know if you have offered any programing that discusses an opposing view? Anything on the injuries and even deaths caused by the "advanced" techniques? Any discussion on the lack of horsemanship in an age where horsemanship is promoted? How about the subject of good science (rare to non-existent for equine dentistry) versus bad science (abundant in the field)?
Honestly, I am late to your party. I had no idea of your station or the extensive programs you offer until this morning when I went to your web site. In fact, for 2 coincidental reasons, I am having DirecTV hooked up on Monday. So I will check out your programing further next week.
What this letter represents is my effort to bring to the horse world accurate information about equine dentistry as well as other thoughts about veterinary medicine. For the thousands of years we have intimately lived with horses, it seems like in the past 2 decades we want to change everything. It's time for a reality check and to revisit our roots in horsemanship.
Thanks for taking the time to read completely and to understand my thoughts in this letter. To know more about me, my beliefs and philosophy, and my style of equine dentistry, please go to:
http://www.theequinepractice.com
http://www.theequinepractice.com/videos-of-the-floating-process/
http://www.theequinepractice.com/beliefs-and-philosophy/
http://www.theequinepractice.com/about-geoff-tucker-dvm/
http://www.theequinepractice.com/Blog/
Geoff Tucker, DVM
Equine Dentistry Without Drama™
772-285-3866
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