Calling Dr. Dolittle

When a highly touted and previously successful thoroughbred like War Pass fails to "fire" (catch fire, that is) like he did in the Tampa Bay Derby where he finished dead last, there are a lot of unanswered questions. Anything can happen to a horse, before, during or even after the race, and everyone wants to know what caused such an uncharacteristic performance. The frustrating thing about horse racing is that we may never know.

I know there are horse communicators who profess the ability to hear horses communicate their needs, likes and dislikes, but I am a bit skeptical, perhaps less about their "sixth" sense than about our ability to understand what they are telling us. Truly I understand the frustration that comes with dealing with a silent being--guesswork is basically trial and error--and I hate to sound like I am doubting Dr. Dolittle (because he really is one of my childhood heroes), but I need to see results before I'm a true believer.

Actually right now, I am in dire need of a dog communicator because Amos is just not getting better. Subsequent x-rays of his "elbows" did not reveal "substantial" arthritis as the Penn doctors diagnosed and the acupuncture does not seem to be helping him. I recently read about a placebo effect for pet acupuncture, not on the patient but on the owner, and I wonder if I was duped. He is still limping, always on the right front leg and now he seems to have some sort of intestinal distress. Just recently he seems to be belching a lot--to the point where it wakes him up and he has to move to get comfortable.

Now the two are probably not related, but who knows. At the moment I am relying on the animal-communication skills of my dog-walker who has been known to diagnose her share of mysterious ailments in her clients pets. She is convinced that Amos has Lyme disease, despite the fact that his blood test in October was negative. "Doesn't matter," she says. "It doesn't always show up."

What can I say? My vet is in Japan so we're going to see the other vet in the practice this afternoon for another blood test and a second opinion. Part of me says we should try the antibiotics just to see if it works because nothing else seems to have solved his discomfort. Either that, or its time for the Rimadyl (which of course won't work if it isn't arthritis).

So I sympathize with Nick Zito, trainer of War Pass. Everyone wants an explanation for the horse's behavior but until he gives us one himself, in words we can understand, we're just going to have to make do with being interpretors.