Purina Mills​ has been around for over a century. In that time they put on the most informative sales meetings (for companies & feed customers alike) I have ever attended. A few stick out in my mind. One was where they showed a tag for a 12% horse feed. It sounded pretty good from a nutritional percentage standpoint. When you got down to the ingredients they were actually motor oil, cardboard, and a whole host of deadly components that carry protein, fat, and fiber ratios. 

Purina sets itself apart from competitors by constantly researching. Their private farm is home to over 3000 animals situated on 1200 acres.

Once upon a time, I was attending a training meeting hosted by Purina. This presentation began by telling a story that *I benignly thought* had nothing to do with feeding horses.

Seems that there was this woman that was cooking her Christmas ham. Her husband was in the kitchen, underfoot and watching. He noticed she cut a good two inches off each end of the ham.

“Why’d you do that for?” he wanted to know.

“Do what?”

“Cut the perfectly good ends off.”

The wife reportedly scrunched her brow. “Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t know. My momma always did it when she fixed the ham.”

The ham was pushed into the oven to bake in pork peace. Later, as it was transferred to the table, the woman asked her mother why she cut the ends off the ham.

“That’s the way my mother did it, so I did too.”

To get to the end of this once and for all, the woman sought out her grandmother for the answer. She was found on the couch, patiently waiting for her Christmas dinner to be brought to her.

“Grandmomma, why do you cut the ends of the ham?”

“What are you talking about, dearie?”

“Well, I’ve been fixing the ham for the last few years, and I cut about an inch from each end. I never thought much about it, but Bill asked me today why I did, and I didn’t really have an answer besides that’s what I remember watching momma do. So I asked her why SHE did it, and she said because that’s what you always did, but she didn’t know why.”

The younger woman waited patiently for the secret to be unlocked and bequeathed to her.

The old woman began to laugh.

“Oh, honey. I used to cut the ends off because the ham was too big for my roasting pan! I couldn’t afford to buy a new one, those disposable ones were unheard of, so I would just cut the ham to fit.”

So, for who knew how many years, these women had been following a tradition without questioning why. They had also been wasting Lord knows how much ham for no good reason.

The same is true for many horse owners. Lots of people feed “A coffee can full of sweet feed with a half a can of corn and oats” with no better reason for doing it than “that’s the way my daddy always did it and he said it was the best.” But Purina nutrition analysts know better. And you can know better, too. You just have to listen, or do your own research.

Before you blindly accept something presented as tradition (which is a fancy way of saying I’m scared of change) find out why you’re doing it the way you always have. It may be the trappings of tradition binding you to a particular unhappiness.

Ask questions, or become a lemming.

This goes for religion, politics, AND cookin’.