by
John Dolan
When Monty Roberts showed up in ads as the new sponsor for Fort Dodge Animal Health and it’s popular Quest wormer product, anti-Monty protestors once again took to their computers, typewriters, pen and paper to send the company a little message: ‘Get rid of Monty Roberts if you want us to buy your product.’
People have even been sending back magazine subscription postcard inserts provided in some magazines, with boldly marked messages across the cards that they won’t subscribe unless they drop the Monty Roberts-Quest ads.
This is the latest in a series of protests attacking Monty Roberts for having written untruthful books about his family and events in his life, including the alleged ‘capture’ of a ‘wild’ mustang that had already been handled and worked with.
If you feel you’ve been duped by Monty Roberts and wish to add your voice to the protest, please contact:
American Home Products
Owners of Fort Dodge Animal Health and the makers of Quest Wormer
888 593 2352
email: Fdorder@FDAH.com
The following letters from readers came in regarding this story:
From Bridget L: Regarding John Dolan’s article, “Monty Roberts: Makers of Quest wormer latest target of anti-Monty protests”: It’s been going around that Quest gel has been killing horses … my trainer knows some people in Utah and Nevada who’ve lost horses, mostly foals. Can’t seem to find anything about this on the Internet but it’s nonetheless another reason not to buy the product, besides the fact Monty backs it. BTW: Quest makers already have paid the parties who lost horses, so they acknowledge the danger of the product. It wasn’t misused – these are experienced horsemen who decided to try a new, highly touted product and lost animals because of it. Might be something to look into and spread the word.
From Marilyn A: The precautions on the Quest wormer are the most awesome on any paste wormer that I have seen to date. The precautions apply to humans as well. With Monty’s ad making it sound like a piece of cake to use Quest (I would like a count on the number of horses that he has actually wormed personally), I am sure that the uninformed who so loyally follow him, would not to be able to guess the weight of a foal, & could easily have overdosed. The way that the syringe is packaged, a person unaccustomed to using pastes or even not used to pasting young horses, could also very easily, not fix the stopper securely, & accidentally, while trying to handle & worm at the same time, a fractious colt, could give a double dose in an instant. I think Matthew said most of the deaths were foals. A 3 month old arab foal, for instance could weigh less than 400 lbs & a warmblood of the same age could weigh 800 or better. All of the chemical preparations that we administer to horses should be used by the experienced horseman or vet, not the untrained Joe Blow that copycat treats his horse, just because a famous man like M.R. says it is so easy. I hope that this blows up right in Fort Dodge’s & Monty Roberts’ face.
Editors Note: We have been unable to reach anyone at Fort Dodge to get information on any problems with their product, but would advise, as with all medications, to use caution in administering them to your adult horses or foals.