"Entrenched belief is never altered by the facts".
So true, so true; strongly held beliefs, however nonfactual they may be, rarely (if ever) are changed as the result of being exposed to the facts. It is human nature to cling to what one believes in, for to challenge such beliefs can cause psychological harm in susceptible individuals.
Sometimes it is considered more expedient to just accept what one is told, without challenging the status quo or the teller/s of the tale. After all challenging one's beliefs requires introspection into many facets of the life one leads and that is way too scary for many people.
There is now much mis-information being spread 'out there' over the HWSS research. Where people or organisations have a history of distributing mis-information, do not expect them to be truthful in what they tell you with regards to their involvement in and support for the HWSS research project. It was to be expected but still regretable; anything which challenges groups or individuals which exposes them to the risk of having their authority undermined, invariably results in shooting the messenger/s whilst at the same time trying to gain control over the message being delivered.
To re-iterate once again the Connemara Pony Research Group is made up from a group of individuals who have been working together for just over one year now to get the scientific evidence to support:
- That there is a developmental problem in the hooves of some Connemara ponies, and,
- that this condition has a genetic cause
- Both of these points have now been incontrovertibly proven. As regular readers of this blog will be aware the laboratory is now awaiting the data analysis from the further series of arrays which have narrowed down the area of the genome, that needs to be studied in greater detail.
The Connemara Pony Research Group is not aligned with any breed society in anyway. The research has been independently funded by donations sent directly to the Centre for Equine Health at the University of California (Davis) by many groups and individuals. The research at the Bannasch Laboratory (UC Davis) has received support, both moral and financial, from societies in North America and Northern Ireland only and the group publically acknowledges our thanks to them.
Interestingly enough, when the blog author went to attribute "Entrenched belief is never altered by the facts" researches failed to find an historical context in which this was used. Perusal of various hard copy books of quotations to no avail and thence having to resort to google (and the ubiquitous wikipedia) linked this homily only to the authorship of one Dick Francis in his novel 'Straight'. One has to wonder from whence he learnt this very salient truth, or whether he came to this conclusion himself and just used it as a one-liner in his book. Either way, the truth revealed by this statement is real.
For any of the blog readers 'out there' who are not acquainted with the novels of Dick Francis then dip your toes in the water. Rip snorting good yarns based loosely around National Hunt Racing in the UK. Of course they are formulaeic and I swear the heroes must all have 'superman' embroidered on their underpants as they always succeed in righting wrongs against terrible odds, but they are good reads.