The Equine Mind...

While I would jokingly say Chaos and Dayo both think: "Hay, grain, hay, grain, grain, hay, hay, hay... carrot?" I know they are much more complex than that. Horses mirror their riders, coaches and trainers - mine are mesmerized whenever my coach is explaining something, and will stand patiently for as long as it takes for me to understand. This article explains how, and illustrates what makes horses so marvelous, and sometimes cuddly :)

Dayo... my leap of faith :)

 

Meet Dayo ("Joy Arrives"). Formerly Ebony / Home By Dark, she is an eight year old OTTB, one of three mare whose owners have fallen on hard times. For three years, I've looked and looked at horses, donated money to rescues. Of course, I have Chaos <3. Who knows why one horse speaks to you, or why your soul suddenly says: "Enough. It's time to take that leap of faith, and be the difference."

Stay tuned for stories as we get to know each other; for photos as she fills out, and becomes the awesome mare she is going to be!

Good riding is all about getting out of your horse's way

The best riders use their aids to help their horses be as brilliant as they can be. And then, these riders get out of their horses' way.

Nick Skelton's ride on Heracross demonstrates the beauty and simplicity of control and communication. Skelton really knows how to help his horse, and stay out of his way. So much so, that watching it leaves me thinking to myself, "I could do that course".

Stay tuned!

Today's Hero - Saratoga War Horse!

Today, I am looking on the Adena Springs Facebook page (yes, I know Facebook is the devil, but it's so useful... and fun!), staring at a photo of the spectacular Alphabet Soup...

 (gratuitous shot of Alphabet Soup, courtesy of Adena Springs)

... when a thought occurs. "I wonder what other horses are in this album?" And I begin to snoop. There are some lovely horses in the Adena Springs Retirement Program ready for adoption, some other photos, and a photo with the following caption: "Met with Saratoga War Horse. Awesome people. Awesome Program!" My interest is piqued.

It's true, I am a Facebook voyeur ~ especially when it comes to horses. Contrary to all the laws of the universe, this voyeurism has led to many untold and beautiful discoveries. And so of course, I "google" Saratoga War Horse.

It proves to be one of the great discoveries.

"Only 1 percent of American men and women have answered their country’s call to serve and protect in the military, and yet out of the entire general population in the United States, those who have served account for 20 percent of all suicides." (Bob Nevin, co-founder, Saratoga War Horse).



The Saratoga War Horse Program teaches veterans how to work through stress and trauma by connecting with former racehorses through the  process of “Join-Up,” based on the work of horse whisperer Monty Roberts.  Best of all, Saratoga War Horse also gives retired racehorses meaningful second careers, a major issue confronting the thoroughbred industry. Still in the early stages of development, the Saratoga War Horse could eventually involve literally hundreds of former racehorses.

“We have world-class horses assisting world-class soldiers,” Nevins said. “We have the soldiers saving the horses because without them these horses could fall through the cracks and wind up at the slaughterhouse. The same thing with the soldiers. If they’re not coming out, getting the help that they need, they’re falling through the cracks.”

Kudos to the wonderful people at Saratoga War Horse for being the cement that helps seal those cracks!

Lest Old Acquaintance be forgot...

"They're great athletes. They work all their lives for our entertainment, and in some cases they make people very wealthy. And, at the end of the line, they don't have any social security or a 401K plan. And they should, because they earned all the money.... Some people go to the racetrack and don't even bet. They're just overwhelmed by the majesty of the performance. They did it. Without [these horses] there's nothing. There's no bluegrass, there's no racetracks... they are the essence of it."

I read Michael Blowen's quote, and it resonated deeply with me. Michael Blowen is the former film critic for the Boston Globe, and the Founder and President of Old Friends, a retirement and rescue facility for pensioned thoroughbreds.

Old Friends is a thoroughbred retirement with a difference, giving home to stallions and more recently, to mares. The plan to provide "at risk" racehorses (horses too old to race or breed) with the dignified and humane retirement they deserve, was born from the shocking death of Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand in a slaughterhouse in Japan in 2002. Like many, Michael Blowen was beyond appalled that something like that could happen. 

Old Friends is located in Georgetown, Kentucky. Realizing that promoting these celebrated horses through a campaign of education and tourism would draw attention to the plight of racehorses and equines in need, Old Friends is open to the public. Tours are available, and the list of stallions and horses who call their fields and barns homes is humbling and impressive, the memorials and tributes to fallen heroes incredibly touching. 

Everyone who visits goes to see the once great horses who battled their way down the homestretch to bring fame and fortune to owners, trainers, and jockeys. Each one leaves touched by the beauty, dignity, courage and heart these thoroughbred heroes have.

Thank you, Michael Blowen!

Branch County

When I was little, Branch County was my dream horse. Or at least one of them. So many horses. So little time!

It's hard to find information about him now, but here are a few fun facts:

•  He cleared 7'2" to win the puissance class at the Royal Winter Fair one year to carry his rider, Robin Hahn, to victory.
• He was picked up by Michel Vaillancourt in February of 1976, after Hahn decided he could not afford the $10,000 price tag, and opted to compete on L'Esprit in the Olympic Three-Day Event instead.
• Branch County and Michel Vaillancourt won the first ever individual medal in show jumping for Canada at the 1976 Olympics in Bromont, Quebec.
• Branch County was only seven at the time, and Vaillancourt set a record for being the youngest show jumping rider to win an individual medal (two babies, as Vaillancourt has said).
• Branch County was a failed race horse. 

Branch County joins the ranks of another favourite thoroughbred, Snowbound (gratuitous Snowbound photo here):

A reminder that the thoroughbred is a fantastic and courageous sport horse. Two great show jumpers, two great reasons to consider an OTTB!

Sunday rant: A horse is a just a horse...

Last night, we celebrated my nephews 2nd birthday, family style. As always with family, there is the joy of togetherness, the stress of togetherness, and the conflict of opinions - rarely in the interest of lively debate.

Now most who know me know I am a passionate animal lover, and have been since I was young. I've had kittens born under my bed, puppies born in my closet. I have crossed roads from school to sit on the back of a horse during lunch, and I have walked countless miles for the sake of animals - to see them, help them, and heal them. I have rescue dogs, network to re-home healthy horses sold for meat (because it's easier to do this than be accountable).

I am a profound and deep believer in human rights, in every person's abilities, and in the value of life. All life. I believe life is something that should be respected, revered, and protected. It is also something, I believe, that should be managed humanely, compassionately, and lovingly.

And, I put my money, my time, and my convictions, where my mouth is. So to speak.

I am a strong advocate of the animal-human bond, which I believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, does and will heal people, will help heal the planet.  and is something which, as the top of the food chain, we need to get right if we are going to survive.

So we are were discussing War Horse, a fantastic production, full of puppetry and magic. As most people know, War Horse brings to light the plight of the many animals who were casualties of World War 1.  As we discussed the play, I shared the following information:

"Did you know that, during the war, 1,000,000 horses went to France, and only 62,000 survived?"

Now to me, this is a pretty staggering statistic. Horses serve. They are non-partisan, and they don't chose to fight for a cause. In World War 1, we needed them. As transport for military personnel, supplies, as fighting partners, and for armaments.  938,000 horses died in man's service, without recognition, without appreciation. Today, dogs die today alongside troops in Afghanistan - those that survive are not valued enough for their service to even earn a flight home by the military. Instead, they are to be abandoned in Afghanistan because they are no longer of value. These horses, these dogs - they are not just "hanging out" waiting for a walk, a cuddle, or so we can "play around with ponies." They provide real, valuable service in man's honour, and in support of man's survival.

"Who cares how many horses died! How many people died?"

The answer to this, which I was not able to pull out of my hat, is this:
World War 1 saw the highest casualties of any war. Approximately 65 million peopled fought. 6.8 million military personnel died in action, another 3.2 million died of diseases like the Spanish Flu. Approximately another 7 million civilians died. Somewhere in the number of 20 million military personnel were wounded (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties). While the actual numbers can likely be debated, a short answer would be a lot.

I care how many horses died. And to the USA, I'd like to add "man up and be accountable. Man or animal, bring all who serve home with respect and dignity."

It is incredibly sad that we kill each other for money, resources, for political or religious beliefs. As the average man, we chose to be the victims of a propaganda machine designed to make a few people or countries very wealthy.  It sucks that we kill each other. And it really sucks that we have to kill everything else too. We are the top of the food chain. Do we really believe it is acceptable to use other animals as grist in our political and monetary mills, to reap the benefits they provide, and then condone casually casting them aside when they are no longer useful or convenient, when they need, and to devalue their contribution in the process.

I think not.

Air Amateur - your Tuesday smile

There is no better way to start the week than with a smile. This will resonate with everyone who has ever found themselves suddenly without a horse underneath!

I would confess, I've booked many a flight on this airline, and in spite of the fact the descents are desperately quick, the landings abrupt and often painful, and the airline highly unsympathetic (and often surprised), I keep going back.

Here's hoping your ride today is on friendly skies!

Extra! Extra! This week's edition of the Pony Express is now available

Find out what's happening this week in the world of horses - The weekly edition of The Pony Express is now available online!

Highlights from this week's edition include:

• News from the world of horse sport including a memorial to Sea Fox, an update on Lauren Hough, a tribute to Rapid Redux, and congratulations to Pamela Law, Jump Canada's Volunteer of the Year.
• An update on the state of wild horses and horse slaughter in America.
• Great information on holistic treatment of wounds, and what the natural horseman keeps in the stable emergency kit.
• ... and much, much more!

Thanks for checking out The Pony Express. If you have information you'd like to see included, please let me know!

Helping hearts help an old horse in need

It would be fair to say I'm a little horse obsessed. It's a feeling that lay dormant for a few years, when the kids were young. When they were old enough, I volunteered, then worked for CARD (Community Association for Riding for the Disabled), a therapeutic riding centre in Toronto. Working with horses as therapy animals, watching the difference they can make, re-ignited this obsession to the point where it became a virtual bonfire.

It was the beginning of the end. The powerful combination of working with horses and helping people spoke to my soul, and even though I no longer work at CARD, those two passions remain with me and strong.

Today, I surf the internet looking at OTTBs, rescue horses, and horses for sale. I pour over articles about bedding, footing, course building, tack, grooming, horsemanship, equine nutrition, naturopathy. I visit tack shops, and am slowly growing my supply of grooming tools, etc. Most importantly, I participate actively as a lobbyist for animal and equine rights, and as part of a pipeling dedicated to rescuing rehabilitatable horses from the kill pen (specifically OLEX, which is local to me), and rehoming them.

While I am acutely, painfully horse-less right now, participating actively and contributing to the wonderful world of horses is important to me. I was reminded of this when a call to action came through a Facebook page, Camelot Feed Lots. A lovely 30-year old chestnut mare at auction, bound for the kill pen.  I'll never meet this horse, but her pictures, the call to save her, and my fundamental and unwavering belief that no animal or person deserves to be discarded once their usefulness is past, were compelling enough for me to take a leap of faith and donate money to an organization I knew nothing about (without benefit of tax receipt) in the hopes that her life would be respected. For a horse, 30-years is a life well lived, and a life worth saving!

Thanks to the many people who also made a commitment to this horse's life, it was. The thank you note above is from the wonderful people at Helping Heart Equine Rescue. Amber is a really lovely old mare (such a cutie!).

The experience was a great reminder that participating in the world of horses does not necessarily have to mean ownership, and it does not have to cost a great deal of money. There are so many ways and means to be close to horses: advocating on an equine's behalf, supporting a local equine rescue, volunteering (at a therapeutic riding centre or in an equine-assisted therapy programme). Because of this horses, and Amber, will always have a special place in my heart. 

Faith and Spirit

Horses play an integral role in the history, and the present, of the Americas. In recent months, there have been a great many articles about the BLM's wild horse roundups, the treatment of retired racehorses, of neglect and cruelty. The issue of horse slaughter (which is currently banned in the United States, but allowed in both Canada and Mexico) is receiving tremendous publicity both for the inhumanity of the practices associated with it, and because of the practice itself. 

"Faith and Spirit came to the farm on April 20th 2011. We received a phone call from the local kill pen that a foal had been born in their holding pen. We worked desperately to raise funds to rescue mom and baby. Joel, one of our dedicated volunteers, donated what we needed to save these two. We estimated his birth date is April 10th 2011. This colt literally saved his mother's life. There's no doubt the slaughterhouse would have killed her, pregnant or not. Faith and Spirit will remain at Day Dreams Farm until Spirit is weaned and then Faith will be up for adoption. Spirit will continue to grow up at the farm and he will choose which direction he wants his life to go."

The inhumanity of the kill pen, and the tragedy that faces horses who find themselves there, is illustrated in a wonderful video of a foal born in a kill pen while his mother waited for slaughter (http://youtu.be/WODPAmME1e8). There is a happy ending for them both, thanks to Day Dreams Equine Rescue and Therapy (http://www.daydreamsfarm.com) but there need to be many, many more. Horses, because they have outlived their usefulness in one role, should not be thrown away. They can certainly be retrained for another purposes. Like all domesticated animals, they have an important relationship with people, and one that is mutually beneficial. The unspeakable things we do to dispose of them reflects our respect for humanity as a whole, and it is time we step up for the human race, the animal population, and the planet. 

The issues around the treatment, management and slaughter of horses are complex, but the realities seem to be simple and come down to an all too common denominator - human greed.  Horses are expensive to keep, and if they are wild, can be inconvenient to have around. Crushing economic conditions have exacerbated poor conditions for many farmers and horse owners, with more and more horses suffering from neglect as owners are unable to keep them. A reduction in horse races and purses, and an increase in irresponsible breeding, have resulted in a glut of unwanted racehorses, many of whom have earned significant money before being consigned to the kill pen because their racing careers are over.  Rescue organizations are stretched, and advocacy groups fight an uphill battle in the face of a glut of unwanted horses. And, it is important to remember that, in North America, horses are not raised for human consumption, and the sale of horse meat is prohibited by the FDA for health purposes.

Please advocate to stop horse slaughter, and to address the root causes of this issue. And please, support your local rescues, shelters and therapeutic riding centres!

The Horse - grass eating herbivore or meat-eating monster?

Every night, I pull information on horses, horse welfare, the equestrian world. Usually the links are specific, related to articles, facts, research. Tonight, my eyes caught the headline "The Ponies of the South Pole: The Forgotten Story of Antarctica's Meat Eating Horses."

I have long subscribed to the belief that horses are prey animals, herbivores. Their teeth include 12 incisors in the front, ideal for biting and tearing grass and other vegetation. They have 24 premolars and molars at the back of their mouth, which help them chew to break down the grass and other vegetation. I work with horses in a therapeutic riding environment, and know them to be sensitive, compassionate, caring animals. I am keenly aware of the sensitive nature of their digestive tracts. And, while I have certainly experienced my share of aggressive equine behaviour, I have always attributed this to nurture, a need to communicate dissatisfaction, stress, anxiety, pain, anger. The concept of the horse as flesh-eating monster was always firmly entrenched in the realm of myth, told in stories like the Mares of Diomedes and the Man-Eater of Lucknow.

Intrigued, I began to read. The article, written by the founder of the Long Riders' Guild, CulChullaine O'Reilly, pulls together a fascinating array of stories and evidence to support the theory that horses can indeed be the flesh-eating animals of myth. Evidence that includes details of Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole, of the blood-eating horses of Tibet.

What if the myths were grounded in fact?

O'Reilly has spent more than 30 years studying equestrian travel techniques. He has experienced the world in a way which I certainly have not, and he has seen and participated in events and activities that are likely beyond my sheltered understanding. He is the founder of the Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation, dedicated to the creating the world's first comprehensive hippological study. The Foundation's goals are:

• To maintain the world’s first open-source academic website devoted to the study of all aspects of hippological influence in the arts and sciences.
• To invite the participation of all humans, regardless of race, national origin or native language to share their horse-related wisdom with others.
• To provide a forum, free of commercial influence, wherein equine-related articles are provided free to scholars, students and equine enthusiasts.
• To publish every major work known to man dealing with equestrian wisdom and history.

His book, Deadly Equines, purposes to debunk the idea of flesh-eating horse as myth, and explores the possible reality that our 21st century understanding of the horse is two-dimensional at best, a sanitized and Disney-esque view that prevents us from understanding the true nature of the horse.

The website for the Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation (http://lrgaf.org) is a fantastic compilation of stories, news and articles about the horses. Horses in history, int the military, and today. I realize, reading through it, that my belief that horses are herbivores is based on the physiology of the horse as I understand it. And I am intrigued as to why some horses would be flesh-eating (man-eating!) while most remain true to the animal of prey who uses flight to escape danger.

I remain committed to the belief that horses heal, and the the relationship between man and horse is mutual, inspiring, positive and whole. But, I am reminded of Robert Sullivan’s “The Flight of the Reindeer - the True Story of Santa Claus and his Mission”.  As with Sullivan’s book, I find that the website, the articles, take me to a place where I am willing to suspend disbelief. Nothing will shake my firm belief in the horse as friend, companion and ally, and I do not find it distressing that horses may be, or have been at some point, carnivores. After all, dogs certainly are, and the relationshihp between man and dog has not suffered because of this. I find I want to read the book. And the rebuttals. CulChullaine O’Reilly has opened up for debate a subject that will likely be discussed for some time, in the face of real or supposed evidence on both sides. The “myth” of the horse as herbivore is firmly entrenched in Western thought, and it will be interesting to see what comes of the Foundation’s researches.

To read more about CulChullaine O’Reilly’s work, check out:

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/features/meateatinghorses-190.shtml

http://explorersweb.com/polar/news.php?id=20323

http://www.lrgaf.org/deadly_equines.htm

A Tribute to Woody Stephens

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

98 years ago today, Woodford (Woody) Cefis Stephens was born in Stanton, Kentucky. Elected into the National Racing Museum Hall of Fame in 1976, Stephens' career in thoroughbred racing spanned seven decades. He ran Cain Hoy Stable for Harry Guggenheim for 10 years, trained seven Eclipse Award winning race horses, five kentucky Oaks winners, two Kentucky Derby winners (Cannonade '74, Swale '84), a Preakness winner (Blue Man '52), and an unprecedented five straight Belmon Stakes winners (Conquistador Cielo '82, Caveat '83, Swale '84, Creme Fraiche '85 and Danzig Connection in '86). In 1983, he won the Eclipse Award as the top trainer in the United States.

As a young racing fan, I spent hours glued to the television watching the Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont, the Queen's Plate, and any other race that was televised. I poured over a friend's father's racing sheets and stud books, tracked races through the newspaper, learned about handicapping. I studied bloodlines, lineage, genetics and picked the horses from the racing sheets in the Globe and Mail that I thought would win, place or show, based on that magical combination of bloodline, talent, rider, trainer and heart, and my own applied "knowledge". It was a passion that, for a while, bordered on obsession, and my goal ultimately became to breed and own the first filly to ever win the Triple Crown. Woody Stevens was a part of the dream team I wanted to assemble to help me on this quest, along with my long-time hero, racing legend Sandy Hawley. With a great filly, and those two in her court, I was confident it would become a reality.

The dream still lives on, and today it seems fitting to remember the dream, and pay tribute to one of the men who figured so prominently in it.