In The Know at Nicole's Horse Whispers
Collapsed Horse at Sevilla’s April Fair
ANIMAL rights group PACMA has shared photos of a collapsed horse from Sevilla’s April Fair in a bid to shine a light on ‘animal exploitation’.
According to witnesses, the horse was released from his cart after he began shaking at Sevilla’s annual Feria de Abril. The tremors continued and he collapsed to the ground before nearby vets rushed to his aide. “Maybe thanks to them the horse is alive today,” PACMA said on its Facebook post, “All riders say they love their horses, but when money calls the shots, the animals take second place, circuses, zoos, carriages, horse rentals, the meat industry. “Animals are not here to be exploited, live and let live.”
They say the overexertion of horses during the Fair happens every year with numerous complaints, but the local authorities do little to tackle it. The animal rights group had been at the fair to protest over its claims that millions of euros of taxpayers’ money are spent by the Andalucian government to subsidise bullfighting. PACMA says dozens of bulls are killed during the city’s ‘April Fair’, while the government spends millions re-transmitting the fights on the public television channel and covering the financial losses of the organisers.
Horse Buggy with Amish Children Struck By Car
ISLAND FALLS, Maine —Maine State Police said four children on a horse drawn buggy were hurt after they pulled into the path of a car on Monday.
The accident happened on Route 2 in the northern Maine town of Island Falls.
Police said the children, ages 9, 8, 7 and 5 were using the buggy to move wood from location to another and did not stop to check for traffic when they came to the road.
The driver of the car couldn't see the buggy from behind a thick tree line and hit the buggy, sending it into the air, according to police.
The children, who are part of the local Amish community, were taken to the hospital in Houlton with non-life-threatening injuries.The horse was killed in the accident, which remains under investigation.
Lightning Strikes Newark Horse Farm
Newark, N.Y.- 13WHAM Viewer Stephanie LeCesse said she was filming her horses when a lightning bolt struck near her horse fence in Newark. LeCesse said the lightning strike happened around 8:30 Tuesday night. Another strike around 9 p.m. caused part of the wood fencing to crack and allowed one young horse to escape, LeCesse said. The horse has since been caught. None of the horses were injured during the storm.
New diagnostic protocols for PPID in horses
Picture: Advanced pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction – this horse has developed a long curly haircoat that is referred to as hypertrichosis or hirsutism.
Summary: Equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) can be detected earlier and more reliably with a new set of guidelines developed by the Equine Endocrinology Group (EEG), a body of leading veterinarians and researchers in the field of equine endocrinology about horses.
Equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) can be detected earlier and more reliably with a new set of guidelines developed by the Equine Endocrinology Group (EEG), a body of leading veterinarians and researchers in the field of equine endocrinology.
Similar to Cushing's disease in humans but affecting a different area of the pituitary gland, PPID is associated with elevated levels of hormones in the blood. Horses with the condition often have a wide range of clinical signs depending on the stage of the disease, from loss of energy to muscle wasting, and the condition is more common in older horses.
The EEG created a set of recommendations in 2011 to help practitioners identify early versus advanced stages of PPID, and their new recommendations adjust and refine testing procedures for a more thorough and accurate approach to diagnosis. Recommendations are based upon published research on PPID.
"Our collective research has shown that horses can often develop this disease earlier in life, yet earlier clinical signs don't always translate into positive test results," said Nicholas Frank, D.V.M, DACVIM, professor and chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and group coordinator for the Equine Endocrinology Group. "As research on PPID advances, we are identifying practical ways to improve early detection and diagnosis."
In addition to Dr. Frank, the Equine Endocrinology Group includes Drs. Frank Andrews (Louisiana State University); Andy Durham (Liphook Equine Hospital); Dianne McFarlane (Oklahoma State University); and Hal Schott (Michigan State University). While the clinical signs of PPID are the same, the recommendations address changes to the diagnostic process. Previously, horses showing any signs of this disease were recommended to a undergo one of two tests. One test measures levels of resting adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) which is produced and secreted by the pituitary gland. The other is an overnight dexamethasone suppression test (DST) that causes the production of cortisol to decrease in healthy horses, but not those with PPID.
The newly established guidelines retain the recommendation to measure resting ACTH concentrations, but the group has lowered the recommendation for using the DST. Recent research shows that the DST is no better at detecting PPID than other tests, and horse owners have concerns about dexamethasone inducing laminitis, a painful condition affecting the feet that can lead to death.
Instead, the EEG group recommends a thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation test, which is particularly useful when horses with early PPID have normal resting ACTH concentrations. TRH causes the pituitary gland to release more hormones and ACTH concentrations increase to a higher level in horses with PPID. This test is easily performed on the farm by taking a baseline blood sample, injecting TRH intravenously, and collecting a second blood sample 10 minutes later. At present, the TRH stimulation test should only be used between December and June, which is the only period in which cut-off values have been established. Cut-off values allow veterinarians to interpret results and determine whether the horse suffers from PPID.
For more information on the PPID diagnostic guidelines visit http://sites.tufts.edu/equineendogroup/.
Abused horse dies ten days after being found FROZEN to the ground in one of Utah's worst ever cases of animal abuse
A young horse that was rescued after being found frozen to the ground in a patch of mud, two weeks ago, has died.
The one-year-old horse, Elsa, was just hours from death when she was pried from the frigid floor in an Enoch City yard, but managed to hang on for ten days before losing her life over the weekend.
Veterinarians have described it as one of Utah's worst cases of animal neglect.
The yearling was suffering from hypothermia with sores on the side of her face and an eye infection from prolonged contact with the frozen ground. (About Horses)
The Strongest Horse In The World
Black Forest Draft Horse..endangered breed….less than 100
Left in the world.Used to haul logs in the trecerous mountains of the
Black Forest of Germany.
but now there are a lot more than 100 in the world now where I know of at least 25 stable in the US that has herds of them.
They were once endangered and are not and haven’t been in a long time. (About Horses)
Rare Horses Released In Spain As Part Of 'Rewilding' Effort
For the first time in two millennia, wild horses are once again galloping free in western Spain, countering what happened when the Romans moved there and domesticated the animals.
Four-dozen Retuerta horses have been released into the wild in western Spain over the past two years as part of a project by Rewilding Europe, a nonprofit group that seeks to turn the loss of rural farming life into an opportunity to boost biodiversity.
The endangered Retuerta is one of the oldest horse breeds in Europe and most closely resembles the race of ancient Iberian horses that populated this region before being domesticated. Retuertas are nearly extinct, with only about 150 remaining in Doñana National Park in southern Spain. Living in a single cluster there, the entire species could be wiped out by any potential disease or calamity.
So wildlife experts arranged to have two batches of two-dozen Retuertas each brought to the Campanarios de Azaba Biological Reserve, an unfenced area of western Spain that's believed to have once been native territory for the horse. "Our idea is to just let them manage the ecosystem themselves. It's a wild horse. So it's in its DNA to roam free in the wild," said Diego Benito, a forestry engineer who lives and works at the reserve. "Of course it is endangered — close to extinction — and we're conservationists," he added. "So if one of them gets ill, we could call the veterinarian. That's not the idea in the future — we'll treat them like wild horses. But for now they could use a little care."
The horse project at Campanarios is one of a half-dozen efforts sponsored by Rewilding Europe across the continent. Others include the rewilding of European bison, red deer, beavers, brown bears and white-tailed eagles in Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia and elsewhere.
"In Europe, we live in a shadow land — in a dim and flattened relic of what there once was, and of what there could be again," said George Monbiot, an environmental columnist for The Guardian newspaper and author of the recent book, Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding.
"We've lost most of the big predators in Europe," he added. "We've lost all the big herbivores — huge, elephant-sized rhinos used to live in Eastern Europe. We've lost a lot of our middle-sized herbivores. But this can be changed, and I think there's a very exciting future for rewilding here."
Spain is particularly suited to rewilding. The last Ice Age drove many native European species southward, and Spain retains high biodiversity with low human population density.
The Industrial Revolution drew rural human populations to big cities in northern Europe 300 years ago, yet Spain remained a relatively poor, agrarian society until the second half of the 20th century. Since then, the country has seen a massive migration to cities, particularly after the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, and now again during Europe's debt crisis.
The Landscape Changes
As Spaniards abandon rural life for the city, the land they've left behind is rewilding — returning to a landscape unseen for centuries.The first thing to come back is the underbrush, which used to be grazed by livestock but now grows unchecked — and fuels increasingly dangerous wildfires growing in number and acreage in recent years.
"In the last 40 years, the bush has increased by more than 4 million hectares. That's nearly 10 percent of the country converted to bushland, because we lost the human population — they went to the city," said Benigno Varillas, president of a subsidiary group, Rewilding Spain. "To control the bush, you need big animals — herbivores — to trample and graze. People have taken their horses and cows away. So this reintroduction [of wild horses] is very important."
Varillas tilts his cowboy hat and looks out over empty, overgrown hills that his relatives once farmed. These cork oaks and brush are vulnerable to wildfires. So Varillas and his conservationist colleagues are fighting them — but not with water. They are rewilding the land with its natural protectors — animals.
"If the domesticated herbivores are not anymore, then we need to bring in those who were there before," said Staffan Widstrand, marketing director for Rewilding Europe. "We had domesticated horses here. Well, previously there were wild horses."
The Retuerta horses are one example of the type of rewilding that could take place amid an unprecedented global migration to cities. In 1900, 13 percent of humans lived in urban areas; the United Nations forecasts that number will hit 85 percent in the developed world by 2050. Conservationists are looking at what all of those people leave behind — animals, agriculture and ways of life — and how to preserve it. Varillas and Widstrand recently helped guide a group of foreign wildlife experts around the Campanarios de Azaba Biological Reserve. Once the group reached the crest of a hill, a ranch hand unlatched a metal gate, and out ran two-dozen Retuerta horses, trampling scrubby oak brush as they galloped down the hill and out over the horizon. (About Horses)
Horse Slaughterhouse In New Mexico Gets Go-Ahead From USDA Officials
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Federal officials cleared the way Friday for a return to domestic horse slaughter, granting a southeastern New Mexico company's application to convert its cattle facility into a horse processing plant.In approving Valley Meat Co.'s plans to produce horse meat, Department of Agriculture officials also indicated they would grant similar permits to companies in Iowa and Missouri as early as next week.With the action, the Roswell, N.M., company becomes the first operation in the nation licensed to process horses into meat since Congress effectively banned the practice seven years ago.
But the company's attorney said on Friday that he remained skeptical about Valley Meat Co.'s chances of opening any time soon, as the USDA must send an inspector to oversee operations and two animal rights groups have threated lawsuits to block the opening.
"This is very far from over," attorney Blair Dunn said. "The company is going to plan to begin operating in July. But with the potential lawsuits and the USDA – they have been dragging their feet for a year – so to now believe they are going to start supplying inspectors, we're not going to hold our breath."The company has been fighting for the permit for than a year, sparking an emotional debate over whether horses are livestock or domestic companions.The decision comes more than six months after Valley Meat Co. sued the USDA, accusing it of intentionally delaying the process because the Obama administration opposes horse slaughter.The Justice Department moved Friday to dismiss the case. Dunn said he would fight to keep it open until all issues, including attorneys' fees, are resolved.Valley Meat Co. wants to ship horse meat to countries where people cook with it or feed it to animals.
The plant would become the first horse slaughterhouse to operate in the country since Congress banned the practice by eliminating funding for inspections at the plants. Congress reinstated the funding in 2011, but the USDA has been slow in granting permits, citing the need to re-establish an oversight program.The USDA said it also expects to issue permits next week for Rains Natural Meats in Missouri and Responsible Transportation in Iowa."Since Congress has not yet acted to ban horse slaughter inspection, (the agriculture department) is legally required to issue a grant of inspection today to Valley Meats in Roswell, N.M., for equine slaughter," USDA spokeswoman Courtney Rowe said.
"The administration has requested Congress to reinstate the ban on horse slaughter. Until Congress acts, the Department must continue to comply with current law."The Obama administration's budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year eliminates funding for inspections of horse slaughterhouses, which would effectively reinstate the ban. And both the House and Senate agriculture committees have endorsed proposals that would cut the funding. But it is unclear when and if an agriculture appropriations bill will pass this year.
A return to domestic horse slaughter has divided horse rescue and animal welfare groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes about what is the most humane way to deal with the country's horse overpopulation and what rescue groups have said are a rising number of neglected and starving horses as the West deals with persistent drought.
The Humane Society of the United States and Front Range Equine Rescue said they would follow through on plans to file suit to try to block the resumption of horse slaughter."The USDA's decision to start up domestic horse slaughter, while at the same time asking Congress to defund it, is bizarre and unwarranted," Jonathan Lovvorn, senior vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation at the humane society, said in a statement. "Slaughter plants have a history of polluting their communities and producing horse meat that is tainted with a dangerous cocktail of banned drugs. We intend to hold the Obama administration accountable in federal court for this inhumane, wasteful and illegal decision."
Proponents of a return to domestic horse slaughter point to a 2011 report from the federal Government Accountability Office that shows horse abuse and abandonment have been increasing since slaughter was banned in 2006, leaving fewer humane options for horse owners who can't afford to care for or euthanize their animals.They say it is better to slaughter the animals in humane, federally regulated facilities than have them abandoned to starve across the drought-stricken West or sold at auction houses that then ship them to inhumane facilities in Mexico.
The number of U.S. horses sent to other countries for slaughter has nearly tripled since 2006, the report says. Many humane groups agree that some of the worst abuse occurs in the slaughter pipeline. Many are pushing for a ban on domestic slaughter and a ban on shipping horses to Mexico and Canada.
Gov. Susana Martinez, a horse lover, said "creating a horse slaughter industry in New Mexico is wrong and I am strongly opposed."
New Mexico Land Commissioner Ray Powell, a veterinarian, called on local, state and federal leaders to "work together to create solutions and provide sustainable funding to care for or humanely euthanize these unwanted horses. Continuing to ignore the plight of starving horses, creating a new horse slaughter plant, or exporting unwanted horses to Mexico won't solve this problem."
The Yakama Nation in Washington state applauded the USDA's decision. Tribal Council Chairman Harry Smiskin said "we hope that such a plant can also open somewhere in the Pacific Northwest to assist us in dealing with over 12,000 feral horses that are severely damaging our homelands."
In a news release, he said the horses have overgrazed the land, leaving some valleys and hillsides without grass or plant life. (About Horses)
Prehistoric Horse Genome Decoded, Pushing Back Origins Of Equine Lineage By 2 Million Years
The humble horse has provided the oldest full genome sequence of any species — from a specimen more than half a million years old, found frozen in the permafrost of the Canadian Arctic. The finding, published in Nature today, pushes back the known origins of the equine lineage by about 2 million years, and yields a variety of evolutionary insights.
The sequence was extracted from a foot bone of a horse that lived between 780,000 and 560,000 years ago. By sequencing the animal's genome, along with those of a 43,000-year-old horse, five modern domestic horse breeds, a wild Przewalski’s horse and a donkey, researchers were able to trace the evolutionary history of the horse family in unprecedented detail. They estimate that the ancient ancestor of the modernEquus genus, which includes horses, donkeys and zebras, branched off from other animal lineages about 4 million years ago — twice as long ago as scientists had previously thought.
“We have beaten the time barrier,” says evolutionary biologist Ludovic Orlando of the University of Copenhagen, who led the work with colleague Eske Willerslev. Noting that the oldest DNA sequenced before this came from a polar bear between 110,000 and 130,000 years old2, Orlando says: “All of a sudden, you have access to many more extinct species than you could have ever dreamed of sequencing before.”
The team was able to sequence such old DNA partly because of the freezing ground temperatures in the area where the bone was found, which would have slowed the rate of DNA decay.
But the researchers were also successful because they had perfected techniques for extracting and preparing the DNA to preserve its quality for sequencing. They targeted tissue within the fossil which has high DNA content, such as collagen. They also combined DNA sequencing techniques to get maximum DNA coverage — using routine next-generation sequencing with single-molecule sequencing in which a machine directly reads the DNA without the need to amplify it up which can lose some DNA sequences.
Now, a major challenge for the field is to apply these techniques to other species such as ancient human species, including Homo heidelbergensis and Homo erectus, which lived hundreds of thousands to more than 1 million years ago. But such specimens are unlikely to be found buried in the DNA-preserving permafrost.
”The real challenge right now in the field is combining these next-generation sequencing technologies with the possibility of analysing non-permafrost samples,” says Carles Lalueza-Fox, a palaeogeneticist at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, Spain. (About Horses)
Edmonton woman wins first national horse stewardship award
EDMONTON - An Edmonton woman’s exceptional compassion for horses at the grassroots level has earned her a national stewardship award.
Lynda Tennessen, the herd and lessons manager for the Whitemud Equine Learning Centre Association, has won Equine Canada’s inaugural Horse Health and Welfare Stewardship Award. In the nearly 20 years she’s worked at WELCA, Tennessen has devoted herself to the physical and emotional well-being of the centre’s horses. That commitment has extended the animals’ useful, healthy working life as lesson horses well into their 30s, providing the income required to care for them once they retire. The life expectancy of a horse is about 25 years, though many horses at WELCA are significantly older.
“Horses just give back endlessly,” said Tennessen, who has loved the majestic, kind creatures for more than half a century. She was just four years old when her parents sent her and her sister on a trail ride in Cold Lake. “And that’s it, we were bitten by the horse-love bug (not by the horse),” she said.
“I can still remember how cute Lynda was on the horse, so little, her feet sticking out,” said sister Jane Sims, who also works at the equine centre. “We haven’t looked back since.”
Tennessen said Sunday she is very honoured to be recognized. She was ecstatic when she found out she’d won. “I saw the envelope and thought, no, it’s a rejection letter, then I got up the courage to open it. I danced around the house.”
But she’s quick to credit everyone involved with the equine centre for helping her win. “It takes a village,” she said. “Yes, I got the award but I could not have gotten the award if it weren’t for the WELCA organization and the programs and the people it brings in. We are about the horses.”
Many of the 35 lesson horses at WELCA are specially trained to work quietly and with wheelchair lifts for the Little Bits Therapeutic Riding Association, which offers recreational horseback riding with therapeutic benefits for children and adults with disabilities.
And Tennessen is conscientious about never overworking the animals. The horses always get at least one day off each week and enjoy a minimum of three weeks vacation per year. “They will fall apart if you don’t treat them properly,” she said. “They get lots of time outside to hang out with their friends, buck and play.”
The horses at WELCA also have health benefits, including massage, prescriptions and dentistry, and a generous retirement package that stipulates they’ll be cared for, rather than slaughtered, in their old age.
Tennessen still teaches lessons in addition to her managerial duties, drawing from her own experiences as a child. When she was 10, she fell off a horse during a riding lesson and quit for several years. Getting her courage back has helped her instruct.
“It gives me compassion for people with fear,” she said. “I tell that story all the time. ‘Yeah I’m scared, but I do it anyway!’ ”
As winner, Tennessen receives $1,000 to donate to a charity of her choice. She is hoping Equine Canada will permit her to give the money to WELCA, which is a non-profit organization.
She continues to be motivated by “the confidence and smiles of the children learning to ride and care for the horses. It’s for the kids and the horses. It’s a win-win.”
Sheriff believes poacher shot, killed horse
A 3-year-old white and tan Appaloosa Filly named Cheyenne was found dead by her owners after reportedly being shot in the eye.
The Dyer County Sheriff's Office is hoping someone will come forward with information about the horse's death.
Deitra Clifton told deputies that between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., she and her husband found their horse, valued at more than $2,500, dead in rural Dyer County.
"Lots of sadness for my girls, and me and my husband both," said Deitra, who said the horse was like family to them.
Sheriff Box believes a poacher could have mistaken the horse for wildlife and fired the shot.
But Deitra believes the horse was shot by someone driving along Parker Road.
"I think they were riding around shining, which is an illegal act in itself," she said. "They were spot lighting or shining and they saw eyes and they shot. It was an intentional kill."
The Cliftons raise their horses and train them. Cheyenne was training to be a barrel racer.
Deitra says her girls ride horses at all hours of the day and night. She says that bullet could have hit her, her husband, or her children.
"Somebody somewhere knows who did this. I believe it was more than one individual. I know they now know they shot someone's horse," she said.
If you have information that could lead to an arrest in this case, call Dyer County Crime Stoppers at 731-285-TIPS.
(About Horses)
Two dogs described as "pit bull mixes" attacked a Florida girl’s miniature horse Monday after digging under a guard fence and attacking the defenseless animal.
"That was the worst I’ve seen in my life," James Baxland, a family friend who raised horses for 20 years and saw the horse's injuries. The horse was eventually put down.
Deborah Johnson, who lives in Rearview, a town outside Tampa Bay, bought the horse as a Christmas present last year for her granddaughter. The girl grew a bond with the horse.
"I don't know what to tell my baby," she said.
Animal services took one of the dogs into custody. The dog’s owner told the station that the dog did not attack the horse.
"This is my dog and I know that he did not do it," the owner said.
Pesco, the dog, is being held under quarantine at animal services for 10 days. If investigators do not find any other attacks in his history, he will more than likely be released.
Animal services is still investigating and looking for the second dog involved. (About Horses)
MAYOR DE BLASIO WILL WORK WITH CURRENT CARRIAGE DRIVERS TO SET THEM UP WITH NEW VEHICLES
Mayor de Blasio will, according to USA Today, work with current carriage drivers to set them up with new vehicles, but the move still has drawn fire from their ranks. The NY Daily News quotes driver Christina Hansen, who says the horses that lead carriages around the city's Central Park and other tourist spots are taken care of and treated humanely. Carriage driver Steven Malone also defended the practice, saying that New York's working horses lead "exceedingly great lives," and that some had up to six months of vacation time.
Desirable schedules or not, de Blasio seems set on his course: at the news conference, the new Mayor said he was going to "quickly and aggressively move to make horse carriages no longer a part of the landscape" in New York. "It's over," de Blasio said, "so, just watch us do it."
(About Horses)NYC mayor wants to ban horse-drawn carriages
Horse-drawn carriages might soon be a thing of the past for the Big Apple.
NYC Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has campaigned on his opposition to the carriages during his election and vowed to outlaw them completely in Central Park. (Via CNN)
De Blasio says the industry is inhumane and inappropriate for the new year and will move quickly to “make horse carriages no longer a part of the landscape in New York City.” (Via Fox News, NBC)
De Blasio proposes the drivers replace the horses with alternative vehicles, such as antique-style electric cars. (Via CNN)
Advocacy groups around the country have petitioned for this ban for years.
Celebrity spokesperson Lea Michele for PETA says the horses are forced to "do hard, physical labor … and breathe exhaust fumes."
A petition on NYCLASS had more than 4,000 signatures Tuesday. (Via NYCLASS)
And the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages was formed in 2006 in response to the death of a carriage horse that was spooked and crashed into a station wagon. In addition to ensuring public safety, the coalition says the ban would remove the unpleasant smell permeating the streets. (Via The Coalition for New York City Animals)
Those most opposed to the ban include the drivers and tourists who say the carriages are part of the iconic landscape of the city.
Tourists are rushing to get their last rides with the horses before they’re gone for good. Many of the drivers say their customers “can’t believe what the mayor is doing.” Others say the ban would hurt the tourist economy. (Via New York Daily News)
One driver tells CBS the horses are cared for like family and the industry is strictly regulated.
It is unclear what will happen to the more than 300 horses if the ban were to take effect. De Blasio will take office Wednesday, January 1.
Homemade Fly Traps
Cut a plastic 2-liter soda bottle 1/4 down from the top. Invert top portion into bottom portion. Punch 4 holes at top, tie string (twine) to hold both portions together and hang. Add hamburger or fly bait (I filled the trap with 1" of sugar water and added a piece of ham.). Most flies are too stupid to find their way out!
Homemade Fly Spray for Horses
1oz bottle citronella oil, 2oz.Skin So Soft (Avon), 1 cup vinegar, and 1 cup water. Mix all together in spray bottle and shake well, tends to separate so you must always shake.
Another Homemade Fly Spray for Horses
four 16-ounce bottles Avon "Skin So Soft" - 40 cc (about 5 tablespoons) pure eucalyptus oil -
enough white vinegar to make up one gallon. (About Horses)
Horse Cookies
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced apples
1 cup bran
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs.
Combine flour, bran and baking soda, and blend into creamed mixture.
Stir in oats, carrots and apples.
Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets and bake in a moderate oven (350 F - 190 C) for 10 - 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Makes about 4 dozen.
Horse Cookies II
2 carrots shredded
1 apple shredded
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup bran
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup regular oatmeal
2 tablespoons salt.
Mix all ingr. bake at 400 on greased cookiesheet for 30 min. cut in bitesize pieces while still warm.
Horse Cake
6 cups sweet feed4 cups bran
1 cup molasses
1 1/4 cups water
May have to add more water or molasses to make your batter moist enough to clump
Combine all ingredients. Firmly press mixture into two cake pans or in tube pan. Bake at 350 F for 30 to 40 minutes for regular-sized cake pan, or 1 hour for the tube pan. Serve at room temperature. (About Horses)
FUNNY - How to get your mare to foal
and the rest of my top 12 tried and proven problem cures
- To induce labor in a mare - Take a nap.
To cure equine constipation - Load them in a clean trailer.
To cure equine insomnia - Take them in a halter class.
To get a horse to stay very calm and laid back - Enter them in a liberty class.
To get a horse to wash their own feet - Clean the water trough and fill it with fresh water.
To get a mare to come in heat - Take her to a show.
To get a mare in foal the first cover - Let the wrong stallion get out of his stall.
To make sure that a mare has that beautiful, perfectly marked foal you always wanted - Sell her before she foals.
To get a show horse to set up perfect and really stretch - Get him out late at night or anytime no one is a round to see him.
To induce a cold snap in the weather - Clip a horse.
To make it rain - Mow a field of hay.
To make a small fortune in the horse business - Start with a large one.
Horse Barn Plans
Order inexpensive blueprints for small, pole-frame stables with hay lofts and optional add-on stalls, tack rooms, grooming shelters, run-ins, garages, tractor shelters and workshops. The designs are by architect Don Berg, editor of The Backroad Home. go to this site
http://www.backroadhome.net/build-horse-barn-plans.html
When a horse owned by an Amish family ran out onto a highway in rural Pennsylvania and collided with the van Amanda Mattern was riding in over the Labor Day weekend, the 37-year-old's injuries left her in a coma.
Unusual as that may sound for 21st-century America, that kind of accident is not uncommon in rural Lancaster County, about 80 miles west of Philadelphia in the heart of the Keystone State's Amish country, where horses and covered black buggies are a common sight and a challenge for traffic officials to manage.
"Eventually, if you live in Lancaster County, you are going to have a close encounter with a horse and buggy," said Jason McClune, Mattern's brother and the transportation director for the Solanco School District in Quarryville, Pennsylvania.
McClune is one of a handful of traffic officials in states with high concentrations of Amish seeking legislation to reduce the risk of horse, buggy and motor vehicle mishaps, such as a minimum age for buggy drivers. Since his sister's accident, he has been pushing state officials to consider new steps.
In the past 18 months, two of the district's buses have been involved in accidents with Amish vehicles - and McClune's wife was involved in another collision with a horse-drawn vehicle, he said.
The descendants of 18th-Century German immigrants who practice the Amish and Old Order Mennonite religions are concentrated in rural sections of Pennsylvania and Ohio, where they live in tight-knit communities and eschew much modern technologies, including automobiles and most electronic devices.
Transportation planners and engineers in Amish country have already adopted a range of techniques to help motorized and horse-drawn vehicles share roads more safely, including widening shoulders, adding some dedicated buggy paths, and in Pennsylvania issuing a driver's manual for buggy drivers that mirrors the one for motorists.
"It's the only manual of its kind that we know of," said Barbara Zortman, of the Center for Traffic Safety, a Pennsylvania-based organization that helped write the manual. "It's gone to Canada, Germany, across the entire country. This is also in the hands of high school driver education teachers."
Ohio and Pennsylvania report a rough average of 60 major crashes involving horses and buggies a year over the past decade.
An Ohio Department of Transportation review found that injuries occurred in roughly half of those accidents, with fatalities in about 1 percent of them, a rate that is slightly higher than accidents in which both vehicles are motorized.
That review also revealed that the typical accident involving a horse and buggy occurs when a motorist rear-ends the buggy after misjudging just how slow the horse-drawn vehicle is traveling.
Meetings with Amish leaders over traffic safety, have been productive, Zortman said.
"The Amish in Lancaster County are very cooperative," Zortman said. "They want to share the roads."
Accidents can also be expensive for everyone involved. A car can easily sustain thousands of dollars in damage after hitting a horse.
The buggies are pricey too. At an Amish auction in Gordonville, Pennsylvania in October, new buggies sold for as much as $10,000, and used ones went for half that.
According to Pennsylvania statistics going back a decade, auto accidents involving Amish buggies peaked in 2006, when there were 78, a number that dropped to 64 last year. Zortman said the type of accident involving McClune's sister had only happened once before since PennDOT has kept records.
In addition to minimum age requirements for buggy drivers, McClune has met with state legislators seeking mandatory reflective material for horses and license plates for the buggies.
But legislation dealing with the Amish can have unpredictable results.
In 2007 and 2008, several members of a conservative Amish sect known as the Swartzentrubers were arrested in Kentucky for failure to affix orange reflective triangles to their buggies. The Swartzentrubers, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, argued in court that the orange color violated tenets of their faith that required modesty and plain dress.
Kentucky has since repealed its law requiring orange triangles.
Courts in other states, including Pennsylvania, had upheld the Swartzentrubers' right to use a gray reflective tape instead.
McClune said his sister faces at least a year before she makes a full recovery from the Labor Day accident.
"My sister was hurt very badly," he said. "Cars are faster. Society is faster; the horse and buggies are slower. Something should be done to curtail this situation." (About Horses)
Saving America's wild horses
There are approximately 45,000 wild horses being kept in government holding pens as a result of the wild horse round-ups. Now, we are learning almost 700 of these horses are in open pens in Wyoming and Utah where temperatures dip below 20 degrees. (About Horses)
Scientists poking around Ethiopia's fossil-rich badlands say they have discovered the first pieces of an extinct species of horse that was about the size of a small zebra and lived about 4.4 million years ago.
The specimens were found in what is now an arid desert. But at the time this grass-eating horse roamed the planet, the region would have been covered in grasslands and shrubby woods — rich grounds for grazing.
Fossilized traces of the horse, which was named Eurygnathohippus woldegabrieli, were uncovered in the archaeologically rich sites of Aramis and Gona in Ethiopia's Middle Awash valley. The region is famed for bearing the world's longest and most continuous record of human evolution. The extinct horse in this study would have actually been alive at the same time the 4.4-million-year-old human ancestorArdipithecus ramidus, or "Ardi," walked the region. [Beasts of Burden: Amazing Horse Photos]
"Among the many fossils we found are the two ends of the foreleg bone — the canon — brilliant white and well preserved in the red-tinted earth," study researcher Scott Simpson, of Case Western Reserve's School of Medicine, said of the horse discovery.
The leg bone bits indicate this horse had longer legs than its ancestors. The shape and size of the leg suggest the beast was a fast runner, a skill that may have helped it flee predators like lions, sabre-tooth cats, Simpson and colleagues say.
The horse's teeth show signs of another departure from more ancient species: With crowns worn flatter than the teeth found on its ancestors, it seems this creature became adapted to a life of grazing. An analysis of the enamel on the fossilized teeth provided further evidence that it subsisted on grass like today's zebras, wildebeests and white rhinoceroses, the scientists say.
"Grasses are like sandpaper," Simpson explained in a statement. "They wear the teeth down and leave a characteristic signature of pits and scratches on the teeth so we can reliably reconstruct their ancient diets."
The animal belonged to a group of ancient horses called Hipparionines, which had three-toed hooves and arose in North America about 16 million years ago before spreading into Eurasia, presumably over a land bridge that once existed between Alaska and Siberia. The researchers say this discovery helps fill in a blank spot in the evolution of horses, before the animals became even better suited for a life in the grasslands, growing taller and developing longer snouts, for example.
"This horse is one piece of a very complex puzzle that has many, many pieces," Simpson said in a statement.
The research was detailed online in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. (About Horses)
BREEDERS' CUP, HAYGARD EQUINE MEDICAL INSTITUTE ANNOUNCE RESULTS OF 2013 ENDOSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF JUVENILE HORSES AT BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
LEXINGTON, Ky. (December 16, 2013) - Breeders’ Cup Ltd. and Hagyard Equine Medical Institute announced today the results of the endoscopic examinations of juvenile (two-year-old) horses conducted over two days at the 2013 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park on November 1 and 2. In conjunction with extending its 2012 medication policy prohibiting race-day administration of furosemide in juvenile races to 2013, the Breeders' Cup committed to the California Horse Racing Board and the Thoroughbred Owners of California that it would fund post-race endoscopic examination of the starters in these races and publish the findings.
Led by Dr. Nathan Slovis, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, CHT, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute conducted the endoscopic examinations and scoring on 55 of 78 starters in all Breeders’ Cup and non-Breeders’ Cup races restricted to two-year-old horses over the two days. Starters in the four Breeders’ Cup Championship races and in the Juvenile Turf Sprint Stakes were not administered furosemide, commonly known as Lasix or Salix, on race day while starters in the non-Breeders’ Cup races for two-year-olds were permitted to be treated with the medication on race day in accordance with California regulations pertaining to timing and dosage of administration. Participation in the observational study was voluntary and participating owners and trainers were provided assurance that the identity of those participating or not participating as well as results for individual horses would remain confidential. Statistical analysis of the raw data in the study was performed by Dr. Noah Cohen, VMD, MPH, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM of Texas A&M University.
While careful to acknowledge limitations on the study due to sample size and other factors, the study concluded that there was no evidence that exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) was more severe in 2-year-old horses not treated with furosemide. In the study, horses that were treated with furosemide were observed to have higher frequency and severity of EIPH on a statistically significant basis.
Specifically, the percentage of horses that were observed to have some level of EIPH was significantly greater among furosemide treated horses (71%, 10 of 14) compared to non-treated horses (37% 15 of 41). Similarly, the treated horses showed significantly higher likelihood to have a severity scoring greater than two on a scale of zero to four (four being most severe) with 36% (5 of 14) scoring higher than two while the untreated group had only 7% (3 of 41) that were scored at an EIPH level greater than two.
“Obviously, the subject of EIPH is one that has been a focal point of the Thoroughbred industry both in the US and abroad for many years and we were pleased to work with the Breeders' Cup in developing the protocols for this study and performing the data collection,” said Dr. Slovis. “Although there were limitations on the scope of the study in terms of sample size and others noted in the report, we believe the data can be quite useful in identifying further studies that can advance our understanding of the causes and impact of EIPH on the racing Thoroughbred. We look forward to working with the Breeders' Cup and others to advance our level of knowledge on the subject of EIPH and the use of furosemide as a preventive medication.”
“I want to thank Dr. Slovis and the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute for their efforts as well as the horsemen who agreed to participate in the study,” said Breeders’ Cup President and CEO Craig Fravel. “Beyond the stated conclusions which, given prevailing sentiment are both striking and surprising, this observational study reinforces our commitment to investing in research focused on EIPH. We urge the racing industry to reflect thoughtfully on the results and to support further scientific inquiry into this and other critical areas. We look forward to follow-up on this study to identify further research approaches the work might suggest and expect to meet with colleagues at the CHRB, TOC and elsewhere to advance the science in this critical area.”
The complete results of the study can be found in the link below:
Scott Daley, 25, of Cornwell Close, Soham, also received a two year conditional discharge and costs of £1000 were awarded against him after being charged with failing to provide a suitable diet, parasite control and veterinary care for a three-year-old filly called Sapphire.
Following a call from a concerned member of the public, World Horse Welfare attended Barcham Stables in Soham, Cambs where field officer, Jacko found the youngster.
He says:
"I found the little mare hidden away at the back of the property, although indoors she had a very badly fitting rug which was covering up the state of her body, as soon as I took it off it was obvious she needed to see a vet, and we needed to get her out of there."
At the time the pony was signed over immediately to World Horse Welfare so that Sapphire could undergo rehabilitation with World Horse Welfare, the largest horse rescue and rehoming charity in Britain.
Hall Farm Assistant Manager Justina Smith for the charity's Norfolk Rescue and Rehoming Centre, Hall Farm, where Sapphire was rescued to says:
"The poor mare was severely emaciated which made her rehabilitation a really long process. She had constant diarrhoea so we had to build her up slowly with a fibre high diet, anything more than that and she would fall ill again.
She was very weak with no muscle at all so it took months for her to put weight back on, we also had to clip her coat as she was so badly infested with lice. It was a real slow and gentle progression with Sapphire.
Sapphire has always been so friendly despite her past and is an especially sweet mare – she is looking really good now and will make a great companion for someone.”
Daley was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to Sapphire at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on December 10 of this year.
Jacko ends with:
" I am very impressed with the Cambridge Magistrates, they showed they had a real grasp of the evidence, and as a result the conviction reflected the seriousness of the offence."
Sapphire has since made a full recovery in the care of World Horse Welfare, where she is waiting to find a new home.
However, because of the long-term malnutrition, she now has growth problems with her front legs, which means she will never be strong enough to be ridden so Sapphire will be rehomed as a companion.
HORSES USED IN LABS END UP ON FRENCH DINNER TABLES
PARIS (AP) — Meat from horses used in laboratory procedures was illegally sold as fit for human consumption and landed on French dinner tables, authorities said Monday.
Police, food safety and veterinary investigators carried out pre-dawn raids in 11 regions around southern France, arresting 21 people. The complex case raised new concerns about how this country, with its rich culinary reputation, polices its food supply.
Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin said the animals had been used in laboratories — including that of drugmaker Sanofi-Pasteur — and then, instead of being destroyed, ended up in the food chain. He said Sanofi-Pasteur correctly labeled its meat, and "considers itself a victim" in the case.
The prosecutor said he has no proof so far that the horsemeat was toxic, just that it wasn't supposed to be sold as meat at all.
He described a network of veterinarians, computer experts and others who allegedly worked together to falsify documents. He said investigators have identified at least 100 horses that had been certified as "unfit for consumption" after the lab work, but whose papers were doctored to read "fit for consumption" instead.
The horses were exported to Spain among other countries, the prosecutor said, without naming the others.
Sanofi told Le Parisien newspaper on Monday that the horses were used to create antibodies against rabies and tetanus among others. The company, which said it cooperated in the investigation, said it has resold about 200 horses in the past three years to vet schools, individuals and professionals.
The company said the lab uses horses for about three years before re-selling them, tagged and certified. It said it does not carry out testing on the animals, only makes lifesaving medicines.
Benoit Hamon, France's consumer affairs minister, told RTL radio, "These were horses that should have ended up at the slaughterhouse, and instead they ended up at the butcher."
He drew a sharp distinction between Monday's raids and a scandal earlier this year in which inexpensive — but edible — horse meat was passed off as beef and sold in supermarkets and restaurants around Europe.
"There are horses that should end up neither on your plate nor at the butcher, and that's the work of this investigation," he said.
(About Horses)Horse in Onesie