Breaking News! Slaughterhouse Politics in the Americas

Today, the New York Times ran an article about the currently banned slaughterhouse industry in the United States. Here are photos from a Shipshewana, Indiana "loose" horse auction held weekly. The Department of Agriculture reports that somewhere between 105,000-138,000 horses per year are slaughtered in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Unfortunately, there have been worsening consequences for horses since we placed a U.S. ban on horse slaughter last year.

As Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, reported in the NYT, "My worst nightmare has happened. This is an example of well-intentioned [choices] but very bad unintended consequences." Because of our ban, 10s of thousands of horses now have to take very, very long cattle car trips to Mexico and Canada to face slaughter. They travel without food and water, and in Mexico are allowed to be killed in inhumane ways, for example, by being stabbed to be paralyzed before the murdering injury. Because of rising fuel prices and rising cost of grain and horse feed, many horses face a very cruel calculus -- do people waste the money to feed and to ship or do they just neglect them or kill them outright with no use. Here are photos of some of the affected horses from just this past week. Many were not sold, some were killed right at this auction house. But many, many were sold cheaply to be shipped to Canada for slaughter, including foals, yearlings, and elder horses who probably cared for human children and families before falling, falling, falling through their last safety nets.

Touch Your Horse with Your Heart! -- Dec. 28 -- Saavy with Two Mares!

My girls had a few days off while I was spending Christmas with my family. I returned on the 26th and dedicated myself to enjoying both girls. So, for the past two days, I've made sure that each girl has been groomed, petted, spoken to gently, lunged, Parellied, and, of course, praised!

Today, Friday, in the late afternoon, when Hailee acted all twitchy a I touched her flank to feel the foal move around, I realized that I need to use Parelli to get her used to people and foals handling her flanks, sides, and udders. Before baby is born, I'm even supposed to wash her with a gentle detergent. So, tomorrow, I am going to begin in earnest getting Hailee to learn and enjoy the friendly game!

On Violet's side, she has been spectacular at Parelli. We hadn't really practiced it in weeks, but yesterday I began and she had taken leaps forward mentally. She was ready to play and pay attention and do better than she ever had at all the challenges and games. I am going to have to progress on that front.

I'm very lucky to have two such healthy attractive mares -- my stocky Paint horse who is as sweet as the day is long and my tall lean goofy Thoroughbred girl who is just the dearest thing. She tries to hard to make friends with Hailee and is glad to be part of a little herd of three!

Macho Girls!

Look at the sexy girls! We just love each other and enjoy our time together. My sweet, beloved Violet! Thanks, Jane, for such a great photo!

Bold Forbes -- 1976 Kentucky Derby winner!

Here is a photo of the fabulous Bold Forbes at the Kentucky Horse Park relaxing. He won the 1976 Kentucky Derby. He was born in the United States, but owned by a Puerto Rican gentleman, Enrique Rodriguez Tizol. He was ridden brilliantly by Angel Cordero, Jr. to a victory over Honest Pleasure with Braulio Braeza. He won the Belmont Stakes, but came in third in the Preakness.

He was the Champion 2 year-old in Puerto Rico and then Champion 3 year-old in the United States. He was inducted into the Puerto Rican Racing Hall of Fame in 1985, and Cordero nicknamed him "the Puerto Rican Rolls Royce!" His final record was 18: 13, 1, 4 and he produced some very famous babies. He was euthanized on August 9, 2000 because of renal failure and gastroenteritis at the Kentucky Horse Park and is now buried at the Hall of Champions. Wonderful blessed creature.

My girls are related to him through the immediate links of Nasrullah, Discovery, Menow, Bull Lea, Ultimus, Blenheim and Man o' War!

You can read more about him at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bold_Forbes

or

http://thoroughbredchampions.com/biographies/bforbes.htm

or

http://www.completerider.com/scboldforbes.htm

or

http://www.kyhorsepark.com/kids/sub.php?pageid=95&sectionid=1

Pray for the Dead and the Dead will Pray for You

I'm in a mood this morning. It's a funky warm, unpleasant global warming sort of day -- warm enough for t-shirts on January 8th, dead of winter. We still have young women and men in Iraq, a war that's now gone on longer than World War II. And the world is becoming more agitated, with great growing numbers of angry young men in the Middle East, more disruption of our natural resources, precipitous daily declines in biodiversity. It just puts a girl in a mood. So, here's a little news item from when I was a young thing, a sweet little 4 year-old girl, getting ready to go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Indeed, here is a photo of Bascom Hall in 1968 when students overnight put up a protest against the Vietnam War. Good rocking kids.

A Dignified Protest, published Friday, March 29, 1968 in Time Magazine.
Neatly arrayed in graveyard rows, the 435 thin white crosses ranged down the sloping mall in front of Bascom Hall, the University of Wisconsin's main administration building. All through the rainy afternoon a cortege of mock mourners shuffled past. As they marched slowly up the hill, past a sign reading BASCOM MEMORIAL CEMETERY, CLASS OF 1968, the solemn students chanted: "Pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you; pray for the dead."
The low-key protest was planned by a senior history major from Washington, D.C., who hoped that the instant cemetery would symbolize the fact that today's "students really are faced with death." Some 60 students worked for two days to assemble the crosses, then planted them hurriedly, fearful that they might be accused of damaging the lawn. But university authorities, impressed by one of the most dignified—and wholly nonviolent—anti-Viet Nam demonstrations of the academic year, left the crosses untouched all day long. They were removed the next morning by campus maintenance men.

Tiny Hoofprints! Baby shakes, rattles, and rolls!

Today, I am writing this entry on my birthday, Friday, December 28th. I went out to the stable this afternoon on a grey wintery day. I spent some alone time with my girls and then Steph came and we talked about sororities, life, horses, etc. We were in Hailee's stall, conferring about whether Hailee was fat or just pregnant when Steph noticed Hailee's flank move. We put our hands on her belly and definitely felt Jr. moving around. Baby is moving and shifting around like a healthy little one! I had just given H some apples, so maybe Jr. was showing his pleasure!

I've got this book I bought from TSC called The Foaling Primer and it's giving me ideas for collecting the medical supplies, sterilizing the stalls, getting straw bedding, pampering the mama, and preparing for proper feeding in the last trimester. I am so happy that this spring will bring a baby foal to my family! Good little Hailee!

Grrl Power Calisthenics!

Here are some photos Jane Marie took in October when she visited! She captured my playful, joyful, goofy, sweet, adorable Violet at one of her favorite games -- copying mama in stiff-legged straight-up jumping jacks. She is the goofiest, smartest girl ever!

Useeit and My Girls!

So, check this out! One of Hailee's relatives has a book written about her, called Black Gold by the famous Marguerite Henry! Useeit by Bonnie Joe and Effie M was a 1907 thoroughbred mare who is now rumored to have been a Quarter horse and who was dragged all over the West, Mexico and Louisiana to race for Al and Rosa Hoots. She produced the 1924 Kentucky Derby winner, Black Gold, via Black Toney, but he was sterile, poor thing, which ultimately led to his untimely death on the Fairgrounds track in New Orleans.

But, his full brother, Beggar Boy, is Hailee's relative on her mom's side, Docs Blue Rock Dawn. Beggar Boy is the sire of 4 AQHA Race ROMS and 20 AQUA daughters producing ROMS.

Violet is not related to Useeit, but has her boyfriend, Black Toney in several lines in her Dame Francesca line on her dad's side, Groomstick!

I am definitely treating myself to the read of Black Gold again. I remember that fabulous book as a child, and now I am a lucky woman who has a family member from that great American family tree in my pedigree!

My Wild Pony Girls!

I've been sick, so I didn't get out to the stable on Saturday to take a "Little Mama" photo. So, instead, here is a little video of my wild girls taken shortly after Christmas.

Meet Rory Winter Butterscotch!

Here is the kitten I found yesterday. She was yowling desperately early yesterday morning in the dark. It was frigidly cold and she was without a home. I called Animal Control and the Humane Society, but they didn't catch her. So, last night, I went and set a trap for her and she ate the food and became my responsibility.

She came home last night and I put her in my bathroom. She is so sweet and intelligent. She eats and drinks so nicely. And uses the litter box politely. And is obliging, demure, but cordially curious. I am temporarily calling her Rory Winter Butterscotch. I know that I can't keep her, I guess. I can't have four cats, 1 dog, and 3 horses. But she is definitely a kitten I would be proud to have as a family member.

I am going to take her to the Humane Society at noon and see if they can help me with her shots and neutering. And then I'll likely take her to South Suburban to see if she's healthy and can be introduced to my herd.

Black Gold -- 1924 Kentucky Derby Winner!

Okay, so here is a pretty dramatic story about some of Hailee's more colorful relatives. Al Hoots was this crazy old guy who had a very heartful mare, Useeit. He dragged her all over the West and Louisiana to race and she returned his confidence by winning 34 of her starts for him. In 1916, he took her to Juarez, Mexico and ran in her in a claiming race, thinking that he'd gotten everyone to agree not to claim her. A gentleman named Ramsey tried to claim her, and Hoots held him off by riflepoint and ran off with his little mare

Then the next year, 1917, on his deathbed, he told his Osage Nation wife, Rosa, to breed his mare to Black Toney a famous horse owned by Colonel Bradley of Idle Hour Stock Farm. What a joke! A poor family being able to have the money to breed to that Kentucky wealth! But Hoots said that he'd had a vision, "I see this foal, possessed of an undaunted spirit of a mother descended from horses which admitted defeat only in death."

So, guess what? An oil boon! The Osage Nation in Oklahoma struck it rich and Rosa Hoots, now a widow, was able to send Useeit to Black Toney, and their baby, Black Gold, a beautiful black foal, was born in 1921. He won like crazy. He raced 35: 18-5-4. And when he was 3, he won the Kentucky Derby, Lousiana Derby, Chicago Derby, and Ohio Derby. He didn't race in the Preakness or Belmont because we hadn't developed that as the cultural standard, the Triple Crown yet!

Now the sad part -- He was retired to stud at 4, but was found to be sterile. So, they sent him back to the track. He raced in pain with a hoof injury, and then at the New Orleans Fair Grounds, he gave his full heart to win, though he was past his prime. He broke his leg, but still tried to win and finished the race with his champion heart and on three legs. He was put to sleep there in New Orleans and is buried in the Fair Grounds infield. He died in 1928. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, and now the grandchildren of Rosa Hoots are trying to start a business to remember this great horse.

His only child was struck and killed by lightning, but my beautiful Hailee carries Black Gold's blood through his closest relation, his full brother, Beggar Boy, born in 1924, 3 short years after Black Gold. He had a nice long life, passing away in 1945 at the age of 21!

You can read more about this famous family of horses at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Gold_(horse)
or
http://www.blackgold1924.com/
or
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/blackgold.html
or
http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=31

Giacomo -- 2005 Kentucky Derby winner!

Giacomo won the 2005 Kentucky Derby as a 50-1 longshot, breaking from behind a wall of horses in the stretch to make a barnburning firelit 70-yard dash into history! His final record before he retired to Adena Springs Stud was 16: 3-2-5.

But his real longshot was surviving at all. He was born in 2002, a year when Kentucky suffered a huge epidemic of mare reproductive loss disorder. At his farm, 25% of the foals were aborted or were stillborn. All told, Kentucky lost 2,500 horse fetuses. But Alice Chandler, his mom, knew he was a tough guy!

Now, I got this from Two Minutes to Glory: The Official History of the Kentucky Derby. Donnie Snellings, the stallion and yearling manager at Giacomo's farm knew he was a tough one. He said, "He was a tiny little thing. But every time I tried to go get him, he'd take off all the way to the other fence. He was loose for three days. I saw a lot of the backside of Giacomo. I knew early he could run long."

His sire and dam are Holy Bull and Set Them Free. And he even has Ta Wee "Beautiful Girl" in his background. My girls are related to him through Better Self, Turn-To, Nasrullah, Questionnaire, Bull Dog, Pharos, Whisk Broom, Teddy, and Intentionally.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PDeItSF72Gs

New Orleans Street Trash

So, on November 29th, we had a lovely sunny day and I was jetting around the house, cleaning, relaxing, thinking about my horses which I had just seen. I came downstairs and found Zelia and Jackie curled up together in the sunlight by the front door.

My darling New Orleans' Street Trash. What a lucky lady I am to have two pets straight from the streets and pounds of that great city!

Laurel Wreath Farm!

Here are my girls on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, December 8th, all cozy and happy in their new-built stalls. They've just received attention, love, care, conversation from me, and a bit of farrier work. They are ready for naps and waiting for their afternoon snacks! This is the beginning of Laurel Wreath Farm!