In memory of Scott Blackwood, and many other horsemen.
Just a Horse!
From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a horse,” or, ” that’s a lot of money for just a horse”.
They don’t understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for “just a horse.” Some of my proudest [...]
A new Guinness record holder made an appearance in Boston recently. At 19.3hh, he is the world’s tallest equine celebrity. A Belgian draft horse, “Radar” stands over 6 feet 7 inches at his withers (shoulders).
A four-year-old in the crowd captured the sentiment:
“He’s really big,” Brianna said, “and pretty.”
Right… and as he consumes nearly [...]
In a classic cross-over of our love of horses and politics, we learn that a horse at the San Franciso zoo has been named “Coulter”. This has prompted the question of whether the horse was named for controversial political pundit Ann Coulter. Given the proclivities and leanings of the San Francisco population, [...]
An 11 year old horse has died as a result of competition in an endurance event. The horse was euthanized after becoming ill at the start of the race. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon event and should cause us to re-consider the value of endurance races.
I am not fond of such events [...]
A new case of West Nile Virus was confirmed today in Kentucky. Of the 5 cases, 4 of the animals either died or were put down.
Please consider vaccination, and also practice mosquito control.
Everyone who’s ever worked with horses knows that they can “think” in some ways, and even seem intuitive. Research in this area suggests that this is true, but only at a simple level of thinking.
Still, everything that has been done scientifically in the horse so far addresses tasks, learning, and conceptualization at a fairly [...]
An eloquent article by Brenda Sexton of the Enumclaw (Washington) Courier Herald, articulates many of the themes that recur with frequent interactions with horses. She profiles Peggy Gilmer, a successful executive coach in her own right, who came to even greater success when joined by her horses in coaching sessions. Peggy has taught [...]
A fast growing field of horse specialization is equine dentistry. As unlikely as it sounds, many horse related illnesses can be traced to bad teeth. And bad teeth lead to bad nutrition which leads to bad feelings in the horse.
While Carl Stuckey’s left hand wrestled with a flopping pink tongue the size and [...]
The Philadelphia Inquirer published a really well written article and book review today, about a little known part of the horse industry and horse history — Black Horsemen.
For a 10-year-old boy, spending a weekend in the company of men - expert horse trainers - working side-by-side, listening to their conversations, and sharing their equine [...]
Now here’s some good news, finally, that we all (most of us anyway) have been looking for.
How’s this for a breath of fresh air? Barbaro is enjoying daily outings outside his intensive care stall to pick his own grass, enjoy the warm weather and stretch his recovering legs.
Barbaro stepped outside his ICU stall and started [...]
