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A FUTURE HORSEWOMAN November 30, 2009 Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and had the opportunity to enjoy the company of lots of family. That's my 4-year-old niece, Edie, from Wisconsin, who was visiting with her mother the weekend before Thanksgiving. She's riding our gelding, Turk, and she was fearless. She did complain Turk was a little bumpy, however. She looks a little happier than Turk, at this point, but he was quiet and careful as we took a little walk. It's been a great November for riding, and it looks like the wonderful weather may continue into the first part of December.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! November 26, 2009 Here's another great horse picture from my friend, Barb Young,
in Montrose. Hope you all have a great turkey day and Thanksgiving weekend. Posting may be light here at WestSlopeHorse.com
as I try to spend time with my family and get a little time in the saddle.
COLORADO HORSE COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING November 25, 2009 The annual meeting, originally scheduled for earlier this month, has been rescheduled for Sunday, Dec. 13, at 1 p.m. in the National Western Stock Show Volunteer Room in Denver. The earlier meeting was postponed due to the weather. To read more, click on the link below.
A NEW HOME FOR GYPSY November 24, 2009 Barb Young has a new horse, Gypsy, a mustang that was rescued along with a number of other horses from a Jefferson County ranch earlier this year. Barb is a Montrose horsewoman and an equine photographer who has graciously allowed me to post some of her wonderful photos on this Web site. That's her photo of Gypsy above. Her contact information is listed on the lower right of this page under Horse Stuff. When Barb learned that no one was interested in adopting Gypsy, she arranged to take her home. You can learn more of the story and see additional pictures from Front Range photographer Pam Nickoles by clicking on the link below. Web article on Gypsy's adoption
WILD HORSE HUNTING November 23, 2009 Sunday was a great day to look for wild horses in the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Area north of Cameo. The weather was wonderful and there were several bands within a mile or so from the trailhead in Main Canyon. I rode a while with Georgia, Stepanie and Josie, members of the Friends of the Mustangs, and enjoyed their company and knowledge of the horses. Two of the horses they're riding in the picture below — the blue roan and the palomino — were adopted from the Little Book Cliffs herd. The only bad thing was that the spotted foal in the band pictured above had apparently injured his left hind leg. It was badly swollen near the fetlock, and he moved very slowly. We can only hope it's just a sprain that will heal quickly and he's able to keep up with his herd.
BATTLE IN THE SADDLE November 19, 2009 This sounds like a great competition — a multi-disciplinary Western-events contest to test the skill of riders and horses in a variety of events. It is sponsored by the Oklahoma State Fair and the American Quarter Horse Association, but entries aren't limited exclusively to Quarter Horses. The Battle for the Saddle will run July 6-10 in Oklahoma City, and events will include reining, working cow horse, roping, cutting and ranch horse competition. To read more, click on the link below. HorseChannel.com story on Battle for the Saddle HORSES: A COSTLY ADDICTION November 18, 2009 We also struggle to come up with the money we need for all the horse stuff we want — whether that's a new horse, a new trailer, new tack or simply lining out the coming year's show schedule. But most horse people find a way to meet those desires through honest means, or they do without. This woman in the Sacramento area got the money the old-fashion way — she stole it. She embezzeled more than $ 1 million from her employer, a large law firm. I was struck by this quote from her at her sentencing: "As I took more money to supply my horse addiction, it never seemed to be enough. In my mind there was always that horse that would repay what I took, and then I was in so deep, I couldn't figure out how to stop the madness." To read more, click on the link below. Sacramento Bee story on horse-obsessed embezzler
SEEING EYE MINIS November 17, 2009 Using miniature horses as service companions for people with physical impairments is an intriguing idea. As this article mentions, one of the advantages is that their life expectancy is so much longer than dogs. There are, of course, disadvantages. Those diapers would be a pain. But anyone who has spent much time around minis knows how intelligent they are. Read more in this article from Horseman Magazine. Article on miniature-horse service animals
BLM STICKS TO WILD HORSE PLANS November 16, 2009 The Bureau of Land Management has rejected a moratorium on all wild horse roundups on federal lands, setting up a likely lawsuit from wildhorse advocacy groups that don't believe the agency should remove any wild horses from the range. The BLM says horses need to be removed to get horse numbers down to a sustainable level, about what they were in 1971, when the Wild Horse and Burro Act was passed by Congress. To read more, click on the link below.
Salt Lake Tribune story on wild horses
HORRIFIC HORSE TREATMENT November 15, 2009 If you haven't read the article about the horse shot then abandoned near Rulison, I've linked to it below. But it's not very pleasant reading. Whoever did this is both uncaring and not particularly knowledgable about what it takes to kill a horse. As one reader of this Web site wrote: "Maybe it's time someone organized a euthanasia clinic - how to do it properly." Like many
others, we hope the horse recovers and the person who did this is found.
GJSentinel.com news story on horse that was shot
'SONG FOR THE HORSE NATION' November 13, 2009 A new exhibit opening this weekend at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York (I thought the Smithsonian was only in Washington, D.C.) explores the relationship between Indians and their horses. I'd definitely like to see it, and perhaps it will make it to Denver or Salt Lake City one day, but based on The New York Times article linked below, I already have some problems with it. The writer says "scholars now believe that horses began to proliferate among Indians in the West after Spaniards in Sante Fe fled a Pueblo uprising in 1680." and that the Indian horse culture "thrived for only about 100 years." But, through some research I have been doing, I've read multiple accounts that suggest the Utes acquired horses much earlier than that, at least by 1630 and perhaps before 1600. And, by the late 19th century, the Utes had been a horse culture for a good deal longer than 200 years.
New York Times article on Indian horse exhibit
THE BIGGEST BREED SHOW November 11, 2009 The world's largest single-breed show, the American Quarter Horse Association World Championship, is underway in Oklahoma City. The show actually got started last Friday, and it runs through Nov. 21. The AQHA received 3,464 entries for the 2009 World Show. Entries were received from 46 states, six Canadian provinces, Brazil, France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. More than 2,100 horses are expected to compete. To read more, click on the link below. HorseChannel.com story on AQHA Championship Show
TWO IMPORTANT ALERTS: November 9, 2009 Two pieces of important information were passed along to me Sunday regarding equine
alerts. The first involves foals coming into the Roaring Fork Valley, supposedly as part of a rescue operation, from PMU operations
(farms that collect pregnant mare urine for the development of Premarin). The note from the Dr. Tom Bohanon of the Glenwood
Springs Veterinary Clinic suggests the horses may not really be rescue animals that were otherwise bound for slaughter, but
simply horses someone is trying to sell. Click on the PMU Alert link to read Dr. Bohanon's note.
TEXAS IMPORT RESTRICTIONS The second alert comes from the Colorado Horse Council. It involves restrictions recently announced by the Colorado Department of Agriculture for horses brought into Colorado from Texas. The restrictions stem from an outbreak of equine piroplasmosis — a tick-borne blood disease — in South Texas. To read more about this, click on the Texas Alert link
below.
ZENYATTA'S HOLLYWOOD FINISH November 7, 2009 If you didn't get to see the Breeder's Cup Classic today — the biggest race in the Breeder's Cup Championship Series — you missed a truly great race. Zenyatta, the unbeaten five-old filly trying to become the first filly to win the classic, came poorly out of the gate. Another horse could not be loaded into the gate, he was eventually scratched, and all the horses were taken out briefly. That upset the 17-hand filly who was the tallest horse in the race, according to Jockey Mike Smith. So she started poorly and was 15 lengths off the leaders as they rounded the far turn. Not a good place to be against some of the top stallions and gelding from the United States, Europe and Dubai. Zenyatta picked up a little ground along the backstretch, but was stil 10 lengths behind when they entered the turn for home. Smith pointed her toward a gap in the middle, and she moved up. Then, as they entered the homestrech, he moved her to the outside and she just exploded past the rest of the field, winning by almost a length. She's been doing that against other fillies in her 13 previous races, but no one was sure she could do it against the top Thoroughbred males. There's no doubt now. Despite all of horse racing's problems, it's a race like this that makes it all wonderful, and makes you marvel at
what a few special horses can do. The video linked below was
posted at ESPN.com shortly after the race. If your computer will handle the video, enjoy one of the truly classic horse races.
Zenyatta is Number 4.
ESPN video of Zenyatta's victory
WHY WE LOVE HORSES November 6, 2009 Horses' DNA has more in common with that of humans than the DNA of dogs, according to the Horse Genome Project, an ongoing study for which results were released this week. That's more than just
an interesting bit of trivia to spout at your next barn gathering or cocktail party. It also may help researchers studying
human diseases, since the horse genome project found that horses suffer from more than 90 hereditary diseases that are similar
to human disorders. To read more,
click on the link below. Daily Mail article on horse genome project __________________________________________________________________
CALENDAR CALL Nov. 4, 2009 George Decker, a long-time Mesa County horseman,
history buff, photographer and member of the Mesa County Sheriff's Posse, is offering his 2010 calendars for sale now. The
photo here of wild horses is the May photo. The calendars
are $18.50 apiece, and the ad below gives information on how to purchase them.
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AQHA HONORS TOP RODEO HORSES November 3, 2009 The most competitive horses in timed rodeo events —such as the steer roping horses pictured here, barrel racers, tie-down ropers and steer wrestlers — have been chosen by the American Quarter Horse Association and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. It's good to see that these fine athletes are getting the recognition they deserve, not just their human partners. To
find out who the top horses are, click on the link below. |
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