They Ate Horses, Didn't They?

A discovery in Boulder recently shows ancient tools -- about 13,000 years old -- from what's known as the Clovis Age of Native Americans.

According to horsetalk.co.nz, at least one of the tools found had residue of horse protein on it. That was long before humans had domesticated horses on any continent, and just as short time before horses became extinct in North America. The implication, is that the people who made the tools hunted and ate some of those early horses, said Doughlas Bambforth, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

 

BUSY DAY AT THE BOOKCLIFFS

Saturday, March 21, was a gorgeous day for riding. It was also a work day for the Friends of the Mustangs, which assists the BLM to manage and improve conditions for the Little Bookcliffs wild horse herd.

The result was that the parking lot behind the Cameo Power Plant, at the entrance to the wild horse area, was packed Saturday morning, as shown in the photo above.

While a number of trucks and trailers were hauling volunteers who brought their horses to work with the Friends of the Mustangs, many were simply out for a recreational ride, as my friend Alan and I were.

In addition to the horse folks, there were quite a few hikers, many with children and dogs. But all intermingled with few problems. There were several bands of horses on display in Main Canyon for the visitors, and the weather was tremendous.

One problem, though is that it is already tremendously dry for so early in the spring. Hope the storm this week brings more moisture.

HORSES ARE POLICE OFFICERS, TOO

According to the Orlando Sentinel, an Orlando, Florida, man is charged with two counts of battering a police officer -- in this case two police horses that were being used in crowd control outside an Orlando bar.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

"Christopher Brown, 25, was arrested after Orlando police tried to disperse a crowd outside Tabu nightclub about 2:25a.m. According to an arrest affidavit, Brown and several of his friends argued with police, and when one of Brown's friends fell to the ground, Brown shoved a police horse and elbowed it in the nose.

Brown was then arrested. After his arrest, another officer said Brown had shoved his horse, as well, according to the affidavit.

Police charged Brown with two counts of battering a law-enforcement officer — one count per horse — and one count of disorderly conduct."

 

A TIPSY HORSE:

This is an amazing story from Vail Pass. 

In Monday's snowy conditions, a horse trailer pulled by a pickup truck began fishtailing when one of its tires blew. It popped off the trailer hitch and flipped onto its end -- hitch in the air with the back end of the trailer and its doors on the road, and the horse pinned in the middle, apparently resting on its butt.

According to the Vail Daily.

"The trailer had become separated from a 2000 Ford truck traveling from Rifle to southern Mexico after a blown tire caused the vehicle to start fish tailing.

The trailer was tipped over on its rear with the hitch in the air and the horse inside when rescuers arrived on the scene. With the help of Eagle veterinarian Sylvia Stocker, rescue teams removed the horse from the trailer by cutting a flap out on the roof.

The horse was able to walk out on its own and was transferred to another trailer before resuming its trip to southern Mexico. The horse was uninjured except for a few minor scrapes and bumps."

You can't see the horse in the photo that accompanied the news story, but you get a sense of the dilemma firefighters had when they arrived at the scene.

To take a look for yourself, click on the link below.

 

ABANDONED EQUINES

According to a story on cnn.com this morning, more and more people are giving up their horses due to their difficult economic circumstances.

The story focused on Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue, a shelter in Lancaster, California.

"We've had horses come onto the property in a horse trailer, unannounced, and just offloaded and [owners] ask us, beg us, if we could take these skinny horses," said the group's president, Jill Starr.

And horses that the were adopted from the rescue group by families and individuals are now being brought back, Starr said.

Western Colorado hasn't seen such extreme problems. But last year, someone did dump domestic horses in the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Area, a very cruel practice since the domestic horses are rarely able to live off the meager fare and rough conditions on which the wild horses survive.

Horse prices have dropped immensely with the staggering economy. Let's hope we don't see the sort of horse abandoment they they are experiencing in parts of California.

RACING REFORM

When Eight Belles broke both her ankles in last year's Kentucky Derby and had to be euthanized, it prompted renewed calls for reform in Thoroughbred horse racing. But, according to a story in The New York Times Thursday, the reforms are going slower than many people had hoped.

One issue still to be addressed is "the practice of giving racehorses legal drugs that allow horses to run when, in a different era, they would not have been allowed to."

Another is the track surface. Tracks in many places have gone to synthetic surfaces that are generally believed to be more friendly to the horses' legs than dirt. But even on synthetic tracks, horse fatalities continue.

From The New York Times story:

"Nancy Heitzeg, a professor at St. Catherine’s University in Minnesota, has attempted to track all horse racing fatalities in the United States. She calculated that there had been approximately three breakdowns a day nationwide since last year’s Kentucky Derby."

"The answers to why are elusive and involve everything from what a horse has on its feet, to how intensely it is trained, to what medication it might be on, to the racing surface under hoof."

Some have argued that modern breeding practices, which focus on quick development and light bones, may also be a problem.

And allowing drugs that may mask pain and make it possible for a horse to run when it should be taking time off to heal only add to the problem.

I love horse racing. I have been to tracks around the country, and attended one Kentucky Derby. There are few things as wonderful as watching a superb equine athlete that runs for the pure joy of running.

But there are few things as disturbing as seeing one of those superb athletes be euthanized because it broke down during a race.

Horse racing faces many difficulties in attracting and keeping fans. It will lose more unless it finds better ways of protecting the horses that are its stars.

Ray Hunt, R.I.P.

"Make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy."

Those words are familiar to anyone who attended a Ray Hunt clinic, watched one of his training videos or read one of numerous articles about him.

Hunt became well known for his ability to assess what was causing a horse behavioral problems, then work with the horse to remedy them through cooperation, not punishment.

When he died March 12, he was in his late 70s.

Here's what America's Horse had to say:

The name Ray Hunt <http://www.rayhunt.com/> is legendary. He took the mantle of natural horsemanship from the Dorrance brothers and spread it to a larger audience. He, in fact, was the first traveling clinician, taking his teaching methods on the road more than 30 years ago and continuing to teach through 2009 when he had a spring workshop scheduled at his Texas ranch. Today, however, we mourn the loss of a legend. Ray Hunt, in his late 70s, passed away March 12.

Others have followed and helped spread training techniques that rely on understanding the horse and how he reacts, rather than using punishment to force a particular action.(Techniques that date back hundreds of years, by the way). But Ray Hunt was one of the originals. He will be missed in the horse world.