I have a request today!
I know many of you are in the industry professionally, and that you have worked for some real jerks. If you quit or got fired as a result of refusing to tolerate bad behavior - whether that was cruelty to the animals, nastiness to you, really atrocious conditions/pay, whatever - and got a better job and moved up in the industry, please tell your story.
We have a lot of young people out there right now - and I'm thinking of a couple in particular - who need to know that their career will not be over because they get out of the bad situation with the BNT. None of these BNT's, no matter their level of arrogance, actually has the power to "ruin you" in the horse industry. If you're good, that does shine through and one day you may be a bigger name than they are.
So please, if you've been there and done that, tell your story! You can be as anonymous as you like. You can always create an extra google account for privacy if people here know who you are under your usual screen name.
I did see Champ yesterday and he looks really good - he has definitely picked up a few pounds and has lost a lot of that "drawn up" look he came with. I suspect he didn't drink at the auction yard because it hurt too much to get to the water on the concrete. This really is the sweetest horse in the world - he's so nice to have around and such a "pocket pony" that you'd love to be able to just keep him for a pet, but I don't know if his legs are going to allow that. We're not seeing much change so far and he will be rechecked this week to see if there is anything more that we can do for him. It's definitely the arthritic ankle giving him the major problems and it did feel slightly warm to 
me yesterday. I suspect he stood in one place for a very long time before we got him, so any kind of walking around is a big adjustment. He is enjoying a really nice life, and very "into" his new spoiled cookie-eating existence, but if we can't get him sounder than this, we won't keep him going. I'll let you all know how he does.
I know everybody wanted a happy update so I will give you that about somebody else - remember Chip, who I posted right before Christmas, the formerly starved POA pony? I am thrilled to announce that Chip went home with a blog reader, and they love him!
Chip's new family has two little girls to love on him and two big horses that belong to Mom. As you can see from the pic, he had no problem making friends his first day. He fit right in with his new herd and is already giving the girls pony rides. His new mom is doing some more ground work with him and the plan is to put him into formal training later this year and also acquire his POA registration so that those horseshows are an option. Hooray for Chip!
