The rider and mother who sent this to me was appalled. So am I. Click on the picture to see a larger version of the small child/foal macrame project.
*sigh*
We all know horses can be dangerous, but weanlings and yearlings are particularly difficult to handle on the ground. They are typically big, dumb babies with hormones running wild. They nip and kick and plow each other over, and they're highly likely to do the same to any human who hasn't established respect. It's hard to establish respect when you haven't even learned your A-B-C's and are the size of Tattoo from "Fantasy Island."
Every horseperson reading this has seen an adult horse flip out over a tangled rope - whether they blew their stack because they stepped on their own dropped lead, or got a rope twisted around them, the "attack rope" is something that can send the typical horse into a bout of hysterics. Even if it's brief, someone can get badly hurt if they're not paying attention. Remember the blog about the girl who tied the lead rope around her waist?
And those are mature horses - not babies who routinely do things like grab an empty grain bag in their teeth and then spook because it is following them.
If I live to be 100, I'll never understand what possesses a parent to sit there while their kid is one hoof away from brain damage and the foals are a split-second away from rope burns at best and a broken leg or neck at worst and merrily snap pictures. I mean, we've all heard the old joke about how someone's last words are "hold my beer and watch this" but your child is in danger. If that doesn't provoke some sort of emergency response other than snapping pics, well, maybe someone can hold a fundraiser to buy you a brain.
Side note: This farm would never have gotten featured if not for this picture. Those are nice Morgans - far from fugly. Jeez, people. The blog is almost two years old. I would have thought people would be getting smart enough not to supply me with so much material by now, but nope, it just keeps on coming!
Finally, to all of our visiting trolls who don't seem to be feeling the love, I just want to thank you. In the past month, my traffic has shot skyward! The columns represent (from left to right) people, visits and page views.) We haven't seen a jump like this in a while! I'm so excited and I know that I have all of you to thank. Keep up the great work. Be sure to add this URL as often as possible to your rants, and please rant on as many different boards as possible in as many different countries as possible! (For those of you annoyed by the trolling, all you have to do is click the username and the post disappears and you can move on to the relevant comments.)
