As promised...a backyard full of fugliness!

Those of you who have been reading the comments today see that someone has finally figured out that I am, indeed, someone named Cathy Atkinson. I am surprised it took this long and am still waiting to figure out which pissed-off group managed to operate the "Yahoo Search" feature. While I understand that this is nowhere near as interesting as, say, finding out that it was actually possible for Nicole Richie to get pregnant at that ridiculous weight she was at, it does allow me to do something I have been wanting to do for some time and show you all the fugliness that currently resides in my backyard in living color.

Of course, I did not breed any of these nor are they going to be reproducing. They are rescues and/or retirees and their job demands currently consist of (a) eating (b) tolerating bimonthly hoof trims and (c) making cute faces when I scratch their withers in the right spot. (We are trying for (d) behaving ourselves for paste deworming, but we are still having some issues with that one.) However, they are glorious examples of many of the things I've bitched about here over the past summer.

First: The AQHA Halter Horse industry at it's finest! This is Kit, a daughter of a Big Name Stud - Obvious Conclusion. Kit was fortunate enough to win the HYPP lottery - she's N/N. She is also as long as drivin' through Texas, and good God look at that front end!

Overfed much as a halter baby? Ya think? Then there's her topline, that looks like a hammock, and her big old head with floppy ears.

A friend of mine found her at the Yelm, WA auction a few years ago and was convinced to purchase her by the ever so sensitive phrase "if she ain't in foal, I'm gonna can her." I bought her early this year because she's just the sweetest old horse on earth, and she takes good care of my blind mare.

Speaking of said blind mare, here's the "before and after" on her which shows two things - (a) that it is not that hard to put weight on an old skinny mare (these are 4 months apart) and (b) you can change condition, but you can't change conformation. Hers is hideous.

The shoulder is awful. It's upright and leads to withers best described as a "shark fin." In this picture, I think she may be trying to look back to see if her butt is still there, because it is so far away that there is no way she can see it with the 10% of vision she has left in one eye. This second picture is actually a good picture in some ways - her pasterns look worse than that in real life. She wasn't built to stay sound, and she is neither sound nor sighted. She does have a huge wither scar which shows me that someone rode the shit out of her and then dumped her with a killer buyer on a lot full of other horses. With 10% vision in one eye. Yeah, really,if we ever find out who owned this mare, I'll bring the tar and you guys can bring the feathers! She was dumped in Yakima, Washington. I'd just LOVE to know who dumped her. Scumbags.

I have lots more fugly pictures to post, particularly of past rescues. For anybody who is new to the blog (and particularly those too lazy to read the FAQ, the important points are: This is an opinion blog and it has a humorous component. Much like a blog about how much (insert politician of your choice) sucks, you may agree and you may disagree but I have the right to my opinion and you have the right to yours. Bad language and politically incorrect humor are the norm; this is not a place for anyone too young to watch an HBO Comedy special. I do not think I am some kind of supreme authority; I am merely someone who has been involved in horses a long time, has a lot of opinions based upon my experiences and enjoys venting about the various things about the horse world that annoy me in a place where I will not be censored or have to "play nice" as I do on various other message boards. My goal is to keep the comments a censorship free environment as well, but I will not hesitate to assign moderators if people clutter the comments up with posts that are off-topic and are merely personal attacks, because that is just boring for everybody else to read. Trust me, I get it - you BRB's hate me. But please take it to e-mail, or better yet, start your own blog about how much you hate me. Blogger is free, and freedom of speech is a privilege we all enjoy equally.

Happy Labor Day weekend, everybody!