My readers send me stuff like this all the time, and I am always shocked. Not just by the animal's condition but by the fact that the owners took it out in public and somehow did not expect other people to be horrified.
I mean, I don't get it. Do you not know your horse is very skinny? Are you one of the ignoramuses who thinks it's skinny because it's old and that's normal? Do you just think it's nobody else's business what you do (at a public event with hundreds of people)?
And why DIDN'T the judge and/or show management tell these people they could not show this horse? Again, show managers, you gotta have spines here. It really does not make your event look good when something like this is trotting around the arena. Plus it just gives ammunition to the radical "it's mean to ride horses" crowd. Do you really want to give those folks a reason to picket your next event?
This is at a horseshow in Platte City, Missouri - e-mail says the show is today but I don't know if that's a typo. Of course the e-mail does look like it was typed on a phone so that may be correct.If you don't have the money to feed/vet/figure out WHY the horse is so thin AND FIX IT, you don't have the money to compete! Though from the looks of that rig, these folks ain't hurtin' for cash.
Click on the pic to see a larger version with all the skinny details!
