Field of Starvation...another breeder bites the dust

This was forwarded around the Internet last week:

Subject: [RC] FREE HORSES QH & PAINTS- KY Contact Glenda....directly. NOT ME. Info from the KY Horse Council: There is a breeding herd of Quarter Horses and Paint Horses in Breckinridge County that are hungry. The owner is struggling to provide feed for the 55 horse herd and wants to give away about 25 horses. The herd includes stallions, mares, and young stock of various ages. Some of the stallions in the herd are Breeder's Incentive Fund stallions. Please note: the horses are not trained and do not have current coggins. If you would like to give a hungry horse a home please contact the breeder directly: Breeder: Glenda Wright Phone: 270-547-3000 (h), 270-617-0022 (c)Email: gwright215@aol.com

*sigh* Too many horses? Check. Can't feed 'em? Check. Didn't lift a goddamn finger to train them? Check. What else is old. The place is called "Field of Dreams." Well, no shit, it's obvious it's not the Field of Reality and Good Planning.

So I did a little research. Glenda, according to the QH Directory, has FIVE stallions. Why do you need FIVE stallions? I guess so that you can breed lots of horses YOU CAN'T FEED. The stallions are Kys Command Finale; Kys King Fritz Too; Kys Nu Chex To Cash; Mo Poco Leo; Reminics Magic. Here's one of the products of her breeding program pictured at left. While I have to say he certainly does not appear to be starving, when you breed something with this back end, you have to ask yourself: What am I doing wrong? It does not appear Ms. Wright ever asked that question, and instead kept on breeding until she had 55 horses she was unable to feed and apparently equally unable to sell.

Here's a filly Glenda's had up for sale. It's out of a grade mare. WHY??? Why did you breed a grade mare? She is by your stallion so I can only assume you're the responsible party here. And WTF is that out with the babies, an old kitchen appliance with sharp edges? Awesome.

This is a cute filly but lots of cute fillies grow up to be awkward 2 year olds and wind up packed into double-deckers. Now she is for sale for $500. Or more likely free. Sure hope she still looks this curvy!

Ah, apparently that was the appliance department up there. Now we're on to the used car lot!

People! Your horses do not belong turned out with all kinds of crap that they can get hurt on.

This is a 2006 colt. Why it is a colt is anybody's guess but my money is on "no money to pay for gelding." God knows it's not stallion quality. It was $1500 in the ad but I am

guessing that it's now free!

You guessed it - another stallion. Bleah. This is everything I don't like about the low end of foundation bred QH's. Nest? Check. Long? Check. No hip? Check. Basically just looks like some little grade horse off an indian reservation.

Look at all of these damn horses. Everywhere. Not trained, my money's on haven't seen the farrier in way too long. No, nothing is starving in the pictures but is anybody surprised they are starving now? I just do not understand how people keep popping out dozens of horses, failing to sell them, and fail to understand that they are creating a huge problem someone else will have to clean up. You know, if you had a widget factory, and you realized after a few months you couldn't sell the widgets, and they were just piling up, wouldn't you have enough sense to change your business plan? In ANY other business, you do not see this stubborn refusal to accept that there is no market for the product being produced. It's just the horse business where people plow merrily forward making more and more horses without a thought to the reality of training and marketing those horses, or even if a market exists.

Someone asked me this morning how, how, how do we educate and make this stop? Beats me! I really would like to sit down with someone like this and pick their brain, see how this happens, but I have a feeling I know what I would hear...they have great bloodlines! Their father was worth a kazillion dollars! I paid a lot of money for them! What it comes down to is that you really have no business breeding if you can't also supply training. Unless you are breeding something so rare and special that they all sell prior to weaning (and really, who is doing that consistently?), you need to be able to provide training. If you're a middle aged person with a lot of fear about handling young stock, and you are not successful enough to be able to afford outside training, maybe you need to accept that breeding is not for you. Really, why can't you people find a different hobby? Something that does not involve live animals? C'mon. Beanie Babies! Breyer Horses! Troll Dolls! Something else. Anything else.

Wouldn't molasses on the bit have been easier?

An alert reader sent me this actual Darwin Award nominee. I wonder what happened to the poor horse?

I really think a minimum of two years of regular riding lessons that include instruction on safe horse handling and horse care in general should be mandatory before owning a horse - both for the sake of the prospective owner and the horse they will buy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(8 March 2000, Nevada) On Thursday afternoon, 29-year-old Andrea was working with her young and spirited Arabian horse, which she had won in a lottery the previous year. The animal was only partially trained, and still a bit spooky. Every time Andrea tried to don its bridle, the horse threw back its head and frustrated her efforts.

Then Andrea had the brilliant idea of tying a rope around the Arabian's head, and fastening the other end around her waist to keep the horse from throwing its head back. That way, she would have both hands free to fasten the bridle.

But horses are 500 times stronger than people, according to Deputy Sheriff Lance Modispacher, who reported that the horse spooked again, threw Andrea off her feet, and began running around its paddock, dragging its erstwhile trainer by the rope around her waist. And the rope was short, so she was trampled right under the horse's feet as it ran.

Her father noticed the commotion and ran to help. Unfortunately his two dogs came with him, and started chasing the horse, nipping at its heels. This did not improve Andrea's situation. He finally managed to lock the dogs away and fetch a knife from the house. With the help of a neighbor, he chased the horse down and cut the rope, freeing the lacerated lass.

But Andrea had already spent ten minutes under the hooves of her horse, and she died a few hours later at a local hospital, a victim of internal injuries and head trauma, the result of her lamentable decision to tie herself to a skittish horse.

Follow up on the double-decker accident horses from last year

Survival Story Sheds Light on America's Horse Problem

First of all, good for the Longmeadow Rescue Ranch people. They have truly done a great job rehabbing these horses. If you aren't familiar with the original story, here you go. That's the rescued pregnant TB mare with her baby at left. Now for some parts of the article I'd like to comment on:

“It’s not the bigger breeders doing most of this,” said Don Treadway, an executive with the American Quarter Horse Association. “At the bottom end, it’s hard. You can’t regulate it. You get ol’ Joe down the road who has a stud and someone else who has a mare and they want to raise a baby. You get a lot of unwanted horses that way.”

OK, Don? The bigger breeders are doing a lot of it because ol' Joe is producing A BABY but some of your big ranches are producing FIVE HUNDRED BABIES. While neither is right, I am sick of AQHA's defensiveness about the big ranches/breeders. No one needs to make 200+ foals a year. NO ONE. Seriously, how many people have the staff or money to ensure that more than a couple dozen foals get properly socialized, trained, dewormed, feet done, etc.? The fact is that most of these big ranches are doing things on a shoestring and that stuff is not BEING done or it's being done half-assed (cheap feed through dewormer ring a bell?) These days, it seems like more foals than not get a bad start in life. The less socialized they are, the fewer homes are available for them. How many horse owners really know how to deal with a weanling or yearling that is wild as a March hare? Or want to?

"Almost everyone involved hopes that eventually the market and plain, old common sense will serve to diminish the excess numbers."

I hope one day to have a black Jaguar convertible, but I am not holding my breath. I still say the only thing that will diminish the excess numbers is social disapproval of overproduction and dumping horses for less than meat price. Most human behavior is controlled by social pressure (and or fear of reprisals from the deity of your choice, but at this point it's too late to put "stop breeding crap horses!" into the Bible...although I've heard a number of good interpretations about the responsibility of stewardship that I like - it just never seems to be interpreted that way by the folks breeding Gypsy Spotted Vandalusians and thinking their breeding operation is blessed by the Lord. But I digress...)

“We don’t recommend or prefer slaughter,” Treadway said. “But is it AQHA’s business to find a home for every member’s horse when they’re done with them? I don’t think it is. Maybe some people will contribute to a managed facility with the right requirements. But I don’t think there’s nearly enough resources to take care of 100,000 horses in 2007 if the slaughter bill passes.”

Translation: There ain't no money in finding homes for horses when people are "done with them" but there is a LOT of money in registering the new ones they create to replace the ones they just dumped off at the auction. If the AQHA doesn't recommend or prefer slaughter, why doesn't the AQHA come out against it and tell owners on their main page that they have a responsibility to their animals? Ooooh how scary and controversial...

Not that AQHA is the only problem here, it's just that it seems like every time someone at AQHA opens their mouth, something stupid comes out. Remember Tim Case suggesting that the only people opposed to slaughter were over-emotional women? Oh yeah...Can't you people hire one spokesperson who can represent the views of the majority of your membership who are not OK with slaughter as a fate for horses whose owners "are done with them?" The AVMA's got the same problem. I know so many anti-slaughter vets and nobody is speaking for them.

"When Cole contacted Carter in the aftermath of a wreck, he told her he could have another truck there within four hours to load the surviving horses back up and point them toward their final destination."

That Charlie Carter, what a guy. *eye roll* If you've never seen the pictures from his feedlot before, here you go. (Warning: graphic and upsetting).

Happy endings from the Charlie Carter lot:

Desert Spark (go to the last page to see updated pics - horse looks fabulous now!)

Champion Lodge (SW of over $300K, almost shipped from Carter lot)

Trinity (WARNING: MUSIC ON LINK) (badly injured filly - made a fantastic recovery thanks to Celtic Rein Rescue)

A Horse's View of Natural Horsemanship

For those of you who need a laugh this Friday morning, this was sent to me and I think it's a hoot! I do not know who wrote it, but you rock, whoever you are!

A Horse's View of Natural Horsemanship

Hello, my name is Flicka and my Owner's a clinic junkie.

Yes, it's true. She went thru her mid life crisis and came to the sale barn and bought me. I spent my whole life misbehaving and being passed from greenhorn to greenhorn till someone finally got smart and sent me to the sale barn. I was seriously hoping to be picked up by one of those show horse fellas so I could live in a fancy barn and stand around and look pretty, but they told me my butt's too small, my heads too big, and the crest on my neck from a bout with grass founder (thanks to owner number 2) is not desirable, and in general I was just not that capable of looking pretty, so I went home with Phyllis instead.

She pets me and loves me, and in general I had a pretty good life at first. Then she heard about those guys who whisper to horses. Life has never been the same. First there was Pat. At Pat's clinic Phyllis learned to twirl a big stick and chase me around a round pen till I was wringing wet with sweat. Once I had quote "calmed down" (I was never really fired up in the first place till that guy came at me with the stick like an idiot) she began learning to ride me with no bridle. Talk about giving an old spoiled horse an opportunity to have some fun!

Initially I went along with it. I'd lope around the pen real nice like, and everyone would oooh and cooo over my "natural horse" abilities. Then, just when everyone had gathered around to watch, I would see the SCARIEST!! (tehehehe) Shadow in the history of scary shadows and switch directions and take off with my rider clinging terrified to my back. Every other horse on the place was envious of me because their owners would take them out back and beat them with that overpriced stick when no one was watching, but I knew my Phyllis would not.

Eventually Philly (as I like to call her) gave up on the whole natural horse idea when Pat tried to talk her into jumping me without a bridle over some barrels. Off we went in search of another guru. In our search we found Monty. He threw a string at a horse and talked to the horse with winks and stares. I spent some time with his clinic horses. I saw the demonstration where an unbroken 2 year old became an overnight Reiner. Later I talked to the 2 year old. He was actually 5 and had been doing this same routine for about 5 clinics now.

The first time Phyllis broke out the string I again, went along with it. Well, until she got tired of me stopping and looking at her like she was stupid. When she went to get herself a glass of water and refer to that chapter in Monty's book, I grabbed the string and chewed it to pieces. And this is how I got my Jolly ball!

Then there was the Indian fella with a name I can't pronounce. To get the full effect of his clinic Philly painted stuff on my body and put feathers in my hair. I looked like I was in a Costume class, but hey whatever floats your boat. I thought maybe at least with this guy we might get to play Indian pony games and have mock battles or something but no. More round pen work and gimmicks. This time there was a fire in the middle of the round pen and they danced around it while praying that I would become a good horse and always mind my owner. He only took her for a couple thousand pelts and a bottle of firewater.

There's been the Australian guy. Training with a Boomerang while he hopped around like a kangaroo and called me his mate... "Sorry fella, your cute and all but my mate has 4 legs. I just don't' swing interspecies." A horse psychic who told Phyllis my momma didn't lick me enough when I was born. A guy who used his hands like ears to talk to me and of course the touchy feely lady.

I can't complain though I've got an owner who loves me and has devoted her time to trying to make me a better horse. I really should behave, really I should, but I think I am contributing to her youth by giving her a reason to take me to all these clinics. Maybe the next clinic will involve turning me out with the mustangs so I find my inner wild stallion.

Sincerely, Flicka

Dallas County Auction Report

Interesting. Again, we're seeing the high end go pretty high, the low end go very low, and I'm encouraged to see HYPP N/H yearlings fail to sell. Hopefully that sends a message! I am also encouraged to see so many owners saying no sale at low prices and protecting their horses. Just for effect I put all the no-sales in bold - check it out. A LOT of people said no and took their horse back home.

Again, this was sent in by a reader - thank you! I did not rescue any of these horses because I was not there. The comments on the horses are hers. All pictures here.

1) 9 yr old Jack donkey NS at $450
2) Ginny donkey NS at $300
3) Paint jenny mule 12 yr old well broke NS at $1200
4) Bay TB – type stud, bad tendon, NS
5) 3 or 4 yr old Dun mare, 15h, NS at $375
6) 1995 AQHA mare, rode quiet, NS at $1000
7) 3 yearling colts, $130 for all (FHOTD in: whoever bred these, I hate you.)
8) 2007 AQHA colt, HYPP N/H, NS
9) 6 yr old Palomino, big, NS at $900
10) 1985 Chestnut AQHA mare, $100
11) 2002 red roan AQHA mare, rode nice $185 12) Yearling colt, broke to ride, NS (pictured here)
13) 1986 AQHA mare $175 (pictured here)
14) 15.3h Chestnut gelding $200
15) 10 yr old buckskin gelding, 15.2, looked lame $650
16) 1986 Chestnut AQHA mare, $210
17) 5 yr old 15.2h Palomino AQHA gelding, pony horse at track, NS at $1600, owner wanted $2500 *this was a NICE horse*
18) 2007 AQHA yearling bay colt .. very homely looking
19) 2007 AQHA yearling bay colt, NS at $150, owner wanted $450
20) Lot of 3 AQHA pending yearling colts, all 3 sold for $180 each (FHOTD in: Yeah, you suck too, AQHA breeder asshat)
21) Blk/wht kid gentle APHA mare, 2003, 15h, cute and sweet $900 *also very nice*
22) Chestnut/white APHA paint mare, 1990, wind broke and bitchy, tried to buck, NS, owner wanted $500
23) 1985 AQHA chestnut mare $100
24) 2005 chestnut TB gelding, JC papers, 16h … really cute, and I think I heard he was a polo pony?? Would have bought him. $170 *polo pony*
25) 7 yr old AQHA gelding, 15h $700
26) Mini chestnut stud, rides/drives, 2005, $195
27) 2005 dun AQHA mare, $385
28) Bay yearling TB colt, JC papers, $175
29) 1985 AQHA roan mare, missing one eye, $160
30) Jack donkey $20
31) 2 yr old Half Arab tobiano filly, very small $160
32) 2001 AQHA and Foundation dappled grey gelding, 15.2h, very cute, NS at $750, owner wanted $1500 *gorgeous horse*
33) 20 yr old grade bay mare, beginner friendly $220
34) Grade bay mare, 2 yr old, $225
35) 2006 AQHA Palomino filly, small, NS, owner wanted $1000

36) 1983 AQHA chestnut mare, looked half her age, rode nice, 15h.. not sure if she sold? 37) Chestnut mare with a long back, NS, owner wanted $550
38) Chestnut AQHA yearling filly, daughter of 1983 mare, homely $150
39) Grey TB filly, saddled but not ridden, about 15.2h, seemed very quiet and cute $375
40) Chestnut gelding.. no info, raffled off, ugly

FHOTD in: Good thing I was not there. Old chestnut mares are my personal weakness and it looks like I'd have come home with five new ones!

Weirdest horse-related injury ever?

OK, another discussion question:

What's the weirdest way you've ever gotten hurt around horses?

This came to mind because last night, I was brushing a horse and I cut my finger open on a sharp edge of the chestnut on his back leg. I mean, I really put a gouge in it and bled all over the place. It takes real talent to hurt yourself brushing, LOL! So I thought it might make for an entertaining thread to ask who else has gotten hurt in some funny/stupid/weird way while working around horses?

Oh, and just to stay somewhat on Fugly topic...here is what $3400 will buy you in Los Angeles. No, I am not kidding. Folks, if you live in L.A., come horse shopping in Oregon or Washington. The $800 you will spend hauling the horse south will be well worth it...the prices around L.A. are simply ludicrous and this Araloosa is a classic example. Straight shoulder, upright pasterns, post legged, so long he looks like two men in a horse suit...but hey! He's "natural horsemanship" trained. How did we know? :-)

If you live in one of these overpriced areas of the country, it really does pay to shop outside your geographical area. Just make sure you actually look at it before you send a check, not like these folks who got a surprise.

Horse Sense: The horses aren't the ones who need it!

I've been meaning to write this blog for a long time!

We've all met people who have not been riding for a long time, yet seem to have a natural understanding of horses. The horse respects them. They don't seem to experience the usual beginner problems. And horses LOVE them. The shy horse who avoids people comes up to them for scratches. Unhandled horses are more likely to come to them first than anyone else, even people with far more years of experience. They frequently hear the shocked phrase "she let you do that?????" after they've done something with a horse.

We've also met people who have been doing this for twenty, thirty, forty years and still don't seem to have that basic understanding of how a horse works. They are either constantly bullied and buffaloed by their horse(s), or they get hurt a lot (often not even riding-related, but ground accidents), or they've resorted to abusive methods and gimmicks to try to obtain control.

The difference is whether or not you possess this intangible sense for what the horse is thinking and feeling, what he is going to do next, and what you should do based upon that information.

I have said before, I am not a great rider. I have a myriad of equitation faults I'd love to pay someone to help me fix one day. I can't jump anything big because I can't "see" distances worth a crap. I am not terribly courageous, particularly outside the arena. I will definitely refuse to ride a serious bucker or a rearer at this point in my life. However, I will say that I have good instincts. I can tell you which weanling is going to pull back and panic when tied, and which is just going to wiggle around some and then accept it. I can put anything in a horse trailer with a minimum of drama. I have always been the one who can get the standing wrap on the unhandled two year old with a wire cut, or get the headshy horse clipped without twitches or drugs. I've never been hurt in a ground accident, despite doing things like helping load unhandled stock into a trailer in a parking lot at 2 in the morning. (yes, knock on wood!)

As I say, I'm not horsewoman of the year otherwise, and like everybody else I have stupid moments where I do things I knew better than to do, but my point is that some people do have a set of instincts for how horses think, behave, and which direction they are likely to rocket next - and that's something I'm not sure you can teach or train into someone. I've seen eight year olds who have it naturally and 40 year olds who've been in lessons with top trainers for 20 years who don't.

This is not the same as being a natural rider - the kid who is cantering on their third lesson, hands quiet, sitting the gait, no problem. Yeah, we're all jealous of that person. I am not that person. I wish I was! Some of you probably are! But being a natural rider is an athletic thing - this is more about mental connection with horses, a certain sense of what's going on (that you don't have to consciously think about)...it's like a continuous low-grade awareness of what is going on with the horse that tends to give you the ability to accomplish things others may not and avoid injury to yourself and the horse while doing it.

Why is this important? Well, it's something that affects everything you do with horses. It tells you how far you can push a young horse that you're training without freaking him out - how much you can expect, if he's ok or if he's getting fried. It tells you whether or not to try something on horseback that could get you seriously hurt if it went all wrong. It tells you that something is physically wrong with your horse even though your trainer is saying he's just stubborn and get after him. Sometimes it tells you that it's time to get the hell out of the way really fast - and that saves you from a very bad accident.

I've tried to analyze what it is - is it just about paying really close attention to the horse's body language? Watching for the tensing of muscles, the look in the eye, the position of the ears? Or is it more than that - some "sixth sense" that really does give a special insight? I remember many years ago, watching a trainer install side reins on a pony that was pulling on her young rider...and thinking, this is a bad idea, based upon the look on the pony's face the trainer should just get on it and sort it out...and not five minutes later, the pony flipped over and crushed the kid's pelvis. Now admittedly, side reins on a pony with a rider is something I would normally think was a bad idea anyway, but in retrospect it is interesting to me that I could tell that pony was at the about-to-blow point from 30 feet away and the trainer (who was a far more accomplished person, show-ring wise, than I will probably ever be) and certainly knew the pony better completely missed it.

I honestly think this is what the whole Natural Horsemanship fad is all about. People who don't have horse sense want it SO badly and many of the NH practitioners are feeding into that. Just come to our clinic $$$$$$$ buy our videos $$$$$$$ buy the special bit $$$$$$$$ and you too will be able to communicate with horses. You know, it doesn't work. This is how people get into trouble. They are being taught methods but many of them are learning them by rote as if you add action A to action B and horsey will always, 100% of the time, give you response C. We all know that is not how it works. Training a horse is not like programming a computer, and never will be.

So let's discuss this. Trainers/instructors, do you think there IS any way to train horse sense into someone who doesn't have it naturally? Do you think you've got good horse sense and that it gets better every year you work with horses (I do believe this...)? OTOH, have you been frustrated by the fact that you seem to lack horse sense? Are you sick of trainers/clinicians promising to give you these skills, and failing? Do you think is is 100% about experience and paying attention, or do you believe there is more to it, that it's almost about having some kind of (I hate to use this word, but you know what I mean) psychic connection with the animals? I really believe that if there was some way to teach horse sense, you could reduce horse-related accidents by 90% not to mention drastically reducing the number of horses who end up going to kill. What do you think?