Fugly Horse of the Day Review

Update

2011-01-16T00:39:00.000-08:00

A Quick Apology
I very ill at the moment and can not continue to post at this time.

Moved

2010-11-28T18:03:00.000-08:00

Due to extenuating circumstances, I am moving the blog here.

Posts will resume there when I return after classes are over (about 2 more weeks.) I apologize for the inconvenience. I will do a quick post in order to explain a few concerns I am sure you may have.

Even Zombies Known the Importance of Brains

2010-11-16T18:52:00.000-08:00

I'll expand on this later. For now I thought I'd put this up to simplify the whole strangles talk (and if Fugs does watch this blog, she can learn something.) The video is very simple, slow, and boring because of such, but I feel it presents it well enough to understand the basics.

Apologies for the video being cut off. I can't fix it because I do not have privileges to do so. Just click on it and it should send you to the whole thing.

Presenting Facts is Hard to Do

2010-11-07T16:28:00.000-08:00

"Raceyrocket@yahoo.com says:

November 5, 2010 at 5:54 pm

Ummmmmmmmmm. Excuse me? I don’t own or work at Featherlite and don’t have anything to do with the horse in question or any of my father’s horses. How in the world does that make me scum? I was not at the World show and did not even watch it online, except for a few classes, and I did NOT watch the Men’s western pleasure.
There are many facts that most of you don’t know.
As far as I know, Cleve was not the trainer of this horse. He was asked by the horses current FEMALE trainer to ride the horse in the Men’s Western Pleasure as she cannot as she is a woman. He was not asked to ride by my dad. As far as I know, and I don’t know much, Cleve did this as a favor to his friend. There was no “blood money” as you all seem to think. He was never the trainer of this horse. He simply stepped on before the class and showed it. The horse is a nice horse and his trainer is a great trainer and these were big wins for her. It’s too bad her talent and excitment are being sullied by this.
You are all entitled to your opinions, and I have mine. You might be suprised to know what mine are, but I won’t go into that here.

It is easy to jump on a band wagon, but it is ignorant to do so without all the facts.

To the person who posted the like to Walkin in the Weeds. Wrong trainer, Dude. That was Stanley Ryan.
Oh, and the orange tan? My dad has had skin cancer. That is not tan. He is dark skinned.
Stacie Raak"

"Raceyrocket@yahoo.com says:

November 5, 2010 at 8:47 pm

First, as far as I know, there was no money exchanged. No money was put in any pocket. Of course, since you know everything, you must know there was?
Are you responsible for the actions of your parents, your aunt, your uncles? How am I involved. By genetics? You are crazy if you think that.
No, I don’t care who my dad had ride any of his horses. Not my business. Of course, if horse in question had been abused in any way, I would be highly dissapointed, but that is not the case at all. The guy rode the horse in one class. He is not this horses trainer.
All I am asking is to be left out of it. Genetics do not make you guilty.
But you are shallow to pick on someones appearance. Where is your picture? You must be a supermodel. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones."

"fhotd says:

November 5, 2010 at 10:43 pm

I never said YOU put money in Cleve’s pocket. Regardless of whether money was exchanged – and come on, I did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday, Cleve doesn’t ride for free – the fact is that Gary Raak put a KNOWN, FAMOUS ANIMAL ABUSER on his horse, apparently in violation of ApHC’s own rules.
That is a fact.
Now, YOU may have nothing to do with it. I never said that you DID. People are welcome to comment quite freely here, as you may have noticed by the fact that YOUR posts are being published, unedited. The guilt here is with the horse’s registered owner. There may also be some guilt with the horse’s regular trainer. I don’t know. All I know is a KNOWN, FAMOUS ANIMAL ABUSER just won at the WORLD SHOW and that makes me FUCKING NAUSEOUS.
Clear enough?"

OK, so how is Cleve a famous animal abuser? Oh, right! Because you blogged about it. Honestly, unless people were in the AQHA show world or the 'needs to stalk any horse person' category they probably would have no clue who he was outside the realm. I also highly doubt the AQHA calls up the other registries and tells them about their day and who they've added to their naughty lists. Why? Because he was big in AQHA, and if you weren't competing at a high level you probably never had a concern as to who he was. I bet the big name farms knew who he was, but ask the guy a couple notches down before the fiasco and I bet he wouldn't know or care.

But I also forgot how wonderful a person you are! How could we hate a person who doesn't edit the posts of some people?! Is that your way of showing you are dead wrong and bat shit crazy? Heaven forbid you edit the post and make a new entry on the wrong you presented. Oh right, you don't go for facts, you go for the PETA version of facts. Most normal people call those lies. You're very good at them. That's not a compliment, though it is the truth. It must be very hard to face this truth on a daily basis by the sane people across the globe. Must be hard to have the truth call out your lies. Is that irony? Probably.

Another thing you seem to be good at is dragging innocent people down with your lies. They're associated by blood, though not a part of her father's horse showing world. She may know what happens and what goes down because after all, they are a parent-child and they probably do discuss what is going on in their lives. Yes their business involves horses in a back-handed way, but they aren't the ones who you should be pointing fingers at. If you want to play that game, weren't you the one who always said the barn you rode at as a child to get lessons had horses who weren't cared for properly? Well, doesn't that make you an animal abuser, Cathy? By your logic it does. Worse yet, you have it explained to you as point blank as possible. They were not involved, and Cleve knew the trainer (you can know people before you train in a specific discipline and focus on a breed, you know) who needed a rider for the men's class. Well a friend needed a favor, and so he ended up being the rider. From there, you decided to make things up along the way. At this point, anyone who can read can see where you did it.

Top that off with your claims to horse care that have appeared lately, I'm not sure you are the one who should be dishing out advice on such things, either. Considering you are the one who doesn't live anywhere near your horses and has other people taking care of them, you don't have room to talk on how animals should be cared for. Your favorite horse chores? Screwing the help and screwing the people doing the actual labor out of money is what your favorite chores are, honey. Top that off with a little, "If you don't have any room, don't get another horse" mantra that you so blatantly decided you didn't have to follow, and you must be the best owner in the world, right? Yes, by some stroke of luck I posted in the last blog a comment from you stating you do not have room to take in another horse, yet there you were in the next post saying you got one of those horses from the college. Isn't that the screaming definition of hoarder? What is it, Cathy? Is there room so long as they can stand side by side and look around? Or is their room so long as you find different places to take your horses who don't know your name?

While I will not disagree with the ApHC needing to follow its own rules, there is also a failure on somebody's end to check everything to ensure that the rules are being followed and enforced. Let's just make it my fault it didn't happen since the fault seems to lie with everyone but you. It'll make a great story for your blog, and it will be a 100% lie so it shouldn't be too hard on your conscience to post. Go ahead. You can be the next James Frey. Better yet, you can be the next Nixon. After all, he actually attempted to continue hiding the facts because he knew he would be in deep poo, though the commonality you share with Frey is that he blamed it on anyone but himself.

Congrats. You are a lying horse abuser who cannot take care of their own animals even when you have the ability to do so. The next blog you should be writing is about yourself and what you really are following your rules and your own logic. It should be incredibly enlightening.

Aww, Nuts!

2010-10-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone has heard about the bird, but VLC is finally being stripped of the only thing he was actually good at. That's right, the nuts are going! Hooray! Apparently top 5 (out of 6) at a color association with injuries from being unable to not act stupid in a stall. Then again, it'll be surprising if she even shows up for the surgery, seeing as how she doesn't live anywhere near her horses. I'm still trying to figure out how she's going to pay for it since she's a notorious moocher. Then again, we also know it's not from her tax return, either. I guess because it's not on auto bill pay like her blog is (even though we all know that she could do the blog for free, funneling more money for her horses cause according to her 'that's what good owners do.')

Speaking of funneling money, despite getting recommendations for stem cell therapy for VLC's injury she has decided that taking the long route to do it was the way to go. She says that mother nature heals tendons the best, but let's be honest. Tendons and mother nature are not a sure thing. Stem cell therapy has shown to do some amazing things. Too bad it costs money. Since she's too busy applauding herself for coming to a decision we came to months ago to realize a good thing in front of her. After all, she's not making money from the VLC at stud or at shows anymore (another badge she thinks she has) so why bother getting him the best care? I thought we were supposed to retire them to the Hilton for horses.

Better yet, she's reaming on Oregon State auctioning off horses they have. She says to make a big deal like Mustang Makeover. Ummm, enrollment may be up for schools, but the drop out rate is just the same. One horse would eat up our tuition paid for my school. Frankly, the $150 is a lot better than the negative number they'll give. Let's not forget how many people don't pay their school fees. While they cannot be declared under bankruptcy, they are not easy things to pay off. Oh, and the alum donating money? I know of only a few alumni actually donating anything of value. Oh, doesn't she also know that often donations have stipulations with it? Our school has a major donor, but most goes to the athletic department. Can Oregon say the same? Running programs costs huge sums of money. Labs cost money because of gas use for burners. They can run up to 2+ hours in an undergrad lab. Multiply that between 20+ people and that adds up for one class.

Also, I've neglected to see where auctioning horses is against the law. So what if a KB grabs them? The school wants to sell the horses off, and when the KB buys them, they are his to do whatever he wants with. So what if they grab $150. That would be a gift considering today's horse economy.

Also, how does she know there are students who would want to train these horses? Yes I took a breaking and training class, but that cost ME money, too. Halters, lead ropes, headstalls, bits, lunge lines, etc. All things that were at my expense. Oh, I forgot brushes, hoof picks, etc. Most students don't have cash on the side to spare, and most don't have the time to even do such a thing unless they are great at managing their time. Maybe you didn't go to a real college, Fugs, but those of us who did actually had tons of work to go through each week before we could think about having fun.

You're not budgeting queen, Miss Moocher. So don't go preaching about how wonderful you and your ideas are when you can't even pay for a blog on time each month.

Did anyone see this lovely comment?

"Yes, and my first comment was, well, they NEEDED to be spayed. Except for the Arab, and there is a palomino QH mare that isn’t bad, either.
But most of them – glad they’re out of the gene pool (but want them to have happy homes!) There is a QH mare with a total hammerhead. She reminds me SO much of Clover, my old rescue. She is supposed to be ranch broke but bitchy. My kinda mare. But the inn is full, here."

If they're out of the gene pool, they won't be missed when they go do more purposeful things passed on. Also, why do the ones you deem nice not need to be spayed? So we can breed those now?

Also, full here? HERE?! You don't need another horse you'll never see.

Fall Time Review

2010-10-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

So my color post really was becoming much to hard to set up, but I do have a nice site you guys can go to and look over yourself. Horse colors probably aren't as complicated when presented in other ways, but I've never seen somebody do that. So until that happens, you're stuck with this.

In other news, it's fall. The air is cool and crisp, and one nasty little ditty may be lurking about for some horses. It's influenza season, and horse owners should be on the lookout for the common signs and symptoms. "Clinical signs seen with influenza include fever, anorexia, depression, coughing, and some horses appear to have muscle soreness. In the severe cases, horses can develop a generalized vasculitis which appears as swelling of the limbs, inflammation of the heart resulting in a high heart rate and inflammation of the eye with tearing and squinting."

For those of you who vaccinate for this, ensure you assess the potential health risks and susceptibility before doing so. Also consider the varying strains common to your area before you do so as well.

Any of you taking on a rescue case this Fall? Better yet, how many of us potentially will end up with a horse we didn't intend to? Remember the phrase "Killing with kindness?" One study showed that 9 of 45 horses died after being placed with a responsible owner after going through a period of severe malnutrition.
If the horse isn't in the best of conditions, it is highly advised you go talk to a trusted vet to get you on track to begin rehabbing the horse and feeding it properly as it increases in weight and condition. 3-5 months is normal for a horse to return to full and proper condition, so don't be freaking out if it doesn't happen the first month (though it can with some.) I've included 3 different files in source and reference to this post. The one I liked the most for the public is the one from the University of Tennessee. It contain a great list of questions that you should know the answer to when taking a rescue horse to the vet for the first time, as well as when you should be considering euthanasia as an option. It also has great guidelines to follow if you are unable to get the horse checked by the vet in due time. Definitely something I'd print out and have around JIC.

Sorry about the short, very linked, post. It's been chaos here. Hopefully this will give you guys a plethora to talk about in the meantime! I just think this time of year is important to a horse, as winter is coming and it becomes extra important they get the extra groceries they need to maintain weight through the winter. Remember, winter coats are deceiving! Personal preference is a horse to go in a little (LITTLE) overweight than a little underweight if weight is the problem child. If fat is the issue, vegetable oil can work wonders. Just remember to add a little bit at a time, otherwise your horse will get the runs and in a time where they drink less water that is not a good thing! I'd recommend starting out with a 1/4 cup maximum and work your way up to a cup or so. That's my little ditty for the day. Enjoy!

1. Influenza source

2. Rescue Feeding source

3. Tennessee - Feeding the starved horse

4. Extra nutrition info

Conformation Station

2010-09-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today's is going to be a little tricky, I'll admit. No picture in this set is perfect, but hopefully you guys can figure something out from it and give informed opinions on the matter. I will say because of this, I'm going to give out more information than I did last time. Hopefully this will help when you look at her a bit more.

Spare pictures can be found at these links:

Trot

Standing w/ head turned

Walking away

Profile shot

The horse in this case is a Morgan, and I encourage you to take a gander at all the pictures JIC they will help you. Next time I have some color stuff lined up for you guys, since somebody brought it up and reminded me I had been wanting to do it.

If you want to have your horse used for the next Conformation Station blog, please link pictures and info here: Sign Ups!

Time To...

2010-09-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

Put up a news story since I'm gonna be really busy for a bit. Conformation Station should be the next issue out for the blog. So bear with me while I deal with life in the meantime. I'm going to link to the full story in the blog, but quote specific pieces that I think is worth discussing. Please read the article, it's a happy one. Plus it relates to horses, so there you go.

Courageous Comet named 2009 Rood & Riddle Thoroughbred Sport Horse of the Year

"Courageous Comet, a stakes-placed winner of moderate success in New York, left the racetrack in 2000 to begin a new career as sport horse. After initial training and use in fox hunting, Courageous Comet was sold to Becky Holder, an Olympic rider with a known reputation for turning ex-racehorses into top eventers. Courageous Comet excelled in his new career and helped Holder earn a spot on the U.S. team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics."

Here's the first of them. While great athletes can be found anywhere in the horse world, it takes luck and skill in order to find those who are able to do so. Becky is a well known rider who demonstrated the highest level of riding skill that most people in the world don't ever achieve. On top of that, she had a knack for taking somethng that most people don't know what to do with, and turning it into something that people can enjoy (even if it is just watching.)

That being said, do you think that this horse would have had the same fate if not left in her hands? What if he ended up with the average joe trainer who knows how to retrain race horses, but cannot make them top level competitors? Would he have eventually found his way to anywhere near than he is now?

""While some Thoroughbreds are raised specifically to be sport horses, others are finding greater success in their second careers as sport horses than they did in races. Through this award, we hope to decrease the number of unwanted horses in the U.S. by demonstrating their value in these non-racing disciplines.""

I'm not going to comment much on this one, but do you think this is true? Not just for TB's but for horses in general?

Anyways, hope that gives you something to mull over the weekend and then some with. I always enjoy reading your comments, even if I don't say much.

A Bookmark of Sorts

2010-09-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

Because sometimes others put it a lot better than I do. Take a read through everything and it will pretty well sum up what everyone has been thinking. I would place it all up at once here to read, but there is just too much to sift through. Also, some people may not know of the links or of their existence so I am putting them here. Removal will come if you stoop to their level.

ROM = Breeding Quality?

"There are tons of geldings out there with ROMS, Superiors, World champion titles, etc. and they are obviously not breeding. They lack testicles. But how in the hell can anyone think that just because a stallion earned an ROM he's going to be the next best thing since sliced bread?"

Breeding Halter Horses

"Since QH's, and QH stallions, are a dime a dozen, chances are there is another AQHA stallion who easily outshines yours."

FHOTD's Twitter

If you don't want to read FHOTD, 140 letters worth of gripin' and moanin' out to do it for you.

Cedar Hill's Facebook

I really really wish I had known they were in Tulsa on the 5th. I could have attended quite easily and had so much to give you guys. I'm livid at myself, really.

Cedar Hill's Homepage

Fair warning. This is the most unprofessional homepage for a trainer that speaks highly of themselves. Anyone remember geocities? Yeah, it's kinda like that.

The next PtHA show that is on the trainer's website is Sept. 16-19. While the site itself doesn't say where, the even more horrible website that has the information for it (though the names of the shows aren't lining up.) You can look at what other shows are being hosted by the same area here. You have been warned about the bad website. Just know that. I digress, I have no clue if BYC is showing up, but considering all the other shows he's been in, he just may be. If anyone lives in the area and wants to take a stroll on down that would be very fabulous. Better yet, if you know more about it that we do, do tell.

In case any of you missed it in the comments section, there is a 30 second preview video of BYC up. It isn't the best angles or the most perfect video, but it does hammer the nail on the mediocre coffin a little more. I also have a question to you guys...

Why are they so far out from the rail? One part they look as if they are passing, but in the other it just seems like they don't take deep corners. I was always taught to use the corners of the arena, so it's a little foreign for me to see.

Video of BYC

The best photo of BYC that we will probably ever see.

If any of you also happened to miss his pedigree, you can see it here. If anyone has more knowledge of the QH lines, please leave your opinions and comments in the blog. I've only heard of Boston Mac on the most recent of family members After that it's the general, "Who hasn't heard of them?" horses who pretty much were a foundation for a lot of horses in the breed today.

His Two Oops Foals

In better news, the girl in the video throwing puppies was located. She is apparently from Bosnia, and between 4-Chan and animal groups they found her rather quickly, thankfully.

Growl at the Moon

2010-08-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

"One Blog to rule them all, One Blog to find them,
One Blog to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"

OK, so not really, but you guys enjoy some of my really bad rushed humor now and again, right? It's true though, you have to admit that. Incredibly true...why has nobody even come up with that cheesy line? I digress...

Let's get to some points that I've observed on that blog and some pointed out by you guys.

1. Growling will make any ~~horse obey~~ person become a horse behavior expert.

Not today will this happen, or tomorrow, or the next day. As somebody put what I should have been able to figure out on my own from what I had written before in the comments, it is what a horse is raised with or used to. Can a horse become accustomed to a new sound or form of punishment? You bet your hay barns they can. You associate it with the right response and most horses should begin to pick it up. We have our exception horses as we all do, but they're a horse of a different kind.

Still, growling at a horse who was taught that a single click (or any other cue) meant get away, and you may have a horse who is about to go people riding instead. Escalation cues can vary as well. A more sensitive horse may not need the same level of cue to back away as another. I think we can all understand that most cues are not universal. A spur-stop is not going to be understood by an eventer, just as an eventer isn't going to understand neck reining on the level a western trained horse would. I know it's not a sound based example, but you get where I'm going.

Still, if you are interested in growls, there's a book there for you.


http://todayilearnabout.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html About

2. Top 5 ~~doesn't mean a lot~~ is still super awesome when there are 6 competitors.

http://timelessandtreasured.blogspot.com/2009/08/hore-show-2009.html

Come on, we all do this. Nobody knows your dirty little secret about your 3rd place schooling ribbon that you got in a class of 4. E'erybody down in Lincoln Park knows the truth about your 5th place win. It's all well and great when it's you and for fun, it's another when you are trying to promote a stallion who you have potential plans to breed one day. Everyone starts somewhere, but don't be a rooster with an empty hen house. 2 people got disqualified, and who knows where they would have placed if they hadn't. Nothing bad on ABRA, but don't go bragging about it either when your competition may not have been that hard to compete with to begin with. In fact, if we know that don't even say he got 5th.

3. Don't practice what you preach.

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/practice-what-you-preach/

We all know she said she'd geld him if he didn't get his ROM, but let's get something straight. He still has no ROM and he still has bullocks. We all know she goes after color breeders and anything else that even resembles what she is doing now, but we've still yet to even see her follow through on her own words to her readers. My prediction? He'll age to 6, 7, 8, and we'll still be working on that ROM. Meanwhile...

4. I didn't do it, my followers did.

http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2008/04/word-of-day-duncan-face.html

This is the most basic and essential rule that must be followed. You posted a blog with information (biased and unfounded are a must most of the time) and you gave your little rant. Great. But don't play dumb when your followers go on Cujo's warpath and feign innocence. We all know what's going to happen, and you have more control over them than you act like you have. Thought: Try posting something that doesn't have or link to personal info of any kind. We're not looking for serial killers here. These people aren't MIA. They're often already in trouble if not 2 steps away from it. The other side of the U.S. does not need your opinions on how to handle the situation.

Bonus points if the person being harassed is under 10, though it only works on her blog.

5. I write for the #1 horse magazine ~~subscribed by people who don't know better.~~

http://www.discountmags.com/product/5978/horse-illustrated

I used to have HI once. It was free and they messed up the trial and put me in for a full year with no charge. Might want to invest in a little brain trust. I ended up looking at the breed profiles for the most part myself, but in no way did I really take any of it to heart. I was also *gasp* 16/17 and had gotten my first horse around that time. Oh, the care paranoia...

Still, #1 doesn't mean the best. People like easy reading. I like it now and again, I'll admit. Still, how much more distributed is HI compared to other magazines? I personally see HI and H&R and that's about it. When people think it's the only thing out there, you sort of have some heavy bias. Wal-Mart is the #1 supermarket because they are everywhere. Doesn't mean Food Pyramid isn't just as good or better in some cases.

I also have that issue...and you can get the magazine for $1 a month. I can't even get that good a deal on Discover magazine.

OK, so I got a little ranty in the middle. School has started and you guys needed a new post so badly. Enjoy whatever on earth I was trying to get to up there.

Side Notes:

WARNING!

The link to this video is highly highly highly graphic in the sense of severe animal cruelty going on. Watch at YOUR OWN RISK. If any of you have information on who this girl is, please contact the appropriate authorities to handle this matter. Do not post any information you may have here or anywhere else. The goal is to I.D. the person(s) involved and have them dealt with by the appropriate people.

Link- Girl Throwing Puppies in a River

Conformation Station

2010-08-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks. We're going to give this a try. I'm going to provide you with pictures of a horse sans breed, discipline, and anything that isn't just a horse. Your job? Critique the horse to your best ability. For some additional details you can add:

Potential discipline
Breeding worth
Strengths
Breed guess
Age guess
Whether or not you'd purchase
Etc.

I will be posting a link back to the source of the pictures since we are using them. I ask you simply do not click it until you're done and have posted a comment. You don't want to spoil it for yourself, would you? Also, if I find out that the source link is being abused in any way, I will simply stop doing these. You know what I mean by abuse, too. Now, on to the pictures!

Click Images to Enlarge

Source Link

The Chain of Questions

2010-08-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

From http://www.re-picture.info/blog/repictureblog.html

Who are we to say that our way is necessarily the right way when it comes to raising and dealing with animals? Animal lovers alike share many things with others like them, but no two go about raising or handling them the same way. Is barefoot better than the shoed? Nobody can truly say, for each animal varies in its responses to the practices we submit them to, nor does each practice remain just like the rest.

What about going as far as demonizing every person who doesn't do what you do? Does the barefooter begin spreading hatred about the one who shoes, giving out all the potential evils of shoeing? Does the other do the same for the barefooter? Do we go as far as posting numbers, pictures, and e-mails about these people so that only the bad stands out? It certainly raises a chain of questions and a story we are all too familiar with.

Animals deserve as much basic essential care as anyone else, but what happens when that said horse cannot be ridden, cannot eat properly anyone, cannot move freely, or cannot provide in the business they were a part of? We all know basic business principles, and how the goal is to maintain a steady flow of business and income in order to continue on with the said business.

The name 'horse industry' itself denotes that horses themselves can be a business, and like all things the old mares and stallions must go to make way for the new generation who can still work and continue on. What becomes of those said animals who can no longer provide for their owners? Do we euthanize them, which it turn creates a host of bills from vet calls, proper disposal, backhoe rental, etc. Do we take them to the auction where the prospect they will be taken by a kill buyer and leave with the only money spent being in gas? From a business perspective, the latter looks and can be a lot cheaper than the former.

Say these horses do end up being taken by the kill buyer. Are the people who left these horses monsters who deserve to be treated like dirt, or are they acting upon a different perspective such as money, potential use of horse for food, etc.? Is slaughter the great demon many have made it out to be, or have we created it ourselves by banning it here for good? Then do we continue to chastise the people who left their horses to the kill pen when those who took away our chance to make it more regulated took that chance away? Do they truly treat the animals in the way that we are told by these groups, or are we being subjected to look through the wrong end of the telescope so what we see is small and the truth gets farther away?

These are all questions we must ask ourselves, and actions we carry out personally. What you choose to do is your own right, but to smear others in disagreement is no way to go about the day. Privacy and information has become a sensitive issue today, and to respect it is to respect others a little more.

So what are your views?
Alternatives?
Etc?

Um What?

2010-07-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

Honestly, this is just a hold post. I'm currently still gone on vacation + I get to go home and play move into the apartment/start school game so I cannot exactly get everything too too together right now. Internet resources are limited, plus it's buggery slow. So yeah, the summer of chaos continues. Why the picture? Because somebody's crazy has to be funny.

In all seriousness, I need to gather together some info because something is going down in the comments that I cannot sort out to save my life. Maybe it's because I get on to check when most of the populous is asleep and I'm about to go to bed, or I just fail at basic comprehension (OK, so it's this) so I'm asking somebody to gather the alphabet soup and start spelling things out for me. From my lack of basic comprehension I'm reading on the Fugly Blog, I'm feeling like I'm getting a big dose of hypocrite in between a "Yeah, we know what they did was wrong." Maybe I should just go read there and get it sorted out before I make a legit post.

I'll try and get something together if I can. In the meantime go do something productive like...stuff. I also promise if I do get something up, it won't be so terrible/casual. Until then, go forth and spread chaos, panic, and disorder...or just let your cat into some catnip. You'll get the same results.

Helping Out

2010-06-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

While Miss Fuggles is out doing her thing, I thought since I have not done an adoptable of the month due to a busy life that I'd do something different this time. We all know what is happening in the Gulf, and that it isn't going to go away soon. I am unsure how many of you live along the coastline or in the general area, but if you could spread the word on how to help many birds who may not be in current areas of focus that would do wonders for the local wildlife.

Currently, e-bird is asking people who see animals in distress to report them to their website. Even if you are not a birder, going out is still a great help. To help determine species, Sibley's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America is a fabulous resource to use and has advice to help I.D. birds that may look similar to others. If you have a good memory, then Cornell has a good regular guide if you wish to do your I.D. work at home. If you are already and expert birder and can I.D. without one, more the help.

E-bird has a special section devoted to the identification of oil spill birds, so they will not be grouped with the regular collection as found on the site. For more information visit here.

If any of you have anymore sites that could let others help despite distance, that would be great and I will add it to this one. I am aware this has nothing to do about horses, but I know how much we all love animals and want to do all we can to help those who need our help for a time.

All I ask if that if you do happen to go out there, please do not try to handle these animals yourself. Remember these are wild creatures in distress. The last thing they need is a good heart with no experience. Doing your part is well enough to help them.

More ways to help:

Donate fur/hair for eco-friendly clean-up - Here's how.

Dawn Saving Wildlife - Info - Activate Donation

Report oiled wildlife to 1-866-557-1401. Messages checked hourly.

Have links? Post them in the comments and I'll update the post to include them.

Photo from http://audubonoffloridanews.org/

How to Make an Effective Abuse/Neglect Report

2010-05-28T12:17:00.001-07:00

British Heavy Coloured Cob

More from the greatness that is Grainne Dhu!

How to Make an Effective Abuse/Neglect Report
by Grainne Dhu

Okay, you've seen a situation that you feel is clearly abusive or
neglectful, you've identified the person responsible as clearly as you
can and you've identified the correct agency to make a complaint to.

The content of your complaint can have a significant effect on how
seriously it is taken. Many years ago, I was involved in two different
puppy mill seizure cases and I learned a lot about effective testimony
from watching the prosecutor. An effective complaint can make the
difference between changing the situation for the animal and being
round-filed.

First of all, it's important to clearly differentiate between what you
actually saw for yourself and what you conjecture may have happened
out of your sight. If you see someone shanking a horse as they walk
behind the barn, hear some sort of commotion from that direction and
then see that person leading the horse back lathered up and flinching
away from the handler's hand, you can describe all that. You cannot
describe how they beat the horse with a whip because that's
conjectural, you didn't see it. You can, however, say "I didn't see
what happened while the horse was out of my sight behind the barn but
the sounds I heard and the horse's condition afterward made me think
that the horse had been beaten while out of my sight."

Quantify, quantify, quantify! Note your own position as you witnessed
the event(s), where the event occurred, how far away it was, the date,
the time of day, whether that time is an approximation or whether you
looked at a clock to ascertain it, the ambient conditions
(temperature, humidity, precipitation, etc), how many people you saw,
whether you knew those people from previous acquaintance, feel you
could identify them again, etc. Describe what the person was wearing
as clearly as you can.

If you see someone striking an animal, don't just say "she was beating
on that dog." Describe how the person was striking the dog (open hand?
closed fist? object?) and a count or estimate of how many blows were
involved. Describe the dog's reaction to the beating, whether the dog
was cringing, yelping, trying to escape, etc. Describe the force the
blows by including the clues that let you know how heavy they were;
for instance, a kick that landed hard enough to move both the dog's
hind feet, a punch that landed hard enough on the dog's head to knock
the dog's front end to the ground, etc.

British Heavy Coloured Cob

In neglect cases, it's much better to describe than to diagnose. For
example, a report that says "the horse's ribs are prominent, the
horse has lost the fat pads along the top of the spine on the back, I
could see the individual spinal processes, the tailhead lacked fat and
was clearly visible above the hindquarters and the horse's neck has a
significant dip along the top side due to loss of normal fat deposits"
is far more effective than saying "the horse has a body condition
score of 2 to 2.5."

If you are reporting neglect, it's often a matter of showing a pattern
of neglect because otherwise the neglectful person could claim "I just
bought the horse in this condition." Keep a log and write down
everything relevant. Keep in mind the principle that if you don't
write it down, it didn't happen. Show or share your log with other
people to help bolster your case; if you keep a computer log, it's
easy to email the entries to one or two trusted friends.

If your contacts with the abusive/neglectful owner leads you to
believe they are not normal, be sure to describe as clearly as
possible what they say or do that leads you to that conclusion. Avoid
assigning a motive or diagnosis like "she acts like she is a hoarder"
or "she clearly doesn't care." Describe how the person laughs
inappropriately, makes statements that are irrelevant to your stated
concerns or has an unusually intense reaction.

An effective report comes down to painting a picture in words so that
the person reading your report feels they were there. The more details
you can include, the more effectively you will convey what happened
and the more likely it is that your complaint will be taken seriously.

In Agreement

2010-05-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

A beautiful appy for Fern
The question for today is: What points do you agree with FHOTD on?

Show us why YOU don't get burned out!

2010-05-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

Rick James horse

I though that everyone one might need a good laugh today. This is a quote from today's article, 'Show us why YOU don't get burned out!', from FHOTD:

Someone asked yesterday how you can be involved in rescue and not get burned out by all the negative things you see, and all of the animals you cannot help….I don’t get burned out because I pay attention to the positive outcomes

.

We all know that Fugs doesn't get burned out because she doesn't do anything. The rescues do the work and Fugs is not involved.

Horse Racing

2010-05-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

In the struggle for change there are tools at our disposal that have proven effective over the decades. One such tool is voicing a grievance by letter or phone call which is a powerful tool in any arsenal and, for this reason, needs to be part of a well orchestrated campaign. Failure to do so, as we have seen with a recent FHOTD post, will ultimately work against the horse rescue cause. I hold anyone not showing restraint equally responsible for the deaths of horses as the owner who dumped the horse.

To see how to effectively use a grievance campaign and to understand how it can go terribly wrong we first need to understand the circumstances surrounding rescue work. Justsayingfubb was kind enough to get this statement from a race horse owner which describes horse retirement in the racing industry:

From another owner trainer

What we are seeing in the Thoroughbred industry is a higher level of awareness. Over the last ten years or so people have learned that just giving a horse away doesn't guarantee it a good home for life, chances are it will end up in a slaughterhouse. While there will always be people working with horses that just don't care where a horse ends up if they are handed a few hundred bucks, those people are thankfully quickly becoming the minority. Most racetracks have instituted anti-slaughter policies, with Suffolk Downs' being the best so far. Racetracks in many states now deduct money from purses earmarked for TB rescue, and rehabilitation. Philadelphia Park has a barn where horses can be placed if the owners no longer want them. The horses are retired, and re-homed. There is a remarkable number of people going to low end auctions every week to find TB's and save them from killer buyers.

A rescue would have to realize that not all racehorses can be rehabilitated, or re-homed, and be willing, for the good of certain individual horses, to euthanize. Someone very experienced with racehorses should be consulted in those instances. The Thoroughbred industry leads all other breeds in rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing of ex-racehorses. Most people in racing love their horses, and want to see them live long, happy lives after their racing careers are over.

An anonymous poster described the effects on TB rescue as a result of FHOTD's recent failed attempt at voicing grievances:

…I am very, very angry that Cathy Atkinson's latest temper tantrum has closed off our access to the TB's... we were already crippled by not being able to 'flip lips' and check out the pedigree's. every single time we tried to advertise these beautiful, well bred, horses the past owners, no matter how far back or innocent, were harassed by nasty phone calls...So we stopped posting pedigrees to protect past owners. Now, because of the Frisco thing...all of the phone calls to the past owners and trainers and even the track officials - The FLO has closed off all access to the TB's - Doesn't matter that Cathy Atkinson screwed up, doesn't matter that her follower's didn't know what they were talking about. It doesn't even matter that no one knows what they were trying to accomplish..All that matters to me is that the FLO has decided that we won't be allowed access to the TB's anymore and there's nothing we can do about it..All of the TB's will be shipped to the Slaughterhouse,..period, full stop..They will still be dumped, but no one will see them, no one will be able to help them and not a darned thing has been gained..There must have been a 'point', but I'm just not seeing it...So any explanation by 'wiser' minds would be gratefully appreciated.

To summarize, it is suffice to say that FHOTD effect on horse rescue has been disastrous. She has started a campaign without knowledge of the industry or consideration of consequences. This has resulted in her followers harassing individuals to the extent that they no longer want to work with rescues and Fugly has greatly sabotaged rescue attempts which has cost many horses their lives. It is truly sad to see the energy of her followers working against horse rescue when we could imagine the change for the better that could have been possible if their energies had be properly used. The best advice for those who read FHOTD is to join a rescue group and put your energies there rather than relying on Fugly for direction.

Now, hold it a minute!

2010-05-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Lorie Wigle IS a responsible horse owner

In the article "Dear Racehorse Owners of America" FHOTD outs Lorie Wigle for dumping her horse Fritz at a feedlot. Apparently, Fritz raced Monday and in less than 24 hours ended up in a kill pen. FHOTD refuses to accept Wigle's response when she states," It is the usual “I gave him to someone who was going to retrain him.” Well, he was in the kill pen less than 24 hours later…. Ship-to-kill date was yesterday, Lorie." So, clearly FHOTD uses the timeline to establish culpability.

Now, just hold it a minute. Perhaps it's best to look at Lorie Wigle's statement. In response to FHOTD, Lorie Wigles says, "The entire thing is completely untrue. Fritz NEVER went to a slaughter facility. We gave him -- completely sound -- to someone who retrains race horses for second careers. The posting is a complete fake. The person we gave Fritz to apparently sold him to a woman who SAID she was going to train him as an English pleasure horse. Unfortunately her intention seems to be some sort of Internet scam.

If you visited my farm you'd find two 26 year-old mares, one of whom has been blind for 10 years and a gelding that I've nursed through a broken leg and two colic surgeries. I treasure my horses.

But a 3 year old would not be happy just being a pasture pony. As i said, Fritz is perfectly sound, he's an attractive horse and a real trier. I wanted him to have a chance to make someone a good riding horse. And I don't have the skills to complete that training. " I don't see anything in this statement that denotes an irresponsible owner, rather, caring for senior horses says a lot to me about accountability.

What is stated in Wigle's response is easy to verify with one trip to the farm or a phone call. Rather than do this, FHOTD has chosen to base her evidence solely on the 24 hour time line. Within 24 hours it is possible to buy a horse and drive it directly to the auction. The 24 hour window proves nothing.

Now, let's compare another time line. Within a five hour window it is possible for Fugs to write and publish an article citing Lorie Wigle for animal abandonment and encouraging an entourage of young people to attack race horse owners, trainers, and track owners. This group of track professionals are essential to the continued rehoming and retraining of ex-race horses. The rescue community relies on the goodwill of this group to continue receiving racehorses. The FHOTD article, if it has any effect, is to damage the relationship on which horses' live hinge. If there is culpability to be assigned for irresponsibility and the death of horses, then it lies firm on the shoulders of FHOTD and her followers.

I would like to thank justsayingfubb for contacting Lorie Wigle and getting her response. Well done, JSF!

Yep…that’s broke

2010-04-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

In a post titled 'Yep…that’s broke' FHOTD writes, "But putting the equivalent of an emergency brake in his mouth truly isn’t the answer. It works…for a while. And then he gets pissed and sore and starts running through it….Um, if you are THAT out of control, YOU ARE NOT READY TO JUMP!" Accompanying the article is a photo of a woman competing in jump class with a heavy bit and the horse flinging it's head in the air. The assumption of the article is that this is unnecessary and the horse can be retrained when she states, "I’ll tell you right now, there isn’t any way in the world that both you and your horse won’t get better at whatever it is you do by spending time with less artillery in his mouth." My answer to this is yes and no.

The determining factor is the level the horse is competing at as it dictates how the horse is trained, the amount of time spent in training, and the type of personality selected for training. In Grand Prix and up usually a more aggressive and hotter personality is selected for the advantages it gives to enhance the competitive edge. Often, upper level horses are shown in all types of contraptions to try to get the horse under control quickly during competition. There are horses shown in the hackamore and harsh bit combination. The reason for this isn't because the trainers and rider are incompetent or unknowledgeable, but that the horse is being trained "go for it". In most upper level competitions you could take a similar photograph of a horse flinging it's head etc. and it would not be considered an example of incompetence.

The above photo is of Eric Lamaze and Hickstead who recently won gold for Canada in the Olympics. Hickstead is wearing a strong bit, noseband, and martingale frequently found in show jumping. Hickstead, like many show jumping horses, avoids the bit by opening his mouth and tossing his head. He is by nature and training a difficult horse to slow down. At the upper levels there are no simple answers to running through the bit.

Similar situations can be found in racing and polo. A race horse is never trained to relax and have a quiet mind because it interferes with the horse's performance. Equally, polo presents the same training issues as racing and show jumping. Polo ponies wear a variety of noseband and bit combination in an attempt to control the horse and martingales are the norm. Why do polo players and upper level riders get a break for using such equipment?

A trainer of upper level horses would avoid training that would teach the horse to relax and be quiet as it would reinforce behavioural traits that are undesirable for competition. So, it depends on what your long term goals are. If you wish to have an all-around-horse then by all means train the horse to have two mind sets. The first is the quiet, in-hand mindset that is trained through classical dressage and the second is a 'go for it" mindset for competition. The earlier in the horse's life the training begins the better.

As for the woman featured on FHOTD, I'm sure she doesn't appreciate her picture plastered all over the web with an accompanying article suggesting incompetence. In truth, it's impossible to tell from the picture what is happening. The photo could be taken during an unusual hot mood for the horse or a shy where it is not a typical representation of the riders skill and the horse's training. When discussing quiet mind set training the author needs to consider all levels of competition and similar equipment used in polo. If the author suggests that this type of training is the only answer then she also needs to address how she would get horses like Hickstead over a course with a winning performance while solving the running through the bit problem. This scenario is complicated and has no easy answers.

Low Level Accountability

2010-04-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

Buck joins the circus

by GD
There's been some talk on the blog about financial accountability if
you're an individual taking donations for a specific horse, rather
than a recognised non-profit.

Accountability is pretty easy to meet on the informal level. First you
need to show how much you received in donations and then you need to
show how those funds were spent.

Accountability in funds received is easy. Ask each donor how they wish
to be recognised on your list of donations that you plan to post
publicly. If they do not wish to be identified by name or initials,
you can identify them as "anonymous" with their check number or last
four numbers of their PayPal receipt (without a lot more information
to go with it, that information is not enough to compromise anyone's
privacy). By publishing the list of donors, it provides proof of funds
received, particularly if the list is published in a forum where
people can respond with "oh, you forgot mine!"

Accountability for funds spent is also easy. Publish a list of
expenses, including vendor, date and price. Most people will be
satisfied with that but if you want to go an extra step, scan receipts
and place them on a website or offer to email them on request. If you
don't have a scanner, you can fiddle with your cell phone camera and
get pictures of them (light from the side is often more effective than
light from directly above in illuminating what is written on the
paper).

Every donor should receive an immediate acknowledgement of their
donation via email and a follow up thank you with a copy of the
scanned receipts (will usually fit onto one or two pages).

None of this requires much in the way of time or resources! It's very
simple to do but provides enough information that the situation is
clear to everyone involved.

Trainers

2010-04-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Percheron Going Grey

In a recent post FHOTD made seven points on how to find a trainer. What are your thoughts on the points and can you add to the list?

1. See the horses trained by a potential trainer. Look for sound, happy horses
2. Review the trainers barn policies and make sure that you have access to your horse.
3. Research the trainers history to see if they have been disciplined by an association or if they have a bad review online.
4. Go to the barn to see if the horse there are health and happy.
5. Watch how the trainer treats their clients and horses at shows and under pressure
6. Don't expect results if you trainer-hop
7. It's cheaper to buy a fully trained horse than to a hire a trainer for inexperienced horse.

Kaede made an excellent suggestion where she states,

"…she doesn't seem to take into consideration the riders skill and innate talent.
 One Saddlebred Show trainer I know spends a great deal of time bringing a horse down to the level of their rider. Taking a Park horse down to country pleasure type thing. For you huntseat folk, it would be like taking an Rolex eventer down to HUS. This does the horse no harm,and hopefully the rider and the horse can be retrained together."

She's correct when she points out that they trainer must understand the skill level of the rider and thoroughly understand who they are training for.

One approach that I do agree with is that in classical dressage the trainer trains the mind of the horse as well as the body. The end result should be a highly responsive, healthy, athletic horse with a quiet mind. We are often taught that we should adapt to the horse's personality and ride what's there. But, I feel that the majority of riders need a trainer that understands the development of the quiet mind. There is a great deal of skill involved in developing a solid trail horse. I think that the majority does not want to fight and manage difficult behaviour on a regular basis. Any thoughts?

April Adoptable

2010-04-11T09:34:00.001-07:00

Since we seem to be on a draft horse kick around here, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. The horse to your left is maybe appropriately named Bertha. Hopefully the $1,800 tag still isn't too much. If you compare her to last month's, I'm sure she'll look really affordable.

Bertha is a 17.0hh, 1995 model with a docked tail. Apparently she has been used mainly for trail riding and has a fairly laid back attitude. While it is stated that she does have a tendency to be a bit slow, I'm sure somebody with some meaning behind their oomph could ellicit a canter quickly with no issue. She stands quietly for the farrier, loads, clips, and loves baths. If you are in the Port Deposit, Maryland area, she may be worth looking at.

Conspiracy Theories

2010-04-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

A number of readers have mentioned that Fugly is making excuses for breeding her horse while not having a show record or prizes. I sincerely doubt that any one showing or judging horses knows who Fugly is as experienced equestrians tend to read sources that have more detailed and knowledgeable information. Considering that someone else is showing her horse for her then how is it possible that anyone knows that this is her horse and that there is a conspiracy against her? Like many others, I believe that she's making excuses for her imminent failure.

Conspiracy Theories
by Anonymous
And here we start with the justifications about why she will stud out BYC when he doesn't have a ROM.

FHOTD said...
I’ve already been informed, through intermediaries of course – (pussies!) – that my horse WILL NOT be placed because I DARE to speak out about those who do wrong in the show ring.

FHOTD said...
"My horse really is that good, but it was politics that kept him from winning. Therefore I am justified breeding him even though he doesn't meet the qualifications I expect everyone else to meet before they breed their studs."

It would be sad it it weren't so freaking predictable.

Canadian Slaughter Plants

2010-04-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

FHOTD recently commented on Canadian Slaughter Plants. I would be great to get an opinion from someone with experience in a Canadian slaughter plant. (drum roll) Take it away sunshine and butterflies...

by sunshine and butterflies

She has never stood on a Canadian kill floor. I have.

She has never watched animals load ONTO a Canadian kill floor. I have.

She has never watched the butcher's wife LAY INTO a farmer for transporting his cows in a less-than-adequate trailer and refuse to take any more of his stock until he shapes up. I have.

She has never recovered the carcass of a 4H cow, sold legally at auction, off the railroad tracks after some Animal Welfare Advocates set it free. My husband has.

She clearly has never pet a tame horse, wearing a smock covered in cow blood as it entered the gates, NOT panicked by the sight or smell. Been there too.

She has never reviewed the published Canadian slaughterhouse/abbatoir regulations, and discussed each point with a real, live slaughterhouse owner. I have, cover to cover.

She has never studied the mechanics of a captive bolt gun, nor observed it in use. Real scientists have, and their results differ from the "studies" released by non-scientists at Animal Welfare groups.

She has never, EVER visited slaughterhouses that use rifles at close range to kill animals, because if she had, she'd shut up about the captive bolts...they AREN'T THAT POPULAR, even at factory slaughterhouses.

She has never spoken to a butcher about the few times a kill failed. In his 30 year history. That he remembers, each and every one. Heard about how critically dangerous it is when that happens and how IMMEDIATELY it is resolved...

I could go on. I like a lot of things about fugly, especially how she is a real rider, about on par with where many of us are (if we are honest about our own flaws) and she has the common sense about a lot of horsey things that people like me appreciate. WE DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY in our knowledge and opinions on the Canadian slaughter industry.

That would have paid Hercs board!

2010-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Andalusian of the baroque type

by Justsayingfubb

This was the one that pissed me off... Fubbs was told over and over this mare wasnt in foal but noooo "SEND MONEY SAVE HER" she cried...and now this update....
I have to include an update/brag about Exclusive Report, aka Hope. You will remember her from this blog entry. I saw her in the kill pen and flipped out because she just screamed quality and you all know how I am about red mares. Oh, and we were all sure she was heavy in foal – it actually took two separate vets to convince us otherwise because she has major broodie belly! Anyway, so this gorgeous mare whinnied at me and said, HEY, get me out of here and with the help of some very kind donors, we did.

2 Vets to convince you? That would have paid Hercs board! Fubbs put your money where your mouth is.. You bitch about CBER and yet you defend SOS who lets ABR bail the horses then lets them sit for years now in 12x12 mud pens, adopts sick and lame horses as children's mounts when they have been assessed in a alleyway bareback w/ halter WTF is the real story there? Oh yeas they pay you for ads.
Remember your mantra if you adopt a horse dont cry for $$ after you adopt it? Why is it OK for you? And who the hell is "we" you have no cred with SAFE or Ponyup so who is WE???

Vanners, Fluff, and Fatties on gaited horses

2010-04-04T21:20:00.001-07:00

From FHOTD
FHOTD back in: See, I tell you, there is something with all those baroque breeds that is just a magnet for crazy. Gaited horses attract obese people who want to ride the crap out of them as 2 year olds, and baroque breeds attract pretentious, crazy women! I’m not saying you’re all crazy, but folks, Friesians and Vanners have a magnetic force field that attracts loonies like Wal-Mart attracts people with interesting fashion sense.   Later that same day... fhotd says: April 4, 2010 at 2:40 pmSometimes I really feel like I need to present a venn diagram with my post for some of you:  Just because type of horse A attracts type of person B does not mean that is ALL it attracts.  Obviously, some of you are perfectly sane. But it is a fact that whenever I encounter a story like Genevieve’s, dollars to donuts the person is going to be involved with one of the following:  1. Friesians 2. Gypsy Vanners 3. Something else with a lot of mane. I.E. Arabians  Whereas every time I encounter a story where someone is more just shady and evil in a business sense – sane, but rotten – they are likely to be involved with a stock breed or Thoroughbreds.   I am fairly certain that if I made a chart from the beginning of this blog, we could show this pattern. I am not picking on anyone’s breed in particular, or anyone’s discipline, as you should all know by now. I’m merely stating that every breed has its cross to bear and fluffy horses tend to get delusional women whose don’t live in reality and whose web sites includes a lot of talk about their dreams and magikal horses and associated claptrap.  So, if you’re a sane person with fluffy horses, obviously this does not apply to you so why would you be offended by it?

Aggression and Dominance

2010-04-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

thehorse.com has a special online edition addressing dominance and aggression issues. It covers the full range of origins from personality, learned behaviour, insecurity, hormones etc. and how to deal with them.

Rescue Guidlines

2010-04-02T13:23:00.001-07:00

Grey Percheron

by BrownEyed Cowgirls
Here is my issue with rescues...

Especially when they take on horses like Herc...

This is a horse that probably is (according to the comments made about him and repeated here) a dangerous horse. Yes, he can be nice. But then he flips. Those are the kind of horses that will hurt someone, long before something that acts poorly all of the time.

If rescues truely want to show people the kind of responsibility they are 'supposed' to have, then they need to start making a lot tougher decisions about the horses they rescue.

The fugly commentor mantra is breeding regulations. Okay, so if breeders need to be regulated, then rescues need to be regulated too.

No more emotional drama surrounding 'saving' this horse or that horse.

Rescues are welcome to take in or 'save' any horse they chose, but...

If they rescue a horse that ends up being permanently crippled and unrideable...it must be euthanized irregardless of how young or old it is. Twelve months is plenty of time to determine whether a horse is ever going to be sound or not. Hey, if we want to be kind, we can give them an additional 12 months to try to adopt the horse out. Failing that...buu-bye.

Horses over a certain age, say 20 or 22, and have been starved and/or require more than basic medical attention and/or are probably permanently crippled...must be euthanized immediately.

Any horse rescued over the age of 3 must go into training-within 6 months if they are sound or at the end of 12 months if they are not sound at the time of rescue.

Any horse deemed dangerous or unrideable must be euthanized. I would say that giving the horse 6 months to perhaps adjust to better treatment, but then they must go into training from 6-12 months. At the end of 12 months and they are not better..buuu-bye.

And for god's sakes...Stop with the heroic efforts...begging for money for broken legs, massive injury or stupidly expensive surgeries? Enough already! That money is better spent on actually saving something that has a more probable future.

Here is the way I look at it, Herc's owner never should have been 'outed'. She did not do anything illegal. The horse was not starved and it was obvious an attempt had been made to correct his lameness issue. The owner tried to sell him, tried to give him to a rescue and obviously did not feel the need to lay the horse to rest on her property. She is NOT the one who labeled the horse 'kill only'. His buyer did. Of course, fugs came up with the ridiculous assertation that the whole reason Herc was mean was because he had had a shock collar used on him. Pulled that one right out of her ass, I'd bet money on it.

Irregardless, the horse was purchased by a rescue and they didn't even have $500 to have a few x-rays run on him and they have been begging for money for the damn horse every since? How are they any more responsible than the previous owner? Now they want to farm him out?

Riiighhhttt!

How about they start showing some responsibility here and just put the horse down?

He's mean, he's lame and now they want to pawn him off on some poor sob to take care of for the next decade or so?

Nope-they 'rescued' him. They need to be responsible for their decision. He is not a suitable horse for the average owner and trying to place him is irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

APRIL 2, 2010 9:41 AM

Ideas

2010-03-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

"Well Done BHM, Well Done."

Thanks Anon. for your kind words. It made my day. In reality I'm the facilitator and have limited input into the content. Most of the material is written by the members of this blog and it's they who should be congratulated. If I was to write this blog readers would be passing out from boredom.

I would like to encourage readers to post articles and direct me to a Fugly thread that you would like to see posted on this blog for discussion. I feel that this blog can also be educational so please submit your ideas. Ideas are always welcome and will be addressed in a respectful way. I changed the blog caption in hopes to better reflect the sentiment of the readership. We can thank a brilliant Anon for the caption suggestion.

Capstone Stables

2010-03-26T10:05:00.001-07:00

Percheron Foal

A brilliant Anon. took it upon herself to write to Capstone Stables and express her regret over the abuse that they've received from Fugs and her followers. This is a great idea to counteract the nastiness that FHOTD spews. I attempted to contact Capstone but it the email didn't go through so I created this thread for those of you who would like to send positive message but can't get through.
http://www.capstonetrainingstables.com

Shock Collars

2010-03-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Schwartwalder Fuch

From FHOTD:

More “natural” horsemanship! Complete with shock collars!
Seriously. Are you kidding me?
In case they take the entry down, it is about a mare who beats up a gelding in the pasture (no, really?). Julie actually states:
“There is one sure-fired method of curing aggressive horses and I have used it a few times for this purpose. It is a shock collar. It straps around the horse’s neck and is operated off a remote control, issuing a mild and brief shock when you push the button on the remote. Shocking her for her two or three times for her unwarranted and dangerous behavior would probably be all it would take to permanently resolve her of the aggressiveness.”
Oh my GOD … you did NOT just tell people who sound totally like beginners (they were wondering if aggression toward a horse could develop into aggression toward humans) to use a SHOCK COLLAR on a HORSE, did you?
YES. YES, you DID.
Folks, I’m not kidding. It’s not like I’M digging the hole Natural Horsemanship is burying itself in. I’m simply repeating the stuff they put on their own websites, in their own newsletters, and on their own DVD’s. This advice could go wrong in about 16,456 ways. I cannot imagine any kind of normal traditional trainer suggesting anything like this. I mean, it sort of sounds like it belongs in some blog about Shady Halter Horse Trainers – but no, it’s right there in the “Natural” Horsemanship newsletter!
Julie goes on to explain how she has used a shock collar in the past:
“It is intended for use with extreme behavior that is harmful to horse, humans and/or property and it is highly effective. I’ve used it for stall and trailer kickers, for aggressive horses and for a tantrum throwing horse, who threw a wall-eyed destructive tantrum any time you’d take his buddy away. In most cases, one or two training sessions resolved the bad behavior; for the tantrum thrower, it took a few more”
Again, OMG. You just suggested dealing with a herd-bound, freaked out horse with a SHOCK COLLAR? You know, I don’t get why you and Linda Parelli have so much trouble dealing with a herd-bound, distracted horse. I kind of feel like someone just needs to make you both work at a Thoroughbred breeding farm for a while and deal with broodmares without your handy-dandy sticks, collars and whatever else to help you. Really, it’s amazing how the rest of us can and do deal with these behaviors without it turning into a big stupid drama. I just growl at them, back them up a few steps every time they get stupid, and they figure out that acting like a twit results in getting growled at and made to back up. As for stall and trailer kickers, there is this amazing invention called kicking chains that has been around for probably fifty years. They don’t even require you to be there watching to work – awesome huh? By the way, I’ve typically found most stall kicking can be cured with (a) enough turnout and (b) not putting the horse next to a horse they hate in the barn. You might want to try those tips first before you break out the shock collar!
Oh, and aggressive mares are often turned into sweet mares with Regumate – another totally humane method you might want to try before you start shocking them!
See, this is just another classic example of how stupid all of this is. Using an e-collar to deal with any of this is like using a nuclear bomb to weed your lawn. It’s not necessary. I guarantee you that I can fix anything a horse might do on the ground without any tools, sticks or gimmicks. So can a large percentage of my readers. It’s really not that special a gift. Beginners, there are no tricks that will give you these talents. There is only experience – and I guarantee you that you aren’t going to learn anything from putting a shock collar on a horse except how to pay vet bills and fix your fence.
Now, Natural Horsemanship Defenders – PLEASE explain to me how an e-collar is NATURAL? Is that like lightning striking from above if God sees you do something bad?
Gosh, I wish my Crabby Old Bat were still alive — ’cause she was extremely pasture aggressive to other horses and humans she did not care for and she’d have taught Julie a lesson or two about that e-collar bullshit. That would have made for one awesome pay-per-view special for our friends at Really Fucking Dumb TV!
On a more serious note, I know that you good trainers are busy with actual client horses, but could one of you PUH-LEEEEZE do a video series showing people how to effectively create ground manners, deal with bucking, deal with barn sour behavior, etc. without all of this silly nonsense? PLEASE? If you do, and it’s good, I will advertise it for free on this blog. I am freaked out at the fact that beginners do not seem to have any GOOD advice out there to go by. Why doesn’t a successful hunter/jumper or dressage trainer do a series of videos that also show ground work and creating ground manners? Or a successful reining or cutting horse person? Someone? Anyone? If it exists, tell me about it – if I watch it and I like it, you can bet I’ll plug it. I am just so sick of terrible advice being given to beginners! And the beginners are baffled about where to find good advice. Do they have videos showing the Pony Club stuff?

Animal Rights vs Animal Welfare.

2010-03-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

The Schwartzwalder Fuch Coldblood

I don't believe Cathy understands the difference between Animal Rights vs Animal Welfare..

Animal Welfare is about treating animals humanely.

Animal Rights is about animals being viewed as non-human persons.

If the latter is so, how will the courts deal with a horse who bites and injures another horse. Humans have the ability to reason morally, I don't think horses (or most non human animals) do.

If Cathy is advocating Animal Rights, then logically she can't breed BYC. That would be using an animal for human

Fubbs takes girl's ribbon away

2010-03-16T11:17:00.001-07:00

Justine Jevon riding a Shire

by Kaede

Did anyone else read today's Fugly blog? Cathy was very upset about what she perceived as cheating. A girl on a appy entering a novice walk trot class at a schooling show and winning a blue.   Cathy "Yep. Ms. Breed Show Appy proceeded to win yet another blue ribbon, taking a chance for a ribbon away from the kids in nylon bridles, the genuinely green horses and the adult riders who were in there for the very first time. So you know what we’re gonna do today? We’re gonna talk about how much that sucks on this blog! :)"  She seems more upset than usual about this type of cheating. Normally she gives short shrift to 4-H and schooling shows. I tried to think why she would be so upset about a scrap of blue ribbon. Then I noticed the show was in the same area that I believe BYC is in, Redmond WA.   I looked at Capstone stables website that there were lots of trivia (little kind hot wearing hunt caps!) that she normally gets all hot and bothered about, that she let by without mentioning.  Sooo, Do you think that this horse beat out BYC? That maybe she will have to put up (Geld) or shut up ?   Any opionions?

2010-03-11T08:07:00.000-08:00

Finding An Instructor

by Grainne Dhu

It can be tricky finding an instructor, no matter if your interest is
riding, dancing, dogs, music or whatever. Anyone can put their shingle
up as an instructor or teacher, with very little in the way of
regulation. I've often been asked how to find an instructor in my own
particular field of expertise. I think most of my recommendations
apply to finding an instructor in any field.

1) Look for someone who genuinely likes humans. Too many people who
love horses would love to find a way to make a living around horses
and the idea of instructing immediately comes to mind. They don't
realise that instructing is mostly about working with other humans and
very little about working with horses.

2) Riding and teaching are two very different skills. A great rider
can be a terrible instructor and someone who doesn't ride can be a
good instructor. Look at how the instructor's students are performing.
That's what your situation is going to be! Does this instructor have
students who are doing well in the type of riding you are interested
in?

3) Listen to how the instructor talks about their students. Someone
who derides and bad mouths students to you is going to do exactly the
same thing behind your back as well.

4) Ask yourself if the instructor seems more invested in helping you
attain your personal goals or in helping you to attain the
instructor's goals. If you want to trail ride and occasionally show at
small local shows, you don't want an instructor who is determined to
turn you into the next dressage sensation. Will this instructor
support your goals if they do not match the instructor's desires?

5) Ask yourself if the instructor seems more concerned about your
horse's welfare than your own. You and your horse both need to be able
to work safely and comfortably. If you sense your horse's well being
is a higher priority to your instructor than your own well being, that
is a big red flag.

6) Make sure that your general philosophies of training are reasonably
well matched. For instance, if your instructor prefers to work every
problem out from on top of the horse and you feel that it's better to
work problems out on the ground first, you will find yourself in
conflict.

7) There is always more than one way to do something. Pose a couple
hypothetical questions in order to find out what happens if the first
suggestion won't work. A good instructor can come up with several
different ways to tackle the same problem... and none of those ways
should include "sell your horse and buy this one I just happen to have
in the barn!"

March Horse

2010-03-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

I cannot remember who suggested it, but this month's horse is for sale. This economy is bad for horse people trying to sell, but it's great for people who still have money and want to get into them. This month's mare would be an exceptional gal to have hanging around. I personally think it's awesome enough she looks like she is wearing a jousting mask with those eyes of hers.

She is located in Ostrander, Ohio, and her description reads as such:

"Beautiful 14 yr old, 16h snowcap Appaloosa mare by Wap’s Spot 2. Showing Training level, working First level. Ridden and shown by a junior rider for the last 18 mo. Regularly placed last show season. Will jump small fences and can be taken out on trail rides. Wowie is an agreeable mare and is good for the vet, farrier, etc. She travels well and is current on vaccinations and negative Coggins. Lifetime registrations with USEF and USDF as well as ApHC. Proven broodmare (colt ’05). Sadly for sale as I am downsizing. For more information please call or email Julie and Ron Clark, trainers at Maryhill Farm, Ostrander, OH. Price reduced as I really must sell her, to a good home only. Now asking $7000.00 neg."

For more information, take a look here.

HSUS

2010-02-26T04:26:00.000-08:00

Anonymous pointed out this great bit of information on HSUS from the Consumer Freedom site. FHOTD needs to stop supporting HSUS.

Today's featured draft horse is Laural's Powerful Paul (Shire).

7 Things You Didn't Know About HSUS

1) The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a “humane society” in name only, since it doesn’t operate a single pet shelter or pet adoption facility anywhere in the United States. During 2007, HSUS contributed only 3.64 percent of its budget to organizations that operate hands-on dog and cat shelters. In reality, HSUS is a wealthy animal-rights lobbying organization (the largest and richest on earth) that agitates for the same goals as PETA and other radical groups.

2) Beginning on the day of NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s 2007 dogfighting indictment, HSUS raised money online with the false promise that it would “care for the dogs seized in the Michael Vick case.” The New York Times later reported that HSUS wasn’t caring for Vick’s dogs at all. And HSUS president Wayne Pacelle told the Times that his group recommended that government officials “put down” (that is, kill) the dogs rather than adopt them out to suitable homes. HSUS later quietly altered its Internet fundraising pitch.
3) HSUS’s senior management includes a former spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), a criminal group designated as “terrorists” by the FBI. HSUS president Wayne Pacelle hired John “J.P.” Goodwin in 1997, the same year Goodwin described himself as “spokesperson for the ALF” while he fielded media calls in the wake of an ALF arson attack at a California veal processing plant. In 1997, when asked by reporters for a reaction to an ALF arson fire at a farmer’s feed co-op in Utah (which nearly killed a family sleeping on the premises), Goodwin replied, “We’re ecstatic.” That same year, Goodwin was arrested at a UC Davis protest celebrating the 10-year anniversary of an ALF arson at the university that caused $5 million in damage. And in 1998, Goodwin described himself publicly as a “former member of ALF.”
4) According to a 2008 Los Angeles Times investigation, less than 12 percent of money raised for HSUS by California telemarketers actually ends up in HSUS’s bank account. The rest is kept by professional fundraisers. And if you exclude two campaigns run for HSUS by the “Build-a-Bear Workshop” retail chain, which consisted of the sale of surplus stuffed animals (not really “fundraising”), HSUS’s yield number shrinks to just 3 percent. Sadly, this appears typical. In 2004, HSUS ran a telemarketing campaign in Connecticut with fundraisers who promised to return a minimum of zero percent of the proceeds. The campaign raised over $1.4 million. Not only did absolutely none of that money go to HSUS, but the group paid $175,000 for the telemarketing work.
5) Research shows that HSUS’s heavily promoted U.S. “boycott” of Canadian seafood—announced in 2005 as a protest against Canada’s annual seal hunt—is a phony exercise in media manipulation. A 2006 investigation found that 78 percent of the restaurants and seafood distributors described by HSUS as “boycotters” weren’t participating at all. Nearly two-thirds of them told surveyors they were completely unaware HSUS was using their names in connection with an international boycott campaign. Canada’s federal government is on record about this deception, saying: “Some animal rights groups have been misleading the public for years … it’s no surprise at all that the richest of them would mislead the public with a phony seafood boycott.”
6) HSUS raised a reported $34 million in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, supposedly to help reunite lost pets with their owners. But comparatively little of that money was spent for its intended purpose. Louisiana’s Attorney General shuttered his 18-month-long investigation into where most of these millions went, shortly after HSUS announced its plan to contribute $600,000 toward the construction of an animal shelter on the grounds of a state prison. Public disclosures of the disposition of the $34 million in Katrina-related donations add up to less than $7 million.
7) After gathering undercover video footage of improper animal handling at a Chino, CA slaughterhouse during November of 2007, HSUS sat on its video evidence for three months, even refusing to share it with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. HSUS’s Dr. Michael Greger testified before Congress that the San Bernardino County (CA) District Attorney’s office asked the group “to hold on to the information while they completed their investigation.” But the District Attorney’s office quickly denied that account, even declaring that HSUS refused to make its undercover spy available to investigators if the USDA were present at those meetings. Ultimately, HSUS chose to release its video footage at a more politically opportune time, as it prepared to launch a livestock-related ballot campaign in California. Meanwhile, meat from the slaughterhouse continued to flow into the U.S. food supply for months.
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/article_detail.cfm/a/184-7-things-you-didnt-know-about-hsus

How To Respond to Animal Abuse

2010-02-22T03:06:00.000-08:00

I believe that a correct response to irresponsible behaviour on a lesser scale, such as riding a yearly, is an informative yet not unfriendly letter. In these instances the person may not know. When I was young everyone had barbwire fences so I didn't learn than this was inappropriate fencing for a horse until a later. We all live and learn. But what about the abuser who doesn't call AC and let's their horses starve to death. How do you responded?

Here's an example: Someone starves or uses abusive training practices on horse. This person is tried and convicted so there no question about culpability. The person is not mentally ill and they are being callous to win prize money. Is it ok in this circumstance for the Fugly followers to send frank or abusive letters to the criminal? Where do you draw the line?

Economics of Training

2010-02-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

by Grainne Dhu

Comments were made on this blog that small trainers and dealers are
being squeezed out of the low end of the horse market by rescues. That
there is no profit in training a horse for pleasure/trail riding. Is
this true? And if it is true, is it a good or bad thing? Would a
change of recommendations away from "rescue a horse in danger" serve
any good purpose?

Cost and market value are often two different numbers. It may cost
more to produce a certain item than the market will pay for it, the
two numbers may be similar or it may cost markedly less to produce the
item than the market will pay. If you want examples of items in the
third category, walk into a Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is full of stuff that
costs much less to produce than the market value of the item. Is horse
training like that?

Well, let's see. Let's start with Jane Rider, who has the skills to
train a horse from untouchable to being a safe and steady ride on the
trail. The standard working week in the US is 40 hours, usually worked
in increments of 8 hours over 5 out of 7 days. Since horses need care
7 days a week, Jane's working hours should be no more than 5.7 hours a
day. Looks to me like Jane could work 6 horses a day (slightly less
than one hour per horse) if someone else does the grooming and cooling
out but that person doesn't work for free either! To keep this simple,
let's say that Jane does all care for the horses, so that means she
probably only has time to work 4 horses a day.

How much should Jane get paid for that? Well, someone who in engaged
in physical activity needs to eat more than a package of ramen a day.
They need health insurance because everyone needs health insurance and
because injuries are a predictable part of handling horses. She should
also have disability insurance, again because horses and injuries tend
to go together. She needs to be able to afford a vehicle because most
horses live in places without public transportation. She also needs to
be able to afford a place to live and enough money to live on
reasonably comfortably.

So, here's my (conservative) guesstimates as to the cost of all these
things. Nutritious food for one person for one month at $500. Health
insurance at $400. Disability insurance at $120. Vehicle payment,
$250. Rent or house payment on a one bedroom, $600. Utilities,
clothing, recreational expenses, $500. Sub total, $2,370 per month.
Taxes on all of that would run around 35%, so add $830 for a total of
$3200 per month.

Now, the horses also have expenses. They have to eat, they need to
have their hooves done, they need vet care. I'm arbitrarily going to
decide that stall board with part day turn out is $150 (feed
included), hooves $60 per farrier visit but since that is once every 8
weeks, the one month total is $30. Vet care, say one yearly visit for
routine care and one yearly visit to fix whatever stupid thing the
horse did for a total of $500 per year; divided into 12 months, that
is $40/month. Horse total is $220 per month.

Jane plus horse expenses total $3420 per month. Divided between the
four horses she can care for, that is $855 per horse.

Remember that goal of turning out a horse that is stable and safe to
trail ride? How long would it take Jane, who is a gifted rider, to
train a horse to do that?

Assuming that the horse comes to Jane halter trained and with adequate
ground manners but has never had a saddle on, has never been bridled
and has only a very vague idea of what "ho" means (he thinks it means
slow down slightly). I'll guesstimate that it takes Jane a week of
ground work to get this horse comfortable being saddled, bridled and
taught that "ho" means stop moving every single hoof. By the end of
the second week, Jane has taught him that weight on his back, having a
human swing around in different positions near and on top of him is
okay and that he really and truly will not fall over if he has to take
a step with a human weight on his back.

By the end of the third week, Jane has him walking under a rider with
the rudiments of turning and stopping. By the end of the fourth week,
Jane has him beginning to balance himself at a walk and through big
turns.

That's $855.

By the end of the fifth week, Jane has him trotting under saddle,
walking with good balance and able to do serpentines at a walk without
falling into the turns. By the end of the sixth week, Jane has him
cantering under saddle in big circles in both directions, trotting
with balance through serpentines and has done some riding with him at
a walk outside the arena, in a familiar area.

By the end of the seventh week, Jane has him working at w/t/c in both
directions and able to balance himself through turns. By the end of
the eighth week, Jane has him able to do a reasonably balanced halt
from a walk, a trot or a canter, able to do medium and large circles
at the trot and able to trot around outside the arena in a familiar
area.

That's $1710.

In the ninth week, Jane focuses on working outside the arena. She
walks him in new places, but trots and canters only in familiar areas.
In the tenth week, Jane starts riding him in the company of other
horses and seeks out simple obstacles like shallow creeks or a steep
slope to help him figure out how to navigate.

In the eleventh and twelfth weeks, Jane seeks out new situations and
sets up simple challenges like walking across a tarp on the ground,
stepping across rails on the ground, etc.

That's $2565.

Now, let's say that Jane started out with a four year old, low end
grade horse that may have had one grandparent that was a registered
QH. Hard to say from looking at him. His head is a little coarse, his
neck is adequate, he could use more shoulder angle, he's a whisper
high in the rear. Legs clean all around. But he does have a cute
little diamond shaped snip on his nose and he's got a naturally calm
disposition, such that even when really startled, his most extreme
reaction is to raise his head and stop moving until he can see what is
going on. Before Jane put three months into him, he was worth maybe
$500 at auction (people can't resist the cute little snip).

Horse and cost of training, $3,065.

So what is this horse's market worth? Anyone want to venture a guess?

I suspect that the market value of training is not nearly as much as
the cost of it. The hypothetical horse above could, I believe, be
fairly described as green broke, suitable for an intermediate rider.
He needs more hours under saddle and lots more experience to be
appropriate for beginner riders, although he does naturally have the
right sort of temperament.

Now say there's someone, Sally Trailrider, who has $3000 to spend on a
new horse. She's heard that if she goes to auction, she can get a
Quarter horse, Thoroughbred or Arab, complete with papers, minimal
training but a nice prospect. Or she could go to Jane Rider and get
the hypothetical horse who may have been worth $500 at auction before
he got all that training.

Does Sally have the skills to put the training into an auction rescue?
Maybe but looking at horse prices, I suspect not. Unridden horses are
worth less than horses that can be ridden through the ring.
Unfortunately, the difference is only a couple hundred dollars. Over
and over, when people talk about what they want in a horse, they
describe a horse that is, above all, bombproof.

Maybe Sally will be lucky and the auction horse turns out to be a well
trained horse that slipped through the cracks for some reason. The
auction horse will almost certainly fill the eye better than the
hypothetical low end grade horse, cute snip or not.

Does Sally really need a horse with good conformation? She rides 3
times a week, rarely more than an hour at a time and does very little
trotting or cantering. What she really enjoys is walking along out in
nature enjoying time away from the rest of her life with her horse.
She's highly unlikely to ever do anything high impact, so the
hypothetical horse's lack of shoulder angulation and whisper high rear
are not likely to impede his soundness.

Are people looking for the wrong qualities in their horses?

Dena

2010-02-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

I wish to address the FHOTD comments on Dena (I keep looking on the Voodoo thread, but I can't find the comment. Did she remove it?). Many have heard about Dena's current troubles so I think it's about time I state my opinion on it. If Dena has done anything wrong then she will pay for it. Her actions, what ever they are, do not condone certain blogs and BB dancing with happiness and gloating over misfortune. There is a young child and animals that are experiencing the fallout from the events so if you are truly concerned about horse welfare get your ass over there and make sure everything's ok. Start acting like humans concerned with the welfare of horses and children rather than flock vultures circling the corps. You really are reaching new lows.

More on Hercules

2010-02-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

Two readers were kind enough to up date us on Hercules:
"Hercules has 1000+ fans now on his Facebook page. Cathy is suggesting every one of them send in $5.oo a month to sponsor him. This will add up to, let's see... $5,000 a month or $60,000 a year." Note: allabouthorses.com estimates the annual cost to keep a horse at home is $3,728.50.

"Yep 1000 fans and 5.00 each is EXACTLY why Fugs likes the celebrity rescues....In Hercules case she made him the celebrity but still it shows she is all about the money."

Hercules facebook page can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hercules-the-horse/288516742215?ref=share

What troubles me is that Fugs didn't asked, in the midst of a fundraising frenzy, when Herc will get his joint lubrication. You'd think that someone who was concerned about the horse would ask this question. After all wouldn't you think that getting Herc sound would be high on Fugs agenda. At least, purporting to be the shining example of how to do rescues right she should have lead by example. Would a sound horse take away from her attention and fundraising?
These are quotes from Herc's facebook page:

Hercules the horse 1,100 fans who love me! ♥ ♥ ♥ Love you too!
February 5 at 10:15pm

"Hercules the horse (katie here) Thank you Mike and Cathy ;-) We have had two SCR volunteers sign up for the $5/month and one Fan from this page. SCR depends on the kindness and generosity of the public to help horses like Hercules. The barn is full, grants and donations are down. I know it seems that $5 wouldn't make a difference, but it does if everyone participates. We very much appreciate your support, and so do the horses!

Donate button is on the homepage of the SCR website; www.secondchanceranch.org"

Barbara Greene-Whitener WOW.......NEW fans! Since yesterday, FOUR more people have become FANS of Hercules! Donate.........donate..........donate. Do you really need ONE more cup of drive-through coffee this month? Send that $5 to Second Chance Ranch. I didn't need it and sent my $$ in. There are more "Wendys" out there and more gentle "used up" horses to rescue. All together we can make a BIG difference! ~ Barbara Greene-Whitener

Voodoo

2010-02-15T18:53:00.001-08:00

The before and after shots of Voodoo, a mustang stallion, rescued from Three Strikes Ranch.

FHOTD wrote about Voodo twice. Voodoo was rescued by Habitat For Horses/Jerry Finch and has purported to have put on 300lbs. This looks to be the case as there's significant weight gain. I do believe that if this was any other rescue Fugs would have written a scathing review for the horse not being 100% recuperated. Apparently, according to Fugs, this is easy to do. All that's required is hay, water, and a bit of grain. If this were only true our lives would be so much easier.

I don't know if this horse has worms as there could be other causes such as a ventral hernia. It's possible that the photo was taken during treatment for parasites. I don't have the full story, but I doubt Fugs would have let the pot belly get by without flailing someone. If anyone has the time line and further information about Voodoo please post it in the comments. Does any one know the dates of the photos?

From the Comment Section-More FHOTD nonsense
(I never interfere with someone's right to make themselves look foolish either)
Thew says:
FEBRUARY 15, 2010 AT 6:54 PM
Gosh. Am I understanding this correctly? Is the second picture of Voodoo an update photograph? Good god in Heaven that horse looks just as bad as he did before, if not worse. Look at that wormy belly! If I saw a horse turned out in that condition I would call AC.
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fhotd says:
FEBRUARY 15, 2010 AT 8:50 PM
Well, feel free to. I rarely moderate comments here so everybody’s welcome to an opinion. I do not think you will get far with any such accusations but I never interfere with anyone’s right to make themselves look foolish.

All you DQs step away from the horse now!

2010-02-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

HLS has proved us with todays amusement:

"OK, today's Fugly post is all about disciplines horses like to do and tolerate doing.   She writes "I really don’t want to start a big discipline war here" and then proceeds to add "but I can’t imagine that a horse ever enjoys something like western pleasure or dressage the same way they enjoy, say, foxhunting or cutting or team penning." Of course, a ton of her followers immediately piled on the abuse for dressage.   The disinformation she spreads on that site of hers. Ugh."

HLS also states:

"OK, but it's stuff like this that kills me. Fugly says:  "Oh, I think mine definitely chooses to go slow – but I think that he’d prefer to go slow with his nose stuck out. I don’t know that collection, whether it’s for WP or dressage, is ever something a horse would naturally choose. I guess I always draw a distinction between things horses would do naturally in the pasture and things horses would NEVER do without a rider and training.""

A member pointed out that she thinks Fugs reads this blog. When she made comments about Fugs misinformation on ponies and dislike for them Fugs immediately followed up with an article about how great ponies are. I thought it was funny, but now I'm starting to question it.

I recently wrote an article on the vertical and collection for the Trooperandsarah blog which addressed what type of collection and vertical is healthy for your horse and what would your horse be comfortable with. Now Fugs comes out with a comment against my position. Hmm, very suspicious.

Firstly, a horse doesn't have a rider on it's back in the pasture so how can you relate that to riding. It's like comparing apples and oranges. Horses natural lean on their fore so once the horse is mounted the riders weight will shift to the horses fore. This isn't a very healthy way for a horse to move so collection is used to shift the weight of the rider to the horse's rear and the fore is lightened to it's natural state. There are so many things wrong with Fugs' article that I can't begin to list them all. I'm sure you'll do a better job then myself so list away.

I'm still trying to figure out the clicky thing. Until then I hope this helps:
http://trooperandsarah.blogspot.com

February- Big Joe

2010-02-11T16:56:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the delay. It's been a semester of work thus far.

This month's horse that is adoptable is in Kansas City, MO. His name is Big Joe. He is a 25 year old paint/pinto who would be really ideal for a younger child learning to ride. He can only carry 100 lbs or less at a walk/trot due to some arthritis, but otherwise would be a very good little lesson horse. There is a video on his webpage of him being ridden, so be sure to take a look!

Kitten cuteness

2010-02-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

TBy the way, if you are interested, I put my kitties baby pictures up on the Trooper and Sarah blog.

Hercules

2010-02-05T01:53:00.000-08:00

The story of Hercules is hard to make sense of. One minute the horse is sound and the next Fugs needs $5000.00. We've all seen repeated examples of Fugs looseness with the truth and should know by now not to take this woman's word for it. The bottom line is Fugs and someone else's money is never a good combination. Stop enabling this "Begging Bertha" and find a better cause to donate your time and money to. What has she done with your donations so far? She's spent $300.00 on a tail extension for the VLC.

I think that everyone who wishes to donate to Fugs' latest attempt to separate her readers from their money should read the comments on this blog first. If that doesn't give you reason to pause then one astute Anon. suggests the following:

hey, here are some of Fugly's screen names:
pretzelkitty
snarkasaurus
spunchkin
resqtb or resqtbs
catknsn
cat67
catriona_in_la
go ahead and search the blogs and user groups and be prepared to be entertained.

Response from Auction Board

2010-01-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

I'm response to previous comment made by Cathy on her blog, Auction board posted the following comment on FHOTD. I believe that this the version that was posted on FHOTD:

As the primary administrator of the Auction Horses website, I would like to correct some points from Fugly's post:

1) " ... that board is full of some of the worst known bottom-feeding horse neglecting ignoramuses that aren’t welcome anywhere else, and people are funding their idiocy."

We have no control over who joins our board. The people Fugly is thinking about are members of several other rescue boards, and banning them won't accomplish anything. The two most well-known have left the board, and none of them received any direct assistance from the group beyond advice. We can't control interactions between two private parties either, but we are working to educate our members about where their money is likely to do the most good.

2) "Let’s just say that if a half-dozen people are telling you that someone is bad news, you might want to take note of that before you buy them a rescue horse they can’t otherwise afford."

As stated above, the board as a whole did not buy any of these people a rescued horse. The warnings came only after an unfortunate situation had developed, which took the majority of us very much by surprise. That situation has now been handled and policies put into place to prevent a repeat of this type of occurrence in the future. We do not wish to go into lengthy details here, but the information is available to anyone who comes to our site. We have nothing to hide and in fact welcome any inquiries, within reason.

That said, we are complete agreement with the general message of the article. Rescuing an animal at the last minute, with no plans for its future, is a very bad idea. We are now focusing on education as well as organized support for appropriate homes for auction horses.

Infighting among charitable organizations diverts energy that could being going into making a difference. Although Auction Horses is not technically a charity, the principle applies here as well. We welcome constructive criticism that will make our rescue efforts more effective. What we recently experienced and do no want to repeat was a drawn-out argument with few constructive comments and a great deal of repetition. This diverted energy from the goal we have in common, which is to provide good homes for horses when we can and humane euthanization as an alternative to slaughter.

Can anyone answer these questions?

2010-01-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

How many horses did Fugs currently own when she left WA and went back to LA? What happened to the horses? Are they still being boarded somewhere with her paying their board bill? Did she give them away to people? Did she just "leave" them there with promises of paying for their care? Is she still getting Ad $$ from her blog? Does Shelly still have Footloose and others that belonged to Fugs? Are people still throwing donation $$ Fugs' way? Where can I read up on the rescue of Champ? Please don't tell me I have to go to the vomit spewing blog of hers to get the story. In that case, I'll pass, thank you very much.

Rescues and Auctions

2010-01-11T17:12:00.000-08:00

In the recent FHOTD article, Fugs makes two interesting statements:

"It’s not glamorous, and you don’t get attention for it. Everybody wants the rush of the Big Save and all of the attention that goes with it."

"Sending money to a reputable rescue with an overall good track record is always going to be a safer use of your money than sending it to a private individual with iffy facilities and a questionable reputation."

Given Fugs history of taking credit for the work of others, basking the glory of work done by others, and begging and receiving personal rescue donations which she later refused to provide receipts and financial records for I'm surprised that she would even bring these subjects up.

She goes on about the Auction Horses board when she says, "damn, that board is full of some of the worst known bottom-feeding horse neglecting ignoramuses that aren’t welcome anywhere else, and people are funding their idiocy…Let’s just say that if a half-dozen people are telling you that someone is bad news, you might want to take note of that before you buy them a rescue horse they can’t otherwise afford." Yet, this is typical of Cathy. Characterizing rescues that she doesn't have personal involvement with. Comments like this should be viewed with scepticism when she offers no proof for her assertions. For further discussion of this topic see the "Honourable" Mention topic on auctionhorses.proboards.com. Note: In the same topic Fugs uses the forum to start harassing YHI again. Please, for the love of god, stop it!

Thanks Anonymous

2010-01-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

This post from a reader gives an interesting look into Fugs' life:

" Fugly was an only child, and both of her parents are deceased. She is married but not living with her husband, and they have no children. She has never raised any kids other than her married polo player ex boyfriend's kids. In an unofficial capacity of course. That is as close as she has come to parenting and that is as close as she comes to having any family. She knows nothing that I can tell about being around people with substance abuse problems."

Not this @%$% again!

2010-01-09T06:06:00.000-08:00

Fugly's previous excuse for not writing is that she's busy and, in the latest post, she hands the reins over to Forthefutureofthebreed as guest author. She's says she ill and still "busy", but bored is probably closer to the truth.

With excitement brewing as to what our new author has to say, I find my self greatly disappointed. Nothing like continuously rehashing a point that's been made a million times. Yes, typos look bad in ads and it does not reflect well on you or your business. Yes, for the last bloody, millionth time WE UNDERSTAND!

What I don't understand though about Forthefutureofthebreed's article is her emphasis. She states, "If you are an illiterate, stupid idiot, and use misspelled words and lame terminology, no one with any class is going to do business with you – only other illiterate, stupid idiots" and refers to sellers as "you uneducated, backwoods moron." I don't see ad typos as reason to bust your gasket. Just point it out and move on as there no reason to get so upset and calling people nasty names will not help with illiteracy. Your best bet is encouragement. Public humiliation will only drive people who would like help away. Fugly then invites everyone to share their funny examples of illiteracy. Yep, that will help. Let's all laugh at people with literacy issues.

Since typos are now the greatest crime of the 21st century and it's international "Let's Laugh At Illiterates" day I invite our readers to find errors in Forthefutureofthebreed's article below:

“Yup, that little filly colt is out of my best stud…”
Why can’t horse people figure out how to use correct terminology on their websites and in their stallion or sale ads? The amount of effort you put into your web site or sale ads (not adds; ad is short for “advertisement”) are equal to the amount of effort you put into the breeding and care of your horses. If you are an illiterate, stupid idiot, and use misspelled words and lame terminology, no one with any class is going to do business with you – only other illiterate, stupid idiots.
And, it’s horses for “sale”, not “horses for sell”. You consign your horse to a sale to sell him. I see people write, “I’m going to sale my horse”. It’s “sell”, you uneducated, backwoods moron. At least it’s only four letters…
How difficult is it to remember that a horse is BY a stallion, and OUT OF a mare? Horses are NOT out of a stallion. Foals literally come out of a mare. I’ve seen some people actually say “by a mare”, too.
How hard is it to spell “CONFORMATION” correctly? I mean, there really IS a difference between the definitions of conformation and confirmation. Conformation – The shape or body structure of a horse. Confirmation – Verification, evidence, or proof of something.
If you’re referring to the breed of a horse, it’s spelled “breed”.
It’s spelled “bred” if you mean, I bred my mare, or that mare is well-bred.
“Bred” is also found in the word, Thoroughbred. It’s not spelled Thorobred, Throughbreed, Thorobreed, or Thoroughbreed. FHOTD in: Also, Thoroughbred is a breed, not a synonym for “purebred.” You do not have a Thoroughbred Appaloosa unless of course it is a cross between Thoroughbred and Appaloosa.
“Bread” is that stuff you buy at the store to make sandwiches with.
Horse colors and parts are not difficult to understand or spell, either.
“Sorrel” is one word used to describe a red horse. It’s not spelled “sorrow” or “sorrell” or “sorel”.
A “palomino” is a golden horse with a white mane and tail. It’s not a palamino with a white main and tale. Sometimes they are “gaited”, not gated. A gate is one of those things with a latch that lets you go from one side of a fence to the other.
All horses have “pasterns”, not pasturns. You know, the part between the fetlock and the hoof.
They also have “withers”, not whithers.
And what is it with people who use the phrase, “half-brother to so-and-so”, meaning they only share the same sire? How many other foals are by that stallion? Possibly hundreds? How many foals does a mare usually have? One a year, maybe? Do you think that saying “half-brother to” would provide more information if we all knew it meant they shared the same dam?
No, you’d rather pick the name of some famous, well-known horse by the same stallion and call it a half-brother…it makes your horse appear to be so much better quality than he really is, doesn’t it? Many horses who only share the same sire can be as different as night and day; horses who are out of the same mare tend to resemble each other, in phenotype and ability.
Horses are not people, and the relationship terminology is different.
Half-sibling – A relationship of two foals out of the same dam, but by different sires; does not apply to horses that only share the same sire.
Another very common, misused word is “produce” to describe what a stallion has sired. Mares produce, not stallions. Stallions sire; sometimes their foals are referred to as “get”, “progeny” or “offspring”. I don’t know how many times I’ve read, “My stud produced a champion.” No, your stallion sired a champion.
“My stallion is a homozygous black Tobiano”. Great. Which is it? Homozygous for black or homozygous for Tobiano, or both? You really need to be more specific if you’re going to use big words and fancy genetic terms. And you should have a test from a reputable genetics testing lab to prove your claims. Your Tobiano with a QH or TB parent is NOT homozygous for Tobiano. It is impossible.
FHOTD in: Also, there is no such word as homogygous. Really. Hideozygous is a word I invented on this blog to describe horses that are only stallions because they are homozygous.
Not all foals for sale are “halter prospects”. People who show quality halter Quarter Horses and Paints really can tell if they’re halter prospects or not. Your weanling from foundation working horse stock isn’t going to be a competitive halter horse. Just because he is stocky right now, it doesn’t qualify him as a “halter prospect”. Most of them are not.
Why are all your colts “stallion prospects”? I’d love to know the answer to this one. Just because they haven’t been gelded (not gilded) yet, doesn’t make them “stallion prospects”. That little dun colt you raised that you’ve priced at $1,000 isn’t stallion quality. And you ranch horse and foundation QH breeders: all of your male foals are NOT stallion material. They really aren’t. Truly excellent weanling stallion prospects are registered, and worth at least $5,000, usually more. True stallion quality colts are only among the top 5% of any breed; the other 95% needs to be gelded. Just because he’s a popular color or by some famous stallion doesn’t mean he deserves to remain intact (not in tact). His dam is probably a no-name, low quality, do-nothing mare of undistinguished breeding. Most great stallions have great dams and even greater pedigrees, and they are capable of actually being competitive at the top levels of the breed.
WHY are all of your fillies (it’s not spelled phillies or fillys) and mares, “broodmare prospects”? Must you breed them all? Just because they are capable of having a foal, doesn’t mean they should be bred. Do you know that a mare really worthy of being a broodmare should be, in the very least, the same level of quality as a good stallion? Most mares will be bred at some point in their lifetime, just because they CAN be bred. That cheap stallion down the road isn’t going to magically fix your mare’s crooked legs. And, no, having a foal isn’t going to “settle her down”, either. She’s still going to be a crooked-legged nasty bitch after she has her foal, and that foal will most likely be just like her.
Also, why is it people say that “nothing matters past the first three generations” of a pedigree, yet they will use a name “just off the papers” to make their horse sound better? You know, if your horse doesn’t have anyone worth a shit in the first three generations of hispedigree , he’s probably a piece of shit, too. The true value of your horse is probably quite different than your idea of the value of your horse.
And, what moron decided that the term, “tri-colored” applied to horses? What you consider “tri-colored” are just bay Paints or Pintos! You know, brown and white body, with a black mane and tail and legs. Would you call a bay horse with white socks “tri-colored”, too? Tri-colored is a dog term.
Finally, can someone tell me the difference between an “own son of” and a “son of”? Is an own son better

Fugs vs YHI

2010-01-07T11:38:00.001-08:00

This is for Anon who requested information on Fugs run in with YHI. It should be self explanatory.

Jul 15, 2009, 8:54pm, yellowhorsesinc wrote:
I know I know!
I thought you all would like to know where Fugs is. Many of you know we had a falling out but the REAL reason is that she had an affair with my husband. Well guess what? She has not posted a blog today because she left WA DC and stopped in Atlanta to visit my husband again. She is there for some SEX! As you can tell my relationship with him is over. But I also thought I would let you know that she is a lying thieving WHORE! I have fully nude photos of her that she sent him in December if any of you are interested. Her phone number is PM YHI if you are interested in her phone number. Not that it matters much since this is up all over the web, but I wanted to do the semi-classy thing and take down the number -- though I'm sure you can find it elsewhere. if you all would like to call her and tell her what you all think of a whore!
She also used to steal from me when we were friends and sell the stuff on Craiglist to support herself. If any of you would like to email me my email address is shelly@yellowhorsesinc.com

Well what happened is that his cell phone called me on accident and I heard her talking in the background. Before you all give her the benefit of doubt she has a very screechy voice and has a lisp. I know her voice when I hear it. So I called her out on it and she said she is in TN visiting the people who have her mare Harmony boarded. I called the farm and they told me that Cathy and her boyfriend Mark just left. I said her boyfriend Mark? Were they driving a white Escalade? She said yes. That is MY FREAKING CAR!!! and my husband, or should I say ex husband.

I handled it with more class than you can imagine the first time. She told me she would leave him alone. Obviously she hasn't. I have had enough of her, so I am in the process of annihilating her publicly. She has pretty much screwed up my life so I am messing with hers.

Married men are the only kind Cat67 likes. She does not want to take care of one, just borrow a man from time to time. I once told her she was like those people who want to lease a horse and not be responsible for any of its care or the costs associated with their care.

The biggest problem for me really is that I cannot care for my horses alone financially. I guess I will have to sell most of them or just give them away. Truly that is the worst part of all of this....

Well we are not really married. So there are no legal complications. I truly cannot afford more than 3-4 horses on my own. I have 21. Most are lame broodies. You know what that means..... Death, as there are no homes out there for them

To be honest, taking her into my home and life was one of the worst decisions I have ever made in my life. I cannot seem to get her out of it either, she is like a wart or a cancer that just keeps coming back. Unfortunately this time she killed my relationship for good and will likely be the cause of several horses deaths and likely my old dog. I simply cannot care for all these animals alone and the old and infirm will be the first to go.

Well the first time he cheated I had about 49 head. I am down to 21. So yeah I did reduce drastically. I bred a few mares for next year. I have only bred less than half of my mares for 4 years now. I think I am down to 16 mares? I am not sure. Selling young stock has not been much of a challenge actually. Selling lame broodmares is completely impossible.

Jul 17, 2009, 10:41am, cat67 wrote:

My side? It includes paying for hay so that YHI's horses wouldn't starve, paying her heating oil bill so that she would not be in the cold, writing bad checks to keep her and Mark's accounts from bouncing, going behind on my own car payments so that I could continue to supply her for money which led to my car being repossessed, cashing checks for her because she cannot get a bank account at any bank in the U.S., paying for a blood panel to determine why her old palomino stallion was neglect-case thin last summer, bringing her buyers on NUMEROUS occasions when she wrote me desperate e-mails stating she had no hay money, throwing in FREE training to get HER horses sold, buying milk replacer so that HER orphan foal would not starve (I have pictures of him emaciated and nearly dead when she claimed she was handling it), and watching her TWICE turn down jobs that were offered to her (Renton Western Wear and Sleep Country).

She has not worked a day in three years. She sponges off the system, me, Mark, whatever she can sponge off of. She breeds more every year knowing she has no reliable place to live. Spring 2008 she was in mid foreclosure on 8711 SR Hwy 702 in Roy, WA (look it up in the recorder's office, Michelle A. Curtis) and still re-bred for all those cute foals you've seen posted this spring. Now she is on a property she hasn't paid rent on since, what is it, November? And is being evicted July 31.

I could go on and on forever but I don't need to. It will all come out in the wash and much of it is in publicly accessible records. Where are the theft charges on me if I am a thief? What a joke. I have a clean background check - just GOT checked for a job in March. She is being evicted at the end of July, and NEVER had the money to move to Georgia all this time that she was talking about it. When I came up from L.A., she had two properties in foreclosure and had hidden it all from me and portrayed herself as the wife of a wealthy real estate investor. She is neither a wife nor wealthy. She is merely another unemployed person who cannot take care of her horses, whereas I have two jobs and all that is completely verifiable.

If you want to know who is telling the truth, go over there. Ask to see her horses today. You take a look at how those horses look and ask yourself who is the liar and who is the hypocrite. You are equally welcome to make an appointment to see any of mine.

I have a contract, signed by her, showing clearly that $3800 off the cost of the VLC was for money she owed to me. I made the other payments as agreed and she turned over the papers at that time. $5000 for a halter broke 3 year old that did not pick up his feet because she'd only had him done a few times. My friends thought I was crazy. Maybe I was, but he's a good horse and I figured the money was already gone.

Have I slept with Mark? Sure. So has half of the PNW. You ought to see their Craigslist postings soliciting for threesomes. Hey, Shelly, probably shouldn't have used MY extra e-mail account to do all that. I have every bit of that saved.

By the way, nice bankruptcy filing that I pulled off the web. Your total horses are valued at what was it, $250? Noooo that's not committing fraud. Not at all!

Is the whole situation stupid? You bet. Should I have turned right around and gone back to L.A. when I saw what a train wreck Shelly was? Absolutely. But the horses are super high quality and I felt sorry for them and I got sucked into the whole situation. I will never regret that I got some of them away from her, and that they are now healthy and happy and have their feet trimmed and are dewormed on schedule, something they rarely experienced at her house. My friends have been trying to do an intervention and get me away from them for years but Shelly is the guilt queen and manages to make me feel guilty, Mark feel guilty, and the world feel guilty. If Shelly wanted me gone, all she had to do was STOP ASKING FOR MONEY AND HELP. She talks shit about me and lies about me (theft, what a joke - it's slander but there's no sense suing a person with zero assets), then comes begging for help and because of my relationship with Mark I have given her the help AND not outed her on the web for all of her BYB'ing crap, which was very, very stupid of me and I admit totally to being stupid about a man, but nothing else.

So yes, again, I definitely was stupid and I admit to being wrong in that I did not out her on the blog as I would have outed any other breeder I saw those conditions at.

I have better things to do with my life than have a war with Shelly so this will most likely be my only comment. I considered staying completely quiet but I do need to admit my own poor judgment in continuing to deal with her and in protecting her. I was 100% wrong.

By the way, the only negative phone calls I've received have been from Shelly herself.

Jul 17, 2009, 10:55am, cat67 wrote:
By the way, she caught him still seeing me lots of times.

#1 - saw his text message to me. mid-January 2008
#2 - August 2008, he came home smelling like a hot tub and she checked his phone and saw calls to me on lunch.
#3 - out to dinner on her birthday at the end of December 2008, she grabbed his phone to make a call and saw that the last call was to me.
#4 - a few weeks later, she found a four hour text messaging conversation on his phone that he had not deleted. She woke him up hitting him with the phone to tell him.

Those are just some of the times I know about. He is really bad about not deleting things from his phone. So if you had all of those experiences, and still were trying to come up with the money to follow the guy across the country (He moved in March and did not take her with him), well, what does that say?

By the way Shelly, you're welcome for my paying to turn the phone back on last fall when he left you wandering around a mall in Atlanta and the phone got shut off for nonpayment. I guess I should have left you lost in the mall, maybe you'd have stayed lost!

Jul 17, 2009, 10:55am, yellowhorsesinc wrote:
Well Cathy, I NEVER asked you for hay money and anything you and Mark cooked up was between you two. AND you just admitted that I paid you back off the purchase price of VLC. So where have I welched on you? As for not working it is Mark that has BEGGED me not to get a job, that he would take care of things. You are right I have not worked in 3 years because I HAD a man supporting me. Something you wanted so badly and took away from me out of jealousy.
I have never posted an ad for a threesome, that would have been something you and my ex boyfriend would have done with YOUR email account. Duh I don't have access to it! As far as I can tell YOU are the only person who has slept with Mark besides me. He does work from home and I watch him like a hawk.
Its nice to see you finally admit what a disgusting very *friendly* person you really are. I am glad to be rid of you and him.
I do want my buckskin mare I leased to you back so she can be euthanized.

Well I had to pack and move horses across the country not exactly something you can put in the car and drive off. As for the calls and texts, I only suspected at the time. I definitely know now. I only found the crotch shot photos and naked pictures of you in his phone.

Oh and BTW the reason I turned down the job at Renton Western Wear was that it would have netted me 200/week or less for 40 hours of employment after the cost of gas. I could not justify making that kind of money. I was never offered a position at Sleep Country

Jul 17, 2009, 10:53am, apocalypsepony wrote
Alrighty then. But, dude, Why they hell didn't you insist he END that relationship before you started banging him?

Jul 17, 2009, 11:04am, cat67 wrote:
He said they had an open relationship and things she said and e-mailed to me seemed to support that. After I found out that was not true, I was already emotionally involved with him and did not feel I could end it, and he didn't want to, so there you go. Every time I end it, he comes back begging me not to give up on him and telling me it will all work out.

Jul 17, 2009, 11:07am, yellowhorsesinc wrote:
There has NEVER been any question about an open relationship on my part. You are the one who wanted a big love arangement where we all lived in the same house and fucked the same guy. I said NO WAY in HELL and you even offered to PAY Me 2000 a month for the privilege.

You should be happy Cathy you have him all for yourself. You already KNOW I am done with him.
Please explain again how I am posting on your email account? How do I have the password, it is YOUR email account.

Jul 17, 2009, 11:08am, cat67 wrote:
Funny how I'd be soliciting for threesomes with naked pictures of YOU. It is not like we are the same size. Come on. Shall I share those with the world? Again, REALLY bad idea to use MY gmail for that.

Yes, you paid me back via the VLC. Thank you for admitting here that you owed me the money - that is not the tale you have told elsewhere.

And I will not give Buffy back to a home where she was crippled by her bad feet, forced to stand in mud and filth, not provided with a waterproof blanket until l bought her one, and much thinner. She is sound and trimmed and looks fabulous. You gave her to me and I have all the documentation to prove it. Please feel free to take me to court if you so desire.

Jul 17, 2009, 11:11am, yellowhorsesinc wrote:
Sorry I do not have access to your email account Cathy. Whoever the naked pictures are from is not me.....

Buffy will be coming back to be put to sleep. You are a huge advocate of that aren't you?

Jul 17, 2009, 11:15am, cat67 wrote:

Marlene Perdue who bought horses from you offered you a job at Sleep County while we were all standing in the kitchen. She said she could get you in there and you said no, I do not really want a job. You know, while we were standing in the kitchen of your ALREADY FORECLOSED house in Roy. You still did not want a job. Thinking Mark will provide is like relying that GOD will provide. Actually God is probably a more reliable source of funds.

You know why I never felt guilty even after I knew you weren't ok with it? Think back to a million incidents like the time I told you Pecos got cut up on the fence and asked you to come help me wash it, and you shrugged your shoulders and said "oh, he'll be fine." I went out and took care of it. Every time you did something like that, I hated you a little bit more. You and your laziness disgusts me. You don't care if your horses starve, you still won't get a job. You stay helpless deliberately to keep Mark guilty and with you. Enjoy that relationship and the power that position gives you.

Foreclosures, judgments, evictions. Look her up. You will be reading all day.

ul 17, 2009, 11:17am, cat67 wrote:
Well, considering part of your face is in one picture, it is obvious it was you. I gave you the password because it was linked to the news section/blog on your web site, so that you could update it yourself.

All right, I really am logging off now. This is silly. Please all do feel free to do your own research on both of us. See what you find.

Jul 17, 2009, 11:23am, yellowhorsesinc wrote
I seriously and with all honesty do not know at ALL what you are talking about. I have never in my life participated in a threesome. You and Mark may have been posting that but it weren't me.

Yes you only have closed bank accounts because of vet bills paid with hot checks, school loans unpaid, credit cards unpaid and car repossessions. You are so perfect after all.
I at least have had the decency to file bankruptcy and decide to move on with my life.

Jul 17, 2009, 11:49am, yellowhorsesinc wrote:
">>>You stay helpless deliberately to keep Mark guilty and with you. Enjoy that relationship and the power that position gives you.<<<

This was very telling in case you missed it.

You do have the power. And even she realises that she only has him by default. And I can only presume that that must stick in her craw and twist her something fierce."

I know this only too well and I am not the one who chose to not have me work. It was Mark's decision.

[quote author=yellowhorsesinc board=nonhorse thread=5014 post=84551 time=1247849887]I have had some huge ups and downs financially since 2006. But one thing I can say is my horses have NEVER been hungry not even one day. Not ever. I have a rhetorical question....
If Cat thinks my horse care is so horrible then why in the world has she placed SEVERAL rescue horses in my care? As well as boarded horses at my place? For free BTW.
I had:
FootlooseanFancyfree...
Mister... the sorrel QH stallion that she brags about "rescuing" yet I paid for all of his care for 3 months while she collected funds via SAFE and I even found his new home for him. Yes she delivered him, but she got PAID for that too.....
Champ.... was a paid boarder that she left in our care and was told not to come back to my place in the middle of his month of board due to finding the naked photos of her on Mark's phone.
The Black TB Monday that was a Fugly Feature......
All are "rescues" that SHE brags about that I cared for and paid for their care in most of the instances, yet I am a TERRIBLE horse owner and too lazy to care for them? Huh....
Pecos had a scratch. It did not need medication or anything else YOU made the big deal about it Cat. I had already seen it and dismissed it as not needing anything.

The Case of Big Man

2010-01-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

This story was one that sadly came to life after the news had shown a story one night about 45 dead horse carcasses in a field, and 52 more in poor condition back in April. 5 felony counts of animal cruelty were charged amongst three people. Walter Mayfield (37), Robin Crandall (37), and Diane Robinson (74) were each charged with the 5 counts and were seen in court back in July. Sadly I cannot make heads or tails of everything, but I can only assume they were found guilty and each fined as most cruelty cases are in the end.

Worse yet, they said all the dead animals on the property had died of old age, and originally they had bought the horses to fatten them up and resell them. The DA said the case was about people who had gotten in over their heads, too. It was like one excuse after the other for these people, and it was coming from the DA himself.

No matter what, it is not OK to get in over your head and neglect the animals you purchased. I'm not saying sacrifice your right arm in the process, but at least do the responsible thing. 52 horses do not come in overnight, and neither does neglect. Everybody has a stopping point, it's recognizing it that seems to be the problem for most people. The only handicap anyone has is themselves, and it's the hardest one to overcome. Once you can do that, doing the responsible thing becomes a little easier to do each day.

More information on the case can be found here and here.

Big Man

2010-01-06T03:10:00.000-08:00

CS,
If you get a chance could you please update me about the Big Man case. Were any charges laid? Poor little adorable guy...must resist urge to hug and kiss him.

Casey Johnson

2010-01-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

Today's edition of FHOTD is dedicated mocking the death of Casey Johnson and substance abuse. It's is disturbing that light being made of substance abuse and the death of young person with serious problems. To often, as is the case with FHOTD, it is not appreciated how difficult it is for an addict to become clean. Substance abuse changes the thought process so that the abuser is not capable of making rational decisions or gaining insight into their situation. An abuser, in most cases, is no more capable of getting themselves help than a comatose patient is. The brain is not working. Cutting her off funds in past hasn't worked so why should it now. At this point, it is not stated what personal problems contributed to her death. We all know, from personal experience, that serious problems are both difficult and painful to deal with. None of this is a laughing matter.

A quote from the FHOTD article:
Too busy to write a long post but did you all hear about Casey Johnson’s death?
Here is my solution:
If your heiress daughter is blowing all your money up her nose or into her veins, cut her off and give it to me instead. I will use it to rescue and rehab old Thoroughbred mares. Not only will your money be used for something constructive, but if she doesn’t have any money, she may have to sober up out of necessity, and may therefore survive. It’s just a win-win all around!
I am happy to submit to any tests you desire, random or otherwise, to show that I’m 100% clean and will not waste a bit of your money on any addictive substance. Only old Thoroughbred mares, which are somewhat addictive but, even when they need a lot of rehab, not as expensive as a coke habit.
Heck, I’ll even teach your daughter to muck stalls and bond with old Thoroughbred mares so that she gets some actual self-esteem and doesn’t care anymore about being high and hanging out with asshats. If her asshat friends show up, we’ll hand them a shovel too. I’m guessing they’ll run screaming and that’ll be the last you see of them! That fat piece-o-shit that was married to Brittany Murphy, can you imagine him lasting very long around a barn with work to do? He would have been out of her life in 10 seconds and she could have gotten her head on straight again.
The offer’s on the table!

More Mess Du Jour

2010-01-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

Every few posts on FHOTD readers are reminded to supply a "forever home" for their horses and to not do so is irresponsible. This is why I find Fugly's following statement on HD beyond stupid.

"As for forever homes, I've probably owned at least 50 horses and have kept, let me think, seven until death and one is still living that is 29. I do intend to keep Cecil for his lifetime. So that would be less than 20% that I gave a "forever" home to, and I suspect I'm more likely to keep an old horse who can't do anything useful than the average person. I do not think producing horses with the idea that you will keep them forever is the least bit realistic. None of us knows what will happen to us in life. I could get in a car accident tonight and be unable to work and Cecil would have to go to a new owner no matter if I liked that or not - at least I know he is registered, attractive and well trained, so that he would be wanted."

Some how I don't think that her legal assistant job would pay the board for fifty horses. If not that, then she buys a new horse every year and dumps the old one. In addition to a series of horses that she has bought and dumped, there is the question of how many rescues does this woman own. In the following statement by GL, Cathy has given the impression that she's rescued more horses.

"Yet she posted about "her" horse rescues, on HD, quite recently, without ever mentioning where/when/how they came to be rescued. That struck me as very odd. If you are into rescue, and have rescued some horses for a rescue, wouldn't you tell people where they were? How YOU could help?"

Anonymous 7:33 response clarifies the situation.

"Go lightly those were NOT her rescue horses. Do not let her chatter about "we" and "OUR" fool you. They were "rescued" by someone else I guarantee you. She may have been there but someone else is doing to work and footing the bill on those horses. The photos show horses in an area with large fir trees. Fugs lives in LA. Those photos are not LA and those horses are not with Fugs."

Anonymous 9:59 clarifies the picture more for us in this quote.

"FUGS is not involved with horses in LA at all. She is head over heels involved with dog and cat rescue, just a quick check of her twitter account will tell the story. She left Washington in disgrace and left all of her horses behind. So typical for her to palm her horses off on other folks to care for, cause yanno the day to day work of caring for them is more than she really wants to do. Shooting her mouth off about "Celebrity Rescues" and posing for photos is really more her style. Just like her time spent "on the job" she is more flash than brilliance. "

It appears that Fugs has moved to LA to hob nob with celebrity rescuers and has dumping her ancient rescues and the VLC in the process. It appears she is telling everyone online about all her horses yet not owning any. I don't even need to mention the hypocrisy of her actions. Please up date me on this issue. And, if anyone can expand upon the "left Washington in disgrace…" comment it would be appreciated.

The Pasture Problem

2009-12-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

One of our many astute readers kindly pointed out errors in in the FHOTD post on pastures

Fugly says...
"There is no hard and fast rule of thumb about how many acres of pasture a horse needs." 

Maybe if you are not concerned with your horse's parasite load and the quality of the grazing. A call to your local agriculture branch will give you the horse to acre ratio for your area. Information is available online, as well as other essential pasture considerations, from your Provincial or State agency.

A soil analysis is a good beginning in assessing the quality of your pasture. Many areas lack nutrient which can effect the quality the pasture grass. For example, in areas low in selenium a fertilizer that addresses the deficiency is recommended for pasture land. Another option would be feed a selenium supplement to your horse.

A second consideration is the type of grasses which constitutes the pasture. If these grasses are not of the correct type or ratio it can be detrimental to your horses health. A weedy pasture or an over grazed pasture will be less nutritious than a pasture that has been well cared for.

Fugly's notion of putting horses in an alfalfa pasture is not the best idea. A horses diet needs to be balanced and the high calcium content, without the matching phosphorus content, of alfalfa can cause problems.

To maintain the pasture it is essential, unless the pasture is large enough, that it be rotated. This will allow the grass to recover and the parasites to die off. Manure can contaminant the pasture two to three feet around it. Over the course of month much of the pasture can become contaminated with parasites.

Fugly said...

"By the way, large acreages can present their own problems too! It becomes a lot harder to check horses daily for injuries, maintain fence, watch for the presence of animal holes or other hazards, etc. And of course it is much harder to secure from thieves. I know a lot of people with large properties who keep a smaller sacrifice area down by the barn, and use it as a catch pen. They call the horses down at least once a day and lock them in, usually with a bribe of a few handfuls of grain or some tasty hay that is even more appealing than the pasture. I’ve worked at a place where they ring a bell and everyone comes running – a huge convenience when it is time to ride and you don’t want to hike out over 100 acres looking for your mount, who may otherwise very well toss his head, laugh at you and head for the hills!"

Ridiculous! Train your horses to come when they are called, it's not difficult. Trooper is on 250 acres and comes when he's called. No I don't have to chase him over half the country side to catch him. Large pastures can be checked you just have to get off your butt to do it.

Adoption of the Month

2009-12-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

This lovely welsh cross is located in Jones, OK at Blaze's Tribute Equine Rescue and is our Adoptable of the Month!

Big Man is 18 years old, and is safe enough for a child to ride. We all know not many rescues are broke to ride, so this guy is a gem! He is up to date on all his care, and is ready to go to a great home to live out the rest of his life.

You can read more about Big Man's story here.

Cathy riding the VLC

2009-12-28T18:38:00.001-08:00

In response to a readers request for a picture of Cathy riding I have posted this picture. This is the only photo I could find of Cathy riding the VLC, although there are others. What's most apparent in this photo is the hand position, called 'puppy paws', and the body position which is too far forward. It has been mentioned before, in regards to another photo, that Cathy has almost no lower leg contact. This is Ok if someone is learning to ride, but it's not OK if person purports, as Cathy has done, to be a riding instructor. In addition, I don't want someone in the media critiquing riding, as she has done on FHOTD, who doesn't have the basics under her belt.

Horse Illustrated

2009-12-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

If anyone would like to email Horse Illustrated with their concerns about Fugly writing for them the address is below.

horseillustrated@bowtieinc.com

Why is Fugly so darn stupid!

2009-12-28T07:21:00.001-08:00

This question has perplexed many readers so let me attempt to answer it. To begin with, Fugly has no horse experience and very little riding experience. Beyond her comments all you have to do is look at photo of her riding to see that she rides like a student in a beginner riding class. Fugly’s opinions are formed by her conversations with her friends on HorseDopia (HD) who are just as inexperienced as she is or limited in their experience. One such person is Sarcasta Bitch. Yes, the name says it all. SB has five years of questionable experience with horses and yet goes from forum to forum giving her pronouncements on the horse world. Here is an example. The following statement was taken off of the Chronicle of the Horse Forum (COTH).

In the comment SB pontificates about the uselessness of instructors who don’t compete. With a single click of her keyboard SB writes off George Morris and other top level trainers who no longer compete. Her reason for doing so is that riding has changed in the last five years since she began thus older trainers are now obsolete. Yes, SB in the old days we used wheel barrels to carry the horses around the course and spring board for them to jump the jumps. Yes, riding and jumping is so different today. SB has created the argument so she can continue to confront others with more knowledge and more experience. In SB mind, if you have been competing for 10 to 20 years then you don’t know how to ride as only people who have learned to ride in the last five years have been taught properly. I’ll have to write Ian Miller to tell him he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The sad thing is, Fugly with listen to her and absorb what she says and use it for material for her articles.

SB writes…

"From what I'm learning from my current coaches, saddle fitters, clinicians...there is a fair bit of progression in the techniques, equipment and even horse quality over the past 5 years...even more over the past 10. People who showed as kids 20 years ago, or who got off the show circuit 10 years ago just CAN'T prepare you. I know, I've taken lessons from both types."

"But a good many of those trainers-who-don't-ride are out of shape, middle aged women who have grossly inflated views of their own riding ability from BITD and their ability to train students. One talented student in 10 years justifies their entire approach, and they bilk MANY beginners every year. Maybe if they'd hopped on a horse once in the last 20 years they'd have had to think about what they were quoting from their old Pony Club days."

Dena's question

2009-12-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

Dena asks, "if there's money to be made in rescuing and rehab please point me to it."

It appears to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, but there is little money in breeding horses unless you have top of the line stock. There is no money to be made in rescuing and a quick turn around rehab. The areas that I have seen make money are the upper end riders/trainers who buy horses from sale yards or individuals. They have the skill to turn a horse in to a top end competitor. The horse has a show record and all the bells and whistles to go with a well trained horse. A person I know who makes money on it is GP rider. Any thoughts?

Amber and Lady Bug

2009-12-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

In a recent FHOTD post, a distraught Fugs bemoans the care of a horse who had it's ear ripped off by dog. The author tells how she donned her super hero suit to run to the aid of an injured horse denied care. The post then chastises the rescuer, Amber, for not getting the horse treatment and having malnourished dogs on the property. Evidence to support the authors accusations is thread where Amber is attacked by the members of the thread and a picture of the horse getting it's ear treated. According to the thread the horse was rescued from Amber and only at that point did the horse receive medical attention.

Concern has been raised surrounding the accuracy of the FHOTD article as there is never any evidence that Amber has done anything only pages of snarky comments and name calling. Upon closer scrutiny, Kestrel pointed out that the photo is dated 2005/01/04. So something is not right with the FHOTD article. If the event just happened why is that the only evidence is from five years ago? You would think that in the five year period the local humane society would have done a report that FHOTD could reference. What do you think FHOTD is up to?

Too much snark for my tastes.

2009-12-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

by Anonymous

Part of the problem is Fugs feeds off BS behind a private board-   

Horsedopia Rules is a private proboard that was founded to rip members of Horsetopia apart. The civil minded moderators of HT banned or censored these people because well, because they are skanks like Cathy. Now the attitude is a huge whine "But they won't LET us teach good horsemanship. We get banned"

  No shit, assholes.   

There is a difference in delivery of information. Civility rules at HT. And education can be done in a proper and polite manner.

  Note a thread on Horsedopia about a topic with an honest question...  (Wow!!! Why the nasty? As pointed out in the last reply- it may seem simple, but there is quite a bit about horse nutrition to learn)

  http://horsedopiarulz.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=breeding&action=display&thread=6952  

farmeress posts:

  What are pellets?« Thread Started on Dec 9, 2009, 2:29pm »

 Quote:
 I know that this is off track, but if you can explain, just so I can keep up. What is the difference between sweet feed, pellets, and grain? Thought I had a handle on it but just found out that I'm clueless.I don't know anything about this cocaloda person, but there is a horse in their avatar that I assume is theirs... and they don't know the difference between sweet feed, pellets, and grain!? Are they being sarcastic or is that a serious question? I don't have any issues with a quest for knowledge, but you should know something like that BEFORE you have a horse, no???http://forum.horsetopia.com/frugal-livin....tml#post1765776

  replies below:

  Belle (administrator): Oh wow. Totally agree that this is something you should know BEFORE owning a horse.

  apocalypsepony: I'm sure there is a basic horse book with pictures that illustrates the difference. One of Cherry Hill's no doubt.It's called a library. Use it.

  Belle: And a lot of your feed stores do carry little pamphlets with the feed info in them, explaining what the difference is.  

cat67 (aka FHOTD, Cathy Atkinson): How complicated IS it? Don't you know what a pellet of SOMETHING looks like?  

OhForCryingOutLoud: dah, rabbit pellets?wood stove pellets?maybe Ol'Blaze wants some wood pellets to eat. He always chews the wood in his stall - wood pellets might help.

  hmm: You know what, kudos to the person for asking - it may seem simple, but there is quite a bit about horse nutrition to learn - and even though it seems simple to many of us and it's a very basic question - well it prob should be spelled out at least somewhere in basic form.

2010 Forecast. Heading for another mess?

2009-12-22T14:36:00.000-08:00

It's been said that reality is stranger than fiction. Case in point, Fugly is now writing for Horse Illustrated. Gag me with a spoon, you say. Well, I wish the board of HI had said that when someone had that bright idea of allowing Fugs to write for their magazine. Instead they solicit the nastiest, skank writer they could find to commit to print. How long will this new career last for Fugs? After looking through her resume, which is available on HI, I estimate about a year before everything implodes into a giant kerfuffle of screaming, adultery, bad cheques, and assorted mayhem. If anyone has Fugs' article please submit it for our perusal.

Since it is inevitable that Fugs will be looking for work soon I suggest writing pornography. Her letters to YHI's husband gives me the impression that she has talent in this field.

2009-12-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

Since the fun never stops with Fugly, I've created a blog to keep up with the craziness. You are welcome to submit article for the blog by posting them in the comments section.

Fugly Horse of the Day Review

Update

Moved

Even Zombies Known the Importance of Brains

Presenting Facts is Hard to Do

Aww, Nuts!

Fall Time Review

Conformation Station

Time To...

A Bookmark of Sorts

Growl at the Moon

Conformation Station

The Chain of Questions

Um What?

Helping Out

Menu

How to Make an Effective Abuse/Neglect Report

In Agreement

Show us why YOU don't get burned out!

Horse Racing

Now, hold it a minute!

Yep…that’s broke

Low Level Accountability

Trainers

April Adoptable

Conspiracy Theories

Canadian Slaughter Plants

That would have paid Hercs board!

Vanners, Fluff, and Fatties on gaited horses

Aggression and Dominance

Rescue Guidlines

Ideas

Capstone Stables

Shock Collars

Animal Rights vs Animal Welfare.

Fubbs takes girl's ribbon away

March Horse

HSUS

How To Respond to Animal Abuse

Economics of Training

Dena

More on Hercules

Voodoo

All you DQs step away from the horse now!

February- Big Joe

Kitten cuteness

Hercules

Response from Auction Board

Can anyone answer these questions?

Rescues and Auctions

Thanks Anonymous

Not this @%$% again!

Fugs vs YHI

The Case of Big Man

Big Man

Casey Johnson

More Mess Du Jour

The Pasture Problem

Adoption of the Month

Cathy riding the VLC

Horse Illustrated

Why is Fugly so darn stupid!

Dena's question

Amber and Lady Bug

Too much snark for my tastes.

2010 Forecast. Heading for another mess?