Posts Tagged ‘crazy people’
“Useful” Life
I was having wine with some dear friends the other night. One is a dedicated horseperson and the other struggles with the mania that is “horse-people-ness.” But she is sincerely trying to understand her partner’s passion and in her regular day job had come across a client whom she is fascinated with. He’s, by all accounts, an old school horseman, the likes of Buck Branaman – a horse whisperer of sorts (her words) and he’s helped my friend understand the beauty and the complexity of the relationship with horses.
So she was asking wonderful questions about how horses behave and how to help mold their natural behaviors so that neither people nor the animals come to harm. She told me what she’d heard from this quiet cowboy and her eyes were bright and engaged. Finally, she was “getting it” and even talking about spending time at the barn to learn more about these amazing animals.
We talked and talked and had a wonderful time. She was really intrigued by the gentle and mindful path that this man was taking with his horses. She’d made some assumptions about our horses, being thoroughbreds (clearly a pejorative term here) and used for sport and for lessons and so obviously, the depth of the relationship that this man had accomplished with his horse was just not possible for us. But as the wine flowed, we worked through some of those assumptions and were having a really compassionate meeting of minds. Her body language was more open about her partner’s passion than ever before. Very cool.
And then the bomb dropped. My friend mentioned that she had told this guy all about our non profit. About how we rescue horses and use them to teach kids with challenges. This horse-whispering, natural and all-gentle, empathic guru of horsemanship apparently lit up at the notion and told my friend that his horse, when he gets a little bit older will be PERFECT for our program!
WT__(insert the letter of your choice here)?
Look Mr. Perfect Horse Owner, does that mean that when your horse is too old or crippled or simply no longer worthy of your advanced abilities and join up methods of training, then you will simply off-load him to some program that needs to raise funds from the public just to pay the feed bill? Why is it that you, with your uber-sense of horsemanship isn’t interested in providing your eternally bonded horse with a home for life? Why is it that we, or some program like ours is saddled with the responsibility to care for your horse through his golden years and that we and our kids will be the ones present when it’s time to let him go over the rainbow bridge? And you act as if you are bestowing upon us some amazing gift?
I’m venting. I love each and every one of our senior citizens here and I wouldn’t trade them for the world and I really believe that they chose us in some cosmic way, rather than the other way around. BUT why is it that people think that horses are disposable? You wouldn’t be able to keep your head up at a party if everyone knew you sent your dog out to some retirement home where you expected never to pay another feed or vet bill – would you? PARTICULARLY if you spent hours proselytizing about how your method of bonding with your dog was so much better than anyone else’s? Where’s that bond taking you? Only as far as the animal can carry you on his back? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
I believe in revolutions of education. I really do. Case in point: My parents, educated and kind animal loving people – never spayed or neutered our pets. I spent many an afternoon in front of the Safeway market with a cardboard box with “Free Kittens” written on the side. I was told to make sure that I got rid of all of the puppies and kittens – and I did. You don’t see that anymore. Why? Because a revolution in education about spaying and neutering made people like my parents make the time and effort to make sure that there weren’t unplanned litters of kittens and puppies anymore. So I believe that snarky posts like this one will be read by wonderful and dedicated and smart horse owners who will begin to think twice about breeding that mare or about what the long term plan for their show horse or their daughter’s 4H horse or that free horse on the internet. Just because you donated a horse to a school doesn’t mean your responsibility to that animal is over.
And yes, it’s possible that I’ve jumped to conclusions and that this man would never think of donating his friend the horse to a program without a donation to ensure his horses’ care. But I’ve been around way too long, I’ve been at too many cocktail parties where I’m cornered by a martini swilling reveler that wants to offload his reining horse, his ex race horse, her homebred with a club foot so to lessen their own feed bill. A responsibility for a life for it’s life is a lesson our society needs to learn. About our pets, our children, our elderly, our homeless. All life is precious, not just what we deem as “useful life.”
Sermon over. Please return to your regularly scheduled life.
———–
Today’s guest post was submitted by Joell Dunlap who co-Founded Square Peg Foundation in 2004. Click here to read more about Square Peg.
The good, the bad, and the angry
We were torn on the title of this post. The runner up was “These are a few of our favorite things”. Fingers crossed we made the right call!
I (Snugly) am currently sitting in front of my computer, electric fireplace on, hot chocolate laden with Bailey’s in hand, and the likes of Frank and Bing crooning Christmas tunes like no one’s business (they really could sing!). I was going through the writing applications from Fugly hopefuls and, as I’m sure you could guess, there are quite a few. A few comments have been made noting people’s interest in reading some of the better and worse submissions. Your wish is our command! Some of these have been edited for length, none have been edited for content or grammar. Enjoy!
———
Alright, here we go. I am mouthy and an avid animal rights advocate. I hate backyard breeders, they are a bunch of dumb asses. I despise backyard trainers!!! (but that is another story).
the book to not ride their horse or even when they do start riding the
slight shiver of their horse makes them get off and go back to the
barn. On the other side we have the obnoxious stage mom pushing her
kid to ride horses because it was always her dream to watching her kid
grow up to be an “Olympic Champion.”
I hate riding with and I hate teaching these kind of people. They
really make me want to smack them with a horse whip and tell them to
get over themselves.
who has the balls to tell that person that horses might not be for
them?
Submission 3:
It’s always amazed me how people think that just because the way THEY
do something, it’s the ONLY way to do something. Horse people are no
different, in fact we can be the worst offenders. I’ve read the Fugly
blog for a long time, and I loved how it started off picking apart the
asshats who bred awful looking horses, never gave them any training
and left them to an uncertain fate all while happily breeding more sad
little future-less foals.
Then it changed, it became less about the rescue work and the pointing
out of the bad-seeds, and became all about how the only worthwhile
horses to breed at all are TB’s and WB’s and anyone who breeds
anything else, or decides to compete in anything other than the show
ring, or, GOD FORBID, not compete at all, just ride the trails with
their beloved pet horse, was the WORST PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE
WORLD!!!!
And it’s time we brought back the NAME AND SHAME aspect!
Enough with the “oh god why would you buy a cob when you could have a
THOROUGHBRED” rubbish, enough with the “you bred a Paint, clearly you
have no idea what a REAL horse is meant to be coloured like”. Bring on
the “you’ve starved these horses”, “you bred these 15 TB colts for
racing and now you’re sending them to slaughter just because they are
slow”, “you abused this animal and the SPCA are unable to get the
voices to get the power to stop you, guess what here are those voices,
you are going DOWN”
BRING IT ON!
———
Huh. I guess those were mostly just angry! Oh well… there’s definitely a lot to be angry about in the horse world. Which brings us to a story that most of you have already heard about, but that hasn’t been properly discussed here.
You guessed it, I’m talking about Credit Card and the little psycho who arranged his death. There’s a decent story here with a link to the legal affidavit; the basic gist is that a female college student was having some romantic problems and thought a good solution would be to steal five horses and kill one of them. Not sure what the thought process was there, but she clearly did think about it; she made sure to scout ahead and even took notes in her little pink notebook!
So what do you think of the current laws for horse theft? Because these horses had a high monetary value, the potential punishment is more severe. Should that really make a difference? My horse isn’t worth much, but I think I’d be equally devastated if something similar were to happen to him! And how do you go about protecting your horse from theft? Or protecting yourself from the crazies out there? Not too long ago we had to deal with a rather explosive situation that was caused by a barn manager’s ex losing it. Thankfully, no harm came to any of the horses, but to say there were a few tense days would be a gross understatement!
Hmmm… in hindsight, “These are a few of our favorite things” would have been a really inappropriate title for this post!
I don’t hate to say it…I told you so!
Over the years, I cannot count the number of times I’ve been accused of “wanting horses to go to kill/auction” and “viciously attacking an angel who only wants to help animals” merely because I called out a faux rescue on its money-grubbing, self-serving, horse-neglecting bullshit. And so there are few things that entertain me as much as when the truth comes to light and I get to say it, yet again:
TOLD YOU SO!
Here is my original blog on Cajun Country Rescue: Even The IRS Cannot Make This A Rescue!
Well, they got busted the other day. Here is an eyewitness account:
“Got a call this a.m. from PETA with an update of what happened last night at Cajun Country Rescue.
The State Inspectors, the Sheriff’s Department and Ruth Steinburger (sp) went to the property on June 29, 2011 and gave Anne Marie Duhon the option of ‘doing the right thing‘. To voluntarily sign over all the animals on the place. At first Anne Marie was agreeable. Then, when she realized even those she claimed to be her ‘personal’ animals were going to be seized, she went ballistic. Anne Marie tried to turn the horses loose where they would have been running on a main road. She became combative and turned dogs loose to attack the police officers and then jumped them herself. Shane Duhon then jumped in to ‘protect’ his wife and so they were both cuffed and taken into custody.
After Anne Marie backed out of signing the animals over – a Judge had to be contacted to get a seize warrant before any animals could be removed. A warrant was finally received at about 5 pm. Everyone worked until 6 a.m. on June 30, 2011 removing animals from the property. There are NO animals left at the property. It is now a crime scene.
The State Inspectors said they had never seen cockroaches that BIG & plentiful.
Charges are as follows:
Obstruction of Justice
17 counts of Felony Animal Cruelty (could go up to 29 – not all the dogs were thin)
Resisting Arrest
Felony Child Endangerment
Assault on a State Police Officer (by person and canine – and the dog WAS NOT shot 
Anne Marie and Shane Duhon will be in jail unless the bail can be raised. And they are broke with nothing to sell for funds. Word is they are facing a long jail term.”
Just one mare that was seized. More pics here
Best of all, Anne Marie is defending herself on her Facebook Page…popcorn, anyone?
I always hear that this blog is just unfaaaaair and criticizes people who don’t deserve it, but I’ll be damned if anyone has ever been able to point to someone who I said was starving horses and neglecting horses who it turned out wasn’t starving and neglecting horses. So you know, either put up or shut up…I firmly believe this blog (with the help of ALL of you who submit information to me and send pictures!) has brought to light many situations and allowed law enforcement to start investigations that have saved countless lives. I can’t remember who told me about Anne Marie, but bless you — you did a great thing here by helping to bring this to a successful conclusion!
Here is a cool program for those of you cleaning out your tack rooms and thinking of getting a new show bridle or two! Announcing: Five Star Tack “Bridles with Benefits” Send a used bridle in good condition to Five Star Tack They will give you 10% off any new bridle, AND send the used bridle to Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue. Five Star Bridles and Strap Goods are beautiful quality and quickly becoming the bridle of choice for eventers, show hunters, jumpers, etc. For more information on the program go to
WTF is WRONG with people?
Barn Fire Kills Eight Horses
Barn fires happen more than they should, as we recently discussed, but this one was definitely a case of arson — arson caused by hatred over someone’s sexual preference.
“Those who know Brent believe this was a hate crime, explicit words relating to his sexuality were spray painted in large white letters on the side of the barn before the fire was started.”
REALLY? You killed EIGHT HORSES in the most horrific way possible because you do not like who someone else chooses to love? You killed a WEEK OLD FOAL, you burned it to death, because why? Because the Bible told you homosexuality was wrong so you tortured animals to death to teach that “wrong” person a lesson? Or maybe you’re not even religious. Maybe you’re just a complete psychopath who enjoys creating suffering and pain. I just do not get it. If you do not approve of gay relationships, don’t have one. How is this complicated?
I don’t know what to do with people this ignorant and fucktarded. I don’t know if anyone does. I mean, drowning them in a swimming pool makes good sense to me, and don’t preach to me about not answering violence with violence – I just want them unable to hurt another living creature, period, end of story. It is possible, IMO, to be TOTALLY WORTHLESS and whoever did this is totally, 100% worthless and has NO value whatsoever as a human being.
I am endlessly frightened by stories like these that remind me that there are people out there who would take out their hatred for a human being on completely innocent animals that have nothing to do with it. If we are going to judge intent at all, well, torturing an animal to death to hurt a person is about as bad as intent gets. If you can do that, and live with yourself, you have no heart or conscience. You will not hesitate to do something horrible to a human being, either. Where does it end? At what point do we finally realize that we HAVE to lock these people up FOR LIFE or kill them so that others may live in safety and peace? (I vote for killing them. Why should the rest of us feed them and pay for their medical care?)
I don’t know that I really have anything close to a point here, except to say: If you have ANY idea who did this, please come forward. This is so frightening and awful and whoever did this needs to be prosecuted. Well, they need to be set on fire, but we can’t legally do that, so I’m gonna just hope for a good long prison sentence. And then I’m gonna go kiss the one week old foal at our barn and tell him how damn lucky he is to be on a gated property with a $!&$!$&! security system…
And yeah, folks? What I’ve said before. Security alarms and cameras are never a waste of money. ESPECIALLY if you have ANY reason to believe you have a crazy ex, a mentally unbalanced enemy, or may be unpopular for some reason (like knuckle-dragging homophobic asshats having an issue with you). Not saying Mr. Whitehouse had any warning — he certainly has my utmost sympathy here! Just saying that if you DO have reason to feel concerned, get the alarms and cameras now. Even if it strains the budget or makes the credit card scream. You can have a pretty decent, multi-camera security system for around $1200 and I know everybody reading this would rather spend that $1200 than wake up to what poor Mr. Whitehouse woke up to.
Ugh. I will be so upset if they don’t find whoever did this…
Even if you don’t normally pay attention…PAY ATTENTION!
…because there is an EXTREMELY scary movement afoot, and it snuck up on all of us like a mugger in a dark alley. Namely, those who abuse animals want to make it illegal for YOU to do your part in bringing them to justice. And I am not talking about tarring and feathering them as they deserve. I’m merely talking about trying to get evidence of their evildoing and report them!
Animal Abuse Video Bill Advances
Florida Bill Would Make It a Felony to Take a Picture of a Farm
From the last article:
“Remarkably, as written the bill declares this to be a first-degree felony, which under Florida law carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison. This would make taking a picture of a farm without permission a more serious offense in Florida than manslaughter.”
Say it with me: WHAT THE FUCK???
They’re not just going after videos and pictures. The Iowa bill would actually make it illegal to seek employment on a farm just to go undercover. What is next, making it illegal to pretend to be a drug dealer to bring THEM down? WHAT THE FUCK, PEOPLE. What kind of an immoral, soulless asshat votes for legislation that protects abusers and prevents the ONE way that exists for decent people to legally help the animals – taking pictures and videos and going to the proper authorities?
And these are just the pieces of legislation I know about. I guarantee you, this is a massive, well coordinated effort and you’re going to see these bills spring up in YOUR state next.
Let’s say this crap passes. Do you really think that those of us who love animals won’t risk a felony conviction? You’re smoking crack if you think we’re going to stop documenting abuse because of some fucktarded law you’ve put into place. And no, if it’s illegal to obtain it, it’s not admissible in court, but the media has no such constraints. If anything, this kind of law is going to fire us up MORE.
Pay attention, folks…pay attention like you’ve never paid attention before. If you’re in Iowa or Florida, you should be heading for the phone right now. If you’re in another state, start paying attention, because sure as shooting this is a national, well-coordinated effort to attack those who seek to protect animals, and legislation like this is heading straight for YOUR state. You need to call and write and do your part to stop it, or you might as well chuck all the cruelty laws we’ve managed to put into place so far. With no evidence, how will we ever get a conviction? The whole thing is crazy, not to mention WILDLY unconstitutional. Pay attention and speak up before YOUR right to protect an animal is taken from you.
