Posts Tagged ‘racing’
How is this different from the Omak Suicide Race?
So every year, we all scream bloody murder about the Omak Suicide Race, because pretty much every year, a horse dies — and that should tell you the event is too dangerous, right? OK, so what about the Grand National? It took place yesterday and two horses, Ornais and Dooney’s Gate, died on course. I’ve said before that while I’m not anti-racing (I am anti-2-year-old-racing but I’m anti-2-year-old-RIDING of any type), I think steeplechases are too dangerous. See, when you have, say, a Jumper class or a horse on course cross-country, everybody is going like hell and jumping but they are not doing so in a PACK. The nature of steeplechase is that you’re going hell for leather and you cannot see what is on the other side of the fence. So you are blind jumping at top speed into, frequently, horses that were faster than you but have now fallen and may be lying there dead or injured. Horses die, people die. This year one horse broke its neck and another broke its back. Why doesn’t this happen during regular fox hunts? Again, it’s the element of not being able to see what’s on the other side. Hunts primarily have traditional fences with plenty of visibility, so that both rider and horse can see a problem and avoid it, or things like small water jumps. And most hunts don’t have big fences, anyway. The Grand National has fences ranging between 4’6 and 5’0. You would never see that on a typical foxhunt. I’m not opposed to “extreme” sports, but let them be sports where the only risk is taken by those who choose to participate – the people. You want to jump off a cliff in Omak, or bound wildly over a blind jump into god knows what, do it on foot. You want to have a drunken party, which is apparently what the Grand National is known for (see the Dlisted gallery), have it without horses. Right now, I simply do not see what the difference is supposed to be between the Omak Race and this equally over-the-top and inhumane competition, except in terms of the social classes and money behind the participants. Do you think there’s a difference?
A site after my own heart!
Someone finally did it! They made a web site to help the old TB broodmares find homes!
You all know that this is a subject near and dear to my heart. I love old TB mares and know that there are like a gazillion of you out there who are competent enough to get one, tune them up and place them in a riding home. It is not that hard. Honestly, if they’re track broke, by the time they’re 15+, they aren’t going to be any harder than riding a school horse who roots. They make great first “projects” if you are a solid rider but have never actually trained before and want to start learning how. And these mares desperately need your help! They get dumped ALL THE TIME. No matter HOW nice they are.
Here is my latest, pictured at the auction on Sunday. This is Show Ticket. Look at that pedigree. Who dumps that? And it’s not like she’s barren. She had a baby last year.
Ticket is safe, but so many more are in jeopardy. Check out the new site — save a life and get yourself a summer project!
For those of you in Maryland…please check this story out about a Morgan Show Horse Shot. It sounds like there’s a real sicko in that area and somebody knows who he is. Please share the story around to your friends and family!
The U.S. Trotting Association just started its own program to help ensure the safety of Standardbreds when their racing careers are over. Check it out!
I’ll be darned if I can figure out if it’s the horse or the little sister who is pregnant, but it’s good for a laugh!
Horse
The Saga of the 52 Thoroughbreds
I must begin this blog entry with this information:
I know some of you just got this, but the horses have been placed. There is no need to post about them ANYMORE. It is over.
In case you SOMEHOW have been in a coma for three days and missed it, here is the original posting
Now, let’s review the whole clusterfuck of a situation and discuss what we think is true and what isn’t. I have determined the following: Someone is lying. I’m smart like that. 
Indisputable fact #1: Dr. Stearns really did die. R.I.P.
Indisputable fact #2: Dr. Stearns really did have a lot of Thoroughbreds, and his survivors were uninterested in continuing his breeding program.
Now the story begins to diverge. The person who takes responsibility for the posting is Lynn Boggs, per this article today in The Horse. The story Boggs tells is that Dr. Stearns son did indeed intend for the horses to go to auction if they weren’t placed within a week:
“After Sterns’ son dismantled his father’s breeding and racing farm, he gave Boggs and her boyfriend, Jerry Noss, a week to find homes for the 52 horses. He planned to send any unadopted animals to auction.”
Man, he dismantled that farm FAST if his dad died on January 27th!
Boggs then backpedals (probably because Dr. Stearns son is ready to sue her ass, how much do you want to bet?) and says she never mentioned slaughter. But she doesn’t seem to have a problem with the fact that this made its way into the posting as it traveled around the ‘net, and seems to have decided the threat of The Truck was a pretty damn good marketing method.
“Although Boggs avoided mentioning “slaughter” in her original posting, subsequent posts by other concerned parties mentioned this as a possibility, should the horses not find new homes. “I didn’t want to say slaughter; I hate that word,” she said, noting she didn’t believe they would have that end. She thinks the post gained even more momentum when the word “slaughter” entered the description.”
1. I hate the word? Um, I hate the act. How can you hate the word? That’s stupid.
2. Of course they were gonna ship to kill, they were a whole shit-load of Thoroughbreds that were going to go to auction in Ohio in the middle of winter. Where the hell else were they gonna go? Maybe a handful would have gotten into actual homes.
3. You think it gained momentum when the ax was raised over the horses’ heads? Yeah, so do Chri$ty and $am. You guys ought to hold a horse marketing seminar.
The problem with threatening slaughter if horses are not placed is that somebody has to be the bad guy. In an attempt to learn the actual truth, Katie Merwick of Second Chance Ranch called the vet clinic old Dr. Stearns used to practice at and asked them. They told the following version:
“They ALL went to other owners/trainers and members of the racing community. These were very well bred, healthy horses. All have good homes. They were never, ever at any risk of slaughter. The son has worked tirelessly with the community to get the horses into safe homes. This is per the manager of the veterinary clinic.”
So the reason I am blogging about this today is so that we can play the eternally popular game: WHO IS THE LIAR HERE? Is it Ms. Boggs, who slandered Mr. Stearns by painting him as an eeevil guy about to send his deceased father’s horses to kill and painted herself as a heroine? Or is it Mr. Stearns, who really WAS going to send the horses to kill except for Ms. Boggs’ Internet blitz which saved their lives? I know that if we talk about this long enough, the insiders will crawl out of the woodwork and the truth will come out — it always does!
Here’s what I really want: I want a list of the Stearns horses, so we can Internet stalk them and see if they wind up at Sugarcreek or another auction after all. Who has got that? One possibility that has come to my mind — maybe I’m just a skeptic — is that these horses are being quietly shuttled off to auction anyway. I mean, how the hell do you place 52 horses in a couple of days? Really? Who has them? Can we track this? Where did they go?
I know everybody wants to believe the fairytale that FACEBOOK SAVED 52 THOROUGHBREDS! but you guys know, I live in the land of reality and skepticism…and I want to hear what really happened here!
Thoroughbreds in British Columbia – MUST go by Sunday!
Cross posting this here – I would love to hear that some of you have gotten them to safety. I’m particularly curious if he still has the nice Woodman son or not. If you are local and end up getting pics, pedigrees, etc. PLEASE send them to me and I will post.
Thoroughbreds HAVE to go by Sunday
Now, I know that some of you would like to give this person a piece of your mind, and I almost didn’t cross post this because I know some of you probably will, no matter what I say. All I can say is, let’s use a little common sense. If you tell him off, he is going to say eff you guys and sell them for meat. I do not believe he is going to get $500 a piece for meat, so I would certainly encourage anyone interested to make a more reasonable offer. You know, bite your tongue and go in there and be polite no matter how you feel – do you want the horse safe or not? I have smiled and been nice walking into horrible humane case situations, and you can, too.
I have a special soft spot for Mr. Prospector horses. They are super snuggly as a rule and just awesome to ride. So I hope that some of these do get to safety!
