NY Neglect, EHV-1 Update, Dick Dog, Etc

Undernourished pony? Check. Helmet-less child? Check. Celebrated human interest story? Check. Wait, what?

The New York stable run by the Federation of Black Cowboys has been shut down after the death of six horses. Story here. I know many people (and newspapers, television stations, etc) made a big deal about how awesome and inspirational this group was/is, but... if they had been white, the public would have called them out on their low-quality care and ignorance long ago. Yay for political correctness. The Federation is saying, "it's not our fault, those horses died because their owners were neglectful!" Okay, sure-- and you just stood by and did nothing? *sigh* Nice facilities, by the way.

In Illinois, the EVH-1 scare is becoming less scary, as no more horses have been diagnosed with the disease and those horses that were affected are recovering. Story here. The Double W boarding stable in Gurnee, Ill has been very, very strict about biosecurity, to their credit. However, EVH-1 still seems to be popping up a lot this spring winter in other parts of the country-- the latest reported case is in Montana.

Speaking of horrible things that seem to be getting worse, here's yet another story about the huge amount of horse neglect going on up here in the north... and yeah, pretty much everywhere in the country. Even people who used to be fairly solidly okay are now begging for regular-priced hay. I've seen small squares going for $5 each. Some people are down to saying, "look, I need to buy hay OR get rid of horses, if you can help me out with either, please call!"

I'll be heading to the Tim Nolan auction up north again on Saturday April 6th, and I'm nervous about the possibility of even cheaper horses than last time.

Yet, despite all the excess of horses and lack of hay, idiots in Wisconsin are still offering stallions like this for stud service.

What... what is this? The owner claims he's a "Registered Friesian Paint Cross." A registered what? Which dime-a-dozen registry did you use, the Colored Shaggy Horses of America? He looks like an anemic mustang. Looking at his weak chest, weak rump, no muscling, camped-out legs, herring gut and high butt, I don't think I'd breed this guy if he had fucking wings.


Providing perspective on the overpopulation mess, Susannah Forrest, one of my favorite horse bloggers, is going to write a book on the USA Horse Slaughter debate. Should be very interesting. She has a balanced view you can see in this excellent post.

So yeah, lots of depressing stuff. And it's still freezing cold and snowing. But. BUT! Things could be worse! Things could be much, much worse! You could have been born with a serious, life-altering problem. Just look at this poor little guy, and imagine how often he's laughed at: