Celebrities & Horses

Hey folks, it's Monday! I'm already exhausted from the weekend, how about you? Today's blog is a bit of a "fluff" post, but it should be amusing anyway. Let's take a look at some of our favorite celebrities, and their connections with the horse world.

Okay, okay, clarification: we're only going to look at celebrities that are A) actually into horses or B) did something good for them. If we list every celebrity that ever mounted a horse and claimed to love it, we're going to have see tons more bimbos like Ms. Spears up there. (Lord, can you imagine any more inappropriate riding clothes? Love the flip-flops, Britney-- now put your heels down.)


Johnny Depp

The-highest paid actor in the world should engage in some philanthropy once in a while! John Christopher Depp II (yep, that's his real name) adopted an Andalusian named "Goldeneye" from the set of Sleepy Hollow. The horse, who played "Gunpowder" in the movie, was scheduled to be euthanized (no idea why). Yay Johnny! You may be close to 50 now, but you're still hot. Let's hope your Lone Ranger movie doesn't get cancelled so you can ride again!



William Shatner

Yep, Captain Kirk the space cowboy really likes horses in real life-- he and his wife Elizabeth breed and show Quarter Horses and Saddlebreds on their 150 acre farm, Belle Reve, in Kentucky. Spend some money on the website, will ya Kirk? It's kind of fugly. The farm helps out with the Central Kentucky Riding for Hope's "Help for Heroes" program. Shatner is also hosting a Hollywood charity event this year centered around horses, the profits going to a ton of great causes. Good for you Captain-- it's clear you're paying attention to the needs of the many!





Sheryl Crow

The world-famous singer looooves horses--  she's given tons of money to various horse-related organizations (mostly of the save-the-mustangs type) and made this video with Viggo Mortensen about stopping the mustang roundups. Well, you know how I feel about that, but her heart's in the right place I guess. She's been criticized for simultaneously advocating horse welfare and performing at rodeos, but I think most reasonable people understand that well-run rodeos aren't cruel.






Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson is one of the coolest people ever. He's an advocate for green biofuel, small farmers and animal welfare. He's adopted several neglected horses and constantly advocates against horse cruelty, including horse slaughter.








Viggo Mortensen

The soft-spoken actor, best known for his role as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movies, is a huge horse fan. He rides, advocates for, and published a photography book of, horses! He even bought a horse for a crew member on a LOTR set who might not have been able to have the horse otherwise. Check out this cool video about Viggo's deep connection with horses. Oh, and did you know he speaks 7 languages? Hottest. Actor. Ever.




...okay folks, there are a TON more horse-obsessed celebrities out there, but I'm going to have to wrap things up for today; real world problems are calling. Stay tuned for more celebrities, horses and Kentucky Derby updates! The Derby is May 5th-- have you got your mint julep ingredients ready yet?!

Cyndi Plasch Beating A Horse at Midwest Horse Fair

If you're looking for my video of Asia Voight doing psychic readings for horse owners, click here. If you're looking for my full report on her, head on over to Snarkyrider. Now onto breaking news:

Wisconsin horse trainer Cyndi Plasch was caught on video tape at the Midwest Horse Fair repeatedly hitting a horse with a wiffle bat in order to force it into a trailer:

Cindy Plasch was heavily involved in gaited horses, as an owner, trainer and coach. She worked at the Missouri Foxtrotter Riding Academy (warning: site may be down due to heavy traffic) located at the Driftless Valley Ranch in Mazomanie, WI. The Upper Midwest Missouri Foxtrotter Association has just removed her from its board, but we don't know whether Driftless Valley has fired her or not. The Midwest Horse Fair organization has issued a statement condemning Plasch's actions, but we don't yet know if she will be allowed to come back next year. Hopefully, all of the media attention, including this video which has an interview with person who caught the abuse on tape, will mean permanent banishment for Plasch. Several witnesses have attempted to get some legal action going, but so far it seems officials are treating the incident as harmless. If you disagree, you can contact:

Timothy Frank
Animal Services Officer
Public Health-Madison & Dane County
Ph. 608-243-0310 or try (608) 266-4821


Or write to:

health@cityofmadison.com


Public Health Administrative Office
Attn: Animal Services
210 Martin Luther King
Jr. Blvd, Room 507
Madison, WI 53703

Plasch has now released a statement defending herself:

"Attempts to load the horse had been going on for an hour and a half prior," and "gentler methods such as tapping and using treats were used at the start and were not successful." She also said in the statement that the horse had become violent.  

Can anyone say, "lame excuse to throw a temper tantrum?" I have a challenge for you, dear readers: let's see how many ways we can come up with to get a balky horse into a trailer that don't involve beating it with a plastic bat. I'm willing to bet that most of you are not trainers, yet you can come up with dozens of better ways. Ready? I'll start us off:

- Using a butt rope.
- Training a horse extremely well prior to a major show, so that this is less likely to happen in the first place.
- Lunging the horse immediately after he refuses to go in the trailer, teaching him that refusal = more work than cooperation.

Several people have defended Plasch, saying stuff like, "A plastic wiffle bat doesn't hurt,"  "everyone loses their temper sometimes," and "the horse was aggressive." To which I reply:

A wiffle bat doesn't hurt much, but can you imagine how afraid this horse was? And the next time he even sees another trailer, he'll be even more afraid because of what he's experienced. Violence of any kind is never an appropriate training technique. Yes, everyone loses their temper, but this is an adult professional entrusted with the care of children and other peoples' horses. Even if she couldn't be adult enough to handle her shit, she could have found a better way of taking out her frustration. However, I don't believe this was spontaneous at all; ask yourself why a trainer would be carrying a large plastic wiffle bat around at a show unless they intended to use it exactly for this purpose. I'm betting beating balky horses into and out of trailers is Cyndi Plasch's favorite technique. Finally, this horse was not aggressive. Despite being whaled on with a bat, I didn't see him try to kick or bite even once in this video-- hardly the behavior of an aggressive horse. But even if it was an aggressive horse, does that warrant repeated beatings with a bat? Um, no. That's not how you deal with an aggressive horse, that's how you make one worse.

Cyndi Plasch = Scum. Spread the word.

 

Update: Plasch was eventually fined $429 (only after huge public pressure).

Midwest Horse Fair 2012: Hitting the Highlights

Ah, the Midwest Horse Fair!  Acres of horses, ponies, tack, jewelery, costumes, trainers, books, supplements, art, food, pony rides-- basically a giant horse-themed amusement park/mall descends on Madison, WI once a year for three days.

It's hard to even begin to blog about this event, because there's so much material, good and bad, to work with. That's why I've decided to split things up. The snarkiest, nastiest material I have is focused on Asia Voight, an "animal communicator" (a.k.a psychic), and that post will shortly (I hope) be featured over at fuglyblog. I may also do some separate in-depth posts on other subjects. This post right here is just going to hit the highlights-- but oh, what highlights! Strap on your helmets folks, let's start this ro-day-oh:


The Good

The Midwest Renegades is a trick-riding association, and although I'm not pleased about their lack of helmets, they are incredible riders. The young ladies I saw hung upside-down by one leg at a canter! Check out the beginning of their routine in this video. Sorry I didn't get the whole thing; some people directly in front of me decided that the middle of the show would be a great time to stand up and mill around.

The farrier competitions at MWHF are incredible to watch. Teams of expert farriers from across the nation compete against each other to create the best specialty horseshoes from scratch, in front of roaring furnaces and cheering crowds. Pictured here in the green shirt is Tom Petersch and his team from Bozeman, MT and in the black shirt, Robbie Mederos and his team from Danville, CA.

Terry Fenwick and his wife are the good folks behind America's Equine Soccer League, a grassroots effort here in WI to provide a fun way to train your horse, interact with others and do something productive in the winter. The Fenwicks are looking for people to host soccer games in their indoor or outdoor arenas, and are willing to give prospective hosts and players a ton of support. Terry is even willing to do a soccer-ball-desensitization-and-training clinic at your barn for just the cost of gas. By liking their Facebook page, you have a chance to win one of their giant horse soccer balls! The Fenwicks organized several soccer matches in the Nutrena Arena during the fair, and they were a blast to watch. I want to try!!

One of the coolest things about MWHF is the accessibility of the horses. Horses are ridden, driven and led right through the crowds of people milling around. You can get right up close to the most gorgeous equines and talk to their owners. It seems as though the risk to people, many of whom are not horse-experienced, would not be allowed. However, nearly every horse and rider I met seemed calm, competent and very prepared for the excitement. I applaud the professionalism on display.

This is the PRE (Andalusian) stallion Amadeo, my favorite hunk on Stallion Avenue. He's six years old, stabled in Oswego WI, and working on level 2 dressage. I wasn't a huge fan of his handler, but Amadeo was incredible.

I was disappointed that there weren't many horse rescues at the fair, but I was delighted to discover one I'd never heard of before: Holy Land Donkeys from Mount Calvary WI. I have always had a soft spot for the long-eared-fuzzies, but this was the first time I'd seen standard-sized donkeys and mammoth donkeys in person. I fell in love immediately. I hope to volunteer there at their Donkey Days event in October.


The Bad

The Mill Creek Hunt Club is seeking members. But you must ride English and dress in club-approved clothing, you must braid you and your horse's hair in approved fashions, and you absolutely must speak with a slightly snobbish inflection. Oh, and you need to like running down and killing coyotes with dogs. Coyotes will occasionally kill a barn cat or chicken that's been carelessly left out at night, but otherwise they are useful, not dangerous. These small, dog-like animals eat pests like rats, mice and rabbits, and clean up roadkill and other dead animals. Why shoot nature's garbageman? Well, because apparently foxes are in shorter supply.

Unfortunately, the Quarter Horse folks were at it again with their peanut-rolling antics. My mother, who is not a horse person, watched this exhibition with me. As soon as the horses stepped into the arena, she asked, "Are those horses sad or something?" Every one of them had heads drooping down to their knees, stiffly jerking around in a parody of a lope. Don't get me wrong, there were some impressive horses and riders-- I particularly enjoyed the trick-riding cowboy and the lady who reined with no bridle. It's just that I hate to see a working breed reduced to extremely artificial gaits in the name of fashion.

The notorious Asia Voight claims that you can become a horse whisperer in minutes, save thousands of dollars in vet bills, and fix any training problem, including bucking, biting, rearing and bolting...just by psychically talking to your horse. If you don't have the knack, don't worry-- you can pay her $150 for a half-hour phone call, during which she will connect with your horse using only a photograph. I've got video of her doing some hilarious "psychic readings," and some great quotes, but I'll hold off until the Fuglyblog post.

This is "Muffin," a 22 year old curly mare who looked pretty miserable. I'm not sure what was going on with her skin/coat, but she looked apathetic and had diarrhea. A posted sign claimed that the marks on her face were halter scars from past abuse (before the current owner). Why bring a horse to the fair in this generally poor condition? The owner appears to be Elizabeth Brownlie, though the tag was hard to read. Poor Muffin.

The gaited horses were a pleasure to watch-- except for this man, who simultaneously rode and drove these Puerto Rican Paso Finos. It looked difficult and just plain dangerous to me, though I admit I'm no expert.

As usual, the Gypsy Vanner crowd provided some entertainment. This particular photo shows a stallion who was obviously unprepared for doing Liberty. He kept running back to the gate and pacing at the fence, frightened. His handler, a guy with a weird mullet-ponytail, didn't help-- he kept running around, cracking the whip and flashing it around the stallion's head to try to get him to run around and show off. The crowd around me eventually got so impatient with the failed show and stupid whip antics, they started calling for the handler to halter the horse.

The Great Lakes Friesians were awesome-- better than last year, actually, and certainly better than some other Friesian organizations. However, this side-saddle rider partially ruined the exhibition for me by holding her horse's head cranked down to its chest the entire time she was in the ring. This picture doesn't even show the worst of it, though he's clearly behind the vertical here.

Oh, and one more thing. PEOPLE! DO. NOT. STOP. IN. THE. MIDDLE. OF. THE. AISLES!!!!! Seriously, I know there's stuff you want to look at, but step off to the side. Other people are trying to move! This applies not only inside, where there are hoards of people, but outside as well, where there are 1,000 pound animals that need to get through! I saw two girls literally stopped to braid each others' hair inside the packed vendor area. I saw women park their double-wide strollers across aisles while they stopped to look at cowgirl bling. Arghh!

The Weird & Wonderful

Just because I don't approve of breeding solely for color doesn't mean I can't appreciate unusual colors. This is a champagne Appaloosa. It's hard to tell in this picture, but he had caramel-colored eyes! He is a stallion, by the way, though I didn't manage to find out his name or owner. Actually, his conformation seemed pretty nice.

Everything you could possibly want to buy, in any color, is available at the Midwest Horse Fair! This saddle was adorned with genuine Swarovsky crystals.

The Belgian "Big Jake," the tallest horse in the world, once again graced the fair with his presence. He stands over 20 hands high, and weighs about 2,600 pounds. That means his shoulder is taller than an average man's head, and he's 2-3 times the weight of an average riding horse. He lives at Smokey Hollow Farm near Poynette, WI. Horses this size can drink 20+ gallons of water per day, and eat 50+ pounds of food per day.

Watching the Oneida tribe do some traditional dances was really cool. However, I was a bit confused. I was expecting Native Americans from the plains region on horseback. Oneidas, of course, didn't traditionally have horses-- horses were of much less use in heavily wooded areas. I think this was MWHF's attempt to throw some of that "heritage" theme into the proceedings. Not that I minded, because the dancers were great; I just think it's funny (or sad?) that most people immediately associate Indians with horses, no matter which tribe, and that's probably really the reason the Oneidas were invited.

It's Spring! Important Wisconsin Spring Horse Events

It's Spring! Hah hah ha, we wish it looked like that, don't we?

Reality:

No, this isn't Annie-- she was even more muddy than this. My camera battery died, however.

  

This is the time of year when your boots are constantly caked with muck, your clothes are full of shed hair, your horse is full of dirt, and there's not much you can do about it. The good news is, you can finally jump back into the saddle, after a long winter of making excuses about how you just "don't have the time" to go riding in sub-zero weather. Hooray! Annie and I have had two rides already, and she was an angel-- despite not even being lunged beforehand. Let's hope that continues.

Spring Horse-Related Events in WI

• Have you got your spring vaccinations, worming and new Coggins test done?
• Have you bought your 2012 WI trail/park/camping passes? You can order 'em here.
• A listing of WI country, district and state fair dates can be found here.
• March 18th: "Mega" Tack Sale in West Bend, WI. 10- 3. Washington County 4-H. Info here.
• March 24th: Tack Swap & Coggins Day at the Fairgrounds in Portage. Seller's table = $10, Coggins = $18. Free admission. Testing begins at 1pm. Walk-ins welcome.
• March 24th: Open Fun Show at Mandt Equestrian in Oregon, WI. Info here.
• April 14th: Another Open Fun Show at Mandt. Same deal.
• Central WI Horse Sale: April 18th-21st. Held at the Clark County Fairgrounds, Neillsville, WI. Antiques, tack, vehicles, trailers, then horses and ponies on the last day. Probably the largest auction in the state. More info here.
• Midwest Horse Fair: April 20th-22nd. Event schedule here.
• Tim Nolan Arena Horse Auction: May 5th, Marion, WI. Probably the second-largest horse auction in WI. They usually have some tack before the horses. More info here.  
• Partners for Progress Open Benefit Show: May 6th. Starts 8:30am. Details here.
• Open Show Sponsored by Plymouth Trail Riders: May 29th. Plymouth, WI. Details here.
• Oregon Horse Association Open Show: May 28th. Starts 8:30am. Flier here.
• Another Central WI Horse Sale: May 19th. Critters only this time.
• Dodge Co. Saddle Club Open Show: June 3rd. Starts. 8:30am. Just north of Beaver Dam. Info here.
• Midwest Horse Welfare Raffle: This charity raffle started Mar. 2nd, and the winners will be drawn on June 30th at the rescue. Attendees will also be entered for door prizes, just for showing up. If you want to sell tickets to support this great charity, you can even win incentives! More here.

Coming Soon: MHF!!

The Midwest Horse Fair is almost here!!

I'm super excited, because once again, the organizers have put together a great and varied schedule. You can go to see everything from Horse Yoga to western sliding stop demonstrations, from jousting to jumping. This year's theme is "Horse Heritage," so there's a particular emphasis on horses and Native Americans, how horses were used in war, and cowboy stuff. I'm surprised there isn't more emphasis on driving/draft horses, since that was probably the biggest historical role horses played, but maybe that counts as a different theme. Anyway, I'll be there on at least two days, giving you all the glamorous and gory details!

My top picks for most controversial events:


"Come Learn All About Fox Hunting!"
"Using Bits and Spurs in Western Riding"
"Gypsy Cob Demo"
"Gypsy Vanner Demo"

"Baroque Horse Demo"
"Friesian Heritage Demo"
"Great Lakes Friesian Demo"
"Soul Recognition Between You and Your Horse"
"Intuitive Guidance for YOU"

Last year, the "fashionable" breed events were a mixed bag. Some were great-- but at least two were full of badly-conformed, badly-trained, shaggy critters that did nothing but walk around the arena. One extremely fat woman walked her gypsy stallion into the arena on a longe line, and tried to make him longe while everyone else rode-- and it was totally obvious that that stallion did NOT know what the hell she was asking. The dirty, shaggy, stained stallion finally kicked out at her, then went to the end of the rope and just stood there. Fail. These Vanner-fans had obviously written a terrible script for the announcer to read; he stumbled over run-on sentences, awful wording and so many uses of the words "magical" that I pitied him greatly. Oh, and the "soul recognition" and "intuitive guidance" things? Asia Voight is responsible for that new-age scammy crap. She's an "animal communicator and life guide," and you can pay her $150 to have a half-hour telepathic conversation with your horse. She doesn't even need to be near the horse-- all you have to do is make an appointment for a telephone consultation. Riiiight. Also, if you sign up to receive her newsletter, she'll send you a totally free dolphin meditation sound file! 

Human-animal telepathy works better if you have A) illegal drugs or B) a ton of money to waste

My top picks for most useful seminars:


"Riding From the Core"
"How to Test the Rider's Seat and Position"
"Equine Emergencies: What do do Before, During, and After"
"Creating a Solid Foundation" parts 1 and 2
Clipping demos
"Advanced Saddle Fitting" 
"Dressage Through The Levels: What a Judge is Looking For"


My top picks for most fun events:


"Equine Soccer Tournament"
 "History of the Joust"
"Beginner's Intro to Trick Riding"
"Mustang Makeover Challenge"
...and of course the stallion reviews and Liberty events. Love those!

By happy coincidence, I happen to live just a few blocks from the Midwest Horse Fair's offices-- so I'm hoping to get an interview with the organizers soon.