16days

My Rant on the Webs, which I forgot to post here. Duh. Told ya I was beat. Snivel.

"My neighbour has a TB Stallion in her garage. Check my blog for full story/updates, but suffice it to say, he needs help, and it may not happen in a timely fashion, for the horse. Neighbour likes to keep animals in that amorphous "borderline" state.
Has food, water, shelter. That's about it.

Cleanliness, turn-out, fresh air/water, no, not part of being humane. That is inhumane. That is what's missing from those laws. Animals must have enrichment & Cleanliness!!! How long will it take for that kind old gentleman,with his infinite patience, as he stands, and cribs and cribs and cribs and cribs. Paces his justenough perimeter. Gazes out the screenless sunny window. Wishes for horses. Wishes for his old life back, soft grass underfoot, after training/racing for almost half his life.

Now on concrete, and a thin layer of filthy straw, 23.75/24. She'll have it half-arsed clean for the OSPCA if/when they show up again. She'll "procure" her next bale of straw. I've called several more times. What else can I do? Part of the helplessly angry world, that's me? Why can't OSPCA do more? More quickly, so the animal doesn't get hurt or worse? Why is Dire Straits the only actionable offense? No idea. But it's wrong, wrong, wrong."

Fern Valley's Most Excellent Letter.
To whom it may concern;
I have grave concerns about the “minimum standard of care” for horses in the OSPCA guidelines. In particular, Appalachian Chief, who is currently housed in a garage in (location).
While the horse owner is apparently meeting the minimum standard, I feel that the bar has been set far too low.

He is currently receiving no turnout and inadequate exercise.

Is the garage floor dirt or concrete? Both pose risks to the horse health in that a dirt floor, without taking the horse out for several hours per day, will never adequately dry, regardless of how often it is cleaned. This puts the horse at very real risk of thrush and other hoof conditions.

Concrete on the other hand is in fact difficult to manage for dryness as well and traction can become a huge issue. The risks are inherent to the horse's situation for injury due to falling, or joint issues with standing on such an unforgiving surface long term are obvious.

The issue of turnout, is possibly not the greatest issue if the horse is receiving adequate exercise, by that I don’t mean 5-10 min on a longe line, but rather hand walking, a minimum of 20 min possibly followed by longing. At the risk of anthropomorphizing the horse, imagine yourself standing in a small area 90% of your day, then being forced to run in circles, the simple torque on muscles and joints alone again can lead to long term issues for the horse.

Include the fact this horse is of a higher energy breed, the issue of safety for the handler becomes greater the longer he is left so poorly managed. He is becoming a dedicated cribber which can lead to colic, also dental damages. This individual has clearly not made much effort to meet the creature comforts of this horse so far, is it really likely she will adequately manage a “hard keeper” in his later years (should he survive that long)?

I am given to understand the horse has been purchased as a breeding stallion, the lack of natural light will also negatively impact the horse potency, (which in the care he is receiving at present may not be a negative. I would be saddened to see this individual as the primary steward for a mare and foal).

If this is considered to be meeting the “minimums standard of care required"? How sad for the animals. I strongly believe the reactive approach of Animal control organizations must change. Education, and active policing BEFORE these situations get out of hand and the horses/animals suffer a catastrophic event, should be the reality. Not this slow, painful slide into starvation and extreme neglect.

Thanks, Fern. I needed that.



I figure he's losing about five pounds or so a day. And I've decided to stop posting tiny pics. Poop on you guys with wonky computers. Not My problem. That's what I like about Blogger, for goodness sakes!

If they take forever to load, think about how slowly he's losing weight. I think it's only fair to load the biggest, most detailed pictures possible. That way, you can tell me I'm worrying too much, and he hasn't lost weight/condition. Looks like he's getting taller, too, doesn't it? Shite builds up, ya know.

Oh, how I wish I could wake up and say "April Fool's"!!! But no, it's real. gah.

Let's all copy and paste Fern's letter, and send it to the OSPCA offices, shall we? Perhaps a copy of PDF Alert, Our Canadian Standards of CARE for HORSES, for goodness sakes!
Link to the OSPCA site has always been in my link list. Let's bother the government too, shall we?? The largest problem with our government is that you have to hire a consultant to get past all the extra verbiage, so mandatory in government and big, badly managed corporations. But, what the heck OMAFRA sure isn't Busy.

The Federal Government sites are brilliant, in that they tell you nothing you couldn't figure out for yourself. Just go to The Federal Site and you'll see what I mean. Or not.

I was thinking about doing some business in the States. It would have cost me $500.00 to find anything of (possible) value out. Poop on ThaT! I do firmly believe in local business, local food, local everything. Logistically, it just makes SENSE. I am an efficiency nutbar.

Hey, nice tangent, Hmmmm? At least I wasn't thinking about him. For a minute.


COTH Forum-
Greys&Bays said "If it bothers you all that much, decide how much it's worth to you to not be bothered, trot over with your wad of cash and make the neighbors an offer they can't refuse to purchase the horse.
Then take the horse out back someplace and shoot him.
Then you won't have to be bothered anymore."

On the equiman forum I infrequent, the thread was locked. Interesting. Calling for a change in laws? Locked. Wow!

Such kind hearts out there in horse internet land. The hardness required in the business? Something I've never really gotten a good handle on, and I have tried. My heart is too big, and soft.
Like my head;)


OH, and I finally watched "Food Inc." JustTrueEnough to be scary as hell.

My husband, a farmer no more, was vociferous in his agreement with 90% of it. He started to quibble about the organic food reporting, but it was quibbling:) Really interesting, absolutely no doubt about it, true enough stuff.

Something I think many of us foresaw. Certainly my husband was railing about it all when I met him, 15billion+ years ago.