Posted so that I can remind myself that I did that. I called the "try not to be cruel to your animals" organization.
I helped improve him "back" to this point, just minus the muscle tone. Now we have a pot-bellied perversion of a TB. Dark animals are very difficult to photograph. The white belly outlines are the camera flashes shadow, in the top left and bottom dream pic. The top right is not inverted, the other two are. I hope you can see the hollow on either side of his croup, hello, good-bye, muscles that thrived for 13 years. The show sheen he's sprayed with makes the dirt trapped beneath fuzz the glare of the flash, while giving the rest of his coat a crazy gleam, as if he really IS shiney. Underneath. You be the judge, I am, of course, not an entirely impartial observer. A TB stallion that stops feeling air moving across his legs, ever. I can't imagine. I try not to.
I'm re-reading some of Dr. Temple Grandin's "Animals Make us Human", and had to stop and gasp for breath. Because this is SO obvious. To me. Listen..
Quoting Dr. Temple Grandin
"Horses are herd animals with strong social needs. You can't keep a horse locked up alone in a stall all the time, the way some breeders have been doing."
Some breeders, huh. (shriek) You mean there are more like this???Horse Organizations seriously take this type of care seriously? They license/take memberships from these people?
For shame. Anything for a buck, anything goes in horses. Nothing ever changes, I guess. I'm still boycotting TB's, but I started doing that a long time ago. Until he's safe/out of sight, I'll not forget where he ended up.
See how a dark bay horse can hide his ribs? same horse, different angle, lots of show sheen can mask a LOT.
Notice the “ribs” going across his trachea? He is so anatomically correct, eh? I’ve helpfully zoomed in on his neck, enhanced the contrast, and “inverted” it, so you can see the striations. STRAIN, Eat. STRAIN neck across panel. I’m sorry, I just didn’t realize this horse-keeping practice was so common. It’s just me, right?
This is normal, in 2010. Right? I KNOW what the trachea looks like, but that’s the point. I’ve never seen this. As a scientist, I must conjecture on why this happened. The way he feeds comes to mind.
Fascinating, in an “I can’t believe this” kind of way.
Man, oh, man. Horses are in big trouble, eh? I was hoping this nightmare I'm currently haunted by was an aberration. Tell me I'm right? Or are there hundreds of thousands of horses rotting away in strange cages right now, and I'm just too naive to know they are there?
I listened to dogs barking a couple hundred acres away, as usual, tonight. Aching, pleading, lonely barks. I used to have a barking dog a hundred feet away, a dog alone on a six foot chain. Now, I have a horse in a garage, a hundred feet away. He is so quiet. His cribbing is not as constant, he needs to conserve energy for the winter. He would know that..
But he's just/they are all just an animal. They can rot. Doesn't HurT.
Happier Thoughts, Jethro !
I re-watched the big Spruce Meadows jumper class, I had only half watched it the first time. Eric Lamaze's sirrups irons are a funky type, but don't ask me which kind. I was just into plain old heavy metal, in my day:) And no, I don't mean Ozzie Osborne. blech. Although I am ashamed to admit I did like some of Black Sabbath.
Times do change, as I hum along to ABBA.
Anyway, I watched Eric again, yellow oxer, and he pointed that left toe down, and kind of shifted his weight over to the right the tiniest of fractions, and pop went the stirrup. It looked like he was trying to protect his foot from the landing over the huge yellow oxer. Hickstead just about went into orbit over that fence, he was splitting oxygen and creating his own cumulous clouds. Hickstead can pop his own bubbles. Amazing, the explosive energy in those hooves of his. Amazing.
I'm so sorry, my faithful few readers. I know what you want to read from me, but it's ebbing so fast. I love horses, and always will. But the pain I can feel for them is almost too much to bear.
With your help, I'll get through this. Let's hope the horse gets through it, too.
To a Day when I don't have to explain why a horse caged in the garage is wrong.
To a Day when I'm not considered the crazy one for caring about him.
4 comments:
Not crazy GL, caring!
Hugs, my dear kind friend,its all I have right now,hugs from me, and Johnie
If you are crazy, there's plenty of company on the bus. Here, come sit next to me. I'll get ya something to drink and look after the dogs for ya while you rest...
{{{hugs}}}
GL, keep speaking out. Without your voice, I know he would be in much worse shape by now.
To The Horses
And The Redheads That Love Them
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