october 18, 2007 01:01pm

Flogging a dead horse

We have all been on one, or perhaps owned one, or better yet were offered one. When trying to ride we are stuck with a dead horse our patience’s seem to run out, at least mine do. What can we do about a dead horse? It’s been an age old question. Here is what I found would be a remedy.

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed down from generation to
generation, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead
horse, the best strategy is to dismount.


In the Public Service, however, a whole range of far more advanced
strategies is often employed, such as:

1. Change riders.

2. Buy a stronger whip.

3. Do nothing: "This is the way we have always ridden dead horses".

4. Visit other countries to see how they ride dead horses.

5. Perform a productivity study to see if lighter riders improve the dead horse's performance.

6. Hire a contractor to ride the dead horse.

7. Harness several dead horses together in an attempt to increase the speed.

8. Provide additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse's performance.

9. Appoint a committee to study the horse and assess how dead it actually is.

10. Re-classify the dead horse as "living-impaired".

11. Develop a Strategic Plan for the management of dead horses.

12. Rewrite the expected performance requirements for all horses.

13. Modify existing standards to include dead horses.

14. Declare that, as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line than many other horses.

15. Promote the dead horse to a management position

Posted By: Alex

december 18, 2007 01:02pm

Dealing with Horses

 
Springfield Illinois- 18 Belgian draft horses were put to death in October, 2007. Another four horses at the Coeur D' Alene Auction Yards in Idaho were found starved to death. Then there were the Halloween shootings of two ponies beside a riding trail in Snoqualmie, Washington are all cited by defenders of horse slaughter as purported reasons why the last horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. should not have been closed.
The slaughterhouses were closed earlier in 200 by a combination of enforcement of 1949 Texas legislation, a new Illinois state law, and a Washington D.C. Federal district court ruling that the inspection arrangements that had kept the slaughterhouses open violated the National Environmental Policy Act.
Animal advocates say the Illinois, Idaho, and Washington incidents point toward other abuse that they have long sought to stop: hauling horses in double decked trailers exceed anticipated profits from sale, and dumping or killing animals rather than retire or rest them and pay for vet care.

Horses are still being trucked to slaughter, but now at slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. A bull now before Congress called American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act would cut off that traffic.

Illinois state representative Bob Molaro and JoAnn Osmond responded to the truck crash in Illinois by introducing a bill to ban the use of double decker trucks to transport horses within the state. The offense would be a misdemeanor carrying a fine of 500.00 per animal for the first offense and 1000.00 per animal for repetition.

Associated Press reported that the Molaro/Osmond bill was likely to be endorsed by the Lake County Farm Bureau, in contrast with the usual tendency of Farm Bureau chapters to oppose humane legislation. But, stable owner Scott Golladay of Antioch, Illinois told Associated Press that he is skeptical of the proposed ban, "I'm not in favor of double deckers, but it becomes an economic decision," Galladay said. "Some of these horsemen try to cram as many into a truck as they can because they have to travel so far. "
The irony of the whole incident is that 59 Belgian Draft horses, were being transported in one truck with one driver on one of the biggest highways in the nation. Of the 59 Belgian horses aboard, eight died from the crash, ten more where euthanized. Five veterinarians and numerous local equine rescues worked all night to save the rest.

16 horses were killed in a similar accident in 2006, after a double decked trailer hauling 41 horses and a mule overturned en route to the now closed Cavel International slaughterhouse in DeKalb, Illinois.

Now putting this all together we are still left with the surviving horses and what can be done with them not to mention who will foot the bill. The surviving horses "could be adopted or go home with many of the dozens of volunteers who rescued them," Tara Malone updated on November 1st. The Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society in Barrington, Illinois will head up the adoption process. The adoption arrangements were to be supervised by Donna Ewing of the Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society of Barrington, Illinois.

Ewing, 72 testified in 2004 to an executive committee hearing of the Illinois House of Representatives that horse slaughter for human consumption should not be banned.

Ewing founded the Hooved Animal Humane Society in 1971, but she and her daughter Ronda were fired by the organization in June 2001, following prolonged friction with the board of directors over alleged mismanagement and failure to designate a successor. Ewing has reportedly already begun forming the Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society.

The Pasado's Safe Haven sanctuary posted a reward for 5000.00 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever shot the ponies found dead near Snoqualmie on Halloween night. This put them in the headlines, but after tracing the ponies to a person in Fall City, Kind County Animal Care and Control announced on November 8th that no charges would be filed. The Pasado's Safe Haven were saved from having to shell out the funds which they did not have. It was reported that it was indeed the owner that pulled the trigger that put the two 17 year old ponies down. Why? Because they were suffering from laminitis. So one good deed supports another.

It is also reported that nearly 630 thousand horses across the U.S. have been abandoned on state land. Wild horses at Pyramid Lake, Nevada are now less likely to be adopted from the Bureau of Land Management for covert sale to slaughter, but some tame horses are reportedly now being dumped on the Bureau's public land.

What is going on here people? Are you too stupid to see the end results that are happening? Can we continue to pass bills calling for less cruelty when the rise is mounting before our eyes. With the economic pressure to keep food in the mouths of our children what can we do with the unwanted horses. The shelters across the country are full and maxed out on finances. It's awesome that we can speak up and that organizations are out there to educated us on animal cruelty. The question is what are they doing with the left over stock that they so advocate social acceptance for.

Take PETA for example, they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to play advocate to the cruelty of animals, but yet once they get the breaking news highlighted what happens with all the animals they rescue. They are not supporting them, they are not paying the shelters to keep them and house them until death or adoption. I have to ask myself if they are a good thing for the humane care or are they hindering it. I like to think that they are doing a good thing, but in reality they are pushing buttons, opening doors and then leaving the clean up to others.

It cost almost 300,000.00 thousands for them to headline their campaign for chickens. Using the holocaust in comparison with the in-humane killing of chickens. And, that was just one campaign. What did they do, they took in a few chickens and later relocated them to a petting farm. Oh how wonderful, but that 300,000.00 would have went a long way in actually saving lives of animals. For the big organizations the annual salary for the founders alone would support most rescues for years.

Not to long back I was sent to a website to read comments of PetSmart being attacked by PETA. I was a little upset reading the comments stating that PetSmart did not take care of the animals in their stores in a proper humane way. They lacked employees with knowledge. I read and took in the full accounting how PETA took the time to entrap PetSmart. For the sake of fair play let me give you another side that is not often made public. PetSmart also extends their profits in Charities. From 2000 through 2006 PetSmart Charities in-store adoption boutiques placed 743,957 dogs and 1,382,681 cast on behalf of humane societies, animal control shelters and nonprofit rescue groups.

In my book that far covers any slight error they have in hiring their minimum wage employee and training they lack. In today's economic we need to be thankful that we have such places to work in along with the benefit it might bring to the animal community.

Posted By: Alex

december 21, 2007 02:40pm

Merry Christmas

[http://www.hugs2horses.com/hugscard1.jpg]

Posted By: Alex

december 21, 2007 02:39pm

Merry Christmas

"http://www.hugs2horses.com/hugscard1.jpg"

Posted By: Alex

january 04, 2008 12:09pm

Rescue comes in small faces!

With the closing of 2007 and the opening of 2008 the old saying out like a lamb and in like a lion was present. The new year brought our biggest snow fall of the year leaving a lot of Michigan residents motionless. It’s never to late to prepare for the worse, especially when you live in a state like Michigan.

With the help of Mrs Keddle and her second grade class we will be a little more prepared for events that could alter our life here on the farm. If you read the story of Aggie on our stores link then you know just how much more preparation we really need. Not to mention that our tractor would not start in the cold weather this past week.

To the rescue came the savors. With their generous donation of 315.00 we were able to purchase a propane heater and tank that is large enough to heat our complete barn in an emergency. If we had the heater when Aggie fell into the water, we would have been able to get her dry and warm a lot faster than we did.

The heater came in handy when we used it to heat up the tractor prior to starting it. The engine turned over and the hydrolics worked like a charm to plow through the heavy snow. So we would like to extend our THANK YOU to Mrs Keddle and all of her second grade class.

Thumbs up kids.

Posted By: Alex

january 31, 2008 12:09pm

Welcome to the Hall of Shame

Politicans who voted to open the Cavel horse slaughter plant in Illinois
include:

Senator Conrad Burns - Republican (MT)

Montana Office

Senator Conrad Burns

321 First Ave North

Great Falls, MT 59401

800-344-1513 phone





Congressman Bob Goodlatte - Republican (VA)

Washington D.C. Office

Congressman Bob Goodlatte

2240 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-2171 phone

(202) 225-9617 fax

bob.goodlatte@mail.house.gov



Harrisonburg Office

Congressman Bob Goodlatte

2 South Main Street

Suite A, First Floor

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

(540) 432-2391 phone

(540) 432-6593 fax

talk2bob@mail.house.gov





Representative Jim Sacia - Republican (IL)

Springfield Address

Representative Jim Sacia

210 N Stratton

Springfield, IL 62706

(217) 782-8186 phone

(217) 558-7016 fax

jimsacia@aeroinc.net



District Address

Representative Jim Sacia

19 S. Chicago Ave

Freeport, IL 61032

(815) 232-0774 phone

(815) 232-0777 fax





Representative Charles Morrow III - Democrat (IL)

Springfield Address

Representative Charles Morrow III

268 S. Stratton

Springfield, IL 62706

(217) 782-1702 phone

(217) 782-9274 fax

cmorrow26@aol.com



District Address

Representative Charles Morrow III

68 East 71st St.

Chicago, IL 60619

(773) 224-1563 phone

(773) 224-3074 fax





Senator Brad Burzynski - Republican (IL)

Springfield Address

Senator Brad Burzynski

M103D Statehouse

Springfield, IL 62706

(217) 782-1977 phone

(217) 782-9586 fax

info@senatorbrad.com



District Address

Senator Brad Burzynski

505 Dekalb Ave

PO Box 348

Sycamore, IL 60178

(815) 895-6318 phone

(815) 895-2905 fax





Representative Bill Black - Republican (IL)

Springfield Address

Representative Bill Black

314 Capitol Building

Sprngfield, IL 62706

(217) 782-4811 phone

(217) 782-1873 fax

wbblack@cooketech.net



District Address

Representative Bill Black

7 E. Fairchild

Danville, IL 61832

(217) 431-1986 phone

(217) 431-2088 fax





Other politicans who voted to open the Cavel horse slaughter plant in
Illinois include:



Aguilar, Frank - Republican (IL)

Bailey, Patricia - Democrat (IL)

Beaubien, Jr., Mark - Republican (IL)

Biggins, Robert - Republican (IL)

Boland, Mike - Democrat (IL)

Bost, Mike - Republican (IL)

Burke, Daniel - Democrat (IL)

Collins, Annazette - Democrat (IL)

Flowers, Mary - Democrat (IL)

Jefferson, Charles - Democrat (IL)

Jones, Lovana - Democrat (IL)

Joyce, Kevin - Democrat (IL)

Kurtz, Rosemary - Republican (IL)

Luechtefeld, David - Republican (IL)

Madigan, Michael - Democrat (IL)

Sloan, Ricca - Democrat (IL)

Turner, Arthur - Democrat (IL)

Washington, Eddie - Democrat (IL)

Wyvetter, Younge - Democrat (IL)

Posted By: Alex

march 23, 2008 02:18pm

Live Broadcast

Posted By: Alex

may 27, 2009 07:43am

Out of the Country

We will be out of the country once again in the UAE. We are leaving tomorrow morning and will not return until the 6th of JUNE. If you have any question hold off as long as you can........ Hugs

Posted By: Alex