Young Nitro

Thursday I loaded Nitro and Cody, and trailered to where we do gymkhana; to warm up for Saturday's competition. Nitro did a few laps in the ring, then we stopped by Halls Corners on the way home and went on a wonderful trail ride. The sky was stormy with sun rays piercing through, touching the new cut hay in spots, as we enjoyed the longest day of the year together, high in the mountain. Nitro was feeling great and opened up into a nice canter. The wind blowing through his mane conflicted with the bouncing of it and it reminded me of a July 4th sparkler as the sun rays peppered it. Back into the trailer, I hoped he would have energy left for 's event; but even if not, the longest day ride was worth it.
Friday Nitro got his bath and was kept in with a robe to stay warm and clean for Saturday morning. The gymkhana went well, Theresa did poles on him. Nitro likes going and watching all the horses run and stands still with me on him for hours. All in all, another nice day together.
I had promised a boarder to go for an early Sunday morning trail ride with him but thought Nitro might be a little tired. We tacked up and went up the meadow through the high uncut hay at a nice clip. Then, into the woods where Nitro did his regular jumps over the logs. My friend was impressed, and commented what a great horse Nitro was. We weaved through the trees and brush and then headed down the dry river bed. Nitro jogged down the river stones at a rapid clip jumping over some and sliding and side stepping over others, leaving my friend, and his younger horse, far behind in amazement. Nitro, at 20 years young, tip toed over the rocks faster and faster using athletic skills that boggled my mind; all after two days of work. A wise old man once told me, "when the trail is rough drop the reins and let your horse pick the coarse". Nitro played the river bed like Fred Astaire. Before finishing our ride Nitro went up the river and pawed and splashed like a kid in a pool. "Yep," I told my friend, "Nitro is the most expensive horse in the barn". "Really?" "Yep," I said, "If you were to offer a million bucks I wouldn't sell him".

Summer Dinner

Tonight, as I sometimes do, I held Nitro's grain bucket for him as he ate. He has issues at feeding time but if I hold his bucket and turn it for him so he can get out all the grain he tolerates me. I think he even rather I hold it cause he gets all the grain without spilling any on the ground. As he ate, the sun was setting this warm summer day and its rays glistened off his golden mane with all the brilliance of a rainbow. I saw white hair, gold, silver and red all glistening in the sun set. I looked beyond to his flat muscular back and massive hindquarters. I felt his jaws chew the grain and watched the muscles of his jowls pulverize and grind. I looked into his massive brown eye and big gold eyelash. I let his ear rub my face and scratched his head. Finally the warmth of summer, the joy of time with my horse in the simple task of holding his bucket. Last week he took fifth place in a gymkhana pole bending event. Not bad, it was only the second time we ever did it. On the trail ride the other day he was perfect, almost anticipating my every wish. He even went up the river and bobbed his head and cooled his feet, standing in the cool water. I closed my eyes and just let him be, then after a few minuets he turned and we headed back to the barn doing bends. We ended up in the ring and did two sets of barrels. Who would ever imagine we would be so good together; me, a rider without a clue and him a horse, who could throw a bull rider. Yes, as I watched the sun set through his mane, I wished for another twenty years of NITRO and warm days. Oh, after his grain he went to his hay, but not before charging me to get me out of his paddock. Seems he doesn't like anyone to feed him his hay.

April 16

I brought Two Step back to the rescue barn today form the boarding barn. Nitro and he were good friends at home and this was the first time they've seen each other in a few years. Nitro was in his solitary confinement paddock because he's been so bad to the other horses lately. I opened the gate to let Two Step in an adjoining paddock and be with Page and the pony. Well, as soon as Two Step saw Nitro he ran to the gate and he and Nitro changed breaths. Two Step immediately began nuzzling and biting Nitro on the ribs and back. Nitro enjoyed every minute. I decided to open Nitro's gate and let the two old friends be together. Nitro, anxious to see Two Step, tried to get out before Two Step got in. I had to chase him back and try to coax Two Step in. Every time I opened the gate to let Two Step in Nitro came over to the gate. I threw mud at him he just pinned his ears. Then I picked up a stick and threatened him and he reared to knock it and my arm off. I finally got him back and opened the gate again and Nitro tried to ram through the opening. I quickly closed it and Nitro went into it locking his two front legs and falling onto his knees bending the gate. There he was kneeling, tangled in the gate. I was standing helpless, holding Two step's lead, evaluating the situation waiting for him to panic and run off with the gate stuck in his legs. Nitro realized his fate and simply got up gate and all then slowly unlocked his legs and walked away. I told him that's what happens when he doesn't listen and opened the gate and Two Step walked in and he and Nitro walked off together, probably discussing the lost time, and recent episode of the gate. Nitro could have easily broke his legs or ran off with the gate cutting his tendons and skin but he some how got himself up from his knees. I have never seen a horse get up without extending his legs and jerking his weight. It was likely the most athletic feat I have ever witnessed a horse do. He used brute force straightening the bent gate and raised his weight all without the use of his front legs or the slightest bit of panic. It was as if the entire scene was being played back in reverse. I will never cease to be amazed by him.

April 12

With the cold weather back can't do much with Nitro. We were working on his breathing by going up and down hills. He's not very motivated, so rather then getting after him to run, I graze him on the top hill of three meadows. Once he realizing were heading up, he gallops at full speed cause his appetite overcomes his laziness. This method also works on a barn sour horse, like Nitro was once upon a time. I would lead him from his stall right to grass and let him graze. Before long as soon as my car pulled into the parking lot at the barn he would whinney, knowing he'd soon be grazing with me. It wasn't long before I could get him from his stall jump on and go for a nice ride without hesitation the only thing I did was stop and graze at some point during the trip. Then the problem became that Nitro thought the world was his salad bar, so I started cueing him by putting my hand on his withers if he was allowed to stop and graze. That works so well that it is now one of our brakes. We can be running flat out and if I place my hand on his withers he stops and grazes. We do one rein stops too, but they're more dangerous from a run and we spilled once or twice, so I only use that in a dire need to stop. Any way, to the point, the cold. I've been wanting to get Nitro in shape for gymkhana season, but can't stand the cold so we have been working on our way to the paddock every day. Nitro doesn't have a clue when it comes to leg so I've been walking him along the fence and pushing on his side with my thumb so he feels pressure before I ride him with spurs. He knows exactly what to do and will side pass for three or so steps, then tries to bite me. Now I have to devise a method to make him enjoy a spur in his side, cause if he thinks he's being trained he'll balk just as he's done his entire life. Nitro only learns if he thinks he is doing it because he really wants to. Deanna first thought him to turn by riding him into a fence and whichever way he went to pull that rein. Sometimes I guess, as we all do, who is the real student?

Birthday Party

This past Sunday there was a pony party at the barn. The parents brought their youngsters to have pony rides and celebrate Brett's birthday. There were balloons, pizzas, and cake. I was doing my chores at the rescue barn and decided to take a break to how the pony party was going.
Tiny Secrets, our shetland pony was circling the ring with the little kids one by one. Stoney the sheep had his little circle of kids petting him and feeding him hay.

Then the parents of Brett introduced themselves and Brett. My eyes went right to the fringed western chaps; then, to my surprise, I noticed he was wearing a Nitro sweet shirt. WOW! His mother told me all the kids got Nitro shirts, even the birthday cake was made to look like Nitro, and the invitations had Nitro pictures.
I was so impressed with all the effort this family went through, just from Nitro being on the web site. When the kids went into the barn to eat their cake I went back to the rescue barn to get Nitro. He had so much mud on him, that he looked like a bay horse. I curried him and hosed the mud from his legs and hooked up the trailer and loaded him without even telling him why. We sped back and I tried to sneak him out to better clean him up but got caught.

Some kids shouted NITRO!!! Before you knew it more kids came out, seems Nitro really has a fan club. We stood there and I felt so grateful that everyone had liked Nitro, and were happy to meet him. I wish Nitro was better behaved so that the kids could have pet him or have sat on him, but I couldn't take the chance. After awhile, Nitro and I went back and I hoped he had made the kids happy and that they would remember the paint horse for many years to come. Nitro made my day again.

Unwanted Horses

Kentucky Swamped With Unwanted Horses
Wednesday, March 14, 2007



By JEFFREY McMURRAY, Associated Press Writer

STAFFORDSVILLE, Ky. — The bidding for the black pony started at $500, then took a nosedive.

There were no takers at $300, $200, even $100. With a high bid of just $75, the auctioneer gave the seller the choice of taking the animal off the auction block. But the seller said no.

"I can't feed a horse," the man said. "I can't even feed myself."

Kentucky, the horse capital of the world, famous for its sleek thoroughbreds, is being overrun with thousands of horses no one wants _ some of them perfectly healthy, but many of them starving, broken-down nags. Other parts of the country are overwhelmed, too.

The reason: growing opposition in the U.S. to the slaughter of horses for human consumption overseas.

Public backlash _ and state bans or the threat of them _ have led to the closure of several slaughterhouses that used to take in horses no longer suitable for racing or work. Auction houses are glutted with horses, and many rescue organizations have run out of room.

There have been reports of horses chained up in eastern Kentucky and left for days without food or water. Others have been turned loose in the countryside.

Some people who live near the strip mines in the mountains of impoverished eastern Kentucky say that while horses have long been left to roam free there, the number now may be in the thousands, and they are seeing herds three times bigger than they did just five years ago.

"There's horses over there that's lame, that's blind," said Doug Kidd, who owns 30 horses in Lackey, Ky. "They're taking them over there for a graveyard because they have nowhere to move them."

It is legal in all states for owners to shoot their unwanted horses, and some Web sites offer instructions on doing it with little pain. But some horse owners do not have the stomach for that.

At the same time, it can cost as much as $150 for a veterinarian to put a horse down. And disposing of the carcass can be costly, too. Some counties in Kentucky, relying on a mix of private and public funding, will pick up and dispose of a dead horse for a nominal fee.

The cost is much higher other places, and many places ban the burying of horses altogether because of pollution fears.

Sending horses off to the glue factory is not an option anymore. Adhesives are mostly synthetic formulations nowadays, according to Lawrence Sloan, president of the Adhesive and Sealant Council. And because of public opposition, horse meat is no longer turned into dog food either, said Chris Heyde of the Society for Animal Protective Legislation.

Eventually, anti-slaughter groups insist, the market will sort itself out, and owners will breed their horses less often, meaning fewer unwanted horses. When California imposed its slaughter ban in 1989, they point out, the number of stolen horses dropped while there was no significant change in the number reported abused or neglected.

"Once you remove slaughter, you remove a release valve for irresponsibility," Heyde said. "These are animals. They're not a pair of shoes."

Nelson Francis, who raises gaited horses, a rare, brawny breed found in the Appalachian Mountains, said the prices they command are getting so low, he might have to turn some loose. He houses about 57 of them, double his typical number.

"I can't absorb the price," Francis said. "You try to hang on until the price changes, but it looks like it's not going to change. ... What do I do? I've got good quality horses I can't market because of the has-been horse."

"Kill buyers" used to pay pennies a pound for unwanted horses, then pack them into crowded trucks bound for slaughterhouses that would ship the horse meat to Europe and Asia.

However, public opposition to the eating of horse meat has caused the number of horses slaughtered each year by American companies to drop from more than 300,000 in 1990 to around 90,000 in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Only one U.S. slaughterhouse _ in Illinois _ still butchers horses for human consumption.

"What do you do with them all?" said Lori Neagle, executive director of the new Kentucky Equine Humane Center in Lexington. "What do you do with 90,000 head of horses? That's something that has to be addressed. It'll be interesting to see if people financially can do the right thing or if they will leave their horses to starve."

Federal law prohibits the use of double-decker trucks for transporting horses to slaughter. Many members of Congress have also been pushing a national ban on the butchering of horses for human consumption.

While California is the only state that has expressly banned horse slaughter, in a 1989 ballot initiative, similar measures are under consideration elsewhere, including Kentucky, Maryland, New York and Illinois. Connecticut has made it illegal to sell horse meat in public places, and many states have tightened up the labeling and transportation requirements governing horses bound for slaughter.

A federal court ruled recently that Texas must start to enforce its long-ignored 1949 ban on the transportation and possession of horse meat. That put a stop to horse slaughter for human consumption at the two slaughterhouses in Texas that engaged in the practice.

While the market price for horses has plummeted, the cost of food, lodging and veterinary care has not.

Kathy Schwartz, director of Lisbon, Md.-based Days End Farm Horse Rescue, which adopts abused and neglected horses, said that rescue operations that choose not to euthanize horses are generally full.

"We had one horse we brought in that was a rack of bones _ in pain both from starvation and parasite infestation and injury," Schwartz said. "His owner thought life was better than going to slaughter. Well, life is _ if you're going to feed it and take care of it."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

New rescue horses

Last week we took in 7 Saddlebreds. They are all geldings of various ages. They were very timid and hard to load. It took us two days to move them in; 3 the first day and 4 the next. Since Saturday they have shared the back barn and the same paddock. I have watched them interrelate with each other and am amazed how they all get along. They frolic, run, rear up and are generally having a great time together. They just seem so happy and full of themselves. I have never handled a more polite group of horses. When I get them to bring them in one at a time comes to the gate as the others wait their turn, no pushing, or barging through like I'm use to. In a way I hope no one adopts them and breaks them up.Today as I was walking them in I looked over at Nitro. He has to be alone in his paddock because he's such a bully. How sad that his greed prevents him from friends. Yet, I wonder would the seven new horses would survive in the wild? They don't fight over the hay or gate Would one lead the others? Do horses need a Nitro to take charge and be the alpha or has our mingling and domestication mooted their instincts for self preservation? Casanova, who lives in the adjoining paddock isn't allowed too close to the saddlebreds. Snickers, his 40 year old paddock mate puts himself between Casanova and the fence and keeps the new horses from reaching over to great them. What would happen if I were to put all fifty horses together in a big meadow. It wouldn't be as observing the Wild Mustangs I'm sure. In the end though, I guess only the horses with Nitro's will would survive. But for now, I take care of them so they don't have to worry about surviving. For now they can all just be.










From top left to bottom right: Alfie, Bolero, Ceasar, Fred, Hoss, Reese, and Splashdown. For adoption info please contact Horses Forever