After weeks of news on a female track athlete's gender testing and associated scandal regarding officials' handling of the issue , it's timely to point out improved testing for racehorses is also uncovering a few surprises in the starting gates – including some fillies and mares reclassified as horses after hormone levels revealed that were carrying some extra anatomical baggage. Earlier...
I keep finding mules in unexpected places. Like the 40-year anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. Did you know that Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong piloted a mule through the Grand Canyon in March 1964? I didn't either, until I saw it on the U.S. Geological Survey Web site . Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were trained in astrogeology in order to learn about the geology of potential lunar landing...
On this date in 1789, Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress/prison, freeing prisoners in an action that become symbolic of the birth of the modern nation. Paris might host the main celebration , but folks in the Boston area are pretty happy too: Bastille Day this year marked the arrival of two new celebrities at the Franklin Park Zoo. Samuel and Balthazar are Poitou donkeys, one of the oldest and...
Elmer Bandit, the 38-year-old competitive trail horse who broke the record for lifetime mileage last year , is one of our favorite examples of a geriatric horse. But a horse now on display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Whitehorse, Canada, has him beat by more than a nose. (Although definitely not a live nose.) The fossilized Yukon horse ( Equus lambei ) is estimated to be 26,000 years...
I'm currently in New Orleans for the annual seminar of American Horse Publications , an industry group for horse magazine people (it's sort of like AAEP for equine publishing). As usual, I'm making note of all the equine activity. Between the carriage mules, fiberglass horses at the Mardi Gras World parade float wonderland, and the gorgeous steeds of the NOPD gracing Bourbon Street, there's...
