Weird Horse News

Ditched

2009-11-17T15:54:00Z

A horse believed to be stolen from his Georgia pasture was found alive in a nearby ditch three weeks after going missing, reported television station WALB News.

A cell phone video shows Sheyenne being lifted from the five-foot ditch in a cotton field about a mile from his owners' farm. He's lost about half of his 1,200 pounds, but a veterinarian who examined him said he's likely to recover from his ordeal.

"I was worried his legs weren't strong enough to make it but he seems fine," owner Laura Davis told WALB.

A neighbor reported someone opening Davis' pasture gate several weeks ago. Another five horses were recovered at the time.

A sweet horse story from the Las Vegas Sun: a pasture on Pecos Road, just before Sunset, has lost Checkers, its friendly equine resident of the past 30 years.

The brown Appaloosa was the last of Stacy McNamara's childhood horses to remain at the family farm along a now-busy highway. Passersby often paused with a treat or pat for Checkers, who would trot over.

Although she died in late September, her admirers still stop by; instead of apples, they now bring notes.

Grab a tissue and read some excerpts from Checkers' memorial.

Horse placenta is big news in The Netherlands currently, as soccer player Robin Van Persie is in Serbia trying a new treatment for an injured ankle.

"I am going to receive treatment from a female doctor," SkyNews quoted him as saying. "She is vague about her methods, but I know she first massages you for a long time with placenta fluid.

"I'm going to give it a try. It can't do any harm, and if it helps, it helps."

He's optimistic the treatment will have him back in the game within six weeks.

Check out ESPN Global's compilation of odd football remedies.

Performance-Enhancing Horse

2009-11-11T19:11:00Z

Why run a marathon when you can just ride a horse?

The fine folks at The Onion recently covered the New York City marathon in true Onion fashion, with an article on victor Meb Keflezighi's "performance-enhancing horse."

Per The Onion report, Keflezighi won the race aboard a 2- to 4-year-old chestnut Thoroughbred.

Race officials investigated after reports of, "remarkable speed, unusual race-day height, and distinctive 'clip-clop' gait, Keflezighi's frequent nickering caused the other runners to speculate that he may have been using a horse in some fashion," organizer Mary Wittenberg was quoted as saying.

Read the rest and see a photo.

Snaps to reader Leah for the weird news tip!

A woman is suing the New York Police Department after a police horse allegedly bit her on the arm, nbcnewyork.com reported.

The woman contends that she suffered permanent injuries in the "ferocious" attack by a horse named Mr. Biggs. According to the report, the (human) officer allowed the horse to approach the victim, at which time she was bitten on the forearm. The suit alleges the officer should've had control of the horse because of its "propensity to attack and bite human beings."

The best part of the story might be nbcnewyork.com's closing line: "We've left a salt block and a few carrots outside the precinct but have yet to hear back from Mr. Biggs for a comment."

RoboCow

2009-11-05T16:15:00Z

A New Mexico calf might provide an example of advances in livestock prosthetic technology. Meadow, a yearling Black Angus calf, sustained major damage to her hind limbs last winter when she lost her back hooves and half of her ears to severe frostbite, the Associated Press reported.

Rancher Nancy Dickenson and her stepdaughter bought the injured calf from her owner and took her to veterinarians and students at Colorado State University. In August, vets amputated part of both hind limbs and fitted Meadow with prosthetics.

Now back at home, Meadow is able to run and graze.

"A few people have asked 'Is she going to be beef?' and I said 'Are you kidding? This is my newest baby," Dickenson said.

A prosthetic limb can be a viable option for some formerly doomed horses, potentially giving a new lease on a quality life, although there are numerous caveats. Cost and potential complications severely limit the pool of potential candidates for the procedure, but single limb prosthetics are a possibility for some. I've not heard of any equines with dual prosthetics--any stories out there?

Awesome headline: "Carriage Horse Licks Car! Woman Outraged!" And even better photo from gothamist.

It seems a reader submitted an entry to the NY Times Metropolitan Diary concerning a carriage horse that had the audacity to lick the back window of her car.

She wrote: "as soon as I put the car in reverse to parallel park, I noticed a horse and buggy. I checked my rearview mirror and couldn't believe that the horse came as close as possible to my car and started licking it, from the trunk to the back window. The horse's saliva created a film over my children's college decals."

The horror!

(Related: a few weeks ago I stopped by my truck to grab something on my way back to the barn after riding and my gelding was fascinated by the interior of the cab. He was all eyes, so I let him investigate a bit so he wouldn't be afraid. Looking it all over, he spent some time lipping the seat belt buckle before thoroughly sliming the door handle. I thought his enthusiasm was cute. But he apparently didn't get enough, as just a couple days later he ran his teeth all the way down the side of a friend's truck when she parked it briefly in the field to unload something from the back. You can now see a pinstripe of tooth tracks in the paint. Thanks dude.)

Behaviorist Sue McDonnell tackled the topic of car chewing a couple years ago. Excerpt: "I don't really know what attracts horses to chew on vehicles, but I have sure seen the behavior develop in otherwise normal, healthy animals." Read the rest.

Snaps to reader Pat for the Weird News Sighting! Is there something you'd like to see on the Weird Horse News blog? You can always comment below, or feel free to e-mail me.

Earning their Stripes

2009-10-29T15:31:00Z

Behind a blockade through which only humanitarian and basic supplies are allowed, Gaza's Happy Land Zoo gets creative when it comes to introducing new animals to the community's children.

"The zebras are locally manufactured," Zoo Director Mahmud Barghut told AFP. "We take a donkey and draw stripes on it."

He said the process requires two days, masking tape, and French hair dye.

While some smaller things--including the zoo's ostriches--can be smuggled in through an elaborate system of tunnels, bringing a zebra through would have cost $30,000.

"Happy Land" tries to live up to its name--but with everything tightly rationed, the lion gets only half of his recommended allowance of meat, and some animals died when workers couldn't access the zoo for three weeks during a military offensive last year. No medication is available to treat animals when they become ill.

Barghut, who opened the attraction with his own money, is now trying to sell due to lack of maintenance funds.

"The zoo is meant for children. When they come here, they are happy, they run, they have fun," Barghut said. "They want to see the lion and the zebra--they believe it's real."

See a video from Reuters.

Horse owners in southern Minnesota are on the alert after several horses were attacked by a large animal. A cougar is the leading suspect.

Four horses have been attacked, reported the Shakopee Valley News. One attack occurred in Shakopee, and another three horses were attacked Oct. 10 on a farm west of Forestville State Park. Those horses broke through their fence. Two had injuries to their front legs, chests, and sides, while the third horse has not been found.

"Wolves and dogs go for the hamstrings, but our horses have wounds on their backs and on their sides," owner Curt Vreeman told The Post-Bulletin newspaper. "There's no marks on the backs of their legs."

Vreeman said his neighbor's horses also broke through their pasture fence on the same night.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has not confirmed whether a cougar is the culprit. No information was available on the whereabouts of Courtney Cox on the nights in question.

Election officials in Afghanistan are relying on a unique brigade of workers as the country's runoff vote approaches--a veritable army of donkeys, rented from local farmers, have the crucial task of carrying ballots to remote regions.

The New York Times recently covered the efforts under way to access remote regions as winter approaches in terrain that's beyond extreme--in the first election in August, some ballot boxes were lost off the side of a cliff.

Read the story and see a photo.

Attack of the Zedonk

2009-10-21T16:04:00Z

A zedonk (a zebra/donkey hybrid) at a farm market in Spring Lake, Fla., attacked a worker last weekend, biting the man on his feet and legs as he attempted to crawl away.

Hernando Today reported that James Oleson, 34, was painting an outer perimeter fence when the zedonk ducked under its own enclosure fence to bite him on the foot. Oleson was knocked to the ground and the animal continued to bite at his feet and legs as he crawled under the outer fence. The attack resulted in cuts and bruises.

Oleson received a tetanus shot and the zedonk will be quarantined for 14 days. Read about zoonotic disease potentially transmitted from equids to humans via bites.

Along with the citrus business, Boyett's Grove is also an animal attraction with exotic birds, monkeys, alligators, pigs, and deer. And at least one zedonk.

The man who allegedly videotaped the 2005 incident in which a Washington man died after having sex with a horse is back in the news.

MSNBC reports James Tait, 58, of Columbiaville, Tenn, was arrested last week and charged with felony animal cruelty after police investigated a citizen's e-mail tip containing a photo of a man having sex with a pony. Farm owner Kenny Thomason, 44, was charged with two counts of the same crime.

Authorities found horses, ponies, goats, and dogs on the farm. Capt. Jimmy Tennyson told MSNBC authorities have recovered pictures of Tait engaging in the acts with a horse.

In 2005, police identified Tait as the man who filmed the fatal encounter between Kenneth Pinyan and a horse in Enumclaw, Wash. Pinyan later died of internal injuries. Investigators looking into that incident said they found numerous videos of Tait and others engaging in bestiality, which at the time wasn't illegal in Washington (that's since changed). He entered an Alford plea to charges of criminal trespassing and was sentenced to one year probation and a $300 fine.

You can read more at MSNBC.

To end on a lighter note, photographer Barbara Livingston (a frequent contributor to The Horse and our sister publication The Blood-Horse) has a beautiful new book out on unusual and uniquely colored horses. (And it even includes a zedonk! See how that came full circle?)

I'm especially fond of this one as my own horse made the cut by way of a rather unique facial marking. Check out a video interview with Barbara and see behind-the-scenes footage of Duncan's photo shoot.