Weird Horse News

Horse Show Gone to the ... Alligators?

Megan — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:45:00 GMT

When you live in Florida, you expect to have the occasional run in with some large reptiles, right? As surprising as it can be, Floridians are use to it.

But what a shock it would be for you and your horse to run into an alligator while at a show! And that's what happened earlier this week at the AQHA Region 10 Championship Show in Jacksonville, Fla.

I wouldn't fault a horse for spooking at this!

Photos.com

According to the Equine Chronicle, an alligator was discovered in one of the horse stalls at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center as competitors arrived at the show. He seemed to have tucked himself away in the corner, wrapped in a blanket, ready for a nap.

The facility is picturesque--on 1,000 acres with many trees and some waterways surrounding the grounds. The trapper who removed the alligator believes the 5-foot creature might have come from one of the retention ponds.

One of the competitors, Linda Landis, wondered what might have drawn the alligator to the stalls: "There was a Baker horse blanket lying in the stall and he was laying on it," she said. "I don’t know if someone had left it there and he smelled it and that’s what attracted him...I wouldn't want to put my horse in that stall!"

Of course then you wonder what happened to the horse that used to wear that Baker blanket...

(Note: There were no reports of missing horses, but c’mon now, the imagination can run free!)

Mystery Stud

Megan — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:24:00 GMT

Can you imagine your reaction when one day you head out to your farm and find not one, but two foals on the ground next to mares you didn't breed last year? It'd have to be right up there with absolute shock, being appalled, perhaps even feeling sorry for the little unplanned things.

One owner in Central Kentucky had just that happen to her; only she's expecting at least five other unplanned foals on top of the two already gracing her farm.

The culprit? A mysterious 3-year-old stud colt that Marilyn Montavon hasn't seen before, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, has been hanging out in a 50-acre field with about 20 Thoroughbred mares, and a few geldings. Unfortunately a sixth mare was found to be carrying a dead foal and was euthanized by her veterinarian.

The owner of the stallion must have known Montavon's busy schedule--she is away from the farm often because of having horses at racetracks across the state. According to the article, a helper on the farm takes care of the horses in Montavon's absence and didn't even notice the extra horse until Marilyn pointed it out. And, of course, as most horse owners know, a mare’s gestation period is 11 months, so the mystery stallion (nicknamed by Montavon "Mystery Man") was in the field for at least that long.

Upon the discovery, Montavon put Mystery Man in a stall in the barn to separate him from the mares and has been trying to find his owner. When detectives with the local police department wouldn't help, sent the colt to a friend's farm in Illinois. But not after she pulled some hairs for DNA testing.

Unfortunately a story about rogue horses being dropped off on other farms isn't uncommon in this day and age. A rescue local to Montavon is trying to help a woman who had three horses just mysteriously show up on her farm earlier this year as well.

For now, Montavon will deal with the consequences herself and try to care for the additional foals.

Have there been any stories of "extra" horses randomly showing up on farms in your area?

Police Horses are not Punching Bags

Megan — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:44:00 GMT

On Sunday, like any other typical sports-crazy town, fans of the Newcastle (U.K.) football team rioted after their team lost to local rival Sunderland. And if you follow fan riots, you know this means hundreds of police officers are called to the scene, and most likely those include police horses.

In the craziness that ensued, one poor, miserably naïve soul decided to take his frustrations out on Bud the police horse. Three other (human) police officers were injured in the clash.

But, seriously, why punch a police horse? Is it because you think they can’t strike back like a human police officer? Little do they know that actions like those really tick off police officers--not only the rider, but those on foot. You can see in the video a police officer tackling the suspect after the incident. (I have a feeling there were some choice words, and maybe a little physical reprimanding, between the two.)

Luckily it seems like Bud has not been affected by the incident. In fact he returned to work Monday morning. The West Yorkshire Police Horses Twitter account posted this photo of Bud relaxing in his stall:

@hirstycapital 'yeah this is me, Bud, I'm loving all this attention, thank you so much!' twitter.com/WYPHorses/stat…
— WY Police Horses (@WYPHorses) April 16, 2013

And poking fun at the situation with this tweet:

Boxing lessons commence in the riding school at 11am Wednesday morning twitter.com/WYPHorses/stat…
— WY Police Horses (@WYPHorses) April 16, 2013

Here's a video from the Yorkshire Post about Bud the day after:

And in case you wonder why you should never punch a police horse, BuzzFeed reminds you: Why You Should Never Punch A Police Horse.

Horses on the Train!

Megan — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:01:00 GMT

OK, well not necessarily on the train, but in the train station.

New York's Grand Central Station is known for its beautiful architecture and history. Each day, hundreds of thousands of commuters walk through the hall to get to their destination, most not noticing if anything would be amiss in their daily commute. Unless they walked into a giant horse herd grazing in Vanderbilt Hall.

According to the New York Times website, this week 30 dancing horses are making their presence known at Grand Central Terminal thanks to Chicago artist Nick Cave and dancers from the Ailey School. The dancers are dressed, two to a horse, in large costumes made of raffia to look more like sculptures. The costumes "rustle like a corn field when the herd 'grazes' … or suddenly breaks into choreography" on the main concourse.

The equine flash mob breaks out into dance when a live percussion group starts to belt out the beats. It’s a collaborative effort from public arts groups Creative Time and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Arts for Transit program for the Grand Central Celebration. There are two performances daily. When the dancers are not inside the costumes, they are set out as sculptures for public viewing.

Dancers had to audition for either the front or the back of the horse, and this time it isn’t all that bad to be a horse’s patoot. Dancers were asked by Cave, "Do you want to be a stallion, or do you want to be a lazy horse, a horse that just sort of trots?"

Here’s a newscast about the group from Monday:

Dance Party Pony

Megan — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:27:00 GMT

If you want a commercial to go viral, you have to have some cuteness to it. Plus, it helps to have the power of social media to help promote the commercial. Who cares if you don't really know what product/company is being touted in those 30 seconds? When you have your commercial being viewed more than 1.5 million times since it was published a week ago, you're doing something right.

That's how the "Dance Pony Dance" commercial is for 3, an Internet network in the United Kingdom. The advertisement shows a "plucky" chubby pony grazing on the shoreline of the United Kingdom when he starts to groove to "Everywhere" by Fleetwood Mac.

At the end of the bit it gives you the option to create your own dancing pony in whatever music genre you prefer: rave, boy band, hip-hop, funk, love, rock, etc. Each one then gives you options to further customize your dancing Shetland. I personally came up with the "Rave Unicorn" and "Boy Band Pony."

The concept is a pretty good one--who doesn't love furry, sassy ponies and songs that last a lifetime?

Houdini Horse

Megan — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:46:00 GMT

The Associated Press (AP) went a little easy on the investigative reporting this week when it posted a video of a Friesian named Mariska. She's known as "Houdini" around Misty Meadow Farms in Michigan, because she knows how to escape from her stall.

It must be hard to figure out how to keep the mare in. Farm owner Sandy Bonem says the mare has "pretty much mastered every latch in the barn."

The AP video shows the mare letting herself out of her Dutch-door stall and then promptly moving to her neighbor's stall. Later in the video, you can see she's even mastered her inside sliding door.

Bonem claims the mare's motivation for getting loose isn't necessarily for freedom, but for social purposes--she likes to visit her neighbors, and maybe grab a bite to eat every now and then. "Once out, she goes straight to where the grain is stored or to the backyard, with its lush, green grass," says the reporter, Tim McGuire.

Of course there's concern for laminitis in the mare, since it seems like nothing can be done to keep her out of the food (next to padlocking the feed room and keeping the hay locked up), but there wasn't any mention of that from the video.

The funny part? There's always one stall Mariska leaves locked. The video camera follows along as she walks right by a stall on purpose. The occupant? Her dam. Apparently this is a horse who knows she's doing something she shouldn't, if she won't even let her own mother out to roam free...

Perhaps we should send some tips to the farm owners for keeping Mariska in her place?

Musical Horses

Megan — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:10:00 GMT

Sunday night we celebrated music's brightest stars with the Grammys. However, one act was greatly missed--the equine rockers.

From Stockholm, Sweden, we have the recorder rocker doing his rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." This gray gelding employs the help of his handler, since hooves don’t do well covering the finger holes of the instrument, but he provides the vital ingredient of the performance--his breath. I just hope he's the only one using this instrument, since the handler places the recorder inside his nostril.

Our next nominee is the Gypsy Vanner rocking out the keyboard. Eclipse doesn’t seem to need much help from his handler, except for a reminder to smile at the camera. I can’t really tell if this was a cover or an original song, so I think I'm going to have to give the Grammy for Best Equine Compilation to Sweden.

Would you take the time to teach your horse to play an instrument?

Burglars Busted by Braying Burro

Megan — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:32:00 GMT

When you think of high-speed chases, you typically think of fast an extremely fast moving car being chased by an equally fast police car, right? There are usually lights and sirens, a good chance for an accident, and the threat to pedestrians and fruit stands everywhere.

Burglars beware of sounding your own alarm.

Photo: Photos.com

But in Juan de Acosta, Colombia, three burglars chose a more environmentally friendly getaway vehicle--the donkey. Now you're probably thinking that's pretty smart, right? No one would hear an engine roar down the road, nor smell exhaust fumes if you're using a donkey for a getaway vehicle (well, you'd hope you wouldn't smell the exhaust fumes).

But what these burglars didn't think about was that donkeys tend to bray when they've got something to say.

According to Horsetalk.co.nz, the bad guys' own getaway vehicle--a 10-year-old donkey named Xavi, who was, ironically, stolen as well--turned on them. Xavi started braying as the men loaded their stolen wares into his packs. The burglars fled the scene when police heard the "alarm." Left with the donkey was rum, oil, rice, and some cans of tuna and sardines stolen from a shop.

The shop owner got all of the stolen items back, and Xavi was returned to his proper owner after being held at the police station for 12 hours.

There was no word as to whether the burglars were ever captured, nor if Xavi was to be charged as an accessory to theft.

Off to the (Zebra) Races

Megan — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:22:00 GMT

We get a lot of press releases at Blood-Horse Publications. A lot. But one struck an interest for me when it touted zebra and ostrich races at a horse racetrack.

Nothing says speed quite like jockeys in canvas Western saddles riding zebras in halters...

Photo courtesy Fair Ground Race Course

This Friday, Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, La., will be hosting a meet and greet with five racing ostriches, four racing zebras, and their owner. Wha!? How awesome would that be to see?? If I lived in New Orleans, I’d be dragging my husband with me to watch and bet the striped ponies!

(For those of you in the area who are interested, you can watch them race live Jan. 12 around 6 p.m.)

This exhibition is considered the first zebra race in the South, but apparently it won’t be the first ostrich race. And, if those two exotic races don’t strike your fancy, along with some of Louisiana’s best Thoroughbreds racing, the track is hosting mascot racing as well.

I know zebra racing isn’t anything new. Doing a quick search reminded me of a 2005 Hayden Panettiere movie called “Racing Stripes” by Warner Brothers Pictures. An interview with her on About.com gave a little insight to riding zebras in a race:

“{Zebras are) very slow animals, actually … Unless you stick a lion behind them and even then they won’t even run in a straight line. They’ve got really tough mouths, so it was me sitting there and you would have to tug. Whereas with a horse, you can just sort of glide them along…”

I would think that racing zebras would be a lot like racing donkeys, and maybe with Panettiere’s description, I might be right. If you get the chance to watch the racing zebras this weekend, let me know how it goes!

Unicorns in North Korea?

Megan — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:02:00 GMT

You might recall the supposedly lost unicorn in Boston, where one magic store was trying to rev up publicity by posting "Lost Unicorn" signs around the city. It seems like unicorns are the piece-de-resistance when it comes to propoganda.

It's amazing how mainstream the unicorn has gotten lately.

Photo: Photos.com

In early December, the Korean Central News Agency (North Korea's state news outlet) reported that North Korean archaeologists "have recently confirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong," according to NBC's Today.

An ancient burial site is being pinpointed as proof, noting that there is a rock carved with the words "Unicorn Lair" at the site's entrance. It's claimed that these carved words date back to the period of the Koryo Kingdom (918-1392), though if the rock in the video is the actual one that was found, it looks pretty darn good for being hundreds of years old, if you ask me.

The news piece also points out, however, how North Korea is known for its use of propaganda and crazy stories. For instance, Kim Jong Il, former leader of the country who passed away in 2011, had been said to once stop a blizzard ... I bet the folks in the Midwest and New England wish they had the power last week.

So while I can't say I believe North Korea's so-called unicorn story, I did have a mare that would give that Korean unicorn a run for his money--she could create quite the impressive lair out of her bedding and manure...