Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! I simply adore today's Letter! Some notable horse quotes for you...(feel free to add the pronouns of her/hers/she and woman where appropriate)
“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” – Sir Winston Churchill
“I can make a General in five minutes, but a good horse is hard to replace” — Abraham Lincoln
“God forbid that I should go to any Heaven in which there are no horses.” – R.B. Cunninghame Graham
"Dog may be man's best friend, but the horse wrote history."
“Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” – W.C. Fields
“Wherever man has left his footprints in the long ascent from barbarism to civilization, we find the hoofprints of a horse beside it.” – John Trotwood Moore
"A racehorse is an animal that can take several thousand people for a ride at the same time."
“When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.” – William Shakespeare
"Horse... if God made anything more beautiful, he kept it for himself."
"When God wanted to create the horse, he said to the South Wind, "I want to make a creature of you. Condense." And the Wind condensed." - Emir Abd-el-Kader
Speaking of horse girls, Stephanie, my 9 year old granddaughter is smitten. She’s started riding, researching, and reading anything she can get her hands (and internet) on about horses. I can’t wait to watch National Velvet with her. A wonderful story about strong women and a young girl’s dedication to a horse she loved. 🐴💗
Be very careful. My hors loving daughter has moved thru all the adolescent riding lessons, trained horses for a while, and now after earning her veterinary degree, is training, riding and treating polo ponies. It's a lifelong addiction, that horse love.
As a mom, I am not thrilled. But this child has challenged herself so many times. Rowing scholarship to college, triathlons, and polo may be the safest thing she's done since high school.
Oh, I get that completely. Eventing set my teeth on edge but, oh well. After she left college and was working in Longmont she and a bunch of her pals decided to take up Roller Derby. That was nice.
Beautiful and serotonin stimulating as they are, horses have been serious business for humans for something like 40,000 years.
The last several chapters of David Anthony's "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: how Bronze Age riders shaped the modern world" provide plenty of academic horsepower. :-)
In regard to the Montie Montana article, the second one by the AP lists the Louisville Courier-Journal as the local newspaper- that's a tie to horses as well, since KY is bluegrass country-famed for horse stables/racing.
I also had ties to horses. I grew up in VT, where Justin Morgan, the progenitor of the Morgan horse breed, came from and lived 5 miles away from the UVM (University of VT) Morgan Horse farm.
Arguably, the first true American horse breed! I enjoyed the book "Justin Morgan Had a Horse," highlighting how this small-in-stature equine would labor all day, then win races in the evening!
It is fun, thank you Professor. But, with respect, WHERE IS CINCINNATI? And no one chortle and say "on the Ohio River," please.
Cincinnati was the favorite and most impressive horse owned by Ulysses S Grant, one of the greatest horsemen in American history. Remember US Grant? He rode Cincinnati to magnanimous victory at Appomattox while Lee rode Traveller to defeat on the same day, April 9, 1865. During the Civil War his horses included Claybank, Egypt, Fox, Jack, Jeff Davis, Kangaroo, Little Reb, Methuselah and Rodney, along with the incomparable Cincinnati, also ridden by President Lincoln in the war's final month. The strikingly beautiful Jack carried the general on his epic journey to turn the tide at Chattanooga in late 1863.
The 10 horses described in the Letter do not compare to Grant's magnificent animals, who served courageously in great danger and duress. Because of their wartime contributions and achievements, they are my top 10 American horses.
PS, this is the only occasion when you'll hear me praise Jeff Davis.
This is one reason why I will always renew my subscription with HCR. The comments are worth every dang cent - and HCR at times feel like the bonus. This thread had me chuckling this morning. Something I needed as I blasted my students and gave them grades they likely believe they do not deserve. But horses - yes - let's talk horses. And as to those who were not mentioned - since HCR noted Mr. Ed (a favorite here too) what about The Lone Rangers' Silver. Hi ho and away. Thanks all.
I agree about the comments being worth it! I do get a lot out of HCR's writing, true, but the community I have found herein is so much more nourishing than my Facebook "friend"-ships that if I had to give up one or the other, FB would be flushed without a second thought.
Horses are great, the commodification of horses not so much. Between the horse racing industry, pharmaceutical industry use of pregnant mare’s urine (PMU), and markets for horse meat, there is a lot of horrific ugliness.
Thank you for bringing up the horrible abuse of these magnificent animals. They are so much ingrained in our history and culture as our servants to be used for our purposes. The truth is they are our partners and friends and should be treated accordingly
While visiting a lion sanctuary in Nevada, I found out the meat they fed them was horse meat. Why is it so terrible to kill a horse for food and yet not a cow, goat, sheep, or pig?
Rob, one reason is that most horses slaughtered for meat weren’t raised for it. They spent their lives being our hobbies and friends, and then ended up in the slaughter chain when they outlived their usefulness. Euthanasia is far more kind, but horses are expensive animals to keep, and the euthanasia decision is a hard one, and if you don’t have a farm where you can bury him, even disposal of the body is expensive. Easier to send the horse to auction, not knowing (or pretending not to know) that he has been bought by a kill buyer. When the US outlawed horse slaughter in 2005, it didn’t stop slaughter, just moved those horses to Mexico or Canada. The shipping alone is inhumane. Never mind that most sport horses are treated with anti-inflammatories which should render the meat unfit for human consumption. My love for horses aside, I would never consume horse meat for that reason alone.
Of course. Horses are our domesticated companions. Now they have to endure a horrendous shipping before a horrendous slaughter. Best of intentions, failed again.
you should see the stats on domestic animal abondonment at the beginning of the holiday season each year in France...tied to autoroute fences is a favourite for dogs....40000 per year according to the local SPA
Kathy - yeah - easier to send a horse to auction - for the human. It was easier for me AND for my boy, to be there for him, when the vet put him down & to KNOW he never had to be put somewhere where he wasnt safe - hes buried at the farm where he lived. I realize not everyone is fortunate enough to have the ability to do that. I thank God I was. Auctions are awful places for animals to end up - they all do NOT get good homes. As you are aware, far too many go to slaughter. Sadly, prices are up right now. Seems maybe there has been a bit of a drop in the quantity of "unwanted" (this is how these horses are described) horses.
Maggie, I agree. I don’t have access to a farm for burial, but still did the same thing last time I had to euthanize a horse. It’s our obligation to them - save them from pain, treat them with dignity. Honestly, I wish we could do the same for people.
Here's an absolutely wonderful article about the role bacteria play in our systems. They are hugely important, and people who have taken too much antibiotic in their lives often suffer from loss of healthy bacterial communities, especially in the GI tract.
One summer years ago I had a small spider living in my bathroom. I just let it be. Every now and then I'd see that it had caught on insect, and I'd watch as it devoured the insect. At the end of the summer, she laid her eggs and died. All the babies left. I missed having a spider.
Two friends once came across a tarantula in their suburban kitchen. They squashed it with a broom, then watched dozens of tiny dots scatter in all directions. It's hard to stop thinking about it, and now you all will, too.
I live in the subtropics and battle those little roaches in my home all year. Sometimes hatchlings appear, little tiny insect animals who run from me as I try to smash them. I feel a little remorse ending their short lives, but don't need any more nasty breeders in every crack of this old apt.
We live hard in the tropics. I have found that a mixture of dish liquid and vinegar us an acceptable method of murder.* Toxic to them, harmless to me, my husband and my cat. Also, boric acid mixed in cat food and placed where the cat can't get it kills the little sugar ant shites quite handily.
*Use caution on ceramic or marble floors. I sprayed a giant palmetto bug (big roach) the other night, didn't wipe up all the liquid, stepped in it and went flying, giving my head a serious crack on the tike floor. I've been in bed with a concussion and 2 black eyes since Friday. Roaches revenge? Maybe so. Our entire house is tiled with tile that's slick as glass when wet. It's easy to clean but deadly.
Bacteria can be very useful.....we eat them and use them to digest all the time without noticing.....except when modern drugs kill them! Then it hurts.
A bunch of years ago, a doc wanted to biopsy my prostate. Not wanting antibiotics--which would have been necessary--I asked for and got an MRI instead. The doc ultimately told me he'd learned more from the MRI than he would have learned from a biopsy (and I didn't have any cancer).
I know, right? We are very strange that way. Dog, too, which is fairly common in some parts of the world but deeply repugnant here. (Heh...rePUGnant, just saw that). Not that I'm suggesting we should eat horses or dogs, but where we draw the line is pretty arbitrary, isn't it?
In 1970 I drew the line to not eat anything that ran, flew or swam away from me. However, I still do dairy & eggs, so contribute to abuse in those industries I suppose. But, I did dairy in India and I know they don't mistreat the cows there.
It's an interesting debate and this is certainly not the place for it, of course. I was a pretty strict vegetarian for 20+ years and then reconsidered. At a minimum, it deserves further study. Monocrop agriculture is an environmental disaster.
I have never killed a human, tho many men my age have since our nation has been at war forever. I have had friends who have killed ppl in Vietnam and uncles who have killed in WWII and Korea. But, my service in the Air Force was working in an office.
I was an armed security guard for over a year and an armed Harbor Police patrolman for another year, but never pulled my sidearm on either job. In fact, as a cop I may have saved two men’s lives from the river, and later, as an attendant in a psych hospital, saved one patient from hanging himself and another from killing a fellow patient with a shiv.
In my lifetime, the only killing I have done was to lesser creatures and I realize now that I can remember every one of them.
Killing animals is a part of my cultural, meat-eating heritage where many others have killed animals personally and where most were an accessory after the fact by buying bits of their carcass in a butcher shop. It was in our mythos to “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of the sky, and over the tame animals, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creature that crawls on the earth." That same book of contradictions that commanded us “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” also gave us many exceptions for killing men, women & children, which fortunately I have never done.
As a child, with this disregard for the lives of other animals, I remember smashing emerging frogs, still with their tadpole tails on the bank of the family pond in Mississippi. I also remember blowing up a large moth with a firecracker as a child. This cruelty now bothers me. As a pre-teen with a single shot, .22 caliber rifle, I would target shoot birds sitting on fence posts, leaving them on the ground. I once shot a dove in Miss. that I at least ate. Eating birds was a Southern fried tradition and I cut off many chicken’s heads with an axe. My grandmother could wring their necks until their head came off in her hand and the headless chicken would jump around for a while in the yard. I never got that personal with them. In the city of St. Louis, I shot a sparrow with a BB gun while at my dad’s house. My stepmother said I should eat it so I skinned & gutted it and she cooked it. It was just the gesture, not much food.
I also shot rabbits and squirrels that I would skin and eat. In Potosi Missouri, as a teen with my own single shot .22 cal. rifle, I shot a chipmunk just because it was there. Rodents were fair game and ppl killed rats & mice all the time with poison and spring traps. (And those horrendously cruel glue traps which should not be legal).
As a teen, I took part in the slaughter of a bull yearling with my uncles in Mississippi. The young bovine was shot at close range between the eyes and dropped immediately to the ground. My uncle cut its throat and blood gushed out as it was hoisted up by the hind legs and skinned to be taken to the butcher for turning into meat for the freezer and the hide for leather. I remember seeing the cow, standing at a distance in the field, watching this pack of carnivores kill and dismember her baby.
I Killed a Dog. It was my great-uncle’s old, arthritic dog in Mississippi. My aunt asked me to get rid of it. This was the poor, rural version of “euthanizing.” I led the dog into the woods feeding it cornbread, then while it was eating the last, I took the single shot .22 cal. rifle, put the barrel to its head and shot it. The dog fell immediately, opened its mouth with cornbread in it and looked like it was still alive. I quickly put in another round and shot it again, then another. I am not too good with close range execution of dogs.
The last thing I personally killed for food was a bullfrog. Visiting my Air Force friend in rural Illinois in 1967 while on leave, we caught a large frog and since I had never had frog legs, his wife offered to cook it for me. I killed the frog by holding it by the legs and bashing its head against a tree. I neglected to mention all the fish that I caught since childhood and the many crawfish that I caught & dropped live into boiling water – yes, I remember killing and eating those.
Killing for Sport. While working on the Harbor Police Department on the night shift, walking the mostly empty wharves, I carried my .22 cal. single shot rifle with CB caps (quiet, low-velocity target shooting rounds) and shot the many rats that were there. I also euthanized a kitten I found alone among the pallets, blind with no eyes by smashing its head. At the time it seemed the most merciful thing to do.
This was in 1969, the last year that I would eat meat, fish or fowl. In July 1970, with exposure to Eastern cultures that respected the lives of other animals I became a vegetarian. It has been half a century since I have killed anything.
Except roaches & mosquitos and I still feel remorse at killing roaches that just want to live and eat like I do.
Any large bug that just happens into my house I make an effort to remove it unharmed and have often shared my place with Geckos here in South Florida.
Oh, I forgot snakes. I have killed a few of them, both venomous and harmless ones as a kid in Mississippi. There was prejudice against snakes from Genesis 3.15 "...he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
As a teen I learned better and my great-uncle Almer in Miss. showed me a King Snake that he befriended at his corn crib that ate rodents. But, I specifically remember killing a copperhead as a teen and skinning it for a trophy. The last snake I killed was in Gainesville, Fla. in my patio that I mistook for a young copperhead. I feel bad about killing a harmless Red Rat Snake. Not murder but negligent serpenticide.
I'm glad you are so thoughtful about it. It is an individual moral choice we all make every day. Our whole relationship with animals of all sorts is so vastly complicated and has a huge emotional component, as we have seen in the responses to this thread. It's very difficult to get to any truly rational conclusion, nonetheless a universal or comprehensive one.
Rob, Your HISTORY OF KILLING was fascinating to me. My NYC background (Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan) was far different than yours. There were summer vacations, visits and camps near bays, oceans, rivers, lakes, hills and mountains. My eyes, mind, heart, and legs were filled with excitement, discovery, adventure, appreciation and so many different pictures of vistas, forests, caves, farms and nature but not my stomach, in particular. Your killing experiences read as a confession -- matter of fact and wonderfully detailed. You have a terrific memory, and I think that you are a fine writer. Thank you for this rich record of your murderous boyhood.
Horses become loyal to their owner because they consider them part of their herd or even their only family. ... Horses though would show more loyalty to owners who are loving and kind. Much like dogs, horses develop a better sense of loyalty through providing rewards after following a series of commands from their owners.Feb 1, 2016
The issue isnot that we shouldnt eat horse meat: its the abuse they have to endure before they die. Its the people who inflict the abuse from those like Koch on down. Plus the fact that foreign mobsters want the water and public lands for minkng where wild Mustangs and their habitat are protected by law, snd that it is a well known fact that those who abuse animals also abus women, children and old people. The Bureau of Land Management is a horrible scandal.
NO! And, I never said that. Apparently YOU are OK with extrapolating your own morbid ideas onto others and misquoting them.
Also, there is a difference between skinning ppl and animals. I think it is morbid to wear the skins of animals and have not worn leather since 1970, altho I do not fault others who do, just as I do not fault them for eating meat.
Wow! What were you doing in San Luis? I know several people from there. After a weekend at home in San Luis, one guy used to bring a big pot of his grandmother's posole to work on Monday mornings to share at lunch.
The problem is not the wild mustangs; it’s the privately owned cattle that Koch’s cowboys run on public land for their private profit. They over graze and destroy the colony with their cloven hooves.
American billionaires on welfare: The Koch brothers and other ranchers stealing your tax dollars | Salon.com
Many ranchers are a real problem, with their cattle competing unfairly with wild horses. And many of those ranchers cause worse trouble than ecological damage -- they are deadbeats on taxes, grazing and leasing fees; they graze their herds illegally on federal land; and harass and menace anyone, official or unofficial, they see as interfering.
Yes, they do, and yet are able to sell "grass-fed" beef at higher prices. Thus, in addition to cattle barons not paying fees and taxes and getting that grass for free, meat eaters are piling higher profit on top of unofficial or official government subsidies.
Can I interest anyone in trying some of the excellent tasting plant-based meats that are becoming more and more affordable and also tastier? My husband and I regularly grill up a couple of "Impossible" burgers and he (a devoted consumer of animal flesh) enjoys them as much as I do.
(I wish we had a phrase in English that had the long history of acceptance culturally such as the Mandarin Chinese 我吃素 [wo chi su] to use instead of "I'm a vegan." The Chinese expression - one literal translation is "I eat plain food" - refers to Buddhist vegetarian practice, and does not elicit the kind of ridicule we vegans get in the West for choosing to eschew animal flesh and milk products.)
Oh, yes, I just read about this a few weeks ago. (Susan, I'm looking for your reply to me supplying the horse quotes from Pinterest. Just wanted to say they're great quotes, too, thanks!)
To add to the ecological disaster that the settlers in the West when they "displaced" the Native Americans and brought in the agricultural methods that ruined the land...destroying the grasses that the horses need ....amongst other things. Is it the horses creating the problem?
It's a deeply complex problem with many antecedents, for sure. The horses now ARE a problem, yes, but a totally human-made one. Killing off predators, monocrop agriculture, human overpopulation...one could go on and on, of course. Much like deer overpopulation, we created the problem, but it's still a problem.
Of course, the worst animal-caused ecological problem in the US is that of human overpopulation. The US had ~190 million when Kennedy was President; by latest count we're up to 332 mn. Pew projects an additional 100 million over the next 40-50 years.
Imagine what the horse and deer think about "the problem". It still looks a little onesided the approach to " problem definition". No attempt here to solve it meeting the needs of all the species in nature....just man's!
Oh, I agree entirely! But, to take one example, deer are in many areas starving to death for lack of forage. Is that more or less humane then culling? As I said, deeply fraught, deeply emotional, deeply complex.
As you said before, it is a complex problem. Here in Maryland, the wild horses of Assateague Island are "managed" by the National Park Service. Through trial & error, they've estimated that the maximum population of the wild horses should not exceed 100, & went to work using birth control for a number of years to keep the numbers down. So far, it's working... if you're interested: https://www.nps.gov/asis/learn/nature/resource-brief-horses.htm
Reid, I take exception to that article. Calling round ups by helicopter humane is a big red flag. Consider the source. This piece has a lot more to do with protecting ranchers’ grazing rights on federal land, with which the Mustangs compete, than it does with the ecological impact of wild horses.
I think it's a fascinating subject for discussion. The basic question, it seems to me, is whether or not we have a responsibility to remediate human-caused ecological disasters, even if it means killing some animals. We have to recognize that NOT killing animals in some situations is just as cruel as killing them because of the impact on them or on others animals, including us (part of the ecological disaster being that we have forgotten that we ARE animals). Yes, this article might not be the perfect source, but the question is still clear and the moral imperative far from clear. I find the whole ethical and moral landscape of the question of killing animals, whether for food or for other reasons, endlessly interesting and deeply fraught.
Both of which are used to some extent. Now the BLM is PAYING $1,000.00 for people to adopt a wild horse. They are supposed to keep the horse for a year in order to get title. But I keep reading about how many are just sent on to slaughter once the money is paid. Wild horses need someone with experience & patience & for some people - its all about the money. Early on in the program, the horses price was $25.00! Now paying people to take them - not a very good sustainable business practice.
And Stuart, I agree far too many humans - more & more all the time. Although certainly after this virus - the numbers are down. Seems to me there should be more compassionate ways to accomplish that tho.
Hi Reid, Kathy brought up a very important issue concerning the quality of a source. There is such an enormous range of 'information' on social media from propaganda, misleading, inaccurate, suspect, manufactured to revelatory and solid we need to teach people the importance of recognizing the nature of source material.
Ppl bemoan the use of animals as "Beasts of Burden," and yet when I forced myself out of bed each morning for half a century, and went off to my workplace for 8 hours or more each day, weren't we just "making a living" like any other beast so burdened?
How many women take "Premarin" without realizing it is almost an acronym for what it is? Also, it was made in vats and I hear the males sweeping it up started growing breasts (gynecomastia) before some safe handling standards were established.
Again, the judgemental comments toward consumers aren't helpful. I hope at least that by "stupid" you may have meant "uninformed" and by "lying" meant "desperate enough to treat these horrible symptoms that I will not look at how it came to be".
Beth, I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings. Have you ever seen stalls full of blood mares who literally stand in one place 24/7? They are not walked or exercised. They foal and then they are reinseminated and foal again and again and again. They are given minimum amounts of water so the urine collected from them is as concentrated as possible, (premarin is made from mare's urine, so tell a mare thank you as you dose up).
You have determined me to be judgemental, and in this case I plead guilty. Without apology. There are alternatives to preparing.
You've not hurt my feelings. I've never taken Premarin. I am well aware that there are alternatives, thankfully. My point is that when we judge people for partaking of something they're told will help them feel better or be healthier and don't thoroughly explain to them how the food/medication has come to be available (which we don't), we can't in fairness expect them all to go right home and research it. Most people's default setting is to want to trust their providers/parents/teachers. It's not helpful to dismiss people for this, call them stupid, lazy and cray cray. That's the easy way out. That's what Tucker Carlson does.
As a nurse I can tell you that I've seen plenty of patients shamed for what they choose or don't know or failed to investigate or change and never once seen it make a positive difference.
I can honestly tell you that your virtue signaling paired with throwing Tucker Carlson as a comparison is about as base as it gets. As a long term cancer patient I can tell you that I have been subjected to some mighty harsh, judgemental nurses who did very little from a restorative perspective. Could you be one of those nurses as well? In your own way, you have managed to judge more than one on this day's page.
True that most women are unaware of where Premarin comes from or how it's produced. How many people drink cow's milk without realizing where it comes from? No one; we all realize where it comes from and we still consume it daily. Making Premarin is not much different than the way we obtain cow's milk, forcing them to calve and then removing the calf from them so we can steal the milk, feeding them growth hormone so we can get more milk per heifer, and sending them to the slaughterhouse when they no longer earn their keep. So, even if we did dare acknowledge the process involved in making Premarin, would it change much, given our consumption of dairy products with pretty clear knowledge of that process?
Yes. My experience as been that most people who care enough about childrens welfare enough to use birth control, also believe in humane treatment of animals
Any woman who takes Premarin period, is kinda cray cray. Hormone imbalance has to do with a congested liver, hands down. Artificial hormones will only bandaid the issue and congest the liver further, readying the woman for more serious health issues down the line.
While it would not surprise me at all to learn via thorough research that Elaine is on to something with her liver congestion causing hormone imbalance theory, considering our Western diet and lifestyle (because what else could be the cause?; it makes no sense that so many females would suffer from imbalance from an evolutionary standpoint), to make such judgemental statements is no better than the doctors who tell women it's all in their heads.....still, in 2021.
The NYT article on endometriosis was stellar. My journey with it began as a teenager and lasted decades. The fact that men have been the primary providers of healthcare for centuries has done nothing to ameliorate the nonchalant to downright dangerous gynecologic healthcare women have been burdened with, even in the 21st century. Don't get me started.
Interesting point, though because biology doesn't care if we live or die as long as we reproduce, I suspect evolutionarily we are supposed to die after our fertile years are done.
Perhaps so but that wouldn't explain the millions of women who suffer hormonal imbalance, and its associated pain, severe bleeding, etc., in their reproductive years as the article about endometriosis details.
And since we've decided collectively as a species that we're going to do everything we can to live as long as possible, it would be nice if we started seriously addressing the post reproductive years for women, since they make up more than half the population at that stage of life, and how we can sustainably make them as healthy and comfortable as possible instead of the guessing games we play now.
Yes, a very specific thing that usually leads to cirrhosis. In some traditional medicine it is considered a specific and widespread condition and traditional treatments may have some limited efficacy, but not for true liver failure.
Wow. Judge much? Calling women, or anyone "kinda cray cray" for taking something they desperately hope, and have been told, will help them out of the misery of hormone imbalance, is NOT helpful. Hope you're not a health care provider.
There is plant based estradiol. No reason for Premarin to exist. And mares' urine is collected by impregnation them, and tying them up in a straight stall with a bag attached to catch the urineine. When foal is born it stands a very high chance of going to slaughter. Hardly a voluntary process.
Those facts do not justify calling women kinda cray cray, especially when most of them are not made aware, or realize they should be aware of how the medication is produced. See my other comment elsewhere about cows. How is the production of premarin much different than the commerical production of milk and its associated products? None of it is voluntary but we do we call the millions of people buying milk for their families "kinda cray cray"? Not usually. Why are we judging the consumers instead of insisting on changing the industry? Because it's easier.
I was not referring to "cray-cray" whatever that means. I would never denigrate women who need help. I am one of them and a longtime horse owner, which is why I looked into it. I was simply explaining why the production of Premarin is cruel especially since plant based alternatives are available. And yes industrial livestock farming can be cruel too. That does not negate what I said about Premarin.
Just sharing: Today I have been escaping by listening to "The Sounds of Silence" as sung by David Draiman of the heavy metal band Disturbed. Three times I have listened to it this evening. I remember playing the Simon and Garfunkel "Sound of Silence" in my high school English classes in the 1970s to demonstrate literary terms: oxymoron and others. (At that time, teachers were fortunate to have access to a record turn table. ) Then, Pentatonix did a version that I liked and added to my playlist. Now I am into the Disturbed version. It, too, has been added to my playlist. Again, I am just happy to be escaping into my musical playlists.
I've long been a fan of Pentatonix! I made my living as a singer singing in a lot of a cappella "incarnations", and for several years was a member of America's "Orchestra of Voices", Chanticleer, based in San Francisco. I did hundreds of concerts with them all over the US and in Europe. Our rep was about half Renaissance and the other half a wide assortment of styles, including a lot of the close harmony things similar to Pentatonix. Theirs is much more of a pop-infused sound using a lot of electronics, ours was more classical and always acoustic--no amplification when live, BUT we could turn around and do some pretty cool arrangements more in the direction of jazz, and our specialty when I was a member was doing some pretty amazing Black gospel. Our director was African-American, from GA (like me), and we did things that came right out of the Black church. He was AMAZING. It was an incredible existence and I was so blessed to have had that opportunity. Singing in groups like this IS rewarding and can be very challenging work. (I left it and moved on to singing in Europe for a number of years, but that's another story). Thanks for posting "Sounds of Silence" and reminding me of my former life!!
Thank God for your ‘sharing’ AndreaH. My sister introduced me to this stunning, near apocalyptic version of the Simon and Garfunkel classic.
I read Heather’s wonderful diversion of a piece this morning in the lighthearted spirit (I think) in which it was intended. Other than racing I know little about horses, and little enough about that.
Then I came to to the comments and they have educated me immensely (thank you), while plunging me into the deepest gloom.
I do know much about man’s rapacity, cruelty, greed and general loutishness. It is all around me, should I choose to dwell on it. This forum bears witness to the worst of us as it seeks to combat the lurching of this moment to nihilism.
But I also know much about the sublime characteristics and deeds we rise. As a teacher for 45 years, a parent of five, grandparent of seven, I have seen over and over the capacity for nobility that lies within us, the extraordinary acts of creation we are capable of, our lamentable predilection to self-loathing, our unparalleled ability to rise to the moment..
Yes, we are as ugly as what has been alluded to in the comments today. We are all capable of the darkest acts.
But man (in the generic sense) has risen to the greatest heights as well and I offer that as antidote to the equally valid flagellation of our species presented here this morning.
I am a youth of the Sixties. I don’t know that there has ever been a greater flowering of creativity in the Western World as in that single decade (although my love for Renaissance music and art and writing tells me that that is errant nonsense :).
I can only plead that I *lived* through the Sixties as a most impressionable teen in defense of that comment. Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the rise of Motown. I list only the music, but there was a great flowering of human genius in all cultural areas in that period.
Alongside that there was Vietnam and the worst racial ugliness in a South reacting with desperate rage.
But there was also Muhammad Ali, the Freedom Fighters, the two momentous pieces of Civil Rights Legislation...
I’m rambling now. But just for a moment I wanted to be an attorney for the defense. I accept without question the deepest criticisms on offer this morning. Take heart though - this is not the sum of who we are.
My deepest gratitude to you AndreaH. I watched the Sounds of Silence version by Disturbed three times and it inspired me to write. My equanimity is restored. :)
On the horse theme, Canadian Olympian Jackie Brooks did a very moving musical freestyle to the Disturbed version of Sounds of Silence. It’s beautiful. https://youtu.be/CkDSM-zkreM
I think thats how dressage should look! I remember reading "Airs above the Ground" when I was a teenager about the Lippizans(sp?) in Austria - the story of how some US servicemen helped to bring the herd out during World War II was really fascinating. Did see a group touring with Lippizan horses years ago - They even were boarded at our barn at the time. The horses are amazing - very muscled up - which I guess they have to be to do those moves.
Yes, the rider is great - but that horse - he makes dressage look like it is supposed to. My horse was a former Western lesson horse & we rode on the trails & even in several small parades in the towns around there. Had lots of fun - a few accidents (!) but over 16 years it was great.
Oh Kathy, what a lovely, lovely ride - the rider and such a sweet horse! AND no figure eight noseband!! Frankly, I enjoy that kind of ride so much. I remember seeing another gal riding with no bridle quite a few years ago - cant recall her name, but that ride was amazing also. Thanks so much for that.
Many years ago, a friend of mine & I went to Devon - sad to say I wasnt all that impressed by some of the riders, but there were some who were really good. We had some dressage riders at our barn, the owner who was and I assume is still a really nice, quiet rider who taught my oldest granddaughter so much. Watching Beck ride is a lot like watching the barn owner ride. Beck has been a barn manager now for an equine sale barn - will be moving back to Florida pretty soon to another job with another rider, where she will be able to ride more.
Every year the Kentucky Derby brings great sadness to those of us concerned about the use of animals in entertainment. Please take a moment to consider the points made here in The Atlantic. It’s a few years old but all of the hard truths remain.
Fantastic! I posted the piece because I think most folks here would find The Atlantic credible. There is so much information available from PETA and other animal protection organizations. I hope people read up on it!
Thank you for this delightful equine history. You say that "it has no deep meaning," but I beg to differ. It reveals our interrelatedness with the animal kingdom and the impact their loyalty and friendship have had on our lives. They teach us the lessons of love, compassion, and yes, of humanity.
If the horse is rearing (both front legs in the air), the rider died from battle; one front leg up means the rider was wounded in battle; and if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider died outside battle.
A horse’s place in our history is profound. I love them as I do all animals. I had a horse named Apple. I was unable to keep her when I moved and started my nursing career 36 years ago. A close friend was able to take her and she had a beautiful foal. It was very difficult parting with her, and I knew she had a great life, and so have I. Thank you Heather for reminding me of one of my best friends.
Having ridden a horse four times in my life, and fallen off the same number of times, I tend to keep horses at a distance, even though they have been kind of part of my life (my mother, from Nebraska, always claimed she was born on a horse, and was still riding in her eighties, just a few months before her death). That said, they are wonderful creatures, so long as I keep both feet on terra firma, and all the quotes from Lynell (below) are so very relevant. Thank you Heather for your moving and entertaining equine anecdotes. One thing though, what's with you Americans and spelling of the English language? Of course it's "traveller" - and neighbour, colour, anaemia, defence and programme. I don't mind you all asserting your independence, but I find it impossible, when I am writing, to stop Microsoft's spell check reverting to "English (US)" an oxymoron if ever there was one!
I'm a 59 year old American who always wants to spell traveller and travelling with two ls and spellcheck will never let me. What a relief this morning to find out that I'm not totally (ha!) off base.
I have often believed that I was reincarnated from a British typist. While touch-typing, my fingers often write "behaviour" automatically. Also, I spell "traveller" changing when it is red-lined. Now, I know the source of that misspelling.
When I was in college 45 years ago, I spent two summers visiting relatives in England and Ireland. Upon returning after the second summer, I took a journalism class focused on critiquing the arts. In my first paper, I used the British spelling of theater and got a C- for my efforts. Still makes me laugh.
I get such a kick out of the English when they are sticklers for spelling, especially because they have so many different strong accents that make it hard to understand them. I once was employed by an Austrailian who could only pronounce “telephone line” like “telifine lion”
Thank you, Heather. Derby Day gave you the perfect opportunity to share this informative piece on horses that you co-authored. This horse lover must confess that I’ve spent many hours this past year, and actually many years, watching TV westerns and movies like Black Beauty because seeing horses move comforts me. So does reading about them. And, back in the day, riding them. Thanks for today’s interesting diversion.
Oh the tv shows of my youth that featured so many beautiful horses! My Friend Flicka anyone? I found it both wonderful and excruciating to watch the Derby because so many horses were injured in that race; these days I don't watch it at all--or any of the Triple Crown. Too grueling. Although Black Beauty was one of my favorite books as a child, after a time I could not re-read the middle part, where he is abused and tortured as his life deteriorates until being rescued by the boy who originally had him as a colt. It was just too painful.
I think that people respond about the abuse of horses while ignoring the abuse of other animals who live out their lives in the human sphere and for humans' use because they are iconic, from Alexander the Great's horse Bucephalus--Alexander named a city in what is now Pakistan after him when he died and he deified him as well--to, well, the horses HCR mentions and the rest of us think about. But it also makes us remember that we, as humans, have unmet obligations in this world to treat everyone and everything with respect--even if we eat them in the end.
"For years, many viewers thought the Hollywood cameras simply focused on Mr. Ed until he moved his lips or simply yawned. However, co-star Alan Young, who played Mr. Ed's close human confidante Wilbur Post, recalled how the crew put peanut butter in the horse's mouth to get him to move his lips.
Young later recanted this comment, stating that he had only said that because he didn't want to disappoint children with the technicality of how it was actually done.
If that's the case, just how did producers get this palomino to talk? Initially, a string was used to flip Mr. Ed's upper lip, according to a trivia submission on IMDB. As the show progress, famous horse trainer Les Hilton taught the gelding to wag his lips whenever his hoof was touched. Talk about Hollywood magic!"
Wonderful! I was at the 1977 Preakness with college friends the year Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown. I still have an “official” (now pretty worn frosted) glass with all the winners listed through 1976 (Elocutionist). We were in the infield and it certainly was a memorable event! That was the end of my race horse experience :)
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! I simply adore today's Letter! Some notable horse quotes for you...(feel free to add the pronouns of her/hers/she and woman where appropriate)
“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” – Sir Winston Churchill
“I can make a General in five minutes, but a good horse is hard to replace” — Abraham Lincoln
“God forbid that I should go to any Heaven in which there are no horses.” – R.B. Cunninghame Graham
"Dog may be man's best friend, but the horse wrote history."
“Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” – W.C. Fields
“Wherever man has left his footprints in the long ascent from barbarism to civilization, we find the hoofprints of a horse beside it.” – John Trotwood Moore
"A racehorse is an animal that can take several thousand people for a ride at the same time."
“When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.” – William Shakespeare
"Horse... if God made anything more beautiful, he kept it for himself."
"When God wanted to create the horse, he said to the South Wind, "I want to make a creature of you. Condense." And the Wind condensed." - Emir Abd-el-Kader
And these short stories:
Montie Montana ropes Ike Eisenhower at his inaugural parade in 1953: https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw3319.htm
Here are some pics of our presidents on horseback, with short stories to add context: https://horsenetwork.com/2014/02/top-10-presidents-horses/#:~:text=1%20Theodore%20Roosevelt.%20While%20many%20Presidents%20were%20accomplished,9%20Abraham%20Lincoln.%20...%2010%20Lyndon%20B.%20
From one horse girl to another, thank you for this icing on the cake.
Speaking of horse girls, Stephanie, my 9 year old granddaughter is smitten. She’s started riding, researching, and reading anything she can get her hands (and internet) on about horses. I can’t wait to watch National Velvet with her. A wonderful story about strong women and a young girl’s dedication to a horse she loved. 🐴💗
Be very careful. My hors loving daughter has moved thru all the adolescent riding lessons, trained horses for a while, and now after earning her veterinary degree, is training, riding and treating polo ponies. It's a lifelong addiction, that horse love.
Ahhh! Polo! My daughter was too chicken to play polo.
As a mom, I am not thrilled. But this child has challenged herself so many times. Rowing scholarship to college, triathlons, and polo may be the safest thing she's done since high school.
Oh, I get that completely. Eventing set my teeth on edge but, oh well. After she left college and was working in Longmont she and a bunch of her pals decided to take up Roller Derby. That was nice.
I wish
Haha — exactly.
It sure is a lifelong addiction - turned me into an artist.
That’s how it goes, my friend — it’s an incurable obsession. You know National Velvet came true a couple weeks ago? https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/blackmore-1st-female-jockey-win-grand-national-76994772
Incurable, indeed, Stephanie, once they get under your skin! Thanks for this grand national story.
Thanks for posting this- I hadn't heard.
Your granddaughter and her family might enjoy Heartland. A series based on a horse ranch in Canada. On Netflix.
Often, people born with Saggitatius in Jupiter love horses.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CDGOYI_enPT947PT948&hl=en-GB&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Beth+Maloney%22&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJ-4rQv6vwAhXVD2MBHYssB8MQ9AgwEHoECBMQBg
Sagittarius, yes, not sure about "in Jupiter"
Same here!!
My fuzzy memory - you are right
For real? Hmmm..
My fuzzy memory...
Morning Lynell. Nice set of quotes to top off Dr Richardson’s essay. 😃
Lynell of Virginia! A leading researcher on LFAA.
Morning, TPJ!!
Wow! Ty Lynell!
I loe the W.C. Field quote! Thanks for these Lynell.
Excellent collection of quotes. Thank you.
You're welcome, Richard!
Lynekl, you take the cake!
Yum, Susan!!
Good morning, Lynell - and thanks!
Too many treat the Horse Cult as a folly.
Beautiful and serotonin stimulating as they are, horses have been serious business for humans for something like 40,000 years.
The last several chapters of David Anthony's "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: how Bronze Age riders shaped the modern world" provide plenty of academic horsepower. :-)
Thank you, Lee. I'll check out this book.
It’s linguistics-heavy until about the last third when horses begin to drive the plot. Worth the wait. 🐎
!!
Good ones, Lynell - Here's one more: A country can be conquered from the back of a horse but may not be ruled in the same manner. (Japanese Proverb)
Very wise people live in Japan. Thanks, Nancy.
In regard to the Montie Montana article, the second one by the AP lists the Louisville Courier-Journal as the local newspaper- that's a tie to horses as well, since KY is bluegrass country-famed for horse stables/racing.
Thanks, Barbara. I missed that.
I also had ties to horses. I grew up in VT, where Justin Morgan, the progenitor of the Morgan horse breed, came from and lived 5 miles away from the UVM (University of VT) Morgan Horse farm.
Arguably, the first true American horse breed! I enjoyed the book "Justin Morgan Had a Horse," highlighting how this small-in-stature equine would labor all day, then win races in the evening!
I knew that book as a youth. We visited the Justin Morgan Farm in VT and met some very nice horses.
The Morgan Horse, "Pride and Product of America"!!
Thank you, Lynell.
Love these, Lynell! From one horse crazy girl to another, thank you.
Crazy is as crazy does, Kathy?
https://www.google.com/search?q=a%20horse%20is%20a%20horse%20of%20course
Let’s all sing along!
Hello, I'm Mister Ed"
A horse is a horse of course of course
And no one can talk to a horse of course.
That is of course unless the horse
Is the famous Mister Ed!
Go right to the source and ask the horse.
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mister Ed!
People yakkity-yak a streak
And waste your time of day,
but Mister Ed will never speak
Unless he has something to say!
A horse is a horse of course of course
And this one'll talk 'til his voice is hoarse.
You've never heard of a talking horse?
Well, listen to this...
"I am Mister Ed!"
Now I will never get that tune out of my head!! The show was so fun.
"Willll-burrrr!"
Ha! It is the song that I often use to banish other 🎶 earworms. There is something about the punchy syncopation that that always lifts my spirits.
Loved that show--and adored palominos because of Mr. Ed and Trigger.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing. Reading about horses, instead of the horses asses that normally dominate our news cycle is/was a welcome respite.
Urban Legend? Fun story nonetheless: https://www.summerhill.co.za/blog/2011/12/2/what-horses-ass-came-up-with-this.html
It is fun, thank you Professor. But, with respect, WHERE IS CINCINNATI? And no one chortle and say "on the Ohio River," please.
Cincinnati was the favorite and most impressive horse owned by Ulysses S Grant, one of the greatest horsemen in American history. Remember US Grant? He rode Cincinnati to magnanimous victory at Appomattox while Lee rode Traveller to defeat on the same day, April 9, 1865. During the Civil War his horses included Claybank, Egypt, Fox, Jack, Jeff Davis, Kangaroo, Little Reb, Methuselah and Rodney, along with the incomparable Cincinnati, also ridden by President Lincoln in the war's final month. The strikingly beautiful Jack carried the general on his epic journey to turn the tide at Chattanooga in late 1863.
The 10 horses described in the Letter do not compare to Grant's magnificent animals, who served courageously in great danger and duress. Because of their wartime contributions and achievements, they are my top 10 American horses.
PS, this is the only occasion when you'll hear me praise Jeff Davis.
R Chernow, Grant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsemanship_of_Ulysses_S._Grant
I’d give my eye teeth to hear the conversation between Cincinnati and Traveler at that meeting!
The Neighs have it.
Nobody bridled in this match. Now we are saddled with the political fallout and have little Lee-way for manoeuvre
We will not Grant you that!
🤣🤣
Nah-ha-ha-ha!!!
Where's that groan emoji when I need it?
Noooooeigh
This is one reason why I will always renew my subscription with HCR. The comments are worth every dang cent - and HCR at times feel like the bonus. This thread had me chuckling this morning. Something I needed as I blasted my students and gave them grades they likely believe they do not deserve. But horses - yes - let's talk horses. And as to those who were not mentioned - since HCR noted Mr. Ed (a favorite here too) what about The Lone Rangers' Silver. Hi ho and away. Thanks all.
Tonto’s horse was named Scout. Tonto called the Lone Ranger “Queen no sane” (he who knows nothing )
Sorry—dumb typo - Quem no sabe
I agree about the comments being worth it! I do get a lot out of HCR's writing, true, but the community I have found herein is so much more nourishing than my Facebook "friend"-ships that if I had to give up one or the other, FB would be flushed without a second thought.
Come on, TPJ, tell us what you really think! ;)
Hah, Cathy! My cousins, directly descended from US Grant, already know. Imagine Grant hopping fences on Kangaroo.
Now, off to burn a Confederate flag. It's overdue.
The only good reason I can think of to buy one.
Just steal one from a monster truck somewhere. Theft in the name of sanity is no sin.
Will do at the first opportunity
I'd be more likely to do so, too, if they didn't carry such big guns around!
(As opposed to Hannity? LOL!)
LOL, indeed!
1 down, 9 to go. Seriously.
Go for it, TPJ!
Jousting with Heather are you? Carry on!
Very cool. Thanks TPJ
Horses are great, the commodification of horses not so much. Between the horse racing industry, pharmaceutical industry use of pregnant mare’s urine (PMU), and markets for horse meat, there is a lot of horrific ugliness.
https://equusmagazine.com/horse-world/eqpmu1986
Thank you for bringing up the horrible abuse of these magnificent animals. They are so much ingrained in our history and culture as our servants to be used for our purposes. The truth is they are our partners and friends and should be treated accordingly
While visiting a lion sanctuary in Nevada, I found out the meat they fed them was horse meat. Why is it so terrible to kill a horse for food and yet not a cow, goat, sheep, or pig?
Rob, one reason is that most horses slaughtered for meat weren’t raised for it. They spent their lives being our hobbies and friends, and then ended up in the slaughter chain when they outlived their usefulness. Euthanasia is far more kind, but horses are expensive animals to keep, and the euthanasia decision is a hard one, and if you don’t have a farm where you can bury him, even disposal of the body is expensive. Easier to send the horse to auction, not knowing (or pretending not to know) that he has been bought by a kill buyer. When the US outlawed horse slaughter in 2005, it didn’t stop slaughter, just moved those horses to Mexico or Canada. The shipping alone is inhumane. Never mind that most sport horses are treated with anti-inflammatories which should render the meat unfit for human consumption. My love for horses aside, I would never consume horse meat for that reason alone.
Of course. Horses are our domesticated companions. Now they have to endure a horrendous shipping before a horrendous slaughter. Best of intentions, failed again.
you should see the stats on domestic animal abondonment at the beginning of the holiday season each year in France...tied to autoroute fences is a favourite for dogs....40000 per year according to the local SPA
I was never aware of that. How sad. I have visions from 1965-66, the year I lived in France, of French people being very devoted to their dogs.
Similar stats in USA no doubt. I thought Europe was more civilized than us. Sigh
Kathy - yeah - easier to send a horse to auction - for the human. It was easier for me AND for my boy, to be there for him, when the vet put him down & to KNOW he never had to be put somewhere where he wasnt safe - hes buried at the farm where he lived. I realize not everyone is fortunate enough to have the ability to do that. I thank God I was. Auctions are awful places for animals to end up - they all do NOT get good homes. As you are aware, far too many go to slaughter. Sadly, prices are up right now. Seems maybe there has been a bit of a drop in the quantity of "unwanted" (this is how these horses are described) horses.
Maggie, I agree. I don’t have access to a farm for burial, but still did the same thing last time I had to euthanize a horse. It’s our obligation to them - save them from pain, treat them with dignity. Honestly, I wish we could do the same for people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge5_gLtSWd4
Or dog, cat, rat, or anything else that crawls, swims, walks or flies? And let's not forget our plant friends too.
Bacteria, viruses, cockroaches, mosquitos.... Where we draw the line is arbitrary at best.
Here's an absolutely wonderful article about the role bacteria play in our systems. They are hugely important, and people who have taken too much antibiotic in their lives often suffer from loss of healthy bacterial communities, especially in the GI tract.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/22/germs-are-us
One summer years ago I had a small spider living in my bathroom. I just let it be. Every now and then I'd see that it had caught on insect, and I'd watch as it devoured the insect. At the end of the summer, she laid her eggs and died. All the babies left. I missed having a spider.
Great story, David. It's all about the proper balance in our guts.
I watch spiders rather than kill them. As long as each of us honor the code of Your-Space-My-Space!
Two friends once came across a tarantula in their suburban kitchen. They squashed it with a broom, then watched dozens of tiny dots scatter in all directions. It's hard to stop thinking about it, and now you all will, too.
I live in the subtropics and battle those little roaches in my home all year. Sometimes hatchlings appear, little tiny insect animals who run from me as I try to smash them. I feel a little remorse ending their short lives, but don't need any more nasty breeders in every crack of this old apt.
We live hard in the tropics. I have found that a mixture of dish liquid and vinegar us an acceptable method of murder.* Toxic to them, harmless to me, my husband and my cat. Also, boric acid mixed in cat food and placed where the cat can't get it kills the little sugar ant shites quite handily.
*Use caution on ceramic or marble floors. I sprayed a giant palmetto bug (big roach) the other night, didn't wipe up all the liquid, stepped in it and went flying, giving my head a serious crack on the tike floor. I've been in bed with a concussion and 2 black eyes since Friday. Roaches revenge? Maybe so. Our entire house is tiled with tile that's slick as glass when wet. It's easy to clean but deadly.
Bacteria can be very useful.....we eat them and use them to digest all the time without noticing.....except when modern drugs kill them! Then it hurts.
A bunch of years ago, a doc wanted to biopsy my prostate. Not wanting antibiotics--which would have been necessary--I asked for and got an MRI instead. The doc ultimately told me he'd learned more from the MRI than he would have learned from a biopsy (and I didn't have any cancer).
You are killing billions of microorganisms in the time I am writing this; it's the natural order of things.
when they get the chance, Rob, they eat humans too.........plenty of them around !
I know, right? We are very strange that way. Dog, too, which is fairly common in some parts of the world but deeply repugnant here. (Heh...rePUGnant, just saw that). Not that I'm suggesting we should eat horses or dogs, but where we draw the line is pretty arbitrary, isn't it?
In 1970 I drew the line to not eat anything that ran, flew or swam away from me. However, I still do dairy & eggs, so contribute to abuse in those industries I suppose. But, I did dairy in India and I know they don't mistreat the cows there.
It's an interesting debate and this is certainly not the place for it, of course. I was a pretty strict vegetarian for 20+ years and then reconsidered. At a minimum, it deserves further study. Monocrop agriculture is an environmental disaster.
MY HISTORY OF KILLING
July 28, 2020
I have never killed a human, tho many men my age have since our nation has been at war forever. I have had friends who have killed ppl in Vietnam and uncles who have killed in WWII and Korea. But, my service in the Air Force was working in an office.
I was an armed security guard for over a year and an armed Harbor Police patrolman for another year, but never pulled my sidearm on either job. In fact, as a cop I may have saved two men’s lives from the river, and later, as an attendant in a psych hospital, saved one patient from hanging himself and another from killing a fellow patient with a shiv.
In my lifetime, the only killing I have done was to lesser creatures and I realize now that I can remember every one of them.
Killing animals is a part of my cultural, meat-eating heritage where many others have killed animals personally and where most were an accessory after the fact by buying bits of their carcass in a butcher shop. It was in our mythos to “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of the sky, and over the tame animals, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creature that crawls on the earth." That same book of contradictions that commanded us “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” also gave us many exceptions for killing men, women & children, which fortunately I have never done.
As a child, with this disregard for the lives of other animals, I remember smashing emerging frogs, still with their tadpole tails on the bank of the family pond in Mississippi. I also remember blowing up a large moth with a firecracker as a child. This cruelty now bothers me. As a pre-teen with a single shot, .22 caliber rifle, I would target shoot birds sitting on fence posts, leaving them on the ground. I once shot a dove in Miss. that I at least ate. Eating birds was a Southern fried tradition and I cut off many chicken’s heads with an axe. My grandmother could wring their necks until their head came off in her hand and the headless chicken would jump around for a while in the yard. I never got that personal with them. In the city of St. Louis, I shot a sparrow with a BB gun while at my dad’s house. My stepmother said I should eat it so I skinned & gutted it and she cooked it. It was just the gesture, not much food.
I also shot rabbits and squirrels that I would skin and eat. In Potosi Missouri, as a teen with my own single shot .22 cal. rifle, I shot a chipmunk just because it was there. Rodents were fair game and ppl killed rats & mice all the time with poison and spring traps. (And those horrendously cruel glue traps which should not be legal).
As a teen, I took part in the slaughter of a bull yearling with my uncles in Mississippi. The young bovine was shot at close range between the eyes and dropped immediately to the ground. My uncle cut its throat and blood gushed out as it was hoisted up by the hind legs and skinned to be taken to the butcher for turning into meat for the freezer and the hide for leather. I remember seeing the cow, standing at a distance in the field, watching this pack of carnivores kill and dismember her baby.
I Killed a Dog. It was my great-uncle’s old, arthritic dog in Mississippi. My aunt asked me to get rid of it. This was the poor, rural version of “euthanizing.” I led the dog into the woods feeding it cornbread, then while it was eating the last, I took the single shot .22 cal. rifle, put the barrel to its head and shot it. The dog fell immediately, opened its mouth with cornbread in it and looked like it was still alive. I quickly put in another round and shot it again, then another. I am not too good with close range execution of dogs.
The last thing I personally killed for food was a bullfrog. Visiting my Air Force friend in rural Illinois in 1967 while on leave, we caught a large frog and since I had never had frog legs, his wife offered to cook it for me. I killed the frog by holding it by the legs and bashing its head against a tree. I neglected to mention all the fish that I caught since childhood and the many crawfish that I caught & dropped live into boiling water – yes, I remember killing and eating those.
Killing for Sport. While working on the Harbor Police Department on the night shift, walking the mostly empty wharves, I carried my .22 cal. single shot rifle with CB caps (quiet, low-velocity target shooting rounds) and shot the many rats that were there. I also euthanized a kitten I found alone among the pallets, blind with no eyes by smashing its head. At the time it seemed the most merciful thing to do.
This was in 1969, the last year that I would eat meat, fish or fowl. In July 1970, with exposure to Eastern cultures that respected the lives of other animals I became a vegetarian. It has been half a century since I have killed anything.
Except roaches & mosquitos and I still feel remorse at killing roaches that just want to live and eat like I do.
Any large bug that just happens into my house I make an effort to remove it unharmed and have often shared my place with Geckos here in South Florida.
Oh, I forgot snakes. I have killed a few of them, both venomous and harmless ones as a kid in Mississippi. There was prejudice against snakes from Genesis 3.15 "...he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
As a teen I learned better and my great-uncle Almer in Miss. showed me a King Snake that he befriended at his corn crib that ate rodents. But, I specifically remember killing a copperhead as a teen and skinning it for a trophy. The last snake I killed was in Gainesville, Fla. in my patio that I mistook for a young copperhead. I feel bad about killing a harmless Red Rat Snake. Not murder but negligent serpenticide.
I'm glad you are so thoughtful about it. It is an individual moral choice we all make every day. Our whole relationship with animals of all sorts is so vastly complicated and has a huge emotional component, as we have seen in the responses to this thread. It's very difficult to get to any truly rational conclusion, nonetheless a universal or comprehensive one.
Rob, Your HISTORY OF KILLING was fascinating to me. My NYC background (Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan) was far different than yours. There were summer vacations, visits and camps near bays, oceans, rivers, lakes, hills and mountains. My eyes, mind, heart, and legs were filled with excitement, discovery, adventure, appreciation and so many different pictures of vistas, forests, caves, farms and nature but not my stomach, in particular. Your killing experiences read as a confession -- matter of fact and wonderfully detailed. You have a terrific memory, and I think that you are a fine writer. Thank you for this rich record of your murderous boyhood.
The Repugnant Party
Dogs and horses have completely different characters.
Interesting assertion. How so?
https://www.illumiseen.com/blogs/news/horses-vs-dogs-a-battle-of-wits
Which is more loyal horse or dog?
Horses become loyal to their owner because they consider them part of their herd or even their only family. ... Horses though would show more loyalty to owners who are loving and kind. Much like dogs, horses develop a better sense of loyalty through providing rewards after following a series of commands from their owners.Feb 1, 2016
And ...
Good advice to horse people:
Ask a stallion
Tell a gelding
Discuss it with a mare
And pray if it’s a pony!
The issue isnot that we shouldnt eat horse meat: its the abuse they have to endure before they die. Its the people who inflict the abuse from those like Koch on down. Plus the fact that foreign mobsters want the water and public lands for minkng where wild Mustangs and their habitat are protected by law, snd that it is a well known fact that those who abuse animals also abus women, children and old people. The Bureau of Land Management is a horrible scandal.
“mining”
It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death;”
Public Law 92-195
Yes exactly
People who abuse animals are known to abuse women, children and old people. Big pharma’s karma must be atrocious.
No dogs in the White House while 1/45 was squatting there. Dogs wouldn't have him.
Only for breakfast or for bones to gnaw on!
The stuffing of Comanche and the skinning of Trigger, for me, are horrific.
I think they were dead when that happened. No worse than an autopsy on humans.
So you are OK with stuffing a loved one to keep in your home? Very different. It is morbid.
Manipulating and exploiting animal or human remains is so 19th-century. We can do better in the 21C.
NO! And, I never said that. Apparently YOU are OK with extrapolating your own morbid ideas onto others and misquoting them.
Also, there is a difference between skinning ppl and animals. I think it is morbid to wear the skins of animals and have not worn leather since 1970, altho I do not fault others who do, just as I do not fault them for eating meat.
just as atrocious as the profits they are raking in creating and treating our illnesses and other quirks.
Wild herds are growing again in the West.
I’ve seen them near the town of San Luis in southern Colorado/New Mexico border. Took my breath away!
Wow! What were you doing in San Luis? I know several people from there. After a weekend at home in San Luis, one guy used to bring a big pot of his grandmother's posole to work on Monday mornings to share at lunch.
And have, in fact, become a huge ecological problem there. https://www.fb.org/issues/other/wild-horse-and-burro-management/
The problem is not the wild mustangs; it’s the privately owned cattle that Koch’s cowboys run on public land for their private profit. They over graze and destroy the colony with their cloven hooves.
American billionaires on welfare: The Koch brothers and other ranchers stealing your tax dollars | Salon.com
https://www.salon.com/2015/03/27/american_billionaires_on_welfare_cliven_bundy_ted_turner_and_other_ranchers_stealing_your_tax_dollars/
https://www.salon.com/2015/03/27/american_billionaires_on_welfare_cliven_bundy_ted_turner_and_other_ranchers_stealing_your_tax_dollars/?fbclid=IwAR1YwMMaRybU9lsTAA-GHpibmcOcFSZIiOjrypD__0vmvXwXcU
Many ranchers are a real problem, with their cattle competing unfairly with wild horses. And many of those ranchers cause worse trouble than ecological damage -- they are deadbeats on taxes, grazing and leasing fees; they graze their herds illegally on federal land; and harass and menace anyone, official or unofficial, they see as interfering.
They are like mafia.
Yes, they do, and yet are able to sell "grass-fed" beef at higher prices. Thus, in addition to cattle barons not paying fees and taxes and getting that grass for free, meat eaters are piling higher profit on top of unofficial or official government subsidies.
Can I interest anyone in trying some of the excellent tasting plant-based meats that are becoming more and more affordable and also tastier? My husband and I regularly grill up a couple of "Impossible" burgers and he (a devoted consumer of animal flesh) enjoys them as much as I do.
(I wish we had a phrase in English that had the long history of acceptance culturally such as the Mandarin Chinese 我吃素 [wo chi su] to use instead of "I'm a vegan." The Chinese expression - one literal translation is "I eat plain food" - refers to Buddhist vegetarian practice, and does not elicit the kind of ridicule we vegans get in the West for choosing to eschew animal flesh and milk products.)
Oh, yes, I just read about this a few weeks ago. (Susan, I'm looking for your reply to me supplying the horse quotes from Pinterest. Just wanted to say they're great quotes, too, thanks!)
The Horse
By Ronald Duncan
The Horse
Where in this wide world can
man find nobility without pride,
friendship without envy or beauty
without vanity? Here, where
grace is laced with muscle, and
strength by gentleness confined.
He serves without servility; he has
fought without enmity. There is
nothing so powerful, nothing less
violent, there is nothing so quick,
nothing more patient.
England’s past has been borne on
his back. All our history is his
industry; we are his heirs; he
our inheritance.
- Ronald Duncan
Gives me goosebumps, Susan.
Bingo.
Exactly!
To add to the ecological disaster that the settlers in the West when they "displaced" the Native Americans and brought in the agricultural methods that ruined the land...destroying the grasses that the horses need ....amongst other things. Is it the horses creating the problem?
It's a deeply complex problem with many antecedents, for sure. The horses now ARE a problem, yes, but a totally human-made one. Killing off predators, monocrop agriculture, human overpopulation...one could go on and on, of course. Much like deer overpopulation, we created the problem, but it's still a problem.
Of course, the worst animal-caused ecological problem in the US is that of human overpopulation. The US had ~190 million when Kennedy was President; by latest count we're up to 332 mn. Pew projects an additional 100 million over the next 40-50 years.
Going forward ~90% of the US population growth will be due to immigration, according to Pew.
Imagine what the horse and deer think about "the problem". It still looks a little onesided the approach to " problem definition". No attempt here to solve it meeting the needs of all the species in nature....just man's!
Oh, I agree entirely! But, to take one example, deer are in many areas starving to death for lack of forage. Is that more or less humane then culling? As I said, deeply fraught, deeply emotional, deeply complex.
They blame any other animal other than their livestock. Read this the other day: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wild-donkeys-and-horses-dig-wells-provide-water-host-desert-species-180977627/#:~:text=The%20study%2C%20published%20this%20week,in%20the%20parched%20desert%20landscape.
Yet the conclusion of most people cited in this article is that there are too many of them for the land to sustain in an ecologically sound manner.
As you said before, it is a complex problem. Here in Maryland, the wild horses of Assateague Island are "managed" by the National Park Service. Through trial & error, they've estimated that the maximum population of the wild horses should not exceed 100, & went to work using birth control for a number of years to keep the numbers down. So far, it's working... if you're interested: https://www.nps.gov/asis/learn/nature/resource-brief-horses.htm
Reid, I take exception to that article. Calling round ups by helicopter humane is a big red flag. Consider the source. This piece has a lot more to do with protecting ranchers’ grazing rights on federal land, with which the Mustangs compete, than it does with the ecological impact of wild horses.
I think it's a fascinating subject for discussion. The basic question, it seems to me, is whether or not we have a responsibility to remediate human-caused ecological disasters, even if it means killing some animals. We have to recognize that NOT killing animals in some situations is just as cruel as killing them because of the impact on them or on others animals, including us (part of the ecological disaster being that we have forgotten that we ARE animals). Yes, this article might not be the perfect source, but the question is still clear and the moral imperative far from clear. I find the whole ethical and moral landscape of the question of killing animals, whether for food or for other reasons, endlessly interesting and deeply fraught.
There are other choices besides killing them. Adoption and birth control among them.
And where the circumstance indicate that there far too many humans for the environment to harmoniously support?
Both of which are used to some extent. Now the BLM is PAYING $1,000.00 for people to adopt a wild horse. They are supposed to keep the horse for a year in order to get title. But I keep reading about how many are just sent on to slaughter once the money is paid. Wild horses need someone with experience & patience & for some people - its all about the money. Early on in the program, the horses price was $25.00! Now paying people to take them - not a very good sustainable business practice.
And Stuart, I agree far too many humans - more & more all the time. Although certainly after this virus - the numbers are down. Seems to me there should be more compassionate ways to accomplish that tho.
Hi Reid, Kathy brought up a very important issue concerning the quality of a source. There is such an enormous range of 'information' on social media from propaganda, misleading, inaccurate, suspect, manufactured to revelatory and solid we need to teach people the importance of recognizing the nature of source material.
Good news!
We commodify everything including ourselves. Capitalism’s ugly shadow.
Ppl bemoan the use of animals as "Beasts of Burden," and yet when I forced myself out of bed each morning for half a century, and went off to my workplace for 8 hours or more each day, weren't we just "making a living" like any other beast so burdened?
Yes, but, while all survival requires effort, only humans force others (human and animal) to work for their own benefit. Greed is the problem.
Greed and the power to satisfy it.
"Love is at the root of everything . . . love or the lack of it.""
<> Fred Rogers
Thank you, Ellie! Your research is illuminating as always. ❤️🤍💙
How many women take "Premarin" without realizing it is almost an acronym for what it is? Also, it was made in vats and I hear the males sweeping it up started growing breasts (gynecomastia) before some safe handling standards were established.
Fortunately there are many hormone replacement therapies that do not use horse urine. Bio identical therapies are growing in popularity and are safer.
mind you horse urine is kinda natural too......and if you thank the horse for supplying voluntarily!
Unfortunately about as voluntary as providing milk and eggs in factory farms. Our culture has allowed inhumane treatment, largely by hiding it.
The mares are kept pregnant, in straight stalls, the foals taken away at birth, and what happens to them ? It’s a dirty business.
Thank you.
Women who take premarin and "don't know what it is" are either stupid, lying or b
Again, the judgemental comments toward consumers aren't helpful. I hope at least that by "stupid" you may have meant "uninformed" and by "lying" meant "desperate enough to treat these horrible symptoms that I will not look at how it came to be".
Beth, I'm sorry if I've hurt your feelings. Have you ever seen stalls full of blood mares who literally stand in one place 24/7? They are not walked or exercised. They foal and then they are reinseminated and foal again and again and again. They are given minimum amounts of water so the urine collected from them is as concentrated as possible, (premarin is made from mare's urine, so tell a mare thank you as you dose up).
You have determined me to be judgemental, and in this case I plead guilty. Without apology. There are alternatives to preparing.
You've not hurt my feelings. I've never taken Premarin. I am well aware that there are alternatives, thankfully. My point is that when we judge people for partaking of something they're told will help them feel better or be healthier and don't thoroughly explain to them how the food/medication has come to be available (which we don't), we can't in fairness expect them all to go right home and research it. Most people's default setting is to want to trust their providers/parents/teachers. It's not helpful to dismiss people for this, call them stupid, lazy and cray cray. That's the easy way out. That's what Tucker Carlson does.
As a nurse I can tell you that I've seen plenty of patients shamed for what they choose or don't know or failed to investigate or change and never once seen it make a positive difference.
I can honestly tell you that your virtue signaling paired with throwing Tucker Carlson as a comparison is about as base as it gets. As a long term cancer patient I can tell you that I have been subjected to some mighty harsh, judgemental nurses who did very little from a restorative perspective. Could you be one of those nurses as well? In your own way, you have managed to judge more than one on this day's page.
Brood mares not blood mares. Premarin not preparing. Spellchecker.
There are fully synthetic versions of CEEs include Cenestin and Enjuvia in the United States and C.E.S. and Congest in Canada.
True that most women are unaware of where Premarin comes from or how it's produced. How many people drink cow's milk without realizing where it comes from? No one; we all realize where it comes from and we still consume it daily. Making Premarin is not much different than the way we obtain cow's milk, forcing them to calve and then removing the calf from them so we can steal the milk, feeding them growth hormone so we can get more milk per heifer, and sending them to the slaughterhouse when they no longer earn their keep. So, even if we did dare acknowledge the process involved in making Premarin, would it change much, given our consumption of dairy products with pretty clear knowledge of that process?
Yes. My experience as been that most people who care enough about childrens welfare enough to use birth control, also believe in humane treatment of animals
Any woman who takes Premarin period, is kinda cray cray. Hormone imbalance has to do with a congested liver, hands down. Artificial hormones will only bandaid the issue and congest the liver further, readying the woman for more serious health issues down the line.
Um...no. Health care professional here and while hormonal therapy is certainly controversial, liver congestion is not implicated.
Thanks Reid, the proliferation of misinformation, of even the knowledgeable, is dismaying.
While it would not surprise me at all to learn via thorough research that Elaine is on to something with her liver congestion causing hormone imbalance theory, considering our Western diet and lifestyle (because what else could be the cause?; it makes no sense that so many females would suffer from imbalance from an evolutionary standpoint), to make such judgemental statements is no better than the doctors who tell women it's all in their heads.....still, in 2021.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/health/endometriosis-griffith-uterus.html?action=click&module=Science%20%20Technology&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/01/us/period-tear-gas-study-portland.html?action=click&module=Science%20%20Technology&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/well/perimenopause-women.html?searchResultPosition=3
The NYT article on endometriosis was stellar. My journey with it began as a teenager and lasted decades. The fact that men have been the primary providers of healthcare for centuries has done nothing to ameliorate the nonchalant to downright dangerous gynecologic healthcare women have been burdened with, even in the 21st century. Don't get me started.
I won’t, but I’m glad you said it.
Interesting point, though because biology doesn't care if we live or die as long as we reproduce, I suspect evolutionarily we are supposed to die after our fertile years are done.
Perhaps so but that wouldn't explain the millions of women who suffer hormonal imbalance, and its associated pain, severe bleeding, etc., in their reproductive years as the article about endometriosis details.
And since we've decided collectively as a species that we're going to do everything we can to live as long as possible, it would be nice if we started seriously addressing the post reproductive years for women, since they make up more than half the population at that stage of life, and how we can sustainably make them as healthy and comfortable as possible instead of the guessing games we play now.
Thanks so much for linking these articles. All super informative.
Is liver congestion even a thing?
Yes, a very specific thing that usually leads to cirrhosis. In some traditional medicine it is considered a specific and widespread condition and traditional treatments may have some limited efficacy, but not for true liver failure.
Wow. Judge much? Calling women, or anyone "kinda cray cray" for taking something they desperately hope, and have been told, will help them out of the misery of hormone imbalance, is NOT helpful. Hope you're not a health care provider.
There is plant based estradiol. No reason for Premarin to exist. And mares' urine is collected by impregnation them, and tying them up in a straight stall with a bag attached to catch the urineine. When foal is born it stands a very high chance of going to slaughter. Hardly a voluntary process.
Those facts do not justify calling women kinda cray cray, especially when most of them are not made aware, or realize they should be aware of how the medication is produced. See my other comment elsewhere about cows. How is the production of premarin much different than the commerical production of milk and its associated products? None of it is voluntary but we do we call the millions of people buying milk for their families "kinda cray cray"? Not usually. Why are we judging the consumers instead of insisting on changing the industry? Because it's easier.
I was not referring to "cray-cray" whatever that means. I would never denigrate women who need help. I am one of them and a longtime horse owner, which is why I looked into it. I was simply explaining why the production of Premarin is cruel especially since plant based alternatives are available. And yes industrial livestock farming can be cruel too. That does not negate what I said about Premarin.
Impregnating. Spellcheck strikes again. And urine, sigh.
Autocorrect is run by Kossacks.
Just sharing: Today I have been escaping by listening to "The Sounds of Silence" as sung by David Draiman of the heavy metal band Disturbed. Three times I have listened to it this evening. I remember playing the Simon and Garfunkel "Sound of Silence" in my high school English classes in the 1970s to demonstrate literary terms: oxymoron and others. (At that time, teachers were fortunate to have access to a record turn table. ) Then, Pentatonix did a version that I liked and added to my playlist. Now I am into the Disturbed version. It, too, has been added to my playlist. Again, I am just happy to be escaping into my musical playlists.
Thank you, Andrea, for "Sounds of Silence" x3
Draiman
https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4
Pentatonix
https://youtu.be/gdVjVtpr55M
Simon and Garfunkel
https://youtu.be/NAEppFUWLfc
I've long been a fan of Pentatonix! I made my living as a singer singing in a lot of a cappella "incarnations", and for several years was a member of America's "Orchestra of Voices", Chanticleer, based in San Francisco. I did hundreds of concerts with them all over the US and in Europe. Our rep was about half Renaissance and the other half a wide assortment of styles, including a lot of the close harmony things similar to Pentatonix. Theirs is much more of a pop-infused sound using a lot of electronics, ours was more classical and always acoustic--no amplification when live, BUT we could turn around and do some pretty cool arrangements more in the direction of jazz, and our specialty when I was a member was doing some pretty amazing Black gospel. Our director was African-American, from GA (like me), and we did things that came right out of the Black church. He was AMAZING. It was an incredible existence and I was so blessed to have had that opportunity. Singing in groups like this IS rewarding and can be very challenging work. (I left it and moved on to singing in Europe for a number of years, but that's another story). Thanks for posting "Sounds of Silence" and reminding me of my former life!!
Thank you for sharing, Bruce. You have had an amazing and very interesting life in music.
Bruce, did you know Neal Rogers?
Of course!! He and I were "Tenor Partners in Crime" together and are still good friends! He's a great guy.
Pentatonix are a remarkable group. I saw them about 3 years ago at UC Berkeley Stadium.
Thank you so much, Ellie. I have enjoyed each of these youtube links. I copied and pasted them to a youtube play list.
WOW. Thank you so much, it one of my favorite songs and I’d never heard Pentatonix play it before. Brought me to tears.
Thank God for your ‘sharing’ AndreaH. My sister introduced me to this stunning, near apocalyptic version of the Simon and Garfunkel classic.
I read Heather’s wonderful diversion of a piece this morning in the lighthearted spirit (I think) in which it was intended. Other than racing I know little about horses, and little enough about that.
Then I came to to the comments and they have educated me immensely (thank you), while plunging me into the deepest gloom.
I do know much about man’s rapacity, cruelty, greed and general loutishness. It is all around me, should I choose to dwell on it. This forum bears witness to the worst of us as it seeks to combat the lurching of this moment to nihilism.
But I also know much about the sublime characteristics and deeds we rise. As a teacher for 45 years, a parent of five, grandparent of seven, I have seen over and over the capacity for nobility that lies within us, the extraordinary acts of creation we are capable of, our lamentable predilection to self-loathing, our unparalleled ability to rise to the moment..
Yes, we are as ugly as what has been alluded to in the comments today. We are all capable of the darkest acts.
But man (in the generic sense) has risen to the greatest heights as well and I offer that as antidote to the equally valid flagellation of our species presented here this morning.
I am a youth of the Sixties. I don’t know that there has ever been a greater flowering of creativity in the Western World as in that single decade (although my love for Renaissance music and art and writing tells me that that is errant nonsense :).
I can only plead that I *lived* through the Sixties as a most impressionable teen in defense of that comment. Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the rise of Motown. I list only the music, but there was a great flowering of human genius in all cultural areas in that period.
Alongside that there was Vietnam and the worst racial ugliness in a South reacting with desperate rage.
But there was also Muhammad Ali, the Freedom Fighters, the two momentous pieces of Civil Rights Legislation...
I’m rambling now. But just for a moment I wanted to be an attorney for the defense. I accept without question the deepest criticisms on offer this morning. Take heart though - this is not the sum of who we are.
My deepest gratitude to you AndreaH. I watched the Sounds of Silence version by Disturbed three times and it inspired me to write. My equanimity is restored. :)
Thank you for sharing your broad take on life, Eric. I appreciate your thoughts.
On the horse theme, Canadian Olympian Jackie Brooks did a very moving musical freestyle to the Disturbed version of Sounds of Silence. It’s beautiful. https://youtu.be/CkDSM-zkreM
That horse barely touches the ground.
I think thats how dressage should look! I remember reading "Airs above the Ground" when I was a teenager about the Lippizans(sp?) in Austria - the story of how some US servicemen helped to bring the herd out during World War II was really fascinating. Did see a group touring with Lippizan horses years ago - They even were boarded at our barn at the time. The horses are amazing - very muscled up - which I guess they have to be to do those moves.
I love that horse. He’s retired now, but they were a fantastic pair. Goals for me - make my riding look like that!
Yes, the rider is great - but that horse - he makes dressage look like it is supposed to. My horse was a former Western lesson horse & we rode on the trails & even in several small parades in the towns around there. Had lots of fun - a few accidents (!) but over 16 years it was great.
Pegasus
What a find for bringing Sounds of Silence and horses full circle!
Excellent, Kathy. I applauded out loud at the bow! Thank you so much for sharing this video: so apropos for Dr. Richardson's LFAA today.
Oh Kathy, what a lovely, lovely ride - the rider and such a sweet horse! AND no figure eight noseband!! Frankly, I enjoy that kind of ride so much. I remember seeing another gal riding with no bridle quite a few years ago - cant recall her name, but that ride was amazing also. Thanks so much for that.
Many years ago, a friend of mine & I went to Devon - sad to say I wasnt all that impressed by some of the riders, but there were some who were really good. We had some dressage riders at our barn, the owner who was and I assume is still a really nice, quiet rider who taught my oldest granddaughter so much. Watching Beck ride is a lot like watching the barn owner ride. Beck has been a barn manager now for an equine sale barn - will be moving back to Florida pretty soon to another job with another rider, where she will be able to ride more.
Fabulous! A musically minded horse!
Beautiful
The version by Disturbed is my favorite rendition of the classic. 💜
Pentatonix is a stunning talent of their own and another favorite performing group.
Yes, so powerful and compelling. Now I will have to listen and watch the Disturbed version 3, or 33, times again today.
Thanks! Listening now.
Every year the Kentucky Derby brings great sadness to those of us concerned about the use of animals in entertainment. Please take a moment to consider the points made here in The Atlantic. It’s a few years old but all of the hard truths remain.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/284594/
Sadly, there is hardly an animal on this earth who does not suffer at the hands of humans, especially where money can be had.
Thanks, Erica. I Tweeted The Atlantic and asked for an update.
Fantastic! I posted the piece because I think most folks here would find The Atlantic credible. There is so much information available from PETA and other animal protection organizations. I hope people read up on it!
Ask Jeffrey Goldberg..
Thank you for posting this. I will read it.
Thank you for this delightful equine history. You say that "it has no deep meaning," but I beg to differ. It reveals our interrelatedness with the animal kingdom and the impact their loyalty and friendship have had on our lives. They teach us the lessons of love, compassion, and yes, of humanity.
Equine statues:
If the horse is rearing (both front legs in the air), the rider died from battle; one front leg up means the rider was wounded in battle; and if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider died outside battle.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Equestrian_statue_of_James_Longstreet.jpg
If all four legs are in the air, it falls off the pedestal!
Thank you!
A horse’s place in our history is profound. I love them as I do all animals. I had a horse named Apple. I was unable to keep her when I moved and started my nursing career 36 years ago. A close friend was able to take her and she had a beautiful foal. It was very difficult parting with her, and I knew she had a great life, and so have I. Thank you Heather for reminding me of one of my best friends.
She was the Apple of Karen's eye.
It seems so appropriate that Karen, a healer, loves animals too.
Thank you Dr. Richardson--for your kindness and for sharing what you know with us in a way that makes it belong to each of us.
Having ridden a horse four times in my life, and fallen off the same number of times, I tend to keep horses at a distance, even though they have been kind of part of my life (my mother, from Nebraska, always claimed she was born on a horse, and was still riding in her eighties, just a few months before her death). That said, they are wonderful creatures, so long as I keep both feet on terra firma, and all the quotes from Lynell (below) are so very relevant. Thank you Heather for your moving and entertaining equine anecdotes. One thing though, what's with you Americans and spelling of the English language? Of course it's "traveller" - and neighbour, colour, anaemia, defence and programme. I don't mind you all asserting your independence, but I find it impossible, when I am writing, to stop Microsoft's spell check reverting to "English (US)" an oxymoron if ever there was one!
I'm a 59 year old American who always wants to spell traveller and travelling with two ls and spellcheck will never let me. What a relief this morning to find out that I'm not totally (ha!) off base.
I have often believed that I was reincarnated from a British typist. While touch-typing, my fingers often write "behaviour" automatically. Also, I spell "traveller" changing when it is red-lined. Now, I know the source of that misspelling.
Worse things can happen than being reincarnated from a British Typist! A little less of the miss, though. it is the source of the "spelling"!
When I was in college 45 years ago, I spent two summers visiting relatives in England and Ireland. Upon returning after the second summer, I took a journalism class focused on critiquing the arts. In my first paper, I used the British spelling of theater and got a C- for my efforts. Still makes me laugh.
I get such a kick out of the English when they are sticklers for spelling, especially because they have so many different strong accents that make it hard to understand them. I once was employed by an Austrailian who could only pronounce “telephone line” like “telifine lion”
Thank you, Heather. Derby Day gave you the perfect opportunity to share this informative piece on horses that you co-authored. This horse lover must confess that I’ve spent many hours this past year, and actually many years, watching TV westerns and movies like Black Beauty because seeing horses move comforts me. So does reading about them. And, back in the day, riding them. Thanks for today’s interesting diversion.
Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr riding in Wagon Master is a sight to see. And the horses are the real hero(in)es of the winter scenes in The Searchers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwAUt-JIN00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tidBOg3xobA
Same:)
I second your comment, Mim.
Such a welcome reprieve from the realities of today's challenges.
Oh the tv shows of my youth that featured so many beautiful horses! My Friend Flicka anyone? I found it both wonderful and excruciating to watch the Derby because so many horses were injured in that race; these days I don't watch it at all--or any of the Triple Crown. Too grueling. Although Black Beauty was one of my favorite books as a child, after a time I could not re-read the middle part, where he is abused and tortured as his life deteriorates until being rescued by the boy who originally had him as a colt. It was just too painful.
I think that people respond about the abuse of horses while ignoring the abuse of other animals who live out their lives in the human sphere and for humans' use because they are iconic, from Alexander the Great's horse Bucephalus--Alexander named a city in what is now Pakistan after him when he died and he deified him as well--to, well, the horses HCR mentions and the rest of us think about. But it also makes us remember that we, as humans, have unmet obligations in this world to treat everyone and everything with respect--even if we eat them in the end.
Yes Linda I agree wholeheartedly. If we could learn to treat every living creature and eco system with
reverence imagine what life on earth could be.
"For years, many viewers thought the Hollywood cameras simply focused on Mr. Ed until he moved his lips or simply yawned. However, co-star Alan Young, who played Mr. Ed's close human confidante Wilbur Post, recalled how the crew put peanut butter in the horse's mouth to get him to move his lips.
Young later recanted this comment, stating that he had only said that because he didn't want to disappoint children with the technicality of how it was actually done.
If that's the case, just how did producers get this palomino to talk? Initially, a string was used to flip Mr. Ed's upper lip, according to a trivia submission on IMDB. As the show progress, famous horse trainer Les Hilton taught the gelding to wag his lips whenever his hoof was touched. Talk about Hollywood magic!"
https://www.wideopenpets.com/secrets-didnt-know-mr-ed-talking-horse/
Good read, Nancy. Thanks!
Wonderful! I was at the 1977 Preakness with college friends the year Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown. I still have an “official” (now pretty worn frosted) glass with all the winners listed through 1976 (Elocutionist). We were in the infield and it certainly was a memorable event! That was the end of my race horse experience :)