TOPSA funnies

More funny pix here and here, courtesy of the Totally Online Photo Show Association. I especially like “Are you my momma??”

Typical dressage test

1. A enter working trot, haunches left.
2. X transition to a walk, take six steps, halt parked out behind.
3. Proceed working trot, haunches right.
4. C spook left.
5. E oval left, 18.7 meters by 22 meters.
6. Between K and A pick up the counter canter, trot, and pick up the correct lead.
7. A break canter.
8. F resume canter.
9. B oval left 23 m by 19 m.

Read the rest at Halt Near X.

It’s all about hope

Kick Back, Relax, originally uploaded by DomWrap.

Right, little fella?

Bridlepath’s Hall of Shame: Gene Parker

Our first winner: Gene Parker, breeder and shower of AQHA halter stallions, opposes anti-HYPP legislation. Do you think the fact that he stands three H/N stallions has anything to do with it? In his own words:

There is a very simple solution: Let it be our choice.

If you do not want to breed for this gene, breed an N/N mare to an N/N stallion.

If you don’t want to own a horse with this gene, don’t buy one.

But if you do desire this gene, it should be your choice to either breed or purchase a horse of your choosing.

Goodness me, who wouldn’t desire this gene?!

The disease is most common in the bloodline of the famous Appendix American Quarter Horse stallion Impressive, who has over 55,000 living descendants as of 2003. Although the disease is primarily limited to the American Quarter Horse breed and closely related breeds such as American Paint Horses and Appaloosas at this time, cross-breeding has begun to extend it to grade horses and ponies. The spread of the disease is perpetuated by the favorable judgings given to diseased horses in showing, due in part to involuntary muscle twitching which helps to build large, bulky muscles that judges favor. (Wiki)

I highly recommend reading this; here’s an extract:

What initially got me involved was witnessing my horse The Nibblet suffer a horrific HyPP attack. After snapping the lead rope to her halter she fell at my feet and lay motionless. I raised her head and it fell to ground with a thud. The HyPP attack had rendered her totally paralyzed. At the time I had no clue what HyPP was. A few minutes later she regained movement in the front half of her body and tried in vain to stand pawing her front legs on the ground in the process dragging the back half of her body around the stall. I was looking on in fear not knowing what to do. I had called the vet as soon as she went down got his pager # (it was Sunday) after explaining what happened he asked me if she had Impressive in her bloodlines and that led to the HyPP and she tested HyPP N/H.

I had researched HyPP prior to the test coming back and discovered HyPP was a dominant gene so either the sire or dam had to be HyPP positive. Turns out my friends stud was HyPP N/H and she never told me my Philly had 50% chance of having HyPP. This is the same woman who helped me out with horses and was even there the day The Nibblet was born in my sisters barn. She never once said anything about HyPP then or the numerous times I stopped into her store to buy feed for The Nibblet. The irony of all of this was she sold me the feed that caused The Nibblet to have her HyPP attack. The reason was the high potassium content in the feed. After consulting a nutritional specialist I was able to change her diet to a low potassium level. She had a few minor attacks during the diet transition and went on to go attack free as far as I knew.

In the meantime, I shall come up with a suitably derisive graphic for our Hall of Shame members. 😉

Edit: Even better, the lovely Stitchy has come up with one! YDMND!

U.S. House passes Horse Slaughter Prevention Act

Only “stunned”, not dead, this horse had been dropped from the stun chute onto a moving platform where a hind leg has now been secured & hoisted into the air by the man in white as the horse proceeds through the slaughter plant. Link

September 7, 2006 — The U.S. House on Thursday voted 263-146 in favor of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which bans the slaughter of horses for human consumption.
Co-sponsored by Reps. John Sweeney (R-New York) and Ed Whitfield (R-Kentucky), the bill seeks to amend the Horse Protection Act to ban the shipping, purchasing, selling, delivering or receiving of horses to be slaughtered for human consumption. Two amendments to alter the bill failed to pass.

AQHA opposed the bill, which would if it becomes law shut down horse slaughter plants in Fort Worth and Kaufman, Texas; and DeKalb, Illinois.

An AQHA release stated, “AQHA and the Horse Welfare Council opposed the bill because of its shortcomings on a number of different fronts. The bill doesn’t offer any solutions to the 100,000 unwanted or unusable horses that are sent to slaughter facilities each year and infringes on the rights of all horse owners. Additionally, the bill does not have any oversight measures or guidelines for equine rescue operations that are expected to absorb these horses each year. AQHA supported humane transportation and treatment laws for horses bound for slaughter.

“In the end most members of Congress found it hard to vote against this bill, which was heavily lobbied for by animal rights groups and the Humane Society of the United States,” the release continued. “While AQHA does not favor slaughter over other end-of-life options, it does believe it should remain an option for owners. By passing this bill, AQHA and HWC officials believe bottom-end, unemployable and unwanted animals will suffer increased neglect and place an undue burden on state and local governments. The bill now moves on to the Senate.

A similar version of the bill, Senate Bill 1915, is currently before the Senate Commerice, Science, and Transportation Committee. The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. John Ensign (R-Nevada) and Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana).

Link