Comparative diagnostics

The Big Shot, originally uploaded by MsBeazley45 ( Bev ).

A veterinarian was feeling ill and went to see a doctor. The doctor asked her all the usual questions, about symptoms, how long had they been occurring, etc., when she interrupted him:

“Hey look, I’m a vet. I don’t have to ask my patients all these questions. I can tell what’s wrong just by looking at them.” And then she smugly added: “Why can’t you?”

The doctor nodded, stood back, looked her up and down, quickly wrote out a prescription, handed it to her and said: “There you are. Of course, if that doesn’t work, we’ll have to put you to sleep.” (From Merry-Go-Round)

Down, across and up again

Those New Zealanders just won’t stay at home, will they? Genevieve and Kerrin Revell will circumnavigate New Zealand on horseback to raise money for CanTeen while making a documentary series. They plan on going down, across and up again with their horses Daisy, Xena, Charlie and Falkor, and you can follow their adventures via their blog.

The arabbers of Baltimore

Arabber, originally uploaded by mobtownblues.

Fans of the magnificent Homicide: Life on the Street may remember the word “arabber”: derived from Victorian slang, it refers to mobile urban merchants who sell produce from horse-drawn carts. There are still a few left on the streets of Baltimore, although they were once a common sight in eastern American cities. The arabbers, who are usually male and black, travel around the city singing out their wares. The Arabber Preservation Society was formed in 1994 to aid the few who are left, defending them from city officials and animal rights groups who would like to see the trade stamped out.

Their turnout is gorgeous: the wagons are painted bright red and yellow, and the horses wear special “Baltimore harnesses”, black with gold trim, red tassels and red plumes with bell drops.

Further reading:

Arabbers: an endangered species (BaltimoreStores.com)

The Wanderers’ Songs (Preservation Online)

We Are Arabbers (IMDB; documentary about the arabbers)

The Arabbers of Baltimore (Amazon; book by Roland L. Freeman)

Junkyard and Arabbers (flickr photo set by hot_tea)

Horses in the Hood

Horses in the Hood is a non-profit organization in Watts, south-central Los Angeles. Their mission: sending at-risk youth to horse camps, where they learn responsibility and communications skills while learning to ride and care for horses:

One way a child can develop and express their best selves is to have the opportunity to explore, create, and be challenged. For the second year in a row, the children of the Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School in Watts have such an opportunity.Horses in the Hood has provided an open passage for these inner-city students to explore some of the greatness this world has to offer. The week that the children spend at horse camp is a time for learning, for building character and learning values. Some of the values learned are: sharing, caring, respect, trust, responsibility, and family. For most of these children, this is a dream come true and an exposure that otherwise would have been impossible.

Watts is a low-income community in Southeast Los Angeles, where the majority of our students live. Within the confines of this community, there is a strong presence of drug usage and gang violence. From January 1 through mid December, 2000, 76 people were killed in Southeast Los Angeles. This included 23 victims who were 21 years old or younger.Of those, nine were too young to even vote. It is a community notorious for violence. Many of our children live with caution and sometimes fear, and have seen family members murdered or injured. Also, a large number of our children have either one or both parents that are incarcerated.

What an awesome program! Winston Churchill said “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man” and those happy faces are living proof. Also consider the long-term benefits to their community, not to mention getting the kids into a safe environment even if it’s only for a short time.

(Not to mention, I now want one of those t-shirts)

Don’t make me come over there

The Horse Lovers Blog Carnival!

Check out the first one HERE. We will be including a theme for this next carnival which is dedicated to Barbaro. If possible we would like you to submit posts related to Barbaro and/or Horse Health. If you don’t have posts with these topics go ahead and submit under the general category. The link for submissions is here; deadline is February 6, 11 p.m. Eastern time.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to submit something, so please don’t feel shy if you don’t know us, or are new to blogging.