Last American slaughter plant closes in Illinois

The state with the nation’s last operating horse slaughterhouse made it illegal to kill the animals for human consumption on Thursday.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he was proud to sign the law, calling it “past time to stop slaughtering horses in Illinois.” A slaughterhouse in DeKalb has been shipping horse meat overseas, where it is sold for people to eat. The practice has outraged people who feel horses are more like pets than livestock. A phone call to Cavel International’s plant went unanswered Thursday evening.

Two other horse slaughter plants in Texas were shut down this year.

Illinois lawmakers passed the ban after an appeal from actress Bo Derek. In a statement, she applauded the move. Link

Using horses to predict earthquakes

China tomb horses, originally uploaded by mharrsch.

Chinese officials believe animals can be used to predict earthquakes, and are setting up a monitoring station at a wildlife park that will use more than 50 horses.

The station, in southwestern Beijing, will use birds and animals as sensors.

News agencies report that the station will use more than 50 horses, as well as donkeys, peacocks, snakes, turtles, frogs, deer and other animals. In all, more than 10,000 birds and animals live in the 240-hectare wildlife reserve where the station will be based.

A senior zoo keeper will monitor animal behaviour each day and report into China’s seismological bureau.

Officials believe the animals are likely to demonstrate unusual behaviour in the lead-up to an earthquake.

The park is reportedly located near a faultline.

A zoo in Guangdong Province is also said to be using animals to predict quakes. Link

Moscow monument

This rather arresting art appeared in Moscow recently as a tribute to the writer Michail Sholokhov; no idea who the artist is. Link with more photos.

Equine veterans

Happy Memorial Day weekend to our American friends! Chris at Real Horses Weigh A Ton has a great post on Robert E. Lee’s horse Traveller to mark the occasion.

Related posts:

Remembering Brigadier
The Animals in War Memorial
Jeff Davis, Egypt, and Cincinnati: General Grant’s Favourite Horses
Lest we forget
Comanche: a true survivor

Ponies in the park

ponies in the park, originally uploaded by *wanderlust*.

 

 

…and one donkey. Finder’s fee to raincoaster!

 

Kinetic horse sculpture

Thanks to raincoaster for finding the coolest stuff!

ClockworkRobot.com

Bridlepath becomes a yearling!

Image source

Yes, just over a year ago I moved the horsey posts from my now-moribund Defrost Indoors blog to their own site, thus creating Bridlepath and ensuring that even fewer of my free hours would be spent away from the computer.

The story so far…

Total Views: 92,197

Best Day Ever: 1,322

Posts: 588

Comments: 1,085

Number of nuked comment spams: 18,862

Technorati stats: authority of 95 100, rank 48,659 47,025, with 349 352 363 links from other blogs, and 14 fans who have added it to their favourites list. (Stats updated June 4/07)

Currently I’m crunching some stats so I can determine what my most popular posts have been, though I already have an inkling. 😉 I’ve gotten to know a lot of awesome people, and there are too many of you to thank, but I’m sure you know who you are and how much I appreciate you. 🙂 I’m grateful that this little hobby of mine has garnered such a readership, and I hope to continue bringing y’all the most interesting equine news and information out there.

It’s Horse Lovers Blog Carnival Day!

Foal battling a fence, originally uploaded by slowhand_bc.

The May Carnival is now up at Girls Horse Club; check out the great articles, and think about submitting one of your own next time. 🙂

Documentary on the pony-doping case

Remember last year’s horse show mom from hell? She was accused of feeding sedatives to competitors’ ponies at a show her child was participating in. Apparently Channel 4 in the UK will be airing a documentary called Sports’ Dirtiest Secrets, in which the pony-doping case will feature, May 28 at 11:30 p.m. Some of their programming is available online, though I’m not sure if that doc will be among the offerings or even if it will work with a non-UK IP address. Linda Corby has written an article about the case; looks like her daughter’s pony was one of the mounts affected? (Linda, if you’re out there, feel free to leave a comment!)

Getting your heart’s desire–at 82

Hat tip to Marvel for this sweet story: Harry, a nursing home resident in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was asked by the staff what his “heart’s desire” might be, and was given a chance to take up the reins of a good draft team again! More

Don’t scrape my content!

Or else this happens. (thanks raincoaster for the lesson in evil)

Click to enlarge

(What is blog scraping?)

Update May 27/07:

Looks like they went kerphlooey (click to enlarge):

Britain establishes protocol to aid horses in emergency situations

Check out pluralized’s great photostream at Flickr

An emergency services protocol and fund to help horses caught up in accidents was launched on Tuesday at Buckingham Palace. HRH The Princess Royal presented the protocol which was created by The British Horse Society (BHS) and the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA). The protocol, which came about due to the rising number of horses dying slow, painful deaths in widely reported accidents on the roads, sets out a national standard with procedural guidelines for police and fire services with large animal rescue. The aim of the new code is to minimise delays in injured animals receiving veterinary care, to maximise the chances of a positive outcome for the animal and to ensure the safety of all those involved. Link

New product: the Whip Clip

Here’s a handy little thing you can slide into your boot or half-chap which gives you a place to stash your crop if need be. Website

Invisible ladder

Original photo: Eduardo Amorim

Caption: Defrost Indoors

Related posts:

And so it begins

There’s still time to join the Blog Carnival, May 23!

Windrush, originally uploaded by sugarflower.

Time for me to nag you again!

…The next carnival is going to be May 23rd and will be hosted by GirlsHorseClub.com. The theme for this carnival will be First Impressions – Share the story of your first memory of a horse (this could include a fictional horse) or your first meeting with a horse who has touched your life.

As always you are welcome to participate in the Horse Lovers Blog Carnival even if you don’t have a post that fits the theme. Just put your post under the General category. Submission deadline is May 22nd by 5:00 pm PST.

Submissions are welcome from newbies and carnival veterans alike! Here’s the link for that.