Wild Horses Saved By Billionaire’s Wife

wild-horses-pickens

Time Running out for Wild Mustangs on Goverment Land

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Recently, news reports hit the papers that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) could no longer afford to feed and house the wild horses and burros in their holding pens while they awaited adoption.

wild-horse-adoption-center
Wild Horse Adoption Center

The Bureau of Land Management was on the verge of slaughtering 2,000 of the mustangs because they’d not been bought at auction and were too expensive to continue to feed.

Horse Relocation

Now, 33,000 horses live in holding pens, each horse costing $1,500 a year to feed. By law, if they can’t be auctioned or adopted, they are to be slaughtered.

blm-roundup

Recently, the land available to the horses has been drastically reduced by 19 million acres, so the government has had to round up more and more mustangs.

That was until just a few days ago when Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, dramatically stepped in to come to the aid of the animals.

She offered to adopt not only the 2,000 mustangs and burros, but the entire herd of 30,000 unwanted horses that were rounded up by BLM and are kept on federal land.

The BLM agreed to work with Mrs. Pickens to locate an area of federal land that she could rent or purchase for the animals.

In doing so, Mrs. Pickens earned the ABC Person of the Week Award. She is an animal lover and as a horse breeder and a philanthropist, she has always considered that people must be responsible for the care of animals.

“Animals don’t have a voice, and as long as man is their protectorate, we have a responsibility to take care of them,” she said. “We cannot abandon them.”

After her husband gave $7 million to the Red Cross to help Hurricane Katrina victims, she wanted to help the animal victims, too.

“I managed to hire an airliner, a cargo airliner and I went on my first trip down to Baton Rouge and we picked up 200 dogs,” she said. “I think we got about 800 dogs and cats out to California and Colorado and got them adopted out.”

So when Pickens heard that thousands of wild mustangs might be euthanized, she wouldn’t sit still for it.

“Our wild mustang must be our national treasure. We must not be slaughtering it,” Pickens said. “The horses have no natural predator. Their only predator is mankind, when we do the wrong thing.”

bureau-of-land-management-wild-horses

Wild horses, which date back to the time of the Spanish conquistadors, roam free on federal land in 10 western states and share that land with herds of cattle.

“Can you imagine somebody suggesting that you euthanize 30,000 horses? It was abominable,” said Pickens, who lives in Dallas and has a ranch in the Texas panhandle and a home near San Diego. “That will never happen.”

“If all these cattlemen have access to all this BLM land, what if I bought a ranch and I can get access to the BLM land and then we shared it,” Pickens said of her plan.

“They can have their land and we’ll have ours for our horses. This way, I can create a sanctuary and we can take in all the horses that are homeless so that no one will ever be turned away.”

wild horses

Pickens said she is in negotiations to buy about 1 million acres for her wild mustang sanctuary in the West, a land mass slightly larger than Rhode Island. And it will be a place where anyone can go and see these wild horses running wild.

“I think a lot of people would love the opportunity to go and see what America’s really like, to see our true heritage, which is the wild horses.”

horses

With the generous rescue plan from Mrs. Pickens and two other rescue organizations, the wild mustangs and wild burros got the intervention they so desperately needed … and just in time.

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Website: Madeleine Pickens’ Project

Link: ABC: Pickins Person of the Week

Link: The US News and World Report

Published in: on November 30, 2008 at 4:56 pm Comments (5)
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Fall Scene: Cattle Drive

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Published in: on October 28, 2008 at 8:35 am Comments (8)
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After 436 Years, Spanish Riding School Take In Women

It’s no longer a man’s world
in Austria’s most sophisticated stables.

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The country’s prestigious Spanish Riding School, for centuries a bastion of masculinity, is modernizing.   On Wednesday, the 436-year-old institution officially presented its first female riders-in-training.

21-year-old Hannah Zeitlhofer, from the Austrian capital,
and Sojourner Morrell, a 17-year-old British national

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The school, which was founded in 1572 and is part of Vienna’s former imperial Hofburg Palace complex, is known for elegant white Lipizzaner stallions.

Every year, throngs of tourists from around the world watch as the horses, led by male riders in identical uniforms, gracefully perform exercises and jumps.

Allowing women to sit in the saddle marks a distinct break with tradition. But for Elisabeth Guertler, the director, opening up the exclusive club reflects the realities of modern life.

“What speaks against it?” Guertler told reporters. “Today, ladies and gentlemen both have to earn their keep and prove themselves.”

In the 18th century, ladies of the Austrian royal court regularly rode the Lipizzaner horses but were not recruited to be trainers.

Spanish Riding School spokeswoman Barbara Sommersacher said Guertler, who started managing the institution less than a year ago, personally pushed for the candidacies of women to be taken into consideration.

“For her, it just wasn’t acceptable,” Sommersacher said. “For Ms. Guertler, traditions are good as long as they’re adapted to current times.”

The young women making history are 21-year-old Hannah Zeitlhofer, from the Austrian capital, and Sojourner Morrell, a 17-year-old British national who grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The two were dressed in identical riding gear with their hair tucked into caps.

“I’m very happy — it’s my dream come true,” Morrell said.

Morrell, whose father is British, said she has always loved horses and wrote to the school “out of the blue” after taking a tour of the establishment while on vacation in Vienna with her mother when she was 15.

Zeitlhofer, a broad smile on her face, echoed Morrell’s enthusiasm.

“I’m still trying to believe it,” said Zeitlhofer, who always wanted to become a rider and recently got a degree in equestrian science.

“People are totally nice and we’re not treated any differently … I’m completely elated!” she said.

The competition for the posts is fierce.

The school, which claims to be the world’s oldest, receives “countless” applications from around the world, Guertler said.

The Lipizzaners long served as a symbol of Austria’s past glory during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which stretched across much of Europe.

Austria’s former ruling royal family, the Habsburgs, went to Spain centuries ago to buy horses and founded a stud farm in what is now Slovenia.

The school, privatized in 2001, also operates the Piber stud farm in the southern Austrian province of Styria.

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Website: Spanish Riding School of Vienna

Published in: on October 17, 2008 at 8:17 am Comments (8)
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Fall Scene: Eye Test

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What’s To Happen To Peter Rabbit ?

Peter Rabbit

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October 2008

An old horse who wants nothing more than to eat grass in the Nebraska city of Hickman is now something of a media celebrity.

Peter Rabbit, 32, has grazed his pasture since the day he was born, but the suburbs have encroached and the town fathers say it’s time for Peter Rabbit to go.

His owner says the quarter horse is too old to move.  Peter Rabbit and his owner are not budging.

Talk about your one horse town, Hickman, with 1,084 residents is just that despite a town bylaw saying horses are not welcome within its limits.

But some folks don’t want that distinction. They want an aging horse named Peter Rabbit gone for good.

With houses having sprung up around Peter Rabbit’s pasture, Mayor Jim Hrouda and five of the six City Council members are determined to enforce the livestock ban.

Shortly after a council meeting, the horse’s owner, 76-year-old Harley Scott, was served an eviction notice that orders the animal off the land, plus an infringement notice, which could cost him $100 every day if the authorities want to keep issuing them.

Other folks say the horse should stay, despite an ordinance that bans livestock inside city limits.

“I feel bad for the poor horse. He’s probably going to die soon anyway,” said Jamie Cox, who manages the town bar, Sadie’s Place.

“As long as he’s being taken care of, they should leave him alone.”

Scott said he has raised Peter Rabbit since the brown Morgan-quarter horse crossbreed was born in his pasture in the spring of 1976.

There have been horses on this land since Scott’s father bought 40 acres in 1935. Only about four acres remain in the family.

His land was annexed in 2006, but Scott said no one said anything to him at the time about having to give up the horse.

Scott said. “I would prefer to have him remain as stable as he is and be able to enjoy the remainder of his life.

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It appears … this dispute is far from over.

Published in: on October 10, 2008 at 9:40 am Comments (5)
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Summer Scene: “Heard ya, cute, huh”!

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Thwaites Brewery Bring Back Famed Shires for Deliveries

The world famous Shire horses of Thwaites Brewery
are back in harness.

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Thwaites, the oldest surviving brewery in Lancashire, England started brewing in 1807 and are celebrating over 200 glorious years.

The British brewery has decided to go back to using horses for deliveries within a few kilometres of its brewery.

The giant shire horses used for promotional work for the Daniel Thwaites brewery are back in harness in Blackburn and delivering ale to local pubs.

“We are always looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint,” said the brewery’s transport operations manager Emma Green.

“It is great to see the Shires out again on the roads around town.”

Horses have not been used in the delivery of beer by the brewery for five years. The Thwaites horses have spent the last few years winning awards on the show circuit and doing promotional work.

Their public appearances will continue, but the company hope the shires will also be able to do their day jobs in between.

“We are aiming to get them out delivering within a mile or two’s radius of the stables when we can fit it in to their busy schedule,” says Emma.

“Deliveries by horse-drawn dray finished about five years ago when we moved distribution off-site.”

Thwaites ended horse deliveries in the 1920s when the company switched to motor transport. They were reintroduced in 1960’s.

It was a decision that has become a major landmark for the Brewery as the fame of the Thwaites Shires has spread throughout the country, embodying the traditional values that are such an important part of the company’s heritage.

The brewery has even more reasons to be proud of its horses. They swept the board at the recent National Shire Horse Spring Show, taking four titles and six trophies.

THE world-famous Thwaites Shire Horses emerged triumphant at another prestigious national competition….to win plaudits from none other than HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

Prince Philip made the official presentation when the Thwaites’ team took the top honours at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

The Thwaites horses, Classic, Royal, Daniel and Star, were voted outright winners in the heavy horse class at the event staged to honour the 100th anniversary of the British Food and Beverage Industry.

The success followed hot on the heels of Thwaites being named Champions of England at the National Shire Horse Spring Show in Peterborough - for the fourth time in six years.

After winning the four-horse Team Class, Thwaites’ stable stars went on to claim the overall Heavy Horse Turnout Championship.

The shire horses are kept very busy and are in great demand at shows, carnivals and promotional events all over the country. They can be seen regularly in the town centre delivering to pubs and exercising in addition to their busy schedule.

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Link: About the Thwaites Shire Horses

News Link:

Video: Thwaites Shire Horses

Published in: on August 23, 2008 at 5:06 pm Comments (4)
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Summer Scene: Early Start for Future Champion

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Olympian “Poggio” ~ A Former Pack Horse

From humble beginnings,
Poggio proves to be a winner.

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Amy Tryon and Poggio II , the 16 year old bay thoroughbred gelding, are again representing the U.S. Olympic eventing team in Hong Kong.

Tryon, 38, helped win the team bronze medal on Poggio II at the 2004 Athens Games.  And now they are back for the 2008 Olympics.

A decade ago, while most of his competitors were being groomed for blue ribbons or thoroughbred racing, Poggio was lugging camping gear and other equipment up and down the Cascade Range east of Seattle.

Tryon, a recently retired firefighter from Duvall, Wash., didn’t find Poggio in a stall.

She didn’t witness the veiled potential of a horse that has since won an individual bronze medal at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Germany and helped the U.S. equestrian team to a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and gold at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Spain.

 She found the only horse to qualify for every U.S. national team over the last six years in the classified ads of a newspaper.

“Poggio’s definitely had some humble beginnings, to say the least,” said Joanie Morris, communications manager for the United States Equestrian Federation.

“I’d have to say he’s the only pack horse to be in the Olympics. He’s an anomaly, for sure. Not too many Olympic horses are found in the want-ads.”

It was not love at first sight.

“He was in pretty sad shape,” Tryon said. “His feet needed attention. He had been living in a paddock with a bunch of horses and was a bit chewed up. And his feet were not put on his body very straight. He had long hair that needed cut.

“He certainly wasn’t a show horse.”

Poggio had a short and failed career in thoroughbred racing before becoming a pack horse.

Tryon’s challenge: Make Poggio a master of dressage - the disciplined display of natural movements often called “horse ballet” - plus show jumping and cross-country racing.

Throughout exhaustive retraining, Poggio showed his inherent jumping ability.

Within one year, he was the first horse Tryon rode in a world-class eventing competition. Three years later, they were world champions.

Now they are back for the 2008 Olympics.

Tryon says, “I’m planning this to be Pogie’s last big international competition. He certainly doesn’t owe me anything,” she said.

“What I want for him is to step away from competition when he is still healthy and happy.”

Reaching the Olympics twice … “Oh, yeah,” Tryon said, “this is certainly much more than I expected Poggio and I to achieve.

”I’m so proud of my horse” Tryon said.

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Link:  Tryon and Poggio Olympic Blog

News Link:

Published in: on August 4, 2008 at 1:48 pm Comments (7)
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Summer Scene: I’d Love To Pat Your Nose

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