Drugging Race Horses: Life Imitates Art

Here's a story of life imitating fiction, in this case, my new novel coming out next spring, He Trots the Air. A group of men was accused this year of animal cruelty, that is, drugging horses, and illegal horse racing in San Joaquin County, California. My point in the novel is that drugging a horse is indeed animal cruelty and the perpetrators should be punished, but that this crime can have terrible physical consequences for the animal, even death.

The men in Californina doped the horses with methamphetamine and cocaine. Can you imagine the effect of these drugs on the horses? We should all thank California's Bureau of Gambling Control. Undercover investigators wearing hidden cameras and audio recorders infiltrated the illegal races which were held in private ranches in Stockton, Lodi, Escalon and Ceres. It took them over three years, but I'm happy to say that the nine men were finally apprehended and will be punished.

Barefoot Hoofs

The Sound Horse Conference 2010 on November 4, 5 and 6 was one of the best educational events I've ever attended--and I have plenty of experience to go on. The conference was beautifully-planned, with the emphasis on education about horse welfare. These are a few of the talks I appreciated: "Chemical Warfare;" "Pressure Soring; " "Life Impact and Unknown Dangers of Breaking the Law By Soring Horses;" Trainers' Philosophy for the Balancing Act;" "Second Careers for Show Horses;" "Judging Perspectives;" and "The Tennessee Walking Horse Industry: Path to the Future."

Of all the rich presentations, the one that held me motionless in my seat was given by Jaime Jackson, who is a natural hoof care pioneer. An expert on domestic and wild horses, Jackson originated the barefoot hoofs theory. To read a lot more about him and his work, you'll want to go to his website at http://www.aanhcp.net/ (Association for the Advancement of Natural Horse Care Practices.) For this talk, he concentrated on the hoof of a horse and what happens when a sorer gets at it.

For readers who don't know what soring is, here is a description from a FOSH (Friends of Sound Horses) pamphlet: "Soring is the use of chemical and mechanical means on a horse's front legs to make it painful to bear weight." The horse lifts his legs in what is called "The Big Lick" to avoid that terrible pain that his handlers have inflicted on him. Besides burning chemicals, the handlers use nails, chains, screws, and pressure shoeing to get the results they want.

Here are several of the points Jackson made. They were graphically illustrated on a screen and through the speaker's words.

1. Trainers, hoofmen, riders and owners who are guilty of soring work to get the horse's body into an abnormal axis. The aim is to get the horse to lift his foot and fling it so that he moves forward with a snap: the Big Lick.

2. One method is to bolt "stacks" of shoes to the bottom of the horse's feet. These sometimes cause the horse to trip and fall as he lunges forward to maintain his balance. The rider of such a horse, who often looks unsmiling and poker-faced, yes, even villainous, as you watch videos of such a performance, sits forward to maintain his own balance. Obviously there is an unequal weight balance on the horse's back so that the rider's own balance is compromised.

3. Forcing a horse to ride with this "hollow back" can bring about nerve damage, bone damage, and calcification of joints. The tendons swell up in a horse's back. One of Mr. Jackson's slides really unnerved me, an image of a horse who had fallen forward because he just couldn't keep up the abnormal body position his rider put him into. When horses are ridden to the extreme all the time, sometimes they just give up and lay on their faces. What happens to them then? Often they are shot.

3. What are other effects of this abnormal gait? Grooves in the hoof; hoof contractions; shut-down hooves; clubbed feet; oozing-out dermis; structures inside the hoof jiggling around; the nails pounded into the hoof becoming transducers; and horribly, sometimes the hoof coming off.

We are used to seeing horses moving naturally like the beautiful jumper above. When you see videos of a Walking Horse show and observe horses that have been sored, tortured that is, to make them move in an unnatural, grotesque way, and realize that they have been condemned to lives of pain and misery, you want to stand up and scream at those who have done this to innocent creatures. Lori Northrup, FOSH president, reported that in five years, there have been 1,157 repeat offenders, those who routinely sore horses for glory and prize money and keep it up even though it is illegal, and yes, many would say "immoral." If you asked these people why they do it, their excuses are many: "It's us against the government" (see the Horse Protection Act), "The Bible says we can do anything we want to horses because we own them," "It's my horse, I bought him," and "That's the way Tennessee Walking Horses have always been trained."

Sherlock Holmes is Back!

About every five years or so, I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories again. And when I think of the actors who have portrayed him best, Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett are tied for that honor in my mind. These actors showed us the immortal Holmes as true to Conan Doyle's master of deduction as closely as possible.

Right now, I'm happy to say, there is a new Holmes on NPT. Made in Britain of course, the title of the series is Sherlock! The hero is a young Holmes in modern-day London. He calls himself a consulting detective and lives at 221B Baker Street. His comrade is Dr. Watson, who is just back from Afghanistan. The series is shot in London so the milieu is stunning with its huge old buildings and red buses. The friends have strange murder cases to solve; Lestrade (oh, he is there too) is frank to admit that he depends on Sherlock for help with especially grotesue and puzzling crimes. We've even met Holmes's brother Mycroft, who of course, is as brilliant as Sherlock. The actor who plays the detective, Benedict Cumberbatch, LOOKS LIKE a Sherlock Holmes, with an intelligent, sensitive face, high forehead, upward-slanting eyes, and the rather pasty complexion of a man who spends a lot of time with his books and chemistry experiments. Nevertheless, he is still the athletic Holmes of the stories.

Go to the BBC Sherlock web site for more information. Warning: there have only been three episodes made so far, and the third and last will be this Sunday evening on NPT.

Milkshakes and Horses

My forthcoming new novel, He Trots the Air, is about the drugging of horses, yet another way horses are misused by unscrupulous trainers. Connie Holt is back, whom readers will remember as the equine insurance investigator in The Case of the Three Dead Horses. The new story revolves around a conspiracy to drug a prodigious colt named Darkling Lord; he is slated to run in the International Gold Cup steeplechase in Virginia. But Connie's investigation is hampered by lack of information. Who is behind the plot? How many people are involved? Where and when will the drugging happen? What will be the drug used? And most important, can Darkling Lord be saved? Therein lies the mystery.

But while it was great fun to tell this story, my great black colt is just an invention, and I don't have to worry about a real plot. Sadly, many real-life horse owners do. Here is one case in point. Last July, a Pennsylvania trainer named Darrel Delahoussaye was arrested and charged by Pennsylvania State Police with administering illegal drugs to racehorses. The specific drug was milkshakes, that is, the trainer was using a substance that is illegal because it is used to gain unfair advantage. The substances used to make milkshakes as well as syringes were discovered in a truck associated with Delahoussaye, and a former employee testified that he often saw the trainer administer milkshakes to horses on race day.

The most important ingredient in a milkshake is sodium bicarbonate, known to the rest of us as baking soda. Here is the theory of how baking soda works in a horse's body. (By the way, the process is by no means thoroughly understood and research is ongoing.) When a horse is running as fast as he can, lactic acid builds up in his muscles, and he becomes tired. Some believe that large doses of bicarbonate offset the accumulation of acid. Thus the horse will be able to run longer and faster, and with less fatigue. The milkshake is often administered through a nasogastric tube. (Imagine the harm that might be done if an unskilled person ran the tube into the horse's nose and the fluid went into the lungs rather than the stomach.) While horses don't seem to be adversely affected by milkshaking, it is still necessary to continue drug testing programs to determine if there is bicarbonate in a racehorse's body, and if so, enforce the law vigorously. As the Delahoussaye story above demonstrates, people will still try anything they can to change the horse's performance--no matter that it's illegal.

Ken Aberegg: Receiving a Well-Deserved Honor

Last May, the Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary held its annual awards ceremony to pay tribute to those who help animals that have been abused by former owners. Ken Aberegg was honored for his extensive work in rehabilitating horses that often arrive at Happy Trails with emotional and behavioral problems. Knowing how expensive it is to run a rescue operation, Ken provides his valuable services free. "Valuable" is the right word. Ken owns a stable in Alliance, Ohio, where he is a trainer and a riding teacher. But people know him also as a professional horse whisperer, who uses his acute knowledge to bring horses that have been mistreated back to a sane world--where they can't be hurt any more.

Renaming a Tree

The shorn, rather ugly object above is vitex agnus-castus, otherwise known as a Purple Chaste Tree. Every year around October 1, I prune its luxuriant growth until it looks like this.

In spring, it comes back to life, this year reaching a height of about nine feet. It has grayish-green leaves, palmately divided, and purple flowers with an exotic fragrance, not sweet exactly, but more--well--medicinal. Bees cannot resist it, and nestle in the flowers, doing their thing all summer until the Day of Pruning. With this last cutting, I thought all the bees had gone, but there in the branches I had cut off and thrown to the driveway for hauling to the curb, was one stubborn black creature in the flowers.

The Chaste Tree is important to me. In 2003, in the early hours of Mother's Day, a tornado hit our city. I awoke to find my property littered with uprooted trees, the roof of my house pierced by two huge evergreen branches that had fallen into it from my neighbor's yard, and my driveway completely blocked by the debris. It took a long time to fix the damage.

As soon as my dear friend up north heard about it, he selected the Purple Chaste Tree from one of his garden catalogs and had it sent to me. The small rooted shoots, of course, were packed carefully, with instructions included for planting. I dug a hole at the side of my house and followed each direction with utmost care.

Every time I pass the tree or perform the savage pruning, I think of my friend. He has been cursed with ill health for many years, and can no longer garden the wayhe used to. But that tree survives and so does he. And to honor him for his bravery, I have long since given the tree a new name, not as romantic, but much more significant.

I call it the Samtree.

Sound Horse Conference 2010

Ideally, horses' lives should be marked by the best care possible from their owners, and a place to live as beautiful and bountiful as the above scene in Virginia. Those horses were my mare and her son at the farm where they lived. But as I have often written, some horses, especially Tennessee Walking Horses, suffer torture by their owners or trainers so the animals will walk in a contorted, exaggerated, unrealistic gait for the show ring. The gait is marked by the horses lifting their legs unnaturally high, because they are afraid of again experiencing the pain their owners have inflicted upon them. Many people who attend a Walking Horse show don't realize this; they think that this abnormal gait has been achieved through normal training.

These horses are victims of soring.

Their legs have been treated with caustic agents; they have been made to wear stacked shoes; often trainers have placed irritants under their saddles which constantly remind them, with pain, that they have to lift those legs; and they are treated to other horrifying techniques honed by years of mistreatment by men and women who only care about prizes, money, and prestige. These horses are forced to remain in their stalls without the pleasurable experience of grazing, like the horses above, and it is thought by some experts that some Walking Horses' lives are cut short by all they have to endure.

I have written here about the horse protection organization, Friends of Sound Horses. This brave group brings all its resources to getting rid of soring, once and for all. The Sound Horse Conference will be held November 5 and 6 in Louisville, Kentucky. My brochure lists the following as just some of the topics that will be discussed: Pressure Shoeing, True Life Stories, Veterinary Research on Customary Practices for Tennessee Walking Show Horses, Detection of Soring, Legal Developments Affecting the Horse Protection Act, and Second Careers for Show Horses. The panelists will be comprised of veterinarians, judges, trainers, attorneys, and volunteers. All of these speakers are, of course, dedicated to ending soring. I'm going, and hope to see you there. For more information about FOSH and the conference, go to http://www.fosh.info/ and http://www.soundhorseconference.com/. And while you're at it, why not join FOSH and volunteer your services? Horses can use your help.

Horses One, Druggers Zero

Since my new novel He Trots the Air is about drugging horses, I'm particularly sensitive to the fact that doping horses persists in The Sport of Kings. My eye was caught recently by a news item about the Breeders' Cup board of directors, who work toward protecting both the Thoroughbred athletes and the integrity of the sport.

To keep rogue trainers from drugging their horses, Breeders' Cup officials approved a policy in September 2010 that gives horses a chance to run drug-free in the fourteen-race Breeders' Cup World Championships. (The 26 million dollar event will be at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 5 and 6.) The policy will take effect in 2011. In strengthening previous resolutions, the Breeders' Cup board should take pride in punishing any trainer who tries to subvert ethical standards in horse racing and endangers his or her horse. The policy is about Class 1 and Class 2 drugs.

The Association of Racing Commissioners International oversees a number of racing organizations, crafting model rules and suggested penalties. RCI defines Class 1 and Class 2 drugs as those that affect a horse's performance, but have no justifiable therapeutic value. Examples are blood-enhancing drugs, opiates, amphetamines, depressants, stimulants, powerful painkillers, and blood-doping drugs.

The resolution bans any trainer from participating in the Breeders' Cup if his or her horse tested positive for Class 1 or 2 drugs in the preceding year. The trainer cannot start any horses in the Breeders' Cup while he or she is serving out the suspension. If a horse tests positive for these drugs three times, the trainer will be banned for life from the Breeders' Cup races.

Many of us wish that rogue trainers could be banned for life for just one infraction.

DuMaurier, Walking and Me

Having read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and loving every gothic paragraph, and then seeing the old film of the book with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, I went on to read about the author's life. She had a good solution to the problem of writer's block: simply leave your home and take a long walk. For du Maurier, it was a brisk walk along the beach as she straightened out the writing problem with her current book.

I adoped walking a long time ago to solve problems, writing and other kinds, before Americans became obsessed with being fit. Nowadays, I walk regularly on a trail that starts behind the place where I work out and winds through a subdivision of upscale homes. It is more than just a walking trail: Children, teen-agers and adults run or ride their bikes on it and exercise their dogs. As I walk along, a new character might appear in my mind demanding to be used in the novel, or I think of an incident to bridge a gap in time. I look up as other people approach and say "Good Morning!" Even though it is quite early--in my part of the country you have to exercise early--almost everyone replies cheerfully. Little do they know they've entered my mind, too, all grist for the mill.

This morning I saw a mother striding along and carrying one of those tiny dogs so much in fashion, preceded by her two children on bikes; a large sweating man who just managed to nod wearily to my greeting as he galumphed along; a couple chattering happily as they ran; an elderly lady sitting on a bench by the trail reading a book before resuming her walk; a town employee cutting the grass; and a large dog on a leash bounding toward me followed by his owners, also running. All three were in perfect rhythm.

Writers' Fun in Franklin

Every year in September, the Council of the Written Word sponsors a writers' workshop in Franklin, Tennessee. This year it will be held on Saturday, September 18, 2010, at the Williamson County Public Library, and will feature three writers with stellar achievements and honors. Ted Swindley will speak on "Narrative Play: Stories My Grandmother Told Me;" Caroline Alexander on "Telling True Stories: The Art of Non-Fiction;" and Dr. Lorraine M. Lopez on "Contrapuntal Conversations: How Dialogue Works." For more information, see http://www.cww-writers.org/events/FallSem2010/FallSem10main.htm.

Beaker Street Blues Band

Last Saturday night I went to a wonderful event: a music festival benefitting Page High School's prize-winning marching band. It was a feast of music all day. But by far the best event on the program was the finale: The Beaker Street Blues Band. Sitting under the spectator's tent in the hot, humid night about nine 0'clock or so, I had just finished a dish of homemade peach ice cream and was looking forward to the last act. I was glad the weather had at last cooled a little bit. I watched while the band members climbed on stage and carefully prepared their instruments, the mics and the rest of their equipment. Then they started to play their R&B and what a group of talents! Steve Smartt, trumpet and vocals, tells what kind of music the band plays: "I like the classic two-horn sound of sax plus trumpet and the variety and versatility of using the horns either out front and in your face, or way down low in the background. I'm always learning something new with this band and that's what makes it fun." I'm a person who likes this kind of music "in your face," and I wasn't disappointed. By the time they had played several numbers, the audience was clapping, cheering, grinning, taking pictures, and dancing. The highlights of the evening were, for me, their version of BB King's famous "Everyday I Sing the Blues;" the sax man playing two saxes at once as he played along with the trumpet; and the last number: the sax man jumped down from the stage playing furiously, strode over to a group of teen-agers dancing, pushed his way into the middle, still playing, and then made his way back to the stage, where the band finished for the night in a blaze of glory. To read a lot more about this band, go to http://www.beakerstreetbluesband.com/. And if you live around Nashville, find out where they're playing and GO!

A Scrumptious Killer Nashville This Year

The Franklin Marriott Cool Springs Convention Center in Franklin, Tennessee, is again hosting the scrumptious Killer Nashville conference next week, August 20-22. Scrumptious, that is, in terms of its rich variety of offerings for writer and fan alike, and the sheer fun of going. You can solve the mystery of the annual dead body and win a free Killer Nashville for next year; buy a wide selection of books from the bookstores and/or their authors; get your manuscript critiqued; and learn how to write knockout dialogue. Above all, you can revel in being with people who share your love of mysteries. I promise you there is so much to do that you'll be sorry the conference doesn't last longer. There are more than forty separate seminars, workshops, lectures, and presentations.

Of great interest to CSI or Law and Order buffs like me, those who are fascinated with police procedure or gathering real facts for a novel, look for the fourteen seminars on forensics. Presented by experts in psychology, medicine, and law enforcement, these sessions provide in-depth information about forensic science, criminal psychology, investigative techniques, and firearms.

And if you come, please look me up! I'll be moderating an unusual panel on Friday, August 20, "Grow Old Along With Me: The Aging of Series Protagonists." It will be at 4:00 PM. And on Saturday, August 21 at 8:30 AM, join our group in discussing the Father of American Detective Fiction. That fellow above. Look for "Edgar Allan Poe: Dark Inspiration" in your schedule of events.

Killer Nashville has a number of special rates and discounts, including discounts for seniors, teachers, and full-time students. Special hotel discounts are available to conference attendees. If you'd like to know more, go to http://www.killernashville.com.

Zenyatta who?

Laura Hillenbrand, the author of the wonderful book "Seabiscuit: An American Legend," was interviewed on National Public Radio by Scott Simon on July 17, 2010. Her book led to one of the best equestrian movies I've ever seen, "Seabiscuit," starring three of the finest actors in the business: Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and Tobey McGuire. Little wonder I listened carefully to what Hillenbrand had to say about the newest sensation in horse racing, the captivating mare Zenyatta, who is winning and winning and winning one race after another. Hillenbrand was so enthusiastic about the mare's performance that when she mentioned that listeners might like to watch Zenyatta on YouTube, I went to my computer and found this clip from the 2010 Vanity Handicap: http://www.youtube.com/resultssearch_query=zenyatta+vanity+handicap&aq=3.

I advise you to watch Zenyatta move up past all the other horses to win. Then read the Simon/Hillenbrand interview at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128584725&ps=cprs. You'll see that everything the dazzled Hillenbrand said in the interview about Zenyatta is true.

How I would love to see this mare run!

Botulism and Flooding

Several months ago, I read an article about the deaths of four horses at a riding stable near my home. They died from botulism, a devastating kind of food poisoning that comes from a neurotoxin, defined by Webster's as "a poisonous complex especially of protein that acts on the nervous system." The effects of botulism upon a horse may include muscle tremors, a weakness so pervasive that the animal cannot stand up, the loss of the ability to control his or her tongue and thus the process of swallowing, and a stiff, short, stumbling gait. Death results because of the horse's paralyzed respiratory system, or from associated health problems.

Botulism occurs when horses eat feed or water that contain the deadly toxin. For example, haylage, a silage made from partially dried grass, can be contaminated during raking and baling. Perhaps the body of a dead animal, maybe a snake or a rabbit, is caught in a bale. When several horses develop botulism, the vet looks for poisoned feed or water. What is so troubling for owners is that sometimes the silage may look and smell rotten, and it can be disposed of. But often, the poisoned feed shows no sign of spoilage, and then the horses eat it.

In the case above, it may well be that the recent flooding in Tennessee caused the fields to flood and the hay to get wet. It decayed and the toxic bacteria entered the horses' bodies either by ingestion or through a cut.

When a horse is hospitalized for botulism, the cost is often prohibitive for the owner. The sick horse must be given a serum over many days at $700 for each bag.

While we read about the tragic ways in which the recent flooding affected human beings, we often forget that horses are prey to natural disasters too.

Art Thieves Don't Look Like Brosnan or McQueen

I learned the pleasures of visiting art museums at an early age in Buffalo, where regular visits to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery was common for children. One of the best art experiences I ever had years later was in London, where the prestigious museum I kept going back to (I believe it was the Victoria and Albert) served breakfast in its restaurant. After a scrumptious pastry or two, I would prowl the huge museum at my leisure and see things I had only read about.

Coupled with my love for art museums is my love of heist movies. I've seen many, but one I really enjoyed was the charming movie "The Thomas Crown Affair," a remake of the old Steve McQueen movie but this time starring Pierce Brosnan. Now I've started reading about real thefts, stories in which the thieves are scruffy, weasly, cruel and greedy. I'd like to recommend to my readers "The Gardner Heist" by Ulrich Boser. I've never visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the scene of the largest unsolved art theft in history. The author tells the story of his quest to solve the mystery, a search that took him all over the world. And he is still searching, by the way. See his blog The Open Case at http://theopencase.com/columns.php?page=blog&ctitle=The+Gardner+Heist&blog_id=11.

Two Treats from Michael Flatley

In my blog of June 5, I talked a little about my love of clogging. Having discovered Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame long ago, I wondered about the connection between clogging and Irish Step Dance and tap dancing. And here's the answer. Through a little research, I discovered that "the troubles between the British and the Irish in the mid-18th century, coupled with the great famine, brought a mass exodus of Irish to the shores of America. Many Irish settled in the Appalachians, bringing their music and dance with them. Irish step dancing thus influenced the creation of Appalachian clogging. American tap dancing was also influenced by a combination of African rhythm and Irish percussive foot work." For more on this, go to http://www.ehow.com/about_5453202_history-irish-step-dancing.html.

However, Michael Flatley, having won international acclaim for Step Dancing, exceeded even himself and created his own version, which you can never forget if you've seen him dance. Here's what he says: “What I'm doing there is an accelerated version of Irish traditional dancing." He says more: “At the same time, I have incorporated the upper body movement and all of the arm movements, but it’s not done like ballet. It’s not done like tap and it’s not done like flamenco. It’s something that I had to create from scratch because nothing else would have fit there.” Go to http://worlddance.suite101.com/article.cfm/michael_flatley_biography#ixzz0qITKVQO7

Here are two YouTube excerpts of Flatley's dancing. The first is his "Thunderstorm" from Riverdance. Notice that his arms are freely and naturally moving, as opposed to traditional step dancing. The dancers' percussive steps are perfectly executed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytcZIfvSWW4 And last today, notice how his style has changed in his "Feet of Flames Finale." I like the Spanish influences so much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdD5Te_ZZys&feature=related

Clogging Makes You Smile and Smile

I first found clogging on the Blue Ridge Parkway of Virginia, and I have loved to watch it ever since. A friend and I were driving on the Parkway and he knew of a store close to one of the mileposts. The sights and smells of the store turned out to be fascinating to a newcomer from the cold and ice of Buffalo (that's me), and we had fun browsing for drinks and treats.When we emerged to go back to our car, some energetic people were setting up a portable stage for what turned out to be clogging. The women were dressed in brightly colored blouses and big skirts, the men is neat shirts and trousers, and they all wore tap shoes. There was canned blue grass music, the volume turned up high. It looked like a square dance to me, but the dancers were clogging, that is, performing heavy, stamping steps. The rhythm in this percussive dancing is catching. And I liked the way the dancers and onlookers grinned from ear to ear. You just can't help it, when you're around clogging.

Just a few months ago, I walked downtown to the square, and suddenly heard bluegrass. In front of the bank, cloggers had set up to dance. This time, it was anything goes, and as a CD played, everyone got into the act: an elderly man, a child of about three, two high schoolers, a middle aged man who was really good. They clogged away deliriously, while I stood in the heat and watched and enjoyed and grinned.

To get an idea of what southern clogging looks like in action, go to this link to YouTube. I found it recently. This is real, southern clogging, and this time, there are wonderful, old-time musicians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs2j8f7H2WY

Disaster on May Day

Saturday, May 1, was no happy day of feasting, dancing, singing, love, and gathering flowers, as it was in the May Day holiday of medieval times. Far from it. That was the day the river that encircles my community like a belt rose in its bed and flooded us out.

It started raining sometime after after noon on Saturday, Day One. By Saturday evening, people on our street were advised by the police to evacuate our homes, because of the intensity of the flooding that had already occurred. "Shut off the electricity before you go," one policeman told us. By that time, I had watched a strange drama out of my back windows. My neighbor, insisting plaintively that he didn't know how to paddle, was nonetheless taking his property out of his home by canoe, "docking it" after each trip in my yard where the flood waters mysteriously stopped and some grass was still visible. The water in his back yard was so high that a volunteer trying to maneuver the canoe by its bow was standing in water up to his waist. And the water had roiling waves. In the pasture beyond our back fences, a new lake had formed that looked perfectly natural, in fact, oddly pleasant. Out of my front windows, I watched canoes ply their way up and down the street. Some people were determined to get some fun out of the situation. A teenager walked through the water, never realizing what was in it: it was toxic with detritus and horse manure from the house with the four horses down the street, and such things as the plastic bag that washed up on my lawn containing what looked like shoe liners complete with worms.

On Sunday, my family and I went to my house to get the furniture up on blocks, tie up the curtains, and do anything else to save my home. The rain was eerily heavy, the street flooded and dangerous. We worked frantically to ready the house and then left the area as quickly as we could. We didn't know when it would stop raining.

By Monday, when I went back to my house to see if the water had risen inside (miraculously it hadn't), neighbors were sitting in front of their houses watching the water slowly, agonizingly slowly, receding. A thoughtful neighbor had put an old can at the edge of the flood water, and watchers in lawn chairs sipping drinks were using this as an indicator. Every time the water moved, the neighbor would move the can. The water receded, but the devastation remained. And now, my neighbors had to start getting back the comfortable homes upon which they so depended.

Editors are Often Angels

My latest novel, He Trots the Air, is presently being edited by an angel. Well, not like the ones with wings and sometimes swords. Nevertheless, thank heavens for her. As a teacher of literature, I've learned that people read novels many different ways. They bring to the story their own frames of reference and interpret the themes of novels in ways authors never imagined when they were sitting at their computers and sweating out the composing process. Dedicated writers obsess over every word, every sentence, every paragraph. I have written the same two paragraphs 17 times, and in the present editing process, cast a jaundiced eye at those paragraphs and some inner compulsion forced me to write an 18th version. And yet I know that e-mail from readers will tell me their reactions to the book and my eyes will widen with surprise. That's why editors are so important. Angelic editors bring a scrupulously objective reading to their author's work whether they like the book personally or not, their mission to improve the book, make it clearer and more enjoyable. When my editor said, "I don't understand this," or "How about more detail about XXX?" it was tremendously helpful. In one case, I took out a rather rather abstruse reference I thought everybody understood, and in the other, filled in some extra descriptive words about the appearance of a character I thought would be perfectly clear in the imaginations of my readers.

FOSH Fights Soring

As we've learned, Tennessee Walkers and other gaited horses are prey for those who sore their animals for greed and prestige. Today, a few words about Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH), a group I think highly of for its active defense of gaited horses and condemnation of soring. Its mission is "To promote all "sound," naturally gaited horses, with a specific emphasis on Tennessee Walking Horses. (“Sound” means not “sored”)." The group educates the public about the "humane care, training, and treatment of all gaited horses for their emoti0nal, mental and physical well-being. FOSH will only support flat shod or barefoot horses, and will never endorse any event that uses stacks and/or chains as action devices, nor any mechanical, chemical or artificial means to modify the natural gait of the horse."

FOSH really goes after those who sore. On their web site, the FOSH folks have an excellent page devoted to soring. But they don't leave it there. I especially admire their bravery in publishing Horse Protection Act (HPA) Violations Lists up to 10/16/09, and their state-by-state map of HPA suspensions. I've said here before that one of the ways to get rid of soring is to expose its practices to the light, and now FOSH has exposed the people who do it. They cannot hide. FOSH also suggests ways to work on this problem, including joining FOSH and becoming a volunteer. Read their "Volunteers Welcomed" page. You'll find something to do, I'm sure, as you read the really useful list of things that need to be done to get rid of soring.

There is much more at the FOSH site to enjoy. If you like what you see, you might consider joining the group and enlisting as a volunteer.

http://fosh.info/index.html

Horse Tortured for Fifteen Years

About a week ago, a new acquaintance told me the following story which she has never forgotten. She and her husband were at an auction of older horses, looking to buy. One horse didn't get any bids and when the auction ended, the couple walked to the horse's stall to observe it more closely. That's when they noticed the telltale marks on its hooves and legs and the lack of vitality in the poor animal. It looked worn out. Someone who was well acquainted with the owner told the couple confidentially that the horse had not been out of its stall in 15 years,except for shows, and the owner intended to euthanize it if he couldn't sell it. And that's just what happened the next week. To his credit, the husband met the owner at a horse event and raked him over, telling him what he thought of him for doing that to a horse.

The reasons why this abuse is still happening are politicians who don't want to offend the horse industry and sp won't act, and the federal government, that doesn't give the inspectors enough money to cover all the gaited horse competitions so that the abusers can be caught. The Horse Protection Act is thus not enforced to the fullest extent.

The worst people of course are the owners and trainers obsessed with making money and winning prizes and the dubious prestige that goes with the prizes when horses have been sored, and so will do anything necessary to torture their horses in order to win. Even when the offenders are caught, the punishments are not nearly harsh enough. What would be appropriate would be with one infraction, the sorers would never be allowed to participate in another event, and they would have their horses taken away. They would never be able to own horses again either. And I would legislate huge financial penalties and even jail time. I would also work hard to change the tax codes of a particular state to classify the horse in more ways than just farm animals.

What can we all do about this? At least let your representatives in Congress know how you feel about it, stressing that some states' names are blackened in the public's view because of the filthy reputations of sorers who live there, and urging the politicos to use their power in Washington to get rid of soring. Go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to find your reps and contact them. And because sorers profit from the silence of people who care but do nothing, find some way to work on horses' behalf actively besides donating money. If you have web sites or blogs, write about the problem, and get it out in the light where people will learn about it. Become a member of an active horse protection group. Read good web sites where there are opportunities for you to do something substantial. In my next blog entry, I'll tell you about an excellent group that needs your help.

The Savagery of Soring

In all discussions of soring, we have to remember that there are many trainers who work with gaited horses in a humane way without having to resort to torture; indeed, I believe that knowing what the sored horse goes through, they are ashamed of what their fellow trainers do for ribbons, money, and prestige. Several years ago, a prominent local citizen told me that he had given up showing his Walking Horses, even though he had trained them with kindness and patience, because he couldn't stand seeing the other horses that had been the object of savagery.

The techniques of soring as seen in the damaged hoof above, are bad enough, but it doesn't stop there. As discussed on the Protecting Horses page of my web site at http://www.mmfisher.com/, The Horse Protection Act of 1970 was designed to eliminate soring, but political pressure from influential business people in the horse industry, inadequate funding from the federal government, and the arrogance of those who sore their horses and who will not stop have hobbled the enforcement of the law for almost four decades. The law involves inspection of horses. And here is where the afflicted horses suffer more. In "The Cruelest Show on Earth," the Humane Society says that some people train their horses not to respond when inspectors palpate their ankles and legs to find out if they have been sored. How do trainers do this to their animals? By beating with blunt instruments or attaching alligator clips to sensitive parts to cause pain, or putting a painful device in their mouths: all to force the horses to concentrate on the "new pain" rather than in the "old" pain in their feet or legs. They must not move. This process is called "stewarding" within the industry, an ironic double usage. As an English teacher, I can't help but see the irony here. The word "steward" was in use before the twelfth century and meant, as it does today, someone who is in charge, who directs affairs, who has great responsibility. Stewards then can be those who run horse shows in the right way, those officials most in evidence at shows, or a trainer who works in a stall or pasture, torturing, stewarding his animal into silence.

Some years ago, I included abuse of horses in a list of topics my students could choose to research for their essays. We talked about each topic and its possibilities, and when we came to the horse question, a student in the back spoke up loudly and clearly: "I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's just a horse." What that eighteen-year-old said was crude and ignorant, but is true of too many "adults" who are equally unable to consider the horse as anything more than an animal who is worth money, prizes, and prestige. It is a horrible prestige, this maiming of animals for no good reason, and people who respect, care for, indeed, love their horses regard sorers with horror and loathing.

I discuss the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration of 2009 on the Protecting Horses page at http://www.mmfisher.com/.

My Neighbor's Cherished Horses

Snow. All day yesterday. The tall trees left in the backyard along the fence (the ones still standing after a tornado hit a couple of years ago) looked black from my back kitchen windows. On the other side of the fence, the empty, white, snow-covered pasture stretched back to snowy farm buildings. Everything black and white with a leaden sky. As I came into the kitchen to make tea, I happened to glance out the windows just as five horses--black, white, brown--galloped along the fence in a perfect line, one behind the other, head to tail. They were moving in perfect rhythm and complete abandonment through the cold air and thick, falling snow. I thought how beautiful those cherished horses were in motion: strong and free and joyous.

More About Soring

At http://www.hphoofcare.com/lick.html, the writer points out that abuse of the horse's feet and legs is not the only way the animal suffers. The horse may wear a cruel bit to increase leverage on his or her head, and a tail set, that forces the tail into an arched, extremely high carriage. The tail set must be worn almost all the time. And the way the horse is ridden is all wrong, a bizarre form of equitation that does not suit the horse's natural gait. Indeed, sometimes horses fall over as they try vainly to do what the rider wants. The rider may resort to using spurs. Read more at this excellent web site, that also contains powerful and heartbreaking images and videos, illustrating far better than words what the horse endures.

It's no wonder then that The Humane Society concludes that "many Tennessee Walking Horses die at a young age from colic, believed to be caused by the extreme stress placed on them in training and by exposure to the toxic chemicals used for soring." http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/tenn_walking_horses/facts/what_is_soring.html

More to come soon.

Terrible Facts about Soring

Soring is about the worst torture that can be inflicted on horses--short of killing them, that is. Rational people in the horse industry who love and respect horses, cannot understand why owners would maim their own beautiful animals in ways designed to inflict the most pain possible to the horse--all to produce the grotesque Big Lick gait seen in Walking Horse events. (Or for that matter, at shows where other gaited horses like Spotted Saddle Horses or Racking Horses perform.) The big money, name recognition, and blue ribbons are certainly not worth ruining a horse physically and mentally.

In the accompanying image, you see the results of damage to a horse's leg and hoof. (Thanks to the USDA, United States Department of Agriculture.) The following are techniques used by unethical trainers to achieve the Big Lick, the artificial movement where in reality, horses are lifting their legs high to somehow avoid more pain. Owners and trainers often pretend that these poor horses love to perform this way and nothing bad has ever happened to them to achieve this movement.

Reality coming, though. Here is what unscrupulous trainers do to the horses.

• Apply corrosive chemicals that blister the horse's legs, like kerosene, mustard oil and diesel fuel, and then wrap plastic wrap around the legs. Leave the horse in the stall for days at a time to suffer.


• Pressure shoe the horse, that is, cut the hoof almost to the quick and tightly nail on the shoe.


• Stand the horse for hours with the excruciating part of his sole on a raised object.

These methods induce the most equisite pain imaginable to the horse. But it doesn't stop there; the pain must be prolonged to be effective, so when the horse moves in the future, trainers put chains around the ankles, which slide up and down, aggravating the painful ankles.

But the trainer is not done yet. To emphasize the Big Lick, the performing horse wears a high, heavy stack of pads. To those who witness a show like this, the horse appears to be standing at a bizarre angle. And sometimes trainers put foreign objects between the hoof and the stacks to induce more pain.

More to come. In the meantime, go to http://www.hsus.org/horses_equines/tn_walking_horses/what_is_soring_fact_sheet_.html to read more.

In Tennessee: Horses Recover from Great Cruelty

Remember the great Tennessee Horse Rescue of 2009? (See Tuesday, December 8, 2009 in Blog Archive.) Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nveFOcnRuVQ to see the results of the outpouring of love and care by volunteers who worked so hard to bring as many of the horses back to health as possible. You'll smile all day! Guaranteed!

Hooray for My New English Class

As a teacher for a long time, I think there's nothing like starting a new class. I've now met with my spring 2012 class twice, and already I see potential in the students: I'm thinking there will be good discussion and smart thinking. I'm using the same textbook but redesigning lessons. I'm incorporating technology into the classroom by huddling with the IT man. I'm thinking about what I could bring into class from my own reading: maybe an essay from David McCullough's Brave Companions. I think they'd like the one about the short-lived "wild west" and Teddy Roosevelt. Or maybe the script of Avatar, available electronically, in which we see things left out of the movie. We'll see. What fun!