Temple Grandin's Wisdom

Temple Grandin's chapter on horses in her book Animals Make Us Human is filled with such valuable advice on working with horses that if I were training a horse I'd memorize what she says. Here are a couple of examples: "The real secret of horse whisperers and expert horsemen is that they understand the behaviors associated with different emotional states and they have also figured out that a reward or a cue has to be given within one second after a desired behavior occurs for the horse to make the association." And "Behavioral trainers never talk about vices and depravity. Behaviorists are some of the most 'optimistic' . . . trainers there are, because if . . . an animal isn't learning, a behaviorist is trained to examine what he is doing wrong, not what the . . . animal is doing wrong. This means that behavioral . . . trainers don't blame the student."

The Writing Life

I'm writing my second novel right now, the further adventures of Connie Holt of the McCutcheon Equine Insurace Agency. It's tentatively entitled, "The Painted Stallion." This time it's trouble in the dangerous world of the steeplechase and a new love affair. Usually when I exercise by walking, usually at a track or down the road to my town, I line things up in a row mentally, so to speak, about the current plot situation. Thus prepared, I go confidently to my computer to write my self-imposed 1200 words per day. But in the process of putting my thoughts into words, I find often that my mind says, "That won't do!" And all my preparation was for nothing. This morning for instance, I found more research was necessary about the race course described in the book, I ended up suddenly dissatisfied with the heroine's race attire and made it more characteristic of her personality, and I heightened a bloody scene with--yes--more blood.

Wild Horses in Trouble

The February 2009 National Geographic magazine, both paper and online, has an excellent but sobering article about the plight of the wild horses in the ten Western states where they are trying to survive. Writer Alexandra Fuller gives a little of the history of the horses and mentions "Cattle Annie" who was largely responsible for federal protection of the horses. (See my article about Cattle Annie in the "Protecting Horses" section.) Fuller points out that the wild animals have been besieged by stock men and their cattle and sheep, machines on their range, helicopters, cars, and trucks, and now the added insult, the struggle to find oil under the Western ground where these animals live. The Bureau of Land Management is supposed to see that they are safe and that they are kept at workable, manageable levels on the Bureau's 258 million acres. The Bureau oversees about 30,000 horses. At prescribed intervals, a number of horses are rounded up (called a "gather") by helicopters and cowboys and the animals have uncertain fates. A particularly interesting part of the article deals with efforts to try a contraceptive solution to reduce the numbers of the fertile mares, but Fuller says that the Bureau is cool to the idea. What's going to happen to these horses who many feel represent the spirit of America?

Frontal lobes only 3.5 percent of a cat's brain

All cats' frontal lobes are 3.5 percent of the brain compared with dogs' at 7 percent and we humans at a whopping 29 percent. I learned this from the wonderful book I'm reading, Animals Make Us Human. Written by the champion of animals, Dr. Temple Grandin, the book's chapters are divided into dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, chickens and other poultry, wildlife and zoos. I started reading about cats first because I live with the mysterious little beauty in the picture whose name is Autumn.


Dr. Grandin explains a lot of mysteries I've wondered about in Autumn and all the cats I ever owned, and indeed a lot of mysteries remain to be solved.


Just because a cat's frontal lobes are a smaller part of the brain, does not mean they are stupid. Indeed, they are, according to research veterinarian Dr. Karen Overall, who investigates behavioral medicine, ". . . really bright, inherently cognitive individuals. [People] forget the most critical need [for cats] which to me is the intellectual one. I think we haven't given cats or dogs the credit they deserve for their cognitive capabilities. I think we've got an epidemic of understimulated cats whose intellectual needs aren't being met." "Intellectual needs", indeed!


On the basis of what Drs. Grandin and Overall say about cats' needs to be stimulated, I performed a simple, unscientific, stimulation experiment today. I took all Autumn's toys away except for his well-loved foil ball which he hasn't been interested in for a long time. I put it on a table where it usually isn't found. After he'd eaten his breakfast, he found it immediately on his tour of his house, and later when I was at the computer, he meowed several times from down on the floor. There he was , the ball in his mouth for me to throw, a game he used to play with me when he was a kitten. He played fetch down the long upstairs hall at my house even batting it into another room at one point, until I had to go back to the demanding computer. A happy little experience for Autumn and for me thanks to Dr. Grandin's book.

Horses and My Family

Horses and my family go back a long way. My maiden name was Coultous, which a University of Edinburgh professor informed me meant "Colt House." How cool is that? I had relatives long, long ago, centuries probably, who kept horses. And here is a picture I treasure from my family archives of my relative holding a darn big horse who doesn't really look that happy!

The Omak Suicide Race Kills Animals and People

Of the many rationalizations for this race, its description as "spiritual" by its defenders is the stuff of which delusion is made. It is not spiritual, or if you prefer, sacred, to put either horses or their riders into a terrain so steep and so rough that a death or injury is just about guaranteed. It is not sacred to make animals gallop so fast down the steeply pitched slope that they tumble over themselves and break their backs, or their riders die from being thrown. It certainly does not speak to things of the spirit for the townspeople to keep this horrific spectacle going year after year because they're making money. To read about the Suicide Race, go to this article: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118678342614494614-M49PZaSriaBsYASGQhdKeSlj5OU_20080810.html?mod=rss_free .

If you can stand to see a taste of it, watch the video here:

Go to my Protecting Horses page to read my article.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog where you'll hear from me often about horses, about me, and about my writing life.

A New Study Demonstrates a Powerful American Horse Industry

The American Horse Council’s study, The Economic Impact of the Horse Industry in the United States, was released on June 28.

Among the fascinating facts: the American Horse industry supports our economy to the tune of $39 billion and provides 1.4 million full-time jobs. There are an estimated 9.2 million horses in the United States. And quarter horses lead in the estimated number of horses by breed at 3,288,203, followed by Thoroughbreds at 1,291,807. http://www.horsecouncil.org/

Bipartisan House subcommittee - horse racing

Good news--maybe. A bipartisan House subcommittee is supposed to meet on June 19 to investigate the problems in horse racing. The ambitious witness list is made up of vets, owners, trainers, breeders, and officials. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25105381/

My article on Equestrian Ink Blog

Blogwatch: If you enjoy fiction about horses, you'll want to go to . This is my guest article on the exciting new blog Equestrian Ink, hosted by six excellent writers: Laura Crum, Jami Davenport, Kit Ehrman, Toni Leland, Mary Paine, and Michele Scott. Lots of good reading suggestions and inside information about writers who love and respect horses.

You can read my guest article at http://equestrianink.blogspot.com/2008/04/youre-writing-novel-about-what-by-guest.html

Comments from reader

A mention of a correspondent who wrote to say she is enjoying my novel. She represents people to whom this website is dedicated, those who have a lifelong love of horses and are devoted to their well-being. Mary writes, "I am 83 years old and have had horses all my life and showed Tennessee Walking Horses from 1950s to 1970s."

Big Brown - Triple Crown at Belmont Park

This Saturday, June 7, Big Brown will run the third leg of the Triple Crown at Belmont Park. He's won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and has a chance to be the 12th Triple Crown winner, the first since 1978. It's a thrilling prospect, but at the same time, we know that American race horses are in trouble, breaking down in increasing numbers and sometimes having to be euthanized, the tragic fate of Eight Belles, the second-place winner of the Kentucky Derby. If you'd like to read my thoughts on the danger racing horses face and what should be done, click on Protecting Horses on my website.

If you'd like to respond to my article, I'll pick the best letter, and the winner will get a free copy of my novel, The Case of the Three Dead Horses. I'll reprint the letter for everyone to enjoy and react to but withhold the full name of the winner for security purposes. Please feel free to disagree with me or bring up new points.

The contest ends July 4, 2008.