Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The Winds of Destruction « Straight from the Horse's Heart

The Winds of Destruction « Straight from the Horse's Heart

“Exactly seven years ago this day, I penned these jumbled sentences, below, in an effort to make sense of the feelings that both Terry, myself and our horses felt as Hurricane Katrina was bearing down upon our small Louisiana farm.  Today Terry and the herd are safe in Texas and it appears out of harms way, but the same is not true for our friends along the northern gulf coast of the mighty USA.  So from half way around the world I extend a virtual hand to those who are sharing the same feelings and asking the exact same questions we struggled with over a half a decade ago; truly, may the ‘Force of the Horse®’ be with you” ~ R.T.

Testing Finds More Contaminated Horse Meat « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Testing Finds More Contaminated Horse Meat « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Chicago (EWA) – Following a ban funding for USDA inspections, and state legislation in Texas and Illinois, the last three horse slaughter plants in the US were closed in 2007. The result was that the horses were shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. Last year the prohibition on funding was lifted, but now the very market for the meat from US horses is in question.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Famous for Something, Indeed: The Barbi Twins Take Tangible Action for Animal Welfare « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Famous for Something, Indeed: The Barbi Twins Take Tangible Action for Animal Welfare « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Fame is a powerful commodity, yet how many celebrities parlay this fame into something that will make a real difference in the world? And beyond that, how many actually go beyond writing a check or lending their endorsement to actually turning their commitment into full-time work?

TPWD Releases Photos of “Executed” Horses « Straight from the Horse's Heart

TPWD Releases Photos of “Executed” Horses « Straight from the Horse's Heart

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Texas Parks and Wildlife, the state agency charged with the welfare of animals in their natural habitat didn’t have enough respect for 11 domestic horses to give them a quick and painless death. Instead, on the orders of  park superintendent Barrett Darst of Big Bend Ranch State Park, the horses, mares and foals, were sent to a painful slaughter, Mexico style.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Equine Advocacy Organizations Form Partnership with Cruelty Investigators « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Equine Advocacy Organizations Form Partnership with Cruelty Investigators « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Chicago (EWA) – Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) and Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) have announced a new working relationship with a team of professional undercover cruelty investigators. This new alliance will increase WHFF and EWA’s ability to inform law enforcement, lawmakers, the media and the public regarding all forms of cruelty to domestic and wild equines.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Problems Arise at Desatoya Wild Horse Gather in Nevada « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Problems Arise at Desatoya Wild Horse Gather in Nevada « Straight from the Horse's Heart

The Humane Society of the United States expressed its concerns about the actions of the Bureau of Land Management after an HSUS executive witnessed a BLM contractor appear to hogtie and leave a lost foal in the path of stampeding mustangs at the Desatoya Wild Horse Gather near Austin, Nev. The continued negligence and inhumane treatment of animals in the field is at odds with the agency’s stated vision and goal of improving and reforming its wild horse gather procedures

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Butchering Family Gives Up on Horse-Slaughter Plant in New Mexico « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Butchering Family Gives Up on Horse-Slaughter Plant in New Mexico « Straight from the Horse's Heart

SANTA FE – A family business in the Roswell area has suspended its plan to slaughter horses for human consumption in foreign markets, its attorney said today.
Valley Meat Co. has received no response from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on its application to slaughter horses and process the meat, said A. Blair Dunn, the attorney who represents the business. It had been pursuing federal approval since April.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Tainted Politician’s Attempts to Slaughter Horses Continue to Unravel « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Tainted Politician’s Attempts to Slaughter Horses Continue to Unravel « Straight from the Horse's Heart

The plant was supposed to open by summer’s end, employing four dozen people.
It might not have been the most appealing work: butchering hundreds of horses each day to fill dinner plates in Europe. But Rockville, Mo., population 166, needed jobs. So residents had embraced turning a defunct beef processing plant into the nation’s first horse slaughtering facility since 2006.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Tradition Keeps “Suicide” Horse Race Alive « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Tradition Keeps “Suicide” Horse Race Alive « Straight from the Horse's Heart

(CBS News) This weekend, as it has for nearly 80 years, the rodeo in Omak, Washington will attract thousands of residents and tourists to its city to watch up to 20 jockeys and their horses sprint down a steep embankment and into the water.
Fans of the “World Famous Suicide Race” call it an adrenaline-pumping tradition that brings the community together. Animal rights activists and others, however, cringe watching the stallions plummet into the river down a 210-foot-long, 62-degree slope called Suicide Hill, the dust kicking up behind them as onlookers cheer.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Update: Former Nevada BLM Chief says Love for Child Evolved into Sex, Affidavit says « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Update: Former Nevada BLM Chief says Love for Child Evolved into Sex, Affidavit says « Straight from the Horse's Heart

A 64-year-old recently retired Nevada Bureau of Land Management Chief used a blanket Monday night to conceal his sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl while they watched the Olympic games with his wife and the girl’s older brother, according to recently released court documents.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Ex-BLM Official Arrested in Nevada Child Sex Case « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Ex-BLM Official Arrested in Nevada Child Sex Case « Straight from the Horse's Heart

CARSON CITY, Nev.  — A former top Bureau of Land Management official has been arrested in Nevada on charges of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Ronald Wenker was arrested Tuesday in Reno by Washoe County sheriff’s deputies. He remained jailed without bail Wednesday on two felony counts each of sexual assault and lewdness with a child under 14.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Raw Video Update: The Takhi, Wild Horses of Mongolia « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Raw Video Update: The Takhi, Wild Horses of Mongolia « Straight from the Horse's Heart

I lot of good folks have been asking for a few media updates from our horseback trek and research trip in Outer Mongolia and with Terry just getting back to the U.S. and me still out of the country we have been struggling with pulling together all the photos and video for your review. 
To add to the headache is that I do not have my hands on my normal video editing program but none the less, please find inserted here a rather raw look at some of the fruits of our labor while we attempted to locate and photograph the reintroduced, primitive wild horses of Mongolia, the Takhi.
Please note; no helicopters, fences or traps.

Update: 11 Year Old Seeks to Advance Protection of Wild Horses and Burros « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Update: 11 Year Old Seeks to Advance Protection of Wild Horses and Burros « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Sixth-grader Robin Warren’s mission to protect indigenous horses and burros has garnered national and international attention, visits with legislators and a youth advocate title for a preservation group.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Wild Horse and Burro Bait-Trapping: Going … Going … Gone « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Wild Horse and Burro Bait-Trapping: Going … Going … Gone « Straight from the Horse's Heart

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has divided the western states into six zones and private contractors bid on and received a contract for one or more zones. Each contractor is required by their agreement to capture a minimum amount of wild horses and/or burros in the zone. The MAXIMUM number of wild horses and burros that may be gathered is actually higher than the number that exists on their federally protected Herd Management Areas. The BLM reported that in the 2012 fiscal year there were only 37,294 wild horses and burros remaining on the range, but they have contracted to remove up to 44,000 from bait-trapping alone. So while the BLM feigns interest in humane care and concern for out Wild Horses and Burros, these BLM contracts continue on their fast-moving “managing for extinction”.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Wild Horses: Hazards From Humans on the Pryor Mountains « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Wild Horses: Hazards From Humans on the Pryor Mountains « Straight from the Horse's Heart

We were not sure where this colt might be, so our first thought was the FENCE , the hated fence erected by the Forest Service, that cuts the wild horses in the Pryor Mountains off from their historic summer and fall range.  We arrived there, and there were no horses in sight.  Luckily, the family drove up to us just then and explained where they had see the colt.  We headed back down the road, and stopped just above a barbed wire fence “exclosure,” and sure enough, there was a foal trapped inside, and it was Cloud and Feldspar’s baby.

Equine Welfare Alliance Counters Horse Eater Propaganda to USDA « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Equine Welfare Alliance Counters Horse Eater Propaganda to USDA « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Horses are being singled out because they are not food animals in the US. Calling horses livestock does not make them food animals. Food animals are determined by how they are raised and regulated. Accordingly, US horses are non-food animals. They do not meet food safety laws by any stretch of the imagination. US horses are hauled out of the country with or without plants on US soil. According to USDA statistics, 775,474 horses were exported from 1989-2006 when all three foreign owned plants were operating on US soil.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Horse Slaughter Dealt Death Blow by EU Regulations « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Horse Slaughter Dealt Death Blow by EU Regulations « Straight from the Horse's Heart

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Despite claims by pro-horse slaughter activists who would seemingly put a slaughterhouse on every rural main street, the market for American horse meat just dwindled to almost nothing. The European Union released its 2013 regulations for meat imported into the 27 countries.

Mother Nature Gives West Douglas Herd a 30 Day Reprieve « Straight from the Horse's Heart

Mother Nature Gives West Douglas Herd a 30 Day Reprieve « Straight from the Horse's Heart

On July 30th the Colorado division of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) called off the alleged “Emergency” roundup of Colorado’s West Douglas Wild Horse Herd.  Earlier in the month wild horse and burro advocacy groups; Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition, Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue, Habitat for Horses, Dr. Don and Toni Moore along with the Wild Horse Freedom Federation attempted to block the proposed gather as it appeared to be an attempt to circumvent the current litigation blocking the BLM from zeroing out the unique wild horse herd for almost two decades.