I want to let Food Network know that as someone who once planned on spending many dollars in Canada, as well as on your sponsors that I will not only be cancelling anything and everything to do with your network, I will also be boycotting anything and everything to do with your network. This is in response to the deplorable and ill advised episode your network aired on horse meat. The majority of horses slaughtered in Canada come from America, where horses are NOT raised for destruction via slaughter. They are raised as companion animals, show ring contenders, and racing athletes. They are given many drugs and supplements that have proven to be carcinogenic and deadly to humans when consumed via horse meat. The simple fact that something so repulsive and disturbing would be nationally televised is truly upsetting to me. Whether or not your episode was on "traditional French cuisine" or not!
I am not opposing this simply because of the fact that the network showed horse meat being served (which IS the same as serving your own pet). I am opposing this because the network can NOT prove to me or anyone else beyond the shadow of a doubt that the horses slaughtered for consumption on this show did not contain traces of deadly carcinogens.
Once again I will reiterate. Myself, as well as several other thousands of people will be boycotting your network and your sponsors.
You were asked not to air the episode beforehand. You did not even have the courtesy to respond.
Monday, May 16, 2011
EquiNoms
EquiNoms are the yummy baked treats that I make for horses you can find them on etsy.com.
To give where I don't have money, I am donating as many cookies as I can fit into a flat rate box to Angel Acres Horse Rescue. I hope that these horses, once abuses, left to die, neglected, and some even saved from slaughter, will enjoy our delicious horse treats. I will be baking my heart out tomorrow after I get back home from training Lady. I will try to get pictures and full details up on Lady's training session tomorrow.
To give where I don't have money, I am donating as many cookies as I can fit into a flat rate box to Angel Acres Horse Rescue. I hope that these horses, once abuses, left to die, neglected, and some even saved from slaughter, will enjoy our delicious horse treats. I will be baking my heart out tomorrow after I get back home from training Lady. I will try to get pictures and full details up on Lady's training session tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Lady's Story--Part 1
Today's lesson with Lady went wonderfully. For those of you who don't know, Lady Antebellum is a 10 y/o Mustang mare. I am training and rehabbing her for a wonderful woman named Nikki. Together, Lady, Nikki, and I have all grown. Lady has taught both of us new lessons and shown us other ways to ask for what we want out of her. For a horse who was captured off the plains, torn from her family, later abused, starved, and neglected, she has come so far. She has started to realize that we are only asking her to do simple things that need no anxious retaliation or running away. When I first started coming to visit and play with Lady, she wanted nothing to do with me. She did not want to play, the carrot stick scared her, my shoes scared her, my bottle scared her, everything scared her.
Until today we could not even pick her feet up. I have been visiting Ms. Lady since the end of March. I just want you to grasp that for over a month I have not been able to pick up her feet, brush her whole body (she was hit on her hind legs and resented being even touched on her hind legs.), take off and put on a halter without her running away!
But these past two - three weeks we have seen a drastic turn around in Ms. Lady's demeanor and attitude. She is enjoying playing the games, and has picked up on a lot of hand and voice cues. I have not purposely drug out my sessions with Ms. Lady, but have instead gone with the flow with her. She is an incredible game player and has an average of an hour and a half to two hour lessons each time. Today she had an almost four hour lesson.
Today Lady allowed me to pick up and stretch all four of her legs (including the back legs which she has never allowed me to even touch with my hands before) repeatedly. She also allowed her owner, Nikki to do the same. This took a few tries and with some new methods I had researched she quickly realized we were not trying to hurt her and she should just calm down, and she did.
About an hour into the lesson Lady was bridled, this took quite a bit of negotiation, a few tricks (including molasses) and a little luck. But finally the dreaded bridle was on her head and in place. I have been trying to get a bridle on her head for about two weeks now. (to give a perspective on how great this feels for both myself and the owner)
Another thirty minutes of getting used to the bit and we were ready to try the saddle. First we reminded her of the saddle pad (previously introduced with little resistance). Let her walk around with that on her back, let her feel a rope being pulled around her stomach like a cinch. The worst we got out of her was a flinch or two at the awkward feeling for her. Then finally it was time for the one thing we had been building up to, the saddle. Now I know it seems like I was moving fast with her, but I really wasn't. The bridle and saddle pad were things she knew, they just needed to be reintroduced and repeated to solidify the safety of these objects in her mind since she had been abused before, she knows all too well that anything can be used to harm her.
I started by letting her sniff the saddle, she was scared so I let her think about it by "taking two" a method used by The Wild Horse Mentors. It took her a few times of "taking two" to come back and calm down enough to get close enough to smell the saddle. She'd smell it for a few minutes and after awhile was "taking two" on her own to channel out the anxiety she was feeling for the saddle. Finally we got the saddle on, the cinch tightened and just as I stepped back to inspect the saddle she took off bucking and kicking. I called to her in a calm voice and gave the rope a good tug to bring her brain back down to earth. She threw her hissy for a few then realized how much easier it was to just stand. So I asked her to "take two" and after she came in I straightened up the saddle and made sure it was tight enough as to not slip under her belly. Once again, after I had tightened the girth, she took off on another hissy, tearing holes in the ground and making a good ol' fool out of herself. Finally after this was over she allowed me to straighten the saddle once again, stand in the stirrup and apply a good amount of pressure on both sides of the saddle. Her lesson was over after this and she was a good girl and earned her handful of cookies.
Until today we could not even pick her feet up. I have been visiting Ms. Lady since the end of March. I just want you to grasp that for over a month I have not been able to pick up her feet, brush her whole body (she was hit on her hind legs and resented being even touched on her hind legs.), take off and put on a halter without her running away!
But these past two - three weeks we have seen a drastic turn around in Ms. Lady's demeanor and attitude. She is enjoying playing the games, and has picked up on a lot of hand and voice cues. I have not purposely drug out my sessions with Ms. Lady, but have instead gone with the flow with her. She is an incredible game player and has an average of an hour and a half to two hour lessons each time. Today she had an almost four hour lesson.
Today Lady allowed me to pick up and stretch all four of her legs (including the back legs which she has never allowed me to even touch with my hands before) repeatedly. She also allowed her owner, Nikki to do the same. This took a few tries and with some new methods I had researched she quickly realized we were not trying to hurt her and she should just calm down, and she did.
About an hour into the lesson Lady was bridled, this took quite a bit of negotiation, a few tricks (including molasses) and a little luck. But finally the dreaded bridle was on her head and in place. I have been trying to get a bridle on her head for about two weeks now. (to give a perspective on how great this feels for both myself and the owner)
Another thirty minutes of getting used to the bit and we were ready to try the saddle. First we reminded her of the saddle pad (previously introduced with little resistance). Let her walk around with that on her back, let her feel a rope being pulled around her stomach like a cinch. The worst we got out of her was a flinch or two at the awkward feeling for her. Then finally it was time for the one thing we had been building up to, the saddle. Now I know it seems like I was moving fast with her, but I really wasn't. The bridle and saddle pad were things she knew, they just needed to be reintroduced and repeated to solidify the safety of these objects in her mind since she had been abused before, she knows all too well that anything can be used to harm her.
I started by letting her sniff the saddle, she was scared so I let her think about it by "taking two" a method used by The Wild Horse Mentors. It took her a few times of "taking two" to come back and calm down enough to get close enough to smell the saddle. She'd smell it for a few minutes and after awhile was "taking two" on her own to channel out the anxiety she was feeling for the saddle. Finally we got the saddle on, the cinch tightened and just as I stepped back to inspect the saddle she took off bucking and kicking. I called to her in a calm voice and gave the rope a good tug to bring her brain back down to earth. She threw her hissy for a few then realized how much easier it was to just stand. So I asked her to "take two" and after she came in I straightened up the saddle and made sure it was tight enough as to not slip under her belly. Once again, after I had tightened the girth, she took off on another hissy, tearing holes in the ground and making a good ol' fool out of herself. Finally after this was over she allowed me to straighten the saddle once again, stand in the stirrup and apply a good amount of pressure on both sides of the saddle. Her lesson was over after this and she was a good girl and earned her handful of cookies.
Premarin Timeline
Here is a link to a timeline on Premarin. Great info about the research and knowledge of menopause, premarin, and a little bit of info on the horses involved.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Books I'm Currently Reading
Healing For Horses by Margrit Coates
Only a few pages in and I'm very interested in what this woman has to say about hands on healing. This goes over healing with Chakras and gemstones as well as using your hands to pass on energy to heal a horse of physical, mental, and emotional pain.
I also picked up 3 books on Anne Boleyn by various authors and will be posting about them as soon as I pick them up.
Only a few pages in and I'm very interested in what this woman has to say about hands on healing. This goes over healing with Chakras and gemstones as well as using your hands to pass on energy to heal a horse of physical, mental, and emotional pain.
I also picked up 3 books on Anne Boleyn by various authors and will be posting about them as soon as I pick them up.
Mustang News
Since today is the first day of me publishing my thoughts in this cute little box of wonder, I'm going to keep it simple. Here are a couple links that will take you to some recent news on Mustangs. If you would like to help me out and keep me up to date with more recent news Please shoot me an email at staind_hailyx@yahoo.com with the title Mustang News, so I don't delete it as I get lots of spam.
News on Mustangs 1
News on Mustangs 2
News on Mustangs 3 with forms you can fill out to aid in protest against Nevada cutting off water to their mustangs!
News on Mustangs 1
News on Mustangs 2
News on Mustangs 3 with forms you can fill out to aid in protest against Nevada cutting off water to their mustangs!
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