Horse Sense

You and your horse - Monica Dickens equine / equestrian quotation

"You and your horse. His strength and beauty. Your knowledge and patience and determination and understanding and love. That's what fuses the two of you onto this marvelous partnership that makes you wonder, What can heaven offer any better then what I have here on earth?". - Monica Dickens

Points of the Horse

Vintage images of the points of a horse in the public domain and believed to be free of use without restriction in the USA found via vintageprintable.com who provide free, public domain/out-of-copyright images for you to print or download. Most of the images are vintage naturalist or scientific illustration, but there are loads of other images, too.

Fancy Dress Friday - Horses dressed as fish

This week our equine fancy dress post features fish - horses dressed as fish complete with handlers dressed as fisherman.

Image:Horse Fancy Dress Ideas

Other Fancy Dress Friday posts include:

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

Horses and Ponies dressed as Unicorns

A foal with wings

Horses as Zebras

Harry Potter Horse

Fancy Clip - Camel 

How to paint your horse's skeleton

Horse dressed as elephant

Horse dressed as dinasour

Horse dressed as a car, 

Spanish Lady

Dog dressed as horse

Sunflower Horse and Bumble Bee Handler

Pirate Ship

Skeleton

Easter Bunny

If Wishes Were Ponies - Franga Designs

Fancy Clips

BRC Quadrille Selection 2011

Miniature Horses in Fancy Dress

Pony dressed as lion

Pony styled as a poodle

Instructions for making an equine poodle costume here

Shetland Pony Fans Calendar

Frances Taylor has come up with the perfect present for Shetland pony fans, a Shetland pony calandar featuring her own herd of Shetlands.  The cost is £7.00 plus p & p and it can be delivered anywhere in the world. For previews of photographs, postage charges and ordering information please visit Frances Taylor's Shetland Pony Everything Blog.

Seabiscuit - Quotation from the film

"You don't throw a whole life away just because it's banged up a little" - probably the most famous quote from the movie Seabiscuit but there are many more...

Click the following links for more horse quotes:

Horse Quotes, Favourite Horse Quotes,

The Queen and Horses,

Monica Dickens - You and your horse,

Sherlock Holmes - Game of Shadows

Black Elk - A Sky Full of Horses

Don Vincenzo Giobbe

Elizabeth Taylor - on horses

Lamps for the home featuring horses

With the nights drawing in it's time to switch those lamps on

and how better to light these dark evenings and add a little equestrian flair to our homes

than with a lamp featuring equines.

From top to bottom: horse family from The Well Appointed Home, iconic orange Hermes lamp, horse light table lamp from Hart and Heim and a classic horse lamp from The Well Appointed Home.

Al Pacino 's Inspirational / Motivational Speech "Inches" from Any Given Sunday applied to the Equestrian Sport of Eventing

 

"I don't know what to say really. 3 minutes, to the biggest battle of our proffesional lives. All comes down to today. Either, we heal as a team, or we're going to crumble. Inch by Inch. Play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen; believe me. And, we can stay here and get the shit kicked outa us, or, we can fight our way back, into the light. We can climb outa hell. One inch at a time.
Now I can't do it for you, im too old. I look around I see these young faces and i think, I mean. You know when you get old in life, things get taken from you. I mean thats, thats part of life, but, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out, lifes a game of inches. Because in either game the margain for error is so small, I mean, one half a step too late or too early, you don't quite make it. One half a second too slow, too fast, you don't quite catch it. The Inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second.
On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone around us to peices for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know, when we add up all those inches, thats gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing. Between living and dying. Now I can't make you do it, you gotta look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now i think you're gonna see a guy, who will go that inch with you. You're gonna see a guy that will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows, when it comes down to it, you're gonna do the same for him. Thats a team gentlemen.
And either we heal, now, as a team. Or we will die, as individuals. Thats all there is." Al Pacino - Any given Sunday.

Luciana Diniz and the bridleless bit

Watch Brazilian  equestrian Luciana Diniz  show jumping with a bit and reins, no bridle.

Prosecuted for Illegal Farriery

On 3 September 2012 the Welshpool Magistrates’ Court found Mr Thomas Bowyer of 6 the Courtyard, Lower Trewylan, Llansantffraid, Powys, SY22 6TJ, guilty of having carried out unlawful farriery.

Under the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975 it is a criminal offence for anyone other than a Registered Farrier, approved farriery apprentice or veterinary surgeon to shoe a horse, or otherwise carry out farriery. The Register of Farriers is administered by the Farriers Registration Council and it is Council policy to pursue a private prosecution when sufficient evidence is available. 

To qualify for registration as a farrier, which is a highly skilled profession, persons must, amongst other things complete a four year and two month apprenticeship with an Approved Training Farrier and pass the Diploma of the Worshipful Company of Farriers Examination. Mr T Bowyer is neither a Registered Farrier, an Approved Farriery Apprentice nor a Registered Veterinary Surgeon. The Farriers Registration Act therefore prohibits him from undertaking farriery.

The allegations against Mr Bowyer were that on 1 November 2011 and on 8 December 2011 he undertook farriery on a Welsh Cob Cross Irish horse (“Ronnie”) belonging to Mrs Susan Stafford-Tolley of Brecon, Powys.  On both occasions he applied “hoof wraps” to Ronnie’s front hooves. Ronnie had been having some problems, and Mr Bowyer an “equine podiatrist” had advised the owner that the wraps would protect Ronnie’s hooves.

“Hoof wraps” consist of a length of bandage like material which is impregnated with a synthetic, fibreglass-like resin substance which is soft when applied. They are soaked in water before application and within hours, dry, forming a rigid, solid structure around the hoof. In this case they were wrapped around and partially underneath Ronnie’s hooves. The Defendant also screwed the wraps into the horse’s hooves with two screws per hoof.

The Council’s case was that by 13 November 2011 Ronnie had become severely lame on his left fore; and that a veterinary surgeon had confirmed this. The Council’s case was that the veterinary surgeon had removed the wrap using hoof nippers and noted bruising and an impending abscess caused by a loose screw between the sole and the wrap.

On 8 December Mr Bowyer returned to remove the remaining wrap and convinced the owner’s husband that it would be in the horse’s best interests to re-apply the wraps. It was the Council’s case that on 17 December Ronnie was  lame again and a veterinary surgeon had attended who removed one wrap with the use of hoof nippers, to find his foot to be very tender which she attributed to pressure from the encircling wrap. On 18 December a Registered Farrier attended to remove the remaining wrap and fit a pair of deep-seated heart-bar shoes.

The Council’s case was that these wraps amounted to “shoes” because they were clearly intended to give protection to the hooves by providing a solid structure between the hoof and the ground, they were left in a place for a number of weeks and were firmly affixed. Once dried out they became solid and immoveable and needed tools to remove them.

Mr Bowyer pleaded guilty to both charges against him and the Magistrates Court imposed a £450 fine per offence, a victim surcharge of £15 and ordered Mr Bowyer to make a contribution towards prosecution costs of £1,000.

It was also the Council’s case that Mr Bowyer’s actions had caused harm to Ronnie. Mr Bowyer denied that they had done so. The Court decided not to hear oral evidence or make findings on the issue of whether harm had been caused to Ronnie as a result of the unlawful farriery to which Mr Bowyer had pleaded guilty.

The Council takes out prosecutions against persons who undertake farriery illegally when the evidence is sufficient to do so and considers the application of “hoof wraps”, as described above, amounts to farriery, or shoeing, for the purposes of the Farriers Registration Act; such products should only be applied by Registered Farriers or Veterinary Surgeons.

Notes:

If any further information is required in relation on this matter any enquiry can be made to the Solicitors to the Council, Ms N Curtis (Partner (Barrister)), Penningtons solicitors, of Abacus House, 33 Gutter Lane, London, EC2V 8AR, telephone: 0207 457 3000.

“Farriery” is defined in section 18 of the Act as “any work in connection with the preparation or treatment of the foot of a horse for the immediate reception of a shoe thereon, the fitting by nailing or otherwise of a shoe to the foot or the finishing off of such work to the foot. ”Shoeing” has the same meaning as farriery.

The product used should not be confused with a simple equine bandage or wrap used to protect a horse’s leg or keep a poultice in place. “Hoof wraps” are impregnated with a resin type substance which sets hard, like a caste, following the application of water.

Unregistered persons engaging in farriery are breaking the law. Any horse owner choosing to use an unregistered person may compromise the welfare of their horse, could incur additional shoeing bills to correct the effects of poor workmanship and may invalidate their insurance if their horse is lamed or injured. 

The FRC maintains the Register of Farriers and all Registered Farriers are issued with their own annual Registration Card and Car Window Sticker. If an owner wishes to check the credentials of their farrier he/she can ask to see the card, check the Council’s website (www.farrier-reg.gov.uk) or telephone the office on 01733 319911.

BHS calls for Equine Squatting / Fly Grazing to be made a Criminal Offence

As new legislation comes into play to protect homeowners from squatters, the UK’s largest equestrian charity, The British Horse Society is calling for ‘equine squatting’ to be made a criminal offence.

From 1 September squatting in a residential property has become a criminal matter. A homeowner can simply complain to the police who, if satisfied that the claim is genuine, can take action and arrest the squatters. The maximum penalty will be six months in jail, a £5,000 fine, or both.

The British Horse Society believes that similar legislation is now needed to protect owners of fields from the indiscriminate practice of ‘fly grazing’ which is proliferating in certain areas of the country.

Mark Weston Director of Access, Safety and Welfare, said: “Landowners are in an impossible position if a horse owner refuses to remove a horse or does not come forward. They need legislation to protect and assist them with this problem. At present it can be extremely expensive and upsetting for landowners to secure the removal of such horses from their land.”

Lee Hackett, Senior Executive Welfare said: “The numbers of horses being abandoned has increased in the recession as people struggle to feed their pets. The problem is particularly bad in Wales and around the M25 corridor.”