Edition VI

Hi

Welcome to this month’s HorseConscious Newsletter.

If you have not already heard, it is with much sadness that I must report the imminent closure of Linda Kohanov’s Epona Center at Apache Springs. Despite "…significant interest and enthusiasm from several individuals and organizations intent on saving the Center”, they have had to close the doors, lay off the staff and put the horses out for adoption. There is always the hope that someone might buy it and lease it back to them but at the moment it’s not looking so good.

You can read more about the news in Linda’s recent newsletter.

We have had brief contact with her and she is sounding very positive about the future and that this is happening for a reason. As ever, she remains strong and her purpose is clear.

We wanted also to make you aware of an opportunity to hear Linda Kohanov present one of her latest seminars, at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) Conference in Tucson, Arizona, on September 4, 2009. Her presentation is entitled “Mystics With Tails: Horses as Messengers and Guides” and is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The session is open to the public with a suggested donation of $5.00. If you are near Tucson, or will be on September 4th, it’s a wonderful chance to hear one of Linda’s latest seminars! Click here to see a flyer about the event. If you have questions, contact Seth Grossman at 520-394-2777 or admin@theeponacenter.com.

You may remember that last month I mentioned I was going to see the National Theatre’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book War Horse. It was truly an excellent production and if you’ve watched any the YouTube clip on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fng2alUmfB8&NR=1
you will have seen how brilliantly they have portrayed the horses. I actually took a quite a lot of video myself using my son’s digital camera but was ‘caught’ by one of the attendants right at the end and had to delete it all! Shame and rather short-sighted on their part I thought. I did actually end up speaking with the Company Manager and explained what HorseConscious is all about and to be fair he suggested I get in touch with the National Theatre press office. I may follow up on this but my intention was to be able to show you some of the show and give them a bit of free publicity at the same time. Heigh ho.

I had also ordered the book and sent a copy too to Kim, Stormy and Carolyn. I read it after I had seen the show and whereas in the show, the horse is the main character, the book is actually written from the horse’s viewpoint. That having been said though, it is really more of a story about man and the madness of war rather than the world seen through the eyes of a horse. In that respect, I was a little disappointed and felt it was an opportunity missed. Anyway, I would urge you to see the show if you are in London or comes to a city near you because the artistry behind the horse puppets and they way the puppeteers have captured their movements is amazing.

I was then in London a week later to meet up with HorseConscious member Ang Green and Sarah Kreutzer, whose site is www.learningtolisten.co.uk . Sarah is doing some tremendous work with natural horsemanship training alongside corporate training and team building and an accredited school for children with behavioural difficulties. She is now looking to take her concept worldwide so if this combination of horse related activities appeals to you, please take a look at Sarah’s website and get in touch.

Sarah was the HorseConscious Members special guest caller earlier today. Remember, if you are a Member, you can speak with the HorseConscious teachers and special guests during the bi-monthly call-ins and ask your questions directly to them. Also, when you join, you can also get a CD of the all the Path of the Horse Teleseminar Series calls absolutely FREE! For more details, go to Become a Member.

Talking of HorseConscious Member calls, in September I’m pleased to say we have calls with Kathy Pike on Sunday 6th and then on Sunday 20th with Maurizio Patti, who is one of Alexander Nevzorov’s top overseas representatives and students.

UK / North European Workshops? I’ve also been talking with Maurizio and Joy Blach from Denmark, who is an extremely talented and experienced horse person and Carolyn Resnick’s top student in Europe, about the possibility of putting on some workshops together. These might be separate or even a combined workshop with the two of them and even possibly with K C La Pierre from Applied Equine Podiatry.

If you are in the UK or Europe and would be interested in attending such a workshop, please go to this page:
http://www.horseconscious.com/guest/survey
to express your interest. Thank you.

We normally put appeals to the foot of the newsletter but this item came to my attention just this morning and it deserves highlighting right now. This is from Carrie Gobernatz at the Horse News Examiner:

"The Bureau of Land Management is rounding up and eliminating 12 herds (650 horses) off 1.6 million acres in Nevada right now – next they plan to destroy Cloud’s herd with a massive removal of 70 horses that would include OLDER HORSES and YOUNG FOALS.

Many of the horses you have come to love in the Cloud shows and will meet in the new Cloud show on October 25th will lose their families and their freedom next week. By zeroing out whole herds and reducing others to below genetic viability, the BLM is circumventing the will of Congress. The House just passed the Restoring of American Mustangs (ROAM) act and the Senate will review this bill (now S.1579) when they return from recess in September. Is BLM just trying to do as much irrevocable damage to America’s wild horses as they can before Congress can act?

This round up will start on September 1st unless we can stop it. Removing 70 horses will destroy this unique little Spanish herd, leaving them well below the bare minimum for genetic viability. The range is in great condition and the horses are healthy. This removal should be stopped. Please do all you can to help! Listen to Ginger Kathrens on Endangered Stream Live – a special edition show "Angels for Cloud" and also Ginger is on Howling Ridge Radio :

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Howling_Ridge_Radio

Howling Ridge Radio Programs are aired Wednesday nights @ 9:30p Eastern and are hosted by John Holland, Ellen-Cathryn Nash, Amanda Sorvino & Vicki Tobin. Help to End Horse slaughter.

National Call in Day for Cloud is Friday, August 28th – SPREAD THE WORD! Have your kids call in and write too – these horses need to be preserved for future generations and we must act NOW.

1. Call/write/fax President Obama as often as you can—this herd is a national treasure and should not be wiped out by a government agency. Please flood the phone lines with calls!
Phone: 202-456-1111 or 202-456-9000
Fax: 202-456-2461

2. Ask Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to stop this round up
Phone: 202-208-3100
Write: feedback@ios.doi.gov

3. WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! KEEP CALLING
We’ve just been told that BLM Director Bob Abbey is meeting with other officials regarding this round up due to the number of calls and e-mails they are receiving. KEEP IT UP – KEEP CALLING, FAXING AND E-MAILING. These are our wild horses living on our public lands!

HALT THE PRYORS ROUND UP and all others across the west.

BLM Director Bob Abbey
Call: 202-208-3801
Fax: 202-208-5242
Robert_Abbey@blm.gov "

Finally, a quick update on the idea of donating books to your local library. I contacted the head office of the local county library service in the UK and corresponded with their Manager of Acquisitions. It turns out that they do welcome donations and so I will be sending 20 copies of Stormy’s wonderful The Path of the Horse to their largest libraries. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a true grass roots idea and a great way to spread the message. So if you’d like to do the same, why not call or email your local library and see what they say, I’d be interested to hear how you get on. Thanks.

Until next month, enjoy the summer or winter wherever you are and spend some time with those horses. Good advice I should heed myself following the following note I received a few days ago:
"… Get off that pc and get on a horse, would ya?  When you die, and you are laying there taking your last breath, will you be smiling because you are remembering time on the computer, or that bloody incredible ride you took today?" Nuff said.

Best wishes

Mark Mottershead

Announcing the HorseConscious social networking site

I am delighted to announce that HorseConscious is now branching out with a new social networking site!

At this new site, you really get the chance to connect with people from all over the world and make friends, share photo’s and videos, chat and more.

It’s totally FREE to join and the link is http://horseconscious.ning.com/?xgi=eC5pKRG.
If you already have a Ning ID, you can use that.

As I say, the site is completely open to all, so you can invite all your friends too and all we ask is that you are respectfull to everyone else on the site. Enjoy!

The Horse As Teacher Teleseminar Series

Following on from the enormously successful Path of the Horse Teleseminar Series, it is my pleasure to tell you that we have another very exciting series coming up shortly for you.

Called The Horse As Teacher Teleseminar Series, it draws it’s inspiration and speakers from the recent book of the same name which featured Stormy May, Anna Twinney and Kathy Pike amongst a galaxy of other equine luminaries.

The series in fact features all the authors from the first Horse As Teacher book, who will be discussing how horses came into their lives and changed them for ever. How by learning to trust the wisdom of the horse, they were inspired to help bring about change in the lives of others too.

Now is your chance to make use of their experiences and expertise and ask your questions of this remarkable group of women. You will learn too of their insights and hear their views on how horses can help us move to higher levels of connection, communication and consciousness.

The Series is free to listen to and will start on the 30th September and continue on the following 3 Wednesdays. To receive advanced notification of all the call details, click the link below:
Horse As Teacher Teleseminar Series

We do hope you will join us for what promises to be another thrilling event!

Hi all, this is Tessa,

As many of you know, Kim Male and myself have organized a quilting bee for horses. We had terrific response and have since set up our own blog site to share in the progress, hcquilt.wordpress.com. The squares are starting to arrive and it is so exciting to see the creativity coming forth!

We’d like to let you all know, that if anyone just wants to send us a lovely 9" square of fabric with no ‘artwork’ on it, we’d love to have that also, so don’t feel like you are limited by not being a quilter or not being creative. I am not a quilter, but I am a designer…..neither is required for this project! If you see something that reminds you of what HorseConscious means, grab it and send it along.

Sometimes I just walk thru the fabric store and look at the different fabrics to see what is there. I had a thought at the beginning of this about mixing in textures that might mimic horse hair, or patterns found on horses might add a very interesting look to this quilt….so that said, solid fabrics like ultra suede in black, bay, grey, chestnut, or something resembling paint horse pattern, would be awesome as fill-ins. We’ll take them if you want to send them to us!! I would also like to see some squares that have words on them related to the work of our teachers or whatever you feel represents horse consciousness. Sometimes you can find fabric printed with words of inspiration, or if you are computer savvy you can create your own and have it printed out on fabric, we posted something on the blog about fabric transfers.

Remember the deadline is 15 September! for more info about the overall project, you can visit, http://www.quiltmuseum.org/other_contests.htm, under Equine Exhibit. All squares come to me, Tessa Wood-Woolard, 105 Pintail Lane, Rocky Mount, NC 27804 USA

Kim Male and myself wish to acknowledge and thank the following people so far for joining us in this endeavor: Connie Funk, Melody Golding, Mitzi Koch, Beth Schrang, Dianne Bartlett, Nancy Halsey, Sally Leong, Alienore Conrad, Maggie Schuler, Maureen VanDerStad, Sandra Wallin, Leena Kutti, Betty Lucke, Lynn Baber, Cie Fagerberg, Wendie Brandenburg, Deanna Opstedal

Keep quilting!
Tessa & Kim

"Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time" – Robert Plant

Barefoot Beginnings

Inspiration
It has been almost twenty years since the first research was done to study the hooves of mustangs living in the US. This research shed light on what is possible for domestic horses to achieve if given the correct environmental inputs – beautiful healthy hooves capable of covering many miles a day over the roughest terrain imaginable and free from the diseases that plague their domestic cousins. This research led to the development of trimming techniques that mimicked the natural wear patterns seen on the mustangs’ hooves and started the "barefoot movement" in the United States.

Many people try to argue that modern domestic horses can’t be compared to mustangs because mustangs have been selected for genetically superior hooves over many generations of living wild. This argument doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny though.
 
Most wild horses in the US descend, not from Spanish horses brought over by the conquistadors, but from thoroughbred horses abandoned by the US army after the Indian wars, quarter horses lost by cattle ranchers, and draft horses abandoned by farmers when they bought a tractor. Not only do most of today’s mustangs descend from recently abandoned wild horses but they suffer from the same hoof problems as domestic horses do when they’re born in domestication.

What’s special about the mustang isn’t its superior genetics. It’s the place they live, the diet they eat, and the many miles they travel everyday. This lifestyle allows these otherwise plain and often ugly horses to grow amazingly beautiful feet.

As the first wild horse research was sparking the first wave of future barefoot trimmers to attempt to make Barefoot (with a capital B) work a lot of progress was being made by Veterinarians trying to study how a healthy hoof works and how hoof diseases damage the hoof.

Veterinary research:
Robert Bowker, Dr. James Rooney, Prof. Chris Pollit and others have made enormous advancements in our knowledge and understanding of the hoof and the causes of hoof related lameness. Dr. Robert Bowker has shown that the strength of the hoofs inner structures (the digital cushion and lateral cartilages) is the best indicator of overall hoof health and has documented the pattern of differences between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ feet giving us a clear direction to go in when trying to rehabilitate ‘bad’ feet. Dr. James Rooney has illuminated the true cause of and cascade of events leading to navicular disease. Because of Rooney’s research hoof care practitioners ‘in the know’ take heel pain and its associated compensatory movement as a serious threat to long term soundness and as a result have been able to stop and reverse the progression of navicular syndrome/disease and restore comfort and long term soundness to most cases. Prof. Chris Pollit has made it his life’s work to unravel the mysteries of laminitis. He has improved our understanding of the role of metabolic disturbances in laminitis as well as our understanding of when and how damage occurs within the hoof during a laminitic episode.

With their research Bowker, Rooney, and Pollit have all demonstrated the superiority of bare hooves with regard to proper function, ability to heal, and ability to perform and these top researchers have now become barefoot advocates.

With the wealth of new information coming from the scientific community one might mistakenly conclude that most hoof care providers and veterinarians have changed the way they view hoof lameness and updated their approaches to treating them. Unfortunately, new information disseminates slowly through the veterinary community and even slower through the hoof care community. All but a few professionals have been successful in finding ways to bridge the gap between this new research and the development of new or improved techniques in the field. Given that much of this new research contradicts commonly held beliefs in the traditional hoof care community many blacksmiths would rather just ignore it.

New Techniques
Fifteen years ago the idea that all horses could go barefoot was a radical one. Fortunately, there were a few determined and innovative people who were passionate about the possibility. They successfully integrated information from every available source and developed a new way of trimming. Wild horse research gave them a goal to work towards and veterinary research helped to point the way when trying to strengthen weak feet and when finding solutions for treating hoof diseases. Many of the early pioneers of the ‘barefoot movement’ were farriers. They used this new information to update their techniques and approches to many hoof problems and soon they were having consistent and often dramatic success strengthening weak, sensitive hooves and eliminating the need for horse shoes and even curing "hopeless" cases of hoof disease.

The new information that came from the veterinary research community was particularly valuable because it enabled these early pioneers to address the root causes of hoof weakness and disease and thus promote honest, permanent healing. It is obvious, however, that while trimming can remove excess, correct imbalances, and shape the hoof for proper mechanics, it cannot replace missing material or cure the soreness that results from it. For that, hoof protection is needed until the missing material call be re-grown by the horse.
 
The barefoot movement of today is growing at a rapid rate in the US and Englund and is beginning to take off in Europe as well. It is a slow progression though. The whole process is slowed even further when people who claim to be barefoot trimmers go out to the horse community uneducated, untrained and unprepared and do work that is less than good enough. It takes time for new ideas to take root and it takes even longer for educated professionals to come into new countries. Despite this, the scene is set for a hoof care revolution.

Guest feature by Erika Morup, www.gladehove.dk

NEW ARTICLES ON HORSECONSCIOUS

Primum Non Nocere (Do No Harm) – Stormy May

If riders took the Hippocratic oath required of physicians, the horse world as we know it today would immediately cease to exist. Primum non nocere – do no harm.

The best fitting saddle can only achieve one thing, it can evenly distribute the pressure of the rider and saddle on the horse’s back. Horse magazines, veterinary journals and texts are filled with articles detailing how to rehabilitate horses from back injuries but the best they can offer in regards to preventing the injuries is to suggest proper saddle fit and proper conditioning of the back muscles. The bigger problem is the amount pressure itself, no matter how well it is distributed, or how well the muscles are conditioned.

There is nothing benevolent about a bit. Even the best fitted, "mildest" bit has only one function, to cause pain. This might seem to be a shocking statement at first glance but that’s only because we’re used to operating under a collective…

To read the compete article and more of Stormy’s articles, visit The Path of the Horse

Inspiring Natural Potential – Michael Bevilacqua on Alexander Nevzorov

Alexander Nevzorov brought Haute Ecole to the new, humane level. Haute Ecole is a French term for high school. It is classical dressage stemming from the cavalry with complex moves by the horse including airs above the ground such as capriole, courbette, and levade. He teaches horses to perform the most difficult elements of Haute Ecole, not only without any constraint, punishment, bridles and bits, that is looked upon as a norm in modern Haute Ecole, but he does all this on a horse that is in a perfect collection.

The Creative Edge – Linda Kohanov

Creativity is one of the essential ingredients to success in life—whether you aspire to be a great educator, business executive, parent, counselor, equestrian, or leader/innovator in any number of other fields.

“Reclaiming your innate ability to imagine and manifest, to express the deepest yearnings of your soul, these are revolutionary acts of self-empowerment,” Linda Kohanov emphasizes. The author was intrigued to find that the courage to create—and the ability to support/motivate others to create—is one of the biggest issues in the corporate world. “I’ve had the great pleasure of designing horse-facilitated clinics for a variety of management teams,” she reports. “As a part of that process, I interview key staff to understand the challenges each business faces, so that I can gear activities with the horses to particular skills and goals my clients want to work on.

To read the compete article, visit Linda Kohanov on HorseConscious

Horses Read Human Body Cues, Researchers Say

Do you ever feel like your horse might be watching your every move? He very well might be, according to a new behavior study by British scientists. Their research indicates that horses are highly sensitive to the attention we attribute to them, including our gaze.

In a series of tests involving 36 horses and ponies aged 10 months to 38 years, two humans stood motionless in a paddock, each in a different position that showed more or less attention to the horse. Nearly 80% of the horses chose to walk toward the person that showed the most attention in the three primary tests, said Leanne Proops, PhD, researcher at the Centre for Mammal Vocal Communication Research at the University of Sussex in Brighton and primary author of the study.

During these tests, the animals were to distinguish between a person standing facing the horse or with his or her back to the horse; between two people standing facing the horse but one with the head turned to the side and the other with the head facing forward; and between two people facing the horse with their full bodies and heads but one with the eyes closed and one with the eyes open.

In a fourth, "mixed cue" test, one person stood sideways but with his head turned toward the horse, whereas the other stood with her body forward and her face turned to the side. Although 60% of the horses in this last test chose the person with the face forward, the results were not considered significant enough to be conclusive on the mixed cue.

In all tests, the testers maintained neutral facial expressions. Horses were not rewarded for choosing correctly, in order to prevent any learning during the study, Proops said. (However, commercial horse treats were given between tests in order to maintain the motivation of the horses.) Interestingly, there were no significant differences in responses among horses from a private riding stable and those in a refuge, which she said suggests that the horse’s prior experience with humans has little effect on their attention to human cues.

Another interesting result of the study was that frequently when the horses chose the inattentive person, they would walk into that person’s field of vision and made efforts to gain his or her attention, Proops said. "These results show how sensitive horses are to very subtle body cues when interacting with humans, in the same way that they are sensitive to tiny changes in posture and muscle tone in other horses," Proops said. "Knowing that you are communicating with your horse subconsciously in every move you make can only lead to an improved relationship with him."

Christa Leste-Lasserre, August 19 2009, Article # 14749, www.thehorse.com

Beauty in Motion – Oneness and Connection is the Real Ribbon
by Nancy Proulx

As I see our world become more aware of our horses as sentient beings, I see small pockets of this awareness in our competitive horse show world. For years people have thought of performance horses as just a means to an end, the ribbon, trophy or prize money. Now people are becoming aware that these animals have the ability to feel deeply, think intellectually and assert some control over their destiny, plus the gifts of teaching us about our connection to ourselves and our divinity. At a recent show I walked into the warm up arena. I immediately took notice of a chestnut horse and rider. I said to my friend, “Look at that happy horse and young man. It’s so nice to see such a pleasant picture.” I’m not to sure my friend saw the magic of this moment, but I noticed, and hopefully others in their presence did too.

With this new horse consciousness arising, I find some people’s opinion of the show world is one of abuse and cruelty to the horse. I left the show ring for years because of this judgment. Many of the training methods and devices used forced a horse into a certain frame and restricted their essence, creating an unhappy horse. As I became more open and educated in the field of intuition and animal communication I couldn’t bare the pain of projecting my agenda of winning on to a horse. It was my horse, Charisma, who forced me to look deeper into my opinion of the show world. She loved the game of competition, she thought it was fun and loved to be in the spotlight. After a few years of not being in the show ring I felt her boredom and desire to be in the ring again. I knew I needed to gain a different perspective if I was to enter this world again. So the question I needed to ask myself was “why do people show?”. I believe that underneath the drive to win the ribbon there is a little opening in everyone whose desire is to become one with the horse. The challenge is learning to reach this highest potential between the two beings without breaking the horse’s spirit or body. So after experimenting I developed a new way of relating to my horses. I integrated this more compassionate way of being into my old horse training knowledge. I than felt it was time to go back and try it out in the show ring.

What does this picture look like? The horse is happy, ears forward, every joint is flexible, and cadence is rhythmic, unrushed but exuding energy. The rider’s body is relaxed and calm. His position in the saddle does not indicate any past trauma or protectiveness. There are no whips or spurs. He moves with the horse and does not impede the horse’s forward movement but supports it. Together they are both there not to impress. The mount is focused on the rider, and the rider on his mount. The power of each is balanced and they have a joint purpose to support each other. The alchemy moment happens and they are one, just like the archetype of the centaur, half man, and half horse. When this freedom of spirit and movement is expressed it feels like your riding the wind and others can feel the joy coming from them.

Whether we ride for pleasure or show how do we create this picture and reduce stress in our horses?

Build a solid relationship built on trust and respect. Notice the small disconnects. The horse isn’t relaxed, loss of focus, horse won’t come to you when you go out to catch them, stepping in your space while grooming, move away while mounting.

Release your agenda. Focusing on our needs cuts us off from the needs of the horse. This is especially important for a green horse or when a horse is in a new situation. Focus should always be respect for the horse.

Know the personality of your horse and how they respond to stress. Some internalize stress; others run away in fear, fight or shut down. Become sensitive to your horses emotions and subtle body language. The trust between the two of you comes from listening to one another. The dance is knowing when to lead and when to follow.

Horses don’t change, so appreciate all traits of your horse even the ones you judge as negative. Look for the gifts of each trait. The sensitive horse is more willing to work. The assertive horse is more confident. The aloof more independent.

Focus on what you want verses what you don’t want.

Show horses need the socialization of other horses.Turnout is a must.

Training routines should be varied according to the horse’s daily attitude and physical condition. Trail rides are wonderful for conditioning body and mind for both owner and rider or just hanging out.

Training should be at home. Of course we can school a horse at a show, but don’t introduce new bits or training devices that enhance movement or force a horse into frame.

Don’t put a new rider on the horse that the horse doesn’t know or trust especially at a show where they needing the support of their person.

Don’t over show your horse. Remember your horse’s attitude is part of the winning combination. Keep both yours and your horse’s attitude fresh.

At this show the icing on the cake came at the end for me. In my last class I received a 6th place ribbon out of 6 horses. Now you might ask how this can be the icing on the cake? Especially since I’ve had a very successful show career and I’m used to winning. Well after the class while walking back to the barn on my horse, I noticed a woman running out of the coliseum. She came running up to me dressed in her show clothes ready for her next class. She said to me, “I just wanted to let you know that you were the only one who looked like you were having fun in that class. ” What a gift I received from this women, giving me validation that my message of oneness and connection is the real ribbon. The horse show arena is a very challenging area to let this light shine but it can be done and the gift of the connection can thus be shared. Hopefully this woman was able to ride her last class with this same expression of beauty in motion.

About HorseConscious Member Nancy Proulx – “My thirty five years of horse experience coupled with my four year degree in Intuitive Counseling and Animal communication training has helped me to develop a unique way of training and relating to horses. I work as a bridge between the horse and owner, helping to develop understanding, communication and healing between the two.” nproulx@roadrunner.com, www.nancyproulx.com

NEW DVDs AVAILABLE NOW!

The Horse Crucifed & Risen – Part 1 Alexander Nevzorov

Waterfole Reflections Carolyn Resnick

The Horse Crucifed & Risen – Part 2 Alexander Nevzorov

 Click images for more info & to purchase

URGENT NEED: Tess and Lady Need a New Home

Fom HorseConscious Member Mary Barrett, Cape Cod, MA

"Hello! I am trying to help Marie, the owner of the pony and mini I am working with. She cannot keep them. It was meant to be a temporary arrangement as she was taking them from an abusive owner, in hopes they would have found a new home by now. She really can’t afford to keep them and the winter care is too difficult for her. They need a really loving home as pets and companion animals. Lady needs a lot of nutritional support due to diabetes – Cushings and she currently receives many natural herbal supplements as well as low carb food.

The rescues here in MA are few and the MSPCA rescue is overloaded and does not have enough volunteers. The horses spend most of their time on their stalls. The girls really shouldn’t go to rescue anyway. They need a loving well tended home where Lady can get the care she needs. They should be together if possible. Lady would be best with a gelding as she is very dominant with other mares, no matter how big they are! So, the girls are in a tenuous situation, so I am trying to help Marie as she is very worried about their future, as am I. I am not in a position to take them. Can you help in any way?"

Mary is a participant in the WRIC and the girls can be viewed on the wricmay09 channel on YouTube, or you can contact Mary directly at mebarrett1@gmail.com

Kim McElroy & Nicole Birkholzer – Screening of ‘The Path of the Horse, Westhampton, MA, USA
http://spiritofhorse.com/store/store/custom_pages.asp?id=90#linda

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HorseConscious Members can promote their own events here too!