It's Christmas Eve and you can count your blessings. Count your blessings especially if you are a horse that doesn't have laminitis.
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Christmas with Laminitis Video: St Nicholas Abbey Five-Month Update from Coolmore in Ireland
It's Christmas Eve and you can count your blessings. Count your blessings especially if you are a horse that doesn't have laminitis.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Nothing Says "Happy Holidays" Like a Horse in the Snow
If you don't have the ho-ho-ho's by the time you're finished watching these, try some egg nog and watch again.
1. First, a montage of Irish Christmas commercials, past and present, including scenes from ads for Guinness, Land Rover, Kerrygold and some other companies I don't recognize (sorry):
2. More from Ireland: I love the Guinness ad, so let's look at that one in its entirety:
3. Here's the classic Christmas commercial, American-style: the 1987 Budweiser Vermont Christmas ad, shot in my old hometown of South Woodstock:
4. I don't remember when the Budweiser Clydesdales took credit for turning on the Christmas lights, but I'm happy they did it in this commercial:
6. No snowman is safe when there are horses around. This Wells Fargo commercial makes that point very clearly!
Go ahead, use the little envelope symbol at the bottom of this post to email a link to this video collection and make it your Christmas greeting, too! Or use the symbols to share this on Facebook and Twitter. Spread the joy to the world!
Happy holidays to all!
Thanks for your support and friendship
and all you do to help horses!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Seasons Greetings from Hoofcare and Lameness!
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| I feel like I know these guys and would give anything to know who they are (or were). They certainly were having a merry time and I have a feeling that the horse was just there for the photographer's benefit. I hope your holiday will be just as merry and warm as this scene! |
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Friday, December 24, 2010
Experts Hail Discovery of Rare Reindeer Shoe as Key to Mystery of Christmas Eve Flight
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| Mystery solved: It's all in the hooves, after all. A winged reindeer shoe found in a British garden has finally solved the dilemma of how reindeer can fly. |
The unusual shoe, which sports wings on its heels, is believed to provide the power of flight needed by the reindeer team each Christmas.
"We knew these reindeer aren't winged, like Pegasus the winged horse from Greek mythology," said one historian. "For years, we were looking at how the antlers might empower them to fly. But it was a dead end."
Scientists expressed remorse that a group of genetics researchers studying the reindeer genome would almost certainly be in danger of losing funding since the discovery of the reindeer shoe. "The pressure was on them," said one university insider who wished to remain anonymous. "They had to find the genetic mutation that allowed only a small number of reindeer to fly. Since they had no DNA from a flying reindeer, the task was monumental. What gene could give the power of flight? The discovery that it was a nail-on shoe that gave these reindeer their flight--and that some farrier somewhere designed this magical shoe--well, it looks bad for the future of reindeer research, that's all I can say. Several PhD theses are down the drain."
Flight engineers still believe the antlers may assist in navigation, but insisted that they always held out for a novel form of power for thrust and elevation. "The winged hoof is a brilliant adaptation," they agreed. "And the use of a removable shoe means that the rest of the year, Donner and Blitzen and the rest of the team can live normal lives. No one would suspect a thing."
The historians noted that rumors of the existence of reindeer shoes have cropped up over the years and around the world. "Apparently, like horses, reindeer can lose their shoes. This must make Santa quite cross when it happens, but it is easy to see how a lead deer's heel wings are endangered by the front hooves of the deer behind.
"We have noticed, however," continued one historian, "that wherever a reindeer shoe has been reported to be found, skeptical children and even adults who doubted the existence of Santa or the ability of reindeer to fly soon become believers again."
Credit for the current shoe's discovery goes to James Morris of Yorkshire, England. Since Morris is conveniently skilled as a metal sculptor and artist, his Sculpsteel studio has forged fac simile reindeer shoes which he sells to anyone needing to convince others how flying reindeer get around on Christmas Eve...and why all but one of them go back to being normal reindeer the next day.
All but one? True: Morris says he doesn't have an explanation or a design for Rudolph's nose...but he's working on it.
Morris noted that the actual reindeer shoe he found would be left for Santa, known as Father Christmas in England, this year on Christmas Eve with the annual plate of cookies and glass of milk. "Just in case he needs a spare," Morris nodded. "It might come in handy, and it's done its job here. The entire village believes in Father Christmas again!"
James Morris's reindeer shoes come ready to hang as Christmas decorations and conversation-starters. The toe clips are also ideal for hanging Christmas stockings, so a set could be ordered for a family. Available in black wax or rust finish, the cost per shoe is 15 pounds (about $US 23). Visit Sculpsteel to see James' work, then email him: enquiries@sculpsteel.co.uk. But never doubt him...or Santa!
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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Is That a Starfish Atop Your Holiday Tree?
Thanks to my friend Ellen Harvey of Harness Racing Communications, a project of the US Trotting Association, for reminding me of a great parable that is so symbolic of the renewal and reflection that should mark our days over this holiday break.Ellen occasionally drives out to the New Holland (Pennsylvania) horse sale where she methodically buys a few youngish Standardbreds. She and a few investors fund rehab and retraining on a couple of ex-racehorses a year until they are ready to go to homes as pleasure horses. When one is placed in a home, they go get another.
Ellen's efforts save the equivalent of a very small drop in the bound-for-slaughter bucket.
She calls her project "Starfish Stable" and there's a good story behind the name.
No one knows the source of the starfish metaphor. It is attributed to the late anthropologist Loren Eisley, but even he admits that he is just retelling a story told to him. And here it is:
The Starfish Story
as told by Loren Eiseley
A young man was picking up objects off the beach and tossing them out into the sea. A second man approached him, and saw that the objects were starfish.
'Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?'
'If the starfish are still on the beach when the tide goes out and the sun rises high in the sky, they will die,' replied the young man.
'That's ridiculous. There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can't really believe that what you're doing could possibly make a difference!'
The young man picked up another starfish, paused thoughtfully, and remarked as he tossed it out into the waves, 'It makes a difference to this one.'
Sometimes starfish have four hooves and a mane and a tail. Starfish aren't just at the killer auctions. They abound in the hoof world, and they are all around us.
They're the foundered horses you brought home when the owners gave up. They're alive and well in those bills that you "forgot" to send out, or the ones where you dropped a zero off the total. There are starfish among the kids you let follow you around. That 28-year-old Cushings horse with laminitis who can now trot in his new booties proves that you're never too old to be a starfish.
Maybe we can't save all the foundered horses in the world, or prevent every racehorse from breaking down or fund all the research that needs to be done. But each of us can--and, I believe, based on what I see, does--help make a difference by helping out a few starfish now and then.
Looking down this long, long beach, I hear splashes, all year long.
Merry Christmas to all the lucky starfish in the sea and to all of you. Cheers!
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