Big Licks and Old Rope Horses

Writers block is a terrible thing.

As  you may have noticed I'm wrestling with a massive dose of it right now.

Those of you who have read this blog for any length of time will know this isn't the first time it has happened to me, I'm guessing it won't be the last.

I'm not gone, I'm not dropping the blog,I'm way too attached and have learned too much by blogging to stop.

I do have to wait out this dry gulch in my writing, but the rain always comes, so I've learned to be patient. I hope you will be too.

In the mean time, there are thoughts I want to share, and this travesty going on in the Tennessee Walker horse show world is one I can't leave alone.

Snarky Rider/FHOTD has done an excellent job of covering it, so if this subject is new to you, pop over and catch up ( snarkyrider.com), I couldn't have written a better post.

There are two subjects on animal cruelty that send me over the edge. One is puppy mills and the other is training for "The Big Lick." 


This explanation from Wikipedia  of the two categories for TWH classes tells me a lot. "Flat-shod horses are divided into trail, country, light shod, and plantation pleasure divisions. They are judged on way of going, which includes head nod, overstride and front animation. The country and trail pleasure classes have the least animation, the plantation horses the most, with the plantation horses typically wearing a heavier shoe. Flat-shod horses are not allowed to use pads, action devices, or tail braces.

"Performance horses exhibit a very flashy and animated running walk, often referred to as "big lick." They appear to sit back on their hindquarters, lifting their forelegs high off the ground with each step. Horses and riders show in saddle seat attire and tack. Horses are shod in double and triple-nailed pads. These pads, along with lightweight chains around the fetlock, accentuate the gaits, making them more animated."

What this tells me is, many of the classes are designed to showcase the amazing things this breed is capable of, and the rest are designed to showcase the amazing way we humans torture animals for fun and profit.

I'm not going into a tirade about this cruelty. That's being done all over the Internet.

What I am mulling over today is the necessity for crazy advocates. I'm talking the over the top, radical maniacs that come together and make lots of noise about the bad things going on in the world. Today I'm looking at rabble rousing animal activists who have drawn my attention.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA)

FHOTD during the Cathy Atkinson days (Just Cathy)

I realize Just Cathy is only one person, but she's such a whirling dervish of quivering righteousness, she equals the intensity of, oh, let's say, The Black Panthers. I think she should be named an organization all by herself.

I am not an extremist. I accept many aspects of the horse world many don't. I can sit back and watch a harsh training practice and ask the trainer the why's, how's and results without offering an opinion.

My approach is to learn the reason, decide if it's necessary and then figure out a better way. That would be the Mugwump in me, what can I say.

But there is no reason for The Big Lick. It's crazy and cruel and vile. It's ugly to watch. The horses aren't trained for this, they're forced into this shape and movement by pain. They are taught to accept it through more pain. The pain is so intense at times, they lay down and can't/won't  get up.

I was on a walk one day and came across a group of five or six little kids (must have been a home day care) between the ages of about three to about seven. They had a puppy on it's back, screaming in pain and terror, and were poking it in it's soft pink belly with sticks. The puppy was chained to the ground and bleeding.

Yes, I did the right thing, yelled at kids, knocked on door, told the horrified woman what they were doing, went home and called the Humane Society.

That's not my point. Watching the World Championship Big Lick Class made me feel exactly like I did when I saw the tortured puppy.

It made me feel the same way I did when I met a very pregnant teenage girl living on the street with her 50+-year-old, drunken, very creepy "husband." She was about to have her second child with this guy. Their first was taken by Social Services, she was put in foster care and as soon as she could, she ran away and went back to her man.

What horrified and sickened me was neither the young mother or the man, but the fact this girl was safer with him than in the life she had left behind.

There are things that get me.

The extreme factions get things done. We might not like them, we might even hate them, but they get things done. PETA has earned itself one bad rap. The group is behind some extremely dangerous, almost terrorist behavior. HSUS? Same deal.

A post from Humanewatch.org states, "The sad reality is HSUS, which defines itself as the “nation’s largest and most effective animal protection organization,” has almost nothing to do with the direct care of animals in the thousands of shelters across the nation. In fact, according to the organization’s own financial records, only one-half of one percent of its almost $100 million budget actually goes to helping hands-on animal shelters.

"So, out of every $200 Americans pledge to this organization, only $1 goes to actually helping the animals that really need it. Where does the rest of the donated money go? Well, for one thing, according to the Center for Consumer Freedom, in 2008 more than $2.5 million went right into this rich animal rights group’s pension plans.

HSUS also uses those donations to advance a radical animal rights agenda through wide-ranging, expensive lobbying and advertising campaigns. Even though you can’t tell from its commercials, one of the group’s underlying goals is to promote veganism."

PETA Vice President for Policy Bruce Friedrich is a long-time animal-rights movement insider, he has said, "These reflections do not, of course, rule out burning meat trucks. And they don’t mean that when the next slaughterhouse or vivisection lab burns down, I will denounce those who carried out the

 burning, or that I will feel anything other than joy in my heart."

 Then there's this little tidbit. "Federal fugitive Daniel Andreas San Diego is alleged to have planted a secondary explosive device, apparently intended to target emergency responders arriving at the scene of a first bomb he allegedly planted at a California company in August 2003. PETA-grantee and convicted arsonist Rodney Coronado has praised San Diego’s handiwork."

I have no intention of getting into an argument about the good, the bad or the ugly about these organizations. I am not, and will never be a member or an advocate for these groups.

BUT!!! It was a HSUS video that caught the attention of CNN and CBS news. Their work brought the Big Lick out of the horse world and to the general population.

Radical behavior draws attention, good or bad, people notice. Think about what Just Cathy has managed to accomplish. In this case, craziness was good. Middle of the roaders like me don't create awareness like this video did.

If the pendulum doesn't swing to the extreme right it can't counter what's happening on the extreme left.

Eventually, the pendulum slows, and with the increased awareness brought about, middle of the road folks can start getting things done. 

Once the big, huge, horrible travesties are tackled, the trickle down effect will bring attention to the smaller, yet still deplorable actions, that are accepted all around us.

There is an old rope horse at my barn. He is past his mid-twenties. This old guy is in obvious, continual pain. He stands with his forefeet and back feet spread like a Morgan halter horse all of the time. He is so crippled he can barely move. Yet his owner still ropes off him, day, after day, after day. the horse accepts his painful life with grace, kindness and dignity. It freaks me out.

One day I asked his owner, "When are you going to retire your good gelding?"

"When he dies. I figure he'd rather work than go to the sale."

So there you are. The horse has no protection. He has no help. He will work, in pain, until he falls over dead.

The trickle down can't drip on his poor head fast enough, but maybe, eventually, it will become socially unacceptable to treat a horse this way. Once The Big Lick is gone. Once the puppy mills are illegal. Once HSUS and Peta have made their point.

Would I like the pendulum to swing under somebody else's flag? You bet I would. I've been thinking about a better way to draw attention to atrocities like these, about the extreme failings of humanity when it comes to the animals in our care.

Today I came up with this one. What if there was a documentary made about Big Lick trainers, owners, and the shows that promote it? One good enough to hit major theaters? It's got all the nasty rich people, horror, politics and drama needed to make the big time.

I decided to write documentary/activist extraordinaire Michael Moore.

His website states he prefers real mail, as in an actual letter, over email. So I wrote him one and am including a copy of this post.

Maybe a fictionalized movie version would work better, with a clear statement that this is a real situation, going on today. A story of a young, beautiful, champion bred foal and the little girl who raised and loved him.

Then turned him over to a Big Lick trainer to become a World Champion...and brought her family and friends to watch him win at the shows...and never looked at him laying in the his tiny, dark stall, beaten, burned and destroyed...and ate fried baby while they discussed which horse lifted his tortured feet the highest and held his broken tail the straightest.  

Guess I'll write Robert Redford too, I mean, look what he did for Horse Whisperers.

Write Michael Moore at his own production company:

Dog Eat Dog Films, Inc.

430 West 14th Street

Suite 401

New York , NY 10011

Write Robert Redford Sundance Productions:

Sundance Channel

10880 Wilshire Boulevard

Suite 1500

Los Angeles, CA 90024

What I Do

This is part of what I do on the "reality" side as a writer for the El Paso County and Fountain Valley News. Of course the story doesn't stop here. I'm investigating the 80 year old woman who lives alone in a falling apart spook house. She's taking care of her two remaining horses.

My mother (retired social worker) is concerned about her mental health and is forcing me to look at the humanity side of this situation, not just the horse.

We went to her property, couldn't get her to answer the door, but took pictures of the remaining horses. There is a stack of hay, water, shelter and 2 very thin horses, although not as bad as Majestic.

The gate opens into a small pasture with lots of very green grass, so obviously they have been kept off it until recently.

I'm afraid she'll founder the other two.

Where are this womans kids (she has 5)?

Why is she alone?

Is she slipping mentally or is she hiding the fact she finacially can't care for these horses?

Is she truly an evil bitch who was dumping her companion of 20 + years or did she really think she was going to go ride?

The Sheriff's Office is going to investigate and nosy old me is following this to the end.

I'm hoping we'll end up with the horses safely surrendered and the old lady (evil or no) getting some help.

Horse Abandoned Along Fountain Creek

By Janet Huntington

The little bay Arabian mare peeked around the corner of the barn. With a friendly nicker she left her hay to get a scratch behind the ears. Her backbone and ribs stand out is stark relief and her hip bones are a lesson in the skeletal structure of the horse.

“Majestic” is barely alive, but her eyes have a spark of interest and she keeps working on her feed. Wisp by wisp of hay she is slowly coming back.

Majestic has a body score of one on the Henneke Body Scoring System, the lowest rating possible on a scale used by veterinarians and emergency responders.

“By the time a horse gets this far down their organs have begun to fail, it takes months of starvation for a horse to get to this point,” DeMuesey said.

Majestic could have simply disappeared along the banks of Fountain Creek.

DeMuesey first heard of the horse’s plight when she received a phone call from a neighbor.

He said he had stopped to help an elderly woman who was trying to unload the horse from a trailer at I 25 and exit 116. The horse was down in the trailer and the woman was trying to drag her out with a rope tied to her leg.

The neighbor talked the woman into taking the horse and trailer to his ranch and used a tractor to pull the horse out. He then called DeMuesey.

“The first time I saw her she was laying on the ground. She was nothing more than a bag of bones, I was sure she was dead,” Dreamcatcher Equine Rescue manager Julie DeMuesey said.

“She had let us talk her onto her feet by the time the vet arrived and it turns out the only thing wrong with her is starvation and age. So we had to give her a chance.”

The elderly woman kept repeating her story. She said she was planning on taking the horse on a trail ride. She insisted Majestic was her favorite riding horse and she didn’t know why she had fallen.

“She kept brushing the mare off with a broom,” DeMuesey said, “she not only had no brushes with her, but there was no saddle or bridle.

“If the mare hadn’t fallen in the trailer I’m sure the plan was to dump her along the creek.”

By the time the sheriff’s department had arrived DeMuesey had convinced her to surrender the horse. The woman was allowed to return to her home in Colorado Springs.

Situations like the one Majestic was found in are happening more and more.

“Since the slaughter plants closed there isn’t any easy solution to getting rid of an unwanted horse,” DeMuesey said.

“It used to be an unwanted horse would be dropped off at a sale and the owner could pretend the horse would find a new home. But even the kill buyers aren’t going to take on a horse without weight on them. Not when they have to haul them to Mexico or Canada to the slaughter plants,” she stated.

Majestic is calm and friendly. She has obviously had a life of kindness before now. How she ended up on a desolate highway exit, starved and neglected is anyone’s guess.

DeMuesey is concerned about the woman who surrendered her also.

“People are too proud to ask for help,” she said, “instead of waiting until a horse is in this condition and then dumping them, a phone call to a horse rescue or the humane society will get immediate assistance.”

Horse owners in trouble or neighbors aware of starving horses in the Fountain area should first call the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region. If they still need assistance a call to the Fountain Fire Department at 382-7800 will generate an investigation.

“Area rescues will do what they can,” DeMuesey said, “we’re stuffed to the brim with horses, but we’ll do what we can to help.”

Like finding room for one more; an aged, starved little mare with sweet eyes and a soft nicker.
Dreamcatcher Equine Rescue can be reached at 719-266-2199 or9julie@dcerinc.com . The expenses to rehabilitate a horse like Majestic are high. Donations are always appreciated.

Horse Rescues

I'm guessing a few of you may have noticed the photo of the nice old horse and the plea for donations on the side of my blog. this is Goliath. He is a 20 + gelding who's 17hh ahead of the saggy parts.

I have stayed away from the horse rescue arena, at least on this blog, for a lot of reasons. One is the rescue conversation is best left to Fugly, she's the master as far as I'm concerned.

Another reason is this blog is about horse training and our relationships with our horses. I feel like you need to stick with what you know, so I do.

But then came Dreamcatcher Equine Rescue. I did a story on Julie and Paul DeMusey for my paper last fall.

I'm not an easy sell, so I went out to their place and drilled them pretty good before I decided they were OK.

They are. They work hard at outside jobs, pay for hay out of pocket when they need to and put their horses first.

The horses are happy and healthy and carefully maintained.

I think Julie had me hooked when she pointed out to the pasture and said, "See that group out there? Those are the old farts. They don't have two teeth between them but they like to pretend they can graze."

She feeds them their mash in the morning then turns them out for the day. They're the first at the gate to come in for dinner.

I like people who appreciate old horses.

Dreamcatcher is full to the brim with horses.They took on 30 head of starved horses from a rescue in Colorado that went hoarder. On top of the 50 head they normally carry.

So now they have more than they should have, but they're cheerful about it and doing the best they can.

Along comes Mugs. The retired trainer who is really missing working with horses. They just happen to have a bunch that need some training.

Since I'm waiting to get my amateur card I can't take any remuneration for my services. But I can donate.

Soooo.....I started working a few head and getting some ground work done. Then I noticed there was a need for some riding instruction and horse 101 around the ranch. You see there is Julie, who knows her way around a horse and a whole bunch of eager but green volunteers.

Now we're planning some clinics and talking about a training/riding program for volunteers. If it works we'll open the clinics to outsiders and let the rescue make a little money.

So I guess I'm involved in horse rescue now. But what I'm actually involved in is training horses and horse people. So I'll have lots to write about.

I'm not going to beg for donations for this group. I will say the Pay Pal button goes straight to the Dreamcatcher account. Julie sends out a thank you for every donation, so you'll get to cyber-meet her if you donate. She's laid back, friendly and grateful for every little bit.

So there's my horse rescue talk.

Three Strikes and We're Out

I normally don't tread into the horse rescue world in the blogosphere. I figure http://www.fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/ pretty much takes care of this much needed service. To tell the truth, I'm more comfortable with our gentle, intelligent discussion over here. The intensity of emotion over in Fugs world is more than I can handle. It doesn't mean I'm not aware or don't pay attention or support my personal favorite rescue, http://www.frontrangeequinerescue.org/ through my job as a writer for the Fountain Valley News. It just means I'm just happy muddling around with our stories and conversation on mugwump, so I try to stay there.

But today I have to say something. Fugs is currently in Nebraska working her butt off to help care for almost 200 head of starving mustangs which were confiscated off of the Three Strikes Ranch.

This is part of a story was written about Three Strikes Ranch by a Denver news station on 11/1/08.

ALLIANCE, Neb. - Two years ago, 29-year-old Jason Meduna left his eastern Nebraska home and traveled west. He landed at an old 1930s ranch just south of Alliance in the rugged sand hills of western Nebraska. It was the first time he left home, and he loved it. It was the perfect place for Meduna to train horses - wild horses...
Today he takes in dozens of wild horses that have gone up for adoption through government programs, but failed.
"I think coming here and being trained it gives them the chance to have a good life with another owner," said Meduna.
Three Strikes stands for the number of times the horses have been up for adoption. Meduna keeps 200 to 300 horses on his 2,000-acre ranch at a time and trains each one as they come in.

Here is another by the same station just this week.

ALLIANCE, Neb. - The sheer numbers of it can be staggering: as many as 100 horses dead on a ranch that was supposed to be a safe haven. It's being called the largest equine cruelty investigation in Nebraska history.It's centered around the Three Strikes Ranch, located outside of the town of Alliance in the Nebraska panhandle.

For the past two years, trailers full of wild mustangs have been unloaded at Jason Meduna's ranch. He adopts wild horses from the Bureau of Land Management. They are horses no one else wants.

This week, trucks came to take the horses away. The Morrill County Sheriff's Office is investigating whether Meduna starved his horses.

The story goes on. There is going to be a lot of coverage on this one. There are over 170 dead animals on this guys place. There are about 190 horses still alive being confiscated. Some look reasonably healthy, some have body scores of 1 or 2. We'll see fingers pointed and laws suits flung around and hopefully some jail time for the people involved in this nightmare. And I'm sure many heroic tales will surface from all of the support pouring in to help the horses who manage to survive.

But this is what keeps hitting me over the head. How did this kid create this mess? I don't think he got a bunch of dough for what he was doing. He had to have an insane amount of confidence in his ability to even attempt this operation. He was 29 years old or so. Was he stupid? Was he ignorant? I can't verify too much here because he's yanked his site off the net. But I got a good look at it before it disappeared.

I just let my thoughts fly as I cruised through his site. He presented himself as a young man who grew up training horses, mustangs especially. He says he comes from generations of trainers. He very clearly represented himself as a "horse whisperer." He had a very slick web site. He showed photos of himself hugging horses, kneeling with horses, galloping on horses with the Nebraska wind whipping through his hair. This was my fave...






My guess is he had big plans. He was hoping to become a clinician. He was hoping to have oodles of women come running to buy his horses and pay him to teach them or train their horses or both. Maybe, somewhere in there he was even hoping to help some horses. I hope so.

What I also saw on his web site was a young man who didn't fit his saddles properly. Not from cruelty mind you, his poor quality, too-small saddle, odd assortment of bits and improperly placed saddle pads smacked of ignorance, not meanness.

His seat in the photo above shows tension in his lower legs. The tension a second or third year western rider often exhibits. It's a tough habit to break, it pushes the rider out of his seat, eliminates contact with the horse and creates a hollow back from pressure from the thighs. You can see it in the way this horse is standing.

His seat as he galloped across the prairie on his mustang showed an unbalanced rider, jammed into a too small saddle, with his legs too far forward and an insecure seat as a result.

I bet he had watched a bunch of videos on ground work though. I bet he could put a horse through its paces in a round-pen.

Jason Meduna might even have had some ability. He had to have to put together his initial funding. He even had a pretty assistant, who was pictured on the site hugging yet another mustang.

This is what worries me about the "natural horsemanship" movement. It attracts more idiots and people who just can't wait to write a check than any other aspect of the horse world I've come across. I'm not sure why. I hate to have the western riding culture defined by the snake oil salesmen who seem to be lining up to jump on this particular band wagon.

Don't get mad at me guys, of course I don't mean all of the NHers. I have encouraged participation in this type of horsemanship too many times too diss the entire approach.

But it seems to me the clinicians with the most ardent followers are also very handsome. They exude a certain romantic air, fueled by a specific style of clothes, which involve chinks, their gloves tucked in the waistband of said chinks, a broad brimmed hat and usually, twinkly eyes and a good moustache. Their gear involves lots of hangy tassels and reins with slobber straps. Oh yeah, and a saddle with a really fat saddle horn.

There is nothing wrong with any of these things. But when clothes start to qualify ability I become concerned.

The trainers who concern me the most make certain promises. Mainly that if you learn to work your horse in the magical way that they plan to show you, you can become a horseman without putting in the 10 - 20 hard years of riding the "other guys" have.

And I get it. Because it is magic. To learn to work a horse with body language, to send them away and bring them back without rope or halter is life changing. It's important. It creates partnerships rather than mastery, an aspect of horsemanship especially appealing to women. It's a beautiful, wonderful thing.

It's also only the first baby step in a long journey that creates a rider.

Too many of us stop there because we want so badly to be able to say, "I am a horseman."

And too many people are out there ready to feed on this desire.

I think Jason Meduna is one of them. He forgot to learn to actually fit gear on his horses. So he took his shirt off. It was enough to get the BLM to give him horses.

We have got to learn to be skeptical. Of the people who teach us and ourselves. We have always got to want more than a promise that we'll be horse whisperers at the price of a few clinics and a bunch of videos.

We need to fight the romantic lure of the old west, a handsome cowboy and a wild mustang. For that matter, I guess we need to fight the desire to ride bareback on an Andalusian stallion through the pounding surf straight towards the handsome riding master Julio.

Because in the real world, horses are a tough nut to crack. We can train a mustang, or ride an Andalusian, but we've got to learn how to first. The hard way. By riding. Preferably on a gentle, broke horse by a thinking, experienced instructor. I guess if we're lucky he'll be named Julio. There are no quick fixes.

The horse world is magical because we're never done learning. We can keep learning more about the animals we want so badly to be with and ourselves for as many years as we're willing to invest in the process. We also have to get it takes years of hard riding and learning to become truly accomplished. Years.

We absolutely cannot blindly follow any one trainer or method. I have made this mistake myself. I lucked out and came out of it a better rider, a better horseman and a better person, but I almost sacrificed too much. I found myself doing things because of this blind trust that I knew went against the very fabric of what makes me a trainer and a sympathetic human being. I got in this situation because I was enamored with the magic I saw happening around me. I wanted my horse to be like the horses I saw this trainer on. I wanted to say "I know."

What do I know now?
No one trainer has all the answers.
If it looks like magic it's probably all smoke.
Getting help is vital when it comes to horses.
Being told "my way is the only way" is not.

So what about Jason? Was he a young man who could kinda sit a horse and get people to open their checkbooks by taking off his shirt? Was he a naive kid who was convinced by a few videos and some time with the wrong trainer that he could handle the monumental task he took on? Did his pride stop him from asking for help? Is he evil or just stupid? How about the folks who supported the Three Strikes?

All I know is I plan on keeping my eyes open. I'm never going to kid myself into thinking either I or any single horse trainer has all the answers. I'm going to be very choosy about the causes I get swept up in. I'm only going to tuck my gloves into the waistband of my chinks if I need to stick them somewhere handy.

The gear I buy will be bought because I need it to accomplish a specific task. Not because it will make me look like the guy I want to ride like. Although I always liked those fancy bridles Trigger got to wear.

I guess that's all I got on this Jason Meduna thing. I hope the remaining horses get a chance.