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To Louise Bowling, it was the fulfilment of a life-long dream. Having bought some land, surrounded by beautiful countryside, she now had space to rear her beloved horses. But. just a few months after purchasing the 1.1 acre plot, Mrs Bowling's dream is in tatters.

The government wants to deal with the booming number of wild horses crowding the Western range by sending the animals east. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today unveiled his plan to control the rising environmental and monetary costs associated with wild horses and burros by moving tens of thousands of them onto new preserves in the Midwest and East. "We must consider citing these preserves in areas outside of Western States because water and forage are extremely limited in the West, and drought and wildfire threaten both rangeland and animal health," Salazar said in a letter today to Senate Majority Leader...

QUEENSLAND vet Alister Rodgers lost his battle with the lethal Hendra virus overnight, dying after two weeks in a coma. State Health Minister Paul Lucas today sent his deepest sympathies to Dr Rodgers' widow, Linda, and children Courtney and Duncan. “This is a terrible tragedy for his family and they are being supported by the staff of Princess Alexandra Hospital,” Mr Lucas told Parliament this morning. Dr Rodgers, of the Rockhampton Veterinary Clinic, was infected with the virus when he treated a sick filly - thought at the time to be suffering from snakebite - at the J4S stud in...

MIAMI (AP) -- Someone is killing the horses of Miami-Dade County. Since January, police say at least 17 horses have been butchered, their carcasses left on roadsides or in stalls or rural pastures.

The US Government is about to spend $700 million on wild horse contraception and management. Yes, really. Powerline and HotAir have hit on this already, but it’s worth beating this dead horse a bit more. A bill being put forward by Rep. Raul Grijalva D-Ariz. and Rep. Nick Rahall D-W.Va. named the Restore Our American Mustangs Act has wasteful spending opponents’ jaws dropping, and given the ridiculous amount of wasteful spending we’ve seen this year, that’s no small accomplishment. ...This whole discussion reminds me of my little sister obsessing over horses for three years, usually culminating with a tearful Christmas...

HORSE-drawn carts have been banned from one of Ireland's most famous national parks in an escalation of a long-running row about their refusal to use "nappies" to deal with the horse dung. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) said today it had "taken action to refuse entry to jaunting car operators'' to the Killarney national park in the south-west unless they have "the required dung catcher device''. Operated by so-called "jarveys'', some 66 traditional carts, known as jaunting cars, carry tourists along 15 kilometres of internal roads within the picture-postcard park. "An unfortunate consequence of such a high volume...

Generations ago, horses were used to wage war. Now they're being used to heal the psychic wounds of war. In an trend still viewed as strange by much of the mental-health mainstream, some Southern Arizona counselors are using the beasts as co-therapists to treat troops suffering from combat trauma. "When I first heard about it, I thought, 'Are they kidding?' " said Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Richard Quinn, who returned from Iraq in 2007 with a brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. But after a recent weekend spent communing with Kairos, a hulking black draft horse, Quinn is a...

9:52 AM CDT, June 11, 2009 LaPORTE, Ind. - A judge has rejected a man's guilty plea in the killing of a Belgian draft horse, saying the case should go to trial because the man deserves time behind bars.

BATESVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Sheriff's deputies said a man used horse tranquilizers to try to drift off into sleep at a Batesville motel. Deputies said the man was taken to the hospital around 6 p.m. Tuesday. Inside his room, deputies said they found syringes and three bottles of horse tranquilizers. Deputy Anthony Carter said the man told him he used the drugs as many as five times that day to help him go to sleep.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- An official at a Florida pharmacy said Thursday the business incorrectly prepared a supplement given to 21 polo horses that died over the weekend while preparing to play in a championship match. Jennifer Beckett of Franck's Pharmacy in Ocala, Fla., told The Associated Press in a statement that the business conducted an internal investigation that found "the strength of an ingredient in the medication was incorrect." The statement did not say what the ingredient was. Beckett, who's the pharmacy's chief operating officer, said the pharmacy is cooperating with an investigation by state authorities and the...

WELLINGTON, Fla. -- Investigators have opened a criminal probe into whether someone poisoned 21 polo horses that died during preparations for a match in the sport's top championship in Florida, officials said Tuesday. The horses from a Venezuelan-owned team began collapsing Sunday as they were unloaded from trailers at the International Polo Club Palm Beach, with some dying at the scene and others hours later at stables or clinics. State investigators believe the horses died from an adverse drug reaction, toxins in their food or supplements, or a combination of the two. While state veterinarians run tests to determine what...

MIAMI - Twenty-one horses from a Venezuelan team competing at the U.S. Open Polo Championship died after collapsing before a match in Florida, officials said on Monday. The International Polo Club of Palm Beach said the Lechuza Caracas team was preparing its horses for an afternoon match when two collapsed and others began "exhibiting dizziness and disorientation." "From the reports I've received, they came out of their trailers and they were dizzy ... and began toppling over," said Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture. "It's my understanding that all of these horses have died, 21 in total."

(CNN) -- Fourteen thoroughbred horses dropped dead in a mysterious scene Sunday before a polo match near West Palm Beach, Florida, officials said. State and local veterinary teams are trying to figure out what happened at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida, as team Lechuza Caracas prepared to compete in a U.S. Open match. Two horses initially collapsed, and as vets and team officials scrambled to revive them, five others became dizzy, said Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the polo club. "A total of seven died on our property," O'Connor told CNN. Seven other horses died en route...

ONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - A stem-cell repair technique that has already been used to fix hundreds of injured race horses is to be tested for the first time in people with damaged Achilles tendons. Privately owned British biotech firm MedCell Bioscience Ltd said on Wednesday it would start clinical tests within 12 months and planned to run a larger confirmatory study at several European hospitals in 2011. Patients will receive injections containing millions of their own stem cells, which have been extracted and multiplied up in a laboratory, and can regenerate new tissue to repair damaged regions.

I Want Revenge is a horse on a mission. The son of Stephen Got Even has traveled across the country to get a head start on his compatriots back home. While they remain in California, content to scamper along on the synthetic surface, oblivious to the test that awaits them on May 2, I Want Revenge is willing to find out right now, once and for all, whether he will get hit by a dirt bomb or take to the loam like a kid to a sandbox. If it turns out to be the latter and he can defeat a...

Horses were first tamed at least 5,500 years ago, by peoples who not only rode them but milked them as well. Archaeological research has shown that the domestication of horses began at least 1,000 years earlier than thought, among the Botai culture that thrived in what is now Kazakhstan between 3700BC and 3100BC. A British-led team of scientists has discovered three lines of evidence that point to an equestrian tradition among the Botai, who lived in a region where wild horses are known to have been abundant. The findings, published in the journal Science, also show that the animals were...

Wagon Teamster is struck in route By Charles Edwards, February 10, 2009 Dear friends of Daotah; I just received a phone call from an East Coast Wagon Teamster, named Lauren, who let me know that at 11:27AM this morning, Mr. Bob Skelding ( http://www.wagonteamster.com") was struck by tanker truck while traveling through Scooba, Mississippi this afternoon on Highway 45. I contacted the local hospital emergency room to find out how Bob is doing, but am waiting for a call back. Initial reports are grim, as I was informed that all two of his Percheron horses were killed in the...

A New Hampshire man, who told a Dispatch reporter last week he was on a “journey of a lifetime” that brought him through nine states, dozens of towns and more than 1,700 miles, was in a wreck on Highway 45 today that demolished his horse-drawn recreational vehicle and killed two of his four horses. The wreck happened on Highway 45 South near Shuqualak on the Kemper-Noxubee county line. Bob Skelding, 49, was driving his team of horses on a stretch of roadway that had little or no shoulder. Two 18-wheelers traveling side-by-side crested a hill, and one of the trucks...

Chances are you've seen a blind person accompanied by a guide dog. But what about a guide horse, a service parrot or a monkey trained to help an agoraphobic? These are just a few of the nontraditional service animals that are used across the country to help people with disabilities and psychological disorders. As their uses are expanding, however, the government is considering a proposal that would limit the definition of "service animal" to "a dog or other common domestic animal."

Guide Horses have shown great promise as a mobility option, and people who have tried Guide Horses report that the Guide Horses perform exceptionally well at keeping their person safe. These friendly horses provide an experimental alternative mobility option for blind people. People who have tried Guide Horses report that the horses demonstrate excellent judgment and are not easily distracted by crowds and people.

RENO, Nev., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Authorities in Nevada say an increasing number of domestic horses are being abandoned by their owners because of the worsening economy. The horses are being turned loose to fend for themselves, but lack of survival skills and often end up being killed by predators, hit by cars or dying of starvation, said Darrell Peterson, a brand inspector for the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Abandoned domestic horses have little chance of being adopted by wild bands of horses and often are attacked by them, said Peterson, noting he has picked up six domestic horses in...

The cause of death for 100 horses that died last month at a breeding farm outside Summerfield appears to be botulism, according to some of the tests done on the dead animals and their feed.Although more tests will be done and more samples were sent to labs last week, the preliminary test results indicate that the toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum was what caused the horses at EquiTransfer to suffer nervous system damage, said veterinarian Mike Short, with the state veterinarian's office, which is part of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services..................................................The hay the farm fed the horses...

OCALA - As many as 100 horses died at a farm outside Summerfield during the past 10 days after the animals became ill, littering the farm's pastures. The death toll is unprecedented, say state veterinary officials. The cause of the illness, so far, remains a mystery. Owners of EquiTransfer, Jose Davila and his wife, Francis Ramirez, both veterinarians, had to euthanize the horses after the animals showed neurological problems and began collapsing. The couple say they think the cause of the illness was contaminated hay that wreaked havoc on the animals' nervous system

A Tyneside pub has called time on one of its regular visitors after the premises were refurbished. Peggy, a 12-year-old mare, used to enjoy a pint of beer and a packet of crisps alongside her owner at the Alexandra Hotel in Jarrow. ............

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 2008 – Based on the idea that with their grace, elegance and unconditional acceptance, horses may be just what many servicemembers and veterans need, a former Marine has formed an organization to introduce them to what he calls “the power of partnership with horses.” “Horses have an incredible way of teaching and healing humans,” said Brad Myers, president of Operation Silver Spurs. A third-generation veteran, Myers started the endeavor after consulting with a master therapeutic riding instructor. Operation Silver Spurs is open not only to all veterans, but also to active-duty personnel, reservists, Guardsmen and their...

On Sunday, as I was sitting in my summer cabin in Vermont, completely absorbed in a New York Times story about John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter, I began reading a paragraph whose message shot through me like a sudden bolt of electrical current. The story centered on Ms. Hunter's refusal to take a DNA test to determine the paternity of her 5-month-old daughter, but that was not what startled me. It was this: "Ms. Hunter was born in Fort Lauderdale. Fla., in 1964 as Lisa Druck and moved to New York City in her 20s, becoming part of a...

On Sunday, as I was sitting in my summer cabin in Vermont, completely absorbed in a New York Times story about John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter, I began reading a paragraph whose message shot through me like a sudden bolt of electrical current. The story centered on Ms. Hunter's refusal to take a DNA test to determine the paternity of her 5-month-old daughter, but that was not what startled me. It was this: "Ms. Hunter was born in Fort Lauderdale. Fla., in 1964 as Lisa Druck and moved to New York City in her 20s, becoming part of a...

Former presidential hopeful John Edwards' mistress grew up in Florida with a dad who once found himself in the FBI's sights. Born Lisa Druck in Fort Lauderdale, Rielle Hunter didn't leave much of a footprint there. Or on the Central Florida community of Ocala, where she went to high school. Or Tampa, where she went to college. Correction: A previous version of this story said James Druck died in 1992. Her father, however, did leave a legacy in this state. An ugly one. Quoting an FBI informant shortly after James Druck's death in 1990, Sports Illustrated named him a figure...

Mercedes Clemens is certified to massage humans, but she claims the state of Maryland is keeping her from her first love: Massaging horses.

What horses can tell us now about the coming human flu pandemicApril 23, 2008A computer-generated three-dimensional model of the molecular structure of the H7 influenza virus coat protein (hemagglutinin or HA, for short), the molecule responsible for enabling the influenza virus to recognize the host's cell and invade it. Stored safely in a freezer at Cornell's James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health are samples of the virus thought to be most like the one public health experts expect someday to afflict record numbers of the world's population. The virus was collected in 1973 during an outbreak of equine influenza...

Robert LaPenta’s War Pass, the champion 2-year-old of 2007 and winner of the $2 million Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) at Monmouth Park, has suffered a leg injury that has knocked the colt out of the $2 million guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). Trainer Nick Zito said Saturday that X-rays had revealed a small fracture in the sesamoid in the colt’s left front ankle. Veterinarian Dr. Rick Fischer discovered the fracture that Zito said would likely require War Pass to be on the sidelines for “a few months.” Zito said equine surgeon Dr. Larry...

Ginnie James, who has died aged 67, was a feisty yet warm-hearted figure, equally at home in the bullrings of Portugal and the racing villages of the Lambourn Valley. One of the high points of her life came in 1961, when she decided she wished to become a bullfighter. Aged 21 she took herself to Portugal, immersing herself in the culture and being taken under the wing of one of the most prominent families in the largely closed world of Portuguese bullfighting (which differs from the Spanish version in that the bull is killed away from the ring). Determined to...

Slim wallets and an end to U.S. slaughterhouses flood rescue centers with horses and few options for dealing with them. A dying horse is a physics problem, and 1,000 pounds of emotional debate over what we should do with the iconic Western companion at the end of its useful life. "The bottom line is there are more horses than there are people with properties who can adequately care for them," said Keith Roehr, a veterinarian with the state of Colorado. Overbreeding has saturated the horse market, driving down values, while feed-grain prices have tripled. At the same time, changing ethical...

PIERRE – After an avalanche of criticism, public support is growing for a bill proposing horse slaughtering in South Dakota, a state lawmaker says. Kloucek introduced SB170, which, in its original version, would have allowed up to $1 million in state economic development loans to establish a horse slaughtering plant. The Senate Agriculture Committee killed the bill last week, but mainly for procedural reasons. A number of committee members who voted against the measure said they were not opposed to horse slaughtering.

Horror as Chinese horses are forced to fight to the death By BARRY WIGMORE Chinese spectators smile sadistically at the inhumane spectacle of two beautiful horses savagely attacking one another. With ears back, eyes rolling and nostrils flared in fury, the enraged horses pummel each other with their hooves and bite and head-butt each other in a horrifying fight, sometimes to the death. Men, women and children watch, and a roar of approval goes up as one horse delivers the equivalent of a double-uppercut to its opponent with its hind legs. The cruel "sport" of horse fighting has been outlawed...

Eight Rescued, One Found Dead, Authorities Say They were once competitors, racehorses that might have known victory. But that seemed a distant reality for the emaciated horses that authorities recently seized from a Clarke County farm. When rescuers arrived at the farm last week, one mare was dead, the ground burrowed where she had tried repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, to stand. Eight other horses showed signs of starvation, their skin stretched taut over rib cages and hip bones. "There was no doubt in my mind that these people were not taking care of these horses. There was no grazing. There was...

Elizabete Gouveia has cerebral palsy, cannot stand or sit up by herself and needs regular physiotherapy. But for the last few months she has been enjoying horse riding as part of her treatment regime. Her father Manuel, from Torres Vedras, Portugal, says the treatment - known as hippotherapy - is proving very beneficial to three-year-old Elizabete. "She is not afraid of the horse and we have found she is more relaxed after the treatment. Benefits "Her legs particularly are more relaxed and we have seen a big difference since she started the therapy. "Now she even looks forward to having...

It is one of the biggest issues the American Horse Council is dealing with and Dave Howell, chairman of the American Horse Council’s State Horse Council Advisory Committee tells Brownfield it is really big. “So today we are facing over 212,000, documented starving horses in the United States,” said Howell. Brought about by the horse slaughter ban, the issue is one that no one seems to have an answer for - not even the American Horse Council. “We have cases where they have been turned loose in parks, they’ve been turned loose in coal mine areas, they’ve been turned loose...

Stem cells have been isolated successfully from the equine umbilical cord. Once collected, these cells (referred to as umbilical cord matrix cells) can then be preserved frozen, cultured, and differentiated into a host of cell lines, including bone, cartilage, fat, and those of the nervous system. Currently, stem cells are obtained from either fat or bone marrow of adult horses and are employed in equine medicine to treat traumatic and degenerative diseases such as bowed tendons, ligament injuries, osteoarthritis, and osteochondral defects (such as osteochondrosis or bone cysts). "Studies demonstrate that stem cells help tissues regenerate, rather than repair by...

California city may ban oleanders YORBA LINDA, Calif., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Residents and city officials in Yorba Linda, Calif., are considering a ban on oleanders because of the plant's risk to horses. Oleanders, which have pink and white flowers, can be deadly to a horse if consumed, and many Yorba Linda residents own horses, The Orange County Register reported. The Yorba Linda City Council plans to vote this month on banning the plants. A University of California at Davis veterinary medical publication suggests that horses could suffer heart failure even from eating a small amount of the plant, the...

World's smallest horse has tall order By JEFF DOUGLAS, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 19, 9:31 PM ET ST. LOUIS - At just a hair over 17 inches tall, the miniature horse is more inclined to walk under fences than jump them. And her owners have sheltered the mare from ever gaining "circus-sideshow" or "one-trick-pony" status. As the world's smallest horse, 5-year-old Thumbelina, weighing in at 57 pounds, has a bigger mission: to raise $1 million for children's charities this year. ADVERTISEMENT Handler Michael Goessling, son of miniature horse farmers Kay and Paul Goessling, says Thumbelina is the ideal child...

SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. - A barn fire at an award-winning American Saddlebred farm in south-central Kentucky killed 24 horses, the owner said Wednesday. Seven colts and 17 mares were in the barn at 3-T Farm in Allen County when the fire broke out Tuesday morning, said Paige Tabor, one of the owners. All but one of the horses were American Saddlebreds, she said. "When you lose a barn full, it's overwhelming, but you just pick yourself up and find a way to go on," Tabor said. The farm has about 300 horses, she said. -snip- Tabor's husband, Randy Tabor, and his...

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LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The 100-acre bluegrass pasture at the state prison where Tomo, a retired thoroughbred, spends most of his days grazing under the hot Kentucky sun is a long way from the glitzy, fast-paced racetracks where he grew up. At age 6, with a less than stellar career behind him, Tomo was headed to a slaughterhouse last year, like thousands of horses whose racing days have ended. But he is one of the lucky ones. He landed a slot at the Blackburn Correctional Complex, where inmates care for the horses as if they were their own. It was on...

The animals must be accompanied by U.S. Origin Health Certificate issued by a veterinarian authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and endorsed by a Veterinary Services veterinarian. The certificate shall contain the name and address of the consignor and the consignee and individual identification of the animals to be exported. Additional information shall include: 1. The horse(s) were vaccinated at least 15 days but within 12 months prior to shipment against equine eastern and western equine encephalitis with _______________ (name of product) on ____________ (date The list goes on......

A Worldwide Push To Bring back chariot Racing THE WALL STREET JOURNAL May 24, 2007 SAO SIMAO, Brazil – On a drowsy May day in the country, tractors and combines were lumbering down dirt roads when, suddenly, a cloud of dust rose up on the horizon. Birds scattered. Rumbling across the green landscape came seven racing chariots, each pulled by four horses. Riding in the chariot decorated with an engraving of Alexander the Great was Luiz Augusto Alves de Oliveira, a 50-year-old sugar-cane farmer who has an epic plan: returning chariot racing to its ancient glory. In this May Day...

Full Field of Twenty Assembled for Kentucky Derby 133 This year will mark the third consecutive edition of the Kentucky Derby which lured a full field of twenty horses to the starting gate.

HONG KONG: It was a device worthy of Rube Goldberg or Wile E. Coyote: a dozen remote-controlled launching tubes secretly buried in the turf at Hong Kong's most famous horse race track last week, armed with compressed air to fire tiny, liquid-filled darts into the bellies of horses at the starting gate. No horses were hurt, because the track supervisor noticed something underfoot before racing started, discovered the elaborate mechanism concealed by grass-colored tape and called in a police bomb squad to remove it. But the discovery of the device, equipped with elaborate electronic controls, has raised concerns about security...

Horses at risk from virus that can kill in four hours By Charles Clover, Environment Editor Last Updated: 2:27am BST 27/03/2007 A deadly virus that kills horses is poised to arrive in Britain as a result of climate change, scientists warned. African horse sickness, which is spread by the Culicoides midge, kills 90 per cent of horses that catch it. The disease causes bleeding, breathing difficulties, colic and death within four hours of catching the virus. The Government-funded Institute for Animal Health (IAH) described the virus as "probably the worst horse disease on the planet". It could devastate the £4...

STAFFORDSVILLE, KY. — The bidding for the black pony started at $500, then took a nosedive. There were no takers at $300, $200, even $100. With a high bid of just $75, the auctioneer gave the seller the choice of taking the animal off the auction block. The seller said no. "I can't feed a horse," the man said. "I can't even feed myself." Kentucky, the horse capital of the world, famous for its sleek thoroughbreds, is being overrun with thousands of horses no one wants — some of them perfectly healthy, but many of them starving, broken-down nags. Other...