irRationally Raven

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HomeOrca NetworkPetfinderThe Cloud FoundationThoughts. It is well-known that I speak my mind without compunctions. It's never been like me to keep quiet. The mind is far from a rational place. The mind of Raven is no different, yet a place full of contemplation, observation, reasoning, responses, and actions waiting to be fulfilled. All manner of snark, hilarity, and finger-pointing will commence toward the things that irritate me, make me sad, rave with pleasure, and so on. A place just to get away, relax, and to get it all down. For the record: your opinion here means nothing. Feel free to share it, but don't expect it will change my manner of thinking. Nothing in this world has yet to convince me otherwise. Though I expect you'll get a lot of laughs along the way. For the simple-minded: Animal and other related snark, nasty commentary, and opinionated blogging to follow. There is much in the world that needs changing.skip to main | skip to sidebar Thursday, May 29, 2014 Going Against Nature.So here I am again. I got into a nice argument with the admin of a vegan page on FaceBook that I used to really like when they posted and endorsed vegan dog and cat food. This is one of the things that makes most people hate vegans, and in this case, I can't say I blame them.

I've always been against forcing meat-eating pets into vegans. There's nothing right at all about it. I am veg myself but I would never ever try and make my meat-eating pets into vegans. There are several reasons why I see that as both wrong and cruel to the animal.

First of all, time, nature, and breeding evolved our meat-eating pets to be that way. Dogs were bred down from carnivorous wolves. Cats were bred down from carnivorous panthers. Ferrets were bred down from carnivorous weasels. All of the them are structurally and anatomically designed to ingest and digest meat. They need it to be healthy.

People who say "Well dogs are omnivores!" make me sick. Yes they are omnivorous, but they elect to eat meat, not lettuce. My favorite thing to tell me people when they give me this stupid argument is this: "Take a puppy, raise it on your vegan food or vegan kibble for it's whole life, now at say twelve years old turn the dog loose as if making it a stray, I guarantee that dog is going to scavenge every single time for meat and not salad." No dog, cat, or ferret is ever going to willingly be vegan be choice.

That leads me to reason number two why trying to 'veganize' animals pisses me off. Vegans are all about animals having their rights and choices. When you force a meat-eating animal to be a vegan you're taking away it's rights and it's choice to eat what nature intended it to eat. It's force. Forcing your human diet onto an animal that, if given it's own way, would never ever choose to eat. It's no different than forcing a tiger to balance on a ball with a whip or a dolphin to jump through flaming hoops. Either way it's still force. They force tricks, vegans are forcing their diet. Same exact thing. That's exactly the NON-vegan non-compassionate thing to do.

You wouldn't force feed lettuce to an owl, or a lion, or a falcon... so why dogs, cats, and ferrets? It's because for a lot of vegans their thought process is the only right thought process. The whole 'I am cruelty free so my animals must be exactly as I am'. It's a control thing. Here's a newsflash for those people: Your animals don't give a shit about cruelty free, vegan, or what you think. They go by instinct and what nature and evolution created them to be, which is creatures that, in a human-less world would would catch and kill, to eat meat. They want to eat meat because that's how evolution made them, regardless of your vegan mindset.

It's basically the same as saying naturally vegetarian animals such as cows, goats, horses, and gerbils should be fed meat... It's stupid and it's inhumane.

If you are a vegan and you must have a vegan animal than do not get a dog, cat, or ferret. Don't try and change nature's creation to follow your lifestyle choices. Get a parrot, or a gerbil, or a goat, or a rabbit or guinea pig. Get a pet that is already vegan and lives that way by choice and stop trying to change the way nature intended things to be.

Posted by[. Raven .]at6:44 PM1 comment: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Sunday, May 25, 2014 2014 Race Horse Death Toll (Thus far)They are all the same. They all have 2 things in common:

A. They are all racing horses.
B. They are all dead.

Every single one of them dead as a direct result of racing. Some are flat track racers, some are jumps racers, some are sprinters, some are harness racers. All the same. All dead well under their prime. Many under age ten, most under age 5.

What's worse is these are just the ones that are confirmed dead, this does not take into account or list those that had pulmonary bleeding, were injured and vanned off, or those that had some kind of distress or fell and were vanned off while still alive. Many of them were most likely later killed as a result of their injuries but their status is unknown. This also doesn't account for all of the ones that 'weren't fast enough' or were 'excess of the industry' and ended up in the slaughterhouse.

The names of those killed so far just in the 2014 year as of today, May 24th, 2014:

Carrybridge, Kieltys Folly, Kellys Eye, Maakirr, Tharaya, Equitania, Hanovarien Baron, Whos Emma, Shadow Cruise, Coverholder, Investment Expert, Adeupas D Ycy, Lukey Luke, Turnbuckle, Drinkuptrig, Storey Hill, West End Classic, Silver Wren, Cootehill, Low Gales, Voltchesko, Ancient Times, Our Conor, Sud Pacifique, Stack the Deck, Akdam, Raya Star, The Cockney Mackem, Cloverhill Lad, Bocamix, Uppertown Cave, Ask the Boss, Red Art, Sammyman, Devils Paintbrush, True To Form, Webberys Dream, Tigris, Midnight Choice, Muckey Molly, Waddingstown, Highfields Dancer, Rasheed, Dickie Henderhoop, Teeton Blackvelvet, Waving, Little Louie, Connonmill, Mr Lennygreengrass, Robbers Roost, Well Related, Red Rocco, Majorca King, Norse of Course, Hudson Gunner, Homer Run, Cunning Act, The Potting Shed, Present Potential, Forest Walker, Head Rush, Eastbury, Frankie Fourfeet, Kenny Powers, Jasper Massini, Cap Elorn, Artful Lady, Bert the Alert, Nedzers Return, Elain Albrean, Ma Chara, Dancing Freddy, The Grey Mouse, Captain Cutter, Lastoftheleaders, Silver Friend, Whymott, Scholastica, Sea Smeke, Immediate Response, Logical Approach, Mini Budget, Galileo Rock, Thunderball, Grange, Caia Electronia, Six Drivers, Share the Dosh, Goodfella, Azamour, Chelokee, Chriselliam, Dehere, Little Bridge, Moni Maker, Mr Tiz, My Flag, Show Dancer, Safely Kept, Saint Nicholas Abbey, Sunshine Forever, Wando, Rhythm of the Moon, Oriental Silk, Caillech Quest, Aztec Secret, Gameboy Luke, Caverna, Rock Elle Ten, Handstand, Polar Pal, Granny Calling, Canadian Winner, Marcelino Springs, Cuban Devil, Here Comes DrZ, Sicards Sensation, Caseys On Call, Ivebeensaved, Crystallo Mountaineer, Finesse, Garden Tavern, Sweetly Put, Vagabond Shoes, With A Miracle, Tawdry, Fardan, Broadway Peyton, Aggressive Prize, The Program, Miss Da Sunrise, Giant Indian, Hes Not Too Shabby, Miss Palatine, Chica de la Noche, Code of Conduct, Minotaur, Final Vindication, Home at Six, Manito, Sugar Mama, Fast Stack, Kentucky Hannah, Dinas Touch, Mystery Taste, The Mikester, Blonde For Ever, Casey Lynn, Battle Silk, Uncle Smoke Side Street, Very Very Grateful, Lucky For You, KZ Too, Summa Cum Boom, See The Music, Definite Elegance, Shooting Times, Mr Lemontree, Cap Elorn, Kenny Powers, Nightfall, Never Tell Lynda, Delegation, Boston Chief, Onebaddancer, Alondra Sky, La Jolla Cove, Aussi Austin, Hotradomus, American Iron, Recovered, I am Snippity, Mars, Midnight Choice, Shays River, Concept, Cellophane, Ruby Jo, Onlyforyou, Very Elusive, Zip It Jennie, Byerly Barb, Pay Tribute, Scottie C, Captain Sonadar, Recall Dynafor, Budding Affair, Charlie Company, Tizardo, Soul Searcher, Mad Loot, Good Fella, Elms...

192 race horses, confirmed dead, since the start of 2014.

Horse racing is NOT safe, it's NOT sane. It's cruel and it kills horses. These animals are literally raced to death, all for the almighty dollar. They are treated like objects, not as living, breathing creatures. They are merely commodities. The atrocities need to stop! Racing needs to stop! There is NO way to do it safely, humanely, or in any way where the HORSES benefit. The facts are there. Look them up. Horse racing kills horses and line their owners' pockets. Don't support the cruelty.Posted by[. Raven .]at2:38 AMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestRacing to DeathLet me lay this downfor you... 24 horses a week die on American/Canadian soil at the race track,that's roughly 3 per day/3 per 1,000 starts. Killed on track or on trackgrounds. Many of them killed right there in front of a watching crowd, afterthe tarps go up. This does not account for the ones that are hauled awayinjured and later euthanized due to injuries while running. That is far highernowadays than the 1.6 per 1,000 starts back in 1992. More racehorses are dyingthese days that ever before.

In Britain the death-rate is higher due to jumps racing, while it's still higher inJapan simply because of the number of animals running and track conditions.
A 2005 study by the United States Department of Agriculture found thatperformance injuries are the second leading cause of death in horses, secondonly to old age, and beating out colic by a landslide.
The reasons for so many catastrophic breakdowns are broken down into 3 groups:Age, Conformation, and Other.

Age: Racing colts at just 2 years old means they are often trained asyearlings. Some are even raced as long yearlings because of the globalThoroughbred birthdate in the Jockey Club being January 1st (NorthernHemisphere)/August 1st (Southern Hemisphere) for all horses registered. 87-93%of all racehorses (TB, STB, QH) will exhibit pulmonary bleeding at least once.The bones in the knees do not finish maturing until age 5, the spinal bones ofthe lumbo-sacral joint at age 7. Maturity overall isn't until well after 2years of age. They are racing babies, literally, into the grave.

Conformation: Very thin streamlined legs, huge ribcages with large lungs, longpasterns, fine boned animals. The number one injuries for a race horse areinjury to the sesmoid, or ankle bones, and knee injuries. When a horses leghits the ground at racing speed on a straightaway, it bears a load that isthree times its weight (with the exception of harness racing). When negotiatinga turn, centrifugal force increases the load to between 5 and 10 times bodyweight. 70% of thoroughbreds develop a condition called bucked shins, which isa cannon bone injury caused by the young colt's inability to adapt to thegrueling training regimen. Tendon injuries will also affect 66-70% of allracehorses.Rupturedtendons, as in a complete sever of the tendon, will happento 3% of allracehorses.

Other: Trips, missteps, underlying issues such as heart/brain issues are alsofactors.

Fatal breakdowns as a result of injury are separated by percentage:

Musculoskeletal: 97%
Respiratory: 1%
Integumentary: 1%
Cardiovascular: 1%

Quarter horses are 29% more likely to suffer injuries or breakdowns thanThoroughbreds, and 64% more likely than standardbreds. This is due to the factthat Quarter horse sprinters run faster and harder for a shorter period oftime.
Drugging is also rampant to get injured horses to run as if they were't. Since2009, records show, trainers at United States tracks have been caught illegallydrugging horses more than 3,800 times. In the same time period more than 7,000horses have broken down or shown signs of injury. Since 2009 the injury ratehas not only not gone down, even with all of the new 'safety' measuresimplemented,it has risen.
The greatest number of incidents on a single day 23 occurred in 2011 on themost celebrated day of racing in America, the running of the Kentucky Derby.One Derby horse fractured a leg (Archarcharch), as did a horse in the previousrace at Churchill Downs. All told, seven jockeys at other tracks were thrown tothe ground after their horses broke down.

New Mexico has the worst injury/death rate for both horses and riders of anystate in the US while Ireland churns out more horses that die from catastrophicbreakdowns and injuries than any other country.

In one 13-day stretch of racing in 2010 at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino inNew Mexico (Worst track record in the US), nine horses died racing, five werehauled away in ambulances and two jockeys were hospitalized, one in criticalcondition.

California researchers have noted that as much as 90% of horses that break downhave previously existing injuries often masked by drugs.

35+ horses have died just at the Belmont Park track since last year's BelmontStakes race alone.

As one Daily New York News reporter put it:
The thoroughbred race horse is a genetic mistake. It runs too fast, its frameis too large, and its legs are far too small. As long as mankind demands thatit be trained too young and run at high speeds under stressful conditions,horses will die at racetracks.Posted by[. Raven .]at2:06 AMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Where will they end up?So it's been talked over through and through especially lately with the horsemeat scandal in Europe, whether or not to ban American horses from being sent and sold for human consumption abroad.

Animal rights groups already got what they wanted when the last slaughterhouse that actively killed horses for meat in Illinois was closed down seven years ago. Currently American horses that are going for meat are trucked to either Canada or Mexico for slaughtering in foreign plants before being shipped around the world and sold for humans to eat at up to $40 a pound. These include horses from all walks of life. Racehorses, school horses, lesson horses, draft horses, ponies. All of them are seen making their way on the final days long journey in the back of a double decker cattle truck after being sold at auction. The final stop is a foreign slaughter plan and someone's dinner plate. In the U.S. horses are no longer killed in slaughterhouses for meat, but that doesn't mean they don't wind up there.

As it stands with a few states trying to getlegislationpassed to open a new slaughterhouse that will process horses there are many groups who are trying to get American horse meat banned once and for all. This means from export as well as making it highly illegal to cross the U.S. border with a truck full of horses bound for meat. It would also make it illegal for foreign slaughterhouses to accept horses of American origin. If this ban passes the activist groups will be head over heels with joy.

I do not like seeing our horses wind up on the butcher block, but there are two points that I see in this very flawed thought process. Let'sexplorethem, shall we?

A. Surplus. What to do with all the horses that would be taken out of the populous by means of auction and slaughter. Think about all of the breeders that pump out tens of thousands of foals annually across the U.S. So what becomes of all the surplus horses? The rescues are already overflowing and underbudgeted. The price of feed has skyrocketed to the point it's difficult to afford. There are still no restrictions on the mass-breeding that goes on, especially with crazy show breeders or race-horse stud farms who sometimes produce over two hundred foals a year in the quest for two or three good ones. Low-cost gelding clinics are few and far between so many 'oops' foals happen as well. Euthanasia is expensive and the carcass removal even higher priced.

B. Horses, as much as everyone in the U.S. denies it, are livestock. They eat grass, they walk on hooves, the live in a field and graze pasture. There is little difference, in reality, from a cow and a horse. Both are mammals, both have helped humans in settling, being fed, and providing work animals. In many places people eat horses just like they do cows. What makes it so much worse to eat a horse over a cow? Both live, feel, think, see, breathe. Both live in family groups and raise their babies. I don't get why it is such a damn taboo to thinking about eating horses but it's perfectlyacceptableand normal to go home at night and eat a cow. Hypocrisy all around.

So what do we do? Most people find the thought of eating horses appalling (but then they eat cows, damn hypocrites) and the thought of sending them to slaughter sickening, but what do we do? Do we ban all forms of horsemeat in this country? If so, then what do we do when the instances of neglect, home-killing, starvation, abandonment, etc rise by 200-300%? Where will we send tens of thousands of unwanted horses if there is no place for them and no place to dispose of them? Will a black market for horseflesh like the one in Florida rise up again and give rise even more to backyard horse butchers?

The simplest answer is, as of now, that a ban on horsemeat and horse exportation for slaughter will not work. If anything, it will only make the number of unwanted horses rise exponentially and then therein still lies the problem. This proposed 'solution' isn't going to solve anything. If anything it will make the problem facing the overpopulation, neglect, abandonment, starvation, etc much, much worse. I hate seeing any animal be killed for food, but if you think about it, that's far better than being neglected in a tiny waste-encrusted pen with severely overgrown hooves covered in skin lesions while slowly and agonizingly starving to death over months.

The problem needs to be addressed at the source: The breeders.

Breeders producing hundreds of foals a year at a single farm in the quest for a couple of the fastest for the race track or a couple of well-built ones for the halter show ring. Breeders breeding anything with spots to anything that has four hooves. Breeders breeding anything that will produce 'color'. Or the fad breeders who jump on whatever breed fad is going around and breed them like crazy, like current the obsession with Gypsy Vanners. If breeding was regulated and this kind of over-breeding was slapped with a fine, it wouldn't happen and we wouldn't have an exploding horse population with no homes for them. If horses were required to show their worth before being allowed to breed, this kind of thing wouldn't be happening. If stupid owners would geld their worthless conformational trainwrecks of stallion instead of letting them sire foals with half their herd, this kind of thing wouldn't happen. Etcetera. If the problem, which lies with the breeders, was addressed there wouldn't be a staggering horse overpopulation problem.

Right now there is no middle ground. The activists want all horse meat and export banned, and the people who regularly send unwanted horses through the meat system want American slaughter plants opened.

Neither is any closer to finding a truesolutionbecause they are missing the problem entirely... Start with the breeders and the overbreeding and then you'll have a basis for a working long-termsolution.

Posted by[. Raven .]at11:01 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Sunday, March 17, 2013 Cruelty by Kindness.People talk about it all the time, the obesityepidemic. That's gnawing a bone that's been gnawed for years. I'm here to talkbitch about how people's greed/gluttony are passed on to their animalcompanions resulting in the animal obesity epidemic we're seeing so much thesedays.

I see it day in and day while doing my job (professional animal groomer).Animals coming in that weigh much more than they should, sometimes double ortriple what they should. What I don't understand is where it got lost intranslation and got turned around that this is okay. Apparently 90% of peopleare completely blind to the fact that their animals are extremely overweight,while some are in complete denial about the whole thing, and still others justdon't care. It takes all sorts, too. You see really tall thin people that haveextremely overweight cats and heavy people that have slender dogs, etc. It'snot just caused by heavy people who feed their animals much like they dothemselves and ignore the need for exercise. These overweight animals are ownedby people from all walks of life.

It's not uncommon for someone to bring in their dog (or cat) for grooming andwant to leave some kind of disgusting food or treats for it and expect me tofeed it to them. I usually agree to it because I don't want to be rude and causea dispute but as soon as they walk out the door whatever it is usually ends upin the trash first thing. I've seen some utterly disgusting things over the years.I had a two heavy-set ladies bring in a small severely overweight shih tzu mixand they were feeding it chewed-up fast-food chicken from a cardboard tray. Iwas appalled. It was absolutely disgusting. I've had others bring in cannedvienna sausages, spam, wet dog/cat food, baby food, and other manner ofhorrifying vile-scented things.

Be it denial, stupidity, or just plain lack of caring people really need tostep back, look at their severely overweight animals, and realize that they arenot actually being kind to them, but in reality, killing them. Its all crueltyby kindness. People think they are doing nice things for their beloved pets byfeeding them all sorts of things, such as table scraps, but its really theopposite. A lifetime of being fed all wrong leads to a staggering amount ofhealth problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high-blood pressure, and otherthings. Most of the same illnesses humans get by being overweight affectanimals too when they are too heavy to be properly healthy. Just five pounds ofextra weight on a dog or cat can shorten their life by more than a year andthat shortened mortality rate increases with the more excess weight your pet iscarrying.

Pets must be fed/treated properly to be healthy. This means saying no tooverfeeding, excessive table scraps, feeding the right kinds of food, notovertreating, and proper exercise. Its not doing your pets a kindness when youfeed them everything under the sun. Pet food is made for a reason. Next timeyou want to feed your dog or cat something fatty or just plain disgusting,think of someone you know with a muffin top jelly roll belly hanging over theirpants or someone that has severe diabetes or heart disease and rethink yourdecision. It might, in the end, save your pet from a lifetime of healthproblems and actually extend their healthy happy years.

Posted by[. Raven .]at10:34 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Sunday, February 3, 2013 Breeding BabiesFoaling and breeding season is beginning for horses and a lot of people are very anxiously awaiting their new foals as well as being able to breed. Today's blog is about something that has always royally pissed me off: Breeding 2 year old fillies.

Fillies (young female horses) are not considered mares (adult female horses) until they reach the age of five. This is when their knees, hocks, ankles, and spinal joints are closed/fused and they are completely done growing and maturing. This is when they are considered fully mature in body as well as in mind. This is the optimum age to breed and start serious training at. Yet few breeders want to wait five years while their filly (or colt) is 'out to pasture' growing up. A lot of breeders think there is nothing wrong with breeding a two year old, filly or colt. I commonly hear people saying "Well, lots of breeders do it so it must be okay."

Tell me what the fuck makes it okay or healthy for a two year old filly to be bred? She's just a fucking baby herself!

I don't give a shit what idiot breeders think. I don't want to hear the "Oh she's structurally sound!", "She's good-sized for her age!", "She's a large breed!" and other excuses. They are just that. Excuses. She's still a fucking baby regardless of size or breed. Horses all mature at the same rate, regardless of breed. She's not mature mentally, structurally, or internally, and won't be for another three years. She is still a child by horse standards. Fillies and colts will nurse off of their mothers naturally until they are yearlings. So she's now two and learning to be independent. Just because she is not nursing off of her mother still does not mean it is okay for her to have a foal herself.

Structurally, at two years old, her bones are not sound for breeding. Her knee joints are not yet closed, her bones are not fully hardened, her bone fusions are not complete. Mentally she is still just a baby. All she needs to be learning is the things her mother would have taught her. Where to feed, when to sleep, how to behave, how to be a horse. Internally her pelvis isn't fused and her uterus isn't conditioned fully yet.

Big name horse breeders will often breed their two year old fillies. The first thing that comes to mind for me is 'puppy-mill', or in this case 'foal-mill'. Breeders don't want to wait for their filly to grow up and mature before breeding her. That costs "too much time and money". 'Who cares if she is a baby, if we're not gonna break her at two at least we can get a baby out of her, or two or three, before she is five years old then at least we can make some kind of income off of her.' That is the mentality that fuels the breeding of two year olds. It's not uncommon two see a mare that just turned five years old and already has two or three foals.

If you can't afford to let your baby horse grow up out in the pasture learning to be a horse you have no fucking business being a breeder or horse owner! Breeding a two year old filly is equivalent to a thirteen year old human girl getting pregnant. Parents and society would scream abuse, disgust, and horror over this. But hey, a thirteen year old girl has started her menstrual cycle and thus that means she is capable of getting pregnant and carrying a baby. Does that make it okay for her to get pregnant? Fuck no! It's the exact same thing with two year old fillies. They are just babies. Just because they are capable of getting pregnant and carrying a foal does not mean they should. Two year olds should absolutely not be purposefully bred. Ever.

On top of her not being physically ready to carry a foal think about her background. Has she even done anything at two years old to even merit being bred? There are already tons of fugly foals being produced from worthless conformational train-wrecks. Wait a while, get her some show experience, wait until she is broke to ride or drive at four years of age. Make breeding her worth-while. Foals from sires/dams with no record of doing anything other than breeding are pretty much worthless, especially in this economy.

Thoroughbred breeders often breed their fillies as 'long yearlings', not yet two, because all registered TBs birthdays are considered January 1st. So these are yearlings getting pregnant and having foals at late two. They don't even have time to be babies. They are born damn near right into motherhood. All of which is sick and very unethical.

The fact is this: horses, regardless of breed, take time to mature. Five years to be completely structurally sound for breeding/serious training (I'm not against gently starting/backing a horse at three years old, even though I prefer four years old) (As well I am not against breeding mares at late three, early four if you cannot wait til five). If you cannot wait at the very least three years to breed your filly then you have no right to own her. If you are one of the shitty breeders that just cannot wait and think it's okay to breed your two year old fillies shame on you. Go talk to a thirteen or fourteen year old teenage girl that got pregnant. Maybe it will make your money-hungry selfish ass think twice about breeding your two year old next time.

Posted by[. Raven .]at8:29 PM1 comment: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Wednesday, January 30, 2013 HYPPocritesThe HYPP debate has always been something that rattles my cage. Today's blog is about the idiocy/stupidity of horse breeders and uneducated horse buyers that are both connected to and responsible for HYPP.

Before we get into it here are some facts on HYPP:

HYPP or HYperkalemic Periodic Paralysis is an inherited equine muscular genetic disorder all stemming from a single American Quarter Horse stallion named Impressive. Impressive, a chestnut Appendix Quarter Horse (QH x TB), was born on April 15th, 1968. No one knew that he would set out to become one of the most notorious and famous Quarter Horses in history, not because of his amazing breeding or because he won this and that, but because of the genetic disorder that he spread over much of the American Quarter Horse breed. At just 6 years old he already had 48 halter points and became the first World Champion Open Aged Halter stallion. Due to his show-ring wins and his thickly muscled physique he was all the rage in a sire that everyone wanted. He produced nearly 30 world halter champions and overall sired around 2,250 live foals. His foals and their descendants make up of over 100,000 AQHA registered horses. He died in 1995 at the ripe old age of 27 (a very old horse by today's sickening short-lived halter horses). It seemed that he and his progeny would go down into history as the best of the best in the equine halter showing world... that is, until it was brought to light that he was the horse solely responsible for the genetic disorder we call HYPP.

Under detail HYPP is a genetic disorder that causes muscle tremors, 'tying up', stiffness, weakness, collapse, paralysis, and death. It is a dominant disorder which means it only needs one copy of the defective gene to be physically present and to pass on. Yet another symptom of HYPP positive horses is the one thing that keeps breeders producing HYPP positive foals for the show ring: overactive constantly spasming muscles lead to very thick sometimes overmuscled horses that do phenomenally in the halter show ring. Due to the fact that the muscles in affected horses are nearly always contracting even if not seen by the naked eye the horse puts on double the muscle that a normal horse his age would and thus makes it look to have a 'bodybuilder' physique, which the judges in the halter ring reward with many ribbons and trophies.

So why keep breeding horses that have such a potentially deadly disorder? Because in the showring it's what is winning.

Yes... Breeders, small and large, are breeding horses with a serious deadly genetic disorder simply because it wins in the show ring. They're not only showing but breeding, training, and selling these genetically defective horses. What's worse, is the uneducated people that are buying these horses for themselves or for their children. There are quite a few documented cases of HYPP horses being bought for young riders that have an episode while under saddle. Catastrophic. There's nothing more terrifying than the horse underneath you seizing up and going down while at a canter or a full gallop. It's happened more than once, and it can happen at any time on an effected horse with absolutely no warning. Still these horses are being bred, shown, and sold. As of 2005 39% of the registered AQHA horses are either N/H or H/H... That means almost 40% of the registered population of Quarter Horses carries and reproduces this fatal disorder. More than one-third of all registered Quarter Horses. Even worse, it's being bred into other previously unaffected stock breeds such as paints and appaloosas.

What makes it fucking ridiculous is that HYPP could be wiped clean out in a single generation if people would just stop breeding horses that are N/H and H/H and only breed clean horses (N/N) without the defective gene. Yet so long as these overmuscled freakish horses are winning in the show ring asshat breeders who only care about money and ribbons and not about the horses will keep churning out foals with the potentially fatal disorder. It's all about the money and not about the horses. What does it matter if they are churning out thousands of genetically defective foals year after year if they are winning and taking the show ring by storm? This is the mindset of people who breed and show HYPP positive horses. Breeders, STOP BREEDING THEM. It's unethical to breed or sell HYPP horses, especially when you are selling them and the danger they pose to unsuspecting buyers. And buyers, DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE you buy a Quarter Horse! Judges, STOP PLACING THEM well in the show ring! Registries, STOP REGISTERING THEM! Business. It's all about the business of what's wining and selling and not about the horses, it never has been, it's all about the money. HYPP could so easily be eradicated if stupid people would pull their heads out of their pompous asses and make it about the horse and not about the money/show wins.

Yes, you can get horses genetically linked to Impressive, even line, double, or triple linebred back to him that are not HYPP positive and cannot pass it on to their foals. Those are the only offspring, great offspring, great great offspring, etc that should be bred with his bloodlines. Those that are HYPP N/H (Positive, 50% of foals will also have HYPP) or H/H (Positive, 100% of foals will have HYPP) should never ever be bred. Avoiding Impressive bloodlines altogether is foolish though. He was a great long-lived horse, but I would make sure that any and all horses linked to him that someone might want to buy, sell, or breed are tested right off the get-go. HYPP can easily be avoided and eradicated. Do not breed HYPP positive horses and do not buy a stock horse without seeing current proof of a HYPP negative test. Encourage the AQHA to halt the registration of all HYPP positive horses and their offspring. This would stop them from winning in the show ring and their prices would drop considerably. If horse people can't make money off of HYPP positive horses they would quit breeding them. That along with educating people about HYPP would eventually curb the problem and eliminate the majority of the disorder. I say majority because looking at the facts there will always be people too ignorant/cheap to test their horses, and for those that don't care, they will continue to breed/sell them. Still, the show-rings would be clean of the disorder and that would make a world of difference to the American Quarter Horse and all stock breeds.


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