An Sci- Animal Welfare Lecture: Sport Horses

-Tennessee Walking Horses---> soring/big lick
  -putting nails, tacks, glass etc in the padding to make the horse snap his foot up faster. Usually they don't last more than 3yrs in training because of this. (No market in Canada for these types of shows). USDA inspects these shows. 90% scratch rate when the inspector shows up.

Right this isn't the video she showed, I can't find it. And keep in mind it's put together by the HSUS. She mentioned the stuff about the nails, and they're found through xrays. This is what it looks like:

(and of course they aren't all trained that way but I'm just saying what she told us.)

-oh they also put acid in the padding.

Dressage --> Rolkur

this is the video she showed: 

So the girl lecturing is completely western which is perhaps why she thinks the Rollkur is not banned.  The rider is Patrik Kittle riding in the warm up ring of a competition in Denmark. She described it as "an accepted training method" which I'm pretty sure is bullshit considering the HUGE backlash this video caused and not just from people who don't know anything about horses. And the FEI has moved to ban it (but haven't yet?).

Rodeo Rough Stock: So the lecturer has spent a lot of time behind the shoot for bucking horses (and bulls) and says they like their job. They know exactly whats going on and if they don't feel like bucking, they won't.  However, this is different from the "wild horse saddle bit" I dont remember exactly what its called but basically the competitors have to catch an unbroken horse, trip it up and get it on the ground, saddle it, and ride it. Whoever stays on longest wins. Theres video on youtube.

"Natural Horsemanship": barefoot, tree less saddles, bit less bridles. Some horses are crippled for life because their owners want them to be barefoot. Natural is not always better. Solution must fit the individual. Bit less bridles don't work....(umm what the hell? Clearly you (lecturer) are stupid. They work very well if you know how to use one and it's something the horse responds too. What about Eric Lamaze and his mare that had a cut in her mouth so he used a bit less bridle at Spruce Meadows? Yeah he totally didn't win that because of not using a bit. OH wait! He DID win! Stupid woman.)

Use of drugs (sedatives/cocaine/hormones)

(who the hell is giving their horse cocaine?)

The horse in this video was give 5cc of a psychotropic drug (that is never supposed to be more than 2cc) and it gets or was given Valium shots several times a day. (I think there's sound and the chick says what happened but this is just what the presenter said happened) Fluphenazine is used as a calming drug. The presenter does western riding and apparently they give this to Quarter horses that get obscenely worked up when they see a cow?

An Sci- Animal Welfare Lecture

An Sci = Equine Science

Right, so today we had a guest lecuter who works for the provincal government training SPCA officers about Animal Welfare.  (Her words not mine. You'll be able to tell when it's mine =P)

Welfare Definition: UK Farm Animal Welfare Council: "The welfare of an animal includes it's physical and mental state and we consider that good animal welfare implies both fitness and a sense of wellbeing."

-HSUS: "Humane Society of the United States" - has more lawyers than any other type of employee (Ie. scientists) (we don't have a group like this, so we learned about yours America)

(I'll have to stick the graphs in when I get my laptop back and can scan and post them, now your stuck with descriptions)
The Social Licence to Operate

Flexible                                                                                                                    Rigid
Responisve                                                                                                             Sureaucratic
Lower Cost                                                                                                             Higher Cost
=Social Licence                                                                                                      = Social Control
                                                                      ^
                                                           Tipping Point
                                                      single triggering event
                                                      cummulative impact
High Trust                                                                                                               Low Trust
Autonomy                                                                                                               Prohibtion

ie. What happened to BP after the rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico

Animal Welfare =/= Animal Rights

The 5 Freedoms
1. Freedom from Hunger & Thirst
2.                  from discomfort
3.                  from Pain, Injury & Disease
4.                  from Fear & Distress
5.                  to preform Natural Behaviours

ALF (Animal Libertion Front)= terrorist organization in both Canada and USA. (It's basically a front for people to commit crimes in the name of saving animals...which is why they kill them? ELF is the same)

Four "I"'s of Animal Suffering
1.Ignorance: not knowing what to do
2.Inexperience: knowing what to do but not knowing how to do it
3.Incompetence: inabililty to do it
4.Incosideration: knowing what/how to do something and just not caring to do it

Wesland Hallmark (is that the name, not sure what she said exactly)= cattle slaughter in California. They didn't know it but hired and HSUS person who took a cell phone video of other staff using a fork lift to lift/push cattle around. Caused largest meat recall in the world.

Welfare is fluid and dynamic
What was acceptable yesterday may not be today
Quality is more expensive than quantity

"No one cares how much you know, until they see how much you care."

Under Canadas Criminal Code horses are legally considered livestock. Filed under cattle. If your horses stolen they will prositcute it as theft of cattle.

Dr. Terry Whiting 3 kinds of Equine:
Equus pecunia: an economic unit
Equus caballus: what we normally think of when we think of horses. Capable of suffering and pain.
Equus americanus: an icon that doesn't exist in the real world. ie) Spirit, Black Beauty, the Black Stallion

Alberta DOES raise horse for meat.
"horses and other equines play a vital role in the collective experince of the United States and deserves protection and compassion' and 'unlike cows, pigs, and many other animals horses and other equines are not raised for the purpose of being slaugtered for human consumption' House Bill H.R. 503
So it's okay to feed them to tigers and lions but not people?

(When I can scan the graphs i'll put up the bit about compare and contrast welfare) but appearntly horse feed lots are not like cattle feed lots (in alberta because the lecture has been to all of them and they are well looked after)

Slaughter.
2 slaughter houses in Alberta.
About 140k horses per year (including those shipped from America)
White washed industry- "processing"=slaughter
Canadian domestic market, theres butchers in this city that sell it (mostly to European ethnic groups living here).
Needs CFIA approval to ship to the EU.
Also requires and Equine Identification Document

Unwanted Horses:
-Loss of disposal method (US)
-Economic Downturn
-Overbreeding (supply and demand)

What do you do with a 1200lb animal with no monetary value?
-auction? -->no/reduced market
-give away? -->flooded/lack of homes
-euthanize? --> finacial/emotional burden
-turn loose? --> no cost/emotional burden (weren't two guys just arrested in the US a couple months ago because this is considered abandoment which is illegal?)
-home made euthanaisa (most disturbing of them all)-->injecting battery acid, shooting (most people assume between the eyes, but that's only the nasal cavity. Only increases suffering)

"Can You Feed Them Meat?" and other ravings :)

My god, university is proving to be quite the treat!

So I had equine science yesterday and we are still doing lots on nutrition and we were talking about protein and what you can substitute to get it. Ie) Canola Meal when it's mixed and pelleted, Soybean meal, Field peas that can be mixed in with other things (but have less protein).
And so the prof asks, "can anyone think of other things/has anyone used other things?" some kid sticks up his hand and says "can you feed them meat?". There's a few people in the class who know nothing about horses and my guess is he is one of them. It really was probably just a simple question with no sinister motives behind it (see man that feed dead people to pigs) because meat does have protein and I'm guessing he's probably heard about feed lots that mix in meat with all the other disgusting things they feed to their animals.

What else is wondrous about school?
English! I love reading, but I hate having to pick a part the stories, plays etc, to find all the hidden meanings in them. Mostly because I can't find what everyone else seems too, and until last day that wasn't a big deal because he only asked if you put your hand up. But for whatever reason he feels he should be able to match every ones name to their face and so he's now forcing us to answer stupid things about the stories. It doesn't help that the little things I do find, someone else says just before I get the chance or he says it, and then I have nothing to say, because what is there to say after that? Luckily I escaped last day without having to answer anything, but I don't think I will be so lucky today. I was complaining to my friend that they were finding all this weird stuff in these stories and she's like, "no they're just good at making things up" HA! Very true, and I can make shit up! In fact I'm quite good at it! For example, she was telling me she had to find the meaning behind Hansel and Gretel and now a days the meaning is clearly about staying away from Internet pedos. The witch is a pedophile trying to lure the small children in to its web of creepy pedophile-ness by leaving candy (which is whatever creepy Internet people do to get people to tell them personal info) and snatching them away or whatever. See I can up crap! But the thing is, it's easier when you have at least one friend in the class. But I have got some stupid answer made up for a possible question about the latest story and how the rooster represented the kids original opinions and thoughts about his grandpa and then when the grandpas servant carried the rooster away to be killed and eaten it was like his idealize of his grandpa where being killed because now he knows what an ass his grandpa really is. Think it'll fly? I think it's pretty good all things considered, but an answer like that depends on the question too....

Enough of this, I have barn chores tonight so I get to ride both Rocky and Roxy and I'll find out if I can remember a simple dressage test :)

Equine Science- Colic & Nutrition

Fuck you blogger. I had a big huge post typed out from all the nutrition & digestive stuff we did in class today and the blog just ate it and now I can't get it back.

So now I get to start all over again!

Mouth, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Cecum
-horses can't throw up once food passes the soft palate and if it's choking you'll see saliva coming out of it's nose.
-they use their lips to sort food, like when you try mixing vitamins/minerals with oats but they leave all the vitamins behind
-horses can't burp (not so sure, there's a horse at the barn that does...) so they're subject to gas pains
-hay and other fibers aren't easily digested in the stomach
-the small intestine is coiled into the left flank area, it's approx 70ft. It breaks down soluble carbs and protein is absorbed as amino acids, but fiber materials aren't.
-fiber moves through faster than grain
-horses don't have a gall bladder
-the large intestine has about 1billion bacteria and protozoa, they ferment the grain/fiber
-bacteria produce B vitamins
-the cecum is the junction between the small and large intestines
-1m in length with a capacity of 25-35L
-1/2 the volume of the large intestine and cecum is bacteria
-this is where the fermentation of cellulose happens which can take days
-high quality hay takes about 3-4days and lesser quality hay takes much longer and they can't eat as much as they may need because it takes so long to ferment.
-Stabled horses are at a higher risk to colic if they don't get regular exercises because movement aids the digestive process.
-consistent diets are important because a change in the diet/time of feed can upset the bacteria ie) getting a substantial amount of grain when not used to it. Large amounts of grain in hind digestive system upsets the bacteria and can lead to founder.
-energy from hay doesn't go to the mind, but energy from glucose does

Colic: Conditions in the gastrointestinal tract cause pain. The interruption of smooth muscle contractions.

1. Gas- is most common in stabled horses but walking the horse or letting it role can help
2. Impaction- the horse eats more than it can digest. This colic requires vet care to get oil into the hind gut or the palpitation of the gut to get the material to move. Not usually successful and risky.
3. Twisted Intestines- 21m of intestine, loosely wrapped with risk of them getting twisted. High risk in over weight and under conditioned horses. Lots of fat around internal/digestive organs. It cuts of the blood supply to affected area and nothing can move through. Horse will die with out vet care. The vet would preform surgery to remove the damaged tissue, this is somewhat successful, but the cost may be more than what it's worth because the horse is often not the same after.
4. Overload of grain

So he says to walk the horse, and I've heard that before but I've also heard that you aren't supposed to walk them or let them role. Does it just depend on the type of colic they have? I should have asked...

Founder/Laminitis: is inflammation of the hoof, causes pain and permanent problems if it's sever.
Its caused by excess grain, lush pasture or retained placenta.
- In mares: must make sure the placenta has been fully delivered otherwise it acts like dead tissue and releases toxins which can lead to founder.
-Healthy bacteria are not set up to use grain unless the they are used to it. If the bacteria is present in large numbers it can break down grain. Toxic material is released from damaged tissue and effects the feet. Histamine causes dilation of the blood vessels which causes problems in the legs and feet. The frog pumps the blood back up the leg but if it can't get ride of blood sufficiently it pools in the foot. The wall starts to pull away from the coffin bone and can cause permanent damage as they do not grow back together. Common in fat idle horses if the pasture is to good.
But if it's caught early ie) you know the horse got into a grain bin a vet can come out and treat the overdose early it can stop the effects of laminitis so they don't reach the onset and cause permanent damage.

Yeah, so that's basically what we did last day, there was lots about enzymes and stuff, but I think I should say that none of this should ever be considered as advice, this is just what my prof has said and may not always be right (see his opinions on standardbreds) so yeah. Don't take this advice, ever. Go call the vet :)

Standardbreds are....

...useless except for pacing/trotting.

That's my Equine Science profs opinion.
But yeah, he really thinks that. Appearntly they aren't atheltic enough for other things. Sure maybe they aren't Grand Prix matterial but really? How many horses are? Very, very few. There's loads of people here that use them for showing at the local level in both dressage and jumping and they do quite well.

I can't decide if I like this guy or not.
So on the second day of class he was talking about different breeds of horses and how they were created, stuff like that but he just went on and on and on. This class is already 1 hour and 20 minutes. Those extra 10 minutes people need to get all the way across campus to their other classes. But he's to old and senile to understand that. So the people who did need to leave started to because he had run over his time. The next day he was all pissy and was like "we have to finish breeds today as well because people just started leaving the day before" but imagine that in some horribly unappealing voice.

It's not like he doesn't know what he's talking about. He did a lot to get the pre-vet equine program going at the UofS and he's got his own horses, years of experience and was head of some big equine organization here in Alberta, until he retired to teach one class a term.
He seems nice enough, when he's not putting his jack ass opinions into what we're learning about.

Last Thursday we were learning about the genetics behind colours which is actually really cool and if I had any of my notes I'd show you a bit of what we did. But then he's talking about appaloosa colour patterns.
He only talks about 2 patterns and can't be bothered to mention there are several others.

 Leopard Appy
Blanket Appy
Snowflake
Varnish
Few Spots
Frost

His thoughts: Leopard spotted appaloosas have terrible colouring and it is undesirable. Ummmm, what? Well maybe that's an over reaction because the horse I leased for  3 years was an appy, not a leopard one, but still....

This is Firecracker aka Diesel (the varnish/frost Appaloosa/TB I rode for about 3-4 years)

 

  Haha I found these last two going through Facebook albums, quite a treat. But yeah, he decided he'd rather not jump the skinny vertical, didn't fall off, though.

These are all from about 2009.

 

 

But yes, I'm sure there will be many more "excellent" stories from this class, hopefully most of them will just be on the science part and not the instructors own opinions.