Opinion: What We Can Learn From the Latest Scandal in Dressage Riding (involving Andreas Helgstrand and his horse Akeem Foldager)

Please be the voice they do not have. If you see something, please say something.

Bee and the Horse

Some of you might have followed the latest ‘uproar’ in the dressage scene as photos of the horse Akeem Foldager, ridden by Danish dressage rider Andreas Helgstrand, circulated the internet. Although, certainly, not the first photos of this kind that I’ve seen, I found them very disturbing and I’m very glad that there will be consequences for the rider, albeit not very dramatic ones.

This is what happened. On April 16th, photos of Helgstrand training Akeem were published on Epona TV’s facebook page, showing Akeem’s open mouth and blue tongue as a consequence of the rider’s hard hand. They also showed dark spots in the fur and swelling where the spurs usually have contact to the horse. Someone took these pics during an open house training at Helgstrand’s stable and send them to Epona.

You can view the photos here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152777331733312&set=pcb.10152777335663312&type=1&theater

Epona TV regularly posts photos of rollkur-riding and tries…

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JBK Festival- Torture, Like In The Dark Ages- Anything Goes In The Equestrian Sport?

Court Grants Emergency Injunction to Delay BLM Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup

Straight from the Horse's Heart

An update from Carol Walker, Director of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, who is a plaintiff in this Wyoming case.

SOURCE:  wildhoofbeats.com

For Immediate Release

Court Grants Emergency Injunction to Delay BLM Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup

Cheyenne, WY (August 29, 2014)…..Late yesterday, the U.S. District Court in Wyoming granted an emergency injunction to delay until September 12 the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) planned roundup of more than 800 wild horses from public and private lands in the Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in an area known as the Wyoming checkerboard.
The injunction allows the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom and wild horse photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl the opportunity to appeal the district court’s denial of our motion for a Preliminary Injunction to stop the roundup, which was also issued late…

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199 Dead Wild Horses – 29 Mysteriously Disappear — BLM and Welfare Ranchers Criminal Activity Requires Scrutiny by Government Legal Agencies

Photojournalist - Journalist

The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. ~Woodrow Wilson

The Facts: 199 Wild Horses Die at the Burns Corral between 2010 and 2013 – 29 More Wild Horses Mysteriously Disappear in 2013 – BLM and Welfare Ranchers Criminal Activity Requires Scrutiny, no doubt.

And on it goes, where it ends no one knows. But the reality is the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) continues to, well, simply outright lie. Especially when it comes to the necessity for Wild Horse Herd Roundups, appropriate counts of Wild Horses on America’s Public Lands, Wild Horses going to slaughter, the issuing of Grazing Permits for cattle, appropriate cattle counts on Public Lands, Enforcement of Environmental Assessments, and much more. . .

One of the more disgusting elements…

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Live-stream of BLM’s National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting TODAY in Riverton, Wyoming

Straight from the Horse's Heart

The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will be live-streamed at blm.gov/live

at 8:00 am MST on August 25, 2014

The link to the meeting AGENDA isHERE.

(A link to meeting handouts is attached to the live-stream page, but at the time of this posting, there were no meeting handouts on that link)

Wild horse & burro advocacy groups will be holding a press conference at noon (MST).

Carol Walker, Director of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation and Plaintiff in the lawsuit to stop the removal of wild horses in Wyoming is there and will be speaking at the Press Conference at noon.  Marjorie Farabee, Director of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation is also there.

You can find links to you tube videos, minutes and recommendations of past National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meetings HERE.

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Who is the contractor for BLM’s Scott City, KS “Emergency Short Term Holding facility?”

Who is the contractor for BLM's Scott City, KS "Emergency Short Term Holding facility?".

Trading Up

You most certainly could include Equines in this excellent post. Please share!

Musings from a Tangled Mind

I have an idea! It’s perfect if I do say so myself. Let’s turn in grandma and grandpa for newer models…

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the traditional role of grandma and grandpa. It’s a real treat for young kids to go to the grandparent’s house while mom and dad are working – grandma will bake cookies and other goodies and let the kids eat all they want. Grandpa will take the kids fishing or to the park or somewhere fun.

But sooner or later there will come a time when grandma and grandpa just can’t hack it anymore. Grandma no longer bakes and can’t do certain things anymore because of arthritis. And Grandpa just can’t move like he used to, his knees pop and his back aches…what fun is it going to the park when grandpa has to use a scooter?

Let’s forget about all the wisdom and…

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Did BLM ineptness kill 70 wild horses that were shipped to Scott City, Kansas?

The PPJ Gazette

Did BLM’s inept management of wild horses cause another 70 deaths?   BLM’s press release headline states 57 died, but then in the body of the press release, they state another 13 mares had to be euthanized.  57 + 13 = 70. Why is the contractor only being informed of the proper feed AFTER so many horses died?

These were most likely the wild horses that the BLM recently shipped from Teterville Long Term Holding in Kansas to the feedlot-like facility Scott City, Kansas.  57 horses, plus the additional 13 that were in such bad shape they needed to be euthanized, are a lot of horses to die in a short period of time. Another BLM “investigation?” There is very little accountability to the public. BLM’s Press Release is below this article. The BLM is having a one day tour for CREDENTIALED MEDIA, but apparently, nobody from any wild horse

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Advocates Will Speak Out for Wild Horses at Press Conference during BLM National Advisory Board Meeting

Straight from the Horse's Heart

“Adobe Town, Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin are home to the largest free-roaming wild horse herds left in Wyoming,” states Carol Walker, director of field documentation and board member of Wild Horse Freedom Federation. Walker has a bond with the Wyoming herds she has been photographing for the past 10 years. “To lose the wild horses in this vast landscape, known by local residents as the ‘Big Empty,’ would be to lose touch with our western history, heritage and the untamed spirit of the West.”

For immediate release:

Advocates Will Speak Out for Wild Horses at Press Conference during BLM National Advisory Board Meeting

Proposed roundups would rob American public of their rightful legacy.              

Simone Netherlands, Ginger Kathrens and R.T. Fitch speak to Utah Press Corp. at BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting in 2012~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

COLORADO SPRINGS…

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The brave warhorses who spurred Tommy on to heroism | WWI | News | Daily Express

The brave warhorses who spurred Tommy on to heroism | WWI | News | Daily Express.