Horse and Man

Archive for August, 2010

Artist TERESA ELLIOTT. You will never look at a cow the same way again.

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Since I’ve received so many sad emails from readers about all the heavy news surrounding the Mustangs and the poor abandoned horses at feedlots and all the unfortunate neglect and abuse cases, I’ve decided to continue on the happiest topics I can think of for this week.

(WE ARE ORDERING LG BRIDLES: We are ordering from Germany. If you would like to get on the LG Bridle train, please click here and I will get your information. Here is the original link for the LG Bridle.)

Today, I’m going to tell you how I stumbled upon the oil artist, Teresa Elliott.

COWBOYS AND INDIANS MAGAZINE

This is what caught my eye in the C&I magazine, "Baby Bull".

I love this magazine for so many reasons. But for me, mainly I love the magazine because it is a feast for your eyes — or my eyes, anyway. I love the colors and the presentation. I swear that sometimes I feel I could EAT the magazine. Or maybe just put some of the pages in frames and up on walls. I just love the color sensibility.

So, every month, I sit down with my new magazine and literally start ripping through it. Yup, I tear out anything I find interesting and file it in my “things I find interesting” folder. Then, when I have nothing in my mind to write about (like today…), I look through my folder and always find something.

About an hour ago I was looking through my folder for something cheery and I saw this photo of a painting called, “Baby Bull”. I had ripped it out from one of the magazines a while back. I decided to go find out about Teresa Elliott, the artist who was mentioned below the ad.

TERESA ELLIOTT’S WEBSITE

OMG. You go to her website and you see this:

Obviously, the scale of her work is not pronounced in a tiny ad in a magazine. Hubba Hubba! OMG! I would absolutely die for one of these huge painting. Actually, I would die for one of these huge walls to put one of these huge painting…

Can you imagine this work in an incredible house somewhere in Wyoming or Montana? Actually, I’d put it in my house wherever I lived if I had the space. Wowsa! This would be great in a Lodge or a hip furniture store or my house… did I say that already? Oh, sorry.

Anyway, I kept reading through her website and I came upon her Bio.

THE BIO

She is from Texas and lives in West Texas now. What I find really fun is that when she was first starting out, before she went to art school, Teresa was one of those ‘QUICK DRAW” artists at Six Flags. Do you know what I mean? They are the ones who set up in a little kiosk and draw caricatures of you and your family in black marker, really quickly. Anyway, she did this to raise money for art school.

Can you imagine? Who would ever think that this quick draw artist would create these incredible works later on? See… goes to show you…don’t judge a book by its cover, eh?!

OK, another fun fact about her is that she was fascinated by the Longhorn cattle her father raised. As a little girl, Teresa would stand on the fences watching all the cattle for hours. She said the cows made her feel peaceful. As she got older, Teresa said she would photograph them. It is from these photographs that she creates her art.

ART SHOWS

Then I decided to look at the show which was featured in Cowboys and Indians magazine. As I clicked through the 9 pieces, I saw that 7 of them were already sold. Wow. Good for Teresa to have such a successful show!

Well now maybe we all cannot afford such wonderful art. But, we can sure afford to go see it, if we live in the area. So, here is a schedule of her upcoming shows:

August 21-Sept. 4, 2010 – TEXAS TRADITIONS SHOW with Fresco Fine Art Publications at Heritage Auction Gallery, Dallas TX

Sept. 16 & 17 2010 – WESTERN VISIONS – National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY

Sept. 24, 2010 – MINIATURES BY THE LAKE – Coeur d’ Alene Gallery, Coeur d’ Alene ID

October 1-24, 2010 – TEXAS
TRADITIONS SHOW with Fresco Fine Art Publications at InSight Gallery, Fredericksburg TX

October 27th, 2010 – HEART OF THE WEST – National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, Ft.Worth, TX

November 19-28, 2010 – TEXAS TRADITIONS SHOW with Fresco Fine Art Publications at Ventana Gallery, Santa Fe NM

INTERVIEW

Cowboys and Indians did interview her and I have the link here. You may want to check it out. And, here is a link to her website.

I don’t know about you, but just looking at these has made me peaceful… just like she said.

August's Bucket Fund is Beauty's Haven Farm and Equine Rescue. Click here to make a $5 Pay Pal Donation. Easy and it means so much!

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
The August Bucket Fund will benefit the charity BHFER. To learn all about the Bucket Fund and to donate $5, please click on the photo (photo credit, Trish Lowe)

Tags: Teresa Elliott
Posted in Western & Equine Artists | No Comments »

How about some good news, eh? Some happy moments for today!

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

LET’S HEAR SOMETHING NICE FOR A CHANGE!

Well, I know how hard it is to constantly open your FaceBook or open your mail and have bad horse news. And, since yesterday I posted the dramatic Bucket Fund story — which isn’t “bad” news since they are all in very good hands now — I wanted to post some generally uplifting news and photos.

Good for the HORSE AND MAN Group!

Here is our receipt for our group donation to the July Bucket Fund Charity, The Golden Carrot.

The Golden Carrot

The lovely Song that we are feeding this month!

was thrilled to receive this money! They told me that they would use the money to feed Song for a month. Yippee! That is great news for Song and great news for us.

Song

is a 23 year old Welara

- which is apparently a cross between Arabian and Welsh Pony. She was left at the Golden Carrot because her previous owners said she was unsound. At The Golden Carrot, Song is thriving with just a trim. She gives rides to all the little kids and works like a little engine that could! Song gets along with everyone and is a delight.

Thank you, Horse and Man readers for helping the older, forgotten horses, Song in particular, at The Golden Carrot!

NEWS ABOUT ONE OF THE AUGUST BUCKET FUND HORSES

Yesterday we spoke of the 14 neglected horses that were rescued by BHFER last week. (You can read the blog post here or scroll down to yesterday’s post.)

Anyway, there was a baby in there, Bandit, who had to have his severely injured eye removed.

Bandit up and running after his eye removal two days ago!

Well, today he looks very, very happy! Look at him run around at BHFER! Obviously, he feels so much better without that painful, fly eaten eye. Ugh.

His Mamma still needs much TLC. She was the mare who was all alone, caring for this baby without any food and water. Now that she is getting support, I feel her days will become better and she will recover, too. Yay!

SOME FUN PHOTOS!

This is kinda like Saturday Phoblog, but I wanted us to have some joy today… So, here goes:

1) I got this off of FB and it cracked me up.

Mom! You just missed it! Aliens came and collapsed this chair and threw all your stuff all over the barn aisle!

I posted what his owner remarked when she posted the photo. Haven’t we all seen this face when we stumble upon a horsey mess?

2) Horse Art from Nature! I thought these were just too cool. One is a horse made out of snow and the other is a horse made out of sand!

3) Here is a happy,

Baby Pillow!

healthy Momma sleeping on her baby pillow. Love it!

4) Here is a horse getting his teeth water flossed!

Abandoned baby Mustang, Summer in Shirley's foal room

5) Finally, two photos of Summer, that Mustang baby that was born on the rescue lot and abandoned. She is thriving in the care of Shirley Allen, the baby angel.

Summer waking up

If you’d like to read more about Shirley, here is her link.

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

The August Bucket Fund will benefit the charity BHFER. To learn all about the Bucket Fund and to donate $5, please click on the Bucket Fund photo (photo credit, Trish Lowe)

August's Bucket Fund is Beauty's Haven Farm and Equine Rescue. Click here to make a $5 Pay Pal Donation. Easy and it means so much!

Posted in Musings | No Comments »

QUADRUPLE WHAMMY! BHFER’S 14 NEW EMERGENCY RESCUE HORSES… OUR BUCKET FUND FOR AUGUST

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

And boy, do they need us…!

The original Lucky 7. Skinny, mal-nourished...

BHFER (Beauty’s Haven Farm & Rescue Rescue, Inc.)

I’ve written about BHFER previously. (link to previous post) This is the rescue in Florida which is run by a woman, Theresa, who has great passion but no feeling – which is an awful pun to explain that she literally

Their previous sole water supply... ugh.

CANNOT FEEL due to a spinal injury. So, talk about trust… This woman recovered by taking care of an injured horse, Beauty (hence the rescue’s name), and then went on to devote her life to helping horses in need. BHFER is one of the rescue sites I watch daily although I have never been there or met Theresa personally.

At BHFER, food -- finally.

Skinny Mom grazing at peace

Home, food, security, baths, footcare and fly masks...

Last week is when this all started… Theresa got a call from the local authorities for her to please come help with several starving horses. The details are not available as there will be charges here, but suffice it to say that there were at least 30 horses (stallions, mares, babies) in awful conditions. From what I understand, their only drinking water was this awful pond I have pictured. They were not fed or cared for and I think they were housed together in unhealthy combinations.

Evidently, many of the mares were too skinny to provide adequate milk and the stallions were not helping, if you know what I mean.

BHFER agreed to take 7 on the spot. They took the skinniest mares and babies. However, deciding who to take was the easy part, getting them into the trailer and also making sure they were able to handle a

Life is looking up!

3 hour trailer ride was a different story! You can imagine the loading process… These are horses that were not handled often and not moved, well… ever.

So, the first 7 arrived at the rescue and they were called the “Lucky 7″. Here are photos. As you can see, very skinny and malnourished looking. But, at BHFER they were given wonderful care, easily digestable foods, they had their feet done, a bath and each horse got lots of love and a fly mask. Life was looking good…

BUT THEN, THE NEXT WHAMMY.

The next three... Granny Asiya, Shaker and Baby

As I stated previously, there were many more horses from the neglectful farm. While she was at the farm, Theresa noticed a very old (28 yrs) and

A closer look at very skinny, 28 yr old Granny

very skinny Arab mare who had a baby at her side… but that was basically impossible… and then Theresa noticed a skinny young mare a few feet away. The young mare was the mother whose milk

And the Baby... not looking very well.

had dried up. The older mare was acting like Granny to the baby and all three moved about together. It was tragic to see all three in such bad shape but trying to make it together. Of course, Theresa gathered these three into her nurturing arms.

(As a side note, on this visit, Theresa notices a young mare that has just given birth…)

Anyway, back to the new three… Granny, now named Asiya (one who comforts) and the young mare (Shaker) and the little filly have moved into the fine digs of BHFER. The young mare is still not producing milk but the filly is old enough to eat solid food so they should be OK in time.

The Lucky 7 has turned into the Lucky 10…

THIRD WHAMMY

Now, as you can imagine,

DR examines Bandit's very painful eye

BHFER was pretty busy at this point. There were 10 new horses that required extra care as well as 110 degree heat with humidity. Ugh. The poor

Bandit needs immediate surgery.

new horses who were so stressed from the everything thus far started to have trouble breathing in the extreme heat and humidity. Theresa and all of her

Poor, skinny Trisha tries to nurse Bandit

wonderful volunteers were working around the clock keeping all the horses cool and comforted.

So, of course the phone rings… again.

A woman from far away said that she needed Theresa. because she noticed a very sick mare with a very sick baby at a nearby farm. This mare had been bred to an important stud but then just left

Little Bandit's back, full of scabs and rain rot

out in pasture and made to fend for herself. The mare was alone, she delivered the baby alone (a colt) a few months ago and had no support or food. The neighbor asked the owner about the mare and the owner said that the mare was in such bad shape that she really didn’t want the horse any more. Go figure. That’s what happens when you throw them out to fend for themselves…

Anyway, the kindly neighbor offered to take the two. She was told

Bandit is happier but Mom really needs some help...

by the owner that the baby had a runny eye but was OK. But, in reality, the runny eye was much worse. The vet came out and said the eye would need around the clock care. Since this kindly neighbor didn’t have the time for this, she called Theresa…

Well, what are you

Newborn Passion with sick Mama and no milk

going to do if you are Theresa? How can you turn down a baby in pain? So, Theresa had her vet go out there for a second opinion and the vet said that the baby’s eye was terminal. There was no way to save it. From his estimation, the eye had been damaged for a very long time, probably just after his birth, and the poor colt had been suffering for a very,

Newborn Passion, still standing

very long time. Well, that is all Theresa needed to hear. That little baby was going to be helped. And 24 hours later, his eye was out and the little guy, now named Bandit, was on the road to recovery.

His dam, Trisha, was at the hospital,

Passion with Theresa at the hospital, too weak to stand.

too, and the DRs all agreed that she was in bad shape. The poor mare was skinny, had skin diseases, her milk was not sufficient and she was horribly stressed. Hopefully, once she is back at BHFER (which is in process today), both the the Trisha and Bandit will recover.

From the reports about Bandit today,

Passion getting milk but she doesn't want it...

they say he is active and happy. I’m sure having the painful eye removed (can you imagine the flies?!) was the best thing for him.

So, that makes 12 newbies at BHFER…

Passion and Starla receiving excellent care at the hospital but they are both very weak

WHAMMY NUMBER 4

Ugh. So, here is the heartbreaker. This baby may not make it.

Theresa gets yet ANOTHER call. Remember that mare who had just had a baby three days ago from the neglectful farm full of horses? Well, the owner was on the line saying that the mare and baby were not doing well.

Passion gets help to stand and tries to nurse

Gee, y’think? They have no food or water… Well, that’s not true… As soon as the authorities got involved, hay, grain and water were brought in for the remaining horses until they could all be placed. But, still, if you do not feed or water a pregnant mare, the baby will not be very strong, if he makes it through birth.

So, the neglectful

4-day old Passion awake and a bit brighter in the hospital

owner did the right thing and called Theresa. Theresa remembered this baby. Theresa cannot turn her back. So, they arrange for Momma and baby to be transported to the nearby equine hospital. Mama is weak, baby is weaker. They name the mare, Starla, and immediately tend to her and give her nutrition and health to hopefully boost her milk production.

Passion standing at BHFER, "Can you help us?"

The baby, now named Passion, is given milk but she wants her Mama’s milk instead. Oy. The little filly refuses. So, they let Passion nurse from her Mom (what little she has) and then give the filly IV fluids/support. The hard part is that the filly cannot stand on her own. She is so weak, she cannot get up. Humans have to get her up every 2 hours to feed. Hmmmmmm.

This is not looking good. It has been determined that Starla and Passion should leave the hospital and go back to BHFER because there are more people at BHFER to tend to the baby around the clock. So, this is where we are now… We have a very weak baby who is on 24 hour care.

14 NEW AND NEEDY HORSES, and a NEW BABY this very morning!!!…

So, what we have is a rescue that was already full, has now taken on 14 new, needy horses, 4 of which were in the hospital and now a baby that needs 24 hour care. The initial, mal-nourished, rain-rotted, long hooved scallawags that were the Lucky 7 seem like a picture of health (kidding) compared to the next 7 that arrived. Can you imagine if this happened at your farm? The vet bills must be staggering let alone the extra feed, farrier and horse care items. Addendum: There is a new baby this morning! One of the mares that Theresa saved earlier in the year, Reva, just foaled a healthy (thank goodness) baby! Good news in the sea of hardships!

CAN YOU HELP VIA THIS PAY PAL BUTTON BELOW? (If you find this button does not work, click here)

Can you help via the Pay Pal “donate” button below? BEAUTY’S HAVEN FARM & EQUINE RESCUE is our Bucket Fund Equine Charity for August. No amount is too small for the Bucket Fund.

I will try to keep you updated on these horses and babies. I can also tell you that the last horse was removed from the negligent farm on Sunday. So, all are gone to better homes and fosters. Thank goodness.

It has been a very tough week…

Tags: BHFER
Posted in Bucket Fund Stories | No Comments »

Is Your Horse Showing Signs of being Transbred?

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Is your horse showing signs of being transbred? Or, perhaps, even more specifically, transspecied?

What do I mean?

Well, do you have a horse that looks like a certain breed and has papers to prove that breeding, but acts like another breed? Or, acts like another species altogether? And, it isn’t as if they are trying to act like another breed, they truly, in their hearts, think they are something else.

I call that Transbred. And, in the case of a few of my horses, they are Transpecied. They may look like a horse, but they think they are another animal altogether…

TRANSBRED

Finn the Wild Mustang TWH

Meet Finn. He is my 10 year old Tennessee Walking Horse gelding. However, he does not see himself as a TWH at all. Oh sure, he’ll gait when he’s excited and he does a pretty good job of it. But, he doesn’t identify with gaiting. Nope. His identity is with Jeremiah Johnson’s horse or Daniel Boone’s horse. He would like to be on the trail that no other horse has traversed before. He is a Free Range Wild Mustang from Tennessee.

Finn sees no use in gaiting on a flat road just for the sake of a nice ride together. Wha? “You want me to just gait down this road, again? Why? This makes no sense to me.” No joke. He would rather zig zag, moonwalk or shift one foot outside the trail then go where he has gone before. No, this horse is not your average cotton field, flatlands, “I’ll gait just to have a smooth ride with my owner” Tennessee Walking Horse. Noooooh. Finn is a Free Range Wild Mustang! Give me uncharted territory or give me Death. He is a heck of a great trail horse, for sure!

ICELANDIC SHETLAND PONY

Have you ever met an Icelandic Shetland?

VB, the prebred Icelandic Shetland

Me neither. Until I birthed one here on the ranch. Her name is Violet Beauregard. It fits.

I guess I should be clear. VB is a full blooded Icelandic Horse. I have her mother; she is a papered Icelandic mare. And, although I didn’t watch her conception, I am pretty sure the sire was a well-known Icelandic stud imported from Iceland. So I know that my little filly is actually an Icelandic Horse.

However, she thinks she is a Shetland. This filly will turn over every bucket, unlock any door, rip open any feed bag, walk through any doorway, nibble anything, shake anything, shred anything, snake her neck and bang the gates like the best of the Shetlands (and I know because I have two Shetlands here). VB will seek and destroy any and all things within her reach. All the while, she will look as cute as a button and as angelic as possible.

And, she is angelic, sort-of. She doesn’t mean to be destructive. Its just that all things interest her for a moment until they have bored her and are no fun anymore. Then she is “done” with that item and tosses it. I would think she has ADD except she is always thinking about what she can destroy touch next so she is actually quite single minded. Once someone described her as having a “high play drive”. I almost spit up my Starbucks. Y’think? Understatement to me. This girl is driven to… to… um, she’s just driven. Period.

And, she hates to be ridden. This is also a Shetland trait. If you have ever ridden a Shetland, you know that their whole goal is to stop being ridden. This is why all little girls should start with a Shetland. If you can ride a Shetland, you can ride anything. As a matter of fact, I put my 11 year old daughter on Violet Beauregard last week. I kinda think they are a lot alike. Anyway, they were both in tears by the end of it. I’m not sure who got the best piece of the other. I think it was a draw. I actually heard the bell sound when they entered the arena… ;)

Anyway, VB is Transbred. She thinks she’s a Shetland and as many times as I’ve tried to tell her that she is an Icy, she just doesn’t “feel” it. Sigh.

TRANSSPECIED

Huh? What do I mean by this? Well, I have a few here that are not sure they are horses. They identify more with other creatures.

THE LOCH NESS MORGAN MONSTER

Wrigley thinks he is Nessie. Do you know what I mean?

Loch Ness Wrigley

Nessie is the sea creature from the Loch Ness. You’ve seen the photos right? Dinosaur body which is huge but mostly submerged and then this loooong neck protruding from the dark sea.

Yup. That’s Wrigley. If I had a photoshop program on my blog I would have cropped in a wave just below his body here. You can draw it in your mind… Can you see the similarity?

Wrig is an anomaly. He is a Morgan. I know this because I have his Momma and I know his Sire and arranged for the quickie matrimonial insemination. Yet, he is not like any Morgan I’ve ever seen. He is a freak of nature, in a good way, but still very otherworldly. He is very tall. He is the tallest horse here and he is only 2 and a MORGAN. As you know, Morgans are not known for their size, ahem. He is very floaty and stealth. And, his neck is alien. Not only is is very long and telescopic, but he can rotate it and move in ways unnatural for a horse.

So, I think he has seen the faded, grey photos of Nessie and has decided to make the myth a reality. He is a mythical equine sea creature of epic proportions. He is Loch Ness Wrigley.

LURCH POSSESSION.

Remember Lurch from the Addams Family TV series?

Lurch

Well, he has been reincarnated into my mustang mare, Remi. That’s the truth.

Every time you walk into her field she comes over, like a good butler. She stands in front of you and asks what you want. And, as soon as you tell her, she rolls her eyes backwards and lets out a disgruntled retort. You remember how Lurch did the exact same thing, right?

I mean, she has to feel a bit indentured since she was wild and then became caught and branded. So, the butler sentiment comes honestly. However, she does have the free Mustang spirit down deep so this whole servitude thing just really rubs her the wrong way. However, she is a polite mare so she will come over to greet you and do the right thing. Then, when you scratch her and tell her you are going to brush her or put her fly mask on, she rolls her eyes, gives a bit of Elvis lip curl and then lets out the Lurch grumbletude.

What’s weird about this grumbletude is that she actually likes to be brushed. She likes to have her fly mask put on her face. She likes a plethora of things that she pretends she doesn’t like. Remi will roll her eyes and play Lurch no matter what. And, so did Lurch. You never saw him not being Lurch yet he stayed with the Addams’ and defended them often. Same with Remi. She loves it here. It is just difficult to tell. This is why I think she is Lurch. After all, you never see them in the same room together…

TRANSBRED or TRANSSPECIED

So, I’m sure many of you may now begin to recognize the clinical signs of transbreeding or transspecied. I think these syndromes are here to stay and I think we just have to, as caretakers, understand and roll with it. If you have a mule that thinks it is a Fresian or a Percheron that thinks he is Baryshnikov, go with it.

Sometimes it is better to appreciate who they are inside instead of what they look like outside…

Posted in Humor, Musings | 1 Comment »