Frustrating

Sometimes I just want to bang my head against a wall.

Some of you may know of the massive outbreak of tornadoes in the southeast. Arkansas was hit two weeks in a row. The storms Monday night in Central Arkansas, specifically in the Vilonia area, caused widespread damage. The aftermath has left dozens, if not hundreds, of displaced and/or injured pets and livestock. I spent Tuesday night until 12:30am at the temporary shelter they had set up, triaging horses with a volunteer vet that arrived after spending the ongoing storms in her safe room that afternoon. We both got out, drove over a half hour each, into the teeth of another tornado and flash flood-producing storm to help and what do we arrive to? Chaos. Absolute, utter chaos. Mongolian clusterfuck of the highest order. No organization, no leadership, nothing. My friend was handed a clipboard at 6pm with random notes on it, told "you are in charge now", and abandoned by the other volunteers in the face of oncoming bad weather. Not only was there no one actually doing anything when we arrived (except my friend and she was on the edge of losing her shit) except standing around and causing trouble. One lady was so rude and nasty to volunteers, donators, and people asking for help, that many left unaided.

Why? Why be like that and run off your help? Are you trying to be the sole savior? The animals are the ones who suffer in the end. When the vet arrived, she, my friend and I began working up the horses. The rude person hung around for a bit with her cronies making loud, rude observations then they wandered off not to be seen again. None of the horses had hay left, none had been fed, several had not so much as had anyone look at their wounds. We did what we could, gave Tetanus shots, cleaned at and wrapped wounds, applied topical treatment, gave antibiotics where indicated, sedated and treated several that were too worked up to be touched, hayed, fed, watered and bedded them down for the night. Then we drove home, only to have to get up and go to work in the morning. My friend went back the next day, and rude chick was there, full force. None of the horses had been checked, all needed hay and feed. My friend took care of them, told the rude chick off, and hooked up her trailer and left, warning me not to go up there again because of the rude person who was apparently the self-appointed "in charge" person. Apparently nothing was getting done, people were leaving unaided, with donations un-donated, and volunteers un-volunteering.

Look folks, if you are asking, nay pleading, for help. Don't leave the operation in the hands of someone like this! If you do you will suddenly find it VERY difficult to get people willing to help out in the event of another disaster.

Parelli-sites

Today's rant brought to you by all the Parelli Kool-Aid drinking people and the problem horses they create.

Pat Parelli is a snake oil salesman.

There I said it. It is my constitutional right to have this opinion, so get your knickers all twisted if you want, but it is.

I can't STAND Parellied horses. The ones belonging to the Kool-Aid drinkers are rude, pushy and spoiled to the point of being somewhat dangerous. I have worked with a few horses that have been Parrelied, one horse after 6 months was finally a somewhat normal horse that behaves, surprisingly, like a HORSE. Not like an over sized dog. When I started with her, she would literally knock you the hell off the mounting block every time you went to get on. She would frisk you for cookies and always had her face all up in your business. I am NOT a scratching post and made that very clear to her. She would also turn and nuzzle and chew on your foot while you were mounted, I couldn't figure out why until I saw one of the other folks doing it and praising their horse. It is not a sign of affection, and it turns into biting. She got caught, groomed, saddled and ridden, and if she was a VERY good girl, she MIGHT get a treat, one, when she is minding her own business. Now she is back in a Parelli only training program. Sigh.

There are a couple of other horses I know that are products of the Parelli snake-oil sales. The first we will call the Fuzzy Little Jerk. I have had this horse come at me with his little ears back and his evil little eyes narrowed more times than I care to count. Thankfully, I moved my mare to a different pasture. I was told to shake my finger at him and shoo him away. Yeah, right. He just looked at me and flattened his ears MORE. Someone overheard the owner telling a girl that was riding him not to try to make him so a particular exercise, he didn't look like he felt like doing it that day. Excuse me? Last time I checked, the horse doesn't really get an opinion on that unless he is sick or in pain. Another one shall be known as the Big Pushy Moose. This horse has NO ground manners. He won't pick up a foot for his owner without a struggle. We have watched her tug and beg and he just stands there. Myself and the other non-Kool-Aid-Drinking boarder could walk over, grab his chestnut, twist slightly, and volia, hoof lifted. Hmm. He will run you the hell over, he will swing his big ol' head around and knock you down, he will walk all over you and push you around. He is ALWAYS looking for cookies or candy in your pockets. No sense of personal space or respect for the handler.

NONE of the Parelli-sites' horses I have ever run across is a balanced, well behaved animal. They all seem to have issues with space and respect. Most of the "training" techniques make no sense nor do they seem to have practical application toward actually RIDING your horse. How standing for an hour and draping a bit of string attached to a $60 orange stick while holding onto the magical $80 rope halter does something for a horse I will never know. (I have witnessed this.) I am all for using their language to communicate with them when applicable, but for actual RIDING, the snake oil just doesn't seem to work.

I don't get it. I just don't...

Arabians do not come in Buckskin. Or Overo. Or Tobiano. Or Palomino.

DO. NOT. EXIST. Period, the end.

I see more and more "Purebred Overo Arabians" for sale every day. Doesn't happen, Arabians do not carry the genes for Overo. They DO come in Sabino, which can look SIMILAR, but is not the same thing. Why must everything have spots? I have also seen Tobianos advertised as purebreds. Um, no. That's a part Arabian, mayhap it is a very high percentage Arabian, but it is NOT purebred.

WA Outrageous, the purebred SABINO daughter of Khartoon Khlassic. This pattern is often mistaken for Overo.

Oh, and they don't come in creme dilute colors either. Thanks to Fire n' Ice, and his bleached mane and tail and membership to the Palomino "Breed" registry, everyone thinks they do. He is flaxen chestnut, not palomino. If you notice on his webpage, none of his PUREBRED get are palomino, or buckskin. Do we know why folks? Because the Creme dilute gene DOES NOT EXIST in the Arabian breed. You simply cannot have a buckskin, palomino, or other creme dilute purebred.

Fire N Ice, who, despite being registered as such, is most definitely NOT a palomino. He does not even LOOK like one in this picture. He is very obviously a chestnut.

Dressage Prospect FAIL

Folks, this is not a dressage prospect. Check that neck and shoulder, that alone should tell you that this horse isn't a prospect for much except creating more overpriced cobs. I see tons of Gypsy Vanners/Cobs/Extra Special Hairy Horses advertised as dressage prospects. The vast majority of them are not suitable for dressage, they are little hairy tractors. I have seen them move, they go like what they are with short, choppy strides, and their heads in the air. I will admit, some of them may move better, if they have good conformation with a nice shoulder, balanced neck and level or uphill build. Unfortunately, most seem to be about as downhill as anything I have ever seen. Sometimes I just want to bang my head on the wall. I bet the Gypsies are laughing all the way to the bank, these things are like rats over there, and we snap them up at outrageous prices like no tomorrow.

This has been another TTotD Random Rant, brought to you by the folks selling these horses on Dream Horse.

Haflingers. Are not. Palomino.

Was just on Dreamhorse browsing the ads out of boredom. "Ooh, shiny horsie!" I see a TON of ads for Haflingers advertising them as Palomino. They ARE NOT PALOMINO. Not ever. Not if they are purebred. They are chestnut, albeit flaxen chestnut, but chestnut nonetheless. There is no other color allowed or found in the breed, period. In order for a horse to be palomino, it must possess a cream dilution gene. This gene is not found in Haflingers, or for that matter purebred Arabians, but that is a topic for another time.

This has been a Tacky Tack of the Day Random Rant. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.