This Week in Horses—October 17, 2014

Happy Friday, everyone. Here’s what was happening in the horse world this week while you were distracted by the Morgan Grand National live stream (okay, fine, that wasn’t you. It was me. I admit it.)

• Our sister publication, Young Rider, recently published a profile of two teens who sell t-shirts to raise money for rescues, doing much of their marketing via Instagram. Very cool, and the t-shirts are totes adorbs, as the kids say. Do the kids say that? Probably not.
• The Million Cowboy March? A group of ranchers made a horseback trek from California to Washington D.C. As best I can understand, they are protesting government interference with cattle grazing on federal lands, but I’m not sure. Most of the news coverage surrounding it is about the traffic snarls they’re causing and not whatever it is they’re trying to raise awareness about.







Walked through Georgetown by the Grass March Cowboy Express. They’ve been riding since San Fran — 2800 miles total. pic.twitter.com/p33hiVABzH

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— Angela Haupt (@angelahaupt) October 16, 2014

• Another long-distance horseman, Roger Howell of Tennessee, was in the process of driving his horses from Tennessee to Niagra Falls when he was struck by a tractor-trailer. It sounds like Howell, his team of horses and his dog are all OK after the incident, but this final paragraph from the article about why he was making that dangerous journey is pretty heart-wrenching.
  

  Howell told the Times and Democrat that he was motivated to take the journey after receiving a terminal diagnosis from his doctor. The Vietnam War veteran, who suffers from complications of Agent Orange exposure, told the newspaper he “just doesn’t want to die on the porch.”

• The University of Connecticut is known for its successful basketball teams, but did you know they also have a Morgan breeding program? Those two worlds collided when UConn named one of its foals after Shabazz Napier, a former star player for the university, now of the Miami Heat. I wouldn’t know Shabazz Napier if I tripped over him, but his equine namesake is adorable.
• Speaking of college athletes, some pretty dismal news for aspiring college equestrians. Kansas State announced that it would be shutting down its varsity equestrian program. That in itself isn’t huge, but the reasoning behind it is unfortunate. The NCAA is considering withdrawing its support for equestrian, which had been classified as an emerging sport. K-State will be replacing equestrian with women’s soccer in order to remain Title IX compliant. Sad story for equestrians, although to me, the most surprising thing about it is that K-State didn’t already have a women’s soccer team.
• Another week, another story about horse’s manes and tails being mysteriously cut off and stolen in the middle of the night. This time it’s in Marysville, Ohio.
• London Mayor Boris Johnson was asked in an interview if horses could ride city buses (you know, because that’s a normal interview question.) He said he didn’t see why not, so a reporter decided to give it a go. I feel bad for the bus driver and the passengers who were probably made late to wherever they were trying to go.
• Hungry? Reach for A Bag of Horse. A specialty meat distributor in Great Britain is hoping that’ll catch on with their new snack offering, which appears to be essentially horse-meat jerky. Your Paleo-dieting friends will be thrilled to know about this, I’m sure.
• This Mashable listicle about horse costumes is adorable, but they got the captions all wrong. These horses love their costumes, and you won’t convince me otherwise. Also, let me use this opportunity to plug HorseChannel’s Horse Costume Contest. You’ve got ‘til Oct. 27 to enter and vote for your favorites!
• That previously mentioned Morgan Grand National live stream is continuing through Saturday evening. This week you can also watch the Arabian U.S. National Show, which started today and runs through the 25th.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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