This Week in Horses — February 20, 2015

Happy Friday, everyone! Here in Kentucky, we’ve been snowbound for much of the week and the forecast tells me it’s going to be an icy, slushy weekend. Great. But, life goes on, and here’s what’s been happening in the horse world.

• Road Racing. A motorist in Ohio captured video of a harness racer taking a training run with a sulky but no driver out on the street. Fortunately, the intrepid Standardbred was safely corralled and returned to the track.
• Lessons for a Cause. This local interest story from the Palm Beach Post profiles an organization that combines a riding academy with a horse rescue. Lesson fees help financially support the rescue. Seems like a good idea to me.
• My favorite news story of the last week is about an aspiring police horse named Brian who almost had his name changed to something more “warlike,” like Odin or Thor. But the Thames Valley Police agreed to keep the horse’s original name after outcry from: 1.) men named Brian and 2.) other people. It didn’t matter anyway, because Brian flunked out of police horse school. Nevertheless, he is said to show great talent as a sport horse, so we expect to see great things from the plainly named bay in the future.
• The Slap. Every few weeks, there’s a story about someone getting arrested after hitting, kicking, or otherwise harassing a police horse. Stop doing that, people, and definitely don’t do it while carrying illegal substances.
• The Automobile of the Future. Wired unearthed this 1899 patent application for a car that had a horse head secured to the front of it, so as not to spook the real horses that dominated the roads at that time. Of course.
• Lost and Found. An eventing prospect named Iron League was sent from Florida to Maryland for training, but apparently had other ideas. Iron League escaped from the training barn and vanished for a few days until he turned up in a Baltimore County backyard. What adventures did Iron League have during those few days? We’ll never know.
• My fellow fans of Parks and Recreation will enjoy this profile of the equine actor who played the iconic Lil’ Sebastian.
• Twins! The Daily Mail’s photo essay of a Mini Horse and matching Great Dane is worth your time.

That’s it for this week. Stay safe and warm, everyone!

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Leslie Potter is Sr. Associate Web Editor of horseillustrated.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LeslieInLex.