Zenyatta & War Front Had a Boy!

****  The colt was born at 9:24 p.m. on April 10, 2016.  He died from the complications of meconium aspiration at 9 a.m. on April 13, 2016.   ****

Varied Photos

Ziconic, yearling son of Zenyatta, on his way to Mayberry Farm for training

Riptide (left) and Skylark, Chincoteague ponies

Curl crested aracari

Fall foliage near Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Golden hay and hills, South Park, Colorado

Odds & Ends

St Nicholas Abbey, the Irish thoroughbred race horse, has been put down.  He broke his right fore pastern while galloping in July, and underwent surgery.  In October, he began to develop laminitis in his left fore; that seemed to have been contained with minimal damage.  Earlier this week, he developed a severe case of colic; corrective surgery found a massive strangulated amount of intestine, and it was decided to put him down.  Most people can't believe how fragile a horse actually is - St Nicholas Abbey's case only goes to prove the point that horses are a fragile animal, even with round-the-clock monitoring.
   We've had a twelve-year-old boy  fire a .20 gauge shotgun in the gymnasium of his middle school in New Mexico this week, two people were hospitalized;  a couple of teen-aged boys set off an explosive chemical reaction in a Colorado Charter school, sending 5 classmates and a teacher to the hospital for treatment; a high school student in Longmont threw a party while his parents were out of town - a 20 year-old man is in custody for killing two teens and stabbing a third (he was an acquaintance invited by a friend of a friend). What's happening?  Once again, I ask, are we becoming a nation of non-caring people, or is the news that much more pervasive these days?
   The maintenance man just wandered by with a huge ladder...  Nedi ran and hid under the bed; Lovey just looked and blinked.  The patio door is closed, but Jim and some of my neighbors are making an awful lot of loud noises.
  Around here, everyone seems to be in the grip of "Broncos Fever."  I'm definitely supporting the local team and will be verbally cheering against the Patriots - but enough is enough.  It's a professional football game - men are paid to beat the crap out of one another and place an inflated pigskin either across a certain line, or through a set of uprights.  I won't cry if the Broncos lose the game, and I'll be happy if they win, and can go on to play in the Super Bowl.  But this game is not my end-all and be-all.
  This weekend, the Denver National Stock Show is open, and the Native American Convention is also taking place in Denver.  Football is fun, but it's not all....
 

Wondering

I'm going to try to complete my "things I'm wondering about" blog that was interrupted Monday afternoon. I'm still wondering about Jimmy, Black Caviar's brother, in Australia.  The vets' still say he's in "stable condition" and that he appears to be making progress.  His pain medications are being slowly decreased, and he ate well over the weekend.  Considering the amount of care he has been given, I hope that the colt will make it to the breeding shed, even if he doesn't make it to the track.
   Here it is Wednesday, and I'm still wondering about the newspaper headlines Monday morning that described Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning as "hobbled."  Peyton had extra bracing, padding, and tons of tape around his high right ankle strain.  It looked thick and ungainly.  But, during the entire game, Cris Collingsworth was watching Manning's movements, and he only made one comment about the quarterback seeming to be hampered by the sprain and the extra support.  And, really, "hobbled?"  I have hobbled horses many times in my life, and Peyton Manning was not moving as if he had a pair of hobbles around his ankles. Hobbles can vary widely in materials they are made of, in width around the "ankle," and in the length of the strap/chain/rope that determines the size of step a horse can take.  Peyton Manning was not hobbled in any way, shape, or form.
  I'm still wondering about the five children in the care of the couple in Monroe, Union County, North Carolina.  Their Foster Care license expired in 2010 - three years ago.  They lived in Union County, but the children were supposedly under the supervision of a neighboring county's Social Services.  It turns out that the children were home schooled, and this is why no teachers, counselors, or administrators were aware of their plight.  No social worker had visited the family in more than three years.  What still astounds me is that the female of the couple was the Director of Social Services in Union County, where they resided.  It still blows my mind.
   I'm wondering about the laws of our country - the man who attacked the woman next door on Monday afternoon was released from jail Tuesday afternoon.  The only reason I know this is because two men, who didn't live in the building, came walking down the hall this morning, looking for names on door plates.  (I think there are six apartments out of 80 that actually have a name posted.)  I asked if I could help them find someone, and they said they were Boulder PD detectives, and wanted to see Britta and Ted, the folks next door.  I told them that Britta had walked her bicycle out the front door less than 3 minutes earlier, and that ted was in jail. That's when they told me that Ted had been released Tuesday night, and wanted to know if I had seen him....  They left their card on her door, with a request that she call them.
   The other reason I'm wondering about the laws is because of George Zimmerman. He was found "not guilty" of second degree murder in the killing of an unarmed youth in Florida.  Since he was exonerated by the jury, he has been stopped for speeding in Texas and given a warning; he received a $256 ticket for speeding in Florida a month later; in September, police in Florida arrested both Zimmerman and his wife for a domestic dispute, but released both without any charges, because both stories seemed plausible, but both were also contradictory, and they had no evidence; George Z was arrested again in Florida this past Monday for a felony charge of aggravated assault and misdemeanor domestic violence battery and criminal mischief.  He was released today on a $9,000 bond - after claiming he was indigent, had no fixed address, and was currently in debt to the amount of $2.5 million.   ....  More tomorrow.

Bamboo

Currently there is no news about Jimmy's progress, or lack thereof, in Australia - I am signed up for the owners Tweets, and I'll let you know when I hear anything.
  I am again boiling with anger over a case of animal neglect, possibly animal cruelty, charges.  A twenty-four year old woman took a three-month-old French Bulldog into a local Boulder veterinarian's office for treatment. Bamboo, the black puppy, had two broken legs and third degree burns across half of his stomach.  The woman said that the puppy's legs were broken when she "got him" and that his tummy got burned when she place him too close to a space heater in her home.  When the vet described the treatments needed, the woman said she couldn't afford it, and left, taking the puppy with her.  The veterinarian called Boulder Police to report the incident.  The woman has been arrested, and Bamboo is at the Humane Society's veterinarian, getting the care he needs.  This seems to me to be another case of pure selfishness.  The puppy obviously has broken limbs and burns, but the owner will not get them correctly cared for.  The puppy was obviously in pain (and still looks to be so - see below - this photo was taken by the Boulder Police Department).

  If you can't afford to care for a pet, please do not get one.  By "afford" I mean the regular costs of food, drink, annual veterinarian check-ups, annual vaccinations, and any possible accidents that might occur.  If you are a regular client, the veterinarian's office will, 99 % of the time, work with you to set up a payment plan if you cannot afford to pay up front.  The people who work at, and run, vet's offices do so because they care for the animals - they do not want to see one suffer needlessly.
   If you have the time, but not the money, to take care of a pet, volunteer at your local Humane Society and donate what you can to help animals at that shelter.

Animal News

The mother bear and her two cubs vacated their tree on Uni Hill soon after dark last night, and ambled west, back into the Foothills and Open Space of Boulder County.  That's a big relief to me, because the Denver news stations kept on broadcasting that the bears would be killed if they weren't out of the tree by midnight...

Bear cub in tree on University Hill in Boulder, Colorado

Irish horse-racing star St. Nicholas Abbey is progressing well, now, after yet another set back.  The handsome bay colt broke the pastern of his right fore during a gallop, and had surgery to place a weight-bearing pin in the bone.  Two days later, he had emergency colic surgery, and his status was "guarded."  A week ago, he appeared to be in pain, and his pastern was X-rayed; the pin and screws had separated, so he had to have surgery on the leg yet again.  He is currently on his feet, with a cast on his broken pastern, and a cast covering his opposite hoof, in order to keep his legs and feet at the same height, to fight laminitis.

St Nicholas Abbey at the equine hospital in Ireland

Back to Boulder for another chapter in the story of Edward, the Mapleton Elk, who was killed by an on-duty police officer, without cause.  Samuel Carter, the ex-officer, who killed the trophy elk out of season in a residential yard had asked, several weeks ago, for a change of venue, stating he wouldn't get a fair trial in Boulder.  A judge today denied the change of venue request.  Two ex-officers were involved in the conspiracy to kill Edward; the other was Brent Curnow, who ran a taxidermist business from his home. Curnow had called in sick for his work shift the night Edward was killed, but arrived soon after Carter telephoned him, to load Edward's body into his covered pickup truck, to start the taxidermy work on the big elk.  The Boulder Prosecutor's office offered Curnow a plea deal last week, which he accepted yesterday. He will be under house arrest for 60 days, must perform 120 hours of community service and will be on probation for one year, but will serve no jail time.  This was because he pled guilty to the felony charge of tampering with evidence, and four misdemeanors involving the death of the trophy elk.  I'm afraid his plea deal is a slap in the face to Sam Carter (hee-hee!)...

Edward the Elk, in a yard on Mapleton Avenue, 3 days before being gunned down by a policeman

Dream Horses

The legendary Red Rum galloping on Southport Beach

The "Dragon Horse" one of my favorite carousel destriers

The Phar Lap Rocking horse made by Legends Rocking Horse in Buckinghamshire, England.

They come in four sizes.  I want one!