“Calèche” industry was long intertwined with defunct harness track, start of the Premarin industry, horse slaughter, and a notorious glue factory MONTREAL, Quebec––The last vehicle-pulling horses in Montreal, Quebec, are to be off the streets before sunset on December 31, 2019––an hour which, as this article is posted, has already come and gone. “Far […]
Race track deaths upstage notice of horses “retired” due to injury
45 horses dead on three Southern California tracks during 2019 seasons––and 39 at Belmont alone LOS ALAMITOS, California––Two horse deaths in the first race of the next-to-last-day of the Los Alamitos Race Course on December 14, 2019 renewed attention to high injury toll in horse racing, but upstaged the disintegration of the California Equine Retirement […]
California Equine Retirement Foundation runs into deep muck
Current leadership allegedly squandered assets & 27-year positive track record under ousted founder SAN JACINTO, California––Among the 80-odd animal shelters, sanctuaries, and nonprofit rescue organizations foundering in 2019, the California Equine Retirement Foundation (CERF) has probably run through the most money over the past five years. Along the way, CERF blew the the best reputation […]
Why did chuckwagon racer Devin Matsuing dare a grizzly bear to fight?
The grizzly bear had better sense BANFF, Alberta––Convicted on September 13, 2019 of disturbing a grizzly bear more than four years earlier, professional chuckwagon racing driver Devin Mitsuing, 35, was on September 13, 2019 fined $4,000 by Canmore Provincial Court Judge George Gaschler. Mitsuing was given until October 16, 2019 to pay the fine […]
Did the Omak Suicide Race start with a horse massacre & the KKK?
Uncovering the nasty origins of an ugly event OMAK, Washington––The 86th annual edition of the bizarre and often deadly “World Famous Suicide Race” held annually in Omak, Washington, is to be held nightly, August 8-11, 2019. Bizarre as the race itself is, even more bizarre––and perplexing––is that the 12 Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation […]
Three more chuckwagon horses killed as Calgary Stampede 2019 ends
Six horses killed in 10 days; most since 1986 CALGARY, Alberta––The 2019 Calgary Stampede ended on the night of July 14, 2019 with reportedly the second-highest attendance in the history of the event, and three more horses killed in the climactic last heat of the Rangeland Derby, the chuckwagon races that for almost a […]
Alleged “horses for ransom” brokers busted in Louisiana
“Killer buyers,” associates of killer-buyers, & partners in questionable rescues FORT POLK, Louisiana––Thompson Horse Lot owner Gary Thompson, 64, of Pitkin, Louisiana, who held a controversial contract to remove an estimated 700 to 750 wild horses from the 198,000-acre Fort Polk military installation, is facing 18 counts of cruelty to animals for alleged severe […]
Will Santa Anita figure out what’s killing race horses? Don’t bet on it!
Investigators are only 3,500 years behind Chinese potters in figuring out that wood ash hardens clay ARCADIA, California––Cro-Magnon troglodytes apparently never figured out that wood ash hardens clay, despite having many millennia of opportunity to do so. Thus the failure of the Santa Anita Park management to investigate the effects of soot and ash fallout […]
Fire, horses, & Santa Anita: ashes, ashes, they all fall down?
A global warming connection to record racehorse deaths? ARCADIA, California––All eyes concerned about horses and horse racing have had the Santa Anita Park turf and track surfaces under microscopic examination since Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Yet hardly anyone so far seems to be looking at the possible track-hardening effects of soot and ash deposition […]
20 racehorses die in 10 weeks at Santa Anita Park––why?
Santa Anita deaths revive debate over track surface safety ARCADIA, California––Famed as the oldest horse racing venue in California, hosting races 1904-1909, 1934-1941, and 1945-present, and as the scene of some of the most memorable wins by Seabiscuit and come-from-behind specialist Silky Sullivan, Santa Anita Park is suddenly notorious for 20 horse deaths in […]