Horse Boy

There was an amazing story on the CBS Evening News a couple weeks ago (this post was completed on May 10). A boy with autism who didn't talk was put on a horse by his dad, and he began to speak. The parents went all the way to Mongolia to learn about the healing power of horses. Read more here.

And speaking of equine therapy, there's another facility called "Hero Hearts EquiCenter, Inc." that is going to be having activities in June, including the Hero Hearts program for veterans. Their e-mail address is heroheartsequicentr@yahoo.com.

Another Outrage

Normally I don't follow celebrity stories, but the one on the trustees disbursing Leona Helmsley's estate disturbed me for two reasons. Leaving the dogs out of it, I was dumbfounded that "trustees" could disburse money against the deceased's wishes. After reading the New York Times article, I learned she had a statement that left some of the disbursement to her trustees. But it wasn't intended to be the vast majority, I'm sure. And by all accounts, Ms. Helmsley did not even like people.

How strange is it that there were death threats against her dog because it inherited $12 million (a judge reduced to $2 million). The judge then gave her grandchildren $6 million although they were "explicitly" left out of the will.

So dog charities were given $1 million of $136 million disbursed. What this says to me is the lack of regard people have for "poor, dumb animals" (my wording) compared to people. I don't dispute the value of medical research (which probably is using dogs as lab animals), but I think Ms. Helmsley's wishes were ignored. The bottom line is, make your will crystal clear. And I personally hope Ms. Helmsley is haunting her brother, grandsons, lawyer, and friend. What a difference that money could have made in the millions of homeless animals killed each year because they are inconvenient to humans. (Photo of Maltese like Trouble, Helmsley's dog, from pets911.com.)

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
--Mahatma Gandhi

Happy Earth Day!

An Outrage

(UPDATE to Blog of January 14)

The man who was on trial for beating and dragging his horse behind his truck was found NOT GUILTY by a jury on felony animal cruelty charges. And the man is a geriatric nurse!

Read more here.

Kachina, the abused horse, is now leaving peacefully at Equine Voices Rescue and Sanctuary. Here she is running free with some PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) horses. These are horses that were used to make the drugs Premarin and others.