Horses
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:
Days End Farm Horse Rescue is
offering a cash reward for “any information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the
person responsible for the recent assault and
mutilation of horses in Maryland.” The
reward fund is named for Star, a mare who
was sexually assaulted and subjected to muti-
lation resembling an internal episiotomy in
Urbana on October 5. Similar attacks
occurred in the area on August 26 and
September 4; in Great Falls, Virginia, last
year; and have been baffling police in
England for a decade. The attacks may be
linked, as they seem to be done by someone
skilled at horse-handling, and there is con-
siderable traffic between the horse communi-
ties of England and the greater Washington
D.C. area. Days End Farm Horse Rescue
also seeks information about similar attacks
anywhere, at any time, by anyone, in an
effort to build a psychological profile of the
perpetrator. Send material to P.O. Box 157,
West Friendship, MD 21794.
Belgium on September 28
banned the 137th running of the annual trot-
ting horse race through the cobblestoned
streets of the village of Sint-Elois-Winkel,
due to “the risk of a confrontation between
those who are for the event and those who
oppose it,” an Interior Ministry spokesman
said. The race has long drawn protest
because of frequent injuries to the horses.
The 32-member Horsepower 4-H
Club, based at the Horse Amour stable in
Castleton, Vermont, buys ailing horses at
slaughter auctions and has so far successfully
rehabilitated 15 of 20 for recreational riding,
finding homes for the other five. One horse,
Jade, was purportedly too spirited, and still
is for most people, but has proved quite pro-
tective of a severely handicapped 24-year-old
who cannot sit up unassisted and can only
communicate with a symbol board. “With
her,” says Horse Amour owner Sue Cook,
“he’s so quiet, and he moves in tiny, little
bitty steps.”
