Horse notes

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:

Nationally ranked equestrian
and heir to millions George Lindemann
Jr. drew 33 months in prison on January 18
for killing a horse to collect $250,000 in
insurance. His trainer, Marion Hulick,
drew 21 months. The two were among the
most noted defendants among 18 people
convicted to date in connection with a horsekilling
ring that also included the killers of
13 humans over 25 years. The last victim
was heiress Grace Brach, who vanished in
1977 after becoming suspicious of horse
transactions arranged by Richard Bailey,
convicted in connection with her murder last
year. His close associate, stable owner Jerry
Farmer, on January 22 drew 10 years for his
part in selling Brach and other wealthy
women worthless horses at premium prices.
Brach’s estate formed the Brach Foundation,
a major sponsor of animal-related projects.
The crime ring was exposed by a federal
reinvestigation of her disappearance.

The Bay Meadows Foundation,
of San Mateo, California, in late December
sued the Bay Meadows race track operators
for allegedly shortchanging more than 100
charities which, under a 1959 state law,
benefit from the gross on five charity race
days per year as a condition of track licensing.
The suit covers the years 1992-1994. A
similar suit covering 1990 netted a $700,000
settlement in 1991.
Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman on January 11 refused a European
Commission request that the U.S. waive a
ban on the import of horses infected by the
tick-borne disease piroplasmosis, to allow
23 infected horses to compete in the Atlanta
Olympiad. International Equestian
Federation veterinary officer Fritz Sluyter
warned that in consequence the U.S. might
be barred from hosting future international
equestrian events.
Pressured by county fairs,
Tennessee state representative Pete Phillips
(D-Shelbyville) on January 31 withdrew a
bill to ban animal high-diving acts, such as
the notorious Tim Rivers Diving Mule Act.
At deadline Patsy Poore of
Southern West Virgnia Equine Education
& Protection Inc. in Jeffrey, West Virginia,
was hoping to overturn a December 28 judicial
order that the blind pony Kenton Mosley
of nearby Ovapa was riding when arrested
for “drunk driving” in August be returned to
Mosley’s sister, who purportedly bought the
animal prior to the nationally publicized
incident. Earlier, after Mosley pleaded
guilty to abusing the pony, the pony was
awarded to SWEEP by the presiding magistrate.
According to Poore, the pony was “at
least 20 years old and 100 pounds underweight,”
partly due to bad teeth.