vibrant life

Blue.Orange.

"I remember being home alone, focused and peaceful that evening. There was perfect aura when he came to life..." says gail guirreri-maslyk on her blog. The Andalusian in Capriole is honest and sincere, sad but hopeful. The horse always reminds us us who we really are, there are no lies between us and them, and when we know them, there can be no denying who we truly are.

poetry in motion

the movement of this horse reminds me so much of the ocean, a powerful wave, innate unbridled energy, mesmerizing. today it encourages me to dig deep into my own strengths, to allow my efforts to be uncontrolled and true, to be strong and to assert my heart in all that i do. wojtek kwiatkowski, polish photographer has an unbelievable gift with the lens and an ability to capture the archetypal truth of the horse.

Wojtek Kwiatkowski

stich.paint.dream

childlike, sweet, playful and delicate; so innocent, charming and imaginative. i am made to remember the freedom of childhood and all the wonders of my dreams with stephanie dosreis's adorable mixed media art woven textile, and vintage art. yet another great etsy.com shop discovery.

Eco Horse Paisley Pony

betchinoise has 4 more styles all as adorable as this Eco Horse stallion. it is made entirely from eco friendly cotton and wool, making it chew friendly and washer ready. I found this on etsy.com a great website for all things handmade

good intentions can backfire

the many ways i am inspired by horses forms an unending list, sometimes i am inspired by their unbridled beauty but this image and story breaks my heart.

every sunday it has become my ritual to walk up to the corner store and buy the sunday paper. this sunday i awoke to disturbing headlines that turned my stomache and made me reevaluate animal protection activism. sometimes we push for policies and fail to anticipate the ulitmate reality of our decisions. sunday's front page headline read "humane deaths for horses too costly" the article remineded me that elimating practices we don't always agree with can lead to practices we would have never condoned.

Since the closure of three horse slaughter plants in the United States, there has been a spike in horses being sent to Mexico for slaughter. Here are the numbers:

2006: 11,080

2007: 45,609

There has also been an increase in horses not declared for slaughter that are being sent to Mexico. Some groups believe these horses are also being slaughtered. Here are the numbers for those horses:

2006: 3,670*

2007: 6,801*

* These numbers do not include ponies, mules and burros.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Livestock Export Summary

zen and the art of horse

Linda Luster, animal artists' beautiful painting "zen horse 1" is as peaceful as it is refreshing. a beautifully clear dream, this piece recently made the cover of Art Horse Magazine's Ex Arte Equinus book and anyone could see why.