Tag: Horse Care

The last-known daughter of Secretariat has died at the age of 34, reports the Courier-Journal. Trusted Company's passing was first reported by Patricia McQueen on Facebook Sunday; McQueen is an author/journalist who has been tracking Secretariat's offspring for decades.

Trusted Company last lived at Bright Futures Farm in Cochranton, Penn. The chestnut mare raced one time and produced nine offspring; her best descendent thus far is granddaughter Lady Shatzi, the 2009 Horse of the Year in Peru.

Now, the last-known surviving equine sired by Secretariat is 33-year-old Maritime Traveler.

Read more at the Courier-Journal.

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Free-roaming ponies in Portugal learned to recognize letters on a touchscreen with no encouragement from humans, reports The Horse.

Garannos ponies are an endangered breed with minimal contact with humans, but this did not seem to impact their ability to learn human-made symbols and understand how to use human-made devices.

The ponies were able to differentiate between the letters B, O, V, X and Z, said Clara-Lynn Schubert of the Sorbonne University's Faculty of Science and Engineering's Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurosciences, in France. Schubert believes that these results could lead to more in-depth cognitive research and improved equine communication. 

Schubert and a team of other scientists moved an 8-year-old Garranos stallion and four mares, aged 2 to 13, from where they free-roamed to a testing paddock. The male horse was gelded, but maintained stallion behaviors; the oldest mare had lost vision in one eye years prior to the study. 

The researchers placed a 43-inch touchscreen on a portable stand in the paddock, just below the height of the withers. The screen was placed in a three-sided shelter with a chest-high pole the horses could reach over to touch the nearly 6-inch-tall letters on the screen with their noses. 

When the horse made the correct choice, a chime sounded and a piece of carrot went down a tube to a bowl in front of the barrier. If the horse chose the wrong letter, a buzzing noise sounded and no treat was delivered. 

The horses were trained individually, but where the other horses could see. At first just a black spot was shown on the screen and the horse got a carrot reward when they touched it with their nose. The images then changes to the Roman letters B, O, V, X and Z. The horses were then presented with a choice between the spot and the X, then between two letters, with gradually increasing complexity based on how the letters looked. 

The horses, wearing a halter but no lead rope and could leave the area at any time. The horses completed five training sessions of 10 image choices per day; the horses rarely opted to stop before the sessions were over. 

Each of the horses was able to discriminate between the X and the black spot; but only the four mares were able to discriminate between all five letters with an average of 80 percent accuracy. The three youngest horses learned more rapidly than the two older horses.

Read more at The Horse. 

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Point Given, the 2001 Horse of the Year, passed away peacefully on Sept. 11 at 25 years old.

In 2017, the champion Thoroughbred became a resident of the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions, making him the fifth Horse of the Year to occupy the famous barn.

“Point Given was a special horse, loved by all, and a wonderful ambassador for the Kentucky Horse Park,” said Kentucky Horse Park president Lee Carter. “We are saddened by his passing but grateful for the memories created and our time with the 'Big Red Train.'”

Owned and bred by The Thoroughbred Corporation, and trained by Bob Baffert, the son of Thunder Gulch won six Grade 1 races, including two legs of the 2001 Triple Crown, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. For his efforts, he received Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt.

“Not only was Point Given a dual classic winning Hall of Famer, but he was also an excellent ambassador for horse racing and the state of Kentucky,” said Hall of Champions supervisor Rob Willis. “He was a big stallion that was fun to be around. Countless visitors enjoyed being in his presence over the years. It was an honor to care for him during his retirement. His presence will be missed.”

Point Given, affectionately known as the “Big Red Train” due to his 17.1-hand height, earned $3,968,500 with nine wins and three second-place finishes from 13 starts. He was the first horse in history to win four $1 million races in a row, which included the Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes, the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Stakes, and the G1 Travers Stakes, all under jockey Gary Stevens. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2010.

“I'm saddened to hear of Point Given's passing,” said Gary Stevens. “He was, to me, the greatest horse to not win the Triple Crown. It was an honor to ride such a phenomenal horse. Rest in peace, PG.”

Point Given retired from racing in September 2001 to stand at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky. In 2013, he was relocated to Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky., where he stood for five seasons before retiring to the Kentucky Horse Park. He sired over 30 stakes winners, including Canadian Horse of the Year, Sealy Hill.

Like other great Hall of Champions horses, Point Given will be buried at the park's Memorial Walk of Champions alongside past Thoroughbred residents Cigar, Go For Gin, Forego, Bold Forbes, John Henry, Alysheba, and Da Hoss. A public memorial service will be held at a future date.

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The work of the International Equestrian Federation's (FEI) independent Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission (EEWB) is making a positive impact, according to a survey completed this summer of people involved with horses and horse sport. Almost 6,000 equestrians responded, and nearly 64 percent had noticed 'some' or 'more' initiatives to improve sport horse welfare.

Further to the launch of the EEWB Commission's additional 24 Recommendations, including the proposed vision of 'A Good Life for Horses', made in April to the FEI and international delegates at the Sports Forum in Lausanne, the Commission launched its second survey of equestrian stakeholders to gauge reactions to its work to date.

The survey — which was offered in English, French and Spanish — welcomed responses from anyone involved in horses.

As with the previous survey in 2022, the largest group of respondents were either local competition stakeholders (an owner, rider, groom, trainer or instructor), or leisure riders and drivers, with 43% of the respondents affiliated to the FEI and 17% of these being FEI affiliated equestrians. Dressage was the biggest interest group (34%), with show jumping (26%) the next.

Encouragingly, when asked about their views on initiatives to improve sport horse welfare over the past year, 21% reported they had seen 'more initiatives' and a further 45% reported having noticed 'some initiatives', making around 66% in total.

Given that the EEWB Commission has proposed a new vision to ensure a Good Life for Horses in Sport, respondents were asked if they thought it was possible for horses to enjoy a good life when involved in sport. 79% of all respondents definitely agreed or agreed that they can, with around 3% believing instead that this is 'probably' or 'definitely' not the case. FEI respondents were more convinced, with 88% agreement, while local competition and leisure riders/owners had 77% agreement.

Asked if the 24 recommendations made by the EEWB to the FEI regarding equine ethics and wellbeing could make a real difference to horse welfare, using a scoring system from 1 (not at all) to 10 (to a great extent), 71% of respondents scored this question 6 or greater. This indicates that, if implemented, the recommendations are considered satisfactory or good in terms of progressing equine welfare in sport.

There was general support for the proposed new Equestrian Charter. The charter would require equestrians to pledge personal responsibility for horse welfare, ensuring the highest standards of equine welfare and a commitment to improve understanding of what is involved in providing a good life for horses. Almost 67% of respondents supported the charter, with a further 30% saying 'maybe'.

Opinions were split across the six key areas identified in the 2022 equestrian survey as being of most concern, with 'Training and riding practices, tack and equipment' the highest concern (27%) overall. 'Horses being treated as an object or 'equipment' and not as an emotional creature' was the next highest (with 20%), and emotional and physical stress (16%) the third. There were differences between the disciplines in the level of concern shown for each key area of focus. Concern in eventing was highest regarding 'emotional and physical stress including injuries' (26%), although 'enforcement and accountability' (22%) and 'training and riding practices, tack and equipment' (21%) caused similar levels of concern. In dressage, the highest concern was 'training and riding practices, tack and equipment' (36%) and in show jumping it was' training and riding, tack and equipment' (26%) and 'the horse being treated as an object and not an emotional creature' (22%).

In addition to the feedback provided through this 'pulse survey', the EEWB held two webinars for stakeholders across the FEI which attracted participation from across the world. During the webinars, the Commission chair outlined the rationale for the recommendations and enabled participants to submit questions and comments to the Commission members, with many participants welcoming the direction of travel.

“While this work is very much ongoing, we are very pleased with the general levels of awareness of the EEWB's work, and positivity about the recommendations we have proposed,” says EEWB Commission chair Professor Natalie Waran.

“We now look forward to formally handing our work over to the FEI Board so that they may consider the recommendations in more detail, and make their decisions on next steps including their plans for implementation.”

The EEWB Commission's final report to the FEI will be delivered to the FEI Board this autumn and presented at the FEI General Assembly in Mexico in November.

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