CEO of GoDaddy killing bull elephants on vacation

Husband just sent this to me - we are changing our websites to a different host and I thought many readers here might want this info as well. I have not watched the video. Not sure how the links will transfer here, but don't have time to make them live - you'll need to copy and paste.

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Apparently the CEO of GoDaddy thought it was a great idea to post a video of his noble vacation of killing bull elephants in Zimbabwe. The video is briefly graphic. The CEO is a major tool and incredibly misguided. The height of stupidity is when villagers are butchering the elephant wearing orange GoDaddy hats.


I've transferred all of my domains from GoDaddy this evening after seeing this. I want nothing to do with supporting an imbecile like this.

http://www.video.me/ViewVideo.aspx?vid=380843

I ended up transferring to namecheap.com
They posted the video on their site and offered a transfer discount along with a pledge to donate $1 to savetheelephants.org
http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/

It really doesn't matter where you transfer your domains if this sort of thing appalls you as well... as long as you can stop filtering money to GoDaddy.

lessons in riding, 1

The weekend was cold and wet, yesterday was packed with mom chauffeuring duties, and my plan to ride got thwarted.

Tuesday was sunny, warmer, and I had several things on the agenda, but underlying all of it was to get in a ride on Keil Bay.  It was late afternoon when I headed to the barn ready to ride. Keil came in from the back when he saw me - he knew what I was up to. As usual, grooming took longer than expected. I ended up doing a hoof scrub, then ended up cleaning a sheath. About the time I was done and ready to tack up, my son called from the house that it was time for us to leave for his class.

So I let Keil in the barnyard, took son to class, waited while he submitted his assignments, and then dropped him off at play practice. When I got home, the Big Bay was still in the barnyard, still clean, and the sun was still in the sky.

Finally! I tacked him up and led him into the arena. Mounting - no problem. Warm up - no problem. He was very forward and clearly wanted to trot as we finished our walking. Forward, in front of the leg, very focused. I felt relaxed, happy, and oh so grateful to be back in forward motion with Keil Bay.

When I got off, he turned and put his nose on my shoulder. It never gets better than that.

Lesson: perseverance pays. 

Next ride: we'll build on the nice walking and forward trot from today. I might do the rainbow ride sequence that I found on Jane Savoie's website several years ago. Good things always happen when we get to yellow and indigo.

Hope you'll check in with your rides, and link to your blog if you like!

quick update on Spalding Fly Predators

I just spent at hour plus on the telephone with Larry Garner, who works with Tom Spalding to run Spalding Labs - the company that has supplied fly predators to November Hill since 2005.

When I received an unsolicited Parelli catalog in the mail last week, I was concerned when I got to the last page and found a two-page ad for Spalding Labs, who I feared might be endorsing Pat and Linda Parelli's work.

Many readers might remember my pledge to investigate the companies I do business with and vote with my credit card when it comes to companies endorsing riders, trainers, and/or training methods I feel are damaging to horses. The hard part of this pledge comes when you learn a product you love is in some way affiliated with a rider/trainer you can't abide.

I emailed the company on Sunday and received a quick email response yesterday (Monday) from Mr. Garner, who said he had tried to call (they had our old phone number in my account info, my fault for not updating!) and would I please call him to discuss my concerns.

Today I got around to that - he was on another call but someone (Crystal, a very nice woman) corrected my telephone number in their system and said that Mr. Garner would call me right back, which he did.

He was very candid and said that they have entered into a one-year advertising experiment with the Parelli company, purchasing advertising in the Parelli materials. He said that the Parellis have used Fly Predators for years and were thus interested in selling advertising to Spalding. Mr. Garner said in that sense, by paying for advertising, they are "supporting" Parelli, and he does not want to try to mask that fact.

He went on to say however that they are not endorsing Parelli or the work the Parellis do with horses. He asked what I had seen that brought me to my conclusions about the Parelli training methods.

We had quite a long discussion about horses and training and ethical concerns. Mr. Garner has lived with horses for 50-odd years and he described some of his own ways of working with them to me. I didn't ask permission to share those, so I won't, but I will say that what he shared matches what many of us have shared in blog posts and comments. I shared some of my herd stories, we discussed various issues in the world of high-dollar horsemanship, including round pen work, dressage, 3-day eventing, and more, and by the end of the call, I felt assured that Spalding Labs is in the business of providing non-chemical means to control flies for horses, other animals, and people, and that they are not in fact endorsing any horsemanship methods at all with their advertisement in the Parelli catalog.

I appreciated the honesty, and the sincerity of Mr. Garner's statement that they want to keep my business, and that they also want more horses to enjoy non-chemical fly control.

In addition, they are staying abreast of the latest in fire ant control via a kind of fly currently being studied by the USDA. At some point if this fly is approved for introduction in the US, we may be able to order fire ant predators as well.

Mr. Garner kindly put a hold on my 2011 order, as I requested in my email Sunday, so that I could talk with him before this year's shipments started. I asked him to release the hold and send the fly predators out asap.

If you have any concerns about the Parelli advertisement, I encourage you to contact Spalding and ask to talk with either Tom Spalding or Larry Garner. At this point I am comfortable continuing my relationship with the company (for which I have only ever had excellent service AND results) and I have a feeling Mr. Garner will be looking for some Parelli videos to see for himself what I described in our conversation.

Salina turns 28 - we celebrate her spirit and her wisdom

This weekend Salina is having her 28th birthday, and helping me begin a series that looks at living with the senior horse.

The lovely Salina came to live with us when she was 23 years old. Late one night I was browsing online and came across a photo of her. The moment I saw her face, her slight tilt of the head as she looked directly into the camera lens, I thought "therapy horse."

Salina is a black Hannoverian mare who was imported from Germany as a brood mare. She has one white sock and a very fine crescent star. Salina also has one eye, and when she came to us she had fairly severe arthritis in both knees. But with regular but light work, no stalling, and some supplementation for her joints, she was able to teach us a few things about riding before we retired her completely at age 26.

Salina carried us through our first dealings with a hoof abscess. She taught me about mares and that being centered in my own body and self is the key to success when handling her. She taught me about mirroring and partnering and how both horses and people as they age can have bad days, bad weeks, and that there's nothing wrong with moving slowly when you need to do so.

Salina is why we were led to Rafer Johnson and Redford. She taught me to listen to my gut when dealing with the vet. Sometimes what I know about my horses is more relevant than the vet school knowledge. She taught me about the power of the maternal instinct, and on a daily basis now, she is my partner on November Hill, keeping her eye on everything in the neighborhood, pricking her ears to show me where to look when there's something I need to see.

Salina has come to my bedroom window in the middle of the night to wake me up when something was amiss. She stood by Rafer Johnson's stall when his leg was broken and kept him company, and in my opinion, her presence is why he healed so quickly.

Salina soaks her own hoof when she has an abscess brewing, takes hand signals from her blind side, whinnies a beautiful song in concert with Keil Bay for breakfast, and constantly mirrors the humans around her.

Salina led me to learn more about equine nutrition, and she taught me how to properly give paste wormer and other medications from tubes. She has done more to lead me in the right direction when it comes to working with and living with horses than all the books I've read, all the lessons I've taken, and all the geldings put together.

Salina has been a therapy horse. She has guided a number of clients through stuck places. But even more than that, she has been my therapy horse, my teacher, and my guide into middle life. There is no way a tray of home-made horse cookies and some apples can acknowledge all she gives to us here on November Hill.

Over the next few weeks I'll be working on a series of posts about some of the things I've learned as a result of seeing that late-night photo and making the decision to bring Salina to live with us. I'll also be writing about the difficulties of living with such a beautiful spirit as she moves closer to the end of her life. It's very possible Salina's next big lesson for me will be teaching me how to say goodbye to a wise and wonderful and magical goddess. It won't be easy, but I know it's a lesson I have to learn.

Happy birthday, Salina. We are so incredibly grateful for the years and the lessons.

how in the world did I get on the Parelli mailing list?

Imagine my surprise when I collected the mail today to find a catalog with the big, giant name PARELLI right across the front.

I of course opened it up and began to laugh (although one could also cry, I suppose) at the irony in this opening quote from Linda Parelli:

In Parelli, you learn about yourself, you learn about communication, about leadership, about truthfulness, about consequence and responsibility. You learn about love and imagination. The horse becomes the animal that tells you the truth about yourself in all these categories.

I agree, the horse is the one who tells the truth about the Parellis.

Linda, HERE. (edited to remove dead link and to add - it appears this video is gone too) And Pat in any number of videos that have appeared online in his so-called "training" challenges. I would link to them but they tend to show up and then just as quickly disappear. So you will have to trust me when I tell you that what Linda Parelli did to a one-eyed, terrified horse had nothing to do with communication, leadership, truthfulness, or love. Nor does Pat Parelli's insane behavior in the performances he puts on in various training challenge venues.

On the next page of the catalog:

Put The Relationship First... Is Your Horse Happy?

All I can say to that is that perhaps the Parellis should take a look at the horses in the above-mentioned videos. Do those horses look happy?

For a mere $700. I can purchase the complete kit containing all four level education packs, a horseman's halter, a 12-foot lead rope, a carrot stick, a savvy string, a 22-foot line, a 45-foot lariat, a natural hackamore, and cradle bridle. (don't even ask what the bit to this bridle looks like)

For $700. I could also find someone who has a well-trained, happy horse, ask to watch a lesson, let my heart and my gut tell me if what I see feels "right," and if so, sign up for 8-10 riding lessons with that someone.

The most upsetting thing I didn't already know that I see in this catalog is that there's a two-page ad for Spalding Fly Predators. Please tell me they are not sponsors of Pat Parelli. If they are I am going to have to find my fly predators someplace else.