Fundraiser for Courtney King-Dye - raffling off a FOAL?

The following email has come through my inbox twice in the past couple of days, and I'm curious if anyone other than me feels this is grossly inappropriate.

I totally support the effort to assist a rider who has had an accident and huge medical bills as a result - especially since she was not wearing a helmet and has now become the impetus behind increased helmet awareness for all riders, regardless of the level of experience or the context of the ride. I have not followed this story closely but am assuming that she is endorsing the use of helmets and using her position and her accident to educate the many young riders (and older ones, too) about what can happen in a moment's time on the back of a horse - and how a family can be devastated by the expense of resulting medical treatment and rehab.

That said, I find myself shocked that anyone thinks that raffling off not even a fully grown trained horse (which I would still find shocking) but a FOAL is in any way appropriate.

I do not see living creatures as being "prizes" to be raffled like vacation weekends or inanimate objects. It greatly disturbs and saddens me to think that this is the way horses have come to be viewed. Whether as a vehicle to blue ribbons, trophies, or the prize for a winning raffle ticket, this view of these animals, in my opinion, demeans and dishonors them.

I sincerely hope that the folks responsible for this rethink the raffle and choose something different to offer for the winning ticket.


We have been fortunate to have been blessed with many friends that have helped us over the years. We are now trying to "pay it forward" To that end:

As many of you know, on March 3, 2010 dressage rider, Courtney King-Dye fell from a horse and suffered a traumatic head injury. The injury resulted in severe brain trauma and Courtney was in a coma for several weeks following the accident. Courtney has defied the odds and has not only regained consciousness, she is making miraculous progress and recently has even ridden a horse as part of her therapy. However, the costs associated with her medical care and rehabilitation are devastatingly high.

The Oklahoma Dressage Society and Avalon Equine have joined forces in an effort to raise funds to assist one of their own! To that end, Avalon Equine is donating the 2010 Oldenburg colt, Adieu d'Avalon (Aloha x Morticia/Mannhattan) to a fund raiser where tickets will be sold for the chance to win the colt. Adieu is a striking chestnut colt out of one of Avalon Equine's best mares. Avalon will cover all costs associated with Adieu's care, inspection and registration until the winning ticket holder is announced. The proceeds will be donated to the Courtney King-Dye Trust to assist in covering the extraordinary costs associated with her medical care and rehabilitation.

Raffle tickets are $5.00 each or 25 for $100.00. You can go here: http://www.avalon-equine.com/raffle.html to purchase raffle tickets.

If you do not wish to win the foal, but wish to help, go ahead and buy a raffle ticket. We will be drawing a "runner-up" in case the winner isn't able to take the foal. Additionally, we will offer continued support and assistance to whomever wins the foal and of course, to be able to offer updates on how the foal and his new owner are progressing!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
__________________
Kathy St.Martin
Equine-Reproduciton.com, LLC
http://www.equine-reproduction.com

and

Avalon Equine
http://www.avalon-equine.com

Sjef Janssen illustrates everything I hate about competitive dressage

Anky drops lawsuit against Astrid Appels?

In case you haven't heard, Anky has apparently dropped the lawsuit against journalist Astrid Appels.  No links yet, but have seen this on Twitter and Facebook with a badly mangled "auto" translation from the Dutch which implies that she is dropping the suit for "privacy reasons."

While I'm glad that Astrid doesn't have to deal with this ridiculous suit, I'm disappointed not to see the legal system address some of the associated issues.

quite the day here on November Hill

Bear bonked his eye late last night which required remedies and monitoring and then Kyra's ear got red and itchy and gunky and required cleaning and more remedies.

Rafer Johnson let himself into the back field and then Redford pitched a fit, followed by Keil Bay giving me his "you let THEM do anything they want" and so I opened up the entire farm to all of them this evening.

Salina lost track of where the donkeys were and started trotting up and down the paddock, whinnying wildly and whirling around at each end so fast I couldn't get her stopped to show her that they had not disappeared but were in back with the geldings.

About the time I got the donkeys to actually show their faces and relieve her anxiety, Rafer decided to let himself into the barnyard to the one place she couldn't follow and he HID in the hay tent!

Finally they're all fed and out and hopefully will enjoy the temperature dropping into the low 50s tonight. I just came in and discovered that someone is getting to the blog by searching for "Apache Moon Festival" and I'm thinking - did that pony go and set up some big party without letting me know???

I would not be surprised at anything this crew pulls today.

today's magical moment: the spider version of a double rainbow!

I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but this morning I noticed there were two spiders and two webs that were about 4 inches apart, like a double rainbow, spider style.

There is a lovely cool breeze today and as I stood there photographing, the webs blew in sync, then touched, stuck for a few moments, unstuck, blew in sync again, and the process continued.

I have never seen such a configuration of two webs this complex. It made me want to sing.

Postscript:

This evening I had another chiro appointment and a massage, and when I left the office near sunset, which was quite intense and gorgeous, I noted a few drops of rain falling on the windshield and turned to my left. There was an amazingly clear and pristine double rainbow which seemed to begin just behind the chiro office and extended across the county to end right where November Hill is.

I drove toward home, curving to change roads, and suddenly was facing the double rainbow. Just as it seemed I would drive right beneath its double arch, I switched the radio and the Eagles sang, "it might be raining, but there's a rainbow above you."

By then nothing would have surprised me in this domino of synchronicity, but along the final stretch to home, three deer leaped from the forest to the road's edge, stopped, then bounded across, looking almost exactly like the November Hill Press logo.

It has been a magical day.