Scent-detecting horses

This is interesting:


http://www.airscentinghorse.com/

While reading history, you will find examples on how the horse's scenting ability helped early pioneers find water, warn them when danger was near and for hunting. One example of this can be found in the book The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. In this book they describe how Roosevelt used his horse's air scenting abilities to hunt buffalo. Other examples on how the horse’s scent locating abilities were used for hunting can be found in the book The Mustangs by J. Frank Dobie. History tells us that in the days when horses were used for man's survival, their natural air scent locating ability played a much more important role than most people are aware of. I have taken this lost art from a state of oblivion and developed a innovative training program, so equine scent detection could be used in today’s modern world.

Yakama Wild Horses

Yakama tribe has about 5,000 wild horses on their lands. They are unaffected by BLM laws, and are adoptable at $100 a head.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/204346_wildhorses18.html

We believe the horse was always here, yes, even before the Spanish arrived. I understand paleontologists say the horse was hunted to extinction. Believe what you like. We have songs that talk about long, long ago, songs that honor the horse.

Call me crazy if you wish, but I have a lot of respect for native Americans. When I went on a geology field trip lecture to Crater Lake National Park, it was an interesting learning experience not only for the geology but for the history as well (keep reading, this will be horse related).
There were verbal tribe stories going back more than 7,000 years about the eruption of Mt Mazama to form crater lake -- 250 GENERATIONS!
It is amazing to me that a culture's history could be so well preserved, when today you have teenagers who don't even know about the founding of this country, not a very long time ago in comparison.

Getting back to horses, who is to say they haven't also carried down stories orally about the original horse, before its extinction?
And has DNA testing been done on this herd to see what the ancestry is like?

Hmmm... I wonder what (if anything) would change if a herd of horses were to be found genetically matched to the native horses. Would they be protected as a native species instead of considered feral/invasive?

With the price of gas, riding is cheaper.

At least that's what this article claims. They've calculated the total costs per year for a car at between $4-6,000, and a horse at about $1600 (which I think is a pretty low estimate, but they are Amish, so their expenses may be cheaper). I estimate horse costs at about $2,700/yr (I may write an article on this later).


I personally will be staying behind the wheel for my daily commute. It's about 80 miles round-trip to go to school 3 days a week. Riding a horse wouldn't be feasable.

But if, like some people I know, I lived close to campus, riding could definately save money-- especially with the current price of diesel, in my town, of $4.29/gallon (I'm stuck driving the old ranch truck for now).
One of the downsides I see to riding would be safety issues-- most places may have parking lots, but darn few have hitching posts or pens.

Three-legged horses for sale

There are an unusual number of 3-legged horses on Dreamhorse:




http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1114959

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1173543

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1172672

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1173015

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1187656

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1169727

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1070368

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1167956

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1164588

And the occaisional 2 or 5+ legged horses:

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1014847

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1167050


And then there are the ones who have heads that are actually larger than their bodies:

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1172037

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1191088

http://dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1163227
( 3 1/2 legs maybe?)

Then there is Craigslist, which is just plain sad:
http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/grd/646258986.html


All of this has inspired me to write an article, "How To Not Sell Your Horse".