08/03/10 Weather, and PSA

Ridiculous
Hot
All
The
Time

It's been in the high 90s daily, with heat indeces above 100F, mostly closer to 110F, now for a few weeks. This week has seemed especially ridiculous, mostly because the winds have calmed to near-nothing at home.

This all leads to very little riding. I haven't done more than hose off sweat for the last two nights, and I'm hoping tonight I can at least get a little walking in on one or the other. The only times of day it's "reasonable" to ride is early mornings. This motivates me more to get my arena lights installed, as it gets a little better in the late evenings.

So I've done lots of reading, and living rides through the adventures of lots of other bloggers. I stumbled on a blog I used to read a lot, but having come to see what the blog author is really all about, I won't even do her the service of a link-back. What I will say, is this . . .

When you've fallen on hard times, and the job is lost, and you've found yourself with a horse you can't easily pay for, selling isn't always the answer. It's a sad story of horse got "accidentally pregnant", add in an injury, and suddenly, horse-owner is begging for donations to pay for critter care, and the foal in utero growing up. It sounds good from the sidelines to shout, "You moron! Sell the horse!" I can understand the comments that bark this, not realizing the current economic situation. With so many folks out of work, and a handful more barely getting by, we're not all out searching for problems to buy. If I can find an OTTB or a little hungry horse for cheap, why on earth would I go running out and buy an injured, pregnant mare? Sure, morally, it'd be the "right thing to do". But should Romeo find a new home, I'm not out looking for a near-dead rescue case. I just don't have it in me to feed, and vet, and feed, and vet, and maybe, if I'm lucky, mount under saddle four or five years from now. I'll admit it - I'm all for the moment when it comes to horses. I need my "saddle fix". Without the ability to, at a minimum, do a little in-hand work, and some round pen time, I'd look for something else for sale.

All that on my soapbox to say, freedom of speech says to me, "If somebody wants to ask for donations to pay their vet bills, they're free to do so." As for me? I'm free to not donate, and keep from hurling insults & crude remarks their way.

If you've read for any length of time here at HDTH, in the context of this entry, it's probably quite clear which blog I'm referring to. Don't go running over & comment to the hysteria. Comments here are gladly accepted, but I won't in any way encourage my readers to go on the attack. :) Show them how to be mature & responsible.