We have a little coony crisis.

A couple officers found a baby raccoon that allegedly fell off a two story roof. So, they brought him to my mom and I and now we have a little coony to take care of. If my username doesn't give it away, raccoons are one of my favorite animals. :)

He has a brain injury and the vet gave him a shot of steroids to help reduce the swelling. He's also on antibiotics and I'm giving him water every hour or so, along with kitten milk. He was bleeding from his right ear when we first got him and he's still really lethargic. But he purrs when I rub his tummy and he can swallow. He can move everything, too, so we know his spine is intact. The steroids should kick in soon, but it's touch and go for a while. If he doesn't respond within 24 hours, he's probably not going to. We're keeping our fingers crossed. Poor little guy.

This incident has brought to light another issue, however. We were calling a bunch of wildlife rehabilitators and none of them had any room for our little guy. One rescue has about a hundred raccoons that are due to be released right now. But there's a lot of opposition. People just want them all to be killed because "they're pests that get in the way".

What a horrible attitude. It's the same with just about any native wildlife around here. Rabbits, foxes, coyotes, you name it. People want them gone. It's disgusting. Take one look at that sweet little face and tell me how anyone can go out and shoot them. People with that mentality are nothing but soulless monsters. If you're not intelligent and caring enough to at least try to get along with the local critters, you have no business taking up space and oxygen. The critters were here long before people were and they have just as much - if not more - right to be here as we do.

Tell me, what makes an animal unworthy of being saved? What makes you so much more important? If you see an animal that needs help, what would possibly possess you to just walk away? That's just unthinkable. What if you were in the situation of our poor raccoon, and you had taken a bad fall and were seriously hurt? I bet it would be pretty horrible if everyone just said to do away with you because you were "in the way", or nobody cared. You know what? If you're ever in a situation like that, don't ever expect help from me if you have that view. Maybe I'll just shoot you and put you out of your misery, because you seem to think that's the right thing to do for a living being that's hurt.

I think it's our obligation to make room for these animals because we take so much from them and give little to nothing back. These morons think raccoons and rabbits are so overpopulated? Ha. Have they taken a look around recently? Look how overpopulated humans are. We crawl out the of woodwork like cockroaches, therefor we're taking land and resources that the animals need. It's our own fault that the wildlife has nowhere else to go, so it's our job to take care of them. Would it kill people to at least try to get along with the animals? It's not hard.

I measure intelligence by an individual's ability to adapt and live alongside other species, and by that criteria, raccoons and other critters are a lot more intelligent than most humans. It's disgusting how people in this area just want to do away with them. Those kinds of people can all get rabies and die. They do nothing but suck oxygen and have no heart or conscience. Society would be vastly improved without them.

As for right now, I'm really hoping the little coony pulls through. There's a perfect, safe place near my house to release him if he makes it. *keeps fingers crossed*

Found another one, dammit.

I really need to stop lurking the classifieds. This guy looks awesome. The back legs look a little camped out, but the rest of him is gorgeous. And he's got stunning color to boot. I hope he finds a fantastic home. =D

Am I cinvinced yet?

I do not need another Thoroughbred. I do not need another Thoroughbred. I do not need another Thoroughbred. I do not need another Thoroughbred.

Seriously. What a perfect horse. He's sooo handsome. It's a good thing he's a thousand miles away, because I'd steal him away in a heartbeat. Someone buy this horse and spoil him rotten for me.

Extremely obnoxious sale ad.

GO LQQK AT THE REST THEN COME BUY THE BEST & YOU WILL KNOW WHY OUR HORSES MAY BE A LITTLE HIGHER / CAUSE THERE BETTER !!! HER PEDIGREE LINK ---------------------------------------------------- http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/red+bucks+wendy ---------------WENDY IS REALLY GENTLE , WELL BRED MARE , IN FOAL TO ZANS TOUCHDOWN SON , FOR AN 2009 FOAL / SEE STALLIONS INFO ON OUR WEB SITE AT htt://www.sldavidsonfarms.com She has been ridden by all ages , she is a great trail horse now will lead or follow , she only plow reins at this time , but is coming along on her training Quite well , This mare is the kind , sweet type that will make a great lesson mare for many years to come , she is super easy to catch and puts her own head in halter or hackamore , doesn't move when getting in the saddle or out , We haven't used a bit on her she never need one. you can ride her bare back with just a lead rope a halter , Wendy loves being groomed and not bad about baths or her feet at all . This is one that want get children hurt . We have never tried her on cattle but she is bred to know what one is , She has been jumping 12" in hand . and lead over wood platforms , tarps etc.. We are a breeding training farm and She is truly a good one , We offer a 10 day money back Guarantee Contract on all horses we sale , try asking someone else for one . we also have a half sister to her that is sorrel and is just as gentle for 900.00 her name is HOLLYS SUPER JACKIE

Wow. Read that and tell me that didn't grind your gears. First with the annoying caps, them bragging about a horse that hasn't accomplished anything and never will, and has nothing to show for her supposedly great pedigree. She's ribby and wormy-looking on top of that, not to mention the lead rope that's dragging on the ground.

It just annoys me to no end the way they claim that their horses are the best. Oh, and did I mention they claim that that mare is brindle? Yep. What a laugh. Check out their other ads. It's pretty scary.

They move like that naturally? Bagh!

I'm sure you've heard WP people claim that the slow, pitter-patter gaits are completely natural and you can allegedly see them doing it out in the pasture on their own. Well, I've never seen a horse with no rider move like that (except in stock breed shows, which I won't even go into). This video is proof. You see the stallion running around his pasture like a normal horse at a normal speed (with his head up!), and then they show him under saddle and moving like a 35 year old cart horse with his nose down to his knees.

The WP gaits are not natural. They've taken natural gaits and ruined them. Show horses are supposed to embody the vision of a proud, strong, and alert horse, but WP horses don't convey any of those. The slow gaits are nothing but a hideous, tasteless trend. The whole point of WP is to show a horse that is a pleasure to ride, but these horses don't look very nice to ride at all.

In the last quarter of the video, it shows the lady riding him bareback and he's moving with a lot more energy. So he can move normally. Plus it looked a lot better to ride. Notice also that there were of couple of HUS pics, and the horse had the same frame as a western horse and the rider had the reins draping. That should never be acceptable in an English discipline. It's bad enough that western horses are so messed up. English horses (and horses in general) are suppsed to have elasticity and freedom of movement, and you see none of that in the HUS ring. And, like WP, it didn't start out like that. It's all a trend. As obsessed as equestrians are with tradition, you'd think we'd want to go back to the way things were, when the horses were actually not stick-legged robots.

I thought I'd seen all the crap NH has to offer.

But Deb Bennet's Horse Training Commandments has just proved me wrong. To me, the list sounds like the writer's head is up in the clouds. There are some good points like the "Thou shalt learn to use the outside rein well" part, but some of it was just goofy.

Like the "Thou shalt not render thy horse's body hard". WTF? Fantastic muscle tone inhibits a horse's range of motion? I suppose that would be possible if it was like a QH stallion on steroids, but that's not going to happen realistically. Muscle supports the horse's structure, as do strong and conditioned tendons and ligaments. And working them strengthens their hearts for high level competing and whatnot. Keeping them fit and muscular throughout their lived is soo important. They tend to live and be healthier longer. They'll be in much better shape when they're old. You cannot put too much muscle on a horse, especially just by working them.

In fact, my trainer's old OTTB was absolutely massive. Just a freakin powerhouse. People always thought he was a QH. She was barrel racing him well into his 20's, and he only died because of colic at 29. Don't tell me having tons of muscle isn't good for a horse.

Maybe that's the excuse NH people use to explain why a lot of their horses aren't the fittest horses ever. They don't want to work them on a lunge line or anything because being super fit is bad for them. Is that right? It impedes their range of motion, right?

These Quarter Horses look totally stiff and uncomfortable, right? Yeah, cuz they have too much muscle. Shame on the owners for keeping them in such awesome condition. Yep. It really screws them up.

*headdesk*

Talk about an extavagant ad for a dime-a-dozen horse.

This mare is true royalty, and would be a rare diamond in the crown of any Arabian breeder. Gorgeous, sweet and affectionate Princess Aliahmah. Great- granddaughter of both the sensational half-brothers Shaikh Al Badi and The Egyptian Prince. Her grand-sires are the beautiful and talented Ruminaja Ali AND the amazing *Fol Yasmeen. Her pedigree runs back four hundred years to the very sands of the desert. What fantastic babies she would produce when bred to a stallion worthy of her bloodline. Expanded pedigree and more photos upon request.

This ad made me lol.

First of all, what Arabian's ancestry doesn't go back four hundred years? They're one of the oldest domesticated breeds out there. I would hope their pedigrees go back a few hundred years.
I thought she was going to start boasting that the horse went back to the Byerley Turk or something. That would have been the icing on the cake.

If your mare has such great breeding and is so amazing and would be the envy of all the Arabian breeders out there, wouldn't it make sense to get some good conformation shots of her when she's shed out? Nothing screams "I don't know what I'm doing" like a bunch of cruddy pasture shots. The ad says nothing about any show records or level of training, either. She doesn't even have a bridle path.

If this mare is all that they claim (which she is certainly not), she should be clipped or shed out, squared up, have a nice long bridle path, and maybe even be in a show halter. That's how you advertise a quality horse, and convey to potential buyers that you know what you're doing.

I don't know why they think they're going to get $8,000 for a dinky little Arab mare that hasn't accomplished shit and may not even be trained to ride. I just get the impression that the seller is a little loony. Oh, well.