August 2016

AUGUST - 2016

VOL 5 | ISSUE 12 | PRICE 15 USD

‘HORSE YOGA’ TAMES MORE THAN ANIMALS MEDICAL IMPLICATIONS OF OBESITY IN HORSES LESSONS FOR HUMAN OBESITY POISONOUS WEEDS IN HORSE PASTURES Equine therapy is helping people with PTSD and disabilities ..

MANDY SANGHERA Human Right Activist and Motivational Speaker

Navajo Nation eyes agreement reining in slaughter of wild horses

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If ultimately approved, the deal, which proposes such methods as birth control to keep wild herds in check, would be the first of its kind on Indian lands and perhaps in the nation, he said.

“The Navajos are the biggest tribe in the country. If we strike an agreement here, it will set an example for other tribes that still slaughter," We need to - said Richardson

"President Begaye wants a little more time to gather the input of grassroots organizations, ranchers and others to determine how best to go forward CONSERVE it! on implementing the agreement," he said.

and SERVE it! www.neeranjali.com

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Abasta said the nation's newly elected president is seeking feedback from tribal members.

Save Water..... Save Life

Horse Love... Healthy Active Life Style with sense of freedom and power

The relationship between a horse and a human is an old one. It goes way back.

Before 3500 BC human knew how to deal with the wild horses. They used them for agriculture, hunting, carrying luggage for long journeys, and later on sports!

Nowadays horses are still bred, for many sports like dressage, jumping, western riding and driving (horse-drawn carriage).

For the most success in any horserelated activity, you have to build a good relationship with the horse to get best of the best. There are countless reasons to love the companionship of horses. Here are a few thoughts that jump out at me why I love horses and include horses in my life.

Horses are creatures of beauty. Beauty may be in the eyes of the beholder, but horses have inspired artists and poets through the ages. I am awed by the sight of a herd of horses galloping through a field-powerful, independent beasts but

stunning to view. They are living art forms that remind us to the natural wonders of the world. This in turn inspires us to live our lives at a higher level. Riding is all around great exercise. Burning calories and toning muscles while enjoying nature is the ultimate. The combination of barn work, grooming, and regular riding is one of the best kept fitness secrets around.

There are many social activities related to horses. From hanging out at the barn with friends to going to shows or group trail rides, horses keep their owners in touch with other human. Horses give you an instant common bond with other horse admirers. This bond overcomes cultural and societal differences. I keep horses because I love to ride, but it’s not the only reason. Truth is even if I didn’t I would keep horses because I love being around them. Horses relax you and intuitively seem to know what you need. I have come to appreciate this aspect of horses with the passage of time. As a kid horses

meant riding and being with my friends.

Now they act as natural tranquilizers they very presence can lower my blood pressure and improve my mood. I simply enjoy watching them do their normal horsey activities-from munching on hay to rolling on their backs in the sand pit.

Horses not only bring pleasure, but can provide emotional support. They seem to sense depression and pain in a person and will often react in amazing ways.

Incorporation horses into your life is a good way to make healthy living part a habit. Horses are dependent on us for care and that forces us to stay active on a regular basis. Sense of freedom and power. Horses free us from many of the limitations of our bodies. Short and dumpy? Weak and frail? Crawl abroad a powerful horse and you’re freed from you weaknesses. Horses see our inner selves. they don’t care if we are the President of a company or the janitor in the local middle school. They see us as we really are. There is no room for ego with your relationship with a horse. You have to earn their respect. You have to be honest with them and yourself. Spreading time up close and personal with a horse renews your sense of wonder. I can’t think of a better way to appreciate the enchantment of life than riding a horse along a mountain pass or across a spring green meadow. If life is treating you apart, simplify you life by spending thime in nature with a horse.

Horses are the essence of nature. What better way to return to natural old fashion ways than to ride a horse.

Harjit Singh Rai CEO

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HBM TEAM ADVISERS

BARBARA CARMINATI COL. SARPARTAP SINGH SAAB VIRK

EDITOR CREATIVE /DESIGNING HEAD MARKETING HEAD PUBLIC RELATIONS INTERNATIONA AFFAIRS PHOTOGRAPHERS

DARSDIDR SINGH JAGDISH CHANDRA CHIRAGDEEP DUA (WARIS) VIJAY BHINDER RAJBIR BANDESHA DAVINDER SINGH ANKUR THATAI ADRIANO COLOMBO MAX BASSO GINO ROSA ANNAMARIA QUARESIMA SUKHJINDER SINGH SOKHI MARI ALDENI

WRITERS

APURVA SHEEL LAURA ZUCKERMAN DR. NADIA CYMBALUK CHRISTPPHER THOMON Gina Mckight PRIYANKA VIZ

USA MARKETING HEAD

LISA ULLMAN JONES

CONTENTS 6

‘Horse Yoga’ Tames More Than Animals

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Medical Implications Of Obesity In Horses Lessons For Human Obesity

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Following 100 Years In Bondage, A Glance At The World’s Last Genuinely Wild Stallions

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Horse Drugging Scam

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If You Can Dream, You Can Do It …

Walt Disney

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Poisonous Weeds In Horse Pastures

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Race Donkeys Live Like Horses

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3 Students Changing The Horse Industry

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‘Killer’ Caterpillar Threat To Australian Equine Industry; Grub’s Nesting Habit Causes Foal Death, Birth Defects

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Crazy Horse And The Rider .... Arrjun Sangwan

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Humans Tamed Horses All Over The World

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Ancient Asia: The Domesticated Horse

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A Remote Himalayan Village In India Runs Its Own Insurance Scheme For Its Extraordinary Horses.

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Tibetan Horse Festival: A Scenic Struggle Between Tradition And Modernity

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Equine Therapy Is Helping People Wirh Ptsd And Disabilities ..

Mandy Sanghera Human Right Activist And Motivational Speaker.

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‘HORSE YOGA’ TAMES MORE THAN ANIMALS You may have heard of yoga’s “downwardfacing dog” pose, but what about “upwardstaring horse”?

Well, that’s sort of the idea at one animal school in Argentina.

A video of a wrangler performing yoga-esque poses atop a strapping steed went viral on the internet earlier this year, bringing predictable headlines like “You’ll neigh-ver believe it” and “Horse yoga is actually a thing!”

But the practice turns out to be not quite the same ancient Indus Valley art that such reports have suggested.

Instead, it owes its formation to the indigenous communities of rural Argentina, in which horses have played an integral, almost mystical role for centuries.

According to Cristabal Scarpati, co-founder of the Doma India school in the town of San Luis, these impressive skills have been honed and passed down through tribes, towns and settlements in the region for generations.

“The philosophy of our school is the philosophy that my father learned from an old Indian named Don Cristobal Luna,” Scarpati told CNN.”He taught us how to recreate these exercises practiced by the Indian aborigines.

“These people were endowed with extraordinary abilities and very often the survival of their tribes depended on them. It was also a way for cawelche (tribal horse experts) to display their union with the animals and show off their skills.”

On the film, a man can be seen stretching a horse’s legs before carefully performing a headstand on its chest.

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He then maneuvers the horse onto its side, soothing it into a trance like state of relaxation.

It’s an oddly enchanting sight, displaying the controlled movement and calmness that many who have dabbled in the practice of yoga or meditation will recognize.

“For many years I traveled the world bringing this message and what we can say is that horses – – regardless of race or color or origin – – are all susceptible to the same stimuli ... like affection, empathy, respect and solidarity,” Scarpati said.

“I’ve never done yoga but now people tell me a little about it I actually think there are many points of connection,” he added on the similarities of the concepts. “The pursuit of harmony, peace of mind and body health are closely intertwined in both activities. I think the suggestion is quite correct.”

Thousands lose sleep over horse’s birth Doma India primarily exists to teach owners about the mental state of horses and to help tame horses that are troublesome, untrusting or insecure.

However, the school also aims to help people meditate or seek an inner calm through the experiences and interactions they can have with horses.

“The horse can actually produce a calming effect on people,” Scarpati said.

“I sincerely believe that we can enjoy something very similar to yoga if we encourage people to play with horses and if we dare to truly connect with them on their frequency in the frequency of nature.” With that in mind, maybe the upward-staring horse pose isn’t so far fetched after all.

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MEDICAL IMPLICATIONS OF OBESITY IN HORSES LESSONS FOR HUMAN OBESITY Abstract There is growing recognition that obesity is common and represents a significant detriment to the health of companion animals in a manner similar to that by which it is affecting the human population. As is the case for other species, obesity appears to promote insulin resistance in horses and it is through this pathophysiological process that many of the adverse medical consequences of obesity are being characterized. Equine medical conditions that have been described in the context of obesity and insulin resistance differ from those in humans. Chronic human conditions that have been attributed to obesity and insulin resistance, such as atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus, are rarely described in obese horses.

Significant current interest is centered on the recognition that insulin resistance plays a role in the pathogenesis of laminitis, a potentially severe and debilitating cause of lameness in the equine species.

Other equine medical conditions that are more likely in obese, insulin-resistant individuals include hyperlipemia (hepatic lipidosis) and developmental orthopedic disease (osteochondrosis). Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (equine Cushing’s syndrome) represents another common

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endocrinopathic condition of older horses associated with insulin resistance. This review presents an introductory overview of the present understanding of obesity and insulin resistance and how these conditions may be associated with disease conditions in horses.

Obesity In parallel with the human obesity epidemic, there is increasing recognition that obesity is common to many domestic animal species, including horses. Moreover, the reasons that domesticated animals develop obesity are broadly similar to those reasons that have been attributed to obesity in humans. Simply stated, contemporary husbandry practices are characterized by the provision of energy-rich rations to physically inactive horses. This short review is intended to highlight aspects of equine obesity and to draw contrasts between the medical risks associated with obesity in horses and humans.

As a herbivorous species, horses evolved with a reliance on grass forage for their nutritional requirements. Accordingly, during the fall season, horses ingest increasing quantities of available forage and gain adiposity in preparation for the winter season when food tends to be relatively scarce. Stimulated appetite and adipogenesis at this time, along with the acquisition of a thick hair coat, are kindled in herbivores by an increase in the secretion of proopiomelanocortin (POMC) peptides from the hypothalamic–pituitary axis.

These changes represent a critical survival mechanism that affords the provision of (stored) energy, in the form of body fat, throughout the winter months.

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This seasonal outpouring of POMC peptides represents an important difference between herbivores and humans. In contrast to the human pituitary gland, there is a well-developed “intermediate lobe” (pars intermedia, PI) in the pituitary gland of herbivorous species.7 This PI plays a critical role in the endocrinological management of body condition in concert with seasonally dependent shifts in the availability of forage.

In nature, the period of environmental harshness is finite and the acquired fat stores should be depleted prior to the onset of spring and the growth of new grass. In the healthy state, the acquisition of adipose tissue is therefore important for survival, but the acquisition of excessive adiposity and its chronic persistence exert diverse adverse effects on the health of the individual. Both insulin resistance (IR) and the development of a mild-tomoderate proinflammatory state have been regarded as key components of the survival mechanism during this limited period of environmental harshness and both appear to develop and resolve in parallel with the acquisition and depletion of additional adiposity at the onset and conclusion of winter. Some animals, by virtue of the impositions of natural selection, have inherited genetic traits that have facilitated their survival through periods of environmental harshness.

These animals are said to have inherited “thrifty genes.” Although it is likely that multiple diverse physiological processes contribute to the concept of thriftiness, IR appears to be an important component.

A good example of the effect of natural selection on thriftiness is the Ossabaw Island swine.

Following abandonment on a barrier island off the coast of Georgia

(Ossabaw Island) by Spanish colonists approximately 500 years ago, isolated swine evolved a thrifty genotype in order to survive seasonal cycles of feasting and famine. When allowed to consume excess food in “modern” captivity, these Ossabaw Island swine quickly develop the highest levels of total body lipid of any mammal, IR and impaired glucose tolerance, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypercholesterolemia when compared to lean Ossabaw and domestic swine.

Ossabaw Island swine develop coronary atherosclerotic lesions that are virtually indistinguishable from lesions in humans. To that end, these swine are currently being investigated as “large animal” models of metabolic syndrome and diabetes with relevance to human medicine. The extent to which different breeds of horses have inherited thrifty genes is unknown, but it is reasonable to consider that some pony breeds, being more insulin resistant than horses, may represent equine-specific examples of this phenomenon. Interestingly, pony breeds are also predisposed to develop laminitis when compared with horses.

Development and Recognition of Obesity in Horses The prevalence of obesity in animals is underrecognized by both veterinary clinicians and owners. In fact, many animal owners deem a degree of obesity as normal, acceptable, and even desirable. In

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certain categories of the equine industry, horses are judged competitively by their physical characteristics. In these events, a degree of obesity is similarly often judged to be an advantage in the show ring.

There clearly exists a need for objective criteria by which horses might be “scored” in terms of whole-body adiposity. Whereas in the human context, the “body mass index” (BMI) has found utility in this respect, it has more recently been suggested that simply measuring the circumference of the (human) individual’s waist is an excellent indicator of visceral adiposity. In the equine field, various methods have been recommended for the purpose of assessing the relative adiposity of equine patients, including the body condition score, the equine BMI, and the use of ultrasonography to assess subcutaneous fat thickness near the tail head. Determinations of the thickness of subcutaneous adipose repositories near the base of the tail and over the rump have been shown to be useful predictors of total body fat content when compared to determinations based on dissection of the carcass. The equine species evolved as a free-roaming herbivore that walked great distances on a daily basis, paying heed to potential predators, in order to find and ingest a sufficient and suitable quantity of forage. The quantity and type of available grassland species available to evolving horses differed significantly from that generally provided for horses today. The process of natural selection optimized the equine metabolism for feeding on “native” grassland species that were relatively low in sugar and starch content. Like other mammals, horses lack enzymes that are capable of digesting the cell walls of plant species. The horse is a hindgut fermenting, herbivorous species;

healthy horses exist in a symbiotic relationship with a substantial bacterial population (microbiota/flora) contained and maintained in their large intestine.

The anatomy of the large intestine of horses is remarkably complex and differs considerably from that of humans The equine large intestine may be divided into three parts likened to a series of fermentation chambers that provide for compartmentalized fermentation of forage. Upon entering the large intestine, digesta are first processed in the cecum, a very large chamber that is an anatomical cul-de-sac. Digesta are subsequently moved from the cecum into the chambers of the ascending colon (right ventral colon followed sequentially by the left ventral colon, the left dorsal colon, and the right dorsal colon). Digesta then move through the short transverse colon into the descending colon and are eventually passed as feces. Using the process of fermentation, symbiotic bacteria degrade the structural carbohydrates of plant cell walls (cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectins) to short-chain (or volatile) fatty acids that are absorbed across the colonic epithelial lining and used for energy. In many respects, equine digestive processes evolved with emphasis on the efficient utilization of these “structural” carbohydrates (dietary fiber). Accordingly, plant species to which horses adapted through natural selection tend to be characterized by a relatively low nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content (sugars and starch). There is good evidence that provision of relatively high NSC-content rations to horses leads to significant diminishment in insulin sensitivity.

The constraints imposed by the needs of modern society on the methods by which

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horses are accommodated and fed are such that a majority of domesticated horses are physically inactive and provided rations that are grossly excessive with regards to their nutritional energy requirements.

Horse owners purchase energy-dense rations at the behest of attractive advertising and free advice afforded by the powerful and influential equine food manufacturing industry. Furthermore, forage sources (pastures, paddocks, and hay) used for feeding horses are commonly based on nutritionally improved grassland species that have been genetically enhanced for purposes of feeding food animal species (especially cattle). These forages are especially rich sources of sugars and starch (high NSC content) that have been optimized for rapid weight gain in food-bearing farm animal species.

Evolution provided the horse with a metabolism that was best suited to its natural lifestyle before the influence of manmade domestication. It is therefore not surprising that domesticated horses develop obesity in light of the fact that they tend to be physically inactive and are provided with rations that are excessive in terms of energy (from the perspectives of both forage and grain). Although there have been few published studies that report on the incidence of obesity, it is commonly believed, albeit anecdotally, that obesity is an underrecognized and common problem in the equine species. In one study, 45% of 319 randomly selected horses were scored subjectively as either “fat” or “very fat.”

Interestingly, in that study, the owners of the same horses generally underestimated the significance of obesity and failed to recognize its development in their animals.

Based on the results of that study, the prevalence of obesity in horses exceeds that reported by others for pet cats (25.8%) and pet dogs (25.2%).

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Widespread recognition of the important relevance of obesity to health within the veterinary profession clearly lags that of its human medical counterpart. That said, many of the health risks associated with human obesity pertain to chronic diseases in a long-lived species. Domesticated animals rarely attain ages beyond 30 years.

Throughout the antecedent decade, there has been broad interest in the fact that IR represents a risk factor for laminitis, a common and debilitating cause for lameness in horses. However, the extent to which obesity contributes to worsening IR in horses, as it does in humans, has not yet been investigated as thoroughly.

Equine Health Consequences of Obesity Some equine health consequences of obesity have been ascribed to the simple acquisition of excessive adipose tissue within the individual. Examples of adverse effects of obesity include exercise intolerance (reduced athleticism), thermoregulatory inefficiency, abnormal reproductive performance, and the development of benign lipomas in mesenteric adipose within the abdomen.

Mesenteric lipomas are more likely to develop in obese horses and cause painful intestinal tract obstructions (known as “colic”). In some cases, mesenteric lipomas develop a long pedicle of attachment and are said to become “pedunculated.” Pedunculated lipomas tend to move within the abdomen in such a manner as to cause both obstruction

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and strangulation of obstructed intestine.

Affected horses develop acute-onset severe pain, shock, and, without emergency surgical intervention, die.

New information points to the fact that, as clearly recognized in other species, obesity contributes to worsening IR in horses.

Specific equine conditions that have been associated with IR may therefore be more likely in obese horses. Specifically, IR (and, by extension, obesity) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of laminitis, pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), osteochondrosis, hyperlipemia, diabetes mellitus, and endotoxemia (systemic inflammation).

The term “equine metabolic syndrome” (EMS) has been used to describe horses at risk for laminitis resulting from IR and (perhaps) obesity. In this regard, it is argued that laminitis represents a chronic equine medical condition analogous to human chronic conditions associated with IR and obesity (such as diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases). Whereas the human metabolic syndrome definition includes the presence of IR, obesity, hypertension, a proinflammatory state, a prothrombotic state, and atherogenic dyslipidemia, application of the term EMS is generally applied to horses in which the following abnormalities are identified: IR, obesity, and signs of abnormality in the hoof (implicative for laminitis). A prominent and characteristic physical attribute of horses affected with EMS is the acquisition of adipose tissue within the crest of the neck . Interestingly, changes in the “thickness” of the affected neck have been linked to changes in the signs of clinical severity: as the neck thickens, signs of IR (such as laminitis) tend to increase (these signs decrease when treatments are associated with

improvement in insulin sensitivity and a loss of neck crest thickness). It has been suggested that the circumference of the neck (compared with the horse’s height or girth) might be a practical index for suspicion of IR (similar to the use of waist circumference as an indicator of high BMI and IR in obese human patients).

Although evidence shows that EMSaffected horses develop hypertension, routine measurement of blood pressure is not generally undertaken in equine practice. Elevated circulating levels of some proinflammatory mediators have been identified in obese horses.

As with the case for the human metabolic syndrome, substantial controversy has followed introduction of the EMS term into the equine medical field. There is yet still a lack of agreement regarding the criteria by which EMS should be defined. Clearly, substantial differences exist between EMS and its human counterpart. Use of the term EMS, implying that the principle and sole underlying endocrinopathic state is IR, helps differentiate affected horses from those affected with either hypothyroidism (extremely rare in adult horses) or PPID.

Insulin Resistance in Horses As with humans, medical problems in obese horses are often attributed to the consequences of IR. A complete discussion of the pathophysiology of IR is beyond the scope of this article. That IR likely plays a role in equine diseases has been recognized for many years.

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Substantial recent interest in the medical importance of IR has been significantly fueled by the recognition that it plays a role in the pathophysiology of laminitis.

There is good evidence that genetic factors are important determinants as to whether specific breeds of horses are likely to develop greater or lesser degrees of IR. Other factors that contribute to worsening insulin sensitivity in other species, such as inflammation, obesity, dietary energy excess, age, physical inactivity, corticosteroids, and pregnancy, have been reported to some extent for horses.

Laminitis Laminitis is an affliction of the hoof lamellar interface (HLI), the specialized dermoepidermal junction that serves to attach the hoof capsule to its underlying connective tissue and the distal phalanx.

The importance of the structural integrity of the HLI is appreciated when one considers that it effectively bears the weight of the horse. Some conditions lead to rapid degradation of the HLI and cause physical separation of its dermoepidermal junction (by virtue of the weight-bearing function), a painful inflammatory state

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that often necessitates euthanasia and is referred to as acute laminitis (“founder�).

Alternatively, chronic metabolic and endocrinological perturbations may cause subtle and progressive remodeling within the HLI that is referred to as chronic laminitis. Whether severe and extensive or mild, structural weakening of the HLI is a hallmark of the laminitic condition Laminitis is a potentially devastating complication of many disparate primary conditions. Acute laminitis commonly occurs during the treatment of severe gastrointestinal diseases such as obstructive intestinal strangulation and enterocolitis. Dietary indiscretions associated with the intake of large

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quantities of grain (starch) also commonly lead to colitis and acute laminitis (“grain overload”). Laminitis often arises in horses that are grazing forage pastures at times of the year when the NSC content of the grass is high. There is a well-documented risk for the development of laminitis during conditions in which the permeability of the intestinal lining is increased as a result of either disease or dietary indiscretion.

Several plausible explanations for the risk of laminitis associated with disease of the alimentary tract have been proposed and include the absorption of bacterial toxins, cardiovascular derangements associated with systemic inflammation (ischemia of the HLI as a result of digital venoconstriction), that the HLI represents an equine-specific shock organ following translocation of colonic bacterial products into the blood (neutrophil granulocyte migration into the HLI appears to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of acute laminitis), and that IR develops as a component of a systemic inflammatory response to bacterial products (endotoxemia). Laminitis is also highly likely as a complication of other diseases associated with a systemic inflammatory response such as pleuropneumonia and endometritis.

However, a milder form of chronic laminitis is commonly identified in horses and ponies that may be attributed to underlying endocrinopathic influence.

In this endocrinopathic manifestation of chronic laminitis, extensive, severe, and painful physical separation of the HLI is much less likely. Milder signs of subtle pain and remodeling of the HLI characterize endocrinopathic laminitis. Signs of abnormal hoof growth, including prominent growth lines and broadening of the white line zone, are typically evident in the affected hoof .

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The two most common endocrinological abnormalities associated with chronic lam in it is are IR and the influence of excessive levels of corticosteroids. Injection of horses with synthetic glucocorticoids sometimes causes laminitis. Conditions associated with excessive circulating plasma cortisol concentrations (Cushing’s syndrome), such as PPID, are commonly associated with laminitis.

Despite substantial speculation, a satisfactory explanation for how and why laminitis develops as a result of either IR or glucocorticoids is presently lacking. The picture is made more complicated when one considers that glucocorticoids represent a potent cause of IR. Moreover, expression of the steroid converting enzyme 11-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-1 (11-HSD1) in abdominal adipose tissues is an important component of the human metabolic syndrome. This enzyme increases the localized tissue activity of cortisol, the active glucocorticoid, by ketoreduction of the inactive, but plentiful, circulating cortisone. As reported previously, the activity of 11-HSD1 in the equine HLI is increased in the presence of laminitis.

Furthermore, it has also been reported that 11-HSD1 activity appears to be increased in subcutaneous adipose tissues obtained from the thickened neck of horses affected with EMS. The gene for the enzyme 11HSD1 is likely one of many “thrifty” genes.

Aside from the possibility that endocrinopathic laminitis could be a result of the action of cortisol (increased by 11HSD1), evidence also shows that insulin itself is directly toxic to the HLI. In a series of elegant experiments, administration of insulin to horses [chronic intravenous (IV) infusion working to maintain

hyperinsulinemia over the course of several days] was shown to cause laminitis. Chronic hyperinsulinemia is a common finding in IR-affected horses at risk for laminitis. However, laminitis does not appear to be a complication of overt diabetes mellitus in the equine species.

Pituitary Pars Inter media Dysfunction As noted earlier, the equine pituitary gland differs from that of humans in that there exists a comparatively welldeveloped intermediate lobe, the PI. The PI is important in herbivores because its secretory output contributes to readying the individual for winter. Melanotropes, the only secretory cell population in the PI, secrete POMC-derived peptide hormones (a different repertoire to the POMC peptides secreted by corticotropes in the pars distalis). Specifically, the POMCderived secretory products of melanotropes include adrenocorticotrophic hormone (corticotropin), – endorphin, – melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and corticotropin-like intermediary peptide.

In health, melanotrope secretory output is strictly inhibited by dopaminergic neurons in the periventricular aspects of the hypothalamus, and the day-to-day physiological contribution of PI-derived POMC peptides is regarded as minor.

With age, these dopaminergic neurons tend to deteriorate as a result of oxidative stress damage. Loss of normal inhibitory dopaminergic influence on melanotropes leads to both POMC peptide hypersecretion and clonal expansion of melanotropes.

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The resulting clinical expression of persistent PI hyperfunction is referred to as PPID. Oxidative destruction of dopaminergic nerves in aged horses is somewhat similar to the oxidative loss of dopaminergic nerves in human patients affected by Parkinson’s disease.

A discussion of the clinical expression of PPID is beyond the scope of this article and the interested reader is directed to other sources of information.7 It has been suggested that PPID may arise as a result of chronic IR in obese horses and ponies that have been fed energy-dense rations over the course of many years.

However, a satisfactory explanation for the development of oxidative damage to these critical dopaminergic nerves in the equine species has not yet been presented.

Laminitis is a component of the clinical expression of both IR and PPID . It is also common that IR can be demonstrated readily in PPID-affected individuals.

Hyperlipemia syndrome results from excessive and Hyperlipemia Syndrome pathological mobilization of lipid from excessive adipose tissue repositories in obese individuals. As befits their genetic tendency to IR, pony breeds, donkeys, and miniature horses are especially at risk for hyperlipemia. By definition, hyperlipemia implies that the plasma triglyceride concentration exceeds 500 mg/dl. Consequences of hyperlipemia include circulatory disturbances and organ failure (especially the liver and kidneys) as a result of fatty infiltration.

The mortality associated with severe hyperlipemia is very high; mortality may be attributable to either hyperlipemia per se or various underlying causative disease processes. That liver disease results from the acquisition of lipid by hepatocytes as

a result of an IR-associated triglyceride mobilization in obese horses is similar to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in human patients, a common finding in metabolic syndrome.

Diabetes Mellitus in Horses Although horses and ponies commonly develop IR, it is rare that overt diabetes mellitus develops in this species. It appears that, in the face of significant IR, pancreatic secretion of insulin rarely fails during the lifetime of the horse. It has been suggested that, compared with their human counterpart, the life span of horses (<30 years) is less. Moreover, the ration of horses normally contains comparatively little fat (<4%). In contrast, IR is a common finding in obese cats and compared with horses it is associated more often with overt diabetes. It has also been suggested that comparatively low insulin sensitivity in carnivorous species may provide a survival advantage during periods of restricted food availability.

Clinical Diagnosis of Insulin Resistance in Horses Clinical suspicion of IR/EMS is based on results of the physical examination of the patient. Physical abnormalities

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commonly identified in EMS-affected patients include generalized or “regional” obesity, a thickened neck, and the presence of laminitis (based on either physical or radiographic abnormalities).

It is important to eliminate PPID as the underlying cause of “regional” obesity and laminitis because the clinical appearance of PPID in teenage horses is similar to that of EMS. The extent to which EMS and PPID may be related is the subject of some controversy. It has been suggested that PPID may be an equine-specific complication of chronic IR. The best tests for IR include the frequently sampled IV glucose tolerance test and the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp technique. Unfortunately, these tests are impractical for practicing veterinarians and less specific, alternative diagnostic approaches are generally recommended.

The easiest diagnostic test for IR is to simply determine the plasma insulin concentration. Compensatory hyperinsulinemia is a common finding in IR-affected equids (caution is needed when interpreting the results of single sample insulin determinations without due consideration of possible confounding factors). Serum insulin concentration can be influenced by many factors (in addition to the insulin sensitivity of the individual), including time since the animal was last fed, circulating cortisol concentration (diurnal variance, excitement, pain and stress, PPID), type of food on which the ration is based, reproductive status, and physiological status (fitness/illness).

However, fasting concentrations of both insulin and glucose tend to be relatively constant and may be used to provide insight into the patient’s insulin sensitivity. Horses and ponies affected

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with IR tend to be characterized by a high normal or slightly elevated plasma glucose concentration (reference range, 80–115 mg/dl) and hyperinsulinemia [reference range, <30 mU/ml (<220 pmol/liter)].

Practical clinical demonstration of IR may be achieved using either a simple (glucose:insulin) ratio or by calculating the reciprocal of the square root of insulin proxy. Both of these indices of patient insulin sensitivity yield similar correlations to measurements made using more complicated techniques.

An alternative diagnostic test for IR in clinical patients is the combined intravenous glucose–insulin test (CGIT).

Horses are tested by administering glucose and insulin (glucose, 150 mg/kg; insulin, 0.1 U/kg) and measuring the blood glucose concentration for 2 hours. Normal insulin sensitivity in horses is associated with a return of the plasma glucose concentration to baseline within 45 minutes. The CGIT represents a potentially practical clinical measurement of insulin sensitivity because it provides integrated information and more information than either the singular glucose tolerance test or an insulin sensitivity test.

Parallels between Obesity in Human and Equine Populations Although dairy products, refined sugars, cereals, refined vegetable oils, and alcohol contribute 72% of the modern human diet, these nutritional components were not available to evolving humans and did not contribute to the natural selection pressures under which the human genome developed. Various “diseases of modern civilization” (such as those associated with obesity) have been attributed to discordance between our ancient, genetically determined biology and the

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nutritional, cultural, and activity patterns of contemporary Western populations.

Specifically, consumption of recently introduced (refined) foods, coupled with a relatively low activity lifestyle, is at odds with our inherited genetic programming.

Although the human genome is essentially unchanged since the emergence of modern human beings in East Africa thousands of years ago, humans remain genetically adapted for the foods consumed then.

Modern humans have also inherited genes that evolved to support a physically active lifestyle, and physical inactivity in sedentary societies contributes directly to a risk of multiple chronic health disorders.

Aspects of obesity in animals may afford some insight into human obesity. It could be argued that modern horses have also inherited genes that were evolved to support a physically active lifestyle and that physical inactivity (imposed by the needs of domestication and human convenience) also contributes to a risk of chronic disease, but the scientific evidence for the argument is yet still insubstantial.

Similarly, modern horses are fed rations that are broadly different to that nutritional repertoire for which they are genetically adapted.

In this respect, significant parallels exist between the provision of refined, nutritionally dense rations to horses and the consumption of energy-dense refined foods by people in modern society.

Beyond the provision of an excessive grain and pellet component in horse rations (with respect to nutritional requirements), modern horses are also fed forage items (pastures and hay) that have been enhanced genetically to suit the needs of the food animal industry. These forage sources are characterized by a relatively high

nonstructural carbohydrate content (high starch and sugar content) and have been designed to promote weight gain, growth, and lactation in cattle . Not surprisingly, when fed to inactive horses, these forage sources promote the development of obesity and their sugar content aggravates IR in affected individuals.

Conclusion There is increasing awareness that obesity develops commonly in domesticated companion animals. Although there is substantial evidence regarding the fact that obesity represents a risk factor for complications and increased mortality for many human medical conditions, the effect of obesity on medical conditions in veterinary species has not been studied extensively. There is increasing interest in the role that IR plays in animal diseases. As is commonly reported in the human medical literature, the increasing incidence of obesity in horses might be linked to contemporary management practices that include prolonged periods of imposed physical inactivity and the provision of rations that are nutritionally excessive with regard to the animal’s energy requirements. Moreover, further similarities to the human obesity situation might be drawn regarding the provision of diets for horses that contain substantial “refined” carbohydrates (nonstructural carbohydrates including sugars and starch), which are at odds with the nature of the food for which these species are genetically adapted.

For veterinarians, it is easy to engage in conversation with animal owners regarding the importance of obesity and its impact on health because there

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has been so much publicity and media interest. Talking to animal owners about the impositions of human-oriented animal confinement and exercise restrictions can readily be presented in the context of insufficient physical activity as a risk factor for human disease. Similarly, the increasing recognition that many common animal feeding practices are broadly inappropriate for nutritional requirements can be very effectively likened to aspects of unhealthy human nutritional practices in contemporary society.

To

a

greater

and

greater

extent,

veterinarians are discussing animal obesity in the broader context of what is presented to animal owners in the media regarding human obesity, physical inactivity, and unhealthy nutritional choices. Whereas humans make their own nutritional choices, obesity in animals is always a direct consequence of management decisions made on their behalf by animal owners. Curiously, in many cases, provision of a healthier ration for horses would represent a considerable cost saving for owners who often expend considerable financial resources on rations that, in terms of protein and

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energy, far exceed the animalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nutritional requirements. The extent to which obesity affects the general health of animals has been studied to a much lesser extent than it has for humans. Therefore, it is a very exciting time for veterinary scientists with interest in adipobiology, obesity, endocrinology, metabolism, and nutrition. It is important to emphasize that substantial differences exist among the pathophysiological consequences of obesity among different species. Facts that hold true for one species (such as humans) may not hold the same truth for animals.

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Following 100 years in bondage, a glance at the world’s last genuinely wild stallions IN THE 1870S, THE WORLD’S LAST GENUINELY WILD STALLIONS, KNOWN AS PRZEWALSKI’S STEEDS, LIVED IN THE ASIAN STEPPES OF MONGOLIA AND CHINA. BE THAT AS IT MAY, BY THE 1960S, THOSE WILD STEEDS WERE NO MORE FREE. ONE AND ONLY HOSTAGE POPULACE REMAINED, PLUNGED FROM AROUND TWELVE WILDGOT PEOPLE AND MAYBE FOUR TRAINED STEEDS. ON ACCOUNT OF REAL PROTECTION ENDEAVORS, THE PRESENT POPULACE OF PRZEWALSKI’S STEEDS NUMBERS MORE THAN 2,000 PEOPLE, WITH AROUND A QUARTER LIVING IN REINTRODUCTION HOLDS.

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ow,researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on September 24 have sequenced the complete genomes of eleven Przewalski’s horses, including all of the founding lineages and five historical, museum specimens dating back more than a century, and compared them to the genomes of 28 domesticated horses to provide a detailed look at the endangered animals, both past and present.

“The novelty of our approach is to have not only surveyed the present-day genomic diversity of Przewalski’s horses, but also to monitor their past genomic diversity, leveraging on museum specimens,” says Ludovic Orlando of the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark. “That way we could assess the genetic impact of more than 100 years of captivity in what used to be a critically endangered animal.”

The genomic evidence helps to solve a long-standing debate in horse evolution, regarding the relationships between wild and domestic horses. The ancestors of Przewalski’s horses and domesticated horses remained connected by gene flow for a long time after their divergence, some 45,000 years ago, the researchers report. Their populations continued to mix even after humans started to domesticate the horse about 5,500 years ago.

“As a matter of fact, we also show that very early in captivity--in the early 1900s-domestic horses contributed significantly to some lineages of the Przewalski’s horse pedigree,” Orlando says. “It implies that not all of the surviving Przewalski’s lineages represent the gene pool of wild horses equally.”

Orlando and his colleagues found the greatest genetic differences between

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domesticated and wild horses in genes involved in metabolism, cardiac disorders, muscle contraction, reproduction, behavior, and signaling pathways.

about a quarter of the genomes of Przewalski’s horses consisted of gene variants inherited from domesticated horses.

issues.”

The findings also show that the last 110 years of captivity have left a mark on the Przewalski’s horses, in the form of lower genetic diversity, increased inbreeding, and, in some cases, the significant introduction of genes from domesticated individuals. In the most extreme cases,

But there is some good news: “Even though Przewalski’s horses went through an extreme demographic collapse, the population seems to recover, and is still genetically diverse,” Orlando says. “There is, thus, hope for [other] endangered populations, fighting similar demographic

in understanding domestication. The

The findings also serve as evidence of the importance of ancient DNA evidence researchers say they plan to screen many more ancient horses--both wild and domestic--over time, with the goal of reconstructing the history of horses’ 5,500 years of domestication.

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Horse drugging scam Two women and a vet have been jailed over a “despicable” scam that involved drugging sick and potentially dangerous horses and selling them to unsuspecting buyers.

Equestrian centre partners Charlotte Johnson and Aniela Jurecka and David Smith were convicted after a lengthy trial last month.

The horses, priced from £1,950 to £5,700, were drugged at South East Horses, based at Great Thorn Farm in Marden and at hired land at Duckhurst Farm in Staplehurst, to cover up lameness and other problems.

It was estimated that hundreds of horses were sold, bringing in potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds for the pair.

In a conflict of interest, Johnson and Jurecka, both 28, used their own vet, 66-year-old Smith, who also has a practice in Hawkinge, to carry out deliberately “cursory and inadequate” examinations of the horses before they were sold.

Today, Johnson, of Wagtail Place, Hayle Park, Maidstone, Jurecka, of Prospect Place, Collier Street, Tonbridge, and Smith, of Lower Farm, The Street, Finglesham, near Deal, were each sentenced to twoand-a-half years imprisonment.

Maidstone Crown Court heard adverts on the internet and in publications such as Horse and Hound targeted novice riders

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looking for ‘“safe’” horses.

Instead, buyers were left with horses dramatically different to what was advertised.

Several customers were thrown and at least one was in hospital for two months with life – threatening injuries. Others suffered broken ribs and one was left unconscious in a ditch.

Prosecutor Dominic Connolly said: “Those adverts grossly misdescribed horses being offered for sale.

“Representations are made as to their physical wellbeing, calm and placid demeanour and suitability for firsttime riders when they had significant behavioural issues which made them entirely unsuitable. On a number of occasions, that resulted in falls and injuries.”

One witness told the trial that a horse advertised as being “cool, calm and collected” and for which she paid £4,000 turned out to be “potentially lethal”.

Text conversations and a raid at Smith’s veterinary surgery revealed details about the supply of drugs, including Modecate – a controversial behaviour modifying sedative with a long – term effect that mask behavioural problems in aggressive horses.

Mr Connolly said when the horses were inspected and tried out they were sleepy, docile and placid because of the drugs.

He added: “It was only after the purchase when the effect of the sedatives began to wear off the true nature and temperament of the horses were revealed.”

All three denied conspiracy to commit fraud between June 2008 and December

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2013 at the start of the three-month trial, but were convicted.

be destroyed. It caused distress to animal lovers.

The court heard the loss involving 17 horses which featured in the trial was put at about £85,000.

“All three of you knew the truth of what was going on. You risked the lives and safety of riders and that of horses themselves.”

Judge Martin Joy said the three had been convicted on clear and overwhelming evidence of a conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation over about fiveand-a-half years.

The number of customers defrauded, he said, was almost impossible to quantify.

“Each of you was involved in a long and dishonest course of conduct by telling lies abut the history, temperament and health of horses,” he continued.

“Horses were frequently drugged to make them docile. Often horses were described as ‘schoolmasters’, which was apparently a technical term, or bombproof, because it was known that victims sought to buy such animals.

“The impact of the drugs was planned to cause wholly unsuitable horses, often exracehorses, to be apparently docile.

“When the drugs wore off, sometimes a few days later, sometimes weeks later, the animals were dangerous to be around and certainly to ride.

“That caused falls and injuries and loss.”

One victim described the horses as being like unexploded bombs.

Inexperienced riders were thrown. One suffered serious injuries. Another broke a rib and one was knocked unconscious.

“All three of you bear responsibility for many of the distressing consequences that flow from the offence,” said Judge Joy. “A figure of £85,000 was put forward by the prosecution as the loss but the true financial losses were, of course, higher.

“It has always been the case that although prosecution has concentrated on 17 horses the losses extend far beyond those.”

The judge said Smith played a key role.

He had previously been struck off by The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for serious misconduct and had been before other courts.

There was a huge pile of references speaking in Smith’s favour which were moving.

But Judge Joy added: “I had the opportunity of seeing you in the witness box over some days and you seemed to exhibit an arrogance and contemptuous attitude to clients, their concerns and feelings.

“They were advertised, demonstrated and certified as docile for the buyers,” said the judge. “That was a wicked and dangerous and criminal course of conduct.

“The evidence disclosed your dishonesty about the provision of drugs for horses over many years. You presented in the witness box as a cynic willing to participate in a long and dishonest scam.”

“It was dishonest and it caused not only financial loss but suffering to horses. It was cruel. Several of the horses had to

Jurecka and Johnson acted together and were always ready with lies and false pretences. They both achieved the sale of

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many horses by systematically drugging them. The drugs were supplied by Smith.

“You certified them as suitable for purpose,” the judge told Smith. “That also was despicable. It was dishonest, fraudulent and dangerous behaviour.

“The involvement of a dishonest vet was essential to the success of the conspiracy.

It was at the heart of the conspiracy.

“They needed a dishonest vet. Buyers were steered towards using you.”

Speaking after the sentencing, DCI Neil Parker said: “This has been a complex and protracted investigation.

“I want to acknowledge the victims in the case.

They have had to endure a significant wait to

see justice handed down as it has been today.

“I am very grateful to all of them for their patience. We should remember that not only were they subjected to financial loss by the defendants, they were also exposed to real risk of injury.

“These horses were not suitable to be ridden or kept as pets. We have heard of victims who have suffered significant injuries having been thrown from their horses and in some cases the tragedy of having to pay for their horses to be put to sleep.

“This must have been truly harrowing and I can only imagine how upsetting this has been for them. The defendants have shown no regard for the welfare of the

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horses. They have apparently drugged them and exposed them to unnecessary stress.

“They have shown no remorse for their actions. The comments by the judge and the sentences handed down to these defendants can only serve as a very clear message that this type of systematic fraud will not be tolerated.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work by the prosecution team. My officers together with the Crown Prosecution Service and partners from Trading Standards have worked for a number of years to secure these convictions and that is testament of how successful partnership working is between these organisations.”

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If you can dream, YOU CAN DO IT …

Walt Disney

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Everything started from the dream of a child who wanted more than anything to go to the American Far West, living in a real ranch and learn how to breed the wild horses and then go home and rebuild his ranch.

the most beautiful “Farm House” across Europe working with horses of exceptional stature belonging to blood lines prominent on the international scene that has always produced approved stallions for breeding and multiple Olympic champions.

Alberto Chincherini for more than 20 years rides his dream that with time became true passion and ongoing research.

Today he is the owner of one of the most important Italian stables breeding of jumping and dressage horses.

A team of experts will be available to participants including trainers, riders, breeders, veterinarians and fresh and frozen semen experts, without forgetting the Ferrier. All are excited and proud to be part of a unique and first of its kind project in the world.

From the desires of childhood that comes the new proposal Alberto in collaboration with Bruna De Paolis from breeding Il Chirone and his friend and project partner HARJIT SINGH RAI has decided to propose, exclusively for the Indian market, an educational, that will teach the fundamentals to start a farm or a stable.

Only “living” 360 ° of the stable life you can learn the deep sense of English riding which is oriented to show jumping or dressage.

The project consists of an actual field training, 10 days of full immersion in the life of the stable. Day and night in one of

The school is based in Italy, nestled amid rolling hills that overlook one of the finest Italian natural treasures, Lake Garda. A part l of course will be dedicated to the discovery of these lands with excursions to Venice, Verona and surroundings, Lake Garda and musical evenings at the Arena in Verona.

Who will have the opportunity to participate in the Educational will take home not only the know-how needed to open his stable all over the world but especially the unforgettable memory and unrepeatable experience .

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DETAILS OF EDUCATIONAL EVENT DATES

* From 3 to October 12, 2016 * From 12 to 21 June 2017

MAIN TOPICS OF THE COURSE.. LIFE IN THE STABLE

* Management and care of stud farm * Management and horse care * Feeding of sports horses, mares, broodmares and foals * Moving the horses in the paddock * Care and study of foals * Controlling of broodmares * The mounts * Horse Training * Lesson Ferrier * Organized Management Systems

NOT ONLY HORSES ... EXCURSIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT

* Venice, the most fascinating city on the World. * Verona city of art and Valpolicella, historical sightseeing and visiting of wine cellars and wine tasting. * Lake Garda, tour boat. * Musical evening in the Arena di Verona (only in periods of actual performances)Accommodation and living * Accommodations within the parks of stables * Breakfast and meals included and organized according to the stable program.

COSTS

â&#x201A;Ź 2000.00 all inclusive, (only excluding travel to be arranged by the participants.)

CONTACT..

Harjit Singh Rai (INDIA) 00919501311924, (ITALY) 0039 3349213088 Email: harjit.rai@hotmail.com Hospitality Manager: Manuela Fabrellow Email: manuela.fabrello@yahoo.it

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Breeding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Broodmares show jumping DONNA DINARA DEL CHIRONE Hanoverian Mare of 1999 from Don Juan/Wienerwald/Ecuador One of the best daughters of Don Juan herself as the mother is enrolled in the prestigious breeding program by jumping Hannover. The third mother Aruba arises from Agram (1942-1962), exceptional stallion father of great international winners and mares of significant thickness of performer mothers. In 2004 she passed the mare test vote on securing a strong jump: 10 technical and 10 in power. Mother of Senza Limiti del Chirone hannoveraner approved stallion for breeding, Top Price in jumping and dressage to 126th Elite auction in Verden in April 2012.

FOR OLYMPIA DEL CHIRONE Hanoverian Mare of 2004 from For Pleasure/Calypso II/Werther One of the most important Hanoverian maternal lines. The line is StPrSt. Garde broodmare winner in 1997 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; LouisWiegelschau prize for elite family, most coveted in breeding level that a mare with her family can get. From the same stamm took birth the stallion Lambourghini Diablo and Schwarzenegger.

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SEPHORA DEL CHIRONE Hannoverian mare of 2007 from Stakkato/Raphael/Calypso It belongs to the 6255 stamm of Holstein; the same blood line jumpers and stallions like Audrey, Lucky Boy D, Keaton, Akito, Artos Z, Taloubet, Toldine, etc.

Thinking of the important family from which descends Saphora was immediately put into the breed. In its genetic appear mothers of Goldine Z gauge (mother of the stallion Aerobic Z performer) and Campanile mother among other Silver Graf Magna della Magnifica from Singular Joter, fantastic hannoveraner mother Graf Magna della Magnifica by Graf Grannus international jumper, the Grey Top Stallone Hannover by Graf Top approved and awarded at Koerung 2009 in Verden currently active in Celle, state breeding center (Germany).

SALINERA DEL CHIRONE Hannoverian mare of 2007 from Salieri/Lungau/Pik Bube II Full sister of one of the most famous horses of all time Salinero (Hann. 1993 by Salieri x Lungau) and Seven Up (Hann 1994 by Salieri-Lungau) younger than one year, but which follows the illustrious footsteps

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brother. In 2004 he also participated successfully in jumping competitions for the Korean team to the Olympic Games of Athens. It is ‘the first time in the history of the Equestrian Olympic Games, that two full brothers compete in two different disciplines. She is ‘also full sister of Satine jumper internationally and Savai mother of approval winner AES Ichoro Van Bergsham.

LADY BARBIE GIRL DEL CHIRONE Hanoverian mare of 2008 from Lincolm/Baloubet du Rouet/Spartan The mother is Barbie Girl, Female Westfalian 2001 Grey by Baloubet du Rouet for Samsara (Spartan x Pygmalion) full sister to Stakkato. Samsara daughter of Spartan, is the full sister of the extraordinary Stakkato for years at the top of the German charts for genetic index and reliability, international performer stallion under the saddle of Eva Maria Bitter impresses everyone for the exceptional style that expresses on every jump, to still enshrined as one of the great German breeding; the best stallion for jumping in Germany currently the most popular in the world.

Lady Barby Girl’s half-sister of former Messenger young stud player performer of Paoul Schockemoehle properties, winner in 2013 of the Hanover show jumping championship, runner-up in 2014 in the final of the Bundeschampionat reserved for horses 7 years, under the seat of the German rider Florian Meyer Zu Hartum. Messenger is in the long list for the Olympic Games Rio 2016 !!!!

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CONTESA DEL CHIRONE Hannoverian mare of 2009 from Catoki/Grosso Z/Galvano The Contention mother is the full sister of performer Goldfever Hanoverian stallion who after a brilliant sporting career under the saddle of the rider Ludger Beerbaum, in 2010 in Verden was honored as the stallion of the year.

GRANDIOSA DEL CHIRONE Hannoverian female of 2013 from Graf Top/Singular Joter/Servus The mother of Grandiosa is StPrSt Schneekรถnigin by Singular Joter x Servus grandmother of Edward (Embassy / Fabriano / Singular Joter), state stud of Celle, winner of the 2008 Performance Test Adelheidsdorf. From this Stamm come selected horses for Verden auctions, approved stallions and international jumpers.

SASSICAIA DEL CHIRONE Hanoverian mare of 2013 from Stakkato/Don Juan/Wienerwald His mother is one of the best daughters of Don Juan and herself as the mother is enrolled in the prestigious jumper breeding program by Hannover. The fourth mother Aruba arises from Agram (1942-1962) real hanover livestock founder, Father exceptional stallion of great international winners and mares of significant thickness of performer mothers. In 2004 she passed the mare test vote on securing a strong jump: 10 technical and 10 in power.

Sassicaia is the full sister of Senza Limiti

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del Chirone by Stakkato Hanoverian approved stallion for breeding, top price in jumping and dressage to 126th Elite auction in Verden in April 2012.

JANNE DARE Z Zangercheide mare of 2011 from Je Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aime Flamenco/Caretano/Carthago The Stamm is the same of stallions Carthago Z, Castellani Z from Dimitri Z ,and Harley VDL approved stallion in nine studbook.

ARWEN 2000 Z Zangercheide mare of 2005 from Air Jordan/Feinschnitt Ist VD/Lys de Darmen Beautiful mare that after the sporting successes achieved under the saddle of the Colombian rider Andres Penalosa was put on breed. The sports results are excellent from uterine brothers and especially from Queretaro 2 winner cat 1.50 m and Queen 2000 Z winner in cat 1,60m. And â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;from

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this maternal line descends the approved stallion Van De Diabolo Cadzandhoeve winner in cat. 1,50m.

WINNING GIRL VPS Z Zangercheide mare of 2011 from Winningmood/Phoenix/ Kibrrahim Fascinating mare, morphologically harmonious and captivating character belongs to a family which has produced very well both in the discipline of show jumping and dressage from which stand out the stallion approved Calimero and Univeau.

BLUE CURACAO TIVOR Z Zangerscheide mare of 2011from Chacco Blue/Landor S/Beach Boy Mare with very high temperament and character belongs to the same family of the stallion approved by Landsboy winner in cat.1:50; the LUPESCO and the Latino TivorZ and Di Sarano.

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BreedingBroodmares dressage SALIMERA DEL CHIRONE Hanoverian mare of 2007 from Sir Donnerhall/Feiner Stern/ Absatz Purchased from the prestigious Elite auctions of Verden. For its genetics when it was a filly. Salimera has already produced a colt by Bellissimo M and a beautiful filly by Lemonys Nicket. From the stamm which descends born stallions and horses who have excelled both in the discipline of show jumping to dressage as: Lord of Loxley; Borowski; Dynamit De Lux; Law And Order and Quick Check by Quidam De Revel approved HANN.

FEENTANZ BK Hanoverian mare of 2012 from Foundation/Londonderry/Brentano II Purchased from prestigious Elite Auction in Verden in October 2015.

Beautiful mare morphologically perfect also stood thanks to its three basic gaits superlative. Balanced and very charming comes from a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;good maternal line, Hannover Stamm 898, which has already given birth to Wolkenfurst Hanover stallion approved for breeding son of the founder Wolkenstein II.

SUNNY HIT Hannoverian mare of 2006 from Sandro Hit/Welt Hit II/ Bogenschuetze One of the most beautiful and fascinating daughters of Sandro Hit, undisputed forefather who was distinguished in sport as a champion. Sando Hit is an undisputed father of stallions approved for breeding, for superlative moms and horses sold at considerable prices in the most important international auctions. Mare by appealing morphology has already produced foals many of whom bought by Kasselmann. Top genetic attractive morphology make her a truly valuable Mom

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Poisonous Weeds in Horse Pastures Introduction

Hungry horses do not heed warnings about avoiding poisonous plants. There is widespread belief that instinct protects animals, but this is not always true.

Therefore, it is up to horse owners to prevent plant poisonings. The best way to do this is to become familiar with identification of poisonous plants and pasture best management practices.

What makes a plant poisonous? There are several different chemical compounds capable of poisoning that can be found in a variety of plants. The chemicals range from the alkaloids, found in the nightshade family, to the glycosides, present in wild

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cherry and Sudan grass. The effects of plant toxins can range from mild irritation and weight loss to colic and possibly even death. Plant poisoning can often be difficult to diagnose, as it can resemble other physiological problems. Depending on the degree of plant toxicity, poisoning can occur due to a single contact (or ingestion) or long term repeated contact with a plant.

The degree of danger a poisonous plant represents is a function of the plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prevalence, toxicity, and palatability. If good quality forage is plentiful in the pasture, horses will avoid most poisonous plants. In the absence of good quality forage, such as during periods of drought or when pastures are overgrazed, animals

may begin to investigate undesirable plants available in the pasture. Fortunately, many poisonous plants are not palatable and horses will only eat them if adequate forage is not available.

plant poisoning symptoms The type and amount of plant eaten dictates the symptoms. Plants can affect the respiratory, gastrointestinal, nervous, or cardiovascular systems or the liver, blood

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and/or kidneys. Oftentimes it is difficult to diagnose plant poisoning in a horse because many of the symptoms mimic those of other conditions.

However, many plant poisonings are serious and potentially fatal. If you suspect your horse has consumed a toxic plant, contact your equine veterinarian immediately. Some symptoms to watch for include: Disorientation Unprovoked Frenzy Tremors Muscle Spasms Difficulty Swallowing Colic Fluctuating Heart and Respiratory Rates Excessive Salivation Collapse Abnormal Amounts or Colors of Urine

Inspect Pastures A primary way to avoid poisoning from plants is to walk the pastures and inspect for poisonous plants. If poisonous plants are present, they should be removed if possible (i.e. herbicide application, hand digging, or mowing) or excluded via fencing. Do not forget to inspect three or four feet beyond the fence line of the pasture, since many horses will stretch beyond the fence for forage. Walking the pastures will also give you an opportunity to evaluate the productivity of the pasture.

Another thing to look for is the density of desirable forage species. Is adequate forage present for the horses, or does the pasture contain many bare areas (more than 30% of the field) without extra hay provided? Are there more weeds present than forage species? Also check the hedgerows surrounding the pasture. Many hedgerows contain wild cherry, maple,

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and black locust trees or seedlings which can be poisonous. Do not allow broken branches of these species to remain in the pasture, and avoid throwing shrub and tree prunings into the pasture. As listed below, many common shrubs and trees can be dangerous to horses.

Pasture Management The best defense against poisonous plants is to promote good stands of desirable grass and legume species through a sound pasture management program. Pasture management should include soil testing, liming and fertilizing, good grazing management, mowing, and dragging.

Weed, insect, and disease control may also be required for pastures. A healthy, productive pasture will resist invasion from most poisonous weeds and provide good quality forage. When pastures are overgrazed, horses will eat the grass and

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legume species down to the soil, which allows weeds to take over.

Any plant that is not wanted in the pasture is a weed, and many weeds can be eliminated with good pasture management. Weeds can be controlled mechanically by mowing, culturally with good grazing management, or chemically with herbicides. Most poisonous plants are broadleaf plants or woody species. For general broadleaf weed control in pastures, the best results are obtained when weeds are actively growing.

Dicamba, 2,4-D, or a combination of dicamba and 2,4-D may be sprayed in permanent pastures to control many annual and perennial broadleaf weeds while not affecting the grasses. However, dicamba and 2,4-D will kill or severely injure most legumes (i.e., alfalfa and clover). When using these herbicides, extra precautions should be used to prevent drift (airborne herbicide spreading somewhere other than the field being sprayed) and labeled information, specifically the grazing restrictions, must be followed.

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Common Toxic Plants Found In or Near Horse Pastures Buttercups: The buttercup species (Ranunculus species) includes several annual and perennial plants which are commonly found in overgrazed horse pastures. Buttercup causes oral irritation when chewed, and horses rarely consume the plant because it is unpalatable. The toxic component is in the fresh leaves and flowers, but they lose toxicity when dried for hay. Symptoms of buttercup poisoning include increased salivation, decreased appetite, colic and diarrhea. In severe cases, poisoning may lead to convulsions and death. As long as horses have access to adequate pasture or hay, it is unlikely

that they will eat buttercups.

Johnsongrass/Sudan grass are both coarse-stemmed grasses with broad, veined leaves that can grow to six feet in height. Johnsongrass is predominant in southern climates, while Sudan grass is cultivated across North America as a forage plant. Sudan grass can cause cystitis (inflammation of the urinary bladder).

Signs of poisoning may include bladder paralysis that causes dribbling or bloody urine and may progress to paralysis of the hind limbs.

Poison Hemlock is a perennial weed with toothed, fern-like leaves and clusters of small white flowers in late summer.

A single plant has many stems. It has a large white parsnip-like root and is found along roadsides and in open, uncultivated areas across North America. Signs of consumption include nervousness, tremors, and a lack of coordination, that progress to depression, a weakened heart and respiratory rate, and possibly colic.

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Oleander is an evergreen shrub with elongated, thick leathery leaves. It can grow to the size of a small tree. Its white, pink, or red flowers grow in large clusters at the end of branches. It grows across the southern states and can often be found as a potted plant in northern climates. Signs of consumption include colic, difficulty breathing, tremors, irregular heart rate, and either an elevated or slowed pulse.

Death can result from heart failure.

Yew is a woody evergreen shrub with closely spaced, flat, needlelike leaves. It has yellow or bright red berries that are soft and juicy with a hole in the end where dark seeds are visible. They are common ornamental plants across North America.

Consumption usually results in sudden death. However, animals found alive are usually trembling, colicky, have difficulty breathing, and have a diminished heart rate.

JIMSONWEED: Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) is a worldwide nuisance. Other common names include Jamestown weed, thorn apple, downy thornapple, devilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trumpet, angelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trumpet, mad apple, stink weed and tolguacha. It is an annual plant, growing up to 5 feet tall in agricultural fields and overgrazed pastures. It can be recognized by its distinctive tree-like shape, white or purple trumpet-like flowers and prickly seed capsules. All parts of the jimsonweed plant are poisonous to horses and humans; toxicity is caused by tropane alkaloids.

Symptoms of poisoning in horses include a weak, rapid pulse, dilated pupils, dry mouth, incoordination, diarrhea, convulsions, coma, and sometimes death.

Jimsonweed has a foul odor and taste, and horses rarely consume it if they have other quality forage.

Nightshade Family (including Horse Nettle): The nightshade family (Solanum species) contains many toxic plants,

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including horse nettle, black nightshade, bittersweet nightshade, some species of groundcherry, and even tomatoes and potatoes. They all contain a glycoalkaloid called solanine in the leaves, shoots, and unripe (green) berries. The plant affects the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. Horses generally do not eat these plants unless they are very hungry and no other feed source is present.

Toxicity is highest in green berries, followed by red or black berries, leaves, stems and roots. It is estimated that one to ten pounds of ingested plant material is fatal for horses. Some symptoms of solanine poisoning include dilation of pupils, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and loss of muscular coordination. Some other signs of poisoning are a sudden state of depression, apparent hallucinations, and convulsions.

POKEWEED: Pokeweed(Phytolacca americana) is a commonly found weed in horse pastures

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and around fence lines. It grows erect, resembling a tree, and can reach up to 10 feet in height. The stem is often purple or red in color and can reach a diameter of 4 inches. The leaves are long and elliptical, growing between 12 and 20 inches long.

Pokeweed produces clusters of green berries, which mature to a dark purple color. The roots are the most toxic part of the plant, but horses can also be poisoned from the leaves and stems. A toxic compound, called phytolaccotoxin, can cause a burning sensation in the mouth, low grade chronic colic, and diarrhea.

Pokeweed is not very palatable, so horses with access to plenty of good quality forage should avoid it.

JAPANESE YEW: Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) is an ornamental plant that is EXTREMELY toxic to mammals. It is grown as an ornamental shrub or hedge and has small evergreen leaves with bright red

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berries. Yew leaves have been reported to be palatable to horses, and as little as a mouthful (about 0.1% body weight of leaves) can be fatal within 30 minutes due to respiratory or cardiac collapse.

Symptoms are rarely observed, as animals often die very quickly after ingesting this plant. Since it is a very common ornamental shrub, it is especially important to make sure neighbors do not throw yard clippings into your pastures.

WILD CHERRY: The entire Prunus genus (includes cherries, pears, and peaches) is toxic to horses and other livestock. The seeds, foliage, and bark produce hydrogen cyanide, a deadly compound. Leaves are most dangerous when wilted because the percentage of cyanide increases and leaves accumulate sugars as they wilt, but fresh leaves can also cause toxicity if enough are consumed. Two and a half pounds of black cherry leaves would be

toxic to a 1,000-pound horse. Drought stress also increases cyanide levels. It is important to note that the small suckers that grow from the base of a cherry tree, even from cut stumps, contain high levels of cyanide.

BLACK WALNUT: The bark, woods, nuts, and roots of the black walnut tree (Juglans nigra) contains a toxic compound. There is conflicting research on exactly what the compound is; it was previously thought to be juglone, however juglone did not cause symptoms in experiments. Horses are primarily exposed through black walnut shavings mixed in with other shavings as bedding. Symptoms of exposure include depression, lethargy, laminitis, swelling of the lower limbs, and increased temperature, pulse, respiration rate, abdominal sounds, digital pulse, and hoof temperature. Symptoms usually disappear within hours after the horse is removed

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from the shavings; however laminitis can present further problems. Since the bark and nut hulls from the black walnut are toxic, these trees should be removed from horse pastures as a precaution.

MAPLE TREES: Maple (Acer species) leaves are highly toxic. However, usually this is when they are in the stressed state prior to dying (e.g. leaves on a fallen tree limb lying in a pasture or during the fall). Similar to wild cherry, the leaves are sweeter and more palatable when they are wilted. Fallen and dead leaves remain toxic for about a month and cause severe kidney damage if ingested in large quantities. It is estimated that an adult horse needs to consume 1.5 pounds of leaves or more to become poisoned. Symptoms of toxicity include depression, lethargy, increased rate and depth of breathing, increased heart rate, jaundice, dark brown urine, coma, and death.

Poison Hemlock and Water Hemlock: Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) and water hemlock (Cicuta species) are both very toxic to horses. They are often found in moist areas and exude an unpleasant, parsnip-like odor when cut.

While they look similar at first glance, they are different plants and have different toxic properties. All parts of the poison hemlock are toxic, and toxicity increases throughout the growing season, especially in the roots, which resemble parsnips. A horse must consume about 4 to 5 pounds of poison hemlock for the dose to be lethal.

However, water hemlock is much more toxic, and even 8 ounces can be fatal to a horse. Toxicity of water hemlock decreases throughout the growing season; however, the roots remain highly toxic year-round.

Both plants affect the central nervous

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system, and nervousness, trembling, and incoordination may be observed. Horses suffering from water hemlock poisoning typically become violent, with muscle tremors and convulsions. The plants can be differentiated by examining leaf shape: poison hemlock has many small fernlike leaves, and waterhemlock has large serrated leaves.

glycosides called grayanotoxins which adversely affect the stomach, intestine, and cardiovascular system. The early symptoms are salivation, diarrhea, colic, and muscle tremors. Later, abnormal heart rate or rhythm may occur. If large enough quantities are eaten, this plant can cause death.

ALSIKE CLOVER:

Some other toxic plants found in New Jersey include:

Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) is found most frequently in Canada, but has been included in some pasture mixes in the U.S. It grows to a height of 15 to 30 inches, and has a small ½-inch diameter pink flower that forms at the ends of secondary branches from the main stem.

It should be differentiated from the nontoxic red and white clovers, which have a larger flower, hairy stems and leaves, and a white inverted “V” on the leaf.

Alsike clover is known to cause two syndromes: photosensitization (shortterm exposure) and “big liver syndrome” (long-term exposure) when infected with a mold. There is also a potential for nitrate poisoning. The more common and acute lesions related to photosensitization are characterized by reddening of the skin exposed to sunlight (especially on white markings), followed by either superficial or deep, dry necrosis of the skin and swelling and discharge, resulting in crusty inflamed areas. If the exposure is prolonged, the alkaloid toxin can cause acute liver failure, which can be fatal.

• Weeds: Onions/garlic, ground ivy, milkweed, bracken fern, cocklebur, horsetail, white snakeroot, St. Johns wort, star-of-Bethlehem, sorghum/ sudangrass, yellow sweet clover, blue-green algae, bouncing bet, larkspur, mayapple, skunk cabbage • Trees: Black locust, oak (green acorns), horse chestnut, boxwood, holly •

Ornamentals: Oleander, foxglove, tulips, day lilies, hydrangea, morning glory, iris, daffodil, lily of the valley, hyacinth, wisteria, trumpet vine, clematis, bleeding heart, Dutchman’s breeches, English ivy, lupine, privet

Rhododendron/Azalea/Mountain Laurel: Plants in the Rhododendron genus, such as azaleas, and other plants in the Ericaceae family, such as mountain laurel, are commonly planted as ornamentals for their colorful and attractive flowers.

However, all parts of these plants contain

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BULLSTON

Horse care with love and passion HISTORY Bullston a company of, by and for horse lovers was conceived by Harjit Singh Rai an avid rider and animal lover who was peeved and concerned about the treatment meted out to the horses in India during transportation.

Having spent better part of his life in the USA and Italy where the love for animals is paramount and is not dictated by the other sundry factors.

With his experience and research of two decades decided to provide the horse lovers in India and option for safe and secure transportation of their love ..the horses.

The hard work paid dividends with the production of the first horse carriage trailer which was successfully completing the field trail.

Capable of carrying two horses the trailer has the finesse safety measures and comfort matching international standards and is slated to change the face of transportation in India. Not limiting itself to trailers the company is taking big steps in its way towards introducing new concepts in the field of equestrian, be it the need based designer stables or fabrication of floats and horse supplements and many more....

OUR MISSION Design and manufacture the most respected and recognized lines of trailers.

Our broad exposure and acceptance within the marketplace has made Bullston the preferred choice with dealers and customers alike.

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C-50 Industrial Area, Phase-3 , SAS Nagar, (Mohali ) PUNJAB Ph.: 0091 9501311924 | Email: info@bullston.com | Website: www.bullston.com

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HORSE TRAILER Whether it’s to a trail ride or the show arena, Bullston trailers are being pulled in all directions. That’s because there’s a Bullston trailer designed to meet the needs of every family, entry-level or professional horseman. From bumper pulls to deluxe living quarters to trainer.

Trailers, each Bullston is built with unique features and options to meet specific customer needs. So whatever direction you’re headed, let Bullston take you there.

As the industry leader, Bullston is committed to the ongoing improvement and upgrading of its extensive line of trailers. In fact, Bullston continues to “raise the bar” with innovative features, exceptional workmanship, and attention to detail and safety. As the premier manufacturer of horse and livestock trailers, Bullston offers uncompromising value, ease of maintenance, customized designs and abroad dealer network with first-rate customer service.

BUILT TO ORDER

Our engineers and design staff will build custom trailers for the specific needs of our customers.

SOME KEY FEATURES  Coil spring based independent suspension designed for Indian roads  Gas filled shock absorbers  15 inch alloy wheels with tubeless tyers  Three layer all weather body construction  Well designed ventilation system  Anti skid rubber flooring  Four sided cousin for extra comfort.  LED side markers and tail lamps

HOR SE STABLE We are a one of the leading manufacturers of horse stalls and horse stable equipment in Indian market. Our offer includes manufacturing and installation of horse stable stalls, outdoor stalls and mobile horse boxes, as well as stable windows, gates and doors. We also manufacture and supply highest quality, affordable riding arenas and all our products are designed with safety of use in mind, assuring appropriate conditions and care for your horses.

HORSE TRUCKS Bullston has been developing horse trucks of the highest quality . You can rely on quality workmanship from top to bottom. Each individual horse truck is manufactured just for you – with a consistently high level of quality down to the smallest detail. A product needs to be good enough to meet our own requirements and those of our horses before it enters serial production. With our many years of experience in equestrian sport we have the same aims as all riders - the well-being of horses.

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Race Donkeys Live Like Horses Otumba, Mexico – A shaggy donkey named El Moro ordinarily spends his days towing a cart weighed down with tall canisters of pulque, the fermented juice of the spiny desert maguey plant.

But on a recent Sunday, the beast of burden raced past screaming crowds to victory in Mexico’s annual burro derby, winning by a length to bring home a $550 US purse – about five times its sale value.

“I hit him and squeezed him hard,” said Juan Carlos Lopez, a 14-year-old jockey who rode without stirrups in a reclining wind-blown position to defeat the twotime reigning champion, a burro named Simpatico.

The race was part of Mexico’s most popular donkey festival, held at Otumba, a village of about 10,000 residents in Mexico’s central highlands that pays tribute each year to its animal labourers in ribald tongue-cheek style.

Burros dressed as the Mexican president, the first lady, a Chinese dragon and even the popemobile paraded with their owners around the village plaza, competing for best costume. This year’s burro queen, Julia Munoz, 22, rode on the hood of a fur-coated convertible.

It was a rare day of acknowledgement for a downtrodden pack animal.

“They are used to haul water, to take kids to school, to carry home drunks – they’re used for everything,” said Aline S. de Aluja, a veterinarian in Mexico City.

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“Burros are docile animals, easy to lead and they suffer because really nobody pays attention to them.”

A supervisor of two travelling clinics for donkeys, mules and workhorses at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Aluja has mixed feelings about the Otumba fair and no longer attends.

“It’s a thing where the people have fun, but the burro doesn’t,” she said.

Burros at the fair bore the scars of poorly improvised saddles and harnesses. Some had to be wrestled through a noisy tent packed with bleachers, a marching band, mariachis and judges who awarded prizes based on the volume of applause.

A donkey caller hee-hawed into the microphone; only one donkey brayed back.

But in the months leading up to the fair, racing burros eat the best fodder their handlers can buy, living for a short time like, well, horses.

Second-place Simpatico won his hay for the next year and then some, according to members of the farming cooperative where the burro works hauling loads of edible cactus.

For visitors clutching donkey dolls and trinkets, the fair has become a hallowed, if silly, celebration.

“I think it’s something very traditional, very beautiful and very out of the ordinary,” said Juan Senteno, a government worker

who travelled from across the state to see the donkeys strut.

Otumba became known for its burros centuries ago when it still served as an overnight rest stop for Spanish caravans ferrying loot between the Gulf coast port of Veracruz and the capital, Mexico City.

An old refrain – “for burros, go to Otumba” – dogged the town until residents decided to embrace the legacy – kicking off the first festival 40 years ago, recalled Ernesto Gomez Aco, 70, the town historian.

The festival even caught on with Mexico’s entertainment elite during the 1970s, when professional wrestler Enrique Llamas, an Otumba native, brought home friends and colleagues from the television networks.

With each year, city hall posts new burro regulations containing rules of the race that also lampoon current political events.

Despite all the fuss, the burro populations appear to be on the decline in Otumba, as residents upgrade to cars and trucks, organizers of the festival said.

The burro polo tournament, played with brooms on a small asphalt court, was cancelled this year when nobody showed up.

But donkeys are in no danger of disappearing from rural Mexico, according to Robert Nichols, overseas project manager for The Donkey Sanctuary, a British donkey welfare organization.

With somewhere between two million and

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three million burros by Nichols’ estimate, Mexico ranks behind only donkeydependant China and Ethiopia.

As donkey owners upgrade to horses or tractors, other farmers scrape together the money for their first burro, an animal that still pulls its weight economically.

“If you don’t have a donkey, you’re a donkey yourself,” said Nichols, citing an Ethiopian saying.

Thousands of spectators lined the streets for the final heat of the burro race, literally rubbing elbows with the riders along the narrow course.

The sport has not caught on elsewhere in Mexico. Speed may be an issue.

Hilario Gutierrez boasted that his burro can sustain 10 kilometres per hour – but only for up to 100 metres.

“They’re not fast,” acknowledged Maria Cristina Cortes, an Otumba city regent.

“The steps a burro makes are tiny. They’re little bitty jumps, springs.”

Oversized jockeys rode atop the burros’ firm hind quarters, nearly touching the ground with their feet as they bumped along a 200-metre course. One rider said he weighed 155 pounds, while his burro weighed 440 pounds.

There are no plans to open the sport to betting.

“It’s not allowed here,” Gutierrez said.

“Where there are bets, later there are problems. This is for fun. It’s a fair.”

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3 students changing the horse industry Three UK students are in the business of prevention, and it could have a huge impact on the horse industry.

Their project, named Race Assured, uses blood samples to forecast potentially devastating injuries, like broken bones, about six to eight weeks before they happen.

When a horse’s skeletal system is under stress, certain markers in the blood begin to elevate. The test shows if these markers are elevated, giving owners enough time to prevent or lessen any damage.

Julia Fabiani, Stefanie Pagano and Ben Martin created Race Assured — a business venture that would market this research from the Gluck Equine Research Institute.

The team now has a recommendation to the Rice Business Plan Competition at Rice University, where they will compete with about 40 of the top programs in the world for portions of $1.5 million in cash and prizes divided between teams.

Even if a team does not take first place, they have the potential to grab the attention and support of more than 100 venture capitalists who judge the competition.

“Rice is going to literally put us on the map,” Pagano said.

Race Assured has garnered interest steadily through competitions and word of mouth — news of the project has reached as far as Dubai, where horse owners have already sent blood samples to the team for testing.

“If they weren’t excited, they’re getting excited,” Fabiani, an equine science senior, said about the horse industry.

Dr. David Horohov, director of the Gluck Equine Research Center and chair of the Department of Veterinary Science, has

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been working on the project for 10 years. Fabiani works at Gluck.

The team credits the university and the state for the support they have received and said the notoriety of an institute like Gluck Research Insitute has helped to make a name for Race Assured.

“I don’t think this would’ve happened at any other school,” Martin said.

Fabiani, Pagano and Kim Cecere, who graduated in December, participated in the Venture Capitalist Bootcamp last semester to better develop their business plan and to learn from Lexington business leaders.

“We’re just a couple of grad students and an undergrad,” said Pagano, a biomedical engineering graduate student.

The boot camp is a 10-week extracurricular program through the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship. Of the 60 applicants, 12 were chosen for the boot camp, which involved weekly workshops about skills like market validation, forming a business model and community investor panels.

The team went on to win the Georgia Bowl, an entrepreneurship competition at Georgia Tech University. They beat out teams from Georgia Tech, University of Texas, University of Arkansas, University of Tennessee, and University of Manitoba in Canada.

With the win and upcoming competitions, the team has the momentum of the industry on their side.

“The support system is there, and we’ve fallen in love with the idea,” Pagano said. “We can’t let the people that have brought us this far down.”

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INTERNATIONAL UNION OF EQUESTRIAN ARTISTS

HORSE BLAZE-2016

Enter in the World of International Equestrian Artists from heart President & Founder Zebrablond Barbara Carminati

Contact No. +39 3292597816

Email: zebrablond@gmail.com

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www.internationalunionofequestrianartists.com

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LOVE THERAPY HORSE LOVE LESS TECHNIQUE AND MORE HEART

THE LEGEND OF AMERICAN PAINT HORSE - APH BEAUTIFUL TIME Multi Time European Champion 9 medals wins Aachen Germany 2005 - 2006 owner Barbara Carminati www.zebrablond.com - APH MY KETTY BARS BLUE EYES World Champion Blood Line and APH TERRIBLE BOSTONS finalist Italian Team Penning owner Harjit Singh Rai Photo by : Mari Aldeni

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‘Killer’ caterpillar threat to Australian equine industry; grub’s nesting habit causes foal death, birth defects

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The hairy processionary caterpillars, also known as ‘itchy grubs’, pupate in soil which can be ingested by mares, causing spontaneous abortion and birth defects in foals.

Chains of the grubs can be seen following each other along the ground in a headto-tail formation and are the caterpillars of the Bag-shelter Moth.

There is no chemical registered to combat the pest, but a research study is investigating ways to stop the caterpillars’ devastating impact.

University of Queensland researcher Julianne Farrell said the horse breeding industry had long been aware of the association between processionary caterpillars and pregnant mares. `“The Australian Research Council has given the University of Queensland a research grant, funded by the thoroughbred industry, to try and understand the problem and come up with some solutions for keeping the processionary caterpillars and pregnant mares apart,” she said.

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CATERPILLARS ABANDON NESTS AND PUPATE IN SOIL Ms Farrell said the caterpillars could be found around Australia, anywhere there were host species of acacia and eucalypt.

“Around about this time of the year the caterpillars start to abandon their nests — which they build in tree canopies, on trunks or at the base of trees — to pupate in the surrounding soil,” she said.

“The nests then begin to disintegrate, allowing all the nest contents to spread themselves over the environment, which includes pastures being grazed by pregnant mares.

“Each caterpillar has thousands of microscopic, barbed hairs that cause the problem.

“When the pregnant mare eats the shed skins that have dropped on the pasture, the hairs work their way through the gut and pick up various bacterial infections.

“They pass through tissue and into the uterus, where they set up infections, and into the developing foal.”

MORTALITY AS HIGH AS 10 PER CENT In a bad year, the mortality rate can be as high as 10 per cent and Ms Farrell said affected foals could be stillborn at various stages of development, or born very undersized and with physical deformities, making them useless as working horses.

The project will focus on the ecology of the caterpillars to determine if there are any weak points in their life cycle that can be exploited. “[At the moment] there is no chemical registered for use so if horse breeders are concerned about the nests around their paddocks, the only way that they can control them is by physical removal and destruction,

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Crazy Horse and the rider .... Arrjun Sangwan It was the very first time when i touched a horse on a barn in kansas, I knew that this won’t be the last time...I was 5 at that time and now I’m 17. From the first touch of this magnificent creature till today morning, the feeling, the happiness, the anxiety to ride it is still the same as it was back in kansas...alot has changed and been done and alot achieved in this period. I never really got to know when and how I got so addicted to horses i still think was it the first time or after that or maybe after that and so on but what really matters is that now it has become a part of me. The addiction of riding dragged me towards equestrian the sport of the God’s and it became my passion. Competing hasn’t been easy for me because i don’t really own a horse but My heart attached to many because of my dad being in army it was like different horses for practice, different one for jumping, dressage etc... this somehow has helped me to have a better understanding with nt only 1 bt almost all the horses..nt with all bt some one has to adjust, it used be like a new horse every show every place this even created many problems like having injuries, nt having a good score bt with time problems began to fade the only aim was to do well and i believe when u enter confidently in the arena with full concentration no one can stop you from winning except ur horse this is the twist of this sport i like so you even have to keep ur horse confident and focused. Injuries have taken place sometimes because of me and sometimes because of my horse but mostly because of me. I’ve ridden so many horses in which all of them played a crucial role in making me a rider all of them tought me something or another in these years and i hope of continuing to

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learn and i even teach in the future to come.

Sometimes something’s happen which U’ve never thought of and some memories get revived to turn even the moment’s of defeat into a win, and from then that moment gets registered in your memory forever. An incident took place during the Delhi Horse Show, in which i had a fall in my jumping event when my horse shied because of the crowd I was 12 at that time and my horse Veeru so powerful that even at the age of 17 their was no one who could beat him in the arena, I fell, I saw the crowd laughing , people came to me with fake condolences, that was the time when I thought that i have to win this it was at this juncture that the memory of Crazy horse came to me...Crazy horse.

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The red indian chief in memory of whom a monument is coming up next to mount Rushmore in USA is a name which has stayed with me despite the fact that it has been a decade. The monument is huge, in fact a whole hill is being carved; the sheer scope of the monument and the figure of the chief atop a wild horse is etched in my thoughts and has been instrumental in developing my interest in this beautiful sport. The crazy horse and it’s spirit came to my rescue when I needed it most. The competition was tough and each event was fiercely contested however I had decided to win it. The image of crazy horse was a image of hope, belief and trust . The image of a warrior who had complete faith in his ride as he fought the Yankees and

as I climbed on top of my horse suitably named Maverick I thought myself as the Crazy Horse the red indian chief going to battle. The pressure, the crowd, the obstacles all became irrelevant, only thing that mattered was me and my horse as we sailed over the obstacle in unison.

As I finished the round I heard the roar of crowd, looking over my shoulder I saw the clock read the fastest time. That day taught me the importance of faith in one’s capabilities is must to achieve success.

I won the competition and was the best rider and the lesson has stayed with me for life ..

It was one of few lessons which the sport has taught me hopefully there are more which we I learn in the arena then in life

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Humans Tamed Horses All Over the World The wide origins of domesticated horses offers insight on how our love affair with the animal has transformed humankind.

THE GIST Horses may have been domesticated independently in at least 18 different places.

The ancestor of all modern horses lived about 140,000 years ago.

The domestication of horses transformed human history.

The domestication of wild horses had a profound effect on human history – – offering nutrition, transportation and a leg up in warfare, among other advantages.

But there are still many unanswered questions about when and where our species began its long love affair with horses.

A new genetic study offers some clues.

Through the first complete analysis of equestrian mitochondrial DNA – – a kind of genetic material that is passed directly from mother to offspring – – an international group of scientists was able to trace all modern horses to an ancestor that lived about 140,000 years ago.

NEWS: Ancient Royal Horse Unearthed in Iran After horse domestication began about 10,000 years ago, the study also discovered, horses diverged into at least 18 distinct genetic lines. Those findings

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suggest that, unlike cows and other animals, horses may have been tamed independently in many different places around Europe and Asia.

The new research could help scientists decode the genetic secrets of modern horse breeds and top racehorses.

“Horse domestication had major cultural, socioeconomic, and even genetic implications for the numerous prehistoric and historic human populations that at different times adopted horse breeding,” said Alessandro Achilli, a geneticist at the University of Perugia in Italy. “Thus, our results will have a major impact in many areas of biological science, ranging from the field of animal and conservation genetics to zoology, veterinary science, paleontology, human genetics and anthropology.”

Cows, sheep, and goats had simple beginnings as livestock, with evidence suggesting that a small number of animals of each species were domesticated in just a few places between about 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. Today, genetic diversity among these creatures remains low.

Horse DNA tells a different story, according to a new paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After analyzing mitochondrial DNA from a wide range of horse breeds across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, and then using the known mutation rate of this

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kind of DNA as a sort of clock, Achilli and colleagues were able to connect all modern horses to a common ancestor that lived between 130,000 and 160,000 years ago. By comparison, modern humans first evolved about 200,000 years ago.

Previous research focused only on limited regions of mitochondrial DNA in horses.

But by looking at the entire mitochondrial genome, the new study was able to categorize horses into at least 18 different groups that evolved independently.

One possible explanation for those findings is that many different groups of people independently discovered the dramatic benefits of taming wild horses

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thousands of years ago.

“The very fact that many wild mares have been independently domesticated in different places testifies to how significant horses have been to humankind,” Achilli said. “It means that the ability of taming these animals was badly needed by different groups of people in different regions of Eurasia, from the Asian steppes to Western Europe, since they could generate the food surplus necessary to support the growth of human populations and the capability to expand and adapt into new environments or facilitate transportation.”

Results also showed that horses managed

to survive in modern-day Spain and Portugal during a glacial period more than 13,000 years ago, when horses, humans and other mammals disappeared north of the Pyrenees. The area has shown to be an important refuge during that time for people, who later went on to repopulate Europe when conditions improved. The new study suggests that horses may have followed a similar pattern.

The new findings offer another potential explanation for the origins of domesticated horses, said Alan Outram, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. Horses may have been originally domesticated in one area, he said, such as the central

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Asian steppe. Then, people could have transported tamed stallions to other cultures in other places, where they were bred with local, wild mares. That scenario would also create multiple distinct female genetic lines.

Either way, the new study adds important context to the puzzle of how horses infused themselves into people’s lives.

“One thing that is clear is that the domestic horse revolutionized human life, making us much more mobile, changing our trade patterns and modes of warfare,” Outram said. “Such changes affected the whole way in which societies were organized and interacted with each other.”

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Ancient Asia: The Domesticated Horse Archaeologists don’t know for sure when or where the horse was first domesticated.

It has been often assumed that horses were first domesticated about 4000 BCE somewhere in the Asian Steppes. The earliest archaeological evidence of horses being used for milk and for riding comes from the Botai culture of Kazakhstan.

In the residues in Botai pottery archaeologists have found the distinctive traces of mare’s milk which dates to 3000 to 3500 BCE. This is evidence that domesticated horses were being milked.

In Kazakhstan today mare’s milk is still being drunk, often in the form of koumiss, a mildly alcoholic drink made from fermented mare’s milk.

Further evidence of the domestication of horses comes from graves. Wealthy individuals were often buried with their horses. These horses have wear marks on their teeth showing that they had been bridled. In addition, the skeletons of these horses are different than those of wild horses: the domesticated horses have more musculature.

Prior to domestication, the Botai hunted wild horses—Equus ferus—with bows, arrows, and spears. Modern domesticated horses descended from this species.

Interestingly enough, the horse family Equidae and the genus Equus originally evolved in North America. The ancestral horse then migrated to Asia and later went extinct in North America.

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The horse was not the first animal domesticated by humans: that honor belongs to the dog which was probably domesticated by about 30,000 BCE. The donkey was domesticated by 5000 BCE in Egypt.

The impact of the domestication of the horse on the people of Eurasia was immense. First, it enabled them to cover long distances. Second, it increased the amount that they could carry. These two things set the stage for long-distance trade. This trade meant that not only goods, but also technologies, ideas, and even languages were diffused over vast areas. Some archaeologists feel that the Indo-European languages, currently

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spoken by about 60% of the people in the world, were disseminated along these horse trading routes.

The horse seems to originate not in the traditional hearths for agriculture and settlement-based civilizations, but among the nomadic peoples of the Asian steppes.

When the horse finally reached the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, its most immediate impact was not about drinking mare’s milk or even riding the animal: instead it changed the nature of warfare.

By 2000 BCE, the nomadic people of Central Asia had developed the chariot: a light, fast, open, two-wheeled cart pulled by two horses hitched side-by-side. As a military vehicle this was a major advance

in the warfare of the time.

About 1600 BCE, the “Chariot Age” began among the Hurrian people of the highland kingdom of Mitanni. These were people who lived in the mountainous regions of modern-day Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Iraq. They were closely associated with horses and their name for their country was Ishuwa, which means “horse land.” The Hurrian warriors rode in light, fast chariots; they were armed with bows and arrows as well as thrusting spears and hand weapons. These elite warriors were soon in demand as mercenaries for the emerging kingdoms and city states of Mesopotamia.

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One of the interesting pieces of information about horses at this time comes from a Hittite text, written sometime during the 15th century BCE, known as the Kikkuli Text. Written on clay tablets in cuneiform text, the tablets describe Kikkuli as a master horse trainer of the land of Mitanni.

He describes how to exercise and feed war horses. These war horses pulled the Mitanni chariots that enabled the Hittites to create their large empire.

It was not long before this new technologyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the horse-drawn chariot and

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its armored warriorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;spread to India, to China, to North Africa, and to Greece.

In the 16th century BCE, the Hyksos invaded Egypt using the chariot and were successful in defeating the Egyptians. By 1200 BCE, the chariot had reached China.

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A remote Himalayan village in India runs its own insurance scheme for its extraordinary horses.

SAGNAM VILLAGE (HIMACHAL PRADESH), INDIA On a sunny May day last year, with not a cloud to mar the blue sky, Kishan Kumar opened the barn doors and led the whinnying horses and nickering foals out.

They joined the steady stream of equine traffic in the narrow alley of Sagnam village on the banks of River Pin in the Spiti region of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

People moved aside to give way. The meditative eyes of the Buddha gazed from the walls of houses and shops as they walked past. They crossed a frozen section of the river and climbed up into the hills in the western margin of the Tibetan plateau.

After an hourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s walk, the men accompanying the animals stopped. With a last look around, they left the horses to their devices and returned. The animals would free-range for the following months with no human in sight.

By the time spring turns to summer, trickles of snowmelt course down the mountains, transforming River Pin, which separates the village from its pastures,

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into a roaring river. The currents are too strong to wade through, and horses are skittish about walking on rickety bridges spanning the river. So the villagers have no choice but to let the animals free-range.

Kumar and his community worry about losing horses during the summer months.

The culprits arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t horse rustlers but snow leopards and brown bears. The predators pick the time and place of attack with impunity.

Leaving animals to free-range may seem cavalier, but the community has little choice because they must work elsewhere to make ends meet.

To cover their losses, people insure their horses. But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no insurance company involved. Instead, villagers run their own scheme, an innovative insurance program that compensates owners for the loss of their precious horses.

These are, after all, not ordinary horses.

For centuries, ancestors of Kumar transported salt, carpets, and silks over

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the high mountain passes between Tibet and India on the backs of these muscular Chamurti horses. Spiti became the Indian homeland of this indigenous breed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War ended trade with Tibet. Sagnam, the largest village in Pin Valley, owns the largest number of the horses.

In the old days, Changpa traders from neighbouring Ladakh purchased most of these descendants of the Prezwalski’s horse that run wild across the steppes of Central Asia. They valued the breed’s unique ability to work hard in the thin mountain air. While man and any other beast can become breathless and nauseous, neither snow nor heat fazes these animals.

The tough beasts of burden climb rocky mountainous paths without stumbling, while their natural gait allows horsemen to stay in the saddle for hours.

Demand for the ponies shot up in 2012, when the Indo-Tibetan Border Police sought these steeds for deployment along India’s mountainous borders. Inhabitants of Pin Valley began rearing more horses for the market. With higher profits at stake, the loss of animals to predators hurts more.

Kumar had a lot of aspirations riding on his animals. If all went well, in November, his three-year-old colts would fetch a good price, between Rs50,000 and Rs80,000 each. A stallion can sell for as much as Rs1,50,000 at the Lavi Fair in Rampur Bushahr, 300 km away. For most of the 300-year-old fair’s history, merchants from Tibet, Afghanistan, Ladakh, and Kinnaur gathered there. These traders from neighbouring countries no longer visit, but it still remains the largest trade festival in the western Himalayas.

When horses fetch such high prices, one

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would expect people to watch over them.

Until a decade ago, families took turns camping in the meadows and guarding the horses in the summer months. But this changed when they began cultivating green peas as a cash crop for high profits.

Members of every family worked flat out in the fields. Once a week, someone from the village trekked up to collect dung and check on the animals.

Notwithstanding the minimal oversight of their animals, villagers outside Pin Valley admire the horse breeders of Sagnam.

“They value their horses greatly,” says Tanzin Thinley, a villager from Kibber, 50 km away, a regular visitor to Sagnam.

“When their mares are pregnant in winter, they sleep next to them. They take care of their animals’ every comfort. We don’t do so much work.”

For a breed so highly prized, the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department paid a measly Rs1,500 as compensation for the death of a horse until 2014. This was hardly any succour for the embattled villagers. In autumn, they slogged from dawn to dusk for days to gather enough forage to feed the horse throughout the six-month-long winter. This naturally caps the number of horses a family can own. They also set aside their own comforts to make sure their animals lacked for nothing. Although they don’t estimate their investment in man-hours, they scoffed at the state’s meagre offering.

The long-winded bureaucratic process also tried the patience of villagers, and they detested the long bumpy bus ride to Kaza, the sub-district headquarters, to file their claims. Eventually, their frustration with the department and helplessness in preventing losses aroused hostility against wildlife.

Rancorous villagers could go to the extent of poisoning carcasses, killing snow leopards, brown bears, and scavengers.

If the antagonism towards these wild animals went unchecked, wildlife would suffer, feared conservationists. Something had to be done before it was too late.

In 2013, Nature Conservation Foundation volunteered to fund an insurance program.

If villagers were willing to pay a nominal amount for each animal, the Mysore-based non-profit would invest one-and-a-half times that amount to create the capital.

By then, the foundation already supported five schemes in seven other villages in Ladakh and Spiti, in aid of snow leopards.

A three-person committee, elected by villagers, administers the scheme. It fixes the annual premium amount—between Rs480 and Rs720 depending on the age and sex of the animal. Even unborn foals are insured as soon as mares become pregnant. Any cause of death—disease or predators—is covered.

“We only show them the possibility,” says Ajay Bijoor of Nature Conservation Foundation, who oversees the project.

“But it’s their decision what premium to collect, what rules to impose, and how to manage the scheme.”

But the organisation stipulated one rule: only 60% of the total capital can be used to settle claims, and the remaining 40% should be held in reserve. If the annual claims were less than 60%, affected families got the full assured sum. Each claim could range between Rs5,000 and Rs12,000, again depending on the age and sex of the horse. If the losses were more, 60% of the capital was divided among the affected families.

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“The 60-40 rule is a safety against fraudulent claims,” says Yash Veer Bhatnagar, senior scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation. “If someone cheats the system, the other villagers will not keep quiet since their own claims will be reduced.”

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Almost bankrupt This past year almost bankrupted the scheme. One late summer evening, Kumar’s neighbour, who had visited the pastures that day, gave him the bad news.

One of his foals was nowhere to be seen, and its mother was wandering alone. A team of men found the half-eaten carcass and a neat pile of its eviscerated guts covered by leaves and grass. Feces of a

brown bear lay nearby.

Since the insurance program began, by a quirk of fate, losses have mounted. In the first year, villagers lost four animals, and six horses in the second. During this past year, snow leopards and brown bears killed nine foals in five days, one of the worst losses in memory. Despite insurance, the families lost a sizeable chunk of income since the insured sum is far less than the market value.

Before they lost the three remaining foals, villagers hired a guard to watch over them, and the rest of the season passed

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uneventfully. In November, Kumar and his fellow villagers rounded up the horses and brought them back to Sagnam. They led the animals not meant for sale into the barns and transported the others to the Lavi Fair, where Kumar sold two.

Kumar blames the weather for the catastrophic year. “Since the time of our ancestors, we gave the far reaches of our pastures—those areas where horses don’t graze—on lease to the gaddhis,” explains Kumar. Livestock belonging to these nomadic shepherds from the foothills buffers the horses from predators.

Last year, however, the snow in the high mountain pass lasted a long time so the gaddhis reached the pastures late in the season. Winter set in early, and the gaddhis left. So, the horses bore the brunt of predator attacks. Brown bears caused about 70% of the damage, according to Kumar. “This is also the first time bears caused severe losses,” he says.

Although horse owners receive just a fraction of the animal’s market value from the insurance program, they were happy to get something rather than nothing according to Kumar. “We tend to think

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people want to be compensated the full market value,” adds Bijoor. “But people are happy with what they get for the premium they pay.”

For the summer of 2016, the villagers aren’t taking any chances. They plan to hire a guard or two because more losses could mean the collapse of the insurance scheme. Back in Kumar’s dark barn, the only surviving foal is already a yearling.

And one of the mares is heavily pregnant, and expected to deliver any day now.

Kumar sleeps by her side.

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Tibetan horse festival: A scenic struggle between tradition and modernity As Tibetan riders waved rifles and dug cowboy-booted feet into their horses’ flanks, hanging sideways from their mounts, tourists and locals cheered and snapped pictures on digital cameras and smartphones.

Set between emerald hills on the Himalayan plateau, some 3,700 metres above sea level, Yushu’s annual equine festival is billed as a showcase of Chinese government support for Tibetan culture.

Women were draped in their finest jewellery, wearing beads of turquoise, yellow amber and red coral over flowerpatterned traditional dresses known as chuba. Monks in crimson robes flitted through the crowds.

But beyond the imagery, the festival also displayed the impact of both modernisation and Beijing’s rule on the region, which Chinese forces occupied in 1951.

Beneath grassy hills spiderwebbed with white prayer flags, Sonam Dolma set up a tent stall selling bottled mineral water, Coca-Cola and Red Bull.

Now 51, she recalled helping tame wild horses as a teenager on the plateau where her nomad family raised yaks, and was unimpressed by this year’s athletics.

“When I was young there would be a horse festival each year,” she said. “The skill was very high. The horses were big and strong.”

Now, she added, the animals were smaller and slower. “A lot of the best horses

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have been sold because people turn to technology.”

Many Tibetans have traded nomadism for life in the cities as part of an urbanisation drive pushed by Beijing, sometimes by force, and many who remain on the land prefer motorbikes for road transport.

“I’m just not that good at riding anymore,” 31-year-old nomad Jargaringqin said, chewing on yak jerky as dried dung burned in his stove.

Yushu — known as Jyekundo in Tibetan and now in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai — is home to the Khampa, a traditionally martial people whose dialect is impenetrable to most Tibetans.

In the late 1950s the Khampa — sometimes aided by CIA training and weapons — staged the fiercest Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule, killing 800 Communist soldiers in one raid.

Their forces were crushed after the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

Herders had their guns confiscated, but the weapons made a comeback in tourist displays at the five-day event, which saw male riders competing in speed races and trotting competitions.

The festival was suspended for several years following a major earthquake which ravaged Yushu in 2008, killing some 2,700 people.

As part of reconstruction, authorities built a horse-racing stadium with concrete stands and plastic seating to host the festival’s opening ceremony.

Local Communist officials control the event, determining who races, sponsoring

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travel costs for riders and archers from rural counties, and handing out cash prizes to winners.

“I am deciding who competes,” explained a woman from China’s Han ethnic majority, who works for Yushu’s official sports bureau. “It’s my third year, we organise a lot of activities.”

There are still sporadic outbursts against Chinese rule in Yushu, with five locals setting themselves on fire since 2012, according to rights groups, among more than 140 such protests by Tibetans, most of them fatal.

Dozens of paramilitary policemen guarded the festival, while a group of orange-suited firefighters patrolled with foam extinguishers.

“In recent years the government has been controlling Tibetans more tightly.

For example, we are limited in gathering together for activities,” said one young Tibetan sipping beer on the festival sidelines, asking not to be named.

“This is a government event,” he added.

“They are organising it so it’s considered safe.”

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Flowing hair Local authorities tout the festival as a source of tourist revenue for the area, which has few other sources of growth.

Many Han Chinese see Kham as a mysterious and romantic region.

“It’s pretty and the horse riding skills are great,” said Han Chinese tour guide Zhao Xu. “Khampa men are know sparse, raising questions over how well modernisation fits with tradition.

Qinghai’s urbanisation rate has increased from 40% to nearly 50% in the past decade, but one Tibetan member of a local Communist party committee said that the process was happening “too fast”.

“Its fine to move people to cities, but where are the jobs?” asked the man, whose first name was Dorje. “Herding life was certainly better.”

But spectator Meiduo Lasang — stallholder Sonam’s daughter — dreams of becoming a photographer or fashion designer.

A university student in the provincial capital, she sheepishly accepted a herder’s invitation to clamber on top of his steed, laughing and posing for smartphone photos before quickly jumping off.

“We don’t own horses these days,” she said. “Everyone used to, when transport was more backwards. Now we have vehicles there is no need for horses.”

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Equine therapy is helping people with PTSD and disabilities ..

MANDY SANGHERA Human Right Activist and Motivational Speaker.

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Veterans returning from combat situations facez a higher riskâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;above most other populationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Symptoms, which may include flashbacks, night terrors, and intense emotional reactions, affect not only veterans, but also the partners of veterans. Previous studies have shown a significant association between PTSD and intimate relationship problems.

Equine therapy is helping people wirh PTSD and disabilities . Peter has been suffering with PTSD after returning home from Iraq . Peter has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. To work through ongoing problems attached to his self-esteem, confidence and trust in other people, Peter enrolled in an equineassisted therapy program.

Horses make great companions for psychotherapy . Horses can become metaphors for dealing with intimidating life circumstances and stress .

The use of animals within therapy can be traced back thousands of years. Their ability to read human emotion and their inherent honesty is perhaps why we look to them so often in times of distress. While a range of animals are well known for being therapeutic, horses are becoming particularly well known for their ability to foster change. Also Horses are used for some people, this presents them with a challenge as soon as they start therapy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to overcome this fear. Combating this initial issue can be incredibly liberating and helps to boost feelings of confidence and self-esteem.

Accomplishing tasks and gaining the trust of such animals only continues to reinforce these feelings of empowerment. Peter really struggled to connect with the horse after relaxing and letting go of his stress he was able to connect with the horse .

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Another reason horses are used is because they have an innate ability to mirror the thoughts and behaviours of others. Horses can also read body language and sense peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energies .

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Equine therapy benefits Physical The patient improves his/her vertical and horizontal balance, muscle tone, improves motor coordination, Strengthen core Psychological The patient feels a sense of general wellbeing, improved self-esteem and selfconfidence. The therapy also helps to reduce feelings of insecurity and fear that in turn will help the patient gain more confidence in everyday Improves attention and concentration, essential qualities that any person should have for any area requiring educational skills.

Social The therapy promotes the development of respect, responsibility, perseverance and loving toward animals. The positive attitude that the student acquires, improves family and social integration.

Mandy Sanghera Human Rights activist said that we need to offer more therapies like Equine , talking etc than put people on anti depressants , we will never get to the route of the matter until we have addresses the underline issues .

Like humans, horses are social animals, with defined roles within their herds. They would rather be with their peers. They have distinct personalities, attitudes and moods; an approach that works with one horse wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily work with another just like humans .

At times, they seem stubborn and defiant.

They like to have fun. In other words, horses provide vast opportunities for metaphorical learning, an effective technique when working with even the most challenging individuals or groups. recent study by the University of Rostock in Germany shows that human-animal interactions increase levels of oxytocin, also known as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;bonding hormoneâ&#x20AC;?.

This in turn triggers an increase in trust towards others, enhances empathy and learning, lowers fear and anxiety, and improves pain management. This is of particular relevance for substance dependents, whose self-confidence, social interaction skills and support networks have been negatively affected by their addiction. Trust can slowly be regained through equine therapy.

Sanghera Thanks to their advanced animal instincts, horses can easily read intentions , this really helps with communicating , building trust and setting boundaries . I have seen many young disabled children behaviour improve the years .

As I have seen survivors struggle to come to terms with life Many people struggling with addictions, trauma and other mental health issues have learned that feeling is painful.

They may use drugs or engage in certain compulsive behaviours (e.g., sex, eating or gambling) in an attempt to numb sadness, anger, fear or even joy. For therapy to be successful, one of the first steps is learning to identify. Experience and cope with emotions without trying to escape.

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UNIVERSAL STUD FARMS

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