The red horse she didn’t want took her full circle
When Merrilyn Ratliff rapped her knuckles against the paddock fence, the last thing she wanted was the horse who came running to answer her call. Mad with grief over the sudden death of her beautiful bay mare a few weeks earlier, Ratliff had all she could do to keep from crying when she let her riding coach Monica Fiss drag her out to look at an unbroken, unregistered, chestnut Thoroughbred. The prospect of even considering another to fill the void made her feel guilty, and besides, this particular equine had in spades everything she did not want in a new […]
Share this:
Raid fallout: Police to inspect Paso Fino farm
A Florida judge has ordered that a horse-farm owner, who was arrested in Florida this summer and charged with possession of horsemeat, submit to weekly inspections by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department, according to Richard “Kudo” Couto of the Animal Recovery Mission. Orlando Vazquez Guzman, owner of G.A. Paso Fino Farm, of Palm Beach County, appeared before Judge Glenn Kelley Dec. 3 following his arrest earlier this summer on unlawful possession of horsemeat. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge, and is due back in court in March, according to a press release. As he awaits a second court appearance, […]
Share this:
Wheelchair-bound rider is set free on her OTTB
A young Virginia woman confined to a wheelchair by muscular dystrophy, has broken free of her bonds, and with her heart alight with joy, rides a 17-hand Thoroughbred. “I’ve been in a wheelchair most of my life, but when I rode Dewey, I wasn’t the ‘girl in the wheelchair’ anymore, I was ‘the girl on the horse,’ ” said Anna Collette, 22, a western Virginia horsewoman who has found a way to ride horses throughout her life, despite a diagnosis she has had since infancy. Growing up in a horse family, Collette said she always felt self-conscious about the way she rode. […]
