Questions on Ghosts of Horses Past

There were lots of questions in the comments throughout the series, Ghosts of Horses Past I'm going to try and answer as many of them here as I can. If I missed any, please let me know so I can answer those as well.

I sometimes forget when I'm posting that I have readers from around the world. It's easy to go on with references known here in the states that leave those in other countries wondering what I'm talking about. That was the case with this question from GeckoMusings "What's DOT?" So for all my foreign readers, the Department of Transportation has the job of taking care of the highways, keeping them clear and running smoothly which includes moving broken down or wrecked vehicles off the roads.

Gecko's second question.......Have you ever written a book? gets a resounding no. I have a book started but have not gotten far. There is an outline and first chapter and that's it. It's not a horse book......but I hope to write those some day, if I can just get this first one done.

I have thought that I should write a book about the twins but have struggled with how I would format it. I think that it is beginning to take shape in my mind. An outline may not be far off.

DJ asked Who's the horse in this post? Kim guessed the mare is Phadra Rose but that is not correct. Faye is one of our broodmares and this is one of our Legs daughters. The horse pictured in part 3 is Scandalous Faith (but I had to look really close to be sure it wasn't Scandalous Rose because they look so much alike!) Kim asked "is she considered a gray mare?" The answer to that is yes.

For those non horsey folks who read my blog, a gray horse can be a horse of any color that looses color pigment, resulting in a gray or white looking horse. Faith is graying out from a chestnut color.

Beth from the Funny Farm "YIKES! And what did the owners of these horses have to say?" The woman who owned the horses was shocked by this whole thing. She had no idea that horses were capable of such violence, let alone it happening with her own stallion.

According to her, the stallion was a sweet, kind, quiet horse that had never shown any signs of aggression, not even in breeding. It just goes to show how important it is that we never forget that they are horses. Instinct is a powerful thing and can affect them in ways we just aren't prepared to deal with.

inkeq Question though, shouldn't there be separate stalls for stallions? Or not? I am not aware of any shows that separate stallions. Grey Horse Matters I'm still wondering why they would even stable a stallion next to a mare? Stabling is assigned based on the number of stalls required. I've worked as a barn manager many times and I never knew the sex of the horses of the stabling I was assigning. In all those years I only had one request to move a horse because it was a stallion.

As far as separating stallions from mares, I even haul mine together with no problems. They are used to being next to each other and are just fine. Legs may smell mares over the top of stall walls but he never talks to them or drops. He just visits with whatever horse puts their nose up over the wall.

I know of one other incident where a stallion tore the stall walls down but the owners were present and moved the horse to another stall. On another occasion, a stallion owner took the horse home because he felt the stabling was not adequate for his horse. However, those specific portable stalls are used at the big show in Scottsdale each February and many other horse events and have had some of the biggest named stallions in the Arabian industry housed in them.

Lori "Were there no other people around camping on the grounds?" There probably were people from the horse show camping on the grounds. The location of that area is far enough from the Pavilion that the nose would not have been heard.


"DJ" from Blog & Pony Show asked a couple of questions. She started off with "Love your boy Louie! Is this Scandalous Image or another one?" This is indeed Scandalous Image. We do not call him by the name "Image" because that was the name of the colt whose story is here

"Do you think the police could have handled things?" It never occurred to me to call the police. I guess I figured it was a horse show issue not a police matter and required horse people for a solution. I hadn't occurred to me that the security guard wouldn't be horse savvy until he was already involved.


Holly from dogsnhorses asked . "Did the owner ever find you and thank you?" I did speak with the owner several times during that show and at another show afterwards. They were very grateful.

Interestingly enough, they called the tack store I worked at during this time to have me bring down halters to show those horses with at a later show. I charged the halters against an account I set up for them. In the end they stiffed us for that charge which did not set too well with my boss. I guess they weren't as grateful as I thought.


Midlife Mom from Home on the Range "Where were the owners? Weren't they camped on the grounds somewhere or were they in a hotel off grounds?" I believe that the owners were in a hotel off grounds but not positive. Wherever they were, they weren't close enough to know what was going on until they arrived at the show the next morning.

Molly HolaMole' " I think/wonder if this shock condition is what we used to call "tie-up," or if that is another stress reaction." While this was answered in the comments, I think it's important to mention it here as well.

Shock and tying up are not the same. Shock in horses is pretty much like shock in humans, I think. The system cannot handle the stress of a traumatic incident, injury or illness and begins to shut down. If not properly treated shock can end in death.

Tying up on the other hand, while quite painful to the horse, does not cause death. It can be severely debilitating and, from a groom who has dealt with it, very disturbing.

In response to a comment about tying up, Original L from Me, Mira, and the Racehorse Dude said " I bet shock and electrolyte imbalance from sweating could lead to muscle cramps, though..." I believe this could be possible. However, I have heard that tying up seems to run in particular bloodlines and has more to do with how the systems of those horses deal with lactic acid. Feeding horses who tend to tie up baking soda as a regular part of their diet seems to relieve the symptoms.

One of the comments didn't ask a question but made reference to this vicious behavior in the animals that I have such passion about and I thought I should address that comment here. I don't believe that this type of behavior is isolated to Arabian horses.

I have heard lots of stories about other breeds of stallions savaging mares during breeding. In fact there were some famous thoroughbred stallions who routinely savaged mares during breeding. Despite those behaviors and the fact that thoroughbreds can only be breed live cover, these stallions continued to breed and savage many, many mares.

I don't know what "clicked" in that stallion that night to cause this behavior, just like I will never know what "clicked" in my gelding, Malachite, that caused him to attack my mare Scandalous. (see Down a Rocky Road) The only thing I know for sure is that it has to do with instinct and at this point in time we humans don't have enough information to understand the behavior.

This was a night that I will never forget. I hope that I never experience any such incident again but I know that in dealing with horses anything can happen. It's a good reminder to not take for granted the "nature" of these animals that I love so much.

The horse in this picture is Vee, Scandalous Love.

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