Public Opinion on Equestrian Land Use

Here's an interesting survey of public opinion:




This is not an official vote, but it does show the public opinion, and is a way to help get your voice heard. For the full text of the bill this poll refers to, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2283.

Public Service Announcement

Click on the image for a larger view.

Feel free to pass this announcement along to anyone you know who is in need of a barn cat.

2008 Olympic Wrap-up

The Olympics are over for another four years, but the US equestrian team will have plenty of memories to last a lifetime. If you haven't followed the overall standings, the US ranks #2 for gold medals in all events, and #1 for total number of medals won, with 36 gold, 38 silver, and 36 bronze, for a total of 110 medals.. Congrats to the hard-working US Equestrian Olympic Team, both horses and riders, as well as all other athletes who represented the US in Beijing!

And don't forget Canada's individual gold in jumping, or the silver medal in team jumping!

Welcome home to our athletes in both countries.

You can view all medal standings and click individual countries or medals for details here: http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/95A/GL0000000.shtml

Congratulations, Canada!

In keeping with our Olympic theme this week, NWHS would like to congratulate our Northern neighbors on Eric Lamaze's individual gold medal in jumping. This is the first time a Canadian has received that honor, so three cheers for Lamaze and the entire Canadian team!

Read the Federation Equestrian Internationale's full article on Eric Lamaze going gold!

Latest Olympic News Video and Photos

Not recommended for dialup.

Exclusive Summer Olympics news & widgets at NBC Olympics.com!

Though slightly belated, NWHS offers its congratulations to Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden, Bill Simpson, Mclain Ward, Cedric, Authentic, Carlsson Vom Dach, and Sapphire on their Olympic gold medal.

Are you looking for the schedule of upcoming equestrian events, or did you miss an event and want to see the results? Check out the official 2008 Beijing Olympics site at http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Schedule/EQ.shtml.

Keeping Up with the News

Did you miss any coverage of the Olympic equine events? Just visit www.nwhorsesource.com, click on "news" in the menu on the left hand side of the page, and use the search box at bottom left to search for "olympic" or the name of your favorite event.

We're also counting down to the release of our new website, which will be easier to navigate and offer more opportunities to interact with the Northwest Horse Source community. Check back on September 1 to see what we unveil!

Meeting Mustangs

Our trip to the NW Washington Fair on Wednesday night provided a great time and a much-needed "out of office experience" for a couple of members of the NWHS staff.

We had a chance to talk to Tracey Westbury, a local woman who trains mustangs, and even got a few photos to share!

The critter pictured here is one of her newest mustangs, and he's a great mover with a gorgeous mane. We had the chance to watch Tracey work with him a little, leading and getting a rope clipped to his halter. Pretty amazing work for a brand new arrival from Oregon!

You may remember Tracey from her article Building Trust with Wild Mustangs from the September 2007 issue of NWHS. We're looking forward to having her back in the magazine in 2009! Maybe even sooner. ;-)

Calling All Students

Just in case you missed this on our news links, Alltech is accepting entries into its Young Scientist Program. If you know of a college student (or if you are a college student) with and interest in the agricultural sciences, this is a great program that gets students involved in professional research and gives them valuable experience for a career in helping animals and the people who care for them. This year, they have created a program for graduate students in addition to the traditional undergrad program.

For the full details on the Alltech Young Scientist Program, click here.

Cute but Pointless Non-Horse Anecdote

I don't really have any horse-related or magazine-related news today, so for those of you who come here for that, check back later in the week. For anyone who just wants semi-amusing animal anecdotes, keep reading.

Meet Cinder (I don't have a photo on this computer, but I'll try to upload one later). Cinder is my 11-year-old half-Siamese cat who truly believes that the world revolves around her, and most of the time it does. This Saturday I had to take her to the vet for her annual check-up.

Cinder likes sleeping. She likes sunshine. She likes escaping if I leave the door open. She likes to watch birds, eat salmon, and trick visitors into giving her extra food.

Cinder does NOT like the vet. Or the drive to the vet. Or anything else about this whole vet business.

So we get to the vet first thing Saturday morning. I'm barely caffeinated (not a good start). Cinder has howled up a storm (remember: part Siamese) on the way in, but is unusually quiet once we get to the vet, mostly because there are no other cats for her to spit at that early in the day.

My wonderful vet knows that Cinder is generally all talk (don't ask me where she learned all those swear words, but at least she doesn't bite). But Cinder also does not like having her belly touched, and squeezing the belly of a 12-pound cat in order to find little kitty-sized internal organs is not an easy process--for the vet or the cat. We had to transfer Cinder to the low bench to do the exam, which meant Cinder ended up with her face in the corner, snarling up a storm until she finally gave up, whirled around and took a swipe at both of us. She continued to snarl, her eyes dilated out to the rims, until the vet decided that perhaps a time out was best at that point--Cinder was certainly healthy enough to let us all know exactly what was what, no problem with her lungs or heart!

We were sent home with a sedative so Cinder could come back for a full exam in a somewhat more docile state at a later date. A few more feline swear words were uttered, we trundled home, and Cinder was allowed to escape from the Evil Carrier of Doom.

Five minutes later, she crawled up into my lap and purred like nothing had happened. She even let me touch her belly.

So much for the humans being in charge.

Fall Events and the Fair(s)

Earlier today, I was working on our monthly events calendar (the What's Happening column in the magazine) and noticed that the number of events for the year is starting to wind down. There is still plenty going on in September, but after that, as the chilly dampness sets in, only a few brave souls have events to post. This is both good and bad...less to choose from means fewer events we have to miss in order to attend one. It's also sad, because we often have great fall weather in October, and it's a shame to not have group rides and events to attend.

This month, however, we have the NW Washington Fair here in Whatcom County, then the Puyallup Fair further south in September. Our sales manager and I are definitely going to the NW Washington Fair next week to see some horses, not to mention the pigs, cows, chickens, llamas, and whatever else we can find. Then there's the fair food. Sometimes you just *need* a funnel cake, right? The fair falls right on time to celebrate the sendoff of the September issue to the printer, so we hope to see a few of you there to help us celebrate the good timing.

I'm not sure if I'll make it down to "moo" the Puyallup this year, but I hope I can. I've never had anything but a great time at that fair.

Writing for NWHS

Have you always wanted to tell a story about a horse-related happening? Do you have inside information on a new technique or health concern? Northwest Horse Source Has many great writers that we work with, but we also like to hear from fresh voices, too. We have just opened up our editorial calendar for 2009, and spots for the year are already filling fast! If you have an article or story you would like to share with us, please look over the guidelines below, and if you think your writing is a good fit, send us a proposal and a writing sample, or the full text if the article is already written. If it is previously published elsewhere, please note where (we prefer previously unpublished submissions, but will consider those published outside of our region). We'd love your input.

Northwest Horse Source Article Submission Guidelines


About Northwest Horse Source:
The Northwest Horse Source is the all breed, all discipline educational resource for horse owners in the Northwest. Currently in our 13th year of publishing, we distribute 22,500 magazines monthly to 11 states in the US plus regular subscribers, as well as British Columbia, Canada.

What we look for:
NWHS content educates the reader through stories that deliver well-researched information with a personal touch. We prefer articles that offer resources to readers who would like to broaden their interest in a topic beyond the scope of the article; such resources might include websites, books, or contact information for organizations related to the article.

We have two classes of feature open to freelance writers: short features run about 500 words and full features run about 1000 words. The short feature should be accompanied by 2-3 high-resolution jpg photos; the full feature should have 4-6. Articles with photos provided will be given preference. Minimum photo resolution is 4x6" at 300dpi.

Themes
Each month, the magazine has an editorial theme. Past themes include Working Horses, Equine Wellness, Tack and Equipment, and Senior Horses. All features must fit the theme of the month for which they are slated. To find out the schedule of upcoming themes and which feature positions are still available, please contact the editor at the address below.

Format:
Query first by email. Times New Roman font, single spaced within paragraphs and double-spaced between paragraphs (no indentation), is preferred for article submissions.

Payment:
As a magazine that is available for free to the public, we are unable to offer monetary payment for short features and fillers. Full feature articles receive advertising credit or a $25 gratuity.

Please feel free to contact the editor, Deb Taber, with questions, or call 1-866-385-5579. To find out more about the magazine, please visit our website at www.nwhorsesource.com and browse through the article archives.

Thank you for your interest in the Northwest Horse Source!

Sneak Peek!

Feeling sneaky today? Well, I am. So I thought I'd give people a peek at our work-in-progress revamp of the Northwest Horse Source article archives. We're moving the archives to a blog format to allow for easy commenting and interactivity. Now, you will be able to read past articles and comment on them directly through the site. Check it out at http://nwhorsesource.blogspot.com/.

This is still a work in progress, so only a few categories of article are available, and the look and sidebars aren't yet finished, but feel free to play around on the pages and send us your comments, either here, on that site, or via email. Once it's finished, the site will be integrated with our main www.nwhorsesource.com site so you only have one url to remember for all your equine education needs.

We welcome your feedback, so have fun and drop us a line!

The changes to the full site will be unveiled September 1st as part of an ongoing process of web upgrades.

Ready for the Games?

The Olympic Games begin next Friday in Hong Kong, and the television and Internet coverage of the equestrian events will be more thorough than ever. You don't have to travel across the globe--all you have to do is tune in.Some of the latest Olympic headlines:

Hong Kong Hand-Over Ceremony for the American Shetland Ponies a Great Success
Content provided by Johnny Robb, American Shetland Pony Club
Morton, IL- The Hong Kong Equestrian Federation (HKEF) in conjunction with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and ING Corporation, hosted an extraordinary “Hand- Over” ceremony on July 10th in Hong Kong to receive two ponies the American Shetland Pony Club (ASPC) donated to salute Hong Kong’s efforts in hosting the 2008 Equestrian Olympics. Read More

USET Foundation Lauds NBC's Decision to Stream Olympics Live on Web
Gladstone, NJ - July 30, 2008 - The 2008 Summer Olympics marks the first time equestrian enthusiasts will get to watch the competition in Dressage, Eventing and Show Jumping from start-to-finish, thanks to NBC's decision to stream 2,200 hours of live coverage of 25 sports at www.NBCOlympics.com.

USET Foundation Executive Director Bonnie Jenkins stated, "This is wonderful news and will be a great way to give many of our supporters who are responsible for getting our U.S. equestrian teams to the Olympic Games the ability to watch the equestrian events live and cheer on our athletes, even if they cannot be there in person. I know that our staff in Gladstone who will not be in Hong Kong will be glued to their computers throughout the two weeks. It will be fantastic!" Read More

Morse Withdraws Kingston; Barisone and Neruda to Head to Hong Kong as Traveling Replacement for US Olympic Team in Dressage
By Joanie Morris
Lexington, KY - Leslie Morse has withdrawn Kingston from the US Olympic Team in Dressage for veterinary reasons. Following the selection procedures, the USEF named replacement horse/rider combination Michael Barisone/Neruda as the traveling replacement for the US Olympic Team in Dressage. Read More