NEWS &VIEWS You Can Use
PA Man Charged with Cruelty in Frederick County
According to the Frederick News-Post, Penn-
sylvania resident James Houseman, III has been charged in Maryland with two counts of animal cruelty and one count of failure to pro- vide proper veterinary care. According to the News-Post, Frederick County Animal Control oversaw an operation to have a veterinarian surgically remove a halter that had grown into the face of a horse. T e horse died less than two weeks later. According to the News-Post, the cause of death is in dispute. T e News-Post reports she died as a result of the tranquilizer dart left in her intestine by Animal Control offi cers, but the director of Frederick County Animal Control, Harold Domer, said the mare died from complications related to the imbedded halter and internal parasites. Although Houseman was offi cially charged in December, charges were apparently dropped at the request of Animal Control because of an administrative error. Equiery readers may
remember that House- man’s Maryland-based horses (T urmont and Emmitsburg) had been under close ob- servation by Frederick County Animal Con- trol since Pennsylvania impounded neglected horses from him in November 2011. T e Equiery brought the issue to the attention of the Frederick News-Post, which has followed the story since. In February 2012, Houseman was convicted of 14 counts of animal cruelty in Pennsylvania. Houseman has since voluntarily relinquished the Maryland-based horses to the new rescue, T e Foxie G Foundation, near Lib- ertytown.
Minis Bring Smiles to Newtown, CT T e December shootings at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, CT rocked the nation on many levels. While the U.S. government works on revamping gun control laws and the residents of Newtown try to piece their world back together, Nicole Ehrentraut of Da Vinci Equine Emergency Transport, LLC
(Poolesville) teamed up with Gentle Carousel Miniature T erapy Horses (Florida) to help the children,
families Let the Games Begin!
Nicole Ehrentraut (Poolesville) loads two minis for the trip to Newtown, CT
and fi rst responders cope with the aftermath of the shooting by bringing three miniature therapy horses to the elemen- tary school the fi rst few weeks of January. Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, Gentle Carousel’s director of education, was contacted by Newtown residents and told USA Today, “T ey said, ‘We want our children talking about minis and not mon- sters.’ T ere are some calls you just can’t say no to so we said yes and fi gured out how to make it happen.” “I don’t know if I have words for these past two weeks. T ey have been perhaps some of the most profound of my life,” said Ehrentraut, who donated her trail- er and transportation services free of charge. “Something so simple as coming out to see a miniature horse can literally lift a town out of this evil spell that has been cast over it. T ese horses brought smiles to thousands in
all age groups. It was like watching the timid end of an unwanted hibernation. You could lit- erally see fl owers blooming in the smiles, in the community coming to- gether, and the families greeting each other for the fi rst time since the event. It was the be- ginning of a profound healing,” she added. “When horses are
there, people are happy. And sometimes that’s all you can do,” Garcia- Bengochea said. Gentle Carousel has
The 2013 Maryland General Assembly has been called to or- der. Typically, over 2,000 bills are introduced during the 90 day session. The Maryland legislature works like a simple pass/fail college course: if a bill does not pass, then it fails and it has to start from scratch the next year. So, the fi rst three months of each year is something like a stampede on Annapolis. The Equiery and the Maryland Horse Council will monitor legislation for anything of interest to the equestrian community, but if you hear of something, please let us know immediately:
editor@equiery.com.
Tractor-cade on Annapolis Farmers and other landowners are––understandably in our opinion––still angry about a far-reaching bill (Bill 236) that passed last year which would severely limit property rights. A February 6 “march on Annapolis” with tractors and other farm equipment is being organized. Horses and horse trail- ers are encouraged. To learn more, visit
equiery.com.
recently named one of their newest minis af- ter Catherine Hubbard, a six-year-old animal lover who was killed in the shooting. Gentle Carousel posted on their Facebook page that her mother said Catherine would be honored and so are they.
Are WSSC’s New Fees & Rules for Trail Riders Punitive?
Horsemen won the fi rst battle with WSSC, when the report commissioned by the Washing- ton Suburban Sanitation Commission declared that horses were not the reason for erosion and runoff in the WSSC reservoirs of Triadelphia, Rocky Gorge and Little Seneca (go to equiery. com “Horses Exonerated!” under December posts). WSSC had used the premise that horses were the source of erosion and runoff in order impose draconian restrictions on horses in the watershed, and so when the Commission’s own study proved otherwise, WSSC was forced to reconsider its position when it prepared its regulations for 2013. Well, the new pro-
Magic makes an appearance outside Sandy Hook Elementary School
IF YOU HAVE NEWS, VIEWS OR UPDATES TO CONTRIBUTE, PLEASE SEND THEM TO Editor at The Equiery, P.O. Box 610, Lisbon, MD 21765 • FAX: 410-489-7828 • email
editor@equiery.com.
Be sure to include your full name, phone number and address. All submissions become the property of The Equiery. 6 | THE EQUIERY | FEBRUARY 2013 800-244-9580 |
www.equiery.com
posed regulations do restore the access of trail riders to the wa- tershed, but are so burdened with fees and unrealistic require- ments that it begs the question: are WSSC’s continued on page 8
Debbie Garcia-Bengochea/Gentle Carousel photo fi rst appeared in USA Today
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