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    Posted: 16 Nov 2023 at 5:47pm

Elephants give each other names — the 1st non-human animals to do so, study claims

Elephants in Kenya's Amboseli National Park appear to call to each other with individual names using low, complex "rumbles," a study has found.

Name a famous elephant. Babar, perhaps? Or Dumbo? Memorable though these monikers may be to humans, they sound nothing like the names elephants give each other. If you're an elephant, your name is something more like a low, rumbling sound, scientists say.

In a new paper published Aug. 23 on the preprint server BioRxiv, researchers found that   African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) made vocalizations specific to individuals in their social groups — and that the recipients responded accordingly. In short, elephants appear to have names for one another.

This makes them the first non-human animals to address each other in a manner that does not imitate the receiver's own call, as dolphins and parrots do. And while other animals do produce what are known as "referential calls" in order to identify objects just as predators or food, those calls are believed to be instinctive and do not require social learning.

In the new study, the team recorded 527 elephant calls in the greater Samburu ecosystem in northern Kenya and 98 calls in the Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya. The researchers then identified rumbles specific to 119 individuals by discerning which members of groups of female elephants and their offspring were separated from the herd at the time of each vocalization or approached when the call was made.

Using a computer model, the researchers correctly identified the receivers of 20.3% of the 625 recorded calls.

This marks a step forward in understanding how these highly intelligent animals communicate. 

"There's a contact rumble, there's an anti-predator rumble, there's a greeting rumble. If you look at a spectrogram, they all look almost exactly the same, or exactly the same," Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, an elephant biologist at Harvard University Medical School who was not involved in the study, told Live Science. "That's why AI has been exciting. It allows us to really figure out what the elephants are honing in on."

As it turned out, the calls were not generic sounds aimed at, for example, younger elephants or mothers. They were distinct to the receiver. Even calls from different callers to the same receiver were similar — though the pattern was less obvious than it was between a single caller and receiver. This may be because rumbles encode multiple messages simultaneously, so the computer model may not have been able to pick out the "name" used in each call, the authors wrote in the study.

"It just highlights the complexity of what's going on," O'Connell-Rodwell said. "And we're not skilled enough at what those measurements should be to figure out what's going on."

The researchers also found that elephants responded more strongly to recordings of calls originally addressed to them than to calls addressed to other elephants, further supporting their findings.

"The real value of this paper is that it shows how elephants are navigating through a large landscape and can still keep in touch with specific individuals," O'Connell-Rodwell said. "It allows them to spread out much further and still have very close tabs on individuals, not just the group. It's not just like, I'm sending out a ping. Somebody else is sending out a ping. It's much more sophisticated than that."

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Second Chance Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Oct 2023 at 6:31pm
Great story Gay.  Thumbs Up

Just hope they're not currently hanging up in the Copper's cool room. Shocked
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Gay3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Oct 2023 at 6:19pm

Alaskan wildlife troopers rescue deer from cold waters, giving them lift in boat

Two deer struggling in the waters of south-east Alaska's famed Inside Passage have made it to land thanks to two Alaska Wildlife Troopers who gave the animals a lift in their boat.

Key points:

  • Two deer were spotted struggling in cold water around 6.4 kilometres from the shore
  • Wildlife troopers rescued the pair by hauling them onto their boat
  • The animals were returned to land, and were able to walk away slowly

Sergeant Mark Finses and trooper Kyle Feuge were returning from a patrol in nearby Ernest Sound to Ketchikan on October 10 when they spotted the deer, agency spokesperson Justin Freeman told The Associated Press.

The deer were about 6.4 kilometres from any island in the channel, which is favoured by large cruise ships taking tourists in summer months to locations such as Ketchikan and Juneau.

The deer were floating down Clarence Strait about 22.5 kilometres north-west of Ketchikan, but not toward any particular island, Mr Freeman said. They were fighting the current during mid-tide.

"Out in the middle of Clarence, they're in rough shape, like on their last leg," Mr Finses said on a video he shot with his phone and that the troopers posted to social media.

The troopers stopped their 10-metre patrol vessel about 137 metres from the two deer, which saw the boat and headed towards it. The troopers shut off the engines so the animals would not be spooked.

When the deer reached the boat, they butted their heads against it, then swam right up the swim step, at which point the troopers helped them get the rest of the way onboard.

Once in the boat, the deer shivered from their time in the cold water. The average temperature of the water in Ketchikan in October is 10.2 degrees Celsius, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"I'm soaked to the bone," Mr Finses says in the video. "I had to pick them up and bear hug them to get them off our deck and get them on the beach."

Once back on land, the deer initially had difficulty standing and walking, Mr Freeman said. But eventually, they were able to walk around slowly before trotting off.

"The deer ended up being completely OK," he said.

It is common to see deer swimming in south-east Alaska waters, going from one island to another. 

Mr Freeman said what was not common was having deer swim up to a boat and trying to get on it.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hello Sunshine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Aug 2023 at 9:02pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Aug 2023 at 2:04pm
animals before people.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gay3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Jun 2023 at 8:35pm
A mother deer stops traffic & convinces a driver to follow her to rescue her baby stuck in nets. And one more magic happens at the end. Kindness brings out the best. 🙏🪄

https://twitter.com/i/status/1670078573279956992
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Gay3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2023 at 2:36pm

Gene Therapy spays cats without surgery

 In a first in the realm of spay and neuter programs for dogs and cats, scientists announced they’ve created a one-shot contraceptive for female felines, which eliminates the need for a traditional surgical spaying.

The shot formula involves inserting a hormone gene into an adeno-associated virus commonly used in gene therapy to transport the replacement genes into the cats’ cells. The shot is injected into the thigh muscle. Researchers said they’re not sure how, exactly, it works — whether via a mechanism in the cats’ follicles or something else — but, so far, in almost two years they’ve had no pregnancies.

In fact, in some cases the felines simply refused to mate. Research is being continued to see if gene therapy also works in dogs.

 

SOURCES:

Science June 6, 2023

Nature June 6, 2023

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 May 2023 at 1:39pm
I saw that story awhile back, VSP, and isnt it just a great story .
animals before people.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VSP. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 May 2023 at 2:45am
The emotional story of how a racehorse changed a boys life.
www.snowshoecats.webs.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote oneonesit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Mar 2023 at 11:35am
Refer ALP Election Promises
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hello Sunshine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 8:35pm
Hair frozen to the railway track after Mr Mullis freed the raccoon with water and a shovel
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hello Sunshine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2023 at 8:34pm

Freeze things happen! Chilly raccoon becomes stuck to the railway by his testicle hair after temperatures plummet to -12C before railway workers free him using warm water and a shovel

  • A raccoon stranded in -12C (10.4F) conditions was saved by railway workers
  • The distressed animal was stuck on the track by his frozen testicle hair
  • After a worker defrosted him, the raccoon ran off safely into the woods
  • https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11648477/Raccoon-stuck-railway-testicle-rescued-railway-workers-using-warm-water-shovel.html?ito=rss-connatix&traffic_source=ConnatixThe animal was saved after getting frozen to the tracks by its testicle hair
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hello Sunshine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jan 2023 at 9:28am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hello Sunshine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jan 2023 at 9:27am
A wooly ram stands in the foreground of a wide landscape shot with a hill and a lighthouse behind him.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hello Sunshine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jan 2023 at 9:26am

Exmouth residents are mourning the death of a lone sheep that became synonymous with the Ningaloo lighthouse that overlooks one of the country's most spectacular coastlines.  

Key points:

  • Shaun the Ningaloo lighthouse's resident sheep died on New Year's Eve
  • The lone ram became synonymous with the lighthouse
  • There are talks of installing a memorial in tribute to the sheep

Shaun the sheep, also known as Rocky or Shrek, died from natural causes on New Year's Eve at the nearby caravan park he would frequent for a drink of water.

Such was his impact that there are talks of installing a memorial on the lighthouse hill where he would graze and gaze out to sea.

Exmouth may be known for its coral reef and whale sharks but Jana Powell said over the years Shaun the sheep became famous in his own right.

The Ningaloo Lighthouse Holiday Park caretaker said the ram had been around for most of the decade she had been in the town.

"He may have been from a station in the [Exmouth] gulf or further down. Some say they’ve seen him 12 to 14 years ago, others 20," Mrs Powell said.

"They don't tend to live by themselves but he somehow managed to come to the lighthouse years ago.

"One of those famous photos ... in your head is when you look up to the lighthouse from the park at the sunset and you can see that sheep silhouette on the lighthouse hill."

Bit of a character

Exmouth resident Trevor Kenyon first encountered Shaun the sheep eight years ago walking back to the caravan park from Jansz Beach.

No-one believed him there was a sheep hanging out at the beach until someone else saw him a week later.

"Every year he got closer until he was virtually living in the caravan park," Mr Kenyon said.

"He lived his life and he didn't worry about the traffic, he'd be grazing along the road, didn't worry about nothing ... nothing fazed him, he was just there doing his own thing."Mr Kenyon said he coined the name Shaun after the main character in the BBC children's show.

Former caravan park worker Emma Faulkner said she called him Shaun because he had never been shorn.

"Where you've got the lighthouse he used to literally stand on the corner like the Lion King and everyone could see him up there catching the wind on the hotter days," she said.

"Every time we saw him we would always make an effort to put the window down and talk to him.

"One day he just looked straight back at me and let out this baa, and my heart melted instantly and he never did it again."

Another former worker at the park, Joanne Cooper, said staff would always be on the hunt for Shaun after a rare bit of rainfall.

"When it did it poured with rain, and everyone was worried because of all the wool he had that if he got too wet he'd topple over one of the hills and wouldn't be able to get back up again," she said.

"He was no-one's pet but everyone was looking out for him."

A sheep against the elements

Over the years Shaun survived a cyclone, dingoes and sweltering days over 40 degrees with his unshorn coat that got thicker and thicker.

There was a general thought all that wool kept him safe from the dingoes.

Regardless, Mrs Powell said to survive so long by himself was a feat.Sheep typically live 10 to 12 years but the oldest one in world lived to 28.

Shaun started to slow down in the past year and was hanging around the caravan park grounds more and more until his death.

Mrs Powell said it was sad he was gone but she also felt happy to see how well-liked he was around the town.

She said she hoped a memorial could be installed as a tribute to Shaun.

"It would be nice to be able to put something on that hill somewhere for people to memorialise him and show their respects to him," Mrs Powell said.

"It's hard to explain but one single sheep can make such a difference or can just bring so much joy to so many people."

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hello Sunshine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2022 at 3:55pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2022 at 7:13pm
Worth watching the other clips as well.
animals before people.
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Nice little " clip out " on her rump , looks like a heart Smile of course it is , you ding bat! LOLLOLLOL
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She can ride and that's a game little pony
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Little girl and pony do X country course. Poetry in motion 😁

https://fb.watch/e2dLRelosf/

Edited by Sister Dot - 04 Jul 2022 at 5:43pm
“Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride, friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity? Here where grace is laced with muscle and strength by gentleness confined”
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jun 2022 at 12:18am
Jeff, do you have any idea, at all,  about the problems of wild horses??
The above story would be in USA, and the same stuff goes on here in Ozz. 
In fact, the Glorious Greenies want to shoot the horses from a helicopter.
animals before people.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jeffsec Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2022 at 3:30am
Originally posted by Gay3 Gay3 wrote:

How wild horses deal with death and grief: A rare insight


Two members of the wild horse herd near the Simpson ranch in the mountains of the Oregon-California border. © Laura Simpson

In today’s world of instant gratification and life as viewed through artificially colored designer glasses, some people shy away from the hard lessons and experiences that might result in experiencing very powerful emotions.

But it is exactly these emotions that drive the evolution of meaningful personal convictions, beliefs and inner strength. These lessons, if you will, are by example the heavy lifting that results in spiritual development. And as they say in gym, no pain no gain. Having a powerful sense of empathy leads to understanding, which in turn leads to compassion and ultimately love. When people deny emotion, they disconnect empathy, compassion and love.

Recently, my wife and I faced the hollowing pain of the death of dear friend. But this friend was not human and the life experience related to this death was beyond my knowledge at the time I experienced it.

Some background is needed to fully appreciate what I will explain.

Five years ago when my wife I moved on to our land in the wilderness mountains of the Oregon-California border, the first wild horses we met were an appaloosa mare we named Lucy and her cute little filly, who we named Pixie.

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Lucy and Pixie. © Laura Simpson

Lucy was still nursing Pixie, a little roan foal with a black mane. Lucy was underweight due to an overload of gastric parasites. Lucy was the lead mare of a small family band that held back about 100-yards away and watched our interactions. Lucy approached Laura and I with Pixie in tow as if to ask for help. Having a background in livestock production I had a sense of her problem. So we MacGyver-ed a solution by mixing some wormer (Ivermectin) with some oatmeal mix we had in the kitchen. She ate the mix as Pixie watched and then they went back down to her family.

About two weeks later Lucy and Pixie returned and this time she brought her entire family up to introduce us, including their mighty family stallion, who we named ‘Black’. Lucy had clearly benefited from the treatment and her ribs were no longer showing. Over the years, this family of wild horses as well as others adopted Laura and I as their human symbionts in this naturally balanced ecosystem. Pixie grew into a beautiful young mare; an appaloosa just like her mom, and this past spring she had a filly, having lost her foal in the previous year to predators.

And over the course of hundreds of social interactions with these and other wild horses, Laura and I have developed an empathic connection with them at a level that borders on a discrete communicative dialog. Some horse whisperers may use different terminology; I am still suffering some of the terminology learned in college physics. Another important term however is ‘coherence’ and I can say that at times we engage in coherent dialog with the wild horses. Here again some whisperers might call this reading or sensing the horse. The science of coherence is growing and more can be quickly learned by watching this 7-minute video:

In mid-June 2018, during the primary filming of our local herd in regard to a documentary about Wild Horse Fire Brigade by university film students from Colorado, we filmed Pixie and her foal we named Dove in the forest where they happily grazed and napped.

About a week later, I revisited the area this time with an Oregon Department of Forestry District Forester (Dave) who manages 1.8-million acres of forest in southwestern Oregon. Dave was interested in assessing the prodigious fine fuel loading in the area of our ranch in and around the Soda Mountain Wilderness Area due to the severe depletion of deer by predators, and which deer no longer graze off the abundant grass and brush, which creates hazardous fuel loading.


Pixie and her foal, Dove. © Laura Simpson

After a brief hike over mixed terrain we arrived at a family of wild horses standing near a large spring partially surrounded by juniper trees.  As we approached the family a lead mare who I recognized as ‘Shy’ came over to where we stood and checked us out; she didn’t recognize Dave’s scent.

As I explained to Dave what she was doing and the names of the horses we saw, something seemed wrong, the horses were acting a bit odd. Then as I checked out the area around the spring, I saw a white horse laying in the shade of a large juniper tree. I moved a bit closer to the tree and saw it was Pixie laying on her side. She looked right at me and a terrible feeling overcame me. It was at that very second that my eyes were drawn to her right rear leg, which had been virtually sawn off by barbed wire sometime in the past few days; she was dying.

It was a crushing sight and as the heartache filled my chest, I started looking for Dove in the shadows of the trees. After a few minutes another crushing reality hit me, being severely injured and unable to protect her foal, Pixie had lost her little filly Dove to predators.

But then I noticed something else; there were several additional families standing nearby who were slowly moving into the area. My initial thought was they were there for water, but with so many large and excellent springs very nearby (within 300 yards), why would they all converge on one particular spring? As quickly as that though went through my head, the lead stallion from Pixie’s family walked about 50 feet from where he had been standing and to Pixie’s head. She raised her head off the ground and shared breath with the mighty stallion. Then in turn, one by one, the rest of the family did the same thing. I then realized we were intruding on a hallowed ritual, each of these beautiful sentient beings were bidding Pixie goodbye. As I watched, I realized that so many humans pass away these days alone and scared.

I instructed Dave that we should move back and give them some space, as one of the younger stallions decided to move the mare who was greeting Dave back into the family group.

As we moved farther back my eyes scanned the area searching for any sign of Dove, but continued to watch as the last family members shared breath with Pixie. Then her family moved away from the spring as another family moved into the same spot and the family stallion from that band and his lead mare went to the tree where Pixie lay and lowered his head. Pixie slowly lifted her head and the powerful stallion shared breath with her as did his lead mare.

It was the single most powerful emotional experience and transcended anything I had ever seen or felt before. And at the same time because of our friendship with Pixie, it was heart wrenching. I wanted to go to her side, but in doing so I would clearly be interfering in a sacred ritual of which I had no prior knowledge or understanding.

I led Dave away from the area informing him that I needed to head down the mountain and speak with my wife about Pixie.

Laura was also devastated when she heard the news, but we both agreed that I should go back up the mountain and if the situation was right, put Pixie out of her misery. I hurried back up the mountain. On my way up the mountain I collected a friend of ours who lives on some land that adjoins ours that is bisected by the road to end of the trail. My friend (Lynn) and I hiked to the spring expecting to see a family of horses. But none were in sight, and even with her devastating injury and crushed by the obvious loss of her foal Dove as she lay dying, Pixie had the final strength and courage to drag herself into the sunlight where she passed away.

And there, standing over her was a majestic guardian, a single bachelor stallion who Laura and I had named Red Sox a few years before. He was audibly crying over her lifeless body; making a haunting sound I have never heard a horse make before; a soul-piercing sound that I will never forget. It was like a whinny but with a hallowed, sad tone. This beautiful young stallion was one of Pixie’s playmates as she grew up … now he was the sentinel over her remains, lamenting her loss. I looked at him and asked and he moved back allowing me to go to Pixie’s head to say my own goodbyes. When I was done and moved away he moved back to where he had stood, directly over her.

As Lynn and I headed down the trail away from where Red Sox stood over Pixie I was torn about taking any photos of such remarkable events; It felt like it would be a kind of violation of the sanctity of such an intimate ritual. Wanting to have something to document such a remarkable event, I compromised and took one photo when I was 50 yards away from Red Sox; here is that photo:


Red Sox says goodbye to Pixie. © Bill Simpson

Driving down the mountain, Lynn, who had just turned 80 years old and had lived an amazing life of adventures on the high seas and in the mountains said: ‘Never seen anything like that before’. As with most wild horses, Pixie had a huge spirit and incredible will to live. And in the end, she was surrounded by all her family and friends who provided a loving send-off. We can learn a lot from wild horses; even in how to deal with death and loss.

The following day I received an email from the District Forester who was with me when we first discovered Pixie and witnessed what was clearly a sacred ritual that few human eyes have seen. I have to say that I have a whole new level of respect for Dave given his empathy and understanding via his email, and taking the time to write even with the many demands for his time. As a firefighter with many decades of fighting wildfires and seeing all the carnage from that, his email carried great weight:

“I’m saddened by the loss and offer my condolences. I really enjoyed our visit yesterday and the opportunity to see what the horses are up to. I never have seen anything like it and the social interactions amongst the horses was quite intriguing. I understand the need to remove the old legacy barbwire and I hope somehow the process to remove it can be expedited. Firefighter safety is my #1 priority and I feel the same about the horses that are working up there.”

Many American wilderness areas (including the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument) are laden with the remains of long failed ranching enterprises. Legacy barbwire from the late 18th and 19th century ranching and homesteading crisscrosses many thousands of miles of remote wilderness areas, passing through forests and across grasslands, presenting a deadly and silent threat to all wildlife, including wild horses.


This is a very sad story. If you could publish it in some major newspaper, perhaps you could get some big companies or billionaires to pay attention to the barbwire problem. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Jun 2022 at 9:37pm
Beauty isnt only skin deep.  Thumbs Up
animals before people.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VSP. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2022 at 1:10pm
Amazing story, and so good that the Judges saw past the acquired scars to the actual beautiful horse underneath. Time more judging was done that way across all disciplines.
The emotion from the owner was lovely, such a reward for all her dedication to the mare.
www.snowshoecats.webs.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2022 at 1:04pm
So pleased you lifted that to here VSP.   I didnt know how to find it, let alone lift it. But I saw it the other night.  Love, dedication, and a miracle . Clap
animals before people.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VSP. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2022 at 1:01am
www.snowshoecats.webs.com
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