A CEO, Hunting the elusive Green Sparkly Hat, the Screwed Up Dryer, and of course our Fugly Friday Stallion.

To the three of you that read this blog regularly I apologize for the lack of posts this week. This week has been non stop from beginning to end, and it is finally today I get the chance to sit and breathe for once. 


Started off with news at the retail store I am employed with that "THE" CEO of the entire company was supposedly coming to town for a series of meetings with his local suits. I cannot mention the name of the company as I have actually been required to sign a contract with this corporation stating I will not talk about, blog about or mention the company in any correspondence I create. (and since this blog gets posted to Facebook to my personal profile where I'm friends with a few co-workers...the name of the company shall remain a mystery.) 


At any rate, the news coming in last week Wed or Thursday-ish that CEO would be visiting over the weekend sent the entire management team into a fine tizzy. From Friday to Tuesday, every single person in the store was scheduled to work straight through. The store was shined, dusted, polished, till it was shiny - and re-stocked to bursting - all in preparation for this visit. 


The guy never showed up. 


Of Course. 


So, Tuesday, we were all able to breathe a sigh of relief when we had heard that he had flown back home. I was working in the morning, and had left the store to go run some errands, as the next day was St. Patty's Day. 


I don't celebrate the holiday, I certainly don't go hunting for green alcohol (aside from a twice yearly purchase of Midori for myself), yet my kids wanted a few fun things to take/wear to school. It is extremely difficult to find green sparkly bowler type hats the night before - I went to 5 different stores that night looking for one! I gave up at 9 pm when I was in a Target and had literally walked around the entire store at least 5 times. I gave up for the night, as I didn't have to work early the next day, and had promised that I would continue the search the next day.


After 2 more stores - AHA! - I found it! Picked up some cheap shamrocky things for the kids to play with, and mission accomplished. Its a good feeling when, as a parent, the little things that elude you get knocked aside with gusto. It was just a $2.00 cheap plastic hat, but It sure made my sons day! 


Got back home, and back to the mundane life of a mom consisting of laundry, laundry, and oh, did I mention laundry? First up though was assisting my hubby with the repair of 2 computers dropped off by a neighbor. Ancient, broken, and Not. Worth. Fixing. However the owner has promised a payment of $60 very badly needed bucks for their repair...so we make a fair attempt. We set them up outside on our covered porch, using our washer and dryer as the work table. Hubby is disabled with several herniated spinal disks, and bending over is not a great thing for him to do. The washer/dryer make a great worktable with their hight. As it turns out, we can't get either one running due to some broken internal parts, so he goes inside to call the neighbor with the news and further instructions, and I start cleaning up the mess. Screwdrivers, screws, and other miscellaneous tools are scattered everywhere. 


While we were investigating the broken computers, I was actually doing laundry. In the middle of picking up all of the tools, the washer stops, and I transfer the contents into the dryer. Without thinking about what I was doing, I pull the lint trap up out of the top of the dryer, as I *always* do. 


The end of the foot long wire mesh sleeve flings itself out of the hole it lives in, smacks the round handled end of my husbands best magnetic screwdriver and sends the screwdriver phillips head first downward into the lint trap depths. 


This series of unfortunate events happened within literally milliseconds. 


I stood and watched as the end of the screwdriver dissppeared into the lint trap hole, and just stared, thinking, "UM, did THAT JUST REALLY HAPPEN? Oh, s*it. " (Insert series of creatively strung together words that would make my mother smack me till I was backwards.)


The rest of my afternoon was spent covered in lint, dust, and cobwebs with Hubby and his Bad Back doing our best to figure out where the hell the screwdriver WENT inside the back of the dryer. Of course said dryer will not work anymore. Clothes I had just put into said non-functioning dryer were my work clothes, needed that very evening when I went into work for a few hours to help close the store. 


Needless to say, I was Screwed. The dryer got Screwed. Somewhere in the midst of trying to take the back metal panels off of the dryer the joke got made "Well, at least we know where the name 'Screwdryer' came from." Yes it was as bad in person as it is repeated here. 


The tool ended up getting wedged down inside the small plastic fan blades that filter the lint out of the lint hole down into the aluminum hose. We ended up with that dryer upside-down, sideways, backwards, and all sorts of directions that a dryer should not face. We picked it up and let it drop on the concrete trying to get the damn tool loose. We could feel it... but could not un-jam it. Wasn't this supposed to be the LUCKIEST day of the year? 


Eventually we gave up for the night, set the mangled appliance back to rights, and I did the one thing I swore I'd never ever do again.... Called on my ex-husband to help. See, he had his old washer/dryer set sitting in his garage doing nothing. A $50 deal for both was made, and arrangements were made for him to drop them off. Originally it was supposed to be that same day, however a call in to work revealed only 4 people closing the store for the night, and calling out would cause major troubles on my end of things. So, calling out was out of the question. The appliances (and my still wet clothes) would have to wait another day. I dug some dirty clothes out of the pile for work, and headed out for my shift.


Next day, after one Very. Long. Day at work and some minor confusion over who was picking up the kids from school - him or me - they were retrieved from the school by yours truly and I met my ex at home with the 'new' w/d in the bed of his truck. 


Ahh, at last, a fully functioning dryer again! Yes! My now stinky clothes got rewashed, and finally dryed. Another load was completed successfully... then tragedy ... again. The new dryer makes a funny dead beeping sound when asked to start. Ex has no clue why its making the noise, it worked fine for him for 3 years. 


*Sigh*. Of Course. 


P.S. - thanks to hubbys step-brother, we located another dryer to be dropped off sometime in the next several days. We'll see how that one works out!


AND NOW... Without further ado... 


The Second Friday Featured Fugly Stallion!


Gotta love the south sometimes - this lovely breeding specimen comes from Atlanta, Ga.  








Ad Text: 1987 AQHA Stud horse for sale or trade. Sire: Redigo Priest Grandsire: Little Dick Priest Dam: Miss Poco Ted 
Have owned this horse since 6 mos. old. Never broke or ridden but will stand for farrier and vet. Presently have a mare in foal that is due May 4 and this horse is the sire. Need to sell/trade him b4 my other mare "really" comes in season hot and heavy! Plus, I've been told that once the pregnant mare foals, she'll be ready and willing to be bred again. Don't need another baby! Justin is a good boy, but hate to see him "tortured" being around these mares. He lost a good bit of weight a few months ago but I have managed to put weight back on him. He would be an excellent addition to any breeding program. Please take a look at him and if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me. 

*SLAM head 2 desk*

OmG. There are so many things wrong with this ad... the first literally SCREAMING out "WHY DID YOU NOT GELD HIM?!?" Why is he still a stallion?

You don't want your mares bred, fine I get that. You don't want him "tortured" - many stallions live with mares their entire lives and suffer nothing from it. Whats even scarier is the statement about him loosing weight for 'no reason'. If the owner had really owned this horse nearly their entire life, then they  should have a pretty darn idea what his eating habits are... unless they WEREN'T FEEDING HIM. Of course without any way to contact the seller other than email, no website, no link to other sale ads... there's very little way to tell.

As for the stallion himself, he's a prime gelding candidate out of no-name parents that probably haven't done anything either but make more of themselves. And judging from the looks of this guy, they should never have been bred either. I have a real strong suspicion that this poor guy did something to scare the bejesus out of his owner as a baby, and they threw him into the back pasture and just left him there. Now that he's probably gotten out of the pasture a few times, obviously bred a mare, they are even more scared of him. That would sure explain the lack of care he shows, not ever being broke, or simply FED!

I hope someone saved this guy and gave him a proper home without his unneeded boy bits. 

Have a good weekend everyone! Next week back to our regularly scheduled 5 posts. 

Wait, WHO is this horse registered with?

I read a lot of ads daily. So many that sometimes I actually don't read the ad fully, just skim it for possible blog fodder. However, I came across this one a week or so ago, and have had it waiting in the background for a day like today where my 'to-do' list is a mile long, and only have a limited time to get things accomplished. 


The text is rather innocent, nothing much stands out horribly... except one thing. 





Ad Text: Eleven year old gaited pant gelding, He is registered (PGHR). Spanish mustang/Missouri fox trot mix.

High spirited and fast. needs some one who will ride often and is experienced!
Loves a 20-50 mile ride, thunder lightning dogs traffic no problem. Loads &
stands for farrier. This is an all out endurance horse with a short back stands at 15 one, more sure footed than a mule!!! This horse wants to go. He has a recent coggins test. Teeth floated one month ago. Feet are perfect. No injuries ever this is a solid animal!!!! Needs some one with more time than I have.

Sounds like a decent horse - once you overlook the fact that the horse is more MUTT than horse... a Mustang / Trotter cross? To me that sounds like the neighbors half broke mustang stud managed to get out and "oops" breed a Trotter mare... and then the owners of the Trotter mare didn't ovbiously WANT the mixed foal... cause really, who would BREED that combination? Theres NOTHING about either of those breeds that scream "cross me" with the other. Nothing. 

Yea, and looking at the picture of the poor unfortunate unwanted baby all grown up.... he's um... special? Not what I'd certainly call magazine cover material here. Head is just huge, the neck just looks weird, though it may be the way he's colored, and what the hell is up with his withers? Either he's wayyy swaybacked at 11 (wayy too young for that)?  OR... yea. Special. At least his legs look pretty solid. For an endurance horse, thats important. Looks, not so much, thankfully.

So we have our ooops foal, he grows up (at least someone had the brains to geld the beast), and he made a living for a while as a decent endurance horse. This is good, because endurance horses really don't have to be purebred, and it gives these types of 'mutt' horses a decent job. Which it sure looks like he does, judging by the giant saddle sweat mark on the picture. Just. Lovely. (At least we know he takes a saddle!)

Which is wonderful. But thats not ALL the ad said... "He is registered (PGHR)." 

HUH? 

What is the PGHR?

Sooo.... google being our friend, turns out the PGHR, (oh, yea, you know its coming...) is its own registry! The Painted Gaited Horse Registry!

O. M. G. 

"The Painted Gaited Horse Registry’s purpose is two fold. One, to promote this beautiful and unique horse and secondly, to provide an affordable Certificate of Registration depicting a Horse of Quality, Beauty, and Smoothness of Gait that the owner can be proud to own."
Um, yea - don't the NORMAL gaited horse registries do the same thing? We have to have another?

"The Painted Gaited Horse Registry (PGHR) was formed by a group of Gaited horse enthusiasts that liked a lot of color.  Many felt alienated by the existing Registries and Associations.  They wanted a Registry that would welcome any Gaited horse of unusual markings or color other than the typical solid horse and that all Gaited breeds be accepted equally with no preference given to any one gait, color or markings."

Seriously?!? I worked with Paso Fino horses for nearly 6 years. "Purebreds" that were showed at some of the highest levels in the breed shows, both state and national, and who won some pretty heavy breed titles even! Their registry allows pretty much any color - including pinto colored horses. As does Fox Trotters, Walkers, and nearly ALL the others. The one off the top of my head that I can think of that doesn't already allow pinto type markings is Peruvian Pasos - and I'm not even 100% sure that they don't. I can't really ever remember ever seeing a pinto Peruvian Paso - but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Saying you feel alienated because you can't register your horse thats allowed to be registered is nonsense. 

Even in the all gaited breed shows, its only in the fun type classes that the different breeds compete against each other. The gaits are simply too different to try to judge as one class, unless its a best of breed type class where each horse is STILL judged against the standards of their breed and judged as to which horse represents their breed the best. 

This also irks me because once again, we have 'color breeders' trying to distance or separate themselves from 'regular breeders' who don't focus just on color alone. There is nothing anywhere that proves a solid color horse is better or worse performance wise than a colored horse. This is a ridiculous notion.

"The name Painted Gaited Horse Registry (PGHR) was chosen to depict a unique horse since you will never see two Painted Gaited Horses exactly alike.  There are Paints, Spots, Walking Horses, Racking Horses, Foxtrotters, etc. and the Painted Gaited Horse can be a combination of any or all of these."

Why oh Why is it ok to breed a fugly horse that no one wants cause its "COLORED"? You bet you'll never see two horses alike ever! So why do we have to specify that you'll never see any two painted horses alike? All these "breeders" are doing here is giving themselves an excuse to breed fugly unwanted mutt breed horses and feel 'good' about what they are doing. By slapping this "PGHR" label on their horses they think the horse will be valued more. Well sorry, that just isn't gonna happen. 

Seriously - if they are allowing horses that look like the gelding above to stay stallions for 'the studbook' and 'foundation stock'... OMG OMG OMG! And its not like we don't already have an overpopulation of unwanted horses to begin with that have been registered with half way decent organizations such as Paint, Jockey Club, and AQHA!!!

"Our Registry is very cost conscious,  computerized and with the aid of the Web, able to reach horse lovers all over the world with fast and efficient service.  Upon Registration, the horse owner will receive a professionally printed Certificate of Registration that he or she can be proud to own and display."
OOO goody! They figured out how to use technology! WOW. Sooo impressed here! Its not like any idiot with photoshop and 3 brain cells can figure out how to make a certificate of registration. Pay someone $500 bucks or so that has some computer graphics training and you can get a pretty logo too! The real kicker... the website is  hosted by tripod...its a free site, which is fine... but not the most professional way to go. 

The website - nope sorry... its just webPAGE - just gets more annoying from there... thats just the first few paragraphs off their home page. The webpage is just that... there are no breeder lists, no pictures of registered horses, nothing but the one page, and the forms to download and send in your $20! They put those up there just fine! 

Oh here you all go... the gem of the website... their REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS. This entire paragraph is it. 

"The horse must show evidence of being Painted and Gaited. The ideal horse possesses a smooth ride with unique markings. The term Painted refers to any unusual markings that can be distinguished from the typical solid colored horse. Such as markings above the knee or hock, extended facial markings, or exhibiting contrasting colors on the tail or skin. The application must be accompanied by 4 color photos, one of each side, one front, and one back. Good photos are important since one of these photos will be used on the Registration Certificate.

The term Gaited refers to a horse that exhibits a gait other than a standard Trot. The application must also be accompanied by a short video to pass inspection for Gaited along with the appropriate fee.

The Registration fee is $20.00.

Due to numerous requests and deliberate consideration we now provide 3 Classes for Registration.

1. Painted and Gaited Class - Must show evidence of being Painted and Gaited.  Must provide pictures and a short video for gait or may submit a signed video waiver form in place of the video  along with the application.
2. Painted Class - Must show evidence of being Painted.  Must provide pictures along with the application.
3. Gaited Class - Must show evidence of being Gaited.  Must provide pictures and a short video for gait or may submit a signed video waiver form in place of the video along with the application.
We use the same application for all 3 classes."
Oh yes, cause conformation requirements don't matter, the way the horse moves doesn't matter (cause there is a right and wrong way for most of these horses to move), heck THE HORSE ITSELF DOESN'T MATTER. As long as its "Gaited and Painted" they'll take it! And the horses they take in now, simply because its a NEW registry, will become 'foundation stock', and breed more f'ked up cross bred, fugly ass horses that can't decide whether to  corto or foxtrot... heck some might corto in front and foxtrot in back. Wouldn't THAT be something to see? 


Yet its the arrogance of groups of 'breeders' like this that is behind something like this. You get a bunch of people that simply want to make up their own rules, create their own shows/awards, just so that parrot mouthed Betsy in the back pasture that's got spots and a front end that looks like a bulldog can become a "World Champion Breeding Mare!"


Time to go throw up now.