Cheryl

In the runup to the May 7 elections in Britain, foxhunting and the Hunting Act that outlawed traditional hunting there in 2005 are once again subjects for polarized wrangling in the British media. While issues of greater import confront the nation as a whole, foxhunting remains a burning issue in rural areas. For many in those locales, their way of life was drastically altered by the nation’s voters, the majority (95%) of whom live in urban settings and were unaffected by the consequences of their vote. Although the ban was successfully pushed through by a vocal minority of animal rights activists and anti-toff sentiment, to the majority of urban dwellers, foxhunting is far down on their list of crucial issues and easy to quickly dismiss as frivolous. Once again, as he did in the runup to the last election, Prime Minister David Cameron declared last week that the countryside would not be forgotten. Cameron never fulfilled his initial campaign promise during the current session of Parliament because he and his pro-hunting supporters knew they didn’t have the votes to prevail. And once again, foes of hunting, noting the renewed rhetoric of the pro-hunting faction, have pledged through their sympathetic media channels that repeal will never happen. Click for more details in “WMN OPINION,” published by Western Morning News. Posted January, 12, 2015

The University of Arizona in Tuscon offers a course of study for aspiring race track industry executives and officials. The university’s Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) is the only Bachelor of Arts and Masters Degree program of its kind, specific to the pari-mutuel racing industry. RTIP students have two options to follow toward their degree—the Business Path or the Equine Management Path. The first prepares students for employment in the areas of race track management, regulation, and pari-mutuel racing organizations. The second prepares students for employment in areas dealing with racing and breeding. A recent graduate is foxhunter/race rider McLane Hendriks from Coatesville, Pennsylvania who rode in the Maryland Hunt Cup just last spring. Hendriks grew up foxhunting, competing in pony jumper shows, and pony racing. In 2007 he was awarded the Junior Steeplechase Rider of the Year title. Hendriks received his Bachelor of Science degree in December after completing his studies in the RTIP. Hendriks and his fellow students received specialized instruction in racing operations, marketing, and racing law. Industry speakers are engaged to give the students real-world insights. During the past summer, Hendriks worked as an intern for Georganne Hale, Director of Racing and Racing Secretary for the Maryland Jockey Club at Pimlico Racecourse. He gained hands-on experience taking entries and accompanying the paddock judge, placing judges, and race stewards. Through the RTIP, Hendriks also was also able to network with industry professionals at the university’s Global Symposium on Racing and Gaming. Held annually for attendees representing horse racing and greyhound racing world-wide, the symposium presents speakers and panel sessions discussing industry subjects and current trends, including simulcasting, account wagering, track surfaces, casino gaming, health issues, operations, technology, and regulation. RTIP students are involved as committee members in registration, publications, exhibits, and audio/visual services in this, what the university claims to be the world’s largest racing industry conference. According to the RTIP website, few other educational programs provide this kind of access and networking with high-level members from the industry that will ultimately employ its students. Posted January 10, 2015

The course of civilization was profoundly altered by the domestication of the horse on the steppes of Eurasia some 5,500 years ago. Merchants, soldiers, explorers, and adventurers of all stripes—newly empowered by the horse to gallop rather than walk—expanded trade, warfare, migration of populations, and the transmission of ideas. To understand the genetic changes wrought by the domestication process, researchers have long wanted to compare the genes of today’s horses to those of ancient wild horses. Since no descendants of the latter have survived, scientists until recently have studied the Przewalski’s horse, the closest extant breed to those ancient horses. Now, discovery of horses frozen in the Siberian permafrost dating from 16,000 up to 43,000 years ago has given scientists a direct window into the ancient horse and has offered new insights into the process of domestication. Ludovic Orlando of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and his team have examined DNA from twenty-nine of these ancient bones and compared it to DNA from five modern domesticated breeds. They discovered that some genes present in today’s horses are totally absent from the ancient horses. They opine that these genes are mutations that resulted from the selection processes over the years. One such gene not found in the ancient horse is what they have called the short-distance speed gene present in every racehorse. The very process of domestication—the selection by humans on attributes such as strength, speed, and biddability—has by its very nature led to inbreeding. Over the five millennia since domestication began, genetic mutations not present in the ancient horses have introduced problems in the modern horse unknown to its wild ancestors. Some scientists not involved in this study believe that comparison of modern horse DNA to wild horse DNA from around the time that domestication started (about 5,500 years ago) would be a better baseline from which to understand the genetic changes caused by domestication. Click to see Sharon Begley’s Reuters article in the Christian Science Monitor and the accompanying video. Posted December 17, 2014

NYCLASS, a group that has lobbied intensively to ban horse drawn carriages from the streets of New York City, has agreed to pay a fine for violating campaign finance rules. The group has admitted to making illegal contributions last year to two City Council candidates, both of whom were elected. Earlier this year, the Daily News disclosed that a political consultant for NYCLASS threatened to undermine Christine Quinn’s mayoral campaign if she didn’t back the carriage horse ban. In April, 2013, Quinn, who was leading her opponent—the now Mayor de Blasio—in the polls at the time, refused to back the ban. NYCLASS responded by contributing more than $400,000 to a PAC formed by NYCLASS’s political consultant to carry out the “Anybody But Quinn” campaign. Records also show that two of de Blasio’s top financial supporters gave $225,000 to NYCLASS. With Mayor de Blasio now having sent proposed legislation to ban the carriages to the New York City Council, that body—which includes the two successful candidates who received illegal funds from NYCLASS—will be deciding on the fate of the horse carriages and their drivers. De Blasio said on Tuesday that he intends to personally lobby City Council members to pass the ban. Dirty business, all under the syrupy guise of “Free the Horses; Stop the Abuse.” Posted December 12, 2014

NYC Mayor de Blasio hasn’t forgotten his promise to ban horse drawn carriages from the streets of New York City. He has waited a full year since his election, but now, according to NYPost.com, de Blasio plans to introduce the legislation into the City Council early in December. He proposes to offset the loss of jobs to the carriage drivers by giving them a year to find other employment and by offering them free permits (worth $6,000 each) to operate green cabs. “If they offered me a green cab medallion I wouldn’t take it,” said one carriage driver. He was perhaps speaking as a man who has chosen to work with horses—a personal and emotional decision the mayor (and many others) may not comprehend. The operating rationale for the mayor’s decision to ban the carriages is that it’s cruel to make the horses work, and it’s a danger on crowded city streets. A hard look, however, suggests that’s a sanitized excuse for a developer-driven decision to convert the stables to higher income use. The issue has been in the news for the past year, and it’s not clear that the mayor has a majority backing for his position among the population—it having been shown that the horses are exceedingly well cared for and given adequate rest. Click for Talma Palmeri’s complete article. Posted December 1, 2014 LatestThe Wall Street Journal is conducting a poll on the horse carriage question. As of this morning, with more than 15,000 votes tallied, those in favor of the carriages remaining on the NYC streets are at 56%, while those in favor of the ban are at 42%. Click to vote. Updated December 5, 2014

Peter J. Reilly, writing in Forbes, tells of a recent tax court case won by a taxpayer claiming horse business losses, despite the taxpayer’s failure to satisfy all the classic IRS tests. The taxpayer was a successful businessman whose annual salary averaged around one million dollars from his concrete business. He suffered losses, however, from his other business—owning and racing Thoroughbreds—from which he obviously derived much pleasure. He passed some of the IRS tests, but was weak in others. However, he worked very closely with his trainer, and it was that relationship upon which the case turned. The IRS questioned, with good reason, the intensity of the taxpayer’s profit motive. However, because the taxpayer worked so closely with his trainer, the court decided that the two were essentially embarked on a joint venture, and that the trainer certainly had a strong profit motive, in that training and racing Thoroughbreds was his primary business. The court concluded that the taxpayers motive was, therefore, the same. Click to read the complete article. Posted November 22, 2014