The Secrets Behind Horse Training

     These days, animal abuse has become an important social topic. When you think of animal abuse you usually think of an animal suffering from malnutrition. But have you ever thought about the kind of abuse animals go through in training? Animals getting abused in training is especially common in the equine industry. These days, horse trainers will do anything to win. Charlie Cole, a multiple world-champion Quarter Horse trainer says, "There definitely are trainers whose philosophy is to win at any costs" (Meyer 2014). These abuses vary by different breeds of horses, and the methods and tack being used, but some examples include: using drugs to enhance performance or reduce the pain inflicted, messing with the nerves and muscles around a horses tail to raise it higher or not be able to move the tail during a performance at all, hitting horses using whips or bats to perform certain tasks, spurring excessively causing gashes in the stomach and draining the blood from horse's heads before a performance (Les Sellnow 2004).  Christine Little states, "I believe there was a time that the horses were forgotten about and it suddenly became a competition to see who the best trainer was, who could create the best ‘robot’ so to speak" (Grice 2016).

     All horse breeds differ in skills and importance, but all trainers are the same. All they want is the winning money and reputation in the horse community. In Jennifer Meyer's article, Horse Training or Abuse she states, "Modern trends in certain events can create training challenges. The specialized nature of today's events requires exceptional horses and when a horse without natural talent for a particular event is pointed in that direction anyway, the risk of abuse rises" (Meyer 2014).

Different events and the abusive training tactics-

• Western Pleasure- Horses carry their heads extremely low and travel in shuffling, almost stumbling gaits. To get the horse to carry their head low some trainers will tie their horses head up for hours, so when they go into the show ring they lower their head to the ground to get the blood back into their brain. Western trainers have also been know to 'deaden tails'. Gary Griffith says, "perpetrators just cut through muscles and nerves so the horse is unable to lift or switch its tail. When that practice was outlawed, the perpetrators simply switched to blocking nerves and muscles with drugs. The result was the same: The horse couldn't make use of his tail in a normal fashion. Some horses had their entire tails slough off because of misuse of this practice" (Sellnow 2004).  

  

  Western Pleasure Horse

• Jumping-  Some trainers of jumping horses use a pole to whack a horse on the front cannon bones as he rises to a jump. This tells the horse he must jump higher to avoid the pain of being struck.
• Arabian Showing- They use substances, like ginger, and insert it into the horse's rectum so that the horse will hold its tail even higher than they normally do.  
• Tennessee Walking Horses- Horse show judges in this event value the exaggerated gait, called the 'big lick.' Although Tennessee Walking horses already have a high-stepping gait, trainers use a process called 'soring'. Chemicals and other irritants-blistering agents like mustard oil, diesel fuel and kerosene- are placed on a horse's ankles and forelegs which cause it to lift its front feet and shift its weight unnaturally to the hind legs in order to relieve the pain. Eventually the horse will be in so much pain that it will refuse to stand up (Gast 2012). More information on this is in, this video.  

  

  Tennessee Walking Horse with the 'big lick' gait.

• Racing- Horses begin training and racing at two years old, while their skeletal systems are still growing and are unprepared to handle the pressures of competition racing on a hard track at high speeds. A study done by PETA  concluded that, "one horse in every 22 races suffered an injury that prevented him or her from finishing a race, while another study estimated that three thoroughbreds die every day in North America because of catastrophic injuries sustained during races." Some jockeys use a device to shock their horses to get them to go faster. The horses also race on drugs and unhealthy bone conditions. Cruel racing clips are shown in, this video.  
• Use of inhumane equipment including: Saw-tooth bits and hock hobbles 

  

  Saw Tooth Bit- cuts a horses tongue.

      Horses, in fact, are very sensitive to physical contact of all kinds, and respond quickly to physical discipline and reward. Horses also have a surprisingly good memory, and studies have proven that horses remember people who treat them well and people who treat them badly. Because of this, horses are almost as vulnerable to trauma as humans are (Horse Training 2016). Owner of two-time American Quarter Horse Super Horse Rugged Lark, Carol Harris states, "This is a living, breathing creature, with feelings. If you treat him well, he'll pay you back in spades in the long run. This doesn't mean you can't ever 'get after' a horse. But it must be done with timing, skill, and moderation. And, afterward, you don't keep threatening--you give the horse a chance to be good" (Meyer 2014).

 

Sources:

A Win at Any Cost

Horse Training or Abuse?

PETA: Abuse of Yearlings and 2-Year-Olds in Training

CNN: Tennessee Walking Horses

The Ugly Truth About Horse Racing

Horse Training - When Is Discipline Abuse?

Being Deaf/Hard of Hearing Should Not be Classified as a Disability

     In the American society we tend to see deafness as a disability. According to Webster's dictionary, the definition of disabled means, "a condition (such as an illness or an injury) that damages or limits a person's physical or mental abilities." Going off this definition, being deaf or hard of hearing should not be classified as a disability, because it does not limit one's physical or mental abilities. Beethoven composed some off the greatest music in history, Helen Keller was a humanitarian who inspired blind and deaf people all over the world, and Kathy Buckley is a comedian and inspirational speaker all over the world. So what do all these people have in common you ask? They, along with many others, did not let their loss of hearing limit or get in the way of the things they love to do. So, even though Beethoven composed some of the greatest music would you still classify him as disabled? 

      I have had four surgeries to remove a Cholesteatoma, which has left me with 27% hearing in my left ear as a result. Most people would consider this a hearing disability, but I have done just as well in school and in all my extracurricular activities as all my peers. So, being hard of hearing myself, I know that not being able to hear is more of a culture/unique community rather than a disability, and in my opinion, people who are hard of hearing share a special connection. The deaf culture places emphasis on physical contact; hugging is far more common than shaking hands (especially when parting), good-byes are drawn out, and not taking time to chat for a few minutes when passing someone is considered rude (Carla Halpern 1996). As Helen Keller once stated, "Blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people." To me, Keller is say their are different worlds separating people who can hear with those who can't. In one world people are talking with visual language and theater and in the other people are talking with verbal language and humor. So, which ever language you speak, it shouldn't determine your capability to be 'normal' because we are all human and it doesn't matter how we interact and take in the world around us.  

Sources:
Listening in on Deaf Culture
Reema Patel: Growing up deaf in a hearing world
My own experiences

The Effects on Child Soldiers After a War

     Using children in war has been reported in many countries around the world. Despite international bans, more than 250,000 children fight as soldiers in 86 countries across the globe, almost half of them in Africa (Global Report on Child Soldiers 2001). Children, as young as seven, go through unimaginable violence and horror: killing parents and siblings, assaulting neighbors, and torching the villages they once called home. Some are forced to serve as sex slaves, while many are injected with drugs to suppress their restraints against committing violence. Nobody, especially children should have to go through that. Human brains are not fully developed until the age of twenty five. So, if children are having to commit such serious crimes at the mere ages of seven, what is this doing to their brain chemistry?



 

     Studies have shown that children are vulnerable during their impressionable period, causing permanent scarring of their developing personality when effected by the violence in wars. Researchers have found that all of the child soldiers were exposed to high levels of violence, such as massacres or village raids. More than a third of the girls reported having been raped, and almost a quarter of both girls and boys reported having injured or killed someone. Children who reported surviving rape or reported hurting or killing others showed higher levels of hostility over time compared to those who didn't experience these types of trauma. This suggests that being exposed to these types of war traumas are highly toxic to a child's psychological and social development. Harvard's child health and human rights professor, Theresa Betancourt states, "Witnessing general war violence, although very common, didn't have a strong effect on the children's psychological and social adjustment over time, in contrast, the effects of experiencing rape and wounding or killing others were longer lasting" (Studies Explore Effects 2010).

     Female child soldiers in Uganda, Sierra Leone and Congo were frequently used as sex slaves and they were repetitively raped by the adult fighters (Somasundaram & Jayatunge 2016). Because of this girls are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, compared to boys. Some return to their communities having had unwanted pregnancies during the war, and at home, they face guilt and are blamed for being 'impure' regardless of how they were treated in the war (Betancourt 2011).

     Most soldiers, more commonly children, who go to war and come back experience different levels of separation anxiety, depression and/or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A study that followed 150 former child soldiers from Sierra Leone, found that the age at which children started fighting played a huge role in how depressed they were; the younger, the more severe their depression was. For aggressive behavior, however long and the severity of their war experience was what created more aggressive behavior (Mental Health 2010). Children who suffer from PTSD have, chronic suicidal thoughts, self-injury and explosive anger, dissociative episodes (which in African countries can be in the form of trance or possession states), somatization, memory disturbances, sense of helplessness and hopelessness, isolation and withdrawal, poor relationships, distrust and loss of faith. Because of PTSD many children avoid places and conversations related to experiences from their past. Some children will avoid their native villages all together due to the shame and guilt they feel from the war (Somasundaram & Jayatunge 2016).

     Almost every time, child soldiers have difficulty with their community relationships after their release from the war due to the guilt they feel, but  researchers have found that former child soldiers from Sierra Leone who live in communities in which they feel accepted are less depressed and more confident, and children who are able to stay in school show a positive attitude and behavior (Studies Explore Effects 2010).


Sources:
Science Daily: Studies explore effects of war on former child soldiers
Psychosocial problems of child soldiers
Studies explore effects of war on former child soldiers
Life after death: Helping former child soldiers become whole again
Mental Health and Life After War for Child Soldiers

Men's Volleyball Should be a High School and College Sport in all States

      The game of volleyball, originally called “mintonette,” was invented by William G. Morgan in 1895. Morgan, designed the game to be a combination of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball. Today, more than 46 million Americans play volleyball (History of Volleyball). In the United States, there is girls' volleyball teams for college and high school level of playing in every single state, but there is only 21 states that provide men's volleyball teams for the high school and college level. In 2010 NCAA stated, "There is only 23 Division I schools and 90 schools overall with men's volleyball programs, and there are 319 Division I schools and 1,025 overall with women's programs" (Jones 2011). The Olympics have men and women's indoor and outdoor volleyball, so why do most of the colleges and high schools in the United States only have women's volleyball and not have men's volleyball as well? In order to get to an Olympic level of playing in any sport you have to learn how to play at a lower level of competition first. So, I believe high school and college should provide a volleyball team for both sexes in all states.

      Volleyball is one of the most popular girls' sports, and throughout the country, their are strong high school and club teams to support girl's playing in the sport. According to a 2012 survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations (N.F.H.S.), "Volleyball is the third highest sport for female participation at the high school level behind basketball and outdoor track and field." The N.F.H.S. also stated, "For every boy currently competing in high school volleyball, more than eight girls are involved"(Volleyball United States 2016). I believe that if boys had the opportunity to participate in volleyball on a high school team this 8 to 1 ratio might change to about 8 girls involved to 5 boys who are involved. The states that do sanction volleyball for both sexes typically have considerably fewer schools sponsoring the boys' game and in turn, fewer participants. According to NCAA, "Scholarship opportunities are more limited for men. In Division I, men's teams get the equivalent of 4.5 scholarships, which can be divided among five or more team members if needed, while division I women's volleyball is considered a 'head count' sport, and each team can award as many as 12 full scholarships, but only one per athlete" (Jones 2011). Men should be rewarded the same amount of scholarships as women are offered. We live in the age of 'gender equality' now right?

     Men's volleyball should be a high school and college sport in all states so boys can be provided with the same opportunities and scholarships as women. Men should be able to compete and learn the game without having to move to a different state who does provide volleyball. A former Penn State player and a player on the USA volleyball team, Will Price states, "I just think that if a young player got a taste of what real men's volleyball is like, they'll realize it's not backyard barbecue volleyball. It's a completely different sport than what a lot of people imagine — it's fast, dynamic, and explosive"(Jones 2011). I agree with Price, everyone should get the chance to play volleyball, and it doesn't matter what gender you are.  

The 21 States that provide men's volleyball:

• Alabama                  
• Arizona                                           
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Missouri
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York                                             
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania                                     
• Rhode Island
• Texas
• Virginia

Sources:
States that have men's volleyball
Volleyball in the United States
History of Volleyball
USA Today: Men's Volleyball Article

The Victims of the Horse Racing Industry

      Every year thousands of horses are born around the world. Many are unwanted and eventually killed, neglected, or abused. The biggest culprit to the overpopulation, and in turn 'unwanted neglected horses' is the thoroughbred horse racing industry. The industry breeds their horses until they have a 'cash winner', and then they run that horse until it is basically broken where they then use the horse for breeding until it's blood line can no longer produce winners. According to a study published in the Journal of Animal Science in December 2010, "More than 100,000 unwanted horses are born in the United States per year. ...Despite this, the racing industry continues to churn out nearly 30,000 thoroughbred foals each year" (Masahiro Satoh, Volume 81, Issue 6). In other words, one third of the 'unwanted' horses born every year is due to the horse racing industry.
 
      For decades, the thoroughbred industry has used a sickening breeding method that only recently has been brought forth. This is how the breeding works: Prized thoroughbred mares are pushed to their biological limits when they are forced to reproduce once a year in order to create as many potential racehorse champions as possible. A horses gestation period is about 11-12 months, meaning breeders have the mares re-impregnated right after giving birth to maximize the productivity, which stops them from nursing their own babies. The newborns are taken away from their mothers within days of delivery, and nursed by surrogate mothers (of 'inferior' breeds such as quarter horses or thoroughbreds with a less desirable pedigree) who have just given birth to their own baby. The babies of these surrogate mothers are know as nurse mare foals and they are often referred as "junk," and "the unwanted and forgotten by-products; simply waste for disposal," according to an article, "Milk of Death: the Dark side of the Nurse Mare Industry," written by Jane Allin. It's not ok that a greedy industry that is just in the business to make money is able to take these babies away from their mothers just after they are born so they can make room for the more 'valuable babies.'

      While separating thoroughbred babies from their mothers is tragic enough, most nurse mare foals face a worse fate than the race horse foals. Many foals (as young as a day old) are killed by clubbing or other means, some are starved to death and others are sold to industries for their hides also known as “pony skin”. Since it is illegal to send foals under six months to slaughter, they skin then to produce high-end leather products such as handbags and belts. Some of the lucky foals are rescued by horse advocacy groups, where they are bottled fed and cared for until they can be adopted.

      In his blog about the Nightmare of the Nurse Mare Foals, Mat Thomas states, "Rescuers nourish nurse mare foals by bottle-feeding them milk replacer, which could theoretically be used to feed thoroughbred foals as well, thus eliminating this exceedingly inhumane breeding practice altogether. There are two main reasons that they don't do this: formula is expensive, and horse breeders maintain that thoroughbreds need to drink real (albeit surrogate) mother's milk from the source to achieve peak athletic performance. Plus, the larger nurse mare farms (concentrated in New York, Kentucky and Tennessee) produce 50 to 100 foals a year, and it is more operationally efficient to make the surrogate mothers do all the work rather than paying human caretakers to feed the foals by hand." Although I accept that thoroughbred foals should be fed formula milk to stop the use of surrogate mothers and the overpopulation of horses, I still insist that the horse racing industry should not breed their horses every year. Race horse owners should stop seeing their horses as 'just a value of money' and see them as a living creature. If the industry keeps on breeding and racing horses the way they do the thoroughbred breed will have many, many health problems down the road.



Nursing Mother Foals

Thoroughbred foal and surrogate mother

Sources:
Horse Racing: Breeding by the Numbers
Milk of Death: The Dark Side the Nurse Mare Industry
BlogSpot: AnimalRighter
PETA: Excessive Breeding and Overpopulation

Why the 2016 Olympics Should Not be Held in Brazil

      Attending the Olympic Games is a huge tradition for almost all countries. The games make a cultural impact on any country who hosts them and brings big economy boosts for many businesses. But in the end they are just games. The Olympic games aren't something that must go on as scheduled in the face of a national health issue. The Zika virus is effecting many woman and children in the Brazilian culture, causing many babies to be born with brain damage and noticeably smaller heads, also known as Microcephaly. Postponing the games would let Brazil get the Zika virus under control -possibly clean up the water for the water events, and create a vaccine- rather than trying to run an Olympics and battle an epidemic at the same time. We should not risk the health of all the athletes, spectators and unborn children by going to Brazil for our own entertainment when we could have the games somewhere else in the world, or post-pone it all together.

      The first modern Olympics took place in Athens, Greece, in 1896, with a crowd of 60,000 people who welcomed 280 participants from 13 nations (Olympic 2016). About 500,000 people are expected to visit Brazil for the 2016 Olympics (Romero and Ruiz 2016). According to the World Health Organization, "Zika has spread to more than 20 nations and territories in the Western Hemisphere, illustrating how quickly the epidemic can expand, even without a big international gathering" (Romero and Ruiz 2016). Infectious disease specialists who are focused on the potential for Zika to be spread to the United States say, "As many as 200,000 Americans are expected to travel to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics in August. When they return to the Northern Hemisphere and its summer heat, far more mosquitoes will be around to potentially transmit the virus in the United States" (Romero and Ruiz 2016). If we know the virus can spread this fast why would we take the chance of people coming back from Brazil and spreading it over the United States?
     
     If we did proceed to have the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, The International Olympic Committee states,"...We are working with our partners in Rio on measures to deal with the pools of stagnant water around the Olympic venues, where the mosquitoes breed, to minimize the risk of visitors coming into contact with them. It is also important to note that the Rio 2016 Games will take place during the winter months of August and September, when the drier, cooler climate significantly reduces the presence of mosquitoes and therefore the risk of infection" (Caplan 2016).  Yet 'winter' temperatures in Brazil average between 73 to 81 degrees Fahrenheit and mosquitos live in temperatures no lower than 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so even if it is Brazil's 'drier, cooler season,' there is still a risk of mosquitos being around. Two-time Olympic gold medalist and a World Cup medalist for the U.S. women's soccer team Hope Solo said, "Even though she has no plans to become pregnant, she might not go to Brazil unless conditions related to Zika change. 'If I had to make the choice today, I wouldn’t go,' she told Sports Illustrated. 'I would never take the risk of having an unhealthy child.' Solo explained that women athletes have different considerations than men. 'Competing in the Olympics should be a safe environment for every athlete, male and female alike. Female athletes should not be forced to make a decision that could sacrifice the health of a child'" (Olympic Athletes 2016). Even if the Brazilian government assures us that sprays, insect repellants, and other measures will keep mosquitoes at bay we should not take the risk of infecting more women and children, and we should not make the women athletes have to choose if it is safe enough for them to participate in the Olympics Games.

Sources:
The New York Times
Olympic Athletes Concerned with Zika Virus
STAT Article: It's 'Senseless and Irresponsible' to not postpone the 2016 Rio Olympics
History- The Olympics

The Zika Virus

      The Zika virus has risen from a common virus to a world wide epidemic. The virus is now effecting women and children in the Brazilian culture. The virus was thought to have started fifty years ago in Africa, where it was then spread to Southeast Asia. It has now spread to South and Central America, where the epidemic has broken out in Brazil and Columbia.

      The Zika virus is typically transmitted by Aedes mosquitos, where one in five people infected will become ill. The illness is usually mild, lasting for several days to a week, with common

Aedes Mosquito

symptoms of a fever, rash, joint pain, muscle pain, headaches, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). In my opinion, these symptoms sound like a common cold and flu. So, how is the Zika virus considered an epidemic?  

      The epidemic was declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) in 2016, when new born babies in Brazil were born with Microcephaly. Pregnant women with the Zika virus cause Microcephaly within newborns. Scientists believe the virus can also be sexually transmitted according to Brazilian health officials, who discovered traces of the active virus in saliva and urine. W.H.O. says, "As many as four million people could be infected by the end of the year." According to the World Health Organization, Brazil saw on average, 163 cases of Microcephaly annually over the past five years prior to the Zika outbreak. After the Zika outbreak, public health officials in Brazil investigated more than 4,000 cases of suspected Microcephaly, and have confirmed more than 400 cases so far. Microcephaly is a birth defect where a baby's head is smaller than expected. Infants that are diagnosed with the condition often have smaller brains, and often suffer health problems such as: seizures, developmental delays, disability problems with movement and balance, as well as hearing and vision loss. In infants with severe cases, their lifespan can be months to as long as ten years.

     
      As of right now, there are no cures, or medications to prevent the Zika virus for at least a couple of years, Zika virus cure debate. Officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have urged pregnant women not to travel to about two dozen countries- mostly in the Caribbean and Latin American countries where the outbreak is growing- until they have found a vaccination for the virus. Hopefully, this epidemic will not affect the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.









Sources:
Daily Mail: Birth defects linked to Zika virus are 'more severe than simple microcephaly', expert warns
Area's with the Zika virus
The New York Times