horses
clock | December 3, 2007The other day, Kate wrote an interesting post about inter-species relationships, in particular the cases of inter-species adoption and parenting. In her post, she mentioned a paper that immediately drew my attention - Influence of various early human-foal interferences on subsequent human-foal relationship. by Henry S, Richard-Yris MA and Hausberger M. (Dev Psychobiol. 2006 Dec;48(8):712-8.).
In the paper, the newborn foals were either handled by humans (e.g., brought to the teat), or left completely alone with their mother, or just had humans standing by. Then, a few weeks later, they…
grrlscientist | November 17, 2007One of my readers, who shall remain anonymous, recently purchased the 2006 book, Chosen by a Horse, by Susan Richards, for me. I loved that book so much that I reviewed it on my blog (I usually only review new books, and almost all of the books that I review are sent to me by either the publisher's publicity agent or by the author, free of charge). Well, if you peek at the comments for that review, you will find that the author found my review and wrote a comment on it.
I used that opportunity to write back to her, and she responded. I learned that she has a new book coming out in June 2008…
grrlscientist | November 15, 2007tags: book review, Susan Richards, Chosen By a Horse
This wonderful book is the poignant memoir of a woman who rescues a maltreated horse, and discovers that this amazing horse ends up rescuing her. Chosen By a Horse: How a Broken Horse Fixed a Broken Heart by Susan Richards (NYC: Harvest; 2006) is the amusing and touching true story about the author's decision to take in a starved and abused standardbred broodmare that was part of a group of 42 racehorses rescued by the local SPCA. At first, Richards chose a horse from a list based on her name but then, when she and the animal control…
clock | September 28, 2007Yesterday, Chris Clarke wrote a post that I read three times so far, then finally submitted it myself for Reed's consideration for the anthology. Most science bloggers are excellent writers, but rare is the gift that Chris displays in many a post, of weaving many threads into a coherent story that is also gripping and exciting - even when he writes about stuff like respiratory physiology, something that usually puts students to sleep in the classroom. But add a dash of evolution, a cool movie, some dinosaurs, and a personal experience and suddenly the story comes alive for the reader.
This…
grrlscientist | August 28, 2007tags: zebras, Image of the Day
Two zebras merge in this image in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
Image: Bob Immitt.
grrlscientist | August 21, 2007tags: Patches, the world's coolest horse, streaming video
After watching this video, you'll come to the conclusion that there's nothing like a man and his horse. Not only does this horse enjoy going for rides in the car, but he also likes eating cheeseburgers, answering the phone, watching TV, sleeping in a bed and he will even fetch a beer from the refrigerator for his human [3:29]
grrlscientist | July 25, 2007tags: horses, blog carnivals
Surprisingly, this is the first time anything I've written has appeared in the Horse Lovers' Blog Carnival, so you should check it out!
grrlscientist | July 5, 2007tags: zorse, zebroid, zebra-horse hybrid, Eclyse
This equid with distinctive markings is a zorse -- the hybrid offspring of a female zebra and a male horse.
Eclyse (Ek LEE za) is the latest addition to the German safari park, Schloss Holte Stukenbrock. Eclyse is also special as zorses, or zebroids as they are also known, are typically the product of a horse mare that has bred with a zebra stallion. Her mother, on the other hand, was a zebra.
Image: Reuters [larger]
The creature pictured above is a one-year-old zorse -- a hybrid between a female Chapmann's zebra and a male horse, and what…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: Rags to Riches, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing
Rags to Riches (7), ridden by John Velazquez, won the 139th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York on Saturday, 9 June 2007. Curlin, ridden by Robby Albarado (background), finished second. Rags to Riches is the first filly to win the Belmont in 102 years since Tanya won in 1905.
Image: Jason DeCrow (AP Photo)
Rags to Riches, the bright chestnut-colored superfilly, beat six colts to win the Belmont Stakes today. Her winning time for the mile-and-a-half race was 2:28.74. The world and track record for this distance…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: Rags to Riches, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing
Rags to Riches working out.
Rags to Riches will be only the 22nd filly to ever attempt to win the Belmont Stakes, and the fifth since 1980.
Image: NYTimes
Often, when the first two races of the Triple Crown of Horse Racing have been split between different winners, the Belmont Stakes serves as a Derby/Preakness winner rematch. However, that will not be the case today, because the Derby winner, Street Sense, was not entered in the race. But there is an entrant who is just as interesting: a filly will run in this demanding…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2007tags: Secretariat, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing
Since the Belmont Stakes will be run soon today, I thought I'd show you a streaming video of the great Secretariat winning the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes in 1973, and smashing the old record. This particular race is probably one of the most famous ever seen.
clock | May 19, 2007The horses will be entering the starting stalls for this year's Preakness. Will Street Sense do it again? His Derby win was so impressive it seems impossible he can be beat, but this time the distance is different, the field is much smaller and everyone will be looking out for him. And he is starting from the outside stall, against the instincts of his jockey who loves to hog the rail. It will be exciting to watch...
clock | May 12, 2007Shackleford ponies are often in the media around here. Some love them, some hate them, some want to preserve them, some to exterminate them, and it is not easy to get all the surplus horses adopted each year. Perhaps the new findings of their Spanish origin (DNA will tell the tale of wild horses) will tilt the scales towards their preservation, especially on the island of Corolla.
Thanks to Bill for the heads-up.
clock | May 5, 2007Street Sense won the Derby in style. He hung back in 19th place (out of 20 horses) for most of the race. About 3/4 miles before the end, jockey Borel switched to a new gear and stepped on the gas. He passed all but the last two horses by riding on the rail - all the other horses (and it was horses, not jockeys) just moved away from him as he passed them one by one. That was so fast, all the other horses looked like Clydesdales in comparison. Not wanting to gamble any more, Borel decided to pass the last two on the outside and won so easily he started celebrating a hundred yards before…
grrlscientist | May 5, 2007tags: horse racing, humor, streaming video
I couldn't help it, but in honor of the Queen attending today's Kentucky Derby, I had to post this streaming video of the Queen Victoria Handicap.
Yes, I know the Derby isn't a steeplechase, but this was the best I could do with what I had available to me.
clock | May 4, 2007..and not just debates and C-span in an election year. I am unlikely to miss the three legs of the Triple Crown in any given year. Tomorrow at 6pm ET is the Kentucky Derby and I'll be watching!
grrlscientist | April 21, 2007I love my parrot companions, but I have to admit that this horse that thinks he's human makes a superb companion, especially because parrots will not get me a beer -- how much more fun can one possibly have?
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tags: streaming video, horses, pets
clock | February 7, 2007Just got this exciting news by e-mail:
Data on Equine Genome Freely Available to Researchers Worldwide
BETHESDA, Md., Wed., Feb. 7, 2007 - The first draft of the horse genome sequence has been deposited in public databases and is freely available for use by biomedical and veterinary researchers around the globe, leaders of the international Horse Genome Sequencing Project announced today.
The $15 million effort to sequence the approximately 2.7 billion DNA base pairs in the genome of the horse (Equus caballus) was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one…
grrlscientist | January 29, 2007tags: Barbaro, horse racing, thoroughbreds, horses, leg injuries
Goodbye Barbaro, thanks for the memories.
Image source.
Tragic news, everyone: The gallant racehorse, Barbaro, was euthanized today.
I have always had a love/hate relationship with horseracing. I love working with thoroughbreds and I love it when they run. I even worked at a race track for one summer as a groom and exercise girl when I was a teenager. It was bliss. But underneath the joy there lurks a terrible danger, and nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever prepare you for something as tragic as the sudden loss of a…
clock | August 4, 2006We have recently covered interesting reproductive adaptations in mammals, birds, insects, flatworms, plants and protists. For the time being (until I lose inspiration) I'll try to leave cephalopod sex to the experts and the pretty flower sex to the chimp crew.
In the meantime, I want to cover another Kingdom - the mysterious world of Fungi. And what follows is not just a cute example of a wonderfully evolved reproductive strategy, and not just a way to couple together my two passions - clocks and sex - but also (at the very end), an opportunity to post some of my own hypotheses online.…