All the Creatures

On several of the horse message boards that I frequent, a new, as yet not developed, website was being discussed. The domain is ratemyhorsepro.com  At first glance it looks like many of the dozen or so websites that have popped up over the years to let people rant over the bad and good horse trainers, sellers and breeders. I thought that both the Fugly Blog and Horse Trainers from Hell had the horse industry pretty well covered when it came to the scum of the horse industry but I could be wrong.

I did a bit of digging around about this new website and found out on the COTH message board that a Debbie Hanson has the website in her signature. A bit more digging around and I found this article about Debbie (if indeed it is the same Debbie Hanson on the COTH board). The article is about a woman who got taken by 2 horse dealers that ripped her off for about $28K. She ended up getting the FBI involved and now there is legislation in the works to help expose horse dealers. If indeed this new website is this Debbie’s idea, all I can say is more power to her. I just wonder how the website will be done and how if any checking will be done on the contributors. I would like to see more of a clearing house of criminal records online so you can see who you are dealing with in any venue without having to pay for the information.

All the Creatures

You remember the post I wrote last week about the boarding stable I toured? I was talking to a friend in California about it and she asked me if they had security cameras on the property. I told her that I didn’t see any and I remembered that many of the stables in CA had them. Those stables were the ones that had horses worth more than $20K and they worried about horse theft and vandalism. They also had cameras in the tackrooms since show saddles are worth a pretty penny too. It is not that the paying boarders would be doing the stealing but people coming into the property from back pastures or driving in while not seen by the owner or management - usually at night.

Because of the incidents of horse and saddle theft, websites listing those “missing” items have flourished on the internet. The one that lists stolen and missing horses is Netposse.com and that website has been around for at least 7 years that I can remember.

All the Creatures

I usually love to visit other animal blogs and websites. I am the type of person that really likes to surf by following links on blog posts or websites. I have a very active anti-virus software that will warn and then block a website should it find a trojan or virus there. Yes, you can get a virus just by visiting a website without intentionally downloading something. Most of the sites I can find something of interest but there are 2 things that just rub me wrong. One is music. Often the music starts after the website has loaded and I am reading the page. It is often loud and not my style so I then have to rush the mute the sound on my computer. The next item is those live chat software boxes that show up. No, I don’t want to talk to a customer rep, nor do I have a question. Those two things will chase me off of a website faster than someone with a “I have to kill animals because it is a human right to”, statement. Yes there are websites out there like that. Those are the ones with the Christian music and bible versus to back up their misguided thoughts. You get all kinds.

All the Creatures