What a grand world we have lost.

Belgium Stallion "Brooklyn Supreme" The Worlds Largest Horse 1928-1948

19.2 hands and 3,200 lbs.

40 in. collar and girth measurement around of 10' 2''

30 in of iron to build one horse shoe.

Belgium Mare "Queen Jean" Farmington Fair 1942

19 1/2 hands and 3,000 lbs.

10' 2'' girth

11 years old

Belgium Gelding "Billy" Acknowledged as the largest horse in the world for his age.

6' 4'' at the withers and 2700 lbs.

4 ' across hips

82 inch's of iron to make 4 shoes

4 years old

Chromo Lithograph of Main Barns of the Holbert Horse Importing Co., Greeley Iowa--1910

Draft Horse Journal--1935

Whatever else the year of 1935 brought into play, it was a sure thing that the Great Depression had put renewed life into the draft horse and mule trade throughout the cornbelt states. The reliable old hay burners had become objects of ridicule with a lot of tractor-minded folks, salesmen, draymen, etc., and many farmers themselves during the roaring '20s that extended well into the Dirty '30s.

But every coin has two sides ... at least. For the fellows who had stuck by their horses and mules as their power plant, they really didn't notice.

It suddenly became evident that the fuel for old Dobbin wasn't gasoline delivered by BIG OIL, but it was there all the time in their own corn cribs, grain bins and hay lofts. No charge for the delivery either, as all you really needed was grown on your own farm. If you wound up with a real bumper crop, you could even sell the surplus. It might have even given Henry Ford a tummy ache just thinking about it.

The demand for good working teams perked up a little ... not a lot because there still wasn't much money in circulation. The number of stallions being traveled increased and so did the number of kids with draft colts as their 4-H projects. It wasn't a complete recovery by any means ... but at least it wasn't just more of the same ... as were the early '30s.

BEST GROUP OF FIVE BELGIAN STALLIONS, 1935 Owned, by Holbert Horse Importing Company, Greeley, Iowa.

Following is a Report of the Iowa Horse and Mule Breeders' Association for 1935 from the 1935 Iowa Yearbook of Agriculture. It paints a quite optimistic picture of the time:

The interest in horses and mules, which gave evidence of renewed life during 1933 and 1934, continued to grow during 1935. The buying and selling of mares and stallions continued in a "bullish fashion" and the prices asked and paid for draft animals were the highest since 1921.

The United States Department of Agriculture gives a figure of 62,000 colts produced in Iowa during 1935 or an increase of 29% over the number produced in 1934, and the number in 1934, as we will remember, was a 32% increase over the number produced in 1933. With this great increase in numbers the uninformed person might become alarmed for fear Iowa might over-produce horses and hence create a surplus of this sort of farm power. This fear is certainly groundless when we remember that Iowa has always been considered as the source of supply for draft animals for a great portion of the east and south. Thus, even though Iowa only need produce 60,000 colts to replenish her own supply of draft animals, she must produce nearly twice that number in order to meet the demand for draft animals put on her by purchases from these other sections of the United States. Thus we see Iowa in 1935 producing more colts than she needs for her own replacement and still losing more than 9,000 head of good breeding or seed stock to buyers from the east and south. This drain of the supply of mares and fillies is indeed dangerous and it is to be hoped that good mares can be kept in the state until the supply can be built up enough to take care of the demand, both within the state and from the outside.

True, sales and use of other forms of power have shown a marked increase in Iowa during 1935. This has been brought about largely due to the shortage of horses and mules in the state and by the high prices asked and paid for these draft animals.

The number of stallions and jacks enrolled by the stallion enrollment division was greater in 1935 than for any of the six previous years. The report of this division also shows that more Belgian and more saddle stallions were standing in Iowa during 1935 than during any previous year in the history of that division.

A number of importations of horses from Europe came into Iowa during 1935 due to the activities of the Holbert Horse Importing Co., of Greeley, the Iowa Horse

BEST GROUP OF FIVE PERCHERON STALLIONS, 1935 Owned, by G.A. Dix & Son, Delaware, Ohio.

Importing Co., of Fairfield, and the Dygert Importing Co., of Manchester. So active have been the Iowa importers that at the present time Iowa has practically 90% of the nation's horse importing business.

1935 has only added further proof of that already piled up during 1932, 1933 and 1934, that horses are a sound investment for farmers and livestock producers, and that they offer a sound avenue of escape from the fears of depression and a stable basis of farming during periods of hope and progress.

By the time the 1935 International Livestock Show came around in Chicago, draft horse breeders were even a little bit cocky. To illustrate that, I'll run a picture of the "Best Five Belgian Stallions," all imported from Belgium by the Holbert Horse Importing Co. of Greeley, Iowa, along with the "Best Five Percheron Studs," from the George Dix stables, Delaware, Ohio.

With the the onset of WW II just a few short years later, the little surge for the draft horse ended abruptly. All the rules of engagement were cast aside as agriculture joined in the total war effort. "Food will win the war and write the peace" and other such slogans.

Animals imported for breeding purposes for which certificates of ... - Google Books Result

Iowa Recorder--March 12, 1930

Noted Horse Breeder and Importer is Dead.
Frederick Barrett Holbert, born in 1886 at Greeley, Delaware county, died recently. He was a son of the late A.B. Holbert, former member of the legislature from Delaware county. V.E. Dow, of Greeley, says that after the death of his father he entered into active service for the Greeley Horse Importing Co., an enterprise founded by his father. Mr. Holbert volunteered at the breaking out of the World War and was assigned to France, where he had charge of the horse supply during the war and was made remount officer in command at Paris. It was here he was promoted to be a major. For his work there Major Holbert was decorated by the French government as chevalier of the Legion of HOnor in recognition of the services rendered in that country. Last year he was decorated by King Edward of Belgium and made an officer of the Order of the Crown, the highest honor that could be given a foreigner. Mr. Holbert spent about half of each year in France and Belgium with his wife and family, and buying horses for importation, and was considered one of the most efficient horse judges in the world.

For John Milton

johnny said...

Whenever I see that no talent elephant trick it turns me off to o end. It is obvious tjhat it can be accomplished with old 60 yr. elephants so those shows that hve one or two old ones can fit that into a routine. Here we seldomn see it but obviously it is popular overseas. One year Gunther did it when I was on the show and it left me cold knowing of the young eleophants in the herd elephants in the herd. What a cop-out. I am sure I will hear about this observation. So be it. Johnny

18 May, 2o11 07:12

I wasn't going to say anything, but as you are sure you will hear about this, I thought I would reply. On a scale of no talent to ten, with out getting turned off, how would you rate a pedestal stand by a horse? If it can be accomplished by an old horse is it more or less of a turn off if it can be accomplished by a young, or even small one? As we don't want you to be cold knowing of the young elephants in GGW's herd below are a couple from 1971. Have you warmed up yet? Speaking of young elephants are mounts, T as well as long, popular here as well or just over seas? How old are the babies in the 1972 photo and are they too old to perform this trick today? They have to be what? 35 or 40 years old? Are they performing this trick today? Thank you.

Wade

JMH 1972

GGW 1971

Who is spinning what where?

Although we addressed this in 2009, I think a refresher is in order, given the recent "elephant events."

Speaking ahead of Friday's show, Chris Barltrop from the Great British Circus said: "The trainer just deals with them by word of voice, he's not pushing them around with sticks or whips or anything else. "He just says 'do this' and they follow him and do it. They follow him around devotedly like some sort of dog... [it is the] same sort of relationship.


Dr Rob Atkinson, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said: “There is absolutely no similarity between the lives of wild elephants and those of these circus captives.”

Then why are we attempting to use studies done on wild herd's to dictate how an elephant must be handled, maintained, and housed in captivity?

A statement by the Great British Circus said(to a 2007 report from the Circus Working Group): “This exonerates animal trainers who for too long have been the whipping boys of Animal Rights charities who have used lies, misinformation and slick advertising to raise funds to fill their coffers.

“These fat cats have taken advantage of kind hearted animal lovers and tried to manipulate the great British public and politicians with false spin and sound bites.”

What is your interpretation of the word "manipulate." I am coming to understand that it has different meanings, depending on whether you are the recipient or delivery service. Is that correct?

This has absolutely no relevance to anything, but it has been around for a year and I can't help myself. Next to a Benny Hill rerun's, as Larry the Cable Guy would say, "that's funny right there, I don't care where your from." LOL You have one week to get "un rubbished" you wankers. Yes, Drill Sargent. Shut up. One week, do you understand? ........ Answer me!!! Yes, Drill Sargent. Shut up!!!!!! LOL

REVELED--TOP SECRET PR STRATEGY OF THE BRONX ZOO

Sal Cataldi--Publicist Huffington Post

To mangle the Bard, something's rotten. Not in Denmark, but somewhere far closer and dearer to my heart, at that playground for kids of all ages and nations -- the Bronx Zoo.

Since 1899, the Bronx Zoo has enriched the lives of countless millions of New Yorkers and tourists alike. Its 265 acres of lush grounds and engineered habitats today showcases more than 4,000 animals of 650 species, many of them endangered. It has remained a hugely popular destination in one of the world's most attraction-rich cities despite a seemingly low-watt approach to hype and buzz. All of its success has been a result of the most basic, old school marketing -- early sampling of wide-eyed toddlers that builds a lifetime of brand loyalty, expressed in annual return visits and decades of positive word of mouth.

But in 2011, the Bronx Zoo is becoming another breed entirely. Without warning, it's morphed into another wannabe boldfaced name with an unquenchable thirst for gimmick-driven daily headlines rivaling that of Lady Gaga or the vampire Kardashian clan.

It's peculiar for me, of all people, to feel uncomfortable with this, since I have made a very good and creative living for over 20-very-odd years concocting, implementing and hyping some of the kitschiest flackery imaginable. I've had the pleasure of staging a zombie march over the Brooklyn Bridge, constructing the world's largest Christmas tree made out of cannolis, auctioning off the "apestract" art of Tarzan's simian sidekick Cheetah and searching America for both the greatest bird trick on video (AJ, a parakeet that plays golf, bowls and dunks basketballs) and the greatest guitar face (that grimace they make when they bend their high E string or whack out a power chord). All the shtick and stunts, most of them no-calorie when it comes to textbook newsworthiness, are designed to engage the press, who then broadcast it to the public, who then rush out with wallets open to support the stunt's sponsor.

It's truly effective stuff, when done for the right brand, and when it's right for that particular brand's personality and constituents. But as much as it's my own passion and profession, I'm just not sure it's an approach I like seeing on the Bronx Zoo. Like most guys, I like mini-skirts. But I'm pretty sure I don't want to see one on a dignified, accomplished institution, on Dame Judi Dench, Madeline Albright or John McCain.

As for the zoo, my concern (okay, and envy too!) arose when I detected the not-so-invisible strings of another crafty PR Svengali (how dare they!) behind March's headline-grabbing saga of the escapee poisonous cobra. It certainly got my attention, and the hair erect on my neck, when I heard this beast, assumed massive and very deadly, naturally, was on the loose somewhere in my city.

But wasn't it a letdown to learn that the "lost" snake was found not only within the confines of the zoo, but the Reptile House itself? Wouldn't we all much rather it been found walking down Arthur Avenue, wearing a fake moustache, chomping on a stromboli? And wasn't it also a drag to find it was the size of a kids' sneaker rather than a vintage Cadillac or M1 tank? I myself was hoping to see a scene out of the movie Anaconda brought to life, for the gargantuan escapee to emerge from a shadowy hedge in Amagansett or on Park Avenue to dispatch J. Lo or Steven Spielberg with a single bite! Letdown number three was the zoo's decision to run a naming contest for the snake. I'm confused; didn't she have one already? The winner, Mia, standing for Missing in Action, was a little too predictable and treacly a choice. Perhaps it was the work of an out-of-work screenwriter of the Olsen Twins' flicks? Not sure, but it sounds plausible.

But damn, you have to give the Bronx Zoo boatloads of credit and awards for this one, their inaugural gambit into the world of manufactured marketing mayhem. It generated a week of international headlines and a social media torrent that virtually fried the servers of Twitter and Facebook. The Bronx Zoo was thrust to the top of our minds as we all started to fantasize about the warm weekend outings to come, after New York's longest and darkest winter. I just wish they would've come clean and called it what it was -- a stunt implemented for column ink, TV news and viral buzz. I mean, even professional wrestling maven Vince McMahon of the WWE, a gent I worked with for six years, eventually told the world that his "sport" was not a sport at all but a soap opera powered by muscles, so-called "sports entertainment."

The history of pop music is littered with the bodies of one-hit wonders who decided to play it safe and make their follow-up single a carbon copy of the first. And so, unfortunately, went the Bronx Zoo. Is it any wonder that the world was a little less absorbed, and likely a whole lot more suspicious, of the recent "escape" of the Bronx Zoo peacock? Most telling, it had none of the life and death potential, the drama that would fuel real interest. Couldn't they at least have left the back door open for a scorpion or the very scarily named poison dart frog? And even though the narrative concluded in a much more satisfying way, with actual sightings on the streets outside the zoo and a reported dash for a getaway by subway by said peahen, it just didn't get the bounce of the zoo's debut single on the publicity prank parade because it was a retread of their earlier smash hit.

Now this brings up a good question. In the zoo's first quiet century of success, you didn't hear a peep or press release about escaped animals. In fact, if you or I ran this or any zoo, I imagine our first order of business would be to suppress the news of an escape and go find the sucker as fast as possible.

But these escape stunts are not what concerns me with the Bronx Zoo. It's the other tactics that my brethren in publicity and marketing may have up their sleeves, for peak summer season. Here is a short laundry list of what I fear may be on the horizon flack-wise...

• Lady Gaga Image Found in the Spots of a Newborn Giraffe: Nothing gets the media galloping faster to your door than the image of a holy person, from the world of religion or entertainment, appearing in a taco, a pancake, a piece of toast or a birthmark on a newborn. I fear that this summer the Bronx Zoo will whammy the world with the above, baiting us with not only the image of an awkwardly cute, long-legged animal infant, but with the local hook of it being that of the NYC-born international musical megastar of the moment.
• Bronx Zoo African Grey Parrot in Talks to Replace Regis Philbin: Sounds like something the Bronx Zoo might leak to the incredibly in-the-know Page Six Editor Emily Smith, for whom a nugget of the latest media dish is a daily requisite. Not as weird as it seems, as some African Grey parrots have a vocabulary of close to 1,000 words, way more than Regis uses during his coffee talk and celebrity interviews. Like Regis, they also get very excitable and entertaining around high-pitched sounds, like those that emanate from Kelly Ripa. Lastly, the local hook is even better than Ms. Gaga, as Regis was born and schooled in the Bronx. And as it's only "a rumor" of talks, it never has to be substantiated, just like Hugh Grant's inside track to replace Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men or poor Richard Gere and the gerbil.
• Sleeping Toddler on a Tiger Photo Op: Of late, the Bronx Zoo seems to have a real problem keeping its cages locked and animals within. So what's to say the opposite can't be engineered, for the kind of iPhone and Flip Cam photo/video op that spreads worldwide within 24 hours? It doesn't take a great leap of imagination to envision the folks at the zoo letting a toddler slip through the bars at the tiger cage for an adorable photo or video beside a savage beast that can quickly be uploaded to YouTube, Flickr and the like, then promulgated via HuffPost, BuzzFeed, etc., then Facebook, Twitter, etc. Naturally, it would be best if the tiger were sedated with a little something slipped into his meal before the stunt. The child too. Even better if the child cuddling with the sleeping beast is wearing a Bronx Zoo t-shirt for branding in all the viral coverage as he too snoozes his way to web stardom.
• Benjamin Moore Presents Paint a Zebra Day Sunday at the Bronx Zoo: Nothing brings in record crowds like a day of Family Fun, one where the kids can be entertained with never-before-experienced "adventures in arts and crafts," while the parents chat or text on their cellphones, get a coffee, and enjoy a smoke. I have a great fear that in the name of upping the ante to generate what the press likes to call "a great picture story," the Bronx Zoo may well do this kind of spectacular. Of course, it will not only attract crowds and media coverage, but sponsors, as paint manufacturers throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at the zoo to be a part of this strategic, brand-equity building spectacular. And you know PETA will just love it.
• A St. Patrick's Day Sighting of the Mobile Alabama Leprechaun: A bit of manufactured no-cost publicity pranksterism that brings a timely news hook and one of the most popular viral sensations of the Internet era. The Mobile Leprechaun exists most likely only on the Internet, the result of the massive popularity of a hilarious TV news story about the supposed sighting a leprechaun in March 2006, late at night by a group of likely sauced and toasted eyewitnesses. Tens of millions of hits for the original news story, remixes and songs created with a great tagline uttered by a witness, "Where Da Gold At," have made the Mobile Leprechaun a legend. It will only take a few finely media-trained actors to testify to the sighting, and report it to a hungry media, on the day when everyone celebrates things Erin, St. Patrick's Day, providing a nice timely kicker for news editors. Also reinforces one of the zoo's chief selling points: that it's a must-see attraction for any visitor to the Big Apple.
• Mia the Cobra Sex Tape: When all else fails, make a sex tape! Perhaps this is what I lay awake at night most fearing, the marketing mavens in the northernmost borough trading on the fame of their homemade star with a new school flack tactic, one that largely put other young female celebs like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian into the public spotlight. Worse still, they decide to go for the gusto and make this a sex tape of the interspecies variety, pairing Mia with another Internet animal legend like the Keyboard Cat, the Skateboarding Bulldog or the Sneezing Panda.

On the whole, I give the Bronx Zoo a bravo for effort with this first foray in strategic shtick. But there's also a footnote of beware, a hope that one of my favorite institutions doesn't continue to go too Barnum and betray its true identity in the pursuit of buzz.

Huffington Post Courtesy of Mark Rosenthal

Why can't we eat a horse?

Can somebody help me wrap my brain around why we free American citizens can eat a cow, a chicken, or a pig but we can't eat a horse? If God didn't want us to eat cow's, chickens, or pig's he wouldn't have made them out of mesquite brisket, buffalo wings, or honey maple hams. Yet we have seen to the closure of horse slaughter houses in the United States. Why can't we eat a horse? Don't folks realize God also made a horse out of Basashi???? We can't even wear a comfortable pair of horse leather shoe's or carry a pony hide purse, but we can feed pig ears to our dog's, but we can't feed horse meat to a tiger?

How is it a cow is an agricultural animal in England but a horse isn't?

"We have no current plans to redesignate all horses as agricultural animals. Horses used primarily in agriculture are already so designated." 1997 The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue)

What is "all?" Some horse's are agricultural animals, but some aren't? The only thing goofier is if they had named it "The Black Beauty Rule."

USDA--approximately 9 million horses, ponies, mules, donkeys, and burros in the United States but you can't eat them? But you can eat "alternative livestock" like emus, ostrich, game bird, bison, deer, elk, turkey's, goat's, "draft animals" and earthworms? What the hell? Can't an earthworm catch a "feel good" break??? USDA suggests "alternative livestock" if you are a full or part-time farmer and want to "generate additional income from your property." What if I am a full-time farmer and want to eat a damn horse for breakfast with my over easy chicken embryo and my honey cured pig?

A bunch of horse's get loose 150 years ago(or maybe turned loose because they were starving and the"full-time farmer" couldn't feed them anymore) so now we are going to call them "wild horses" and offer them for adoption to someone who can't afford valuable bloodstock?

Is some "feel good" nitwit ar activist going to suggest that the people in the clip above are "greedy" money monger's because they are trying to turn a profit for their 100 valuable animals, why the "feel goods" think they have the answers based on their 2 or 3 rescue animals?

A few years ago, I was involved with a valuable stallion that was suspected of having contracted CEM, a std while collected at a collection station, along with 6000 other stallions suspected of being contaminated. The testing process to verify a stallion as either positive or negative, required the breeding of 3 mares, three times and if the mare's cultured positive your stallion was gelded. I had 16 mare's on the farm, the least valuable was appraised at 50,000.00 Did I use three valuable mare's as "guinea pigs" to see if one of them would contract CEM? Don't be stupid. I drove a hundred miles to a "killer farm" where they bought horse's and fattened them up for 60 days and then transported them to Mexico, where you can eat a horse. I purchased three for 100.00 a piece, smallish ones actually so my 250,000.00 stallion, who was getting up there in age and had difficulty covering tall mares, would have an easy go at them. I picked them out of a dark pasture at 12:00 am so I didn't ever care what color or breed they were, as long as they didn't cost me more then 300.00.

Anybody care to suggest that I don't love horses as I love all animals and am devoted to their welfare? Take you one old horse and have fun with it, but don't tell the folk's making their livelihood with them how turn a profit, and stay in business.

Double click the clips above and below for full screen.

For Ian--Attempting to Address "All Opinions", Valid one's as well as "Imagined, feel good ones."

A satirical look at the resulting changes to the Dressage Stewards Manual. The answer of the FEI to "resolve rollkur". A video artcle by Horses For LIFE Publications. http://horsesforlife.com. Join us in asking the FEI to once again following the existing rules in Article 401. A standard established by generations of equestrians.

Anyone who thinks the equine industry and individual breed and discipline associations do not attempt to address all issues, as well as keep "everybody" happy need only page through a "rule" book or a Steward/Judges manual to appreciated not only the monumental task at hand, but the incredible effort's at fixing any "perceived" injustice's. The equine industry's livelihood is dependent on people buying their product and services. Much different then your livelihood being dependent on ticket sales. 300 elephants is much easier to pick on, as well as the guarantee of, as a rule free world wide publicity which give's an ar organization dependent on donations, more "bang" for their marketing/publicity buck. Not may news organizations are interested in going out to some farm in the boondocks/sticks to do a "feel good" expose.

I have recommended the online site "horses for life" in the past, and will suggest again, anyone who want's to learn about horse's and horse training, as well as staying up on issues, with an open mind of course, could not spend a few dollar's any more wisely. The on going series detailing the techniques of Nuno Oliveira is worth the ticket price alone.