Thoughts on "The Traveling Horse Witch?"

OMG I had an other quite good body worker tell me my mares back was squishy because she needed worming. Where is this particular Wrong Idea coming from?

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Aaaand photos of the dead horse with flowers in his mouth are back.

Talk about, well, flogging a dead horse.

I don’t want to see your dead horse. Different if it was a report on a neglect case, a dissection (of which I subscribe to many), a veterinary case. I follow many medical autopsy / necropsy / dissection groups, dead bodies in a variety of forms are not unusual. But prostituting the effigy you created of your deceased dobbin? Ick.

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Should I even ask why this is a thing?

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I attended a dissection class and they used the flowers as a respectful gesture to the horse and the owner. It was to honor the horse for what they would teach the participants.

In this context, I have no idea since I haven’t seen the pictures.

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When I had my friend’s mare euthanized at my mom’s ranch, I wove a lei of fresh flowers and placed it around her neck before she was put down. I did not take photos. It was just… respect for a sweet mare.

I guess I just didn’t get the flowers in the mouth of a horse. Or the death photo.

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Yes, Sharon May-Davis does this with all her dissections as a mark of respect.

I take (very carefully angled) pictures of the horses that are euthanised here as their herd companions come to say goodbye. They are given to the respective owners - if and only if they want them, to show that their horses passed surrounded by the love of their friends.
I have posted a picture of my boy online in a very specific post about coping with the death of your horse and what to expect….and it came with a very clear trigger warning.
I would never hawk him out for likes :face_vomiting:

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Do people take pictures at funerals? Do we want pictures of our pets after they’ve been PTS? How about after a horrible death - HBC, bled out, etc?

I know my answer to all of the above is a hard no. Maybe I was a Victorian era photographer in a previous life and have my fill of posing and photographing dead people. But, I’m also the one who has to mention to the small animal vet reception/tech that I want nothing - no clay paw print, no ashes back, nothing.

Am I the weird one?

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In other cultures, death is viewed differently. Many (not all) western cultures, especially the US, have a very sanitized view of death. I did find Celeste’s posts rather strange, but that’s just because I thought of how other cultures view death.

I don’t think we should glorify death or even respect it, but I think we should 1. understand that it is a process that doesn’t happen instantaneously and 2. for many beliefs (outside modern Abrahamic traditions), death and life coexist.

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My friend had to put her small dog down and they offered her the ashes in a memorial box with a photo. The vet tech did not sell it well. She said they would “take a photo of the pet and put it on the box”. My friend was confused and slightly horrified and declined, thinking that the box would be returned with a photo of her dead pet which the tech had taken after the euthanisia. The tech had meant they would take a photo of the alive, probably younger pet FROM my friend to put on the box.

OMG OOPS!!! I hope it was sorted out quickly and your friend wasn’t horrified for too long and will one day laugh about the miscommunication.

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Yikes! I hope your friend was okay when the vet tech delivered the news!

The problem I had with the death photos is that they were staged and shot just like any other IG thing she does. And now we have the anniversary photos to kick up more emotions all around. I’d never in ten million years use my horses that way, to set up a shoot for IG and FB, seeking attention. Not a chance, I might take a photo before they died to remember them at the end (if it was a planned euth and not a trauma related death). I’d want to remember them full of life! I might post a notice that they had died, with a photo(s) of them fully alive, in their prime. I"d want to remember them in a respectful way, not dead on the ground covered in roses, staged for the public to view.

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:roll_eyes::face_vomiting:

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One would think that having to do “nerve release” every day implies that you’re doing something wrong. Jeez.

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Great PR strategy.

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Honestly I’m surprised that crowd would support someone in competition, riding in a noseband, double bridle with spurs! (NOTHING wrong with it imo) just not that crowds normal flavor.

But yes what PR.

Congratulations to Julio Mendoza regardless.

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Don’t forget it’s all about the money and about getting more people to spend more money. It’s a product (of sorts) and the more of it out the door to paying customers the better.

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I had the same remark & comment under someone who promoted the 24/7 lifestyle …‘can we talk about the (tight) noseband?’ I doubt you can run two fingers underneath it …

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