Thursday, September 22, 2011

China hosts a rodeo!

In browsing across the numerous Colorado-related websites, I stumbled across this neat little piece of news: the PRCA will hold an 8-day rodeo in Beijing, China, at the site of the 2008 Olympic Games. The event will take place in May 2012.

So, what's the Colorado link? Twenty Colorado 4-H'ers have been selected to travel to China to help the rodeo education effort. How cool is that?! Here's the lucky team:
Katelyn Ann McRee Archuleta County 
Re’ahna Ray Archuleta County 
Jessica Mullin Boulder County 
Kasey Miles Delta County 
Clay Adams Douglas County 
Kimberly Talbert Douglas County 
Sydney Anderson Elbert County 
Cody Chambers Elbert County 
Cade Christensen El Paso County 
Stormy Rose Havens Garfield County 
Taylor Vagneur Garfield County 
Jade Gutierrez La Plata County 
Hannah Mei Xu Turner La Plata County 
Zach Hooker Larimer County 
Kyle Moncrief Larimer County 
Shea Lynn Johnson Las Animas County 
Shawn Haas Mesa County 
Jake Cruzan Montezuma County 
Ryan Vargas Pueblo County 
Emily Hartman Sedgwick County
Also involved is the Colorado FFA and the National Little Britches Rodeo Association, who also selected youths to help teach the art and sport of rodeo to Chinese youths. What an amazing opportunity to share a deeply American tradition with kids from another country!
In other news, there's another attempt to ban all types of transport of horses intended for slaughter. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) is quoted here:
"Horses transported across our borders for slaughter continue to be treated inhumanely. The Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 will make sure that these majestic creatures are treated with the respect they deserve."
So let me get on my soapbox. How, exactly, does this legislation ensure that these "majestic creatures" are treated humanely? Does anyone believe that horses will really no longer be shipped across the border for slaughter? Wouldn't it be more efficient for us to re-open and properly regulate slaughter in the U.S. so those horses are treated humanely?
Also on thehorse.com is this article that shows a real situation of a horses being treated inhumanely. Now, I'm not going to contend that anyone could try to send such an emaciated animal for slaughter for human consumption, but I will say that slaughter would have been a humane end to this horse's life instead of starving slowly to death.

Finally, does anyone ever get tired of seeing cutting horses at their best? Quarter Horse News posted a great video of Dont Look Twice with Phil Rapp on their homepage. Check it out!

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