Long time, no see!

It's been more than a year since I posted here on The Whiffle Tree -- many apologies to my readers.

As my grandmother would say, I have "a lot of irons in the fire" these days.

But The Whiffle Tree is officially resurrected, as of today.

I'd like to start off with an offering from a new venue I have been fortunate enough to participate in; I am now the NY Urban Horse Examiner for Examiner.com!

Please take a few minutes to read my very first article, published today.

Would love to hear your feedback!

http://www.examiner.com/urban-horses-in-new-york/a-complete-guide-to-your-nyc-carriage-ride

A Little Carriage Horse Poetry ;-)

Came upon another hand-wringing humaniac today - only this one expressed herself in, um, poetry.

You can read said author's offerings here ~~~> Horses in traffic (poem) by JASMIN HORST E. P. SEILER on AuthorsDen

Of course this puerile, ghoulish poem elicited more than a few chuckles from those of us 'in the know' - including my good pal Lisa from South Carolina, a life-long equestrian and horse owner.

Lisa offered up her own take on Jasmin the Poet's grim, turgid lines - easily countering her obviously-unacquainted-with-horses hysterics:

NYC Horse

Shiny Shoes and bales of hay
some oats and grain just for a neigh

A happy life of work I do
I pull a carriage and meet a few

My body is strong, my mind is set
I'll pull this carriage to the park - you bet!

Those silly activists cry foul and shame
but stupid dumb *****, they are so lame

They think I am human, those nerdy turds
I'm not of course,
I'm just a horse
with a job to do, for him and for you
I pull this carriage, that's my life,
A place, some care, with little strife

Thank you, Leese!

Carriage Horse Chuckle from Charleston

Re: my previous post concerning Charleston's carriage trade...seems someone down there understands PETA's, um, position perfectly. Look closely ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>>>>>>

On Our Brethren Carriage Horses Down in Charleston

I happily stumbled upon a delightful article this morning, written by a Dr. Edward M. Gilbreth of Charleston, South Carolina.

In the piece published by The Post and Courier, Dr. Gilbreth lays out a cogent, comprehensive, and fact-filled argument in favor of protecting Charleston's carriage industry from the humaniacs at PETA. Dr. Gilbreth's flair for writing is a bonus; the article is both entertaining and colorful, giving us glimpses of the history and character of Charleston itself.

Because I am unsure of the copyright situation, I will not reprint the article here on my blog, but you can read it here.

But I will take the liberty of posting, what is to my mind, the most delicious line:

"It's the skewed ideology negatively impacting humanity while providing no net benefit to animals that I protest."

This is the crux of all that is wrong with the humaniac 'movement'; it needs to be understood and repeated often.

I'd like to thank Dr. Gilbreth for making my day.

Long live the Charleston carriage industry!