HorseHobbyist

Be sure to tell pasobaby you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

Be sure to tell cowgirl7218 you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

Be sure to tell docsperf you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

Be sure to tell BrittMarie you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

Be sure to tell Oldtimeyman you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

Be sure to tell marue_kubiak you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

On this Memorial Day, all of us at PetHobbyist.com want to honor the men and women who have given their lives in service to our country.

We'd also like to honor those animals who fought alongside their human partners. This British monument was designed with that thought in mind:

On the lower level, two heavily laden bronze mules struggle through an arena, enclosed by the dominant wall symbolising the war experience. The mules approach a flight of steps that leads through the wall. Beyond the wall, on the upper level, a bronze horse and dog stand facing north into the gardens, bearing witness to the loss of their comrades and representing hope for the future.

The number of abandoned and surrendered horses has some lawmakers thinking slaughterhouses may be the solution...

Emaciated horses eating bark off trees. Abandoned horses tied to telephone poles. Horses subsisting on feces, walking among carcasses.

As the economy continues to falter, law enforcement officers in Kentucky and throughout the country are seeing major increases in the number of unwanted and neglected horses, some abandoned on public land, others left to starve by their owners.

The situation has renewed the debate over whether reopening slaughterhouses in the United States — the last ones closed in 2007 — would help address the problem. Some states, Missouri, Montana and North and South Dakota, for example, are looking at ways to bring slaughterhouses back.

The Preakness is on Saturday, May 19, this year, and in memory of Barbaro, the great horse who suffered an injury at last year's Preakness that ultimately cost him his life (although not until after his owners fought valiantly to save it), Breyer horse model makers Reeves International are doing something special. Via PetConnection.com from the Bloodhorse:

Breyer model horse maker Reeves International contributed $126,500 to the Laminitis Fund, created in memory of Barbaro, during the annual Alibi Breakfast Thursday at Pimlico Race Course.

Company president Tony Fleischmann presented a check for the donation to the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School, the beneficiary of the Laminitis Fund. The fund for laminitis research was established by Barbaro’s owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson.

The donation was from profits from Breyer’s special Barbaro model and increased the company’s total contribution from sales of the model to $241,000.

The Alibi Breakfast is a traditional event linked to the running of the Preakness Stakes, the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.