Horse events at Miller Coliseum in February

Visit the Webbspun Ideas website to see the schedule. http://www.webbspunideas.com/news.html

Winner of the "Horse Doctors" book

Stephanie Mertin-Slaughter won the book "The Horse Doctors." Thanks Stephanie for being a part of the Webbspun World.

Win a copy of the book "The Horse Doctors"

Giving a copy of "The Horse Doctors" from the AAEP away.

Email, message, sign up at WebbspunIdeas.com or call me to be in the drawing. This is a brand new copy that is still in its plastic wrapper.

Tommie Turvey at QuarterFest 2009

part one

part two

Peter Grant is an incredible painter and a great guy

This guy is so talented and so very nice. Hopefully you will see some of his art in Nashville soon. Until then, visit his website to see some incredible examples of his work.

Tennessee Reining Horse Association calendar 2009

February 14-15: TNRHA Clinic with Heather Johnson, Henry Stafford Expo in Harriman, TN
March 21-22: TNRHA/NRHA Show, Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, TN
April 24-26: TNRHA/NRHA Show, Henry Stafford Expo (RSCC) in Harriman, TN
August 8-9: TNRHA/NRHA Show, Henry Stafford Expo (RSCC) in Harriman, TN
October 16-18: TNRHA/NRHA Show, Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, TN

Jessica Burkhart, former Nashvillian, has a book published at age 21

Jessica Burkhart loves her horses. But scoliosis — and subsequent spinal fusion surgery — ended her equestrian career before she hit her teen years.

So, she started writing ... and writing ... and writing.

More than 100 magazine articles later, the former Dieterich resident is releasing her first book. “Take the Reins” is the first installment in the eight-part Canterwood Crest series. It is being released Jan. 27 by Simon & Schuster.

The protagonist in “Take The Reins” and subsequent tales of Canterwood Crest is Sasha, a small-town girl who attends an exclusive Connecticut boarding school. Burkhart said Sasha has more than a little bit of Jessica in her.

Read more about Jessica in the Effingham Daily News.

Miller Coliseum equine events calendar; February

February 6-8
Southeast Horse Sale & Cutting Show
Free admission
Professional Auction Services website

Miller Coliseum
304B West Thompson Lane
Murfreesboro, Tn

Upcoming Horse Shows at Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, Tn

August 2008

Aug. 30-31
TN Cowboy Mounted Shooting South Central Regional Championship
Free admission
Visit the TNCMSA website for details.

September 2008

Sept. 2
Elk River Cowboy Mounted Shooting
Free admission
Contact Rob Williams (931) 433-0311 or email:robdeb@vallnet.com for more information.

Sept. 3-7
Eastern CMSA Championship Time: 8 a.m.
Free admission
Visit the CMSA website for details.

Sept. 9
State FFA Horse Judging Contest
Contact Steven Gass 615-532-2847 for details

Sept. 19-21
Music City Arabain Horse Show
Time: tba
Free admission
Visit the MTAHA website for details.

Sept. 25-27
International Grand Championship Performance Walking Horse Show
Time: tba
Visit the WHOA website for more information.

Sept. 29-Oct 4
NWHA National Championship Show
Free admission
Visit the NWHA website for more information and to purchase tickets.

Find more info at the Miller Coliseum Schedule

Some great horse related stories in the paper today

The gelding we nicknamed Big Brown, in honor of the Kentucky Derby winner, loped off to the far corner of the arena as if he were looking for a place to hide. I exchanged frustrated frowns with my teammate, Shanda Steenburn, a tall, curly-haired nurse and hospital pharmacy manager.

We were participating in an introductory exercise at the Horse Institute in Ancramdale, N.Y. Our assignment was to catch Big Brown, slip a halter over his head and hook him to a lead line.

Our seemingly simple task was proving to be more daunting than either of us had expected. Shanda knew a lot about handling medications for humans but next to nothing about handling horses.

My previous experience with horses was limited and not especially pleasant. I’d taken fewer than a dozen riding lessons during my youth in Texas. The last time I’d been on a horse as an adult, I’d suffered a back injury that took three months to heal.

To make matters worse, Big Brown shared the arena with three other very large and very wary steeds: a white one, a second brown one and one with a mottled brown and white coat, a breed called a paint. Three pairs of nurses who worked with Shanda at Columbia Memorial Hospital in nearby Hudson, N.Y., were simultaneously trying to catch and halter those horses. But instead of cooperating, the paint, the white and the second brown kept darting away and huddling with Big Brown.

Suddenly, Big Brown separated from the herd and walked toward me. I patted his neck and stroked his face, cooing sweet nothings in his ear for at least a minute. Shanda handed me a halter. As if on cue, Big Brown bolted away again.

Read the entire story HERE.


A thoroughbred named Tchaikovsky, a grandson of Secretariat, was having a tooth pulled in one stall. A horse in another was given a sponge bath. Out the stable door, about a dozen horses shared a sun-lit field.

Somewhere, far out of sight if not entirely out of mind, countless other former racehorses were on their way to being slaughtered.

“I struggle with it,” Diana Koebel said. She is the owner and trainer here at LumberJack Farm, one of hundreds of horse farms around the country helping rescue and rehabilitate thoroughbreds considered too slow or damaged to be worth anything more than horse meat. The rescuers cannot keep up.

“Are we really helping?” Koebel asked as she stood in a stable stall. “I know we are, and every one counts, but it’s overwhelming at points. Can we really fix this industry?”

LumberJack Farm works with a nonprofit organization called ReRun, which prepares discarded racehorses for a second career — as jumping show horses, maybe, or just as pets — and then makes them available for adoption. ReRun annually places about 40 thoroughbreds once destined for the slaughterhouse.

Read the entire story HERE.

American Ranch Horse Association show in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; February 2-3

February 2 & 3, 2008
9:00am
VOLRHA Tour Around Tennessee
MTSU Livestock Arena, Murfreesboro, TN
615-397-6754 or 615-417-4253
tangostat@hotmail.com

Visit American Ranch Horse Association to learn more.