From The Archives: Animal Behavior Consulting: Theory and Practice Fall 2004
Eric Goebelbecker on June 22, 2011
It’s summer, and the podcast will be winding down for a couple of months. In the meantime, I want to highlight some of the outstanding archive material we have made available on Read More | Comments and Reactions
The Throwaway
Karen Murdock on August 04, 2010
An astonishing fact: My horse Lukas receives over 100 e-mails a day! How can that be you might ask, what could anyone possibly write to a horse about? Let me give you a few examples - “Thank you, Karen and Lukas, for changing people’s perception of horses - I own a horse rescue and I have been getting more calls than ever from prospective adopters. Lukas is helping to bring greater understanding and vast improvement into the lives of horses world-wide”. “Lukas makes my autistic son smile, thank you from the bottom of my heart.” “Lukas is like a beacon to the world - showing how truly remarkable and wonderful our equine friends are. I always knew they had intelligence and emotions, now I can prove it to the skeptics I know.” And one of my favorites, “I just had to tell you how much I love Lukas - since losing my horse 2 years ago, I’ve been so depressed I haven’t wanted to ride. I saw Lukas’ videos on you-tube and realized how much I miss being around horses after seeing the bond that you two share. Now, I’m going to half lease a friend’s mare. I’m so excited, thank you, Lukas!”
As glowing as all this sounds, it wasn’t always this way. Lukas (race name Just Ask Mike) left the track as a two year old with two bowed tendons after three unmemorable race finishes, changed hands several times and ended up emaciated and neglected in a back yard. He was rescued by a neighbor, who took pity on the then 8 year old chestnut gelding - “You could see every rib and his tail was a solid bat of dried mud.” The neighbor, Sue Smith, a local trainer had hoped to eventually include him in her amateur jumping program. After two years though, he still wasn’t fitting in, according to Smith, and I purchased him from her after seeing his picture ad in the local Horsetrader.
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