The Near Side: This Week in Horses – June 26, 2015

Hello and happy Friday, everyone! Here’s what you can talk about with your barn friends this weekend.

• • I’m starting off on a not-so-happy note because I think this is important. GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns are all over Facebook and a lot of them are for genuinely good causes. But do your homework before donating or sharing these things. In New York, a man convicted of neglecting his horses has started a campaign to raise $50,000 to get his horses back. Donor beware.

• • Summer has barely started, but it’s important to think ahead. How will you heat your home this winter? Have you considered using horse manure? The government of Finland has.

• • A horse owner in Washington is hoping that trail riders and hikers can help her find her Arabian show horse who got loose and ran off into the woods several days ago.

• • Horses on stage? Why not? This one will be staring in an opera in Des Moines. Meanwhile in Canada, a musical will be produced about Northern Dancer.

• • The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office in Florida has eight horses in its mounted unit: Honor; Patriot; Major; Legacy; Sentinel; Valor; Justice: and…Charlie? Poor Charlie. Anyway, they’re looking for a name for the ninth member of the herd, and they’re taking votes from the public.

• • Stories like these two are so bittersweet. In this one, an 84-year-old woman had her wish to take “one last ride” granted. And in another, a terminal cancer patient received a visit from her favorite horse, Ed, at her hospice.

• • News of the awkward: Watch the Queen be unimpressed at the unveiling of an artist’s depiction of her as a child with her father and her pony.

• • The Unlikeliest Hero is an animated film about a donkey who wants to be a warhorse, based on actual events (yes, really). I’d see it.

• Speaking of donkeys, this donkey-ear latte foam art pretty much made my day. Share the joy.

That’s it for this week. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

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Leslie Potter is Sr. Associate Web Editor of HorseChannel.com. Follow her on Twitter: @LeslieInLex.