On New Year's Day, my friend Sue sat in her old mare's stall with her horse's head in her lap. At 39, the former racehorse-turned-eventer couldn't continue to outrun old age. She had had a few bouts previously, and Sue had painfully wrestled with whether or not to euthanize the mare. Philosophically, she was opposed to taking a life and preferred a natural end. But that day she made that difficult call to the vet; the horse passed on before he arrived.
As horse owners, we are sometimes faced with difficult life or death questions regarding horses in our care. We might debate what we would have done if we were Sue or if Barbaro had been our horse. But we rarely ever consider the reverse: what plan do we have if our horses outlive us?
Being a member of the U.S. military, I am often reminded by senior officers to update my Will. The first time someone mentioned it, I shrugged it off. I thought that since I was unmarried, didn't own a house and didn't have children that it wasn't all that necessary. Besides, it was a morbid thought that I didn't want to address.
But a fellow single female officer explained something very important.
"You have horses and cats," she said. "Don't you want to know that they'll be cared for?" She explained that she had provisions in her will for her beloved dogs.
Her point struck home. I had come to own one of my horses because her previous owner died after a long bout with cancer. After his wife's death, the husband sent the horse back to its previous owner-my then instructor who later sold the mare to me.
In another sad situation, my colleague's friend, after discovering that she was terminally ill, spent some of her last months worrying about how she could place her horses in new homes.
Both situations ended up well for the horses, but they could have just as easily ended in further tragedy.
Because horses, like dogs and cats, are considered property, you can specifically address them in your Last Will and Testament. You can also bequeath money to be used specifically for the care of your pets to the designated person. (Don't leave money to the animals because they are legally property and can't receive money.) Since horses are more costly to maintain, you may also wish to get the approval of the person you wish to be named as new owner. Different states have different laws regarding the language required for Wills, so do some research about what your state requires.
In another case, I remember hearing a strange story about a horse owner who became unable to make decisions for his horses and was hospitalized. His companion grew tired of caring for the animals and gave them all away. When the owner recuperated and returned home, he discovered all of his horses were gone.
What provisions do you have to ensure that good decisions will be made on the part of your horses should you become incapable of making those decisions?
You can ensure via a Living Will that your wishes are undertaken for your horse's welfare even if you are incapacitated.
There are several online sources that have forms you can create for a Will, Living Will or Power of Attorney.
It may seem a morbid thought now to consider, but once you've put to ink your decisions regarding the care of your horses (and dogs and cats!), you can feel better knowing that should you proceed before them across the rainbow bridge, they'll be in good hands.
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Ron Petracek, Dist Manager
Equine Content for Equine Interests
http://www.equineinternet.com
Intersection of Equine and Man
Bass Fishing Tip: How Weather Conditions Affect Your Bass Fishing
You are going to read about bass fishing tips here and if you find that what you have read here is something which is worth reading, our task would then be fulfilled.
If you are planning a bass fishing trip, you may want to review weather conditions before getting started. Many anglers travel to enjoy bass fishing, which some of these men and women are pros and can decide the best time to visit fishing holes. In addition, novice anglers know how to predict weather conditions.
The main reason behind writing this article was to provide the readers with some good quality content on bass fishing tip and now when you are reading this article, it is for you to decide if we have been successful in our endeavor.
Those of you just getting started may take advice from the pros. On that note, this article is geared for novice anglers, yet the inexperienced can benefit from kind advice.
Bass tend to swim in all weather conditions, yet when fishing the weather plays an essential part in catch. For instance, if the water is stable, bass tend to rest and feed on routine schedules. The schedules play a major role in the time to catch the bass. Most times bass are predictable during stable weathers.
The bass tend to feast during incisive contravention points, i.e. in the middle of the day. Once noontime has delivered them a full tummy, the bass tend to swim near the bottom of the water. At this time bass schools start, which may be a good time for anglers to attend classes? (Fishing)
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Cold Fronts and largemouth bass:
During cold fronts, bass tend to feast a great deal. During spurts the bass will feast lightly, which prepares them for friendlier waters. During cold fronts, bass fishing compel anglers to use unique strategies, which include small lures and light fishing lines.
Winter Fishing:
During the colder months, the water attracts sun, which sometimes makes the water warmer. At this time, bass fish tend to swim along the outside of the water, floating up on occasion. However, on warm days largemouth bass tend to rest, which if the water is shallow, the fish are harder to catch.
Warm days:
Largemouth bass tend to feed during warm days, yet water temperature and the season depends on feeding.
Windy days:
Bass tend to gravitate toward brushy areas or timber during windy days. It depends on the degree of wind, and the direction, yet warm windy days attract smaller fish, which attracts bass. If the wind is blowing in the same direction, and the wind is warm, thus bass tend to gather is one region of the water.
If the wind is affecting the water, i.e. if waves are hitting the shoreline, thus bass fish tend to gravitate toward muddy areas, yet on occasion that quickly discover clearer water, which the bass will feed.
Strong winds:
If the winds are strong, likely you may want to wait before going bass fishing. At this time if the waters are shallow, bass tend to swim slowly through the streams. Moreover, water turbulences will send bass to the bottom of the water.
Rainy Days:
Rain draws the attention of everything in nature, including bass. Bass benefit from rainy days and will swim en route for the outside of the water, which may be a good time to fish. At this time, you may want to enjoy bass fishing. However, if the weather is pouring rain, thus bass tend to cease biting.
If you are planning a bass fishing trip, you may want to learn how novice anglers decide on weather condition.
How anglers decide:
Anglers consider cirrus clouds, thunderhead, calm, waves, stall fronts, clear skies, cumulus clouds, heavy runoff, lightning and thunder before, after, and while bass fishing.
Tip: Stable weather tends to produce a school of feeding bass. Go fishing!
Anglers tend to focus on patterns as well. Patterns defined in angler terms refer to the location in which bass swim, and the staging that is required to promote catch. Setting patterns in bass fishing can help you catch many fish.
It is not that this is all about bass fishing tip. We can never claim that. What we claim here is that we have tried to gather some of the most important points about bass fishing tip and if you need more information you would have to read more.
Golf chip shot: its a lot easier than you think
I'm so tired of reading about the latest and greatest method for a golf pitch shot or any other golf shot for that matter. You know, you can go back to some golf magazines from the 60's and you'll see almost the exact same pictures and instruction sequences as today. Not much has really changed in golf instruction I'm here to tell you. If you read the latest books, however, you'd swear that the human body was just invented or that golf clubs were just invented, one of the two.
Listen, it's so simple to make a great golf pitch shot and everyone wayyy over complicates this. As with everything I teach in golf, it all boils down to doing a couple main things very correctly. Most of the details matter very little but we get all caught up in so many minor things that we end up not paying attention to the major thing.
For a golf pitch shot. Here's the major things:
1. As still a body as you can given the distance of the swing. Again, I hear all of this advice on videos about wrist cock and proper stance and blah blah blah... Guess what? There's many ways to make a pitch shot, not just one. But they all work more consistently when the body is still. Focus on this. Work on this in your living room while watching TV. You don't even need a ball? This will pay you back in spades in lower score and yet nobody does it.
2. Hit down to make the ball go up. Now if I had a nickel for every time I saw an amateur try to "help" the ball up in the air, I'd be a millionaire. This is so common because it is counterintuitive. To hit a great golf pitch shot, you must strike the ball before the ground. If you need more loft, pull out your sand wedge or lob wedge. Don't go through all those bodily gyrations to force it. The best way to make sure this happens is to pre-load it in your setup. That means, you should be leaning on your front foot more than your back. That drops your front shoulder down and back shoulder up. As long as you keep your body still, your swing will necessarily result in a downward, correct strike on the ball.
3. Make the shot while keeping it as low as possible. In other words, you don't always need a wedge! In fact, for most amateurs, running the ball up on the green is almost always a better choice, especially if you tend to chunk it or hit it fat as they say. Pull out your 5-iron some day and chip with it anytime you don't absolutely have to put it in the air You'll be surprised.
Folks, those are the biggies. Get real good at them and then you don't even have to worry about any details. Forget about being "technically correct." Much of that stuff is for the pros. Look, you just want to break 100 or 90 right? How will you do that? By becoming as consistent as possible. Work on the big 3 in your next golf chip shot and you'll be amazed at what you can do.
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Craig Sigl, the Golf Anti-practice expert, is a Master and Trainer of Hypnosis, NLP and Time Empowerment techniques. He plays to a 5 handicap and teaches his methods worldwide. Visit Golf Instruction Tips to receive a free digitized golf book and ezine "Golf legends and Gurus"
