Jane Beshear's Horses and Hope Days at the Races

Horsewoman, Eventer and Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear has joined with the Kentucky Cancer Program and friends within the horse industry to create a program dedicated to improving the well-being of industry employees. Horses and Hope works to raise funds to provide breast cancer screenings, awareness, education and treatment referral to the uninsured and under-insured workers that make up the backbone of the thoroughbred industry.

In an effort to increase awareness, the organization is hosting Horses and Hope Race Days at thoroughbred racetracks throughout the state of Kentucky.  A portion of the ticket sales to the Horses and Hope events will go towards screenings for horse industry workers on the backside of each track. The following race days are as follows: Friday, September 25, 2009 – Turfway Park in Florence, Thursday, October 29, 2009 – at Lexington's Keeneland racecourse, and Sunday, November 15, 2009 – at the home of the Kentucky Derby -- Churchill Downs.

Please join Kentucky's First Lady in a fun day at the races while benefiting a worthy cause!

Stem Cell Treatments Regrow Knee Cartilage in Lava Man

Millionaire racehorse Lava Man has returned to training following the successful regrowth of knee cartilage.  The gelding was retired last year after sustaining an ankle injury.  Following bone chip surgery and multiple 10-million stem cell infusions to the ankle, the horse regrew cartilage. Lava Man continued training during the treatments and, if and when he returns to racing, he will race in only Grade 1 stakes with all trainer earnings donated to charity.

While Lava Man's possible return to the track has caused some understandable controversy, the very exciting news that stem cell research now makes it possible to regrow both cartilage and tendon tissue in horses offers great hope to similarly injured equine athletes.

For more information visit http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=4499891

Nutrena Offers Free Horse Safety DVD

As many of Ping's followers know, Ping loves Nutrena® Horse Feeds.  He'd scarf them all day if I let him. Nutrena® Senior keeps him fat, sassy, and shiny red. And Safechoice® keeps his annoying step-sister Teddie in great shape as she ever-so-slowly plods along that enormous learning curve that is her journey towards becoming a riding horse.

Nutrena® is currently offering a free horse safety DVD to anyone who registers.  The 11-chapter, 50 minute DVD, titled Horse Safety First - How to become your Horse's Best Friend covers an array of topics, from Horse Psychology to Rules for the Trail and Arena, while covering the basics of horsemanship safety. It's free for the picking so why not pick one up! Visit www.nutrena.com to register for yours today.

Cloud and his Mustang herd are being rounded-up!

Some of you may have   seen the PBS specials about Cloud, the wild Mustang stallion and his herd.  Now he and his herd have been rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management. Please watch the video and call the number at the end. Please help us stop the systematic round up of these beautiful wild creatures.

"Filmed in Britton Springs, Wyoming during the BLM roundup of Cloud and the Pryor Mountain Horses. September 7&8, 2009. Please watch and call the numbers at the end of the film. We need your help."
music: www.freeplaymusic.com

Check Out WEG Central

WEG Central is a new clearing house site we put together to disseminate all the Alltech FEI 2010 World Equestrian Games information I receive every day from press releases and other sources.  As a member of the press, I am privileged  to acquire information rather more quickly than the general equine enthusiast. Therefore, I'm going to pass the info along just as soon as I receive it.  So check out the new site and keep up with what's new and exciting as we head towards WEG 2010!