What does a movie like Seabiscuit have to do with general horse owners? In my opinion, anything that draws positive attention to horses is a good thing. Universal Studios has given this movie every chance to be a success. Based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand, it’s a story about unlikely people with a big-hearted horse which has tremendous talent. The horse is the hero, although the people are key to allowing him to unleash his potential, and vice versa.

Horses give us pleasure that’s nearly impossible to explain to a non-horse person, and movies help these people better understand us. Actors and pre-staged scenes can bring out the drama and emotions that are hard to share in everyday life. Horses are important to us and, conversely, we are important to our horses. They depend on us for everything–food, water, shelter, and basic care. Some of that care can make the difference between life and death.

The deadly West Nile virus (WNV) has come early this year, and it is here to stay. Anywhere there are mosquitoes and birds, there will be WNV.

It’s been a wet spring and early summer where I live, which means lots of mosquitoes–the vectors of WNV. Everywhere I look, there’s something that holds water. That plastic I covered plants with this spring and left in the garden has standing water. There’s water in the bucket with rocks picked up from the field. The gutters have leaves and limbs blown in from spring storms and are stopped up. I bet if you look around your place, you can find similar mosquito breeding grounds