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Archive for December 5th, 2007

Shalom, Sabbath

05 Dec

On November 18, Mom called me in France and left a voicemail. Sabbath, the gorgeous bay mare that had bred to Sirdar (Isis’ sire), died. I’ve included Mom’s email below. Sabbath was by Ibn Amoura, a gorgeous stallion that I had wanted desperately to breed Isis too. I made the decision not to breed Isis because of her insulin resistance. Mom and I had worked out a deal: I took Rajiyyah, worked with her, and sent her back to Mom. In exchange, Mom bred Sabbath to Sirdar. Sabbath was six months in foal with a colt.

Sabbath

I’m very sorry to report that Sabbath was put down this morning.

She colicked mildly–it seemed–last night. The vet came out, stayed quite a while to monitor her after treating and palpating. She had many normal signs, normal manure, a desire to eat. I checked on her during the night. At 6:30 this morning, Sabbath’s blanket was soaked through with sweat. We took her to the Marion duPont Scott Equine Center in Leesburg, but we couldn’t get her off the trailer. The vet there said she was shocky and would probably not make it through anesthesia, let alone surgery. A few minutes later, Sabbath lost focus, her eye began to flicker. The vet said she was dying. The most humane thing to do was to put her down to stop the pain. They will do a necropsy this morning to find out why Sabbath died, but they suspect a rupture.

It’s very, very sad to lose this wonderful mare. It’s very sad to know she was carrying a 6-month old fetus by Sirdar–Kim’s long-awaited foal. I’m glad we still have Sabbath’s 2006 daughter Kasane.

We will miss Sabbath tremendously.

Love,
Mom

 
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Posted in Horses

 

Sadness

05 Dec

I’m on a mailing list for owners of horses who are insulin resistant and/or have Cushings. These can be very serious conditions for horses if left untreated. These metabolic conditions can not be cured, only managed. Isis has insulin resistance and so far we’ve kept her well managed. We have been lucky. She had two cases of laminitis back to back (side effects of the insulin resistance) but neither episode left much damage. In fact this past trim, the farrier said if she didn’t know Isis’ history she would be able to tell that Isis had had laminitis in the past. Amazing.

I feel truly blessed to have Isis still. Last summer when she colicked was the closest I’ve come to losing her. It was devastating to even have to consider preparing to make that kind of decision.

I just read several women’s accounts of how they just had to put their horses down. It was gut wrenching. It is like losing a child or a family member. I can almost imagine what they are going through because I was almost there last year.

To those brave women who have to face this, may your horse find greener pastures and run free. They and the rest of your herd will be waiting for you when you cross over.

 
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Posted in Horses

 

“The Seeker” Sucks, part 2

05 Dec

In October, I wrote a comparison of the movie The Seeker to the book upon which it was allegedly based, The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. My opinion? The movie sucked rocks and hurled chunks. I love the books and this movie was something abhorrent.

Reading the comments on my earlier post made me wonder what I might find using a search engine. For example, what did Susan Cooper think of the film? What were other discussions saying about the movie?

Susan Cooper was interviewed on NPR on this earlier this year. If you listen to the interview done by Margot Adler, you can ear Ms. Cooper’s concern over the fate of her story as it has been adapted to the big screen. There is also a link where you can hear Susan Cooper read an excerpt from the book!

The site Cross Walk has an interesting discussion that mentions the exclusion of the pre-Christian and Arthurian mythological elements from the film. Apparently, the company that produced the movie, Walden Media, is a “family friendly” organization that produces primarily Christian content and excluded the pre-Christian and Arthurian content. (These items are integral to the books.) This topic is further discussed on another blog, The Wild Hunt.

Movie Web has an on-location visit with the crew and script writer for The Seeker. John Hodge, author of several well known screen plays (including Trainspotting), details the liberties taken with the book’s plot and characters, plus some of the reasons why these decisions were made.

One review from Blog Critics Magazine describes the difference between what the fans expected and what was actually delivered. A telling quote:

During filming in Bucharest, Romania there was a joke on The Dark is Rising set that only three things have been changed from the original 1973 novel: the nationality of lead character Will Stanton, changed from English to American; his age changed from 11 to 13; and everything else that happens in the story.

And another review of the movie from Stylus. I honestly haven’t seen any positive reviews about this movie, other than if you don’t know the books you might like it. And if you see the movie and then read the books, you’ll discover everything that is missing from the (!#@$) film.

 
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Posted in General, Writing