Horses

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- An outbreak of a deadly virus has horse trainers and owners in Riverside and Orange counties fearful for the health of their animals.

FARMINGTON -- With Davis County home construction putting the squeeze on open pasture lands where horses once grazed -- forcing some horse owners to relocate -- Davis County Legacy Events Center is diversifying the groups it attracts.

Being able to rely on renting out Legacy Events Center's indoor and outdoor arenas to horse riders to supplement the operating cost of the buildings is no longer feasible, officials say.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Black as night and 18 hands high, Clemente trotted up and down the pen as the auctioneer at Mike's Livestock rattled off bids machine-gun style.

The barnyard scents of alfalfa, leather and sweat wafted through the cavernous auction hall just outside Riverside, Calif., where Clemente and dozens of other horses paraded before bleachers overflowing with bargain-seekers, sellers and gawkers on a cold weekend night.

There were whispers of a "killer buyer" lurking outside, buying up swaybacks and broken-down mares to be shipped off for slaughter. A trio of amateur Mexican-style rodeo riders eyed horses suitable for hogtying and tail twisting.

ABILENE, Texas -- To Cheryl Moore, co-owner of the Stephenville Cattle Co. sales barn here, when horse slaughter ceased in the United States five years ago, legislators took an entire industry hostage.

"They held us captive to foreign countries -- Mexico and Canada," she said.

Congress quietly lifted a ban on funding horsemeat inspections, which means horses could be butchered again in the U.S. for human consumption.

NORTH OGDEN -- A business icon in the Ogden rodeo and equestrian world, Ken Cross, 85, died last week.

The funeral has been set for Wednesday for the man credited with much of the success of Ogden Pioneer Days, the Miss Rodeo Utah and Miss Rodeo Ogden pageants and a host of local activities involving horses through the many activities his business supported.

The horses gallop toward one another, churning the dirt into clouds of dust with their huge hooves. The horses carry a heavy load: 200 pounds of man and 130 pounds of armor.