#crossbred horse

[m-0-s-3]

Sheepies

#yearling sheep #crossbred sheep #sheep #lambs #lamb #sheeps #a single horse #lots of sheep and one large brown sheep with a mane #totally not a horse #farmcore

[bolithesenate]

look at me making up another new star wars animal (space horse number 1947289)

complete with breed standard (for that specific colouring) (which is the most desirable) (actually, the depicted one isn't quite ideal because the white spotting shouldn't go below the red)

Caranas are bred and maintained as transport and meat source on Serenno and are a domesticated, crossbred with other off-planet equine species version of the (presumed) extinct 'serenno-unicorn'

they are well-suited for survival in the more hilly/mountainous regions of the planet and subsist on a wide variety of plants, mainly several species of thick lichen which they shave off rock and trees with their horns.

#never enough space horses imo #ive got many thoughts about serennian fauna #random boli thoughts #my art #serenno #star wars headcanons #star wars worldbuilding

[cryptotheism]

In amber skies horses crossbred with motorcycles and posthumans have a culture around them that's a combination of Car Guys and Dog Show Guys. The horses have natural handlebars in their head and well bred horses can top 275 mph.

[ragaatz]

Graves is such a fun piece of shit to think about. Just his fucking thoroughly and insurmountably American sense of infallibility crossbred into a notion of immortality that is purpose built into white straight American men—he can’t die or be sick or become prey, that shit happens to other people.

Like this dude has the stench of legacy on him. Could’ve been an officer, but, nah, has something to prove. Feels like a perpetual second place finishes with a grudge. Maybe had an older brother he was always only just trailing, but could never meet neck and neck, let alone surpass. Dad probably kept the oldest on his hip, a big fucking iron to fire at Phillip. Bet Phillip had to fight for every scrap of attention that man ever showed him, and still Dad only called for the oldest on his deathbed, reaching out to the oldest while life support could not save his dying body.

Did it matter that the oldest was dead, and that death is what put the old man in the ground? Did it matter that he reached for the oldest, but he found Phillip instead? Did it matter that at the very last breath, Dad—the Major, the Man, the Master of the Fucking Universe—couldn’t tell the godDAMNED DIFFERENCE between the two of them?

And, haha, what the fuck would that matter anyway? C’mon now. Phillip always knew the bitter old fuck put his money on the wrong horse. And, besides that, he was dumb. Stupid as a motherfucker, even, for putting all of his eggs in one basket. They all splattered when the basket wrapped itself around a tree doing 90 on those back roads. Got dark at night around Fort Hood, where the oldest was stationed, where the oldest started drinking and stopped talking after something bad happened.

The baby of the family ran off long before that, though, like a fuckin’ traitor. Of course, he’s a middle child, and of course he’s the only one that stuck around. Someone had to, for Chrissake. The oldest was too busy playing daddy’s golden goose, and the fuckin’ baby ran away to Smith College, dyed her hair purple, started fuckin’ women, and stopped shaving her fucking armpits. SOMEONE had to fucking STAY.

Phillip was the right choice for it.

I mean, c’mon, haha.

He was the only choice.

We all know that.

I mean, he’s a good country boy. A real red-blooded American male. And what good ol’ boy working stick around to make sure his mom was all set and taken care of? After all, she’s lost so much. A good woman like that shouldn’t have to go through so much grieving in one life. And any southern son worth his salt would say they love their mama.

And Phillip does. He loves his mom. Does the whole shebang. When he made made it through Ranger school, he bought her yellow roses. When he left the Rangers to start Shadow Company, with his dad’s dear old friend General Shepherd playing mentor and high roller, he bought her a house. When Shadow Company started rolling in that fuckin’ mad money, he bought her a goddamned Yorkie that pisses on EVERYTHING in the GODDAMNED FUCKING HOUSE.

But that’s what you do for mom. Tiffany silver on Mother’s Day, a Ford Expedition on her birthday. What’s the point of having credit cards if they aren’t constantly maxed the fuck out and bleeding your credit score down to nothing like a pig with a slit throat?

Haha, I mean, c’mon.

He loves his mom. Even if she can be a nagging bitch a lot of the time, and the most demanding, selfish, ungrateful, cold-ass woman he’s ever met in his life. And she just looks at him in a weird way that makes him want to snap her wrist, and he could do it, and she probably doesn’t even know he can. Doesn’t even know how close he’s come to executing it.

But, you know. That’s how moms are. Just women in general. They tend to get their panties in a twist and shutdown. It’s what his mom did at his wedding. It’s what his wife did right before the divorce. But, wow, helluva ceremony. His girl was a smoke show, a real fuckin’ rodeo queen. But a guy makes one mistake and fucks a little slip of a thing while he was overseas for months on end, and that’s not forgivable. Would’ve never even come up, if the stupid bitch didn’t show up on his goddamned doorstep wanting to surprise him.

#draft

[only-horse-polls]

Horse Breed Tournament

Round 3 Group 2

Arabian Image --- Craigslist Image both from all-the-horses (Tumblr)

#BT Round 3 #BT Group 2

[fatehbaz]

[H]istorical trajectories of nonhumans and empires intersected, and informed one another [...]. Nonhumans [...] were also integral to the sustenance of imperial formations. [...] These varied indications of nonhuman presence provide the opportunity to address questions about nonhuman agency that privilege neither an anthropocentric nor a zoo-centric conception of history. [...]

[T]he “maintenance and repair” of nonhumans was an incessant preoccupation of disparate imperial powers. [...]

---

This involved not just the protection of nonhuman lives through legislation, as in the case of dogs in Ottoman Cairo. Rather, empires were invested in innovating new forms of lives by experimenting with forms of reproduction. These ranged from efforts to immortalize living horses through artistic portrayals in Mughal India, to machine-induced crossbreeding of sheep known as “freezers” in colonial New Zealand.

If the cultivation of animal life was a preoccupation of imperial regimes, so too was their death. In Mehmet ‘Ali’s Cairo, dogs that refused to internalize the status of domesticated subjects were collectively liable to poisoning or could be imprisoned in a ship and drowned; sheep awaiting to become commodities in late nineteenth-century colonial New Zealand were crossbred, raised, reared, fattened, butchered, and dressed precisely to suit the technologies of mechanical refrigeration [...].

---

Mikhail situates dogs in the course of two centuries, ending in the 1800s, as “integral actors in the urban fabric of Ottoman Cairo,” a “city full of dogs.” Dogs were subjects of exalted religious, allegorical, and legal discourses [...]. The role of dogs was related to the wider character of the contemporary Ottoman Empire, which, as Mikhail has argued elsewhere, was built on an “animal energy regime.”

The metamorphosis of the dog in nineteenth-century Ottoman Cairo from being a valued member to being a redundant burden was connected to the modernizing reforms initiated by the Mehmet ‘Ali government. The practices of urban reconstruction, modernization, sanitization, and cleansing in Mehmet ‘Ali’s Cairo were to a great extent, Mikhail argues, founded upon the reinvention of the canine body as a site of disease, waste, crowd, noise, and eradication.

---

Rebecca Woods shifts focus to the imperial meat trade to examine the reemergence of sheep in British New Zealand in the late nineteenth century as an embodiment of the intimate relationship between metropolitan consumption and colonial raw material. Sheep -- as livestock -- were appropriated as part of a network of lively capital that both connected and maintained the antipodal distance between New Zealand’s pastoral economy and metropolitan dinner tables in England. This was enabled by, as Woods shows, the recasting of the sheep as a “malleable” animal, one suited to bridging the technologies of mechanical reproduction and mechanical refrigeration. [...]

---

[N]onhuman animals had an indelible effect on imperial history, and [...] their subalternity was manifest in at least three distinct ways: they were victims of imperial violence; they were products of imperial regimes of subjectification; and they were usually marginalized in imperial historiography. The evocation of the subaltern calls up the critique of imperial meta-narratives of progress and improvement [...]. 

---

All text above by: Rohan Deb Roy. “Introduction: Nonhuman Empires.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 35 (1). May 2015. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

#abolition #ecology #imperial #colonial #multispecies #interspecies

[zimithrus1]

For the "I love you" Prompts: Number 4 with Zack/Cloud

Send me a platonic or romantic relationship and a number and I'll write a short fic!

4. "I don't mind."

Cloud's PHS goes off just as he heads out of his flat, the sound of a tiny puppy yip echoed from his pocket--Zack. He's the only one with that notification sound installed on his PHS. He takes it from his pocket as he walks down the hall, flipping it open to see the message inside with a soft smile.

But when he skims through the text he stops walking just as he gets close to the elevator, smile falling.

'I'm real sorry Spike, I've come down with something pretty nasty so going to the movies probably wouldn't be a good idea right now'. Complete with a ':c' following the statement.

Well that blows. They've been planning to see this movie since they released the first trailer like 5 months ago! They requested advance time off missions and drills so they could see it together, go on a little date. (Which they hadn't gotten to do in what felt like 18 eternities as it's hard for a freshly appointed 3rd Class to have a schedule lined up with a seasoned 1st Class SOLDIER.)

Cloud sighs and puts his phone back into the pocket of his loose black jeans. He spins on his heel and puts his hand back on the handle of his door. But he stops and hums.

Y'know what, he's got an even better idea than not seeing the movie. But first, a quick stop to the convenience store.

(Page break)

Out of all the things Zack was expecting to hear while he laid in bed, a fist pounding against the front door to his flat was not one of them. He slowly lifts his head from his cocoon of blankets and pillows, as though if he sits up and looks around his bedroom he'll magically know who's banging on his door.

But it doesn't take long for a voice to resound.

"It's Cloud, I'm coming in." And the door unlocks with a beep and a click.

Wait, Cloud? But- didn't he get his text? There's no way he can go to a movie with a fever and aches and congestion! Even so, he goes to get out of his bed all things despite to tell him in person, just in case he might've missed the notification.

Before he even has a chance to push the blankets off him, Cloud appears right outside his bedroom door.

"You look awful." He smiles.

So sassy. But Zack loves it. Makes a smile of his own bloom across his face (though he's sure his looks queasy in comparison).

"Brought you a care package."

Cloud holds up a plastic bag in his right hand a little higher, and through the hazy white plastic Zack can make out some small, boxy lumps. He closes the distance between them and sits right next to him against his blanket swarmed bed.

"So you got my message after all?" He asks with a voice more suited for a crossbred offspring of a horse and a frog.

"Yeah." He says as he starts pulling things out of the sack. "We haven't been able to see each other in 2 months thanks to our schedules, so I wasn't about to let this stop me."

Somehow Zack feels guilty about that. "Sorry." He croaks.

"It's okay, it happens." Cloud flashes him a quick grin to quell his worries. "I got you some pain relievers, cough syrup, nasal decongestant, some hot and cold patches, cough drops too, and a chocolate bar from the candy section. I know how much you love those Canyoncrunch bars." He points to each thing he pulled out of the bag, labeling them all as he goes.

"You really didn't have to do this for me, Cloud, really." Zack laughs as a blush paints his already flushed face a little redder. Normally he's the one spoiling and doting on Cloud, so it feels different when the roles are reversed.

"No, but I wanted to. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't take care of you the same way you do for me?"

Cloud actually leans in and kisses him on the cheek, despite his sickness.

"C-Cloud, if you aren't careful you're gonna catch what I caught..." Zack blushes fiercer and clears his throat.

"I don't mind." Cloud smiles warm enough to melt ice. "As long as we get to spend some time together, it doesn't bother me."

Zack smiles and the blush recedes.

Though 3 days later, Zack finds himself over at Cloud's flat, holding him close while Cloud's wrapped up in blankets sporting the same fever, aches, and congestion he had already. The only difference is he's spoon-feeding him ice-cream constantly to try and fight off his much higher temperature and soothe his sore throat. 3rd Classes aren't as impervious to illnesses as 1sts after all.

And when Cloud asked him if he was okay with constantly getting him ice cream from the one place 10 miles away that has his favorite flavor, Zack smiled, kissed him, and said,

"I don't mind."

Thank you for the ask!! 💚 This one was definitely a challenge for me as I say 'I don't mind' on the daily so much that I'm like 'How do I make this cute and not apologetic or dismissive???' XD

#writing ask game #ffvii #cloud strife #zack fair #clack #zakkura #final fantasy vii #ffvii ficlet #zimianswerz #zimiwritez #3rd class cloud #thanks again!!!

[bpdcarmyberzatto]

i dont think i will ever be as proud as i was when i beat a kid on a 40,000$+ horse at a show on my shitty, barely $2,000 bitzer crossbred pony that looked like he was about to drop a foal every moment because he had a gut because i was the ONLY person to actually ride the work out, even if i couldnt get my pony to collect lol i will die happy replaying the absolute meltdown that kid had after judging lol like dont buy an expensive horse if you cant ride???? get a schoolmaster push button and go from there lol

#cao posts

[twracehorse]

The struggle of wanting to buy more horses to train, but not knowing which ones to get.

I've been eyeing the seal bay Shire. It's slightly too saturated for my tastes, but it's also super cute, and I'm a sucker for blaze face markings (please SSE do more blazes/stripes on horses). I'm thinking of naming him Sweet Boy "Yunho" and it would actually work out to get him next month (March 23rd). I just need to find a black rabbit running pet. I don't think we have any rn so imma have to go with the closest one.

The silver dapple Tennessee Walker is another on my list. Tbh, I was waiting to see if the Morgan would pull out the coat with the markings from the Gen 2. That has been a horse I've wanted for so long, but I never got around to buying her. And then they just... didn't add the face markings to the Morgan. So I'm gonna go with the TWH! Now do I wait for them to go on sale with the HoJ? hmm.

I love the Haflingers. Top 5 for me. I so wish they came in more colors, or SSE was like, "we've crossbred these to add a variety of coats!" So we could get white grey, dark bay, black, paint markings, and so on! But anyway, there's the one that is still a tan chestnut, but has the least amount of white on the legs/chest, THAT one! Yeah, that's gonna be Link. Noble Hero or Wild Hero. Either or. Since the new Zelda game is coming out soon, I'm definitely wanting this one! Issue is that I'm gonna be recording his training. Mainly so I can add Link sound effects like his "Hyah! Hup! Heyt!" whenever he jumps or gets hit (by a jump). Soon my lad... soon...

Final wish horse is the black Gotland pony. Now, previously, I was gonna name him Sweet Boy "Izumi." ... you can see my problem... While his nickname will stay, I have no idea what his new in-game name should be. I should probably figure that out soon because I heard that some ponies will go on sale during the pony champ revamp 👀

#Race Rambles #Star Stable #Star Stable Online #SSO #ssoblr

[rabbitcruiser]

National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day

Bulldogs, beautiful? Well, yes! French, American, or English — bulldogs portray glamour in their own special way. That’s why we present National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day each April 21. (In case you’re wondering, our photo shows a very pretty French bulldog.)

True — people (as a rule) can’t get away with a lot of slobbering and wrinkles, but bulldogs make it an art form. They started popping up as furry companions in historical literature about five centuries ago. Today this sweet sidekick continually ranks as one of the most popular dog breeds in the U.S. French bulldogs currently sit fourth on the American Kennel Club’s list. (Bulldogs, technically a separate breed, are fifth.)

Here’s more on why we love them so much.

When is National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day 2023?

Bulldogs are beautiful and they are celebrated on April 21 every year. The holiday is a chance for bulldog owners to shower their beautiful dogs in treats and love.

History of National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day

Just like the pit bull, bulldogs were bred originally to assist butchers in controlling livestock. The history of bulldogs predates that of pit bulls, however, tracing back to 5th century England, to a breed called the Alaunt. In the 15th century, other than catching cattle and horses on farms, bulldogs were used in the barbaric activity of bull-baiting; in which dogs were pitted against bulls to fight until the bull was pulled to the ground or the dog was killed by the bull. Thankfully, bull-baiting was banned in 1835. Until this time, bulldogs were bred to be aggressive and a dog weighing 80 pounds could easily toss a bull weighing a ton down by corkscrewing its own body around its neck.

After bull-baiting ended in the U.K, it seemed that there would be no further use for bulldogs and that the breed would eventually become extinct. Luckily, the exportation of the breed to Germany and the U.S. expanded the line of work in which bulldogs were used. They continued herding cattle and hogs, especially in parts of the country where terrains were too rough for building fences. Bulldogs were crossbred in Germany to create the boxer breed. The aggressive bulldog was downsized in England, although it is uncertain whether this was accomplished by selective breeding of smaller dogs or cross-breeding with pugs.

The modern bulldog is gentle, affectionate, and stable both in terms of temperament and appearance. They may be small but are capable of great power and are super-loyal and brave when it comes to their human companions, especially children.

National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day timeline

1600New World bulldogs

The first bulldogs sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to arrive in America.

1875"The Bulldog Club Incorporated"

Based in the UK, this is the oldest breed club in the world.

1886AKC recognition

The American Kennel Club officially recognized bulldogs as a breed.

1922Bulldogs served their country

Jiggs, a bulldog, enlisted to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps

2019The Beautiful Bulldog Contest turns 40

This annual event takes place at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa (Home of the Bulldogs!).

Traditions of the Day

Each year, people express appreciation and celebrate these adorable creatures on National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day. Those who own bulldogs pamper them and treat them to their favorite snacks. Some owners buy cute outfits for their dogs and post pictures with them on social media.

Bulldog beauty contests are hosted, because bulldogs are in fact, beautiful. Those who didn’t appreciate bulldogs previously, take the time to read up on them and their history and consider getting one of their own.

By The Numbers

#4 – the ranking of bulldogs as the most popular dog breed in the U.S. 1886 – the year when bulldogs were officially inducted into the American Kennel Club. 4 – the number of different markings found on bulldogs. 55 – the weight in pounds of the average male bulldog. 50 – the weight in pounds of the average female bulldog. 8-12 years – the lifespan of a bulldog. 15 – the number of minutes walking before a bulldog is tired out. 40 – the number of universities in the U.S. naming their teams after bulldogs.

National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day FAQs

Why are Bulldogs the best?

Bulldogs make great pets for both kids and adults because of their gentle nature. They are not demanding and are quite low-maintenance, so they also make wonderful companions for the elderly.

How smart is a bulldog?

Bulldogs aren’t very intelligent, ranking at 78 out of 80 on the intelligence spectrum. Reportedly, it takes up to 100 tries for bulldogs to follow the first command.

What are Bulldogs used for today?

The bulldog—American and English—has gone on to become a popular companion and working animal, as well as a very widely used mascot.

National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day Activities

Volunteer at an animal shelter

Visit a pet-friendly restaurant or bar

Indulge your pet

It’s heartbreaking, but not every bulldog gets to celebrate National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day in the comfort of their own forever home. Lend a helping hand to bulldogs — and every other dog breed — by volunteering some of your time to your local animal shelter. Your heart will be full afterward, and you’ll probably even get some puppy kisses to help sweeten the deal.

Pack up your bulldog and head out to grab some tasty food and drinks. Most pet-friendly restaurants set out water bowls for your pup to enjoy as they hang out with you, but if you do a little research, you may even find a spot that has a menu dedicated just to the hounds.

Stopping at the local pet bakery on a daily basis probably isn’t the best thing for your furry friend’s waistline, but today is National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day, and that means ALL bulldogs are beautiful. Today is the perfect reason to indulge the bulldogs in your life—big and small. Yes, this also means you should stop by the human bakery and treat yourself as well.

5 Facts About Bulldogs

It’s in the name

The wrinkles are important

Everybody’s favorite mascot

A gastronomic experience.

Like owner, like pet

Bulldogs were originally bred for bull-baiting. This explains their name.

Back when bull-baiting was practiced, the wrinkles on a bulldog were significant for blocking blood from getting into the dog’s eyes during battle.

Be it the U.S. Marines or Yale University, the breed is a mascot for many prestigious institutions.

Bulldogs have a condition called brachycephalic, which makes them snort and gassy.

Bulldogs are couch potatoes and don’t need a lot of exercise, making them ideal for those who don’t want to do too much walking. 

Why We Love National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day

They make drool cool

They're adaptable

They make great watchdogs

Acknowledging the beauty of everyday life is a sure way to elevate your mood. Bulldogs? They’re gorgeous just the way they are – drool hanging out of the corner of their mouth and bull-legged posture just add to the beauty.

Bulldogs are great for city dwellers and country folk. This breed is fairly low-energy, so they don’t require a ton of exercise. They'll be content whether sniffing around a huge backyard or are taking a nap on the floor of your apartment.

They’re sweet-natured, but the staunch, muscular appearance of bulldogs can be intimidating. Although bulldogs are usually easygoing and lazy, when provoked, they're not afraid to make their presence known when necessary.

Source

#National Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day #NationalBulldogsAreBeautifulDay #Sushi #21 April #English Bulldog #my brother's dog #original photography #Europe #flora #fauna #vacation #travel #home #pet #dog #landscape #cityscape #indoors #outdoors #national day #tourist attraction #landmark #architecture

[gameonoverdogcom]

#IFTTT #Gameonoverdog

[chyana]

Question since you might be knowledgeable about horse Pokémon, but how do you feel about crossbreeds? Asking since the person my Grandpa got me my Mudbray from is breeding Mudsdales and Rapidashes to Rhyhorns to try and “revive the dead variant of the two Pokémon”…

I find it super interesting, I think there will be very amazing cros-breeds, there could even be different degrees of purity, creating very interesting hybrids. I would like to see what a mudsdale would be like with a zebstrika... could it be similar to a Zorse? interesting! Making a Crossbred with a Rhyhorns seems interesting to me but it's not the same type of pokemon, I mean, it's a rhinoceros, could they be compatible? /// out of this, i know this artist .. and wow her work about pokemon (and everything) is amazing! and they have some cross breds with rapidash! https://www.tumblr.com/oxboxer/733633925664129024/reminiscing-about-my-girafarig-crossbreeds-and (i'm so happy to talk about horses ;_;)

#pokemon #horses

[cryptotheism]

What is the legal status of drunk driving in the Amber Skies world?

There aren't really cars. Automotive technology is mostly reserved for off-road vehicles. Short transport is mostly done astride creatures that are essentially motorcycles crossbred with horses. Operating them under the influence is generally frowned upon, but not illegal. Though, if you are drunk and you break someone else's horse, you still gotta pay for repairs.

[roselungs]

I didn’t believe I would ever learn to die

I didn’t believe I would ever learn to die

I wasn’t around when death was for free

But I was there when my maternal grandfather paid the price of cotton labourers’ sweat that made his Ottoman suit

The price of bare miles to the women of Bosnia

The price of their tears on the chests of their men before the war

The price of God’s banners

The price of the emperor’s frivolousness and long-term sickness

Balkan blood dripped on my school shirt

The teachers found vows of vengeance in my backpack, and so fabricated chapters of history

I wasn’t around when death happened by chance, on the road

But I was there when my paternal grandfather paid the price of a signature at the bottom of a page, the price of surrendering his village at the bottom of the mountain, of taking the occupier’s hands off of it, the rebel’s taking his hands off of his waist. With the move of a pen, my grandfather’s ink numbed the slope. With the folding of a paper, the mountain folded history, with a handshake, he took the valley’s hand from the tank’s muzzle.

The almond trees died in the cardiac operation rooms, the wedding horses shrouded their eyes with henna and killed themselves.

No one cleansed my ethnicity. But the mountain’s spinal cord broke. And so broke my chance to ever ascend it together, to look at Christ’s footsteps on the lake and copy them.

I’m not the miracle

I didn’t walk on water and I didn’t heal myself of your love’s ailments

But it was my heart’s water which I learned to turn into asphalt whenever I remembered you

I learned to flee the lava that dripped from the mountains of your fear

And I didn’t learn death

I wasn’t there when death was a once and for all lesson

where the memory of the rocket betrayed it and so forgot the way

The bullet that never meant to cease being a pen

The massacre that passed by the main road and fired peace

When I was walking in the back road

Picking yellow daisies and watching wars drawn in cartoons

I didn’t believe I would ever learn to die

Until Beirut’s war drowned my mother’s lullaby in the well

The scent of invasions emanates from the cooking oven

The commando’s voice enters Um Kulthoum’s cassette

The skulls that paved the city road, they leave the poster hanging beside the bed and lull me, tapping my soft head like a long latmiya. So I stop crying, or they stop crying in it.

My heart grows in the well like a pomegranate tree, each time a branch is broken I climb another on my way to you. All of me breaks, so I become a nest. The birds look in the water and see the laughing face of a Bosnian, I look in it and see your face.

I am the child of tubes crossbred in a medical lab

I smelled the scent of dead horses in my father’s sperm

And I retreated

I was born in the seventh month

After I was beaten by Bosnians in my mother’s womb

And I retreated

I didn’t believe I would ever learn to die

Until the Hebron massacre was committed on the cake of my ninth birthday. I lit the candles on the carpets of Abraham’s house. They melted there alone and no one sang upon them. The birthday gifts fall into the well, the gifts fall, vows of vengeance, in my backpack

The vows would’ve dug my grave had they any hands

The almond trees would’ve stepped on it had they a spinal cord

The mountains would’ve praised it had they any poems

The Bosnian’s tears would’ve creviced its stones had they any beaks or claws

And I would’ve come out

To learn the first lesson

That the smashed skull in the poster is my skull

And that the blood on my shirt

Is my blood

— asmaa azaizeh, tr. yasmine haj

#poetry #asmaa azaizeh #free palestine

[only-horse-polls]

Horse Breed Tournament

Round 1 Group 2

Craigslist Image from all-the-horses (Tumblr) --- Thoroughbred Image by ma.hamrikova (Instagram)

#Round 1 #Group 2

[fatehbaz]

[H]istorical trajectories of nonhumans and empires intersected, and informed one another [...]. Nonhumans [...] in literary narratives [...] have been variously associated with significant episodes in the careers of enduring and expansive political regimes. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s classic novel The Autumn of the Patriarch begins with the scene o the arrival of “successive waves” of vultures at the presidential palace, who [...] profane the deceased ruler’s body [...]. Trespassing cows create further chaos, marking an irrevocable blow to the legitimacy of a deeply entrenched political order. The Mahabharata, whose narrative locus is the city of Hastinapura, or the “City of Elephants,” revealingly describes a dog as a constant companion of the Pandavas in their final journey [...]. In more prosaic historiographical accounts, like William Clarence-Smith’s work with regard to infantry horses in the Ottoman Empire, the scarcity of nonhuman animals is a technical factor behind the military decline of established empires. Nonhumans were not just a part of the drama of decline; they were also integral to the sustenance of imperial formations. [...] These varied indications of nonhuman presence provide the opportunity to address questions about nonhuman agency that privilege neither an anthropocentric nor a zoo-centric conception of history. [...]

-------

[T]he “maintenance and repair” of nonhumans was an incessant preoccupation of disparate imperial powers. [...]

This involved not just the protection of nonhuman lives through legislation, as in the case of dogs in Ottoman Cairo. Rather, empires were invested in innovating new forms of lives by experimenting with forms of reproduction. These ranged from efforts to immortalize living horses through artistic portrayals in Mughal India, to machine-induced crossbreeding of sheep known as “freezers” in colonial New Zealand. If the cultivation of animal life was a preoccupation of imperial regimes, so too was their death. In Mehmet ‘Ali’s Cairo, dogs that refused to internalize the status of domesticated subjects were collectively liable to poisoning or could be imprisoned in a ship and drowned; sheep awaiting to become commodities in late nineteenth-century colonial New Zealand were crossbred, raised, reared, fattened, butchered, and dressed precisely to suit the technologies of mechanical refrigeration; [...] and horses that were decorated objects of miniature painting in Mughal India often formed the frontline on the battlefield. [...]

Mikhail situates dogs in the course of two centuries, ending in the 1800s, as “integral actors in the urban fabric of Ottoman Cairo,” a “city full of dogs.” Dogs were subjects of exalted religious, allegorical, and legal discourses [...]. The role of dogs was related to the wider character of the contemporary Ottoman Empire, which, as Mikhail has argued elsewhere, was built on an “animal energy regime.” The metamorphosis of the dog in nineteenth-century Ottoman Cairo from being a valued member to being a redundant burden was connected to the modernizing reforms initiated by the Mehmet ‘Ali government. The practices of urban reconstruction, modernization, sanitization, and cleansing in Mehmet ‘Ali’s Cairo were to a great extent, Mikhail argues, founded upon the reinvention of the canine body as a site of disease, waste, crowd, noise, and eradication.

Rebecca Woods shifts focus to the imperial meat trade to examine the reemergence of sheep in British New Zealand in the late nineteenth century as an embodiment of the intimate relationship between metropolitan consumption and colonial raw material. Sheep -- as livestock -- were appropriated as part of a network of lively capital that both connected and maintained the antipodal distance between New Zealand’s pastoral economy and metropolitan dinner tables in England. This was enabled by, as Woods shows, the recasting of the sheep as a “malleable” animal, one suited to bridging the technologies of mechanical reproduction and mechanical refrigeration. [...]

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[N]onhuman animals [were central] to imperial conflicts and conceptualizations about territory. [...] [T]hese nonhumans (and anecdotes associated with them) transgressed the territorial frontiers of expansive empires. Dogs of Cairo were talked about and compared in Syria, India, and North China. [...] Specific breeds of sheep from New Zealand were exported outside the immediate limits of the British Empire into South America, Russia, and Japan.

Nonhuman histories reconfirms that these empires were obsessed with defining and transcending territorial limits. [...]

[N]onhuman animals had an indelible effect on imperial history, and [...] their subalternity was manifest in at least three distinct ways: they were victims of imperial violence; they were products of imperial regimes of subjectification; and they were usually marginalized in imperial historiography.

The evocation of the subaltern calls up the critique of imperial meta-narratives of progress and improvement [...].

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Text by: Rohan Deb Roy. “Introduction: Nonhuman Empires.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 35 (1). May 2015.