Comments on: Photographing Turtles: I’m No Good at It http://fieldherper.com/2012/02/27/photographing-turtles-im-no-good-at-it/ Field photography and notes from Arizona and around. Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:39:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Crotalus http://fieldherper.com/2012/02/27/photographing-turtles-im-no-good-at-it/comment-page-1/#comment-1563 Crotalus Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:39:44 +0000 http://fieldherper.com/?p=1963#comment-1563 Bryan, I was scrolling back through your archives, and just now discovered in your "Eddy County" entry, back in Feb. 2011, that you asked me if the " Horse Crippler" was an agave-type plant. The agave to which you refer is named Agave lechugulla, and I found out that it, too, is called "Horse Crippler" locally in Eddy County, for its ability to stab horses in the fetlock area. But the "Horse Crippler" to which I refer is actually Echinocactus texensis, a brute of a flattened barrel cactus which hides in the grass over much of its range, and pierces the quick of the hoof of horses and cattle, much like the old Japanese torture of bamboo splinters under the fingernails, as opposed to the Agave. Anyway, better luck with the turtles in the future. Bryan, I was scrolling back through your archives, and just now discovered in your “Eddy County” entry, back in Feb. 2011, that you asked me if the ” Horse Crippler” was an agave-type plant. The agave to which you refer is named Agave lechugulla, and I found out that it, too, is called “Horse Crippler” locally in Eddy County, for its ability to stab horses in the fetlock area. But the “Horse Crippler” to which I refer is actually Echinocactus texensis, a brute of a flattened barrel cactus which hides in the grass over much of its range, and pierces the quick of the hoof of horses and cattle, much like the old Japanese torture of bamboo splinters under the fingernails, as opposed to the Agave.

Anyway, better luck with the turtles in the future.

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