Great Salt Licks

My dear departed gelding Farly was a sculptural artist.

I always got a kick out of looking in the manger of his stall and seeing what shape he had licked his salt block into. Sadly, cell phones weren't a thing at that time, so I don't have any photos to show his artistic genius.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one.

I came across this site this weekend - The Great Salt Lick Contest.

For the last 13 years, there has been a contest in Baker, Oregon, for the most sculptural salt lick. As per the rules,

"All entries must be salt blocks licked by cows or other livestock. Range blocks licked by wildlife will also be permitted. Blocks licked by humans will not be permitted. Licks may also be subject to DNA testing. Blocks with human DNA will be eliminated and offenders banned from future contests."

Also:

"Cows caught using steroids will be canned.

Mad cows will be eligible for psychtriatric treatment."

It looks like the whole town gets behind the contest and has a good time. It's a fun idea (this year's theme is "Expose Yourself to Salt Lick" and has a picture of a flasher opening his trenchcoat in front of a salt block), and most importantly, it's used as a fundraiser for Parkinson's Research when the salt block sculptures are auctioned off. So far, they've raised $150,000.

Here's a video about the contest.

This could make a fun class at a fun show or country fair. I'm pretty sure I missed my chance to claim my horse is the next big thing in the art world (I don't know of any sculptural artists to name here), but maybe he's in your barn!