The Trouble With The Moldy Monster…..

As of yesterday, I had a large bale of hay that was not being used very quickly. That bale was used to feed my rabbits, not horses. Since the buns don’t eat the hay to quickly, “someone” in my wonderful family decided to spread out the hay so that they could lay down in it (winter is cold for rabbits too right? :)).

Anyway, I got around to cleaning it all up and got to the bottom layer. I was then met with a shocking amount of whitish/blue, “fuzzy” mold growing all over the moist, warm hay.

I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me before, but nevertheless, I was quite bummed. After getting all the nasty stuff up, I stored the rest of the good hay and thought about how dangerous it would be if a horse had been fed that moldy hay?

Horses especially are impacted by moldy hay and feeding can result in respiratory problems like heaves or colic.

Pregnant horses can have miscarriages or complications with foaling.

Even ranchers can have problems themselves. Problems could be a sore throat for a few weeks, or mroe serious complications, farmers lung, which results in fungus growing in the lung tissue.

Have you had problems with mold? What did you do with the spoiled feed? Comment below and share yours story!

Happy Trails,

Beck.

 

I’m Pro-life…what are you?

http://prolife.org.nz/count/countdown3.js

 

 

What is a Coggins test?

A lot of people wonder what a coggins test is, and actually it is very simple to explain.

A coggins test is pretty much just a blood draw, which is then tested to confirm whether or not a horse has a disease called Equine Infectious Anemia. If a horse is infected with this sickness, it is so serious that the individual has to be permanently quarantined or euthanized. The most common symptoms are fever, depression, weight loss, lethargy, and pin-point sized hemorrhages.

If your horse tests positive (positive coggins), you will need to discuss with your veterinarian what the best course of action should be and what would be in the best interest of your horse. If your horse tests negative(negative coggins) congratulations. Your equine partner is as “healthy as a horse” in this test!

Happy Trails!

Becky

 

 

 

Lots of Mustangs in Nevada…….

 

Mustangs

Oliver is a 9 year old mustang. He is  always full of tricks, and  keeps us laughing at the barn.

When God made horses on the fifth day of creation, horses were included in that. He made the horses for our enjoyment and also to help graze off overgrown land and bushes when needed.

Wild of “feral” horses are called mustangs. Quiet a long time ago, people from South America and from Europe  came and realized they needed strong horses with mixed bloodlines to plow their crops and work for them. They had brought their own sturdy mounts, but they needed them to be more than just strong in one particular quality. So they took some of their horses, and set them free in the mountains.

These horses mixed with the tough bloodlines of the mountain ponies and such, and therefore created the mustang, the mixed bred horse with a Spanish heritage.  Mustangs are wonderful creatures, and when properly trained, make great and loyal riding companions. They are a little bit tricky to start with if they are untouched or unhandled, but progress is usually very quick.

Some of you may have heard of the Extreme Mustang Makeover?  What happens there, is that the BLM decides it is time for another roundup at the mountains, so they go and pull a few dozen mustangs from the wild and bring them into the facilities. Then they put on their website that they have some new mustangs, and perhaps they will start to gentle and halter train some for their new trainers. The trainers will come in and get their mustang, take him or her back home, and begin the amazing journey of getting a completely wild horse to trust people. The only catch is that the horse MUST BE TRAINED WITHIN A HUNDRED DAYS!!! Once the hundredth day is up, they will take their horse and enter him in what I like to call “the showoff”, and show the audience what their horse can do. Adults compete in a saddle broke horse, and youth take part in in-hand classes, which just means they could create a liberty routine or do little tricks with halter and lead in hand. Winners receive fabulous prizes, belt buckles, sashes, and sometimes a thousand dollars or more!!

 

 

I’m Back With News!

Hey, everyone! So sorry it took me so long to come back here! I started a new hobby with horses, besides riding, and have not had any time left over, and we are also fostering a bunch of dogs every week. ( we need 25 hours in a day!).

Okay, okay, you are wondering what my new hobby is. One of my little brothers has a disability called Down Syndrome. Our family and friends look at him as a normal kid, because really the only difference is that he learns slower and had a weaker muscle tone than average. So sometimes he has to do therapy.

One of the ways you can do therapy is through horses. It is called hippotherapy . It has nothing to do with hippopotamus’, though! The child or adult is put on the horse and walked around an arena, sometimes with people on the side of the horse too help them stay balanced. And instructor or therapist will tell the leader and child what to do, such as a certain stretch or things like that. The horses are amazing. Often they will be well trained and well bred. The barn I work at has an Arabian mare cross, two mustangs, a palomino, and even a Thoroughbred cross!

While others are working on lessons, the volunteers will be cleaning bathing, and grooming the horses. The barn I work at always has something to do. A lot of the common things are filling hay-bags, mucking out stalls, cleaning water buckets and tack, sweeping tack rooms and hallways, and things like that.

Learn more about  volunteering at your local therapeutic riding center, and try it out. Who knows, you might make a new best human and horse friend!

The Deal With Ears

Hey, everybody,

I’m so sorry!!!!! I haven’t been on here in like a year. Been SOOOO  busy.  I have been working with horses a lot lately and pretty much forgot about my blog. Sorry, all you followers!

For those of you who have been around horses before, or even just seen them once, you know about those ears. Horses have amazing ears that can turn on almost a 360 degree angle and can take on all different positions, depending on their mood. Their ears also have incredible hearing ability.

If say, you are bathing a horse with cold water, and you hit a sensitive spot(under the tail, stomach, ect.), the horse might turn his head around, pin his ears back and try to nip you, maybe swishing his tail. Obviously, he doesn’t enjoy the thing you are doing, and is trying to communicate to you that he doesn’t like it. Or what about if you are watching horse in the paddock or pastures, and you see one horse dive at the other with his teeth, ears laced back. He is telling the other one “Stay out of my way” or “I’m in charge here. The same goes for kicking another horse.

Now those are the unpleasant things. What about when a horse is happy or relaxed? For example if you sratch a horse on his itchy spot under the halter, he might half close his eyes and relax his ears. Relaxed ears look sort of turned out and back at the same time. If a horse is alert, his ears will be pricked sharply.

Hope this wasn’t too boring!

Becky 😉

HAY

A good example of a square bale.

Eating is a big part of horses health. They have to eat enough of the right food to stay healthy, but not so much as to make them overweight. Horses eat a lot. The average horse eats from fifty to eighty pounds of hay or grass or whatever roughage has been given to them. That’s a lot of food!

Hay Bales are probably one of the most commonly used feed. They come in square bales and round bales.  The round bales are heavy and are very large and harder to store than square bales. You can do just about anything with square bales. 😉 

The other things you feed are supplements which would be grain and salt blocks.

You normally feed grain for extra food to pregnant mares, elderly horses, or really young horses. Or you could use grain as an occasional treat for extra nutrients.

Happy feeding!

Tacking Up

Hey, guys. I thought I’d share a few tips about when I prepare horses for riding. Hope you benefit from it.:)

First, I give the horse a real good brushing with each of the brushes(yes, the rubber curry comb, the dandy or rough brush, and the soft brush) P.S. brush the girth area really well.  I also check the hooves to make sure there are no stones or burrs in his hoof. They go faster and listen more obediently if their mind isn’t on how to get the painful thing out of their hoof. It could irritate or even hurt them.

When saddling, put the pad on his neck and slide it down his back, until the top of the pad rests on his withers. Then rest the saddle on your knee, still holding it, flip the girth over the saddle so it doesn’t get in the way,  and use your knee to swing it up on his back. It helps to use that knee so you don’t use all your upper body strength.

When I buckle the girth, I leave it a little loose so my horse can get used to it. Then I tighten it up after I check the saddle for torn places or ripped places. Then I tighten it and buckle the girth or strap in the T-knot. I’ll try to get a video of me doing the T-knot.

When you put on the collar or chest strap, make sure that the whole chest area is clean and brushed. Then slide the strap over and buckle it.

Finally the bridle. Yes, this is my least favorite part (lol).Stick your finger in the corner of his mouth and push firmly, then gently slide the bit into his mouth and pull the head stall over his ears. Or for you who don’t like sticking your fingers in a horse’s mouth, simply bury the bit in a little pile of hay and offer it to your horse! That’s probably the easiest way, but I have to clean it off good afterwards.

Happy riding,

R.

Draft Horses

Percheron, Belgian, Clydesdale, Shire, they are all heavy draft horses. I personally think draft horses are amazing. Some can even pull more than their own body weight. The basic draft horse is heavily muscled and is usually found pulling plows or pulling wagons. Some can even be seen pulling old fashioned coaches at fairs and things!

But I have seen people riding Belgians and Percherons. I probably would be a little nervous getting on such a big animal. They are hugs animals, and as the old saying goes, When a team of four or more Percheron’s go by you, you’ll feel the ground shake.                                                                                                                                                                                            Happy Trails, R.

Ike and Dolly, the two dappled gray Percheron’s at the barn

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