October 6th, 2009
Today I’m going to start a series of posts about saving money on horse care. Since I’ve been taking care of horses for 35 years, I have several suggestions … some have already been covered, but some you may not know. I’m sure that in today’s economy everyone could use some help in this area.
Suggestion for today: Give your horses their vaccinations. This can save a horse owner quite a bit of money and has been suggested in other blogs and websites. I’m bringing this up today because I’m going to give my horses their fall shots. I should have had this done but I have been busy with website design.
To start, find out from your local vet what vaccinations are necessary in your area and when they should be administered. If you are unsure about the proper way to give an intramuscular injection (IM), ask your vet to show you. Most horse owners should know how to do this anyway just in case their horse becomes ill or injured and requires frequent injections.
Vaccines can be purchased at such places as Valley Vet, KV Vet Supply, United Vet Equine or Jeffers Equine. There are many others online so shop around and find out what prices are available. I know that giving injections is not a pleasant task, but just think how far that savings will go toward buying feed for your horse this winter.
Tags: horse
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October 3rd, 2009
When the economy tanked, I went back to doing some website design in addition to the horses. This past week I uploaded my latest design – www.hillsandandgravelinc.com. I’m still waiting for more content from the owners, but I thought that I would get it working.
Tags: Website design
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September 23rd, 2009
Well, I’m back to writing in this blog again. It’s been a busy summer for us here on the farm – not so much with the horses, but with other things. Just like so many other businesses, the horse business has slowed to a crawl. In fact our local TV station just aired an update to a story about how the recession is hurting not only people but horses as well. Find it here at www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-horses-hurt,0,2858067.story . If you can help out with a monetary contribution, I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated. Notice I said monetary – not brushing the horses or walking them, etc. Unfortunately, vets, farriers, hay and grain suppliers…etc don’t use the barter system today. Gone are the days when you could trade a dozen eggs for the farrier trimming the horses hooves. Don’ t get me wrong there is a lot of hands on work that needs to be done around the farm, but there are a lot of expenses also.
Tags: horse, horse rescue
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June 8th, 2009
Today I found an interesting website, www.frankhopkins.com/ . After reading through some of his writings, I noticed that much of it sounded similar to what today’s big name trainers such as Pat Parelli, John Lyons, Clinton Anderson, etc. say today. So I guess what is new today was actually common sense horsemanhip of yesterday.
Tags: Clinton Anderson, horse, Horse, John Lyons, Pat Parelli
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June 8th, 2009
Posted previously.
It happened to me again today. I had a beginner adult ask about riding lessons, which is good, but then want to know how long and how many lessons it will take to learn how to ride. No way can I answer those questions. Very few people can learn to ride a horse 10 easy lessons.
To begin, everyone learns at their own pace and there is no way that I can make someone learn how to ride. It takes both physical and mental ability to make riding a horse happen. Take for instance, balance. I haven’t figured out a way yet to teach someone balance. Just like learning to ride a bike that balance has to come from within a persons own body.
Strength is also something that takes time to achieve. Some students come to me with very little physical strength. It takes time to build those muscle groups that will help a rider achieve a safe, effective position.
Finally, it takes practice to be able to ride a horse. There are so many people who think that you practice playing a musical instrument or playing a sport, but they don’t think that riding a horse is something that should be practiced. Maybe it’s because everyone thinks a rider sits on a horse and so they think that doesn’t take practice, but that is far from true.
For most people, if I could get up on the horse and ride for them it would be so much easier, but I can’t do that. I had to learn the long, slow way and it wasn’t easy, but I’m so glad I did. And, I’m still learning. Learning to ride a horse has never been something most people can do in 10 easy lessons.
Tags: horse, horseback riding lessons, students, work
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June 8th, 2009
Another previous post.
Good Morning! And it really is a good morning for me…it’s warmer today. I’m not a cold weather person and during the winter I really suffer some days. As I was telling someone the other day, when the wind blows out of the south my attitude improves dramatically!
I was having an interesting conversation the other day with one of my students. She told me that she had been reading an article and the author believed that many horses could be saved from senseless slaughter if they had been trained correctly. I totally agree and I would like to add something to that. In addition to training horses, riders also need more training. Now, I know that this isn’t a very popular idea among many recreational riders, but I feel it’s the truth.
First, most horses are NOT recreational vehicles. They aren’t ATVs that you can go start up on a Sunday afternoon and take a spin around the area. Many horses need to be worked – yes that dreaded word for many folks today – worked. And, for that matter, so do the riders. Riding is a physical activity and both the horse and rider need to be in good physical condition. When neither party is, it leads to sore muscles and joints for both and let’s face it we may understand why we’re having a tough time getting out of bed the next morning, but more than likely the poor horse doesn’t.
Also, many people today think that horses are pets. However, up until 100 years ago, or less horses were used for many kinds of work whether it was the TB on the track or the QH working cattle on a ranch. Yes, horses were bred to work and many that couldn’t work met an untimely end if you know what I mean. So just through selection, either planned or otherwise, horses became animals that are used to physical activity. It has only been in recent history that horses have become something similar to a labrador retriever in some people’s views.
Finally, riders need to be able to ride, not just sit up on the horse and hang on for dear life with their heels and hands. I’m not saying that everyone needs to be an Olympic caliber rider, but a rider should be able to control what their legs and hands are doing for the sake of the horse. Nothing can be any more confusing for some horses than to be banged in the sides with flapping legs or jerked in the mouth by hands that are trying to keep the rider in the saddle. And the beating that the poor horse’s back takes as the stiff rider bounces around….oh my!. Unfortunately, most people don’t want to take the time or make the effort to learn correct riding.
These are just a few of my thoughts. What are yours.
Tags: horse, horse slaughter, horseback riding lessons, students, work
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June 8th, 2009
Another post from the winter.
December is here and things are slowing down here on the farm…thank goodness since Christmas will be here in less than a month. I am never ready for that day and I know it’s coming every year. Oh well, maybe I’ll start getting ready for next Christmas next September. Yeah right!
Lime has been applied to the fields and it really would be nice if it would rain to help it go into the ground. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t seem to want to rain and now the wind is blowing a gale, drying out what little rain we received the other day.
Of course, I’m feeding the horses hay this time of year. I’m lucky that I don’t feed hay year round like a lot of people, but then paying for the diesel fuel to run the irrigation pump to water the pastures has gotten expensive, too. The horses go out at night and have the all they can eat “hay buffet” round bale. I know there are many, many people that would never begin to feed their horses the way that I do, but the way I feed horses is actually a more natural way. Instead of grazing on grass while in the pasture, they graze on hay. The hay is in a feeder so that it doesn’t rain on it and they can’t walk through it so I have very little wasted. I feed very little grain, unless a horse is in heavy work and let’s face it most of today’s horses do very little work, but that’s a discussion for another day.
This method has worked for our barn for many years. Think about it. It may work for your horse, too.
Tags: farm, hay, horse, winter
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June 8th, 2009
This was first posted back in December.
It really doesn’t seem as if it has been 5 days since I last posted anything on this blog. Anyway, I was just reminded of what I always seem to be telling my students when it comes to training their horses…”It doesn’t happen by magic”.
Training isn’t magic at all, but it is work. Just like today when I was lunging a young filly out in a 41 degree rain. See, I don’t have an indoor ring so I have to work in all kinds of weather…good and bad. But, the training i.e. work won’t get done unless I do it. So there we were out in the blowing rain, but we did it and she was a good horse, too.
Tags: farm, Horse, work
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June 8th, 2009
This is my first post since installing Wordpress. I hope that this will work out better than the blog that the website had before. Anyway, the following are some of the posts from the old blog.
Tags: horse
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