Browsed by
Month: August 2006

Willie Nelson Against US Horse Slaughter

Willie Nelson Against US Horse Slaughter

Comments 0 Comment

Eating horses?“It’s time for the cowboys to stand up for the horses”, country music legend Willie Nelson is reported to have said. There is a bill in Congress right now to ban the practice of slaughtering horses here in the U.S. as well as selling horses for slaughter elsewhere. The bill is being called The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, HR 503 for the House of Representatives and S 1915 for the Senate. Willie Nelson is lending his star-support through the Society for Animal Protective Legislation to encourage US citizens to get involved by calling their representatives.

So here’s the question I have for you today. Even though it’s not part of American culture to slaughter horses for food, should we outlaw it? I’ve been doing some reading on the subject today and there seems to be two issues here. The first is using horses as food, for human consumption or otherwise. Second is how well horses are treated prior to slaughter. People seem to either detest the practice of slaughtering and eating horses or …

Read More Read More

Shoes or Barefoot?

Shoes or Barefoot?

Comments 1 comment
Horse shoe

There is a huge debate these days about whether to go traditional and put shoes on your horse or leave them au naturel, barefoot and free. After all, horses in the wild don’t have shoes and they do just fine, right? So why do we even shoe them at all?

Domesticated horses do a lot of things that wild horses do not. They bear extra weight; they travel over rougher surfaces, such as asphalt. They work for us, whether in a field, on a trail or in a rodeo arena. It makes sense to give them some extra protection. However, more and more people are coming to believe that horses can do all those things barefoot, and many experts agree. If you practice proper hoof care, have the hooves trimmed regularly, and provide any dietary supplements you, your farrier and your vet decide may be necessary, most horses can go barefoot with no problem.

When we got Valentine, he was shod, except for his right rear where he had lost one (or “thrown a shoe” as they say). That hoof was so nicked up, and he was so sensitive on that foot, that we didn’t think it was a good idea for him to go bare. When we got Moonshine, she was barefoot all around and had been for some time. Her feet were pretty nicked up too, but the previous owner said she hadn’t had a trim for a while. The farrier said her feet looked really good, so we left her barefoot and just had her trimmed.

…

Read More Read More

Summer Hay Expense

Summer Hay Expense

Comments 4 comments
Summer hay

One of the most important things we’re trying to do with this website is to identify the expenses involved with horse ownership so new horse owners know what to expect. I now know how much we’re spending on hay for our two horses during the summer months. Back on May 22nd of this year, we secured a load of hay that will last until tomorrow, August 22. Here are the facts:

Purchase date: 5/22/06
Quantity: 40 square bales (30 lbs. each)
Cost: $1 per bale/$40 total
Additional expense: $20 gasoline
Total cost without gas: $40
Total cost with gas: $60
Supply longevity: 93 days

Base on those figures, here’s how the hay cost breaks down:

Bales used per day: .43 or 2/5th’s total per day
Cost per day w/o gas: $.43 total or $.22 per horse
Cost per day w/gas: $.66 or $.33 per horse

So that’s pretty good! If only hay cost $1 per bale all year.

Now here’s a little background on this hay purchase. We live in east Tennessee and know someone whose mom has a farm and raises hay. She had some hay from the previous year that was dry and in good shape. Our friend feeds this hay to all of her horses including a pregnant mare who foaled this summer. The hay was $1 a bale partially because it was cut last year and they wanted to make room for the new cutting. We think that the price next time will be more like $2.50 for fresher hay but will detail that expense when we get to it. Our horses ate the older hay for 3 months and seemed fine with it. We didn’t find any mold and it held together nicely.

…

Read More Read More

Free high quality horse backgrounds/wallpaper

Free high quality horse backgrounds/wallpaper

Comments 2 comments

Horse backgrounds and wallpaperI just found a nice horse background/wallpaper photo I’m going to use on my PC desktop (also works on MAC and Linux) and thought I’d share. This site offers tons of free backgrounds but the horse one really caught my eye. You’ll have to suffer through some ads on the site but it’s understandable since the pics are free for personal use. They offer a variety of sizes for almost any common monitor or LCD screen including widescreen sizes. I have nothing to do with the site, just wanted to pass on something neat.

Here are the links:

Horse Background (InterfaceLIFT)

Horse Background search results (InterfactLIFT) – 6 total as of this post

Our Horses Are Bleached Blondes

Our Horses Are Bleached Blondes

Comments 5 comments
Hot sun

Man, it sure is hot here in Tennessee. But I want to put to rest right here the myth that “dry heat” is somehow superior to humidity. I believe I am qualified to decide this issue because I currently live somewhere where it’s humid, and before this, lived most of my life in the “dry heat.” As I sit here in east Tennessee, my atomic clock/weather station says it is 97.1 F with 49% humidity. I was just outside filling the horses’ water bucket, and it’s darn hot. The humidity has been much higher, and it was very, very uncomfortable. However, 120 F, dry or not, is much worse, believe me. Besides, ask a Phoenician how dry it is in Phoenix right now. They have what’s called the “monsoon” season when the temp drops down to a balmy 110 or so, and the humidity hikes up to 50% or higher. Nasty.

Anyway, that’s not my real topic today. My real topic is heat and horses. My poor horses can’t fit in my air-conditioned house (don’t think I wouldn’t try if I thought they could), so they have to battle the heat in their own ways. Luckily, our pasture has a lot of wooded areas and is mostly surrounded by trees, so they have lots of shade. We make sure they always have lots of fresh clean water (which isn’t easy, given their habit of backwashing grassy water into the bucket all day). I cannot stress enough the importance of making sure your horse has plenty of water! Our horses sweat A LOT, so of course, they need to keep rehydrating. From how many times I refill their tub (plus the buckets of water they have in their stalls at night), I believe they are drinking about 30 gallons of water a day between the two of them. But that’s okay, they have unlimited refills here. And there’s always the pond if they feel like a dip. They’d have to be pretty desperate, though, because our pond would be better described as a rather deep mudhole. But they’ve been in it before and could again.

…

Read More Read More