Browsed by
Author: Bill

The horse owner’s garden – Part 1

The horse owner’s garden – Part 1

Comments 6 comments
Horse Owner's Garden

We spent a good part of this past weekend setting up a garden. Now the significance of this for us is that we’re previously desert people and are not used to gardening. I haven’t had a garden in almost 20 years and Mikki, an Arizona native, has never had a garden. Horses and the ability to garden were two of the top reasons for us deciding to move to Tennessee. So this weekend we put up some fencing, tilled the soil and began planting. As a horse owner, the thought occurred to me that we really ought to devote a portion of our garden to vegetables our horses like. I’m not sure we’ll save much money…a five pound bag of carrots at Costco and Sams Club runs around $2.50. But if we stagger our carrot planting, for example, at least we won’t have to make a trip to the store to buy them this summer. And we’ll know they were grown without any pesticides, except maybe some sevin dust, if needed.

The only trouble with this plan is, I don’t know what else to plant but carrots. I gave Valentine and Moonshine a radish the other day. She like it, he didn’t. I like radishes too but I could give Moonshine the ones I don’t want. I’ll call them horse radishes (haha). I suppose celery is an option. I’ll have to do some experimenting. Our garden is about 25 foot by 20 foot so we’ve got ample room to grow tomatoes, beans, some corn, strawberries, melons, etc.
As a horse-owner, having a garden is great. Now I know what to do with all that composted manure from the past year. I walked right past the fertilizer section of the Home Depot garden center and laughed.

So this horse owners garden right now consists of only carrots. Any suggestions on other veggies I should try, specifically for horses?

Horse Expense List Updated

Horse Expense List Updated

Comments 5 comments

I just got caught up on our year-to-date horse expense list and chart. 2007 is shaping up to be more expensive for us as horse owners. It looks like the biggest reason for that is because we’re just coming off of the cold months and winter is definitely more expensive for maintaining horses. Last years expense list started in summer. Now that the grass is growing and our horses are spending less time in the barn, our expenses are going down. If it wasn’t for farrier expense in April, our monthly total would have been only $74. But horses (usually) need shoeing!

Here are some expense changes implemented recently:

  • We find ourselves using more wood pellets these days, as it makes our job cleaning stalls each day much easier.
  • We got some good deals on more expensive feed from Purina and now we’re hooked. We really like Omolene and Strategy. I think we’ll stick with Strategy for now, which sells for about $3 more per bag than local feed-store sweet oats. We’ll also be cutting back slightly on the amount of feed we use.
  • We’ll start buying fly parasites again this month (May). We tried them last year and they worked. Today I noticed TONS of flies in the barn. We should have ordered the parasites a little earlier.

On an administrative note, the horse expense list page is looking cluttered to me so I’ll be redesigning it. The information is good, it’s just getting hard to read.

Here’s the updated graph:

2006-2007 Horse Expenses chart

Our 11 month average is $157.

Show horses, MEET GIRLS!

Show horses, MEET GIRLS!

Comments 4 comments

I’d guess 85% of the participants are female…

At the horse show, this weekend, Mikki and I made an interesting social observation. There are very few boys/men riding at these shows. It’s true. I’d guess 85% of the participants are female and all the boys/men were constantly surrounded by cute girls/women. Our son is only 10 but when the time comes for him to be interested in girls, I’m going to suggest he ratchet up his interest in horses, too. It’s nearly a perfect dating scenario. Horses are masculine but also feminine. Guys look tough on horses and girls like horses and guys who look tough. It’s easy to date someone who is interested in similar topics, such as horses. Chemistry can develop when you’re involved in some friendly competition at a show. And supply versus demand gives guys the edge. Eighty-five percent! Why aren’t more guys into this sport!?

We want to show our horses

We want to show our horses

Comments 3 comments

A friend invited us to a local horse show this weekend where her kids were competing. We are now fairly certain we want to show our horses. We’re not interested in the super fancy dress-up shows, not that there is anything wrong with that. But this local show was right up our alley. Come as you are, show what you’ve got. 43 classes, a few of which either had no participants or only one participant. Mikki is interested in the Walking Horse and gaited classes for Valentine and I’m interested in trying Moonshine out as a barrel racer. Again, local shows, small purse, light competition. But it sure looked like fun!

I know we have some work to do but Valentine is an ex-show horse, to begin with and has quite a striking appearance. Moonshine’s talent seems to be her ability to run like the wind. Our horse friend offered to cart our horses to some shows with them since we don’t have our own trailer. I need a helmet!

Yesterday Mikki and I worked with our very willing horses. We rode both of them some, practiced saddling, mounting and helping them stay focused despite distractions like kids on bicycles and dogs barking. I think that show was just the motivation we needed to get our horses (and us!) into shape.

Wood chewing habit update

Wood chewing habit update

Comments 14 comments

Purina Strategy Horse FeedAs I’ve mentioned before, Moonshine has a wood-chewing habit. She’ll nibble on our fence, especially after a meal or a snack and then she’d latch on and suck in air. Weird. One theory on why she was doing this was that maybe she was bored. Our horses spend several hours a day in a stall in the barn, after all. So we got her some horse toys, which she entirely ignored. We cut down on how much time she was in the barn and nothing changed. Eventually I had to protect her stall door with some stainless steel just to keep her from chewing on it. That worked really well (I’ll post an update about that soon) but she was still chewing on our wood fence. Another reason horses chew wood is because they’re lacking in minerals. Some horses will even eat dirt, though I haven’t ever seen her doing that. But I think we may have found the cause for Moonshine’s bad habit. For about a month now we’ve been feeding our horses Purina Strategy. For about $12 per 50 pound bag, it’s more expensive than the local feed store’s sweet oat blend but we had a coupon from the last Purina Horse Owner’s Workshop and decided to give it a try. Purina doesn’t pay us anything (we’re not connected with them in any way) so this is our honest observation. Since we started Moonshine on Strategy, I haven’t noticed her chewing wood. She’ll still lick it some but I don’t see her chewing or sucking air anymore. Purina claims Strategy provides all the necessary nutrients pleasure horses need and maybe our local feed store’s blend was missing some things. There have been some other benefits but I’ll cover those in another post.

I’ll keep an eye on her but at the moment, it seems we’ve mostly licked (haha!) this bad horse habit. If your horse has a similar habit, I suggest trying some changes to its feed mix to make sure it’s consuming a good blend of minerals.

Au naturel, hairy legs and all

Au naturel, hairy legs and all

Comments 6 comments

I recently read that horse fetlock hair shouldn’t be trimmed. It seems the fetlock hair we think looks untidy actually serves the purpose of channeling rain water away from the horse’s hooves. Think of it as a tassel. I’m told those frilly tassels cowboys wore on coats back in the cowboy days served the same purpose.

I’m noticing a trend towards letting horses go au naturel; skipping all the aesthetic trimming to allow the natural features of our horses to serve the purpose intended by nature. Another example of this is whiskers. Our horses aren’t show horses so I didn’t know this was happening but “horse whisperer” and special events speaker for Purina, Sam Powell, said that some horse owners trim their horses’ whiskers for shows. The trouble is, Sam explains, whiskers serve the purpose of keeping horse faces out of trouble. When a horse gets its face too close to something, the whiskers alert the horse. Think of them as “curb feelers.” Of course, many animals have them, including cats and dogs. Some horse owners trim their ear hair but Mikki pointed out today that all that ear hair probably helps keep the flies out of their ears. In addition to serving as a fly swatter, I’m told horse tails also provide a wind break when it’s cold. Sam said that in cold wind, horses will often turn their backs to the wind and the tail keeps the cool air from blowing into their nether regions and belly.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t give your horse a trim. Unless someone gives us a good reason not to do it, we plan on trimming some of the beard Valentine is growing. He looks like Abe Lincoln! Well, a horse Abe Lincoln. We’re also planning on trimming the bridle path to make it easier to put on a bridle and more comfortable for the horses. The bridle laying across a clump of hair looks uncomfortable.

So if you see our horses with ear hair, untrimmed fetlocks, long eye lashes, whiskers and hairy legs and armpits, you’ll know why. They’re just going au naturel.

The predicted extinction of the horse

The predicted extinction of the horse

Comments 4 comments

Horses predicted to become extinctThe other day I came across an article from the Ladies Home Journal, dated sometime in the year 1900. It was an article of predictions about what might happen in the next 100 years. An interesting read, some of the predictions were right on, like telephones being ubiquitous and color photographs being sent all around the world quickly. Others were WAY off, such as the ability to have stores send you things via pneumatic tube right into your home. But to me one of the more interesting predictions was that horses would become extinct. John Elfreth Watkins, Jr., the author of “What may happen in the next hundred years” expected that the invention of the automobile would eventually lead to everyone owning and using them for transportation. He was right about that. But he also guessed that the automobile would “have driven out the horse”. Furthermore, he said there would be “no mosquitoes nor flies” (if only). “The extermination of the horse and its stable will reduce the house-fly,” Watkins said.

As much as I’d love to see the mosquito and house-fly disappear from the Earth, I’m glad horses weren’t “exterminated” or “driven out”, as he puts it. I suppose horses in 1900 were seen mostly as beasts of burden; probably the most common animal used for transportation and work at the time. If you had a horse, it was for work of some kind, compared with today when horses are mostly used for recreation in this country. People in 1900 also didn’t have the common comfort appliances we take for granted today, such as air conditioning. I can imagine people looking forward to horses being replaced with machines, if only to reduce the pestilence of flies that no doubt annoyed every homeowner when the weather was warm and the windows were open.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting read for contemporary horse owners. My how things have changed!

There is some more text about horses in there, too. If you’d like to read the article yourself, click the title below. It’s about 450KB:

What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years Ladies Home Journal article (PDF)

Man arrested for slapping horse

Man arrested for slapping horse

Comments 5 comments
Mounted Police
Photo by Obed Hernández on Unsplash

A man in Tempe, Arizona was arrested for slapping the rump of a police horse. Mounted police were there to help control a crowd of 200 people, several of which were being rowdy. The Arizona Republic reports that the man “admitted to knowing that horses jump or run when slapped, but told the officer that it was ‘no big deal,’ according to police.” There is no word on what the horse did upon being slapped but I’m guessing police horses are very well trained. Even so, THAT WAS STUPID. I’d be surprised if alcohol wasn’t involved.

That same night in Tempe, a more violent attack against a horse led to another mans arrest. Police were called to a club where a fight was taking place. An officer tried to detain the man but he didn’t want to be detained and “began violently swinging at the officer and his horse, according to a report”, the Arizona Republic says.

I’ve been in crowds where mounted police were riding around to keep the peace. I’d say in most cases, horses are quite intimidating and do a good job of peacekeeping by presence. I can’t imagine walking up to a horse and attacking it. Both of these guys, especially the last one, are lucky they weren’t on the receiving end of some equine panic.

Sources: Arizona Republic – Article 1 – Article 2

Horseback with a cell phone

Horseback with a cell phone

Comments 7 comments

Cell phone on horsebackI just got back from another great trip from Arizona. My last trip there was in January when it was quite a bit colder. Even so, the quick horseback riding trip I took back then made all the shivering worthwhile. On this recent trip, my new friends Gary and Jennifer once again invited me over, this time for a much warmer horseback ride. My equine host was Buck, the same horse I rode last time. I feel like I’m getting to know him. We rode off into the sunset again, for a leisurely stroll around rural Maricopa, Arizona. It was a beautiful ride, with the sun setting over the mountains nearby. Gary and my stepson Chris, more skilled than I at riding, both piloted more spirited horses. Old Buck and I held back a little and enjoyed the view…and entertainment. Buck seems like a great horse but every once and a while trips or stumbles so I held the saddle horn with a ninja death grip.

I was having such a great time, a thought occurred to me. This would be a great place to call Mikki (she didn’t come with me on this trip), as part of my ongoing “call people from cool places” project. I’ve called from beside a track at a Nascar race, from an aircraft carrier and from the top of a few mountains, so why not while horseback riding into the warm desert sunset in Arizona? I whipped out my phone with one hand and opened the cover with my thumb. It would be so easy to drop the phone to it’s destruction from that height. I had to try a few times punching buttons. It’s a little bouncy up there. Finally I got the right number, pushed send and held the phone up to my ear. Since Buck neck reigns, it was difficult to do this because one hand held the steering wheel (the reigns) and the other hand didn’t want to let go of the ninja death grip it had on the saddle horn. My plan was simple. “Hi honey, calling you from on top of a horse. Gotta go, bye!” The phone rang and rang and rang…I try again. Same thing. I never did get through so I can’t prove I actually made the call but I swear I really did make a scary, dangerous cell phone call from atop a horse!

With more confidence, I’m sure I could have pulled it off more gracefully but making cell phone calls from horseback doesn’t seem like a great idea, at least for new riders. For me it was just a novelty but I wonder if experienced riders and real cowboys do it these days.

Spring horse showers

Spring horse showers

Comments 5 comments

It’s been rather toasty in east Tennessee this past week. We hit almost 90 degrees Sunday. I notice our horses are shedding like a polar bear in Miami so we decided to give them a good brushing, followed by a cool shower.

Horse shower

Now we brush our horses in the winter but I have to admit, we haven’t showered them since the weather turned cold. We don’t have the luxury of a shower stall, I didn’t think the horses would stand still for a 30 degree soaking and we simply didn’t want to get wet ourselves when it was that cold outside. But yesterday was warm (hot?) so one at a time, we harnessed both horses and led them onto our grassy green lawn. Let me tell you, they were more than willing to come along. Poor things. They stare at our beautiful green lawn, full of yummy fescue and clover while standing in the dry dirt of our still-desolate pasture, eating old hay. Any chance to get to that yummy green grass is taken. Moonshine is patient with me as I put on her halter. I let her eat a couple of mouthfuls of grass before introducing the hose. What I do is use a nozzle with lots of holes in it so the water comes out in a gentle rain-like pattern, instead of a full-force, high pressure pattern. I turn the hose on slowly, let her get used to the sound, let her smell the nozzle and then gently introduce the water to her legs and then back. After a few minutes, she seems to forget about it and I’m free to soak her good. Months of dirt came running off. She sure looks purdy now. Mikki even combed her mane and tail. I then took her for a drying walk, brushed her again and let her back into the pasture where later she rolled in dirt to get rid of that yucky clean feeling. 🙂 Valentine was next. He also didn’t seem to mind and also later rolled in dirt. Oh well, at least they were clean for a few minutes!

By the way, some people call it a “horse bath” but to me “bath” refers to dunking in a tub. Our horses are too big for a tub.

What’s your horse shower/bath routine like?