September 14, 2007 by debbie.

This has been a fabulous week to ride horses.  It’s great that it’s not so unbearable HOT outside. 

There’s alot of times I have a pretty bad day and if I just go to the barn, saddle up and ride, all of a sudden things are better.  The stress doesn’t go away, but it suddenly becomes manageable.

I love when I go to the barn that I leave my cell phone in the car.  Our horses do not want to hear my phone ring and know that they do not have my undivided attention.  I pride myself in always returning calls to my clientel, and I do, but only when I am done at the barn.  That is my personal time!

 I know there are many other ways to destress our lives.  I’d be real interested to find out what others do to make all the bad things disappear!

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August 15, 2007 by debbie.

The weather in Southeast Missouri has been very difficult for us humans, not to mention how hard it has been on outside animals.  Unfortunately they do not have the luxury of air conditioned homes and cars.  I know we make sure our 2 outside dogs have plenty of water and shade, plus a good hosing down now and then. 

Horses are a little more of a challenge.  Instead of leaving them in the pasture daily we pull them up and stall them during the day—-basically it’s their “off time”.  I usually go about 6:30 AM and bring them inside the barn to their stalls (which just happen to have the next best thing to air conditioning—–FANS), they get fresh water, a little grain & rice bran, and some hay.  They seem pretty content with this situation!  Before going back out to the field in the late afternoon we also hose them down with cool water…I should think that would feel pretty good to them, but they tolerate it.  It’s hilarious when we actually get them to the field it’s a race to see who is the first to “roll”, although I know the rolling in the dirt also helps them to repell the nasty fly!  They always seem to look forward to getting back out to the field to enjoy the cooler nighttime temps to graze and exercise.  So far this has worked well for us.  It sometimes becomes a real drag to get to the barn 2x a day, but the way I look at it is when I am at the barn that is MY TIME!  My cell phone stays in the car and I don’t have anywhere special to go or anyone more special to see than our horses…..actually time kinda stops for me.  At that particular moment they are the focus of my attention.  Did you know dogs have owners……..horses have “STAFF”!

Does anyone else out there have any other suggestions on how to “beat the heat” for our animals?  Would sure appreciate any and all comments.

debbie

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August 7, 2007 by debbie.

There are a few common problems we all run into around the barn, here’s some suggestions I have found that really work.

Wood chewing - indoor or outdoor

1.  Try feeding Farnams Quitt supplement (www.farnamhorse.com  Phone: 800-234-2269).

2.  Increase exercise (to reduce boredom)

3.  If indoors, put soap on the surface.

4.  If that fails, consider a hot-pepper based product designed to deter chewing, unless the horse has ulcer’s.

Horse throws salt bricks on the floor of the stall

1.  Consider using a large block instead

2.  Switch to loose salt in the horse’s feed bucket/after meals

3.  Buy a salt block holder

If you would like to find some great online information check out http://www.horse-journal.com it’s full of great information for keeping our horses safe and healthy.

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