[Bess]

I had a bunch of books on the subject, attended a 3 day workshop on it in West Chazy, NY with Rob and Jackie Roy – leaders of this bldg technique – and did some of this work first hand – (pun intended, i guess). Any wood will work. You take the bark off – soaking in pond works! – chunk the wood up – for northern climates 24 inch long chunks is mandatory, though some folks do 18inches or even 12 inches. The cement holds it all together and the big trick there is mixing in sawdust to keep the mix wet while you work it. Jackie Roy is a pro at using a spoon to wipe excess mortar off the piece of wood so it all looks like a stone wall when you are done. The Roys probably still hold seminars. I believe their business is EARTHWORKS or something like that. Great folks. Very nice, hard working, giving. Rob has published a number of books – one of which is living mortgage free. Cheap living is why they settled in northern NY and not in VT!!!! There are updates to their work all the time and conferences held on refining the techniques, getting local building code enforcers to allow this kind of construction etc etc… They sell their books directly from home along with others on septic systems, solar, straw bale construction etc etc.. google ’em up?

[Bess]

Re itchiness in Morgans and xes- yup, well documented, big thing is tail head itching in spring-summer, but head itchiness/rubbing is another one – will rub on you when haltering or putting the bridle on, etc. because they are so itchy. One thing I have tried is just keeping that itchy part of the horse clean – as in wash the itch body part daily – esp if the horse works and gets sweaty/dirty. Clean warmish water and a sponge or soft cloth sometimes with a mix of 40-50 percent hydrogen peroxide in water for tail or neck. Not on head, near eyes of course. I use clean, warm water soaked towels and scrubbing only on head. But they love it. On the tail I clean the same, then apply and have tried every powder, benadryl and jock itch cream etc imaginable! Nothing works but winter! But if the dock is slippery when lathered with cream, at least they break less tail hair and do less damage to themselves. I also clean udders first on mares, as that is one possible reason they rub their behinds =in the literature anyhow. I would start with cleaning her neck well and washing mane and look into allergies and then take Jen’s advice.

[Bess]

I think I understand what Carl is saying and I agree that green people can confuse and anger a good performing animal to the point it blows up. However, in this particular case, Jean’s horse was trained and worked by horse people with top notch horse handling and driving skills. And it was one of those very well respected people – who has worked with and driven horses since she was a child – who helped hitch him and who was there driving him and seriously injured. This horse has a history of striking, biting and bullying humans. He does not see humans as the boss. You can suppress his resentful nature for awhile and then he explodes. He will never be safe in my opinion.

[Bess]

I think the above – first posed by Jean – is a really important topic for discussion. As much as we all want to believe that all horses are instrinsically “for us, not against us” that may not always be the case. First of all, it depends on their breeding – hot or cold or wired too tight, esp in the case of a draft X etc – and it depends on how they were handled as a colt/filly and it depends on what they have seen and how they were trained and how hungry – literally – they have been or are. And add to that their standing in the herd, hormonal state, time of year/day. Now, apply the human’s experience and training and expectations and the horse’s understanding and interpretation of the handler’s demands on the animal. I have seen some trainers work miracles with some tough horses and other folks fall flat with the same horse. But I don’t for a minute believe that a truly difficult animal can go back to the former owner and not revert to its former bad behavior. And what I believe MOST after being hurt bad a few times by horses with some mean tricks in their repertoire is that first and foremost, I have to be safe. And it doesn’t do me any good to try and work with a horse if I am afraid of it or resentful. The horse knows. It will turn out badly. Nor do I want to be routinely hitting horses to make them compliant. I want my horses to WANT to do what I ask. I have had good horses who a couple times a year for no apparent reason turned into biting, striking, rearing, run over you horses and hurt people badly. It ain’t worth it to me no matter how well they go under saddle or drive or pull the other 363 days. That animal is GONE. Some folks consider it a personal challenge to take on that kind of horse. Great! Sell or give them your horse! I won’t risk my life or that of my friends. I tell my horses almost daily, if they hurt me, they are gone. And I mean it. Turn ’em out to pasture and all you have is a dominant, dangerous pasture ornament. Got a dangerous or unpredictable horse? Be honest about the animal and give/sell the animal to someone who MIGHT be able to use it, partner with it. But get it out of YOUR BARN before you are maimed for life.

[Bess]

How about the green energy crowd spread the message to our state highway departments and elected leaders that in all this new bridge and road rebuilding the country about to occur, courtesy of the multi-billion dollar Stimulus package, that state and local officials encourage and plan for our walking and bicycle paths to be widened to include and encourage horse riding/driving lanes? At least along some sections of our rural highways in this country? Designated intersecting horse friendly roadways in each state would be soooo nice and go a long ways to promote eco tourism, relaxing vacation kinda experiences. US citizens fly to Ireland to do this now. Why not in the US? Why not in Vermont and New Hampshire and some other rural states? If not now, when? My heart goes out to Bob. What he was doing is what many of us would like to do. What a terrible price to pay to see the nation and live more simply.

[Bess]

from the story… how to donate to help him and his horses or least send a card…

The Macon Beacon, a local newspaper, has established a fund at the Macon Mississippi Branch of Citizens National Bank for Bob and the surviving horses. The Bob Skelding Wagonteamster Benefit Fund Citizens National Bank P.O. Box 426 Macon, MS 39341 Tel. 662-726-5861 Donations can go directly to that bank or any other Citizens National Bank in Mississippi. The website to view branch locations is http://www.yourcnb.com. If donating by check, please make it payable to “The Bob Skelding Wagonteamster Benefit Fund”. Thank You.

[Bess]

Tie Stall vs Box Stall vs Run-In Shed

There’s a book called “The Perfect Stall” by a vet, who owns Friesians, Karen E. N. Hayes. I saw her speak a couple years in a row. She knows her stuff on bedding horses. She studied at Cornell and has done a lot of research. Put pedometers on horses, checked for arthritis in joints and breathing problems too. Her findings are briefly these: Horses need to sleep flat down and out – on their sides – a few hours a day or they are not really sleeping. As the earlier writer said, they need to be down and out to get REM sleep. A horse that stands and sleeps is not sleeping. Not sleeping is stressful and takes a big toll on horses – think colic, ulcers, bad behavior, bad performance. Minimum stall size is 16 x 20. Anything less invites early arthritis in pasterns etc. Horses were built to move about 10 miles a day, wandering about and grazing. Again, stalling a horse is a colic, ulcer, bad behavior concern, Hayes says. Next, is the urine, manure issue. Cornell did studies of the air quality in stalls. In multi-million dollar barns in Kentucky, time and again air quality was far below OSHA minimum requirements for humans. Think urine – which is primariliy ammonia – in bedding and asking the animals not just to breathe from the stall floor but eat as well. Hayes said the ammonia readings are so high in most stalls that oxygen masks would be required if the cleaning of stalls was a manufacturing facility! In the wild, horses may eat 5 feet or so near manure, but move farther away from urine, she claims. She says if a horse is a “stall pig” it is because they are going nuts trying to bury their waste to get away from the smell and breathing problems. Cornell scoped 2 and 3 yr old multi-million dollar race horses in Kentucky that were box stalled most of the day and found them to have airway and lung damage of a horses much older as well as early signs of arthritis – joint stiffness, etc. Next on her hit list for elimination was bedding. She says it is bad for horses to lie in sawdust – they breathe in the fine particles and it clogs their airways and hurts lung capacity. All sawdust and bedding also contains chiggers that can cause allergies and skins problems, she says. Bed deep and it also negatively affects horse hooves – which need to be supported by earth. She urges humans to lie in sawdust some time and see how they like it. In the wild, horses have one or two others serve as a look out and the others sleep. They prefer to be on slightly elevated ground, on grass or knocked down tall grass. Horses whose heads are tied when eating or trailering cannot clear their airways. They need to drop their heads to the earth and blow out. Even if you set the hay feeder at breast height, a horse will snag hay then drop their heads low. Tie high and you are inviting penumonia. So, what is her solution? She recommends Run in stalls, with minimum 6 foot or so minimum wall height, that open to the air. Door height, if you want to shut them into their run in shed has to be at least 5 feet or they will try and jump it, she says. A mix of earth and peat moss for flooring, a minimum of sawdust/wood bedding on top of that, free access to a paddock or pasture for exercise. And let the horses see each other. She even urges people to get ceiling fans installed in the run in or box stalls – turned on lowest setting keeps bug off and moves ammonia smells out. I encourage folks to get a copy of Karen Hayes’ book. She says too many people literally kill their horses with kindness. Might as well get her and other vets’ recommendation for feeding in here too: Feeding 4 to 6 small meals of hay a day on a regular schedule is much better for your horse – helps prevent stress which leads to colic and ulcers – than once or twice a day. Theory is horses are grazing nibblers, not leopards loading up on a kill and their stomach acid is churning all the time. On a different but also important horse keeper note, – music in a barn. A study – not from this vet – shows horses can get sick from a radio playing in a barn – any kind of music. Think stress again. Horses crave quiet. They are always in fear of a cougar or some predator sneaking up on them. They want/need to be able to hear anything that is coming and they are herd animals who want/need to hear and talk with each other. Especially when they are being held captive in a stall and can’t see or hear others or even run away as Nature intended. Anyhow, take it or leave it. We all do the best we can. I certainly don’t have a perfect barn or stall. But I do the best I can with them. Sick horses cost money!!! Healthy ones are expensive enough! LOL

[Bess]

Regarding waterers and stray voltage: I boarded my mare with a friend for several months in winter. Friend had two open door wooden stalls and we each had 2 horses. The horses could just walk into the stalls one at a time and water themselves any old time of day or night. The waterers were built into the barn stall corners, with metal casings, automatic refill from underground pipe and heated to boot. Her horses were okay with these waterers. But my mare was not happy. She would reach for the waterer with her nose – standing as far back as she could – and then jump back like she was getting a shock when he nose touched the casing. The electric fencer to the paddock had a wire running into the barn and hooked to the fence along the paddock and pasture. I suspected grounding issues. But the other horses drank from the same waterers and did not make a fuss. My friend quietly suggesteed my mare was a little nuts. But she had never had an issue anywhere else. This behavior went on for a couple days, until one morning we were chatting outside the stalls while the horses ate their hay and my mare walked in, tried to get a drink, jumped back, tried again to drink, jumped back again and lglared at me and then reached up with a hoof and started to paw at the waterer and stall wall – still looking at me. How much clearer could she be? I was then convinced it was stray voltage and that the other horses just tolerated it – I guess they figured it was the price they paid to drink or were just not as sensitive. My friends fiddled with electric fence testers, but never came up with a real conclusion. But I know what my horse told me. So, with my friend’s permission, i put a water tub – plastic – outside of the barn and ran a hose and let my mare drink from that tub for as long as she was at this barn. The other horses enjoyed it too. Better safe than sorry with colic! My advice is if you have any inkling of a horse not drinking because they don’t like this or that, give them another source, another choice at another location. Sometimes it can be fear from other horses crowding them that will keep them away from drinking enough water. Impaction colic is serious, expensive, kills and most times it can be prevented. Listen to your horse! I have my own barn now with a heated metal (Nelson) electric waterer that was installed by a licensed electrician and the same mare has no problems with it, drinks from it winter and summer, while still respecting my electric fence big time.

[Bess]

have used clicker training without the clicker. Dime sized pieces of carrots work very well. You need a LOT of them to start. Think a 3 lb bag of carrots chopped up. And you need them in a pouch safely bow tied (make certain you can get it untied fast in an emergency!) around your waist so your hands are free. To get a horse to pick up it’s feet, start with a front hoof and have the horse on a lead line only – not X ties. Touch to the point of lightly poking the horse’s shoulder with a finger. When the horse turns its head to you, give it a carrot piece. Now you have its attention. Wait until the carrot is chewed up and the horse is watching you. Touch the shoulder again in the same spot and bend down quickly and run your hand lightly down the horse’s leg to the hoof and reach to pick up the front hoof. Horse will be relaxed and following you looking for a carrot piece. Hoof should pick up. If no, pause. step back, breathe, reward horse if there was any give at all and start over. As soon as there is any “give” with the horse shifting weight over or bending the knee, reward with one piece of carrot. Keep the horse calm and relaxed. Don’t fight with the horse and never correct it severely etc. unless it is trying to kill you and take all the carrots! If the horse is a biter have someone else hold the lead rope. Don’t turn your back on the horse. You should be standing alongside the horse facing forward just like the horse is, but able to bend down and pick up the foot. Most horses learn quickly to be “push button” – you push that shoulder point and they pick their hoof right up, expecting a reward of a bit of carrot. Do it only for 3 minutes or so at a time and once you have success on one side, go to the other front leg. Move to hind legs only when you have cooperation in the front. Worked great for my uncooperative horses. You can say, “Good girl/boy!” when horse does the right thing. And if they do the wrong thing, you are spozed to make a brief ugly sounds like a buzzer – ie “you are out of time”. Works same as clicker and keeps both hands free. Good luck!

[Author]

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