[jen judkins]

@mitchmaine 38409 wrote:

Hello Kenneth,
This is a strong assumption on my part, but if your horse hasn’t come at you with her teeth or feet, I might not call her mean or hateful. Again, an assumption, never having seen your horse in action, it seems like she is pitching her fit to keep from expending extra energy (working in harness), and getting rewarded by turning her loose to feed in the pasture or her stall. Sounds like its been going on for a while, but all strong assumptions taken from what I’m hearing. When you bought her did you see that she was dead broke, or did you just hear that? You might have the makings of a good horsethere in disguise.

I always look for the ‘like’ button, when I read your posts, Earle…

[jen judkins]

Must be why I got over 400 bogus troll requests to sort through last night….oi day!

[jen judkins]

That is sad..

[jen judkins]

I love this thread, short as it currently is. There are so many variables…the seasoned horse/mule who gets wigged out by a new exposure or a young horse who knows nothing and freaks out..understandable, to the day to day noise.

So, I think the main take home message should be……latch on to a great teamster! Donn made this sound like a disaster, but the truth is, he had the skills to mitigate the potential runaway. And no one was hurt. These episodes can be dangerous. Learning to provide leadership to your horses/mules is a learned process and a mentor is required.

[jen judkins]

Well, I am not surprised at all at the help you got. Afterall,Will has been working with you for some time….I am sure he understood what you were trying to do.

A few years ago, my mom was home alone and a young colt got through a couple fences and separated from his mother. My mom caught the colt and got a halter on him, but didn’t have the skills to lead him down the hill and through a gate to his mom. One of my old geldings came up to them from behind and gently nudged the colt from behind and the three of them made their way like that…mom leading and the gelding pushing, all the way back to mom. Animals never cease to amaze me.

[jen judkins]

I believe there is a level 2 horse logging course in February. I think there will be a chainsaw course the same weekend. Nothing definate confirmed yet, but keep an eye on their website.

[jen judkins]

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4430099108467.2162486.1168786009&type=1

More photos. I have some good vide, but working on getting it uploaded.

[jen judkins]

I think I just lifted the limitation on uploads. Try it now, Donn.

[jen judkins]

It depends alittle on where you live as to what deficiencies horses will be prone to. Up here in the NE the soils are mostly copper and selenium deficient, with alot of toxic aluminum (which I’m told can bind up the utilization of other minerals). Never had to supplement cobalt specifically, but I believe it is in the micro trace minerals salt I have out. Loose salts are better for horses as they have soft tongues. Blocks are meant for cattle with rough tongues.

I think its great to provide minerals, you think your horses need, but the truth is, its hard to know what they need. Most supplement companies want to sell you product and have only alittle interest in the welfare of your horses. I think just as many horses are mineral deficient due to OVER SUPPLMENTATION than under supplementation. Many minerals inhibit the absorption of others, so forcing alot of minerals in one or two feedings, a common practice, sometimes backfires on you. Which is why free choicing a variety of minerals mimics the natural foraging instincts in horses (and cattle). Let them decide what and when they need.

[jen judkins]

Thanks for the link, Lanny. It reminded me about rule number one concerning feeding horses. Horses are meant to have there heads near the ground grazing or foraging about 18 hours a day. So increasing their hay ration or figuring out how to make it last longer is key to preventing boredom and worse, digestive issues like ulcers. I love the slow feed nets. They are nets with small openings (come in various sizes) that cause the horse to eat slowly, so hay lasts longer and best of all, they waste very little. They have really cut my hay usage down and hay that I put out in the am lasts until I feed at night.

Shire nets are the cheapest and are sturdy, but the holes are somewhat larger than the other more pricey nets. But there are tns of options if you just google ‘slow feeder nets’

[jen judkins]

Inerestingly, Eli….and very insightful as no one I have asked has thought of it….my ground rods ARE pretty close to the main water line from the well to the house. I can run the fence and the water heaters in the dead of winter when we have snow, but not at either end of the season when the ground is partially frozen and bare. You might have hit the nail on the head. Thanks.

[jen judkins]

I would love to hear more. I cannot run my water heater and my fence at the same time. Despite my attention to wires cross arching, I cannot figure out why the horses will not touch the water when the fence is on. Its all a mystery to me and my electrician agrees.

[jen judkins]

Ahh, did you google it? I did and it scared the crap out of me.

http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/hotwater.html

Seems according to these folks, I am endangering my horses lives by using these plug in heaters…yikes!

[jen judkins]

you can check with southern states, but one of the two links I shared above will do. Dynamite has two calcium free choices…2:1 for horses with mainly timothy hay for forage and 1:1 for those getting a fair amount of legumes. ABC’s calcium free choice is a bit more challenging as you have to be careful about balancing the phosphorus. http://www.abcplus.biz/abc2.aspx?Id=Equine_Minerals_C-Mix

[jen judkins]

Not to take away from the cow discussion…but I was amazed by the beautiful competition teams with NO BRITCHEN….how do they brake the cart? Do all these carts have onboard brakes? Seems dangerous to me. Just curious about it.

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