[jen judkins]

In general I think well fed and nutritionally balanced horses don’t eat stuff that is bad for them, BUT apples, especially at their peak sweetness, probably pose a threat for overdoing it. I doubt the apples themselves could kill the horse, but colic or hind gut pH alterations could make them quite sick and require a hefty vet bill…so I too would fence them off if possible. That said I have several apple trees in my pasture. Most are just outside the perimeter fence and the horses eat ALOT of apples off the ground and from the low lying branches. I have one horse who will actually climb through the fence in the fall to eat his fill then climb back in (or report back to my porch door) when he is full. None of my horses have ever gotten sick from this habit, though I did lose an elderly quarterhorse to a mystery twisted bowel a couple of years ago in August. Can’t remember what the apples were like that year.

[jen judkins]

Dennis, I adore our two angus calves (I guess technically now steer). They are just delightful and I think very easy to handle and work around. My experience is limited to the wild highland I tried to raise last year, lol. These two came to me as orphans and alittle bottle feeding went a long way to curbing their ornery traits. They still don’t lead too well (like to plop their hefty butts right on the ground)…mostly due to my time constraints, but they follow me and can be tied up easily enough. I say go for the blackies! J

[jen judkins]

Well, the boys and I have another parade under our belts….much larger than the last. We had a blast and Rip and Reno could not have behaved better. I thought hard about some of the drawbacks and risks to such an undertaking and enlisted some ground people. I had one guy (with alot of driving experience) following the rig, making sure the wheels weren’t coming off the cart or children falling off the wagon. I had two people walking in front of the horses, mostly to make sure no kids ran out in front of them…but the horses enjoyed having the company and this definately improved their confidence. With eyes on the ground, I could give my entire attention to the horses and this made for a very good experience.

[jen judkins]

Inspiring story, Brad….really. Read like a thriller, I was biting my lip, anxious, reading it. Probably should get that one published;)

As I prepare to give a beginner’s workshop on getting started with draft horses at the field days, I have been working on an outline. One of the points is ‘How are horses different from tractors?’ I believe you have illustrated several of these differences nicely. And not just the obvious difference of being a living, breathing animal with the ability to make decisions and move independantly. Your story highlights the artistry and personal development, horses bring to our work. The partnership and the relationship. I think its important that new or young farmers and loggers looking at draft animals for power understand that it is not JUST about carbon footprint.

[jen judkins]

@near horse 28253 wrote:

I think Carl posted Ed’s info earlier here somewhere so I should look and try to contact him. Not sure how this happened but I definitely have a base template up. How about if I give you my admin login and password since I have no way of logging into my acct.? Are you game?

Sure, I’ll be at a meeting today through saturday in Chicago. But maybe we can hook up by phone one evening and see if we can sort it out. What about friday?

[jen judkins]

@near horse 28225 wrote:

Well, I went messing around to see if I could find out why Carl has the advert thing that Jen and I do not AND I 1)got sidetracked and played with the color scheme etc in Style manager – templates etc and it appears I’ve changed the template to an old default “look” 2) I changed something in my editor stuff under the Admin Usergroup so it matched Carl and Ed’s (something like WYSIG… ) – and I NOW DON’T HAVE ANY “ADMIN” LINK BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF MY PAGE AND CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET BACK THERE TO UNDO MY MESS!

It’s like I’m in a place where words have 2 meanings and a simple button can change the world (or template) – and the signpost up ahead reads ….. the Twilight Zone – dun dun dah. Help, Mr. Wizard.

Try refreshing or restarting your compute. I went in and checked your credentials and you are still an administrator, so I think you should still be able to get in. I did not notice a change in the template. J

PS. Do you have Ed’s phone number?

[jen judkins]

Well, I tried refreshing then restarting, then using a different browser and ‘Advertising’ is definately not there…for me. J

[jen judkins]

Nope not there. You must have more priviledges than me or something. Sorry. J

[jen judkins]

Geoff, why don’t we set up a conference call with Ed to go over some of this stuff. J

[jen judkins]

@Carl Russell 28184 wrote:

Jen, in Admin you will find Advertising, and under that you will find access to the header spaces where you can add the HTML.

Carl

I can’t find that. Looked hard too. 🙁

[jen judkins]

I appreciate the tips on hitching, boys. I admit I struggle sometimes on my own…but I manage and I use both the loose fss on the near horse as well as my knee. With my cart and jockey yoke style set-up, I don’t have a problem. It may just be the difference in the pole/yoke weight. My cart has a sliding axle that I can use to unweight the pole, which helps me working alone. I thought the straight single piece yoke made the whole set up sort of inflexible and therefore harder to get snug…for me anyway.

Anyway, that wasn’t really my question. I was more interested in the differences between the yoke styles. The team went fine in the straight yoke, but I could see how it might hinder them if I had to do some manuveuring. Probably pass on that style though based on your collective comments. Kevin Tucker PM’d me about a nice jockey yoke set up with a ring that sounds quite reasonable…and probably makes more sense for use on other vehicles. Boy, I’m racking up quite a collection of dohickeys!

[jen judkins]

@LStone 28075 wrote:

but it looks like you could have raised the pole a little more by dropping a link or two more links on the tugs in the pic and been fine.

This seems counter intuitive to me (remember I am blonde). Seems like the pole would come up by shortening the tugs…what am I missing.

[jen judkins]

@Robert MoonShadow 28076 wrote:

And I’m needing to talk w/ Ripple: I was in a small parade not long ago, and I[/B] never got any lipstick on me face! What’s his secret? 😡

Need to come to a parade in New Hampshire…:rolleyes:

I understand next years theme is a Luau…..a grass skirt might get you somewhere….

[jen judkins]

@Robert MoonShadow 28018 wrote:

…with photos, I hope?!

Here you go…

It was a small parade, but lots to experience. The boys were outstanding. We were behind the firetrucks with their sirens blaring…no trouble at all. Never took a balky step. We had alot of fun. The kids decorated the cart and took second place. Reno and Ripple were invited to the petting zoo..as pets, of course….and spent the afternoon being mauled by children of every conceivable size. They were perfect, even looked like they were enjoying all the attention. Ripple even came home with some lipstick on his face….hmmm…

[jen judkins]

Thanks, everyone for the input. I think I am passing on the big parade and questionable wagon. We ARE going to do an itty bitty parade here in Springfield, with a nice wagon and a short, very familiar route on saturday. I can drive the horses over from the house and if things get crazy or questionable, I can chaulk it up to a good training experience and simply drive them home again.

Tyler, feel free to hijack. Yours is a good question. In fact, when I went through in my head all the worst case scenarios…nothing scared me more than finding myself in a position where I couldn’t stop, re-organize and re-approach any given problem. The logistics of this bigger parade would not be a good place to have a good experience. I mean it might be a good experience, but it might not…and if its not and I don’t have a way to make it a good experience for the horses, I fail as the leader. Its just not a risk I’m willing to take ‘at this time’. The smaller parade will have alot of the elements I want the team to experience, but with a much smaller crowd and familiar territory. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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