[jen judkins]

@Robert MoonShadow 4770 wrote:

“Mapquest?! I don’t need no steenking mapquest!”
I’ll leave now, and ask directions along the way. :rolleyes:

Now I seriously hope you will come! Anyone that can make me laugh out loud at work is certainly worth meeting!

[jen judkins]

Oh my! Thanks for the kind words, Andre’!

You know, I feel pretty lucky to be a part of this ‘community’. Checking in here makes the world seem much less scarey to me:rolleyes:. So I’m pretty happy to help out where I can.

Reno has a long road to recovery. I’m optimistic and as long as Reno looks happy, we’ll keep triing. If Andre’ doesn’t mind, I’ll post updates on my blog for anyone interested.

[jen judkins]

@Robert MoonShadow 4752 wrote:

Jennifer ~ I don’t even know when or where the NEAPFD are… although I’ll take a wild-haired guess & say it’s somewhere in the North-east?? :p As for it being a “tough drive” –> ANYthing’s possible… for homemade cherry pie!!

With ice cream.

From a pretty girl.

Or two.

Well, I’m not so sure about the ‘pretty’ part….perhaps in a hardy, nordic way:rolleyes:…but I make good pie! So mapquest the Tunbridge fairgrounds in VT and start driving, say about late Sept:D.

[jen judkins]

I wonder if anyone in the US uses the pack horse the way they are used in Croatia. I noted that in this thread and in the amazing video Bivol posted yesterday, that the horses are loaded up with wood in this fashion…quite intriguing in its design, really. Has anyone seen this used logging in the US? What type of horse would you use for it? The horses in the pictures and the video appear very compact…good bone, but not all that tall. Would this be a good job for a fjord or a halflinger? Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

You would never know it was the same animal! Nice job! Satisfying, isn’t it?!

[jen judkins]

WOW…that was incredible, Bivol!! Did they really use those two horses to jump start the tractor?! with a full load?! Unbelieveable!

Carl, you gotta go into town to see this one..its worth the trip!

[jen judkins]

Sunshine is one gorgeous animal! Thanks for posting! Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Thanks, Robert. Neat photos and interesting devices…would be a neat demo at NEAPFD…though a tough drive for you:rolleyes: Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Neal, Two thoughts before I am late for work…

First, I have always been leary of feeding cattle feed to horses..ever since the big Alpaca cross-contamination event a few years ago. Urea Nitrogen in particular is not something horses tolerate and can lead to kidney failure. Now moving past that paranoia, there is obviously no urea nitrogen purposefully put in your cattle salt (its a protein source in cattle grains)…but there can be issues with cross contamination because the mill handles cattle feed. Just an FYI…I don’t own cattle, so I bringing this from the horse side of the story;).

Second, I love Kelp..great for the micro-trace minerals…a very nice complete mineral source. The trouble with free choicing the Kelp all the time is the amount of iodine in it. Horses can get toxic on iodine and this is likely the reason you don’t see them eat alot of it. So the kelp in the free coice might actually prevent them from taking advantage of the other minerals. If you are free choicing straight Kelp as well, go for a mineral salt that isn’t kelp based, so they have a better choice for mineral intake.

Got to run for now… Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Erika, I can just imagine the feed protocols down your way! I used to be right in the middle of all that….mentally exhausting, really!

Part of the problem is that people get so ‘in their head’ about nutrition…sort of a ‘paralysis of analysis’. I spent many years triing to micromanage a healthy diet for my performance horses and it wasn’t until I took a step back and looked at what they would do naturally on their own that they actually started to get healthy.

We tend to feed our horses the same thing, day in and day out. All the feedstuff gets concentrated in one or two meals (which is why all the competitive binding and absorption issues are so well studied), but that is not a natural way for horses to feed themself. In nature they would graze and browse, sampling a different mineral source throughout the day or week or month or whatever. Even we as humans eat a varied diet from day to day (or at least we should), ensuring we get minerals from different sources and in different combinations, avoiding deficiencies and overloads.

The matter gets worse with performance horses that are kept in sterile stalls and runouts…its no wonder they start eating their enclosure:eek:.

Simple is better. Forage, pasture, even a few weeds. Free choice minerals….ie dirt and rocks(I admit, I buy the fancy dirt…sorted into all sorts of mineral classes). Did you know that horses can convert silica (rock) into a calcium source…yep. Add alittle oats for energy when needed.

There are definately obstacles to good nutrition in any given situation, but looking at ways to take advantage of the horses’ natural tendencies to forage is preferable. JMHO. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Neal, I agree with sanhestar..except I wouldn’t worry about the copper in the kelp. The interference in absorption of other minerals is not enough to outweigh its benefits. If I were you I would simply add a free choice calcium/phos loose salt. ABC nutrition is the easiest to buy and pretty cheap, I believe. I use Dynamite’s version. Just throw it in a mineral feeder and let him decide how much he needs. I agree that the calcium is the biggest gap in your diet…especially for a growing colt. BTW, there are generally two types of calcium/phos salts…one to be fed with grass hay and one to be fed with more alfalfa in the diet (has to do with how much phos is in the mix). If you do decide to go with the alfalfa for calcium, don’t over do it….20% of his forage is plenty. Too much calcium could lead to unwanted bone growth down the road…which is why I like the free choice option.

Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Plowboy is giving you the sage advice from the teamster perspective…I’m all ears too! He’s right…having a load to carry will give your youngster something to pay attention to. But pay attention to how he leads and how he respects you in the preparatory stages…leading, harnessing, etc. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

@Theloggerswife 4447 wrote:

[HTML] After reading the responses to my statement, I decided to have a discussion with my husband about the whole draft power thing. To my surprise he has already spoken with the forester that he deals with, about putting his operation on a “horse logging project”. We will have to call upon an area teamster to help us and hopefully use him and his horses on the job. According to the forester, there are some people who are about to lose their land use status due to non-compliance and these people would embrace the idea of horse loggers. Nothing written in stone yet…but a small step forward for my diesel, skidder operating, loving husband.
QUOTE]

Way to go, Missy!

[jen judkins]

Ed, I agree wholeheartedly with sanhestar! You have a smart pony on your hands. Best to be able to out think him. That is luckily our forte with horses…our brains!

This type of behavior undersaddle comes from allowing a horse to push on the lead or bridle..creating a brace. They then keep it in reserve for those moments when they want to leave….for whatever reason. The way to fix it is to teach your horse to never pull or push on the lead or bridle. This is accomplished by being very particular when handling your horse. If they put pressue in the lead or bridle…do ‘something’ to make it difficult. I like to put pressure on the hind end…for 2 reasons…first, it keeps you from engaging in a tug of war with his head (which you will lose) and second it allows you practice disengaging their engine so to speak, which gives you control over forward momentum. Its simply a matter of proving to him that he has to give to rein pressure…no matter what. You’re the boss! Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Johnny, I love the ‘life support’ analogy! As a physician…I am totally in favor of pulling the plug…and would wait breathlesly to see who and what bubbled to surface. If ever there was a need for a ‘do over’, now is the time!

Course I’ll have to take fire starting lessons from Basil:p Would you loan him, Carl?

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