random horse tips

Victoria over at Teachings of the Horse gave me a "Great Horse Tips" award this week. I highly recommend following the link and reading comments and following more links because there are some really wonderful tips floating around cyberspace as a result of this award.

I have a few to share:


diatomaceous earth (DE) for tick control:

We use Permagard brand food-grade DE here at our farm. While it has many uses (fire ants, general insect control, ants inside the house, flies, deworming cats/dogs/horses) one of its most impressive feats is getting through tick season without toxic chemicals. We buy it by the 50-lb. bag from Dirtworks or Shadow Ridge Donkeys and it lasts us about a year. I bought a "puffer" which is basically an old-fashioned restaurant ketchup bottle and use it to "puff" the horses. I apply the white powder beneath the "armpits," in the groin area, on the legs up to the knees, and on top of the base of the tail. Rafer Johnson gets a little up between his ears as well.

You have to apply it daily for best results, but I have been keeping tabs and the total number of ticks found on horses decreased from around 20 the day I DIDN'T use DE to 0-1 the days I do. You can apply fly spray right over top of the DE. It does not reduce the effectiveness.


dried lavender buds for turn-out blanket storage:

After washing turn-out blankets I layer them in their storage bins with dried lavender buds. Lavender deters insects and it also has a soothing, calming effect on horses. Mine stop and breathe in the scent that first cold night in late fall when I pull their nice clean blankets out.


two home and barn first aid essentials - homeopathic Arnica and Rescue Remedy

I keep both items in the house and barn. Arnica is very effective in helping the body (human, equine, feline, canine, etc.) minimize soreness and bruising after bumps, scrapes, and other accidents. Rescue Remedy is a blend of a number of flower essences and has a calming, healing effect on both people and animals in shock, after an accident, etc. I often put a drop in each water bucket if we're expecting intense weather, or if something "big" is on the docket - travel for animals, etc. When the baby barn swallows fell out of the nest we gave them water and RR and they did wonderfully.


great cleaning solution for the barn - Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap:

I use this for washing hands, swiping down stall walls, rinsing bits, etc. It is totally organic, safe enough to brush your teeth with, smells heavenly, and repels insects. I love it.


enhancing fly predator success:

The first few weeks or whenever you see a new "bloom" of flies (we're having lots this year due to all the rain) try a few plastic fly traps with the fly attractant liquid. I have two of the plastic container ones that I move from one end of the barn to the other - in the morning the sunny side has flies, and in the afternoon it shifts to the other end. They seem to fly around the doors to the barn aisle so I close the barn doors at the sunny end, set the fly traps outside, and they catch the existing adult flies that the fly predators can't touch. It is making a big difference for us this year.


treat external things from within:

I've discovered that if I take the money I used to spend on hoof ointments, skin ointments, etc. and put it toward a truly balanced diet, I treat the problems at the root instead of treating the symptoms. For us, this means free choice quality hay, minimal processed feed, and a custom mix of supplements that I have researched and continue to tweak as needed to keep each horse in balance. A few examples: Keil Bay had the white plaque stuff inside his ears when I bought him. Adding ground flax to his diet took care of that. When we got Cody he was extremely vulnerable to every insect bite that came along, and he was itchy and sweated profusely in the summer heat, causing some hair loss. I added a really good trace mineral/sea kelp mix to all the diets, and used a quality no-sugar-added electrolyte during the hottest months. The problem resolved entirely.

I'm not recommending specific supplements or feedstuff here b/c I feel that each horse owner needs to evaluate the big picture for his/her specific horse(s) to make the best decisions. But I've become dedicated to looking for the "internal" solution to "external" problems. For people too!


serve your horses hay the way they'd find it in the wild:

Instead of making a big pile of hay so that horses stand and eat in one spot, spread it out in many small piles so they walk and forage and keep things flowing. Horses are built to cover many miles in a day searching for food. I found that when I spread the hay in a long, meandering "trail" the horses spend many hours walking and eating bits at a time, just as they would if they were in the wild.


ride or spend quality time with your horses FIRST, do chores SECOND:

When we first bought our farm and suddenly everything was my responsibility when it came to horse/farm care, I lost control. My "save dessert for last" upbringing kicked in and I religiously did all the barn chores before riding. At some point I figured it out. RIDE FIRST. The chores will get done. I'm never going to let the sun go down on a dirty stall or an empty water bucket. Those things will get done. But if I do the chores first, I can easily exhaust myself without getting in the ride or the quality time with my horses. I forget my own tip at times - but when I remember to do it, it works.

I could go on and on, but this is enough for now!

willing to be amazed part 2 (and 3 and 4)

Yesterday when I got home from the office my husband announced that our elusive neighbors at the end of the lane (I have met the wife ONE time when she stopped by to admire Rafer Johnson) came by to ask if we wanted to buy some of their hay.

What?!

Apparently they have more land than I knew about and have 750 bales of orchard mix sitting in the field ready to be cut. The cost of this hay is HALF what we have been paying.

The cost of gas to go pick this hay up is... next to nothing, as it is in hollering distance if you have a big mouth.

As you can imagine, I am totally amazed. What a gift.

*******

THERE'S MORE:

I've been considering the possibility of opening a psychotherapy office in the small town just minutes away from our house, and have looked at a few spaces, but mostly just keep my eyes open.

This week I noted an older building was being renovated and there was a number to call for info. I jotted it down but didn't think to call until today. Turns out the two suites available are huge and much more than what I need. Just as we were saying goodbye, the owner stopped me and asked if he could pass my name and number to "a writer guy who is interested in forming a writer's co-op using one of the suites... maybe he'd be willing to let you have your office in there."

Turns out, the writer guy is someone I took a class with awhile back, is a former editor for a publishing house I very much admire, and I have in the past had aspirations to create just such a writer's co-op. I am totally jazzed about the possibilities of this, now.

After hanging up I continued on my way to my naturopath's office. I haven't written about this, but during the knee injection debacle with Salina, I sustained a pretty nasty deep tissue injury to the site of a previous surgery. I wanted the ND's opinion on mammography now or later, but mostly was interested in an alternative. While sitting in her waiting room, I picked up a brochure and on the back was information about thermography. She ended up giving me a referral to someone she has worked with using this technology, as well as a couple of remedies for the tissue injury.

Sometimes things just flow like a line of dominoes.

portrait of an afternoon in may

I was on the front porch earlier, enjoying the horses snorting and the sunshine. As I turned to come in the house, this caught my eye. A magical painting of the same scene I'd just been viewing.

twister!

For any local folks who visit here, just wanted to say we're all fine. Around 5 p.m. today I had the very strong sense that I needed to go get horses and donkey in. Daughter and I went out and called - they came in immediately from the back field. In the few minutes it took us to get everyone in and set up with hay, the sky went dark and the wind got so intense I knew something was going on. The horses, Rafer, daughter, and I watched through the back stall doors as it blew through. Lasted about 5 minutes. It took the tarp completely off the shavings pile, and it had been anchored with 4 heavy posts and 5 or so cement blocks. Very odd wind motion - hard one way for several minutes, and then the other way.

When we finally came inside I discovered a tornado had been reported right in our area.

We didn't get hail here but minutes away there was hail two inches deep, and the roads were covered in completely shredded leaves.

But... we're safe and Rafer Johnson is waiting for Hollywood to call and offer him the lead role in Twister: The Sequel. (he's been reading Sheaffer ... :)

willing to be amazed

Someone emailed me recently about my continuing optimistic outlook and tendency to focus on the good things around me.

It's true. I can be almost Pollyanna-esque in my view of the world.

However, I do have bad days, and little fits of angst and obsession about things I can't control. The year my son was born I became obsessed with lead paint. Just ask my husband about the dark green goop he had to paint the bathroom with, in the old house we rented. It supposedly sealed in the lead. After many crying spells and dramatic musings on a house I had previously adored, he tried to get at the core of the problem. Why was I so upset? I remember his face when I went into great detail about the various cracks in the old plaster ceiling and how lead dust was just shooting out of them into the air.

This is the kind of thing that feeds my obsessions - the vivid images come and it can be so hard to push them out of my mind.

Not too long after my revelation about geysering lead dust, the landlord/owner insisted on sandblasting the garage, one wall of which bordered the back yard. I begged him not to do it, and explained about the lead issue and young developing brains. He thought I was being ridiculous. When he had his son-in-law come over to start the process, I stood on the back steps and watched. White paint chips quite literally flew everywhere. Like snow. All over the little garden I had tended for years, into the lawn where my year-old son played. It was my little nightmare image made real and worse than I'd imagined.

When the landlord came over to inspect the work, he found me with a shop-vac, trying valiantly to vacuum up the paint chips in the back yard. It was a futile effort, and I was crying because I knew I couldn't get it all up. I told him we would be looking for a new house, and that I was sorry he had chosen to ignore my request. He left in a huff, but returned an hour later and apologized. He begged me to reconsider, and promised to never raise our already below-the-market rent. He started crying himself.

This is the kind of scenario that could go many different ways, but for me, what always happens is the realization that something bigger is going on. Standing there with the shop-vac nozzle in my hand, a gruff old man crying because I had called him on his behavior, and my in-the-moment decision to give notice on a wonderful house that was so cheap to live in it was almost a miracle, I suddenly knew that something amazing was happening. We were supposed to move. It was time.

I said this to him, and we made our peace. I found a house in a neighboring town where my private practice was already located, where my husband could take the classes he'd wanted to take without the hideous commute, and where my parents could visit so much more easily.

Everything rolled quietly into place.

This is just one example of the "flow" of life I've noticed and trusted for many, many years. I don't really know why. But I've experienced it so much I expect it to happen, and perhaps that's why it does.

Awhile back, someone remarked that they start reading every book looking for something to make them fling it aside. My response was that I start every book I read willing to be amazed. And often enough I am.

In a way, that's the mantra I try to live by. It comes pretty naturally to me, so it isn't a chore. Occasionally it has drawbacks, like when some fantastical idea I have gets shot down by the reality of a budget, or circumstance. Sometimes I have to run through a patch of angst before I get to the flow. But as I get older I find myself skipping that stage and getting to the good stuff much more quickly.

Today, we have gray skies and some mild gusting wind. Potentially severe weather is on the docket this afternoon. But yesterday my husband loaded each stall with clean shavings, and this morning I made myself the brown sugar-cinnamon oatmeal a character had in the book I'm reading. (I read this passage last night before bed and it made my mouth water) I know that when I walk out to the barn there are four horses and a little donkey who will neigh and bray and remind me that, yes, there is lots to be amazed about. And I'm perfectly willing to let them show me.