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Easy storage solutions for horse blankets

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:35:38 +0000

After sorting through my blankets, I realized I had a whole pile that needed seasonal storage (ie, fly sheets and light summer sheets for one season, heavy winter blankets and thick coolers for the other). I needed an option that would help keep the blankets clean and tightly packaged for optimal storage. I noticed the first option, the Space Saver, at my local Bed Bath & Beyond. The idea behind this storage system is you pack the items, then use your at-home vacuum to suck the air out of the bags. This seals the bag and compresses the item to create more efficient storage.

These Ziploc bags are great for storing horse blankets

While the three-bag item didn’t break the bank at around $50, any more than that it starts to get pricey. Since I have around 12 blankets of various sizes (stable to outdoor turnouts) it wasn’t a very economical option.

At the local hardware store, I found XXL-sized Ziploc bags. They are thick, large bags that can be sealed with the standard Ziploc closing and have handles for easy storing. For about $8, you get 3 large bags. I found I could store one heavyweight winter blanket or two thinner stable sheets in the same bag. Not only was this affordable, but easy to use and easy to store. The ziplock feature keeps smell away so you could store them in your house (it’s always best to have your blankets washed before you store them).

Click here to learn more about Ziploc’s XXL bags, and keep your unused horse blankets stored properly and inexpensively !

Young colt trying to show handler who is boss

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:38:54 +0000

Here is a fun little slideshow of a young colt who tries to show his handler that he is the master of his domain! Rearing, bucking and running off are just a few of the tactics he tries on his effort to get back to the field.

Click HERE to watch the slideshow!

Boekelo Horse Trials’ hilarious video

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:40:24 +0000

The upcoming CCI*** Military Boekelo horse trials in the Netherlands has created an awesome YouTube video for our collective enjoyment. Enjoy!

New Horse Movie: Wild Horse, Wild Ride

admin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:50:33 +0000

100 Days. 100 People. 100 Mustangs.

While many equine moviegoers were excited to see the last cowboy documentary Buck (about popular cowboy Buck Brannaman), there is a new horse documentary that equine enthusiasts are sure to enjoy.

Wild Horse, Wild Ride is a documentary about the wild mustangs that are rounded up by the U.S. government every year. This yearly culling of the wild horse population is a hotly contested issue, with the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) butting heads with animal-rights activists and other environmental agencies. The government attempts to adopt out as many as possible, but some are euthanized or sold for slaughter by third parties.

This movie follows the personal stories of selected individuals who participate in the Extreme Mustang Makeover Challenge, an annual contest where wild mustangs are backed and trained in 90 days. The goal is to show off their skills in competition after the 90 days is up.

To see the trailer for Wild Horse, Wild Ride visit their website. You can also learn more about the riders and the horses that are shown in the film.

While retraining mustangs (or any horse) is not a suitable activity for novice or inexperienced riders, this movie looks to be highly entertaining for horse people and (judging by the awards it has received at various U.S. film festivals) a general audience alike.

Hilarious Stirrup Ad on Ebay.com

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:56:21 +0000

Once upon a time, in a land called Materialism, an adolescent female was mortified to discover that she was the only rider in her barn, not to mention the entire universe, whose saddle had a pair of stirrup irons on it that retailed for under $100. She went home and cried, begged, campaigned, and pleaded with her dismayed parents to save her from this life-ruining state by providing her with “better and more sophisticated” stirrups. If she did not soon ride in pricier stirrups, she simply… would… DIE. Period. End of story.

Her concerned parents asked around and did some research, and reluctantly purchased a pair of pricey but highly-recommended Herm Sprenger System 4 safety stirrups, and presented them to their daughter as a gift on Christmas morning. Upon unwrapping the stirrups, her eyes widened and she squealed in delight, and thanked her mother and father profusely for saving her life and Barn Popularity Status, and sparing her any future association with “those basic, low-priced things.” She happily dissapeared to her room, taking her boxed Stirrups Of Enlightenment with her. Her parents turned to one another with tears in their eyes, and one said to the other, “Don’t we have a great daughter?” The other agreed, and they contentedly put the Great Stirrup Mini-Series to rest…

Flash forward 3 months: This same daughter announces she is “retiring” from riding (Oh, are you 65 now? her bemused mother thought to herself), in order to spend more time with her friends. Seeing this as an opportunity to sever the umbilical cord from checkbook to barn, her parents whole-heartedly supported their daughter’s decision. Her horse and all of it’s many accessories were soon sold off.

Flash forward one year: Their beloved daughter now away at college, Mom and Dad decide to make some much-needed changes around the house. Part of this plan is to reclaim their daughter’s room as a home office for themselves, and to relocate her belogings to a smaller guest-room. With her disinterested consent via telephone, they proceeded to pack up their daughter’s room. Saving the worst for last, they flipped a coin to decide who had the unpleasant task of emptying the Closet Of Dis-honor, a space where all things unwanted, unloved, unused, or all three were tossed into and forgotten by their daughter. The girl’s mother lost the coin toss, and she cautiously entered the closet while her father supervised from a safe distance. Only minutes later he heard a cry of disbelief from his wife, followed by many expletives and their daughter’s name. She emerged from the closet, holding something behind her back. The look on her face was the very definition of pure rage as she prompted her husband to guess what she had found. Fearing the worst, he asked if it was anything illegal, embarassing, or carcinogenic. No, but it is something that cost us a great deal of money, sleep, and sanity, she replied, and then revealed her found closet-treasure. Another round of curses exploded as her husband took in the Herm Sprenger stirrups from the previous Christmas..the ones they had proudly given to their poor, poor, under-stirruped- and- desperate daughter. The box had been excavated by his wife from beneath a mountain of forgotten sweaters and purses. It was still sealed and unopened, and the Stirrups of Enlightenment had obviously not been used once. Eyes narrowed, they stared at each other. “Punish!” one whispered. “No…humiliate!” spat the other. They thought and conspired, and then finally, through gritted teeth and in an icy tone, one broke the silence: “Don’t..we..have..a..great..daughter?”

That same evening, this ebay ad was composed by one while the other went to make a surprise phone call to their daughter..

“For sale by auction by two very angry parents is a pair of Herm Sprenger System 4 english stirrups, size 4 1/4. They are still brand-spanking new in their original, sealed box, and typically retail for around $230. They have sat safely enveloped and protected from the world and the elements under a pile of unappreciated sweaters in our daughter’s chamber-of-horrors closet, and will arrive to their highest-bidding new owner completely pristine and ready for work. These are high-quality stirrups that deserve a chance to prove their reputation for excellent performance. We hope they will go to someone who will use and love them. If you are buying them for a teenage female, we don’t want to know about it..”

Check out the original ad on Ebay.com (and yes, they sold!)

Horses Rescued from Flash Food

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:35:21 +0000

There was an incredible story on EventingNation.com recently about 18 horses that were evacuated after a flash flood destroyed a local stable in Virginia. Skyeler Icke Voss is an event rider and trainer who was competing at the American Eventing Championships in Georgia, September 8th – 11th when she received a call that floodwaters threatened her farm back home. Staff assured her precautions had been taken and all the horses were safe.

A half hour later, she received another call saying the rising waters had turned into a flash flood, and the horses were being evacuated. Miraculously, all 18 horses were rescued before the flood waters overcame the farm.

To read the entire story of this incredible rescue, check out EventingNation.com.

Quote of the Day

admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:12:02 +0000

“Most people don’t need a $35,000 horse. They need a $1,000 horse and $34,000 in lessons.”

-Author Unknown

Recipe to make hanging horse treats

admin — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:47:26 +0000

If anyone else has a horse on stall rest like I do, you are aware of the challenges of keeping your horse occupied for the hours and hours of confinement. They are no fun for either horse or their rider. There are variety of ways to keep your horse occupied, including hanging jugs with grain inside, balls that roll around on the ground, and adding a plexiglass mirror for “company”.

Preparing all the ingredients

One of Spiker’s favourite activities are hanging treats, however they can get costly to buy, especially if your horse goes through a lot. I did a bit of research and found a variety of recipes to make hanging treats and treat balls. Most of the ingredients were easy to find/inexpensive to purchase (whether at the feed store or grocery store), and fairly simple to make. I wanted something I could hang on my pre-existing Lick-it holder, but others have created ball shapes on a string or even bowl-shaped hunks that just sit on the ground.

Here is a great, easy recipe to make your own hard, hanging treats!

You need:

-11″ x 14″ (4″ molds) non-stick angel food cake pan (I ordered mine online to fit the Lick-it holder)

-Cooking spray

Ingredients:

-2 cups sweet feed (or whatever grain your horse eats)

-1 cup corn meal

-1 & 1/3 cups white granulated sugar

-2 cups corn syrup

-Optional: a handful of something your horse likes (I used peppermints)

Let’s get cooking!

(Prepare your baking pan/bowl with lots of cooking spray, this prevents sticking)

Step 1: In a large pot, melt the sugar and the corn syrup over medium heat. Watch out because sugar A. burns easily and B. can bubble up/overflow in your pot very quickly if the head is too high. Keep stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. (About 10-15 minutes.)

Step 2: Cover the pot with a lid and cook for 8 minutes. The steam generated from the hot sugar is the temperature of boiling water, so be careful when you put your hand in to stir occasionally.

Step 3: Uncover and cook until the sugar is at the crackling stage. This takes approximately 45 mins – 1 hour, depending on the heat of your stove. There are two ways to tell if the sugar is at the cracking stage -

A. Use a candy thermometer. The sugar should be approximately 290*f – 300*f (143*c – 150*c)

B. The cold water test. Take a small bowl and fill it with very cold water. With a cooking spoon, remove a small amount of the sugar/syrup mix from the pot and allow it to drizzle into the bowl of cold water. The cold water will cause the sugar to harden. Put your hand into the water and pull out the sugar; if the result is a hard piece of sugar (like candy), it should easily crack apart between your fingers and is ready for Step 4. If it is soft or pliable, it’s not hot enough yet.

Step 4: Turn off the stove, and quickly mix in the corn meal and sweet feed, as well as any optional ingredients. The sugar will begin to harden almost immediately, so be fast but careful when you are scooping the treat mix into your mold. (I burned my finger on the hot mix, it really hurt!)

That’s it! Now you just have to allow the treats to cool, 4-6 hours is normally enough. Turn your mold over, bang a bit and voila, horse treats.

This should keep Spiker busy for a while!

(One final note, to fill this mold of 6 treats as pictured above that will hang, I doubled the recipe.)

Famous dressage stallion’s first foal born

admin — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:33:27 +0000

The legendary Moorlands Totilas’ first foal was born on Sunday, January 23rd 2011 at a veterinary hospital in Utrecht, located in the Netherlands. The filly was named Moorlands Guinevere and her owners, Moorlands Stables, are thrilled with her. Totilas’ former rider, Edward Gal, was one of the first people to meet Moorlands Guinevere.

Moorlands Guinevere

Gal and Totilas earned numerous championships and gold medals at the World Games and other international competitions, while breaking many long-standing high scores. Totilas was recently sold for a reportedly enormous but undisclosed sum by his owners to a German company, to be ridden by a 26-year old rider.

Many are excited to see more of Totilas’ progeny, in the hopes they will achieve some of the fame of their sire. Dressage enthusiasts will be watching the upbringing and training of this first foal with high hopes for future success. Her sire’s performances generated lots of press and media coverage for the sport outside of equestrian news.

Want to make mucking easier? Try electric wheelbarrows

admin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:37:36 +0000

Interested in saving time while mucking stalls? As any farm owner or commercial stable manager will tell you, getting the stalls clean and fresh can be a very physically repetitive and time-consuming task.

Electric wheelbarrows: Its about time

While reading “Horse & Rider” magazine, a British publication, I came across an add for the Porter Easy Barrow. According to the manufacturer, the Porter Easy Barrow is an electric wheelbarrow that is easily charged and used for daily farm activities. It retails for approximately $950 USD, and the battery lasts around four hours on a full charge. It can handle two hay bales, roughly 80-100 lbs, in weight.

If you’re looking to make those tough Monday morning muckings a little easier on your back, consider an environmentally-friendly solution like an electric wheelbarrow!

To learn more about the Porter Easy Barrow, check out http://www.easybarrow.co.uk/