This message is from: Anita Unrau <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Greetings to all the new people enjoying the list and all the others as well.
Like everyone else we are busy trimming manes, getting rid of ticks, etc. When inside I am trying to get caught up on the Fjord list and answer some of the questions. Mary's vet suggestion of a necklace and earrings made of horse teeth didn't appeal to me but when Orville got home from Calgary and I told him he thought it would be neat. I found a couple more teeth in the feed bunks. Enjoyed reading about the mane trimming. A few years ago we were going through Wisc. and one of our must stop places is the Fleet Farm store in Menomonie. Lots of room to park the truck and trailer and easy access off and on from the interstate. While Orville was wandering through the hardware and getting all his nuts, bolts, screws etc for the next while he came across some funny looking scissors with grey handles and a orange clip. He thought they might work okay for trimming manes. The shape lent themselves to easier handling and he found they worked wonderfull for all kinds of manes. Until I starting reading all the different emails about the Fiskars I didn't know what they were called. Sure enough when I went out to the barn to check we do own a pair a Fiskars and they are the best thing we have found for trimming Fjord manes. Brian asked about how we would introduce two mature stallions that have never been together. We we bought Orrjo and Leidjo in Norway in 1985 one of the considering factors after disposition and conformation was the fact that they had spent their yearling and two year old summers running up the mountain with the other Fjord Stallions and the Dolehest stallions. Out of 20 odd stallions of various ages we were told that Orrjo was the boss. They were turned out everyday together during the winter and we seen how they interacted with each other. After we imported them and got them home we turned them back out together with our other stallions and they thought it was normal. In our breeding program if a stallion will not get along with the other stallions in the off season we would not keep them as a stallion. Disposition is the top priority and that can not be sacrificed for other things. Because we are sorting horses around and going to be bringing the mares home to get ready for foaling we separated the stallions yesterday. They are just starting to get their hormones going and the fillies are starting to come into heat. Usually we wait a little later to separate but with Orville leaving on Thursday to go to Wisconsin I wanted everything done before he left to make chores easier for me. Our daughter is going on this trip as one of her geldings was sold and she will be doing the riding on the two that are going for sale. She also wants to see the Akal-Teke stallions in Green Bay that Nyla Naniot owns. A white dun filly is going to Nyla's as well if anyone would like to come and see her sometime. Not many white duns around. In Oct. 1981 we stopped off in England for a few days on our way to Norway to buy mares. Prior to leaving I had contacted Lady Kidd at her Maple Stud I believe it was called and arranged for us to go and see her Fjords. At that time she was the only Fjord contact we could find in England. We got a tour around her farm and had a nice lunch while there. Is her place still going? After we returned from Norway we rented a car and went south to Brighton and back. Where do you live from there Susan? A lot of talk about ticks now. The ticks around here usually start coming in January and don't quit until June. I am hand picking some off the mares when I feed and check them over. The horses at home that we are using every day get checked and picked daily. We worm with Ivermectin and that will kill any ticks that are sucking blood but not the young ticks looking for a host. Vigilance and hand picking is what we have found works the best. We used to put vaseline on the ticks and they couldn't breath so would die and dry up and fall off. That took too long so back to the hand picking. One of the good things about our living in Alberta was the tick free area but our weather here makes up for the negative. Keeping the horses out of the bush and grass does not help keep the ticks off as most of our horses are in paddocks with no grass and at least a foot of snow and they are still covered in ticks. I believe that the ticks stay on the horse year round and hatch young ones and that is what we are finding now. I don't believe that cougars are endangered around here. They are common enough and have so little fear of man that several people have seen cougars bring down deer along side the highway in broad daylight. The cougar that we trapped with the carcass of the second foal was feeding on the first foal in daylight and my son chased it off with his motorbike. We had three cougar spotted on our property that year. The big tom that Orville shot as well as a female with a young one. The deer and elk are so plentiful around here that they are a nuisance to the hay farmers in the area. We are seeing white tail in the yard now as well as the mule deer that winter on our alfalfa hay. Have to keep everything covered or they get into it. Fish and Game said the cougar are following the deer down. The neighbour seen one of the cougar one evening in the field were the pregnent mares are. It didn't run off just looked at him. Water starting to run of the hill side now. Spring is on the way. Anita Unrau Anvil's Acres Norwegian Fjord Horses "Disposition, Conformation, Versatility"
