Re: New Foal!
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Nancy, Congrats on the new babe!! Will you have pictures for us to see soon? Glad to hear mom is doing well too, funny how they sometimes "trick us" about foaling time, isn't it? Lynda and Daniel Bailey's Norwegian Fjord Horse Farm White Cloud, MI 231-689-9902 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hometown.aol.com/baileysfjords/
New Foal!
This message is from: "Nancy Hotovy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> First of all congratulations to Lynda on your foal. I checked out your web site and it sure is cute!! Frida gave us a nice healthy colt this morning. Actually I found it this morning when I went to the barn. Last night she had no milk or enlarged udder at all - just some edema in front of the udder which started a week ago. She's always foaled 2 - 4 weeks after her due date and always between 5:30 P.M. and 10:30 P.M. so even though she was 15 days past her due date I really never suspected a new addition this morning. Anyway he is nice and healthy and so is Mom so I can't ask for anything more than that. We have always fed alfalfa hay (it's what we grow). I feed 1st cutting in the morning and 3rd in the evening and we never have "hay bellies". Our horses do very well with Strategy and the alfalfa hay. Frida's now 23 years old and obviously doing well also. We just adjust amounts fed to age of horse. Young and very old get a bigger quantity of hay than the others and pasture is limited in the summer. Sounds like Carole has the manure management under control. We spread it on our fields and have never fertilized with commercial fertilizer. Seems to work well. Will be nice to see everyone is Galena. I hear there is over 100 people signed up at this time. Can't wait! Nancy
Re: more boarding woes
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 2/24/02 2:35:48 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > I said that horses would walk right > through any wood, as would bulls (what they intend to put in the pasture > Hmmm I feel for your boarding situation. Good luck. I'll ask a couple friends in No. Cal. if they know of anything. but my horses certainly don't try to walk through wood, or even the feeble vinyl fencing we have. I have no clue about what bulls would do. But the horses don't have a problem. Anyway, I'll check with my friends and see if they know of anything. Pamela
more boarding woes
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi All and Happy Fjording- Boarding woe seems to be the story of my horse life. Guess that's what I get for living in the Bay Area CA :-/ As some of you may recall, my first boarding facility was a nightmare. Gorgeous 120 acres with barns, paddocks, pastures, two arenas ... and an insane owner. She did things like not showing up in the morning till 11AM (horses standing in waste and not fed or watered), going home early at 3PM (leaving the metal barn shut tight on an 80 degree day). She had a bad reputation among farriers and vets for not paying bills. Oh, and did I mention she came on to all her male staff members? LOL. Facility #2 was heaven. I was referred by my farrier to a small, family owned cattle ranch. Between stalls, paddocks and pasture they boarded 15-20 horses. Nice big pasture, decent arena, trails just down the road. The best part, however, was the people. They had decades of experience with livestock and facility management. Care was tops -- I never had to worry about anything. Unfortunately, they retired and moved, selling the place to some city folks... Situation #3. Same place, different people. They moved to the country to "have privacy" evicting all the boarders, a family renting a mobile home, and the Mexican steward who had lived in the barn apartment for 15 years. I got a referral to a facility in Woodside and was all set to move, then it fell through. I explained the situation to the new owners, who assured me I could stay for several months until I found a suitable place. A few months turned into almost a year. It was "interesting" boarding with city folks. First they decided that hot-wire is "cruel, and the kids might get electrocuted" so they removed it, leaving 3 Fjords enclosed by rusty barbed wire. Didn't take the Fjords long to realize this, and "rearrange" the fence in grass-is-always-greener efforts. This led to complaints, and my suggestion (again) of hot-wire which was not well received. Their young boys, ages 3 and 5, run wild. They swing on the tie rail while I'm grooming a horse, stick their arms and legs through the arena fence while I'm lunging, and play with loud toys while I'm doing the "stand still for mounting exercise." I gently corrected them each time and explained what they should not do and why. Good boys, they listened and learned, but I think their parents were not thrilled. They expressed concern that this is the boys' home and they should be able to do whatever they want. OK... Then there's the dogs, two puppies who seemed to like nothing better than to dash into the arena while I was riding and nip at my horse's nose. I'd stop, dismount, and ask someone to please make sure the pets stay out of the arena. This was met with disapproving looks, and more often than not the kids would let the dogs out again 10 minutes later. Mind you, during this time I was paying full board and doing my best to be unobtrusive and polite. I kept the owners updated on my search for a new facility, to which they always replied, "No hurry, stay as long as you like. We won't need to use that pasture till summer." As far as I could tell, they really meant it. They even expressed interest in buying a Fjord. Two days ago, things sort of came to a head. The wife informed me that my horses would have to move into a paddock because they had destroyed the fence. I said that was fine, and explained why all 3 could not go into the same paddock ;-/ She said a guy was coming out to build a "really sturdy" fence of wood, no hot wire of course. I said that horses would walk right through any wood, as would bulls (what they intend to put in the pasture after I leave). Yesterday when I arrived, I was met with sullen faces. I was then told that "this whole horse boarding thing isn't what we expected and we don't want to do it any more." Great. Thanks, after telling me two weeks ago to stay till summer! Argh. So now I need to find a place ASAP. I've been calling around, but everyone is full. List member Dagrun is scoping out the South Bay for me, and I've written Cindy Vallecillo regarding the North Peninsula. Ideas, referrals, and prayers welcome! Brigid M Wasson San Francisco Bay Area, CA http://ourfjords.freeservers.com/fjord1/Our_Fjordsx.html";>Our http://ourfjords.freeservers.com/fjord1/Our_Fjordsx.html";>Fjords / )__~ /L /L
Re: Manure
This message is from: "Jean Gayle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dee Anna, you hit on the reason I only use my compost pile to level the mole, rain, dog digging, horse hooves dents and runs in my yard. When I used manure compost in the vegetable garden I was discouraged by the many weeds. Jean Jean Walters Gayle [Authoress of "The Colonel's Daughter" Occupied Germany 1946 To 1949 ] http://users.techline.com/jgayle Send $20 Three Horses Press PO Box 104 Montesano, WA 98563
Re: WNV
This message is from: "Jean Gayle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hope if you are using a balanced grain ration, Cal/ph then Alfalfa balances out well. It has plenty of calcium if it is not over a year old and well stored. Jean Jean Walters Gayle [Authoress of "The Colonel's Daughter" Occupied Germany 1946 To 1949 ] http://users.techline.com/jgayle Send $20 Three Horses Press PO Box 104 Montesano, WA 98563
Re: Catching My Fjord
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 2/24/02 8:35:44 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > My Fjord has a definite attitude about being taken away from her food to > work. Calling it "play" does not really fool her. I tried for several > weeks > to offer treats, and she would sweetly follow me up the corral hill to her > stall, get haltered and then get her treat. But every time, I still had to > walk down that hill and show her the goody she would get if she would > follow > Friday I was bringing horses in from pasture. We are about 50 yards away from a golf course. I called "Merry Gold, Holly" (Juniper was in another pasture, so her pregnant belly is not at risk of being kicked by the quarrelsome two). A lady stopped, looked, like "yeah, right, her horses are really going to come to her". I called again. Horses looked up, started walking, trotting, cantering up the hill to me. Golf course lady calls to her friends, points "look, they're GOING to her". Haltered one, brought her to stall, same with the other. Then I called to Juniper. Lady is still standing, wanting to see if THIS horse would come. Sure nuff. Lady again points at Juniper to her friends, watches us walk away. It was funny, especially after the conversations of horse-catching on the list. What good ponies! :) Pamela
Re: Our new British Horse Society Trainer/Instructor - CORRECTION
This message is from: "Arthur Rivoire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia - In our recent Newsletter, I made an error concerning the trainer/instructor we're about to hire from England. I called him a British Horse Society Instructor, when in fact, his certification is - British Horse Society Intermediate Instructor. (BHSII) I mistakenly upped his rank by one level in calling him a BHS Instructor, which is the highest level, and I'm told that the BHS is easily upset by such things. Best Regards, Carol http://www.beaverdamfarm.com Beaver Dam Farm Fjords II R.R. 7 Pomquet, Nova Scotia B2G 2L4 Tel:(902) 386-2304 Fax:(902) 386-2149 Carole Rivoire, author of THE FJORDHORSE HANDBOOK, only book in English on the Fjord breed, available from Beaver Dam Farm, $36.95 US includes P&H http://www.beaverdamfarm.com/book.htm
Manure Management
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I also have two horse on one acre and manure management is a delicate balance. I also have the world's worst soil so "amending" it with my free manure is a given. I have lived here for 12 years and now have many grown fruit trees and a crop of weeds that is unbelievable. Once a year, I have a tractor service come out to scrape my corrals and deposit it to the furthest trees. I have also bagged up the really good stuff and taken it to family members for their city gardens. Everyone loves free manure in the springtime. Not too fond of it in the summer though. Pamela Garofalo
Catching My Fjord
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] My Fjord has a definite attitude about being taken away from her food to work. Calling it "play" does not really fool her. I tried for several weeks to offer treats, and she would sweetly follow me up the corral hill to her stall, get haltered and then get her treat. But every time, I still had to walk down that hill and show her the goody she would get if she would follow me up. Well, I got impatient. (This is not news.) I walked down that hill and snaked her halter out on her lead line and thwacked her on the butt. This surprised her and she trotted up to her stall. I had to do this one more time the next day. The third day, I only had to walk halfway down the hill. Now I only have to LOOK like I am going to come after her. She trots up to her stall and stands as nicely as anyone could want. Dominant mare behavior??? Pamela Garofalo
Re: Manure
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keeping a compost pile covered does prevent water-soluble nutrients such as nitrate and ammonia from being leached out of the compost by rain. Covering the pile has the added benefit of controlling the amount of water in the pile so the compost pile heats properly. Unless you live in an arid climate or add a lot of very dry material (leaves & sawdust for instance) in proportion to the wet stuff, there will usually be enough water supplied by the manure & urine alone to keep the biological decomposition process going. What a cover will not do is reduce the amount of nitrogen (the "N" value you see on a fertilizer bag) lost by conversion of ammonia and urea into nitrous oxide and nitric oxide gases. That is a byproduct of any anaerobic decomposition that happens deep inside the compost pile. You will inevitably lose some nitrogen that way, cover or no cover. Even if you cannot cover the pile, it is still good stuff. The other two major nutrients needed by plants -- phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) -- will remain, as well as all that lovely organic matter (humus) that increases the ability of water to soak into then be stored by the soil. Humus also increases the soil's ability to store nutrients, so the fertility of your soil will remain higher even if you don't add as much (if any) in the way of store-bought fertilizers. I think Carol R.s approach to piling manure & bedding on garden beds is a great idea. That way, nitrogen leached out of the manure by rain will still benefit the soil in the garden. I have put pretty fresh manure on my garden beds with few problems -- the hay I feed doesn't have many weed seeds in it, which is my only concern about this approach. I would hesitate to add poultry or hog manure directly to growing plants, however, since the nitrogen in hog and chicken sh*t (sorry, I couldn't resist!) is much higher than in horse, cow, goat, or sheep manure and could damage the plants. DeeAnna <- environmental science teacher & ag. engineer
CONTEST AND SUNDAY NIGHT FJORD CHAT
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.petsandvets.com";>PETS AND VETS WWW.PETSANDVETS.COM http://www.petsandvets.com/contest.htm";>NEW CONTEST ENDS FEB. 27th http://www.petsandvets.com/contest.htm FJORD HORSE CHAT "Fjord Room" SUNDAY NIGHT FEBRUARY 24th 9:00 pm to 10:00pm (Eastern Time) http://chat.petsandvets.com";>CHAT ROOMS http://chat.petsandvets.com http://www.petsandvets.com/forums";>MESSAGE BOARDS http://www.petsandvets.com/forums
Re: new pictures
This message is from: GAIL RUSSELL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> At 01:55 AM 2/24/2002 -0800, you wrote: >This message is from: "Knutsen Fjord Farm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Hi all ~ I think they remember each other. I reunited two horses (brothers) who had been apart for a year, but otherwise together for life. They did not even see each other as they were on different parts of the property. They had other horses to keep them company, but began calling to each other like crazy, apparently because they could smell each other. Both of these horses could care less about any other new horsethe calling was not just because they knew there was a new horse around. Gail Russell Forestville CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Manure Management
This message is from: "Arthur Rivoire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia - We always have at least twenty Fjordhorses on the farm, with up to thirty-five in the warmer months. That's a whole lot of manure to manage, but it's no problem for us. We treasure every bit of it. * EVERYTHING GOES into our compost heap - Horse manure from the stables and paddocks - Used sawdust bedding - All kitchen scraps - I empty the vacuum cleaner bag on the pile - Absolutely everything bio-degradable goes on the pile - Even placentas. Here's how we manage manure at Beaver Dam Farm - * CREATE NEW BEDS for vegetables, perennials, and roses. I decide where a new bed should go, and then begin piling the manure where it will sit for a year or more before planting. This way I can pile the freshest manure, and not worry as I'm not planting right away. By the time I'm ready to plant I have the most wonderful "black gold" anybody could want to dig in. And the growing results are phenomenal. Guests to our farm can't believe it. Practically nothing around here is planted IN the ground. It's all on top in raised manure beds. I add no soil to these beds. Everything really grows well without any chemicals of any sort. * FERTILIZE EXISTING PLANTINGS in Spring & Fall. - Twice a year we shovel and dump huge amounts of manure around trees, bushes and roses. In the Fall, I load up our asparagus bed with about a foot of manure. Same for the rhubarb patch. The other raised vegetable beds get a super thick top dressing after harvesting and cleaning up stalks and such. * URINE SOAKED SAWDUST without droppings in it goes directly on our riding ring and is spread around. Our ring is fine gravel and the sawdust gives a softer footing. - We buy 3 - 4 tractor/trailer loads of sawdust a year. * ON THE TRAILS - We have some low spots on our driving trails where Arthur piles gravel to help the drainage. Over this goes a nice thick covering of sawdust/manure. Works really well. -- The manure mixed with sawdust can be used anywhere on our trails to good effect. * ICY BARNYARD & FOOTPATHS - In our Maritime climate, we have a lot of freezing and thawing which makes ice a serious problem for people and horses. --- We try to use the sawdust/manure to make slip-proof trails. This has to be done during the thaw perioids, just before the next freeze. If you get the timing just right, you can easily make a good safe alkway. --- The drawback is that it looks messy during winter. By Spring, however, it's no longer a problem as it all turns to a nice beige dust. * SELL IT TO "HORSELESS" GARDNERS - In my experience, sawdust/manure truly is "Black Gold". I can't imagine gardening without it. Two winters ago, I decided to create an extensive cottage garden around our "Charming Cottage" (rental house on the farm). First of all, I laid out the shape using a flexible garden hose. Then I got rid of old cardboard, newspapers, old flyers, etc., etc. by laying all this stuff inside my hose outline. I even used leftover sheets of gyprock having read that the gypsum will sweeten the soil. (Makes sense!!!)Next, I started filing up the space with sawdust/manure using the newest stuff on the bottom, and finishing with a good six inches of well rotted material. The whole pile ended up to be at least a foot high. The next Spring, I simply plugged in all my plantings, and by summer, the garden looked thoroughly established, and absolutely gorgeous. --- There was no digging at all, yet the sodded ground under the pile was now soft and fluffy and a perfect medium for long-rooted plants. --- I've been gardening like this for years, and it works!!! I've never had a failure or problem of any ind. --- Obviously, with all that manure, you don't need to fertilize at all. --- And one of the biggest benefits is that all that material is its own mulch that can and should be constantly renewed. --- The more you pile on top, the better drainage you have, and better fertility. It's definitely a win/win way to go. * ALMOST ORGANIC - The only chemicals that go into any of our gardens at any time would be the residue of the wormers we give the horses. I don't like that, and wish there was another way, but considering the mega-tons of compost we create, the amount of wormer that actually finds its way into our vegetable gardens is miniscule in the extremel. --- Other than the wormer residue, there's nothing else. -- We never use any fertilizers or pesticides anywhere on the farm, and we have absolutely no need of them. Everything thrives and is perfectly healthy. I figure that the plants are so healthy because of the growing medium that they're able to fight off any funguses or harmful insects that might be around. One last word on the subject . . . . * BALANCE IS THE KEY!
new pictures
This message is from: "Knutsen Fjord Farm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi all ~ Doug put up some new pictures on our web site for your viewing enjoyment. There is a nice sillouette of Erlend in which he reminds me of the stlyized wooden horses we buy in Norway. Also one of Vilde on the herd page, and Ulend and Lady Liberty on the Erlend Kids page. Hope you enjoy them. Next up will be Vilde's parents in Norway, Mildre and Takklar. Suki must be almost at her new home by now. I really miss her, but, after seeing how Janice Lee takes care of her four-foots, I don't think Suki will miss us much. Interesting, and poignantly, Suki's just-arrived mom, Kariella, carried on something fierce as Suki was loaded. I was wondering whether she remembered her daughter after all this time. They had had less than 24 hours to chat across a double fence. What do you all think? I know Erlend certainly acted as if her remembered Kari, but I suspect that's different. Men! Sadie looks a little forlorn without Suki to boss around. We'll move Silka in there tomorrow, and they can get re-acquainted.Wish one of these gals would show some heat so it would be easier to get His Majesty's breeding soundness exam completed. So does he... Just saw "A Beautiful Mind" and am still recovering. Amazing experience! Bye, now ~ Peg Peg Knutsen - Ellensburg, WA http://www.eburg.com/~kffjord/
