heavyweight list
This message is from: JoAnn or Dave [EMAIL PROTECTED] Just thought I'd tell you about a fairly new list, called heavyweights, on onelist. There are some really nice people there and we'd be glad for you to join! The weight comments I read here would make great introductions, and they're right on topic. I was going to send this privately to one person, then three, then figured what the heck -- more might be interested and I wanna finish reading the digest :-) JoAnn
Re: Here's a new (controversial?) topic!
This message is from: JoAnn or Dave [EMAIL PROTECTED] More anecdotal evidence *for* using MSM on arthritic horses :-) I've had my 24-year-old Thoroughbred gelding on a small dose of MSM for almost two years now. (And I've only been his owner for less than a year;) I am surprised at what a difference it makes for him. I use the Vita Flex brand, and feed only a little over half of the recommended daily dose. The first time my MSM container ran out, I thought Bobby could stay sound without it because he was getting ridden regularly, but that didn't work out -- he went gimpy again (in the right hind hock or stifle), so I ordered more and have kept him on it since. Last May or so, his supply at the barn ran out, and the owner/feeder didn't tell me (I had more waiting at home), and I couldn't figure out what was going wrong with him. He started to get really stiff and limpy again, and I despaired that he was on his last legs. Then I found out that he hadn't had his MSM in four days! So it's proven its worth to me, for my horse anyway. By the way, I never started the double dose treatment when I started feeding MSM. It was too complicated to explain changing instructions to the stable owner, who insists on feeding, so I just told him to give him a single scoop. It took over a week to kick in, but you may want to consider starting with a smaller amount than recommended and give it a week or two to see if there's a difference. If not, up the dose to what the instructions say. Just a thought. I don't know how they determine the recommended doseage, but I don't think that feeding less than recommended would create any sort of immunity to the product -- if anyone knows differently, please jump in! Bobby weighs about 1100 pounds and a little over half a scoop daily works for him. He didn't like the taste, either, so it had to be well mixed with his moist wheat/alfalfa rations. I've been very interested to read the experiences others have had with MSM, so be sure to let us know how, or if, it works for you :-) JoAnn in Japan
Re: Easy Boot choppers
This message is from: JoAnn or Dave [EMAIL PROTECTED] So far, the most helpful web site I've come across about Easy Boot fit is: http://www.greatbasin.net/~sportssaddle/Easyboot.html It outlines some options for customizing that the packaging and official web site do not mention. I enjoyed the alliteration posted by Alex Wind -- thanks for sharing it! JoAnn Detwiler Johnson Japan
Re: Easy Boots
This message is from: JoAnn or Dave [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Sue, It sounds like you have a good farrier. I use size 3 Easy Boots, too, and have a suggestion and a question for you. ... there is a lot of boot left sticking out the back when you get it fitted, and the edges are too tall. I also have to wrap the cable wire around the metal lever to get enough tension on the cable to make it snug. I trimmed down a lot of the excess on both the back and the top rim of the boots, and so far she has not pulled a boot off since I trimmed. ... My other mare takes a size 2 boot, and it is proportioned better, but still needed a lot of trimming around the coronary band. I've actually trimmed about an eigth of an inch off the bottom of the back of the boot (the very bottom), and that has significantly reduced having it stepped on by my TB's hind feet. I'm not sure just how much this weakens the strength of the Easy Boot, but my thought was that there on to protect his soles, so it's worth trying -- and it's worked. As for wrapping the cable around the metal lever, I tried that and it threatened to make the lever turn cockeyed and I was afraid that it could wrench itself loose. So I had my husband drill a new pair of holes in the heel strap! It was very easy with a Dremel, and now the boots fit Bobby's wide but shortish front hooves fairly well. When you mentioned trimming excess off of the top of the Easy Boot, do you mean behind the cables (down toward the heel), or above the cables? There doesn't seem to be a lot of room above the cables, but a friend's horse has hooves which the Easy Boots are too tall for -- the front above the metal lever would rest above the coronet band if she were to use them. Do you have any suggestions? Maybe pads inside? These hooves are also very upright and the toe doesn't reach into the front corner because of the steep angle (of the hoof, not the boot). The savings in not having to pay for shoes easily covers the cost of the Easy Boots, but the aggravation of having to put them on daily means I would shoe if I did a lot of trail riding. Sue Banks Mattaponi, VA Although it gets easier with practice, I agree! However, I just did an experiment with Easy Foam (have you heard of it?), and it lasted 2 weeks. I applied Koppertox before gluing on the Easy Boots since we're in a very moist environment and there was no thrush when I took them off. Because Bobby had a heel wound on the left, I couldn't use the necessary heel strap to secure my Easy Boots, and his feet had just been trimmed (perhaps a little too short), so I couldn't ride without them. Voila! Out comes the Easy Foam I picked up in VA on my vacation :-) I totally removed the heel strap from the left boot, and mixed up the foam to glue it onto his hoof -- the owner was leaving as I was making preparations; you know, rubber gloves, mixing stick, container, baby wipes, etc -- but he couldn't resist stopping to ask what I was doing. He was probably afraid it was a construction project! I explained that I was gluing the Easy Boots on like shoes, and not to get worried when he saw that it would look like I forgot to take them off. Ohwhoa, he said (the standard comment elicited from anything totally different), and drove off. The right hoof was wrapped in Vetwrap, just like I do for when I'm using the boots without the foam. (Do you use anything under the boots, and/or do you bend down the metal gripper teeth, Sue?) Surprisingly enough, the left boot stayed on considerably longer than the right, despite the heel strap disparity. The right boot stayed on for four days, then came off while Bobby was turned out. I put it back on with more foam, sans Vetwrap. The left, strapless, boot stayed on for two full weeks, coming off as we trotted down and around a wet clay downhill turn on the trail. I keep telling him it's better to walk down those hills, but can't deny him his own little experiments ;-) He clipped the left boot with his right foot, and off came the slipper. I was quite happy with how long it adhered. Then on to the adventure of removing the perfectly solid right boot while being laughed at by my friends -- but it sure is nice to have a horse who will stand quietly while his person nearly wrenches off his foot - LOL! JoAnn in Japan
Re: weight
This message is from: JoAnn or Dave [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Jean, If you haven't already, you may want to go look at Dr. Jessica Jahiel's definition of bone at http://www.prairienet.org/horse-sense//whatbone.htm and measuring horses at http://www.prairienet.org/horse-sense//meashors.htm Aside from measuring bone, I was always told that a horse could carry twenty percent of his body weight as a general rule. Some breeds are said to have denser bone, like Icelandics -- is this true of fjord horses as well? Those with denser bone could carry a little more than twenty percent. And I can't find a source to say how much horses can pull, although I remember hearing three times (!!!) their body weight. I dunno if that's during everyday driving or pulling contests. I'd like to know, too. JoAnn in Japan on Fri, 26 Feb 1999 Jean Gayle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is there a measure of some sort that says how much a horse can carry? Is it determined by the horses weight vs. the load or what? I understand how much he can pull is up to the horse or would they hurt themselves in the pulling? When I see the little beasties almost belly to the ground I wonder about the leg structures just as I do when I see them heavily loaded. Jean Gayle, Wa. State --
grammar note (zzzzzz)
This message is from: JoAnn or Dave [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Joel, You were right when you wrote, If he exhibits manners, kudos to whoever(whomever?) trained him. The interrogative pronoun whoever is the subject of a nominal clause in that imperative sentence. /Whomever/ is the objective case, and would be used if its antecedent were someone not performing an action. As an example, A crazy beast broke loose and trampled whomever he saw. In that case, the /whomever/ represents a group that was acted upon. Probably the reason for confusion is the lack of a verb. Kudos is a noun, but in the sense that you used it, it means give kudos (a meaning that the dictionary will eventually recognize, just as it now grudgingly recognizes a singular /kudo/), and of course the subject is assumed. FWIW, JoAnn in Japn
new address after vacation
This message is from: JoAnn or Dave [EMAIL PROTECTED] With profuse apologies to the person who had to sort out a bounced digest today, I'm back in Japan with yet another new email address!!! (I don't think I can unsubscribe the old address now that I'm using the new one.) My vacation to the states was actually a grueling relative-visiting expedition which burned 200 gallons of gas in three weeks, all so *everyone* could tell me I don't do enough to stay in touch with them :-/ That's not a vacation!!! Next year, to Australia, where we know nobody! :-) We drove south through North Carolina I was looking forward to seeing some fjords, but hubby's internet ax-murderer phobia prevented our stopping at Fjordhest! Boo! Well, it *was* pretty late at night when we went past, thanks to miscalculating the time we spent driving through hiking in the the Shenandoah National Forest, so we wouldn't have been convenient visitors anyway. Interestingly, my mom, who drives team interstate trucking, had recently noticed some fjordhorses in a pasture and might want to buy one once she Dad get their retirement property in TN. She used to ride before I was born, and is thinking about learning to drive now. I think her reasoning is to find an even-tempered small horse for her grandkids when they visit. (My sisters have children; I have a horse obsession.) The only horsey things we did on vacation was go for a trail ride on some cool draft mules in the Poconos, buy some stuff from a tack auction, and go see a team penning in FL. I had a good time anyway. In IL, there was a Friesian farm listed in the yellow pages under horses for rent, so I called made a complete fool of myself by assuming they were rented for trail rides; I guess instead they provide carriage rental. They told me on the phone - no, we wouldn't let people ride them; they're too expensive. LOL! I knew that... I fell in love with a really cute appaloosa gelding at the auction but had a hard time describing his color. Then I got back here realized that the gelding's color exactly matches Tarot's (which isn't quite fjordlike since there's no stripe), except with big dark spots on the roanish rump. Too bad the military won't ship any pets besides cats or dogs! I'll go catch up with the digests now see what's been happening :-) I did see that Bonnie Hendricks is on board now -- welcome! She's a real expert on all the little Japanese horses over here. JoAnn doin' the important chores before unpacking suitcases ;-)
