Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 12/11/98 6:27:47 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << Also if you want to reply to several parts of a long message you can place the mouse pointer (cursor) after the last word that you want and hit enter a couple of times. This will open up some space for you to put your reply. It is how I placed my reply to this part of your message here. >I have a question for everyone-- How do you cure the impatience of a 3-year- >old Fjord who will only stand sweetly tied to the trailer if he has a full hay >bag in front of him? I introduced him to hobbles in my round pen this summer, >then used them when we'd go to shows and he had to stand at the trailer for >several hours. You know how fast they go through a bag of hay so I'm not >about to keep running back to the trailer to refill it. He has dinged the hec >out of my fender on my nice trailer. The hobbles work when I have them on but >when they're off, he goes right back to pawing. I'm wondering if it's just a >young horse -- impatient thing he'll grow out of??? Any advice?? Thanks, Well one way is to find a hay bag with tighter (smaller) holes in it. Make it harder for him to get the hay out of it. It will keep him busy longer anyway. Not sure of how else to do it. Have you tried any of the toys? Is he just bored? Mike>> Mike, I didn't delete before I typed. Hopefully, this worked. Susan
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mike, Thanks for the instructions on how to reduce my replies. I use the hay bags that have the big hole on each side so you're right -- it's probably too easy for him to eat. I'll look around for another kind that will make it more difficult for him to eat. Thanks for the suggestion! Susan in Minnesota.
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: Mary Thurman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > This message is from Susan Heyvaert, Minnesota: > > I have a question for everyone-- How do you cure the impatience of a 3-year- > old Fjord who will only stand sweetly tied to the trailer if he has a full hay > bag in front of him? I introduced him to hobbles in my round pen this summer, > then used them when we'd go to shows and he had to stand at the trailer for > several hours. You know how fast they go through a bag of hay so I'm not > about to keep running back to the trailer to refill it. He has dinged the hec > out of my fender on my nice trailer. The hobbles work when I have them on but > when they're off, he goes right back to pawing. I'm wondering if it's just a > young horse -- impatient thing he'll grow out of??? Any advice?? Thanks, > Susan Susan, With regard to 3-year-old Fjord impatience, specifically pawing your trailer or whatever else he is tied to: We have two 3-year-old geldings which we used for trail riding and took to the Libby show last year. They are both hobble trained (it's part of the process here) and we use their hobbles whenever we expect them to stand tied for any length of time. A friend who is a trainer uses this method and says some (actually most) horses never outgrow their need to be reminded that they must stand quietly when tied. Once this summer our horses were tied to the trailer in a stockyard with a lot of trailers loaded with cows coming and going - a lot of noise and confusion - at first we did not hobble them (thought they were tired enough to stand) - but they were restless, so we put their hobbles on. Immediately they settled down and went to sleep. It's almost as if they depend on the hobbles to tell them how to handle a situation. They can't make up their minds that something is ok, but when you hobble them, you are telling them how to handle the situation, ie. stand quietly. At the Libby show during the delays between classes, we left them saddled (loosen cinch) and hobbled in their pens with hay nets - which we did not refill when empty - and regularly untied their heads so they could reach water (it was hot there this year). Neither of them suffered any psychological damage that we could tell, and it kept them from damaging themselves and their equipment through boredom. Hope this gives you some ideas. Mary == Mary Thurman Raintree Farms [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: Mike May <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> At 11:06 PM 12/10/98 -0500, you wrote: >This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >This message is from Susan Heyvaert, Minnesota: > >Could you tell me how you reply without repeating the entire message you are >responding to? I know it is something I need to do but am not sure how. > Sure, when you hit the reply button most mailers put the entire message you are replying to back on the screen for you. You can delete any of it that you don't want to resend by selecting the part you don't want with your mouse. Then hit your delete key and that selected text will be gone. Also if you want to reply to several parts of a long message you can place the mouse pointer (cursor) after the last word that you want and hit enter a couple of times. This will open up some space for you to put your reply. It is how I placed my reply to this part of your message here. >I have a question for everyone-- How do you cure the impatience of a 3-year- >old Fjord who will only stand sweetly tied to the trailer if he has a full hay >bag in front of him? I introduced him to hobbles in my round pen this summer, >then used them when we'd go to shows and he had to stand at the trailer for >several hours. You know how fast they go through a bag of hay so I'm not >about to keep running back to the trailer to refill it. He has dinged the hec >out of my fender on my nice trailer. The hobbles work when I have them on but >when they're off, he goes right back to pawing. I'm wondering if it's just a >young horse -- impatient thing he'll grow out of??? Any advice?? Thanks, Well one way is to find a hay bag with tighter (smaller) holes in it. Make it harder for him to get the hay out of it. It will keep him busy longer anyway. Not sure of how else to do it. Have you tried any of the toys? Is he just bored? Mike
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This message is from Susan Heyvaert, Minnesota: Could you tell me how you reply without repeating the entire message you are responding to? I know it is something I need to do but am not sure how. Regarding stabling preferences -- I have 4 horses, 2 Quarter horse mares, 1 26 year old Arabian, and my "new" 3 yr. old Fjord. Unfortunately, I live in suburbia (not so good for horse keeping but great for driving to places!). We have 2 very large paddocks. In order to keep mud to a minimum, we installed about 8" of ag lime ( the stuff they use on country roads). At first, it is soft, but soon it turns harder then softens up with rains, but not so much that it ever becomes muddy. When they roll on it, it easily brushes off with the flick of a brush. After boarding for several years before we had our own place and spending "forever" cleaning my horse before every ride, I vowed I'd never do it again. Granted, this is primarily for our convenience, not because the horse likes it better! We put sand in one corner which they either pick to urinate in or lie in or both! It splashes less! I keep my Fjord out all night even in very cold temps -- even though we haven't had much of a winter yet, it does get awfully frigid here in Minnesota. When it drops to 10 degrees or below or even a windchill of 10 or below, I start thinking about bringing him in. Depends on sunlight that day, too. He despises being in the stall and makes me pay for it by churning it up sufficiently that I might as well shovel the whole works out. I have a question for everyone-- How do you cure the impatience of a 3-year- old Fjord who will only stand sweetly tied to the trailer if he has a full hay bag in front of him? I introduced him to hobbles in my round pen this summer, then used them when we'd go to shows and he had to stand at the trailer for several hours. You know how fast they go through a bag of hay so I'm not about to keep running back to the trailer to refill it. He has dinged the hec out of my fender on my nice trailer. The hobbles work when I have them on but when they're off, he goes right back to pawing. I'm wondering if it's just a young horse -- impatient thing he'll grow out of??? Any advice?? Thanks, Susan
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: Julia Will <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Geeze, Ingrid ~ I think your Ohio cold has blown up to New York! It was 69 degrees when my alarm went off early this morning, and now it is high 30's! We use a combination of standing stalls (6) box stalls (4) and run-ins (6), with each run-in housing 3 or 4 horses. Our run-ins are in a wagon wheel format around a central barn with hay storage above so I can feed all twenty-some horses from the loft. Each runin has it's own automatic waterer and a paddock for exercise. I am a fan of standing stalls and run-ins, and just have the box stalls for my stallions, foaling or sick horse, or newcomers that have to be isolated. Have a good night! Julie
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] We've still got a relatively new place, so for now, we've got 12x12 box stalls for the horses, with one 12x24 foaling stall. When springtime rolls along we'll add runs to the stalls. And if we keep on accumulating horses, we'll put a 3 sided shed in one of the smaller pastures. Running outa space, and have a baby due in April. Anyone wanna buy a beautiful quarter horse filly? Pamela
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Ingrid Ivic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I was curious to see the percentage of people, on the List, that use > box stalls, tie-stalls, run-ins...etc...and also why you prefer your > own particular stabling method. [...] What's your favorite bedding? Our equines (3 Fjords, one donkey) have "stalls" that function as run-in sheds. Each stall (12x12 for the Fjords, 8x8 for the donkey) has no outside door, but opens onto a corral (pens of varying sizes, as dictated by the steep ground). They can come and go as they please, year-round. I use no bedding (stalls have rubber mats over either wood or concrete floors)---they are expected to "go to the bathroom" outside, in the corral. For the most part, this eliminates the problem of stains, as they sleep on a relatively clean, dry surface. Well, most of them do---Sleepy (a.k.a. Sloppy) sometimes goes out and lays down on the manure heap, especially if Rom won't let him into the stall they're supposed to share Why? Um, well, that's what the donkey's breeder did, and it worked for us when all we had was the donkey, so we tried it with the Fjords and liked it Note that we keep them on our own place, in coastal California. Stabling is one of those things that is strongly location-dependent, as well as depending on whether you board, vs can build what you want. (Caution---build all barns bigger than you think you'll ever need. Equines accumulate to over-fill the space available!) Marsha Jo HannahMurphy must have been a horseman-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will! 30 mi SSE of San Francisco, Calif. ---
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I use a box stall that she can run into when she wants. The bedding is straw. When it is freezing rain or cold (just above freezing), windy and rainy I close her in so she can't get out. She doesn't seem to have the good sense to come in out of the weather. Maybe she is fine to be out in all weather, but I have seen her in hypothermia twice. I also sleep better if she's in the barn in bad weather. I leave the barn open in the coldest weather, down to -30 degrees F. She thrives in it. Its just the cold wet wether that's bad. Suzan
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: Mary Thurman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---Ingrid Ivic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi folks, > I was curious to see the percentage of people, on the List, that use > box stalls, tie-stalls, run-ins...etc...and also why you prefer your own > particular stabling method. Hi Ingrid, We live in WET western Washington. We use a variety of things to keep our horses under cover. In the summer and early fall we use a "loafing shed" for whichever horses are in the front pasture. When it gets really wet, it is too muddy to have horses out there, so we put them in their winter pens, which have access to box stalls. During the day, and at night when the weather is not too wet and the pens too mucky, we give them free access in and out. The stalls have wood floors and we don't put anything on them until they start to get wet and slippery, or when we start closing the horses in at night. When it gets really mucky and rainy and windy - as it is now - we close the horses in their box stalls at night. We usually bed lightly with sawdust, wood shavings, or a combination of these. Sometimes we use "stemmy" hay, depending on what the hay crop was like in any given year. Our horses get dirty from lying down, no matter what we do with their stalls. Fjords seem to have an affinity for lying in manure. We used to use tie stalls, but there were problems with chewing mangers, pawing constantly because they couldn't quite reach the hay they had thrown on the floor, and generally getting in trouble. For many years we had a lot of young horses, hence the above problems. Now that we have only older horses, we do tie them in once in a while for "attitude adjustment" - usually with hobbles on to prevent pawing. If you try this be sure to give them plenty of hay, which they are prevented from throwing out of the manger (we use hay nets for this). Mary == Mary Thurman Raintree Farms [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: Stabling preferences/options...
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Hi" Ingrid: Good question you brought up - I too am interested in this topic. Having just brought two horses to my home, set-up my barn and have been in operation about 4 months my program is underway. I bring my QH and Fjord in every night to a box stall. I do this because I like the process - being close to them twice each day (at least) and I think it helps teach them manners. Many times I think they would prefer to stay outdoors - and I let them stay outside as long as possible when the weather is nice. Have never used tie stalls - and for now leaving them out all the time does not appeal to me. However, we have had THE most wonderful "winter" to date so I have not had to clean, bring-in, bring-out, etc. in below zero weather or howling wind chills - might change my mind when that comes!! - HA!!! Have used pine shavings and straw - honestly I prefer straw because I think it makes a softer bed and for my Fjord, as you said, it does give him something to root around in when he is bored. The manure pile is growing however and not sure just what to do with it - hopefully the farmer next door will help us out - we need a tractor!!! Hey, SANTA??? No kidding about the wash stall - my boarding barn was heated - so this constant mud and manure staining is irritating!! Think I will go visit them and take my guys with for a bath! :) Hope some other folks give their opinions - the caretaking is half the fun so info. to make it easier is welcome.Linda, from the Minneapolis, MN area where it is sunny and in the 30's.
