APRIL 2012

April 2012

What happened to the month of March? It was a blur of beauty around here. This place was packed with people riding, washing their hairy, mucky horses and just hanging out. How did we get so lucky?  

 Horse Health

Vaccinations coming soon!

Everyone has been getting their post cards from Big Creek for their annual vaccinations. I’ll wait until about the middle of April to set a date. As usual I’ll post a signup sheet for what you would like. I think it works best if Dr. Horch and I can bust out the vacs first, then schedule each horse for your personal session for teeth, sheaths, meds and other veterinary work you horse needs. This way no one is standing around waiting their turn. We usually need 3 visits from Dr. Horch.

De-Worming.

I can deworm your horse for you for $10.00. Let me know if you want this service. This is billed to your board or you can leave a check here in the tack room. 

Now that spring is here, this means there are more people using the equipment around the stable. This means things get broken.  Accidents happen. But please replace anything your horse might have damaged. Crossties, hose nozzles and people’s tack boxes are targets horses like to hit. In other words, you break it, you buy it.

Welcome Chris!

We have a new secretary up in the office now. Her name is Chris English and will be the one who will do our billing now. We wish her the best.

PANIC!

SNAP

DEBATE

Someone recently asked me “which is the appropriate way to use the panic snaps on the crossties”. I have no policies except I know they are designed to be attached with the panic snap end on the halter. This way in the event your horse freaks out and runs backward the snap breaks the horse loose. Ours are arbitrarily attached. The brass snap is so much easier to use than the panic end biting your hand. Pick and choose your battles.

Security issues.

     This past winter we lost Jay Reda to cancer. He was our “go to” guy if there were intruders on the property. He could scare the  be- jeezes out of teenagers who would sneak in to fish or handle a poacher who didn’t have permission to hunt here. He was a great presence for the property and his reputation was renowned in the neighborhood to keep out trespassers.

     This leads me to an incident that Tracy Cook had a couple of weeks ago. She was returning home from school and noticed a vehicle pulling into the trail to the upper duck pond that parallels Judith’s drive. Tracy, who is no sissy, blocked the entrance with her van. The perpetrator got pissed and backed out just missing her van and the ditch.

     We have no one on the property anymore for this kind of incident. So if on your ride or visit to the stable you see someone who looks suspicious or lost or is dumping garbage or doesn’t belong here, ask politely “can I help you? The Hunters and Judith’s random help will say “Hi” and/or act like they own the place. If they are rude or flee call 911 or better yet Geauga Sherriff’s Dept. at 440-286-1234. I have it saved on the stable phone. Our address is 8754 Hermitage Rd. Chardon Twp. (Painesville, Oh. 44077 is the mailing address). Be Safe! Get as much information about the person and license number if you can. Alert Judith and me too.

BULLETIN BOARD

Keep me apprised of any trees down and trails that need work for the upcoming trail clearing on May 5^th. I have a list started on the bulletin board in the tack room.

If you are planning to ride or have an inkling to ride please call first thing in the morning so we can have the horses in and close. Then if your plans change in the afternoon and you can’t ride we can let them out. Due to budget cuts we will have only one staff member here until the stable fills again. It’s a long walk to the manure pit. Thanks.

I can’t believe April is here. Like my Dad says, “life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end the faster it goes.”

Till next time, keep your heels down!

Holly

MARCH 2012

Thepoop Scoop

MARCH MUDNESS!

MARCH 2012

Mud season is what March is all about this time of the year. March is soil conservation month! Not having the snow cover to act as a bandage to protect the fields from the horses was really hard on them. The horses enjoyed the long days outside all winter, but there is a price. Thru the month of March, on rainy days I will leave everyone in. If it was a wet night before I’ll get them out for a couple of hours just to get stalls done. We can use the front pasture and the one behind the house for sacrifice turn out. I want them out as much as they do. We’ve had this situation here in the past and I want good pasture for the summer. Watch, will have a drought this summer and have the opposite problem.

Talk about the winter that wouldn’t be. In 24 years of working here I’ve never seen a mild winter like this before. We didn’t burn thru the hay like we normally do. Usually when it gets to the month of March I’m counting bales of hay and praying we will get thru to first cutting. Sadly, we are going to have to eat up the 2011 hay which is the worst I’ve seen. Nobody looks like they are perishing eating this stuff. Take a look at Donna. She looks fantastic.

 People in the news!

·       Kristen Richmann is engaged. No wedding plans yet.

·       Jake made it to Texas. Not like MGS down there. She’ll be back.

·       Erin that used to work here is now doing pornos on U tube. See what happens when I fire someone. You gotta find your niche in the world, I guess.

·       Anyone heard from Sharon Cottrell?

Maple syrup season is here. Matt has not been the trail Nazi yet. So be careful on the sugar bush road for trucks going in and out. If you want to buy fresh maple syrup, let me know.

Please report any trees or debris to me so I can get a list going for trail clearing day in May.

Shedding season and vacuum use.

Wasn’t it nice of Kristie Small to bring her vacuum here? Please make sure you don’t let your horse step on the hose or power cord. Also, empty the bag too. I can show you how to do it if you need help. In addition, if your horse has never experienced the vacuum before, it’s a good idea to let it run for a while so they get used to the noise. Then introduce them to the nozzle without it running. When you turn on the vacuum it’s best to do it on their neck until they see how good it feels. Remember to clean up poop and hair from your shedding beast. You can throw it in the manure pile for the birds to pick through.

EBTA tags are coming due and we are lucky to have Jenny Thomas move in this month. So, please join this so the Arboretum sees there are many people interested in keeping the trail system going.

Well keep your heels down and hope we don’t get indian winter.

Holly

P.S. Robbi, t0hanks for the proofreading,

FEBRUARY 2012

HOLY SH..!

OK, so last time we talked about what your horse eats. Let’s talk about what comes out. The average horse poops about 50lbs. a day. Multiply that times 20 stalls times 30 days and you get 30,000lbs of poop in a month. That’s just manure. Then, stir in gallons of urine mixed with about 20lbs. of shavings per day and you’re up to 20,000lbs of wet stuff. That’s 50,000lbs of work every month. 25 tons of manure and waste. No wonder the pits look like they do. Add this workout to your 25 times around the barn.

Bell boot debate.

This is where I am torn. It’s that time of the year I get ready to make a Big Dee’s order and think “are these things worth it?” Bell boots do help keep your horse from reaching up and grabbing the shoe in an effort to keep your farrier from making emergency trips out to tack on a shoe. However, the cost of a pair of bell boots is almost as much as a tack-on. Putting boots on and off is hard on the Velcro. You’ve probably seen I leave summer boots on the MGS horses for that reason during the riding season. The boots last for months. Drawback is the foot doesn’t get air to dry out. Winter I don’t boot MGS horses because the snow is hard on them and they fall off, never to be seen again. Pick and choose.

 February, 2012

It’s time for stable management. Stall latches and you. What a handy gadget the stall and gate latches are. One handed convenience. Every once in a while make sure the nut is screwed securely to the bolt on your stall and even out on the pasture gates. Handling and wind loosens them and the gate or door will open with ease for our friends to get out and explore, vandalize or create havoc. We all prefer no foolin’ around while we are asleep.

 

W.W.H.D?

It’s a nice morning and I put out the gang with their hay and suddenly Mother Nature decides to unleash the dogs of war. A cold rain sucks for me and the horses. Especially, since our guys have fuzzy coats. On those days I get everyone in a.s.a.p. and close the doors to keep the wind out. As long as there is hay they can start warming up from the inside. Plus they like their bucket of warm water too. It’s very rare here, but it happens, if someone is shivering, I’ll throw a cooler on them. Periodically, I have had to scrape the mud off their backs so they can dry and fluff their coats. No horse left behind. Then I go hug the furnace.

.

RIDING TIPS

Diagonal changes on trail.

Don’t forget when you are out for your ride to change your diagonal every time you trot.  For example, you are trotting off the right shoulder when you trot past the burn pile by the swimming pond. Your next trot in the sugar bush should be off the left shoulder. This will help keep your horses and you from getting “one sided”.  The other reason to switch diagonals is to let you know if there are any lameness issues you are missing by posting only off one side. It’ good to change canter leads too! Keep your horse in shape and on task.

Thank you, Mr. Winter for not beating us down and providing some great weather for winter riding.

Remember, keep your heels down!

Holly.

P.S. if you have any questions for “ask a barn manager”, feel free to leave me a note.

JANUARY 2012

January 1, 2012

Issue 2(and boy do we have issues.)

 Do you know what your horse is eating? Has anyone ever read a grain bag to see what we feed here at Mountain Glen and why? We are lucky to be able to feed optimum amounts of hay and provide turn out pastures on grass to our horses. This keeps grain consumption down.

Stop at a feed store and look at the plethora of grains there are. Every grain company now has formulated feed stuffs for every type size shape color of horse. We don’t feed one feed to our horses any more like the old days.

The grain we feed is based on a grass/hay diet. The grain makes up where the hay lacks in calories, vitamins, protein, amino acids and minerals.

Essential K is a high nutritional supplement grain for our horses that do just fine on hay for calories. A coffee cup twice a day gives a 1000lb. horse his daily requirements.

The 12% horse grain is a pleasure pellet grain for horse that needs some calories in their diet, but not excessive energy.

Kalm Ultra is a high fat/ low starch pelleted grain for the not so easy keeper without getting them too high.

 Mud fever blues.

We are at war, people!

What can you do???

There are many methods of dealing with this stuff.

Some people brush it off after it dries to keep the moisture level down on their legs. Others prefer to hose off their legs when they are muddy. Some people are pickers and believe that the scabs need to be removed in order to get the legs to heal. So many options.

W.W.H.D?

WHAT WOULD HOLLY DO?

For me Head and Shoulders seems to do the best for your buck. The Eqyss Micro Tec shampoo and spray are excellent but pricey. I don’t shampoo or pick too much because as you know it will dry their skin out. I hose off legs when the weather permits. If the horse starts to get the scratches (cracks) on the back of their pasterns, I apply furazone goo. Nolvasan works great too but they quit making it. Antifungals like miconizole 7 or fast actin Tinactin help too.   Sometimes you’ll get a case so bad their legs hot and swell up. Then you need to do a furazone sweat to draw out the poison out of their legs. Worst case scenario, you’ll need sulfas so it doesn’t turn into a staph infection. Or you can do nothing, hope for the best and wait until spring.

We are all in this together. I’ll keep the wash rack turned on so we can keep up with this stuff.

Outside of the mud being this year’s issue, it has been nice the horses are getting out all day. Unlike last year’s stall lockdown because of too much snow, wind, cold and ice that you couldn’t walk without falling down. I hope it keeps up like this and goes right into a dry spring. PLEASE!

Remember 25 times around the barn is a mile!

It’s better to do something than nothing at all with your horse. Get a head start on the riding season by walking your horse, grooming and breaking up their routine they have with me so you are both ready to hit the trail when the weather is good.

Well, keep your heels down and see you around the barn.

Holly  

DECEMBER 2011

The poop Scoop

December 14, 2011  Issue 1

Well it’s raining and rather than cleaning the light bulbs again on such a wet day I thought it was time to start my stable blog. It may not make it out to the world of cyberspace, but it could be fun and informative to our stable community. It might be a fun place to keep everyone up to date on who is where and what horse is what around the stable.

Wettest year in Ohio history!

The year isn’t over yet.

Did I mention rain at the beginning of this letter? Who didn’t feel a bit more  soggy this year? Besides wrecking   a lot riding days we’ve been faced with more rain rot, thrush and mud fever than ever. (My feet itch!) Everyone has a remedy to try to keep this stuff at bay, so ask around for any hints. In the meantime, I’ll try to keep the horses out of too much wet without compromising their turnout time. Horses will ruin pastures for next spring if too wet anyways.

     

Cold weather reminders:

Use the hose by the washer to top off water buckets with warm water.

Follow the ventilation chart on the aisle bulletin board for how much to leave doors open.

Drain the hose on the wash rack. (Unless I shut off lines for the winter. Then you have to drag the hose out of the tack room.)

Never leave water in the aisle buckets or they freeze.

Take home anything that will freeze in your tack locker. I.e. shampoo, fly spray, things you won’t use till spring.

TURN THE FURNACE DOWN TO 55*WHEN YOU LEAVE!

If you borrow someone’s gloves, hat or boots, please put them back(DRY) where you found them.

 2011

The year in review.

Horse vs. human.

I like to save the weekly planner sheets to refer back to for phone numbers, horse health issues and any notable events through the year. You are more than welcome to read back thru the year and see the daily goings on. I think most significantly was the increased incidents in horse accidents resulting in a trip to the emergency room. Let’s see, Robbi’s toe amputation, Sara’s nose testing the hardness of Irish’s skull, Donna’s hoof performing horse ju jits tsu on Holly’s ankle, Kristi’s humorous (wasn’t humorous when she was bucked off Bleu), Susie T. parting company with Willie, Sue D getting the cherry bump of a life time from Brody .  If I forgot anyone, I apologize. Or maybe you don’t want to relive your experience.

Formula: Horse+Human+Velocity+Gravity+Arc+Dip+Pitch=CRASH!

Having said that, let’s think safety for 2012. How many would be interested in a safety wine and cheese party this winter? We can go over the main roads around MGS, gates for emergency evacuation, definitions landmarks, quadrants, etc… and brainstorm all of our experiences collectively to come up with a safety procedure manual for Mountain Glen.

Jeep says! (He means it!) Don’t forget our health, safety and treats too! We get hurt too.

                                   

Jeep said we need a first aid course for horses too!  He recommends a hands on demonstration for injuries from lameness, eye injuries, colic, bandaging, you name it. We are horses and we’ll get into some kind of amazing trouble. In short, “what to do until the Vet comes”.

Just for fun on a cold winter, take a look at our Mountain Glen guest book. There is eleven years of history in there. There are some amusing little anecdotes from staff, boarders and lessees past and present about a memorable ride, the loss of a beloved horse, comments about the weather and incriminating information that could be used in court.

I want to thank everyone for making the big 50 the very best day. You guys rock this place!

 Remember, “Keep your heels down!

Holly

And it starts!

Mountain Glen Stables community has a facebook page AND a blog!

We have placed all the Poop Scoop Editions here for your reading pleasure!

Any questions, email mgsgardenclub@yahoo.com