Chiffon and her surprise A few blogs ago we had the pleasure of sharing a story about a woman, who tries to solve problems. The horse involved is Ethan, who was terrified of llamas and making the owner and horse at odds with each other. The solution was to desensitize the horse by putting him in direct contact with llamas. It was a three month run that had an end result of FAIR as we [...]
the stable fly Anthropods can cost the horse industry millions just by the nature that they can damage the horse directly or indirectly. Very simply they suck blood, feed on mucous discharges from the horses and spread disease. They can also cause digestive interference which results in poor growth of the horse. By taking the time to understand the biology, life history and habits of the[...]
For all of the geeks or wannabes who are in Face book I have finished a wonderful book to explain all of those bells and whistles you see on your Face book page. The book is Facebook the Missing Manual. The second addition, that I read, has good diagrams of all the ins and outs of the page plus it has good tips. We managed to put Horse Fly Net in a free marketing section that is going to be [...]
Yes, I was just well paid for 85 pounds of old wire fencing that we took off the farm to a new company. This company is making a profit and community service out of scrap. The company is called Cycle Systems. I just googled them and and learned that they have 7 locations in the western part of Virginia. They are collecting iron, aluminum, cardboard and more. Rather than going to the [...]
Foxtail plant, one of the Setaria species Cindy Dell just wrote a piece on foxtail which I want to pass on to my friends. Foxtail is a weed of the Setaria family. Cindy points out in her CFC Farm HomeCenter newsletter that conditions have been good in the eastern atlantic areas of the US for the Foxtail plant to invade hay fields. This means that any signs of excessive salivation and [...]
Hay-Shade will protect your valuable hay quality When horse owners are anticipating a harsh winter, most of us scratch our head and try to estimate our needs. Each horse and the size of the herd may change from year to year. I found this short article in a Culpeper Coop Newsletter given out with my bill. It had some merit and I saved it for future reference becauseHorse Fly Net sells a [...]
Are you throwing it away or giving it away? Black gold is the organic material manufactured by our horses several times a day which when composted is the essential ingredient to mix with soil. It is magic that turns dirt into a healthy growing substance. It gives life to an overgrazed field and mixed into the vegetable garden produces wonderful veg. It will never cease to amaze me that in[...]
My Webster's Unabridged 1996 dictionary does not have a definition of blog. Thank goodness for Wikipedia which not only gave me some history of the word but a nice little definition for all of my friends and relatives who agree to read my blog, but have no interest in horses or their flies. Here is Wikipedia's history of blog: 'The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[4] on 17 December [...]
It is snowing on the east coast, The weather is in the 20s and I am in Virginia not Minnesota. And I have discovered a place in the United States that has a horse heritage and an average temperature of 71-79F. There are no flies and plenty of natural sand for riding. There is riding on the range, along the ocean or in the mountains. It would be a wonderful place for the WEG next time.[...]
A big island and no flies. Sounds like paradise!! But that does not mean Hawaii is without horses. The fact is that our Horse Fly Net® will never be required in this paradise, however, while spending Thanksgiving 2010 in the Hawaiian Islands, I am curious about the history of the horse there. www.hawaiiinfoguide.com gave me an interesting story. Over a century ago, in 1793, [...]