The Pasture Problem

One of our many astute readers kindly pointed out errors in in the FHOTD post on pastures


Fugly says...
"There is no hard and fast rule of thumb about how many acres of pasture a horse needs."


Maybe if you are not concerned with your horse's parasite load and the quality of the grazing. A call to your local agriculture branch will give you the horse to acre ratio for your area. Information is available online, as well as other essential pasture considerations, from your Provincial or State agency.


A soil analysis is a good beginning in assessing the quality of your pasture. Many areas lack nutrient which can effect the quality the pasture grass. For example, in areas low in selenium a fertilizer that addresses the deficiency is recommended for pasture land. Another option would be feed a selenium supplement to your horse.

A second consideration is the type of grasses which constitutes the pasture. If these grasses are not of the correct type or ratio it can be detrimental to your horses health. A weedy pasture or an over grazed pasture will be less nutritious than a pasture that has been well cared for.

Fugly's notion of putting horses in an alfalfa pasture is not the best idea. A horses diet needs to be balanced and the high calcium content, without the matching phosphorus content, of alfalfa can cause problems.

To maintain the pasture it is essential, unless the pasture is large enough, that it be rotated. This will allow the grass to recover and the parasites to die off. Manure can contaminant the pasture two to three feet around it. Over the course of month much of the pasture can become contaminated with parasites.


Fugly said...

"By the way, large acreages can present their own problems too! It becomes a lot harder to check horses daily for injuries, maintain fence, watch for the presence of animal holes or other hazards, etc. And of course it is much harder to secure from thieves. I know a lot of people with large properties who keep a smaller sacrifice area down by the barn, and use it as a catch pen. They call the horses down at least once a day and lock them in, usually with a bribe of a few handfuls of grain or some tasty hay that is even more appealing than the pasture. I’ve worked at a place where they ring a bell and everyone comes running – a huge convenience when it is time to ride and you don’t want to hike out over 100 acres looking for your mount, who may otherwise very well toss his head, laugh at you and head for the hills!"

Ridiculous! Train your horses to come when they are called, it's not difficult. Trooper is on 250 acres and comes when he's called. No I don't have to chase him over half the country side to catch him. Large pastures can be checked you just have to get off your butt to do it.

Adoption of the Month

This lovely welsh cross is located in Jones, OK at Blaze's Tribute Equine Rescue and is our Adoptable of the Month!


Big Man is 18 years old, and is safe enough for a child to ride. We all know not many rescues are broke to ride, so this guy is a gem! He is up to date on all his care, and is ready to go to a great home to live out the rest of his life.


You can read more about Big Man's story here.

Cathy riding the VLC

In response to a readers request for a picture of Cathy riding I have posted this picture. This is the only photo I could find of Cathy riding the VLC, although there are others. What's most apparent in this photo is the hand position, called 'puppy paws', and the body position which is too far forward. It has been mentioned before, in regards to another photo, that Cathy has almost no lower leg contact. This is Ok if someone is learning to ride, but it's not OK if person purports, as Cathy has done, to be a riding instructor. In addition, I don't want someone in the media critiquing riding, as she has done on FHOTD, who doesn't have the basics under her belt.

Horse Illustrated

If anyone would like to email Horse Illustrated with their concerns about Fugly writing for them the address is below.

horseillustrated@bowtieinc.com

Why is Fugly so darn stupid!

This question has perplexed many readers so let me attempt to answer it. To begin with, Fugly has no horse experience and very little riding experience. Beyond her comments all you have to do is look at photo of her riding to see that she rides like a student in a beginner riding class. Fugly’s opinions are formed by her conversations with her friends on HorseDopia (HD) who are just as inexperienced as she is or limited in their experience. One such person is Sarcasta Bitch. Yes, the name says it all. SB has five years of questionable experience with horses and yet goes from forum to forum giving her pronouncements on the horse world. Here is an example. The following statement was taken off of the Chronicle of the Horse Forum (COTH).

In the comment SB pontificates about the uselessness of instructors who don’t compete. With a single click of her keyboard SB writes off George Morris and other top level trainers who no longer compete. Her reason for doing so is that riding has changed in the last five years since she began thus older trainers are now obsolete. Yes, SB in the old days we used wheel barrels to carry the horses around the course and spring board for them to jump the jumps. Yes, riding and jumping is so different today. SB has created the argument so she can continue to confront others with more knowledge and more experience. In SB mind, if you have been competing for 10 to 20 years then you don’t know how to ride as only people who have learned to ride in the last five years have been taught properly. I’ll have to write Ian Miller to tell him he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The sad thing is, Fugly with listen to her and absorb what she says and use it for material for her articles.

SB writes…

"From what I'm learning from my current coaches, saddle fitters, clinicians...there is a fair bit of progression in the techniques, equipment and even horse quality over the past 5 years...even more over the past 10. People who showed as kids 20 years ago, or who got off the show circuit 10 years ago just CAN'T prepare you. I know, I've taken lessons from both types."

"But a good many of those trainers-who-don't-ride are out of shape, middle aged women who have grossly inflated views of their own riding ability from BITD and their ability to train students. One talented student in 10 years justifies their entire approach, and they bilk MANY beginners every year. Maybe if they'd hopped on a horse once in the last 20 years they'd have had to think about what they were quoting from their old Pony Club days."

Dena's question

Dena asks, "if there's money to be made in rescuing and rehab please point me to it."

It appears to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, but there is little money in breeding horses unless you have top of the line stock. There is no money to be made in rescuing and a quick turn around rehab. The areas that I have seen make money are the upper end riders/trainers who buy horses from sale yards or individuals. They have the skill to turn a horse in to a top end competitor. The horse has a show record and all the bells and whistles to go with a well trained horse. A person I know who makes money on it is GP rider. Any thoughts?

Amber and Lady Bug

In a recent FHOTD post, a distraught Fugs bemoans the care of a horse who had it's ear ripped off by dog. The author tells how she donned her super hero suit to run to the aid of an injured horse denied care. The post then chastises the rescuer, Amber, for not getting the horse treatment and having malnourished dogs on the property. Evidence to support the authors accusations is thread where Amber is attacked by the members of the thread and a picture of the horse getting it's ear treated. According to the thread the horse was rescued from Amber and only at that point did the horse receive medical attention.

Concern has been raised surrounding the accuracy of the FHOTD article as there is never any evidence that Amber has done anything only pages of snarky comments and name calling. Upon closer scrutiny, Kestrel pointed out that the photo is dated 2005/01/04. So something is not right with the FHOTD article. If the event just happened why is that the only evidence is from five years ago? You would think that in the five year period the local humane society would have done a report that FHOTD could reference. What do you think FHOTD is up to?

Too much snark for my tastes.

by Anonymous

Part of the problem is Fugs feeds off BS behind a private board- 



Horsedopia Rules is a private proboard that was founded to rip members of Horsetopia apart. The civil minded moderators of HT banned or censored these people because well, because they are skanks like Cathy. Now the attitude is a huge whine "But they won't LET us teach good horsemanship. We get banned"



No shit, assholes. 



There is a difference in delivery of information. Civility rules at HT. And education can be done in a proper and polite manner.



Note a thread on Horsedopia about a topic with an honest question... 
(Wow!!! Why the nasty? As pointed out in the last reply- it may seem simple, but there is quite a bit about horse nutrition to learn)



http://horsedopiarulz.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=breeding&action=display&thread=6952



farmeress posts:



What are pellets?« Thread Started on Dec 9, 2009, 2:29pm »


Quote:

I know that this is off track, but if you can explain, just so I can keep up. What is the difference between sweet feed, pellets, and grain? Thought I had a handle on it but just found out that I'm clueless.I don't know anything about this cocaloda person, but there is a horse in their avatar that I assume is theirs... and they don't know the difference between sweet feed, pellets, and grain!? Are they being sarcastic or is that a serious question? I don't have any issues with a quest for knowledge, but you should know something like that BEFORE you have a horse, no???http://forum.horsetopia.com/frugal-livin....tml#post1765776



replies below:



Belle (administrator): Oh wow. Totally agree that this is something you should know BEFORE owning a horse.



apocalypsepony: I'm sure there is a basic horse book with pictures that illustrates the difference. One of Cherry Hill's no doubt.It's called a library. Use it.



Belle: And a lot of your feed stores do carry little pamphlets with the feed info in them, explaining what the difference is.



cat67 (aka FHOTD, Cathy Atkinson): How complicated IS it? Don't you know what a pellet of SOMETHING looks like?




OhForCryingOutLoud: dah, rabbit pellets?wood stove pellets?maybe Ol'Blaze wants some wood pellets to eat. He always chews the wood in his stall - wood pellets might help.



hmm: You know what, kudos to the person for asking - it may seem simple, but there is quite a bit about horse nutrition to learn - and even though it seems simple to many of us and it's a very basic question - well it prob should be spelled out at least somewhere in basic form.

2010 Forecast. Heading for another mess?

It's been said that reality is stranger than fiction. Case in point, Fugly is now writing for Horse Illustrated. Gag me with a spoon, you say. Well, I wish the board of HI had said that when someone had that bright idea of allowing Fugs to write for their magazine. Instead they solicit the nastiest, skank writer they could find to commit to print. How long will this new career last for Fugs? After looking through her resume, which is available on HI, I estimate about a year before everything implodes into a giant kerfuffle of screaming, adultery, bad cheques, and assorted mayhem. If anyone has Fugs' article please submit it for our perusal.

Since it is inevitable that Fugs will be looking for work soon I suggest writing pornography. Her letters to YHI's husband gives me the impression that she has talent in this field.

Since the fun never stops with Fugly, I've created a blog to keep up with the craziness. You are welcome to submit article for the blog by posting them in the comments section.