Glenshee Equestrian Centre

  I'm a big fan of slow feed nets for my horses.  Not only do they slow down my hungry hippos, keep them busy and their bellies full until morning, they also help reduce waste.  I used to simply hang a net or two in each stall, but filling them got to be a chore, so I fixed half the net to the bars to make them easier to fill and then tied the pull-rope off to close them.  That worked well for a while until I saw a neat idea on another site and decided to give it a try. Someone had woven two poles through either side of the top of the net so it could be opened and closed like a sandwich bag.  I bought a few Freedom Feeder nets because of their size and square shape, got some dowels from the hardware store and made some up.  I used the big sturdy snaps I normally hung my hay nets with, which have a 1" ring at one end, to slide over the ends of the dowels.  They were secured to the wall with some screw eyes.  Then all I had to do to fill a net w...

Scrubbing feed and water tubs (I know I haven't been posting much lately, so here's a quick post while I start working on some new stuff...) I’ve been experimenting with a good old-fashioned natural household cleaner/disinfectant that works better, is cheaper and is safe even if you leave some behind in the buckets.  It’s vinegar.  Plain old distilled white vinegar that I buy in the giant size at the supermarket.  I figured that, since it works so well for bathrooms and kitchens, is recommended for cleaning fruits and veggies, and can actually be ingested on purpose, this might be the way to go. I normally mix up individual feeds for the horses in 8 qt pails in the feed room and then dump those into the feed buckets in their stalls.  After a few days, these can get pretty nasty with feed residue, supplements and, in particular oil (I feed a liquid vitamin E supplement as well as pure wheat germ oil for some of the horses.)  Even when it was warm...

Unfortunately, I have had so much experience with scratches over the years that I think I have it down to a science! I had a Paint with white legs who used to get very severe scratches (they used to spread manure in his pasture and I think that contributed) and the best solution was always to ride him down to the beach and let him splash in the salt water. Of course, that isn’t an option for most of us... Oh, how I miss those hacks to the beach… sigh. Not even global warming is going make our current farm waterfront property! So, we’ll have to do the best we can with what we have. This is what I’ve learned through a lot of trial and error over the years: The terms mud fever and scratches are more or less interchangeable. Older books will refer to it as dew poisoning , greasy heel, or cracked heels . You could compare them to rain rot or rain scald , as it is basically the same condition occurring on the legs. The skin is designed to have a healthy layer of natural o...