I'm Moving!

Holy Hoofprints! I'm moving! Well, my blog is anyway. 

I have to apologize for not keeping in touch, but packing boxes is not easy to do with just my hooves!  Now the snow has covered all of them and you can barely see me!  My blog will no longer be on Blogger, but on the Equine Science Center’s brand-new website!  Check out the little sneak peek below. 

I am just bucking with excitement!  If you are looking for a particular post, you can search all my blog posts with a keyword.  For instance, I want to look for all my posts about doughnuts.  Oh boy…I talk about doughnuts a lot, don’t I?  Mmmm…powdered, jelly doughnuts…

Enough about sweets… Stay tuned for the launch of the Center’s “New Look” and the new home of my blog, “Holy Hoofprints”!

Your Pal,

Lord Nelson

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ha-ay Ff-olks,

Brrrrrr…it’s ff-ree-zzing out there.  This cold weather has chilled me to the core and I can’t stt-opp sh-shiver-ring. Luckily for me, my caretaker is bringing me inside and covering me with plenty of blankets.  Maybe there will be a fireplace inside, too!  It’ll warm me up AND provide a lovely romantic setting for my Valentine’s Day dinner with HugMe Christi. It seems she can tolerate the cold much better than myself and I have no idea why. 

Can it be?? A Seminar all about FOOD!

Hay Folks!

It’s that time of the year again. No, I’m not talking about roses, chocolate, and candlelight dinners. Sunday, February 8^th is the annual Horse Management Seminar and I can’t wait!  This year’s topic is all about FOOD! The official title is, “Grazing Rewards and Concerns: How and Why to Care for Your Pastures”.  It may not be about growing delicious doughnuts (I wish!), but more about cultivating lush pastures and maintaining healthy body weight for your horses.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy (belated) Birthday to all of my equine pals!

January 1^st is the birthday for all race horses and many non-racing breeds of horses as well in the northern hemisphere!  (For the race horses “down-under”, it’s August 1^st!) Our birthdays are celebrated all over the world! Our two-legged friends even throw lavish parties and raise glasses of champagne at midnight just for us!  However, the decorations are always spelled wrong.  I tell my owner all the time, it’s “Happy Birthday”, not “Happy New Year’s”!

Anyway, regardless of a horse’s actual foaling date, it is considered to be a year older on January 1^st.  Even if a horse is foaled on December 28^th, it would be considered a year-old within 3 days.  As a result of this system, breeders will often try to have foaling dates in early January in order to have a competitive advantage.  This way, when January 1^st rolls around, the horse will be as close to a “true” yearling as possible in terms of physical maturity.  This system helps keep things simple when grouping horses together by age for races and competitions. 

For MY birthday, my owner brought me a very special treat: CUPCAKES!  Mmmm…I love my sweets. Well friends, I’m off to plop down and take a cat nap…all this celebrating can sure make a guy tired! At my age, I am entitled to it. After all, I just turned 42! 

Your Pal,

Lord Nelson