Staying Storm Savvy

I am sure that the last couple of weeks have been a challenge for all of us here in New Jersey and surrounding areas. In the wake of the two severe storms, there is even MORE work to be done now in the home and in the pasture.

Dental check up...Float on!

Hey Everybody!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!  The snow couldn’t stop me from getting some treats of my own.  As you already know, I love treats any day of the year and October 31^st is no exception!  I just can’t get enough of those sugary sweet delights!  But with my affection for confections, I need to take good care of my old chompers! I had a recent checkup from my equine dentist friend to help prevent any dental dilemmas. 

Sugar in Grass?? Sweet!

Have I mentioned how much I love this time of year?  Although the weather has been a bit dreary, I took full advantage of one the few nice days we’ve had and went apple picking with my good friend Magic.  The apple orchard is one of my favorite places to be; red delicious snacks above me and lush green grass below!  Speaking of grass, have you noticed how quickly it’s been growing lately? All the precipitation and cooler weather provide the perfect conditions for rapid pasture growth.  But as much as I love grass, I know that you can have too much of a good thing.

You may be surprised to hear that grasses contain large amounts of…sugar!  It’s no wonder why horses love it so much!  But just like humans, an excess of sugar could cause problems for horses.  Grass accumulates sugar and starch throughout the day and uses it for growth overnight, unless there is a freeze.

Consuming high sugar grass can cause a metabolic disorder called laminitis or founder in some horses, especially old guys like me, and also “easy keepers”; the chubby ponies and horses that get fat just thinking about grass.  Although it is not necessarily a bad thing, you should be careful not to use this term with a mare….I once told Christi she was an “easy keeper” and nearly got kicked in the noggin!  

If a horse is an easy keeper or has had laminitis before, limiting sugar intake by grazing it early in the morning before the grasses accumulate sugar (provided there was no overnight freeze) or by using a grazing muzzle throughout the day can hinder the development of metabolic disease.  This is especially important in the spring and fall, when sugar content is at its greatest.  My friends at the Equine Science Center are experts on this type of stuff!  For more information on metabolic disease, check out their Fact Sheet - Metabolic Problems in the Horse: Sorting out the Diagnosis.

 

Well I’m off to lunch…all this talking about grass and sugar is making me hungry! 

Until next time friends,

Lord Nelson

If You Can't Stand the Heat...

...get out of the sun!

While most of my human friends can enjoy the air conditioning on a hot and humid day, I seek the shade of a tree or run-in shed to keep cool. This heat is tough on any horse, and since I'm (a little) older than most, I have to be especially careful to be sure I'm consuming enough calories to keep my body functioning and maintain a healthy body weight. Some horses may lose as much as 7 to 10 percent of body weight in sweat per hour in extreme temperatures. That's about 9-10 gallons of horse sweat...gross! Dr. Malinowski keeps my diet high in calories by increasing my grain, adding corn oil to my feed, and feeding me a wide variety of...doughnuts!

"April Showers bring May Flowers..."

You've heard the phrase "April showers bring May flowers", but rain also brings lush green pastures that horses love! And now is the time for a delicious salad made from dandelions. As the spring season goes on, it makes me happy to see new sprouts of grass grow out of the dirt that dominated the pasture in the winter months. Don't get me wrong; I love hay, but there's nothing like grabbing a huge mouthful of fresh grass from the ground as the sun shines down and a warm breeze makes my tail float in the wind...it's almost enough to make me forget that the rider on my back is trying to get my head up!

"SPRING" into action!

Hay everyone!

I know with this warmer weather we've been having, most of you have been trading in your heavy winter coats for your lighter spring jackets...I know I have! Much like your pet dogs and cats, horses shed their thicker winter coats for their sleeker summer coats as the seasons change. But unlike humans, it is not a direct result of warmer temperatures. So what causes horses to begin shedding their coats in the spring and growing them in the fall? Read on to find out!

Food for thought...

You all know about my "affection for confections", my love for cupcakes and ice cream, but have you ever wondered what other strange things horses eat? Well, it turns out there are lots of strange foods that you would be surprised horse's enjoy...but only in moderation!

Love is in the air!

Hay everyone!

How about this crazy weather we've been having? I've been busy climbing the mountains of snow that have formed in my paddock...the other day my owner couldn't find me because I was behind a snow pile that towered over my head! Check out some of my snow filled pictures in my photo gallery below! I just can't wait for spring to come!

Anyway, Valentine's Day is coming up and love is in the air! I'm looking forward to a romantic day with my gal pal and fellow snow mountain climber HugMe Christi. I'm so in love, that when I see her, my ears perk up, my eyes light up, and my heart starts to beat just a little bit faster! Horses are lovers...we have big hearts! The average weight of an equine heart is between 7 and 9 pounds, but some are even bigger than that...the famous racehorse Secretariat's heart was an estimated 22 pounds! So how does the massive equine heart work? Read more to find out!

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!

Hi Friends,

Welcome to 2011! I certainly hope that the recent weather event (the blizzard!) that ended 2010 isn't a prediction of what's yet to come. I'll have more on that a little later - just keep reading!

New Year's Day is always special for horses in the Northern Hemisphere - it marks our birthday! As you can see from my picture, I celebrated enough for all of my fellow equine friends. I actually cheated and celebrated my birthday a day early (December 31) so that I could share my "affection for confections" with my owner, who brought me cupcakes with candles, and one of my caretakers, Josh, whose birthday is New Year's Eve. You may not be able to tell from the picture that I could not contain my excitement when I saw that plateful of cupcakes. Josh said that I was trembling in an effort to reach out and grab one of those treats!

HAY Gang!

Ooops - I meant hey!

You'll never guess what happened last week when I went apple picking - there were no apples! No matter where we looked, all the apples had already been harvested. All we could find were tomatoes (Yuck!). I was really bummed out until later in the week when a couple of pretty cool things happened...

"No foot, no horse!"

Hi Friends!

The extremely dry summer we had finally took its toll on me a few weeks ago; therefore, I haven't been able to type with my hoof for a while. Let me tell you what happened...

You're Virtually There!

Hey friends!

Have you had a chance to check out the Ryders Lane Virtual Tour on the Equine Science Center website (http://www.esc.rutgers.edu/rlp/rl_virtual_tour.htm)? There you can find all kinds of cool information about what farmers, particularly horse farmers, can do to keep the environment clean. The guidelines farmers follow when trying to preserve the environment are called "Best Management Practices." The professors at the Equine Science Center sometimes refer to them as just BMPs.

When I was clicking (or maybe it was clopping) through the virtual tour, I saw a lot of other acronyms. It seems like grown-ups are awful fond of saying things like:

• CNMP (Certified Nutrient Management Plan)
• ICM (Integrated Crop Management)
• LNFP (Lord Nelson Feeding Plan)

Okay, I made that last one up! But there are a lot of interesting things mentioned in the virtual tour. Have you ever heard of rain gardens or bioswales? What about humus (not hummus, which is what vegetarians eat) and pH balance ? Something that is near and dear to my heart was the rotational grazing system at Ryders Lane. Rotational grazing is the reason I have plenty of grass to eat during the summer, even during the hot and dry summer we have had this year.

If you enjoy the Ryders Lane virtual tour, you can always visit the actual farm and take the self-guided tour. You can see the BMPs up close at the farm. When you visit, please tell my equine friends I said hello!

Until next time,

The EYEs Have It!

Hello Friends!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Fourth of July. I had a great view of some fireworks from underneath the old apple tree in my pasture, with plenty of treats from the BBQ next door!

Unfortunately, not everything this weekend went perfectly. Last week I got a scratch on my eye, which was quite irritating. My caretakers put a fly mask on my head and put tape over the spot where my right eye is located to keep the sun out. They also had antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicine to put in my eye. Now, I really hate having the fly mask on since it keeps me from seeing everything that is going on out at the farm, and I especially hate having medicine rubbed in my eye, but after 37 years I've learned that sometimes you just have to take your medicine and listen to others that know what is best for you.

My caretakers did what every responsible horse-person does and called their veterinarian to take a look at my eye. It turns out that I have more than just a scratch - I have glaucoma (glä-kō-mä). It may sound like really bad news, but lucky for me, they found it early. Up until now my vision has been great and I haven't had any discomfort. You may have heard of your grandparents or people their age having glaucoma, but you might not be too familiar with what it is. Since I'm a pretty web-savvy horse, I hit-up the internet to see what I could find out. In horses, glaucoma basically means that there is a buildup of fluid and pressure in the eye, which will impair vision and be uncomfortable. There is no cure, and I will eventually lose sight in my eye, but that is part of getting old. Right now I am on medicine that will decrease the fluid in my eye and relieve some of the pressure, but it will also decrease the fluid in the rest of my body. This type of medicine is called a diuretic (dī-ur-ĕt-ik). To make sure I don't lose too much fluid, my caretakers are careful to give me plenty of electrolytes and water, and are making sure I don't get overheated!

On the bright side, I got a new feeder this weekend! It is an old tire with a bowl fit in it, so I can bang it around all I want to let my caretakers know I'm hungry. You might not get too excited about new plates and bowls, but to me it was like getting a new baseball glove, bicycle, and Hula Hoop all at once! Check out the new pics in my slideshow of my new tire, me getting some sunscreen, and other happenings at my farm!

Stay tuned for more posts this month, we have some big projects in the works for Equine Science 4 Kids!

Your pal,