Well, this has been a super-busy, nut-so week work wise, which may be why I haven't had the energy to do more than check on what everybody out there in blog-land has been up to.
The horses are settling in to shedding mode, which means I finish feeding coated in sticky, prickly, horse hair. (Note to self - must remember to segregate horse-feeding clothing from work clothing, especially sweaters. Horse hair is ITCHY! LOL)
Wacky SD weather, as per usual - we had 50' yesterday, and tomorrow's high will be 18' with snow. No idea what the weekend will bring. But I could sure tell that there was something moving in Monday night - Sunny was doing a lone rodeo horse act, hopping and crow-hopping all by himself (as opposed to just chasing the rest of them), and the others were just plain squirrelly. So were the calves, for that matter - butting heads & careening off the sucker bars and over the muck heap. Last night in the heatwave they were ALL much more polite & laidback.
Had an invitation to work cows (maybe) on Sunday, which I'm debating. We'll see how the weather is and whether I have time to ride at all on Saturday. Courageous of me, isn't it? But if we're going to be dealing with an all day thing, knee-deep mud, and/or below zero temps, I'm out. I haven't been riding since last fall, and Sunny's activity for the last three months has consisted mainly of eating & sleeping. Wouldn't be kind to either of us, I don't think.
Anyway, that's the news (or not) for the week thus far. Happy riding, everyone!
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, October 10, 2008
Mysterious illness kills 100 horses at Florida Farm
Marion County is in central Florida. Here's the initial news coverage from FoxNews, and a more detailed story in The Gainsville Sun. Both stories note the deaths are suspected to have been caused by bad hay, but toxicology isn't showing anything definite yet.
EquiTransfer LLC is an embryo transfer facility standing Paso Fino and Gypsy Vanner stallions. According to their website they have over 900 mares (two farms, 37 and 80 acres respectively), and have accomplished over 1,000 successful embryo transfers in the past two years. They also offer breeding management, frozen semen, insemination, and semen evaluation. The site gives stats back to 2002, and since the vet in charge "performed his first embryo transfer in 2001," I'm guessing they've been in business about 6 years.
Scary and horrible.
EquiTransfer LLC is an embryo transfer facility standing Paso Fino and Gypsy Vanner stallions. According to their website they have over 900 mares (two farms, 37 and 80 acres respectively), and have accomplished over 1,000 successful embryo transfers in the past two years. They also offer breeding management, frozen semen, insemination, and semen evaluation. The site gives stats back to 2002, and since the vet in charge "performed his first embryo transfer in 2001," I'm guessing they've been in business about 6 years.
Scary and horrible.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Ft. Pierre to Deadwood - too much historic realism?
What with trips, visitors, and school preparations, I've been doing a very poor job of staying up-to-date with events of the world. brown eyed cowgirls posted a comment this morning, wondering if I'd heard about a nasty wreck on the The Ft. Pierre to Deadwood commemorative wagon train. Other than a the very brief notice in the Rapid City Journal noting the death of a man who'd fallen from his horse, I admit, I hadn't been following things as closely as I'd intended.
The two week long ride draws to a close this weekend with a celebratory parade down Deadwood's main street. Unfortunately, what should have been a happy occasion will be saddened by several serious accidents which claimed the lives of at least two people and horses over the course of the trip.
Articles in the Rapid City Journal ("Another man injured on historic trail ride" Aug. 9th, "Man who fell on historic trail ride dies", Aug 8th) describe the two accidents, and mention that two horses have had to be put down, one due to a broken leg, and the other due to "illness."
AP coverage of the ride's early days showed up in papers far and wide, including the Miami Herald ("Wagon train makes 100th anniversary prairie trek", July 31st), the Monterey County Herald - California - and even on Forbes.com.
It appears America is still very much enthralled with the idea of the "Old West."
Gerald Kessler, the wagon master, is quoted in the AP coverage as saying:
"I think we'll lose 10 percent the first two days,"...."People just ain't got themselves in shape and their horses in shape,"[and] "...we've got a lot of older people that probably haven't ridden 20 miles in 20 years."
[...]"You're going to have your day-to-day wrecks, breakdowns and buck-offs," he predicted.
That certainly does seem to be how things have shaken out.
Although there are likely a good many folks on the train who prepared their horses and packed adequately for their adventure, there are always those whose rosy view obscures common sense. And unfortunately, with horse-related activities the unexpected occurs with great regularity and can claim even the most prepared.
I sincerely hope that the accidents brown eyed cowgirls describes (see first comment) are the last serious wrecks the train experiences. How awful for all of those involved. My sympathies go out to them, and their families.
The two week long ride draws to a close this weekend with a celebratory parade down Deadwood's main street. Unfortunately, what should have been a happy occasion will be saddened by several serious accidents which claimed the lives of at least two people and horses over the course of the trip.
Articles in the Rapid City Journal ("Another man injured on historic trail ride" Aug. 9th, "Man who fell on historic trail ride dies", Aug 8th) describe the two accidents, and mention that two horses have had to be put down, one due to a broken leg, and the other due to "illness."
AP coverage of the ride's early days showed up in papers far and wide, including the Miami Herald ("Wagon train makes 100th anniversary prairie trek", July 31st), the Monterey County Herald - California - and even on Forbes.com.
It appears America is still very much enthralled with the idea of the "Old West."
Gerald Kessler, the wagon master, is quoted in the AP coverage as saying:
"I think we'll lose 10 percent the first two days,"...."People just ain't got themselves in shape and their horses in shape,"[and] "...we've got a lot of older people that probably haven't ridden 20 miles in 20 years."
[...]"You're going to have your day-to-day wrecks, breakdowns and buck-offs," he predicted.
That certainly does seem to be how things have shaken out.
Although there are likely a good many folks on the train who prepared their horses and packed adequately for their adventure, there are always those whose rosy view obscures common sense. And unfortunately, with horse-related activities the unexpected occurs with great regularity and can claim even the most prepared.
I sincerely hope that the accidents brown eyed cowgirls describes (see first comment) are the last serious wrecks the train experiences. How awful for all of those involved. My sympathies go out to them, and their families.
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