feeding

Herbivores are generally either grazers or browsers. The grazers eat grass in wide open spaces. Think domestic cattle. Browsers prefer brush and climbing thorny things. Like goats. My goats will ignore a lush lawn and head on over to the roses for their meal. (A reason why Pip and Caper are […]

Tonka Tries Chamomile

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For the last year, Tonka has been at a boarding barn which gave him impeccable care – a deeply bedded stall, clean water, daily all-day turnout, and excellent food. But it was a long drive for me, and there were no trails off of the property. In all honesty, Tonka […]

Tonka Moves Stables

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I used to recommend giving animals Christmas trees. The goats loved to use them as head scratchers and they nibbled on the bark. My rabbit used hers as a hideaway and chewed patterns into it. The chickens appreciated the windbreak. But last year I heard from a friend. Elizabeth had […]

Poisons on Christmas Trees

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For the last six weeks, I’ve been limping around with a broken foot. I haven’t been able to get on Tonka. I have been going to the barn daily and grooming him. He loves that interaction. I take him out to the big field. We wander around (slowly!)   and […]

Horse Enrichment?

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Tonka has been a bit balky lately. Instead of moving willingly forward from my leg, he’s been hesitating. I questioned whether the physical exertion that I was asking for was reasonable. It seemed to be. Tonka would work out of it, and I kept riding. On Friday we went for […]

Ulcers?

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The first evening at the new barn, Tonka did not eat all of his grain. The owners and staff were concerned. I took Tonka’s temperature. It was a healthy 99º F. Other than ignoring his meal, he looked okay. By morning, the grain was gone, his manure piles were normal, […]

Settling In

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In January I noticed that something wasn’t quite right with Tonka. In December he’d been offering a lofty, energetic trot, something he hadn’t been capable of before. We both felt strong and buoyant. We’d worked hard to get to this point. We’d been doing cross-training – hills in the woods and […]

Sleuthing The Cause of a Stiff Neck

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Back in November, I got an email out of the blue, from the owner of Assured Organics, a purveyor of coconut oil. Ken asked if I’d like to try feeding their extra virgin coconut oil to Tonka. Unknown to Ken, I’d been looking into the benefits of adding oil to a horse’s […]

Coconut Oil For Horses

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I recently started working with four horses. Three are minis. They were rescued from a hoarding situation. The other is a BLM Mustang, which means she was collected on the open range, shunted from holding pen to holding pen, shipped across the country, put in yet another pen, then finally adopted by her […]

To Click or Not?

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