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Entries from October 2009
Did you find it?
October 30, 2009 · 3 Comments
Categories: Commentary · equine humor
Tagged: horse humor
The great barefoot experiment is underway
October 30, 2009 · 1 Comment
Freedom's hooves really suffered from wet/dry cycling in the spring. While the new growth looks good the shoes were held on by patching and luck.
I had planned to pull Freedom’s shoes this winter and let the nail holes on his hoof grow out. In the spring we had a lot of mud and the wet/dry cycling did not help his TB feet. Although the new growth looks good, keeping shoes on him has been tricky and has required careful management and patching.
Freedom, however, seemed to have a different plan. I mentioned that he’d pulled one of his front shoes while out hunting a few weeks ago. In some regards, the news was good: other than the fact that there wasn’t enough wall left to nail on a shoe, his hoof looks pretty good. There was no bruising, no soreness, and no excessive chipping.
Categories: Commentary · foxhunting · hoof boots · hoof care
Tagged: barefoot, cavallo simple boots, hoof boots, hoof care
Trick or treat? Are these donkeys ready for Halloween?
October 29, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Zebras? Look again. These donkeys earned their stripes.
At Gaza’s Happy Land Zoo, the donkeys are “dressed” for Halloween: as donkeys. But their stripes are here to stay.
Categories: Commentary · equine art · equine humor
Tagged: Donkeys, Happy Land Zoo, zebras
Is my horse ready to hunt?
October 26, 2009 · 4 Comments
Is my horse ready/suitable for hunting? I get asked this question frequently by my friends who would like to try hunting but are still nervous about the whole hunting environment. Galloping horses, hounds, varied terrain and jumping all combine to make even accomplished equestrians somewhat apprehensive.
Categories: fox hunting · foxhunting · horse training
Tagged: equestrian, foxhunting, horse training
This Budweiser Ad is too funny.
October 25, 2009 · 1 Comment
I have to post it!
Categories: Commentary · Horse breeds · equine humor
Tagged: Budweiser ad, commercial, equine humor, Percheron
Who’s writing “your” blog?
October 23, 2009 · 6 Comments
Recently I read something by another blogger that intrigued me. They wrote that someone else was writing “their blog.” Not literally, of course, but the blog they had intended to write when they started out. Their own blog had morphed into something entirely different.
Other people then chimed in with the names of bloggers who had either inspired them or who were writing the type of blog they had set out to publish but had somehow gotten side tracked.
I understand where they’re coming from. When I started EQUINE Ink, I didn’t really have a plan. Or rather, my plan was not to write a blog. I wanted to have a review site of equestrian products. I thought it would be useful to include a series of articles on the site that would supplement the reviews. These would be very factual articles along the lines of “How to buy a used saddle.” Instead my blog became a hodgepodge of postings that generally just reflects whatever caught my fancy on a given day. Yes, I’m still working on that website but I really enjoy the freedom that comes from having a blog.
As for who’s writing my blog . . . Early on I found that the blog Bridlepath frequently had published the articles that I had intended to write (and written them so well that I had nothing to add). However, since Bridlepath has been dormant now since June of 2008, perhaps I am now writing her blog? I’d love to know who the author was!
I still find some overlap between topics I plan to write and what some of my favorite bloggers have published but mostly when I read other people’s blogs I’m amazed by how different they are from mine and how much I enjoy that person’s point of view. I know I’ll never be funny like Jane at The Literary Horse, or as philosophical as Kim at Enlightened Horsemanship through Touch, or as knowledgeable as Fran Jurga in her Hoofcare Blog, or as poetic as Tamara at The Barb Wire, take photos like Sarah K. Andrew at Rock and Racehorses . . . or be as comprehensive as Stacey at Behind the Bit . . . the list goes on.
So, tell me. Who’s writing your blog? And what got you inspired to start one? Let me know!
Categories: Commentary · equestrian blogs
Tagged: blogging, equestrian blogs
Tips for buying a horse at the track: A vet’s perspective
October 22, 2009 · 3 Comments
Don't miss the Suffolk Downs Showcase this Sunday, October 25th. This photo was taken at the 2008 event. Photo John Bohn, Boston Globe
Going to the racetrack to by an Off-The-Track Thoroughbred (OTTB) can be daunting. It’s busy, it’s crowded, you can’t ride the horse and trainers want you to make a decision after they’ve walked or trotted it up and down the shed row.
You generally don’t get the chance to see the horse going under saddle (unless you see it galloped). There are some tremendous bargains, but they come at a certain amount of risk and it’s important to evaluate them with an educated eye.
Categories: Commentary · Horse breeds · Thoroughbred Racing · horse racing · horses · racing
Barefoot, bitless and treeless.
October 31, 2009 · 1 Comment
Freedom is a poster child for advocates of less is more.
While I’m not someone who stridently believes that shoes are evil, bits are torture and treed saddles will hurt your horse’s back, when I came back from a hack yesterday, I realized that Freedom certainly looked the part. He was wearing two Cavallo Simple boots, an LG bitless bridle and a Freeform Treeless saddle.
Read more.
Categories: Commentary · equestrian · hoof boots · horses · treeless saddle
Tagged: barefoot, bitless, Freeform, hoof boots, LG bridle, Treeless saddles