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Posted on 06/19/2006 8:46:45 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.
I always have a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!
I also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.
So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.
Previous threads:
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE
New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!
We are going to get some relief today. Storms are predicted. Temps in mid 80's. That I can bear. As long as the evenings cool down to the 60's, it won't be too bad. We sure don't need anymore rain. I have not been able to mow the pasture, or the trails in the woods yet this year.
My Eclipse has no AC! Mornings are not so bad, 78-80 I can handle. The drive home in the mid to high 90's is a killer even with all the windows open.
I have an interesting chicken story unfolding.
You know that I got rid of all my hens, and now only have roosters around the place. I've told several of my friends when they have extra roosters I'd take them. Well last week one of them brought out 2. But I was out on the horse when she came and so she just turned them loose in the front yard. Normally when I bring in new ones, I crate them for a few days out in the barn so they know where they are suppose to stay, and they can get acquainted with the others thru the crate.But, Of course when she turned these two loose, all the other ones I had, 5, came running over and started beating up and chasing them. Then when they get to running the dogs have to join in....it's a mess.
One of them has compeletly disappeared. The other one, every once in a while is showing up outside the garden gate. He got in the garden once, and I tried to catch him when he went to roost, but he was to fast.
He was out there this morning so I opened the garden gate, again, and he came in, but so did all the others:)....Funny tho, they are not fighting at all. I may leave them all in there for the day to get acquainted, then get the older ones out, and catch the new one tonight and crate him out at the barn....(well, even as I was typing a fight broke out in the garden:(, I had to chase the olds ones out of the garden)
I'm just worried now that the new one will be use to staying up by the house and may not stay at the barn....I really don't want a chicken roosting on porch:)
Becky
It is awfully hot and humid here.
I went up to the Charlotte NC area yesterday to pick up my daughter from a college freshman "outward bound" type week . . . at least they were up in the mountains while hiking and it was much cooler up there, and then they were paddling on the French Broad River, so any time they felt hot they could just leap overboard . . .
Anyhow, I took my dog up also because there's a big time retriever trainer who lives right near Davidson (what a coincidence ! really, I didn't know about it until after she decided to attend there!). We started training at 7 a.m. and it was already so hot the dogs' tongues were dragging. Poor Shelley got moved up to the Big Dog flight, and she broke down at 100 yards on a 125 yard retrieve . . . she may have just decided that it was Too Darn Hot to run 125 yards and pick up a hot plastic duck . . . but I was hot just standing there watching her.
And as we drove home, it was 103 degrees in South Carolina and 100 percent humidity. We stopped in Anderson SC for lunch, and when we got out of the car the asphalt in the parking lot was so soft our shoes left footprints. I picked up Shelley in my arms and carried her across to the grass so she could relieve herself without burning her paw pads hot-footing it across the parking lot. A guy in a pickup truck thought it was pretty funny to see a lady in a flowerdy Hawaiian shirt carrying a Labrador Retriever! He almost fell out his truck window laughing. I asked him if he would like to tiptoe barefoot across the parking lot, and he guessed not . . .
I did pick up a couple of good items to help her beat the heat, those of you have dogs may want to look into them. There's a mat with the water-absorbing crystals in it, you soak it in cold water and then put it in their crate, it's supposed to keep them cool for up to two days! And there's a supplement called Go-Dog (it's a sort of doggy Gatorade) that you put a teaspoonful in 3 cups of water and let them drink it 15 minutes before, during, and 15 minutes after exercise. Some other folks in the hunting club have tried it, and strange to say it really works!
I've wondered if a parking lot would burn a dogs feet. I take Susie with me a lot when I go to our building down town. The lot is asphalt. I've watched her when she gets on it and it doesn't "seem" to bother her. But I've never figured out "why":). She'll walk around on it, stop and sniff things...I'd pick her up and carry her too if it looked like it bothered her.
Anyway, how'd your daughter make out on the hiking trip with her new boots?
Becky
I've got an opportunity to get a new Lab puppy as a 30th anniversary present . . . I've been poring over pedigrees, and I've decided on a puppy from a litter bred by Mary Howley up in Wisconsin (Candlewood). (Cross country trek in our future.) She'll be a black female by FC/AFC The Man in Black ("Cash") (son of NFC/AFC Ebonstar Lean Mac), out of a female who is half show (but dual purpose show dogs - Franklin) and half a mix of field trial and performance (tracking and search and rescue) Labs - Kerrybrook. The dam has NFC/AFC Webshire Honest Abe and Abercrombie & Fitch MH back of her. The puppy should be around 65 pounds grown.
The trainer I'm working with says that Lean Mac dogs have lots of drive but are "dumb as dirt." Others in our club disagree -- strongly. Hopefully any tendency to dumb will be counteracted by all the smart dogs in the mother's line. And we'll go up and have a look at all the pups, I was the first one to speak for a pup from this litter, so I should be able to pick out a smart one. Most folks want the pure field trial lines from Ms. Howley -- but I consulted with one of the big wheels in our club, who has taken dogs to the Super Retriever Series (and won it all three times), and he thought a doubled-up Lean Mac or a Super Tanker/Lean Mac breeding would be too much dog for me.
What y'all think?
Canine Cooler DOGGONE COOL DOG BED The Canine Cooler® Brand Thermoregulating Pet Bed will give your dog a constant cool spot in summer, relief from furnace and fireplace heat in winter, and cushiony support for vulnerable joints all year. It is non-electric, non-toxic, paw-puncture proof, and easy to clean. Just activate with water one time and let the wonders of H20 work their magic for your dog. Fleas hate the cool environment but dogs love it.
That turned out to be pretty funny! She was a trip leader at the similar program in her high school, so she kept it very much on the QT that she had stopped off at WalMart on the way to replace the forgotten boots . . . one of the trip leaders looked at her boots and said, "Oh, you like the old fashioned hiking boots!" She just smiled and nodded. (Of course back in the old days everybody hiked in work boots - and these were really ladies' work boots which was all WalMart had. They're put together a little differently than modern hiking boots - no side panels and the front of the boot is a single piece of leather rather than pieced together.)
They worked GREAT! They were comfortable from the moment she put them on, and even with a 50 pound pack she was able to hike for 3 days without a single blister. She got one hot spot on the ball of her foot, but she wrapped the ball of her foot with duct tape and added another pair of sock liners and had no more trouble.
She says they're more comfortable than her expensive Montrail boots, and she's keeping them!
LOL...that's great:)
Becky
The Canine Cooler is a similar product but doesn't have the cooling crystals in it. You just fill it with water. This crate pad has the water-absorbing crystals that are in the little neck cooling bands you tie around your neck.
Not knowing a lot about Lab pedigres it sounds like you have done your research. I have bred several hunting titled dogs, I personally don't have the time or the facilities to do it but I will have several in every litter that gets their JH (Junior Hunter) and their championship as well as agility titles. And they are Irish Setters! I don't usually take one persons opinoin to heart, they may have had a bad experience with one dog in that line. Sounds like the depth of performance is there.
Wasn't there a problem with Irish Setters (much as we have with the Labs) of the conformation and field lines diverging, so that many of the conformation lines lost their desire to hunt? I've certainly seen plenty of show Labs who couldn't find a bird with all four paws and a map . . . . and also some that were cute but dumb as a bag of wet mice.
My first Lab is half show and half field, and she turned out to be smart as a whip but doesn't have as much drive as a pure field dog. Some of that may be my fussy training on a first dog . . . slowing her down. But I think a one-quarter show and three-quarters field is going to be enough horsepower for me . . . I don't have visions of Grand or SRS or anything, but I'd like to put a Master Hunter and Finished titles on the girl. Starting as late as we did with Shelley (at almost 3) I think Seasoned and maybe Senior Hunter is as far as we'll get with her.
Just an update on the coons in my tree.
I've been checking on them all morning, and the funny thing is, everytime I go out there to look I see another one...There are 4 up there now:). They're all just sitting in forks of the tree. Looks like it could be a mother with 3 half grown babies. The last time I looked two of them where looking down watching me. I've a feeling they'll stay there all day and come down tonight.
I keep trying to get a picture, but they're just too high up, and in shadow.
Becky
Ordinarily the asphalt doesn't bother my girl either. But this was just so bad -- when you opened the car door it was like opening a hot oven, and the heat just struck up from the pavement. That, and the fact that my shoes were sinking into the asphalt and leaving footprints, made me pick her up. I didn't want to take the chance.
My parents have a whole stable of raccoons that eat at their bird feeders - dad puts dog food out to keep them out of the bird feeders. Of course when we visit with the dog, the dog stands up in the dining room window overlooking the raccoon feeding station and goes stark raving mad. (She has no idea what a tough customer a big boar coon can be, and I have no intention of letting her find out!)
Well, I don't blame you. I watched Susie close for a while but she seems OK. I just wondered about it tho. I know it would burn my feet:)
Becky
Even dumb dogs need love :~)
Keep tryin' to get the picture :~)
I'm a little surprised I haven't had raccoons here, the dogs being around would make them leary by day, but I'd think they might be able to get into the barn and make mischief at night... I haven't even had possums here.
Of course . . . but they don't do too well in hunt tests and agility trials, and I've been bit by the bug. (It will be a pain though to have multiple dogs in different levels! Frantic running from ring to ring and site to site . . . .)
Well, if you like training and testing, you get to do more of it with a dumb one. :~)
With a smart one, it all goes by so fast :~)
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