The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I did too. It was nice to talk about personal views on certain subjects and not then be looked at like I'm a whacko:). All my friends, all two of them, LOL, are way liberal, and we don't have anything in common except love of horses.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Yeah, Rusty did good today. That was actually the first time he stood for any length of time in the trailer, and it was probably 2 1/2 hours:). I don't think 2J saw them, but from where I was sitting 2 times I saw kids walk up and look in the trailer. I had the door open to help keep him cool, and they came over to the back. I was going to go out there if they had stepped in. I don't think he would have done anything, and the divider was closed on him, but I wouldn't want him spooked or a kid kicked.

Becky

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Just so you know, I have no idea what you're talking about.

I arrived at the chat late.

[Sam Cree]

Your service has been down quite a while now, guess they don't know when it'll be back probably.

Do you like Orson Scott Card as an author? I can't remember. There's a thread going on him in breaking news, I haven't read it yet, but intend to.

[Sam Cree]

I didn't even know there was a chat. 'Course, I haven't figured out how to get in the place yet anyhow.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Your service has been down quite a while now

Yes, all day long, since I first turned on my computer at 8 am this morning. The tech support guy I spoke with couldn't say what the problem was, just that it was affecting "the whole region", including Louisiana and IIRC Oklahoma. No estimate on when it will be fixed.

I've never read any of Orson Scott Card's books, but I have read some of his editorials that have been posted on the news side. I had a good impression of them, IIRC.

The chat was sort of impromptu, while FR was down. I got there late, just before everyone else started leaving.

[2Jedismom]

I just did a scrambled egg taste test...I'll post pics and comments some other time, Steve will be home in a sec.

Now I know why you changed chairs...so you could see out and keep an eye on the horse! I didn't see the kids.

See you all later.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Farriers are a breed apart:)

I just went thru the same problem with the farrier I had used for 8 years. The last shoe job he put on Rusty was terrible, there was shoe hanging out all over the place. I knew it was just a matterof time before one came off. It did, took him a week to get back out here, he did it the same, when it came off the second time, I called twice and he never called back. After 8 yrs of shoeing every 6 wks I thought I would get treated better then that. I found a different shoer, who came out and reshoed Rusty all around with shoes 2 sizes smaller, no wonder so much shoe was hanging out. I don't know how he could have made such a mistake and then not call me back. But he did show up for the 6 wk appt. I was not here, Mack told him I had a new farrier, he said he never got the messages that I had called. Who knows, I stayed with the new guy.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I just did a scrambled egg taste test...I'll post pics

ROFLOL...pics of scrambled eggs. I will never be surprised again when I see my picture unexpectedly on here:)

One of the kids that looked at the horse was a young boy,the others were 2 teenage girls walking by.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I just called one more time because this triggered me to try, and I got one of his kids. I never know if he is even getting messages. If he doesn't call back tonight I am calling the new guy.

Have you heard bad things about the long term effects of bar shoes? - That their heel will get more and more undergrown, their frog will retract, and their whole foot structure will change (sounds to me like the foot is trying to return to it's natural shape) So that they will never again be able to be without them, or even barefoot? Is that person over-fear-mongering? - That person is prone to that, but once in awhile she is right.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

My husband and I have been trying to remember what we learned about mavicular. We had a horse once diagnosed with it. I remember bar shoes, and they are very hard to keep on:(, they didn't really help any. We finally retired him and he goes barefoot now, we don't have him, and actually does better. But he is not being used much either, only an occasional pleasure ride. He was my son's horse when we had him and he was used for roping, big difference. So who knows. If it was me, I would try the barefoot for a while, only because bar shoes are so very difficult to keep on, and it is so hard to get farriers to come back:)

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, too late...

He called back, we talked about it for awhile, talked about different options, and because he knows what Bay's foot looks like, and because Bay over-reaches in the back anyway, he wants to put him in wedge pads instead of bar shoes.

And he is coming 'right out' a week from today.

sigh. In the movies, this plot would be written better.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL..sigh...I went back to look at the picture to see if you could see the horse and Mack laughed at me standing there looking like an ole hick, LOL...I think he's right.

BTW, I forgot to mention you have a really nice back yard, and 2J's chicken coop is as cool as it looked in the pictures. She is so clever, I don't think she mentioned this, but they built it the size of her garden plots. They can move it around from plot to plot and fertilze. Who would've thunk it:)

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I think the theory is to keep the heel from hitting the ground becauses that causes pain?, Wedge pads should do that, might stay on better also.

I just looked at a web site that said some drug "gullium nitrate" cured navicular. Ever hear of it?

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Shame on Mack! - I think you look great.

I am gonna go clean stalls and otherwise get ready for the hay guys to come tonight (sweep one more time). They might be here in an hour on the early side.

[HairOfTheDog]

No - hadn't heard of it until you said so.... I googled and it corrected it to "gallium nitrate... There is a clinical trial of it going on, I think it is new.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Peoples first reaction to what I am about to tell you is always Oh, that can't be right. But it really really works. If you are paying more then $3.00 a bale for hay, have you ever considered feeding Purina Horse Chow 100. It would be just as economical. It is a complete pellet, which means you don't have to feed hay. Which means you don't have to haul, store, worry if its moldy, worry if they are getting enough roughage. I have been using it for 10 yrs with nary a problem.

I am sure, I have seen the pictures, your horses are fed good, These pellets are more for the owners convience of not having to mess with hay. We had a real hard time before using them of finding decent hay at a decent price. If you have just a little lpasture for them to run in and pick at, the pellets are really the way to go IMO.

I feed three times a day, just to spread it out, but twice will work. My mare and stud horse who are easy keepers and not used a whole lot get about 12-13 lbs. a day, Rusty who is getting used alot gets between 15-18 lbs. It's really good stuff.

Purina makes a feed that is also complete called Equine Adult, Equine Senior, and Equine Jr. They are basically the same as the Horse Chow, but they have more molasses and so in winter get harder to scope. They also cost more.

We had a really old horse once that was very prone to colic. As long as we fed him HC he did great, and even though he was 30, he had NO rib or hips showing and Jenny rode him, hard, barrels, team penning, till about 6 months before he died. He was about at 12-1300 lb horse.

Becky

[ElfArcher]

BUMP

[HairOfTheDog]

Actually, I have fed that or something similar, camping. Called it cubes?... lots easier to take with us than hay, and hay is not allowed in the back country. In fact, when riding in pristine country, they have to eat a certified seed-free hay three days before going in and the whole duration they are there so they aren't spreading foreign seeds in their poo.

I would be entrigued by the idea simply because of the dust of storing hay in the same building as the horses.... I will have to tarp the hay to keep it from getting covered with dust. But it seems like it was pretty expensive here, just for special circumstances like camping.

The grain I feed is actually a complete feed, Allegra Senior, but I feed about 1.5 pounds morning and night and then hay. They get all the nutrition they need from the grain, and the hay just gives them filler and keeps them occupied in the stall. (and actually the pony gets this too, about a half a pound) I don't think there is enough roughage out there to not feed some. If I could rest that pasture there could be, there was the first year, till they were on it all winter....

[HairOfTheDog]

You are talking to yourself.... ;~D