Equine Seminar and Beaded Browbands.

Why hello there. I thought that I should maybe post to let ya’ll know I am still around. I haven’t really been that interesting as of late. I have been busy with the possibility of buying a new home and having it moved to our property. That’s been keeping my mind occupied. And I’ve been busy talking to structure movers, general contractors, etc… There is a lot of work involved in moving a building. The city of Fargo bought out a bunch of houses that are located by the river, and are at risk of flooding every year. These houses haven’t been flooded in the past, but to prevent them from being flooded, as well as others, the city bought them out and wants them moved or demolished so that they can put more permanent flood protection in place. they've been having a few auctions each year. We went to one a few weeks ago and houses went for cheap. I’m talking 7,000sq ft homes for $1500. There were two we liked and could have gotten them for $500, but something in my heart said to wait.

As far as horse news. Obviously since it is colder than Antarctica, riding has been out of the question. I’ve just let the horses be horses and they spend their days around the all you can eat round bale buffet. Pony made a wonderful recovery and has been living the life of luxury. She gets to come in to the barn at night. She is sassier than before and I just really enjoy having her around. I often think that had I gotten into ponies or minis before I got into full size horses, I might not have ever had big horses. The little ones are just so much fun. She is my little buddy.

The company my husband works for sponsored an equine wellness seminar at our vet clinic last weekend. As always I learned a ton of interesting information. One of his vets from down south came up and talked about parasitology. And a lot of people were shocked to learn that the old method of rotational worming, just doesn’t work. Hey, it’s what I learned about worming, and it’s what just about every one of those almost 200 people in attendance probably learned about worming. The most effective method is to run fecal samples and then work to rid the specific types of worms you are dealing with. Some horses may not need to be wormed every few months, while in other parts of the country they may need to be wormed more often. There are so many factors that play parts in your worming schedule which is why it is important to work with your vet. The cost might sound scary, but in the long run it can actually save you money.  Which reminds me… I need to get my horses wormed.
George and Pony are super easy to worm. But the two big red horses, are a bit more difficult. Duke thinks you are murdering him, and Pistol is so head shy, that he also thinks you are going to murder him. So what works for those fellas is to mix their wormer into their grain, and I add some molasses and apple sauce. Duke is a bit skeptical, but he will eventually eat it. I’ve even asked vets if this is an okay method to use, and they said that it is.

At the seminar I also learned a little about western saddle fit.  It just makes me realize that everything I’ve learned in the past is wrong. Which is why I love going to seminars and learning. If only we could get someone who is knowledgeable in English saddle fit. But it’s time to go through my tack room and get rid of some western saddle pads that just aren’t doing their jobs properly.

Last night, a friend of mine that I used to ride with, invited me over to make some custom beaded browbands. She used to have a jewelry making company and had thousands of dollars’ worth of beads that we got to play with.  She had ordered browbands with empty channels in them, and we got to use our imaginations and create flashy new browbands. My imagination wasn’t that creative yesterday and my browbands aren’t that flashy. BUT I love them!

This one is an homage to his old training stable who's colors are red and blue.

I was drooling all over this $300 strand of blue freshwater pearls... next time... next time.

Really boring, but it is very springy in color. IRL it's more of a coral and light green...