Thursday, December 12, 2013

MHU - My Horse University

Reposting this article for those that are interested in furthering their Equine Education - My Horse University - check it out!
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I'm a lifelong learner.  If you ever think you know it all, you definitely don't.  We all meet those types in daily life.

I was talking with a friend recently about the number of people that I've met with Minis that have that attitude.  Most are "lifers" with horses.  You know the - I've had horses since I can walk, blah blah blah.  Surprisingly three of "those" types have been the worst horses I've had to take back in various states of "OMG WTF did you do to these animals?"

So, anytime I think I know it all, I try to learn something from every encounter, person, event or class as I know I don't know it all!

I'm not a sucker for fads, but will listen and hopefully garner some information from anyone that is teaching me about a new product, idea or trying to sell me something.

That was a nice lead up to online education.  We're fortunate now to be able to access educational opportunities locally and across the world.  Here's one such place.....

My Horse University or MHU has some great educational webcasts that are FREE!  There is a great monthly newsletter you can sign up for as well and of course their educational courses..


Here are some of the upcoming FREE ones:

Upcoming Webcasts:

Health Concerns for the Overweight Horse  (A great one for Miniature Horse breeders and our "fluffy" Minis!)
Speaker: Dr. Colleen Brady| Purdue University
Date: December 17, 2013 | 7 PM ET
Summary: This webcast will discuss health concerns for both under and overweight horses, with an emphasis on the overweight horse. Following this session, horse owners will be able to assess if their horse is over or underweight, and have strategies to manage their overweight horses.

There are a number of archived ones as well (2007-2012):

Archived Webcasts

(To view an archived presentation click on the title to be directed to the webcast details page. Then click on "View Archived Recording" and a new window will open. Make sure to have the volume turned up on your computer.)
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Thursday, December 05, 2013

Greetings and Happy Holidays 2013

Greetings all.


It's been a busy year - mostly real life things - so I haven't been keeping up on this blog at all and basically been slacking on the horses a bit too - not their care, but my activity in the Mini Community.

The horses are (knock on wood), all doing well and the herd has been stable at 28-30 Minis this year.  We did have one sale fall through, fortunately the mare never left here, so yeah for that! Still have a couple of "fun" buyers that I'm having to chase for money owed - surprise!

A few of our older ladies went off to a wonderful retirement home with Veneta at Galloping Angels Rescue/Sanctuary, where they're getting tons of TLC.  It was hard to see them go, but after Veneta's awesome job getting Woody's founder turned around last year, I have every faith she's giving them top quality care.

We really vacillated on breeding or not this year, but finally did.  We're at a comfortable number (I'd still like to get down around 20, but 30 is a huge improvement over the 55-80 we had for a number of years). So, we did end up breeding late, and gave Oz (Fallen Ash Scouts Oscar)  three weeks - make it or not - with the mares.  Once he got over his joy of having a whole bunch of mares all to himself, he seemed to settle into getting his job done.  So, we're crossing fingers we should have a great foal crop this coming Spring in mid to late May.


I was tickled to get Oz last fall, as I've been wanting to add the L&D Scout line to our herd, and had been looking at grand-daughters/grand-sons, so to get a son, was just wonderful.  Especially one with a National show record and his line already proving to be have what it takes in the show ring here as well as overseas.


We do know at least one mare was pregnant as Valentina (Wesco Farms AToy4Me Brazen Beauty) aborted last week at 4.5-5 months.  Of course a perfectly formed pinto filly....argh!!! Fortunately, Val is healthy and bounced back as expected.  Sad loss, but it goes with breeding.


On a happier note, we will be getting Boo (Wesco Farms Netherstorm) back from Redbud Mini Ranch in January. That should be exciting, as we've had a lack of "color" in the herd the past couple years, while I've been sorting out life.

Boo's baby pic

We do have a few for sale, but not really pushing them as the mares are one's I really don't want to sell, but do need to reduce the numbers down a few more. Decisions, decisions!  Post foaling, we'll definitely be making some decisions/corrections/adjustments to our breeding program as the goal is to have ALL the foals for sale, but I'm sure there will be one I'll want to keep!  So to keep the numbers under 30, if I keep one, somebody hits the sales list!

Other than that, I've been slowly (I mean slooooowwwly) going through all of our equine books, magazines and tack to put things up for sale.  The accumulation of "stuff" since 1999 definitely needs to be pared down!

I'm setting myself a goal of getting more involved with the Mini Community again and keeping the blog/website updated more frequently in 2014.  We may actually even show up at a show or two!!!!

Happy Holidays to everyone and best wishes for a totally fabulous, awesome 2014!










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