Friday, March 30, 2007
The Green Fuel Debacle Todays topic isnt about horses but it effects them and all of us. I Live in a rural area where there are a bunch of minimum paying jobs and few career choices other than farm/livestock. There are a few factory type shops and recently an ethanol plant has begun production. When the ethanol plant was proposed I just sat and scratched my head. I mean its crazy that the world hasn’t woke up to the fact that you still need to buy the Arab or domestic oil, refine it and have it added to the ethanol to be able to use it in your car and add to that the fact that your engine needs to be modified to handle the fuel. What gets me is the dirty process necessary for producing the ethanol and it is making out livestock feed bill increasingly higher and higher so much so that this fall and winter beef providers were barely making enough on their cattle sales to actually cover the cost it took to raise the animal let along make a profit so they themselves could afford to pay the bills to continue. Of course on the flip side of that, farmers raising corn finally begun to see some real profit. Then there is the cost and green effect downside to the equation (you still have to add refined fossil oil to make it work) and it sure makes Ethanol not look nearly as good at pure bio diesel. Now diesel engines were developed by Rudolph Diesel in 1892 and he later displayed his engine in 1898, which was run on peanut oil. That’s what those engines were developed to use originally and making a move back to that with our vehicles is one of the best possible choices I believe we have. Can someone please enlighten me as to why that is so hard to see? It’s a very easy technology with a huge green upside running pure vegetable oil. Another upside to that is the easy maintenance and longevity of the diesel engine especially when you run pure oil. The oil lubricates the engine and actually increases efficiency of the motor. I say pull the plug on all the corn subsidies, put that government cash to work getting pure biodiesel out there and force the auto manufactures to give us an engine that is good for our environment and sustainable. It’s a shame that we are only now pushing for the Biodiesel to be 20% oil and even Cummings announced that they will be offering an engine that will run on that product. Willie Nelson proved it can work and it’s a step in the right direction but going to pure vegetable oil should be the goal. It’s a team effort but one worth undertaking. That’s just my 2 cents!posted by Chris @ Real Horses @ 8:06 AM
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
A dying breed? While chatting with my best friend we somehow got around to the subject of how we don’t see many kids really involved with horses anymore and that it seems that a fair amount of those that are just don’t have the dedication we did as a youngster. Today we have an abundance of riders but very few horsemen coming up thru the ranks. Big stables cater to people who have busy lives and just want to come out to ride once or twice a week and leave it up to the trainer to manage their horses well being. They don’t know much about vaccinations, general health, nutrition, training and you can forget about husbandry. It seems that those of us that eat, sleep and live horses are either a dying breed or just very rare. Perhaps it’s the minimal pay and long hours of strenuous work. Then again it could be the cost of running a facility, feed is skyrocketing, taxes are up and insurance is just plain crazy.I can remember my childhood as a horse crazy girl like it was yesterday. My mom or grandma would drop me off at the barn in the summer in the cool morning and pick me up before dinner. My family always said that horses were a passing phase and that one-day I would discover boys and forget about horses, I can’t imagine how much farther from the truth that could have possibly been. I would come home from the barn sweaty, dirty and smelling like a horse but it was the happiest time of my life when I could forget the rest of the world and be in harmony with horses. I particularly loved the quiet early mornings in the barn. Horses would be munching on their breakfast, pushing it around in the buckets to find the best morsels. The sweet lingering smell of the alfalfa and grass mixed hay in the dark and cool barn isle that had just been cut open and was waiting to be distributed to the occupants. I loved to hear the soft and quiet deep muffled nickers of the horses greeting me when I would open their stall door and give them a couple flakes. I grew up in the city yet somehow I just instinctively knew how to brush a horse, take apart a bridle to clean it and pick feet. Things that I didn’t know I learned fast because I wanted to and I would listen intently to those helping teach me and refine my skills. Nothing in the barn was too much to ask as long as I got to be close to the animals that I loved so much. I would dream in Bay, Chestnut, Black and Grey, delighted to be galloping in some far away field with tall grasses and wild flowers and wake up wishing that one day I would have a horse of my own to love.
Today I’m fortunate enough that I don’t have to dream about my horses, I have them right out side. I still enjoy going to the barn, which is now my barn, to feed, groom, care for as well as ride and drive them. It’s a lot of work hauling grain, putting up hay, maintaining the buildings as well as the fences but I wouldn’t trade it for all the tea in China. I still love horses just as much, if not more, then I did as a child and I cant imagine my life without them.
posted by Chris @ Real Horses @ 9:38 AM
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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Welcome Spring
With the coming of spring is St. Patrick’s Day. Usually there is snow on the ground in our part of the country this time of year but we happened to have a reprieve this year with warmer weather and virtually all the snow has melted away which has accounted for some areas being flooded. Along with the snow being absent comes the presence of the bare earth, read that mud. So while I’m happy to see the winter recede I’m not so happy to see the returning of the wet and heavy muck and mire that my fields are becoming.
Since The Bob, my parade horse for the last two year was recently sold I decided to used our two 4-yr old Percheron mares, Lynn and Pearl in the St. Patrick’s Day parade this year. Lynn worked with Bob last year doing 4 parades; she has a level head and has some experience in the bedlam that ensues at parades. I’m grateful that I had Bob to show her the ropes last year. For Pearl this was to be her parade debut. I worked the mares as a team for the last 2 weeks trying to get them back in some type of shape and I have lived as a wet muddy fur ball due to my efforts. I can’t begin to tell you how nauseating it is to curry a 17.2 hand horse that is muddy and shedding out. These drafts really hold the crud on those wide flat backs and with every stroke of the curry more of that filthy hair covered my head and body. I did clip faces, bridle paths and such but hate to so more then that since the weather can turn quite cold at the drop of a hat and there is no way I’m going to deal with blankest out in those fields. The mares did a fine job at the parade. It took the first ¼ of the parade for them to really settle in but the last ½ of the parade was excellent. We even encountered a local “Bumpkin” who thought it would be fun to spook the horses on the parade route and lit off a brick of firecrackers. Thank goodness we take the time to desensitize our horses. I am lucky that I have had a couple years working on the Sheriffs mounted patrol and had knowledge of the type of training they go thru with their horses. It proved to be a valuable asset during the parade. The Friday prior to the parade the mares got a good wash job with warm water. They looked so nice and clean with their show harness on and hoofs polished. I’m sure you know exactly what they did the moment they were turned out after the parade….. of course, they rolled and rolled and rolled. So as I look out today in my pasture I see those mares full of mud like the other horses. They resumed their therapeutic mud bathing routine and are happy to be lady’s of leisure till we begin getting them ready for the show season. They might as well enjoy the down time because in May the real work begins.