[dominiquer60]

They are very regulated and safety conscious there. In Sweden it is against the law to carry a pocket knife. However if you are a worker or farmer in work attire (similar to carpenter pants), you can open carry a work knife. So the reflective clothing could just be part of the uniform that is part of the services that they perform. Or maybe just an excuse to be able to carry a knife, or a precaution in case they find themselves in a situation where they should be wearing reflective wear to avoid trouble. The work pants in Sweden were rather nice, I would still like to order a pair one of these days.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Yes, They covered the dairy, now beef, ice cream, sugarhouse, Sam’s building business and timber harvest, off farm hay rides, DAPNet plow clinics, vegetables etc. The horses are under the main farm policy and are covered in case some moron goes into the pasture and gets hurt, but also covers on-farm hay rides, and when they are at competitions. If we do off farm rides, that is a whole other ball of pricey wax, so we dropped that because we don’t do enough to cover the insurance.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

We use Farm Family. I think the only difference from a regular farm policy is that we have the horses covered on-farm in case anyone gets hurt, I don’t think it matters that they work or not, just that you have them and your butt is covered if something freakish happened. If you talk to a regular farm insurance firm, they should know how to handle horses, the non- farm groups start to through weird policies your way because they don’t know how to handle them.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

We feed biotin because our horses had poor feet. Their feet are still not great, but are better than they were. Is it the biotin or because we trim/reset more often, who can say.

The Cu mix in only white salt and copper sulfate, for our horses it is one of the more popular minerals, behind kelp meak, almost as popular as the white salt block. The Sulfur mix does have some extras in it, perhaps to make it more palatable, it is elemental sulfur after all.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I don’t have a pic of our mineral feeder, but it is a hardwood box with 6 compartments each large enough to hold a 50 salt block. we have a thin rubber mat over the sloped top and the horses have to flip it up to get at the mineral. We left it off for a couple dry days and they figured it out quick when they wanted more kelp meal.

We get our 1:1, 2:1 and best price for kelp at Oregan Ag in Litiz, PA. A friend picks it up for us. Our Cu Mix and Su Mix is from Lancaster Ag, I believe they have a truck that goes to Maine once a month. When we run out of the $42 a bag kelp, our local feed store does keep it in stock for $48 a bag, given most of it comes from Maine and a lot of small organic farms us it, you should be able to find it near you. Lancaster Ag also has some other mineral mixes, but we get what we feel we need.
Our Biotin, Se and Vit E come from where ever we find them at a good price, but generally I stock up when I am in PA or FL.

Just to show how important the free choice minerals are we did an unintentional experiment. We put our mares on a multi mineral and vitamin mix made for pregnant/lactating mares, made by draft horse folks. Before they had their foals, they also has access to the mineral feeder in the group paddock. After they had their foals we didn’t turn them out with the group, but vowed to fix the feeder that my oxen broke. Well we didn’t fix it for a few weeks and the mares just lost their pre-pregnancy glow (literally shine even when filthy). Two weeks ago we noticed the foals licking dirt and the walls of the shed so we finally fixed the second feeder and gave it to the mares and foals. They hit it hard and 2 weeks later they just look better and have that amazing shine again even when filthy, and the foals still mouth things but lick minerals instead of the shed walls. I can’t wait to see how they look when they shed out their fuzzy baby coats.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

The new horse is Billy. Blue Star asked me if I knew of anyone looking for a good single horse (retired from the Philly carriage line). I remembered that Liz was looking for a single so I connected the 2, and they hit it off well. He is a flashy smaller spotted draft, that has worked on the streets and an Amish farm. I look forward to hearing how he is doing with Liz.

[dominiquer60]

You mentioned her teeth, but do you have a good equine dentist checking them regularly? It can make a big difference. Many vets will do teeth, but a good dentist that focuses on teeth alone can make a big difference, even after the vet has worked on them.

Soaking oats is a good move, they can process them so much better especially if you let them soak for at least 12 hours. The Nordell’s kept an older mare on sprouted grains, it takes more steps to sprout grain, but if you have the time you could make a better resource of your oats for her, sprouted grains offer some more readily available nutrition compared to plain oat seed. Also good call on giving her a high fat feed and hay in the barn, some horses will also not go out for water. We had a pond in the pasture, but found they drank so much more when we offered water next their shed in the summer, they would only got out for water once in a while and ran back to the shed, their urine was dark and they didn’t recover from work as well as they do now with a constant supply of fresh clean water next to the shed. What is her water situation like.

Vitamins and minerals is a tough subject, there is a lot of garbage on the market for multi-vitamins and there is a division between tailoring your ration for the horse and letting the horse choose its own. If you go for a multi-vitamin/min go with something bio-available/chelated, it costs more but they get more out of it and they need less of it. The other route is to feed free choice minerals in the barn. Some of the things that we offer our horses is white salt, 2 different Calcium and Phosphorous mixes (1:1, 2:1), copper, sulfur and their favorite, Kelp meal. When they have the right minerals, they can make the right vitamins in their body. Kelp has lots of different trace minerals and they eat more of it in the summer. Our horses have never looked better now that we feed free choice minerals, their coats are shiny and their skin is healthy, they live off of air and the black horses are black now, not brown. We feel that supplementing this way give them the opportunity to take what they need and since all of our feed is home grown, we also give them a set amount of Vit E/Selenium and Boitin daily.

Sounds like you have a good of how she is doing. I hope you find something that helps her a bit more.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Do you have a photo of your stud? What is a good way to get a hold of you?

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Some founder is not apparent at first without radiographs, that would be a more sure way to rule founder out.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

It was a great story and made my morning hearing it yesterday.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Sam keeps meaning to make me one for my odd pair, but hasn’t has the time to make it yet. I had this evener made up for them.

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[dominiquer60]

I will look into it.
E

[dominiquer60]

I struggle with this too, and not with a lot hard days for them. When they want to fuss going home we try to give them more work at home and/or (depending on how much time we have) tie them up in harness when we get home, so they may be home but are not back to leisure time. If they think rushing to get to the driveway is the answer to get that release, we remind them that it doesn’t work that way all of the time. Eventually with more work and a settled routine they are content to make their way home at a reasonable pace.

[dominiquer60]

I used this type of cultivator with my steers. Chaining back works for regular light cultivation, but I don’t have long term experience using it that way. I had planned on rigging something up for proper line of draft, but never got around to it.

erika

[dominiquer60]

There are several working horse groups in Sweden. I don’t have info for you, but a bunch of the friends that we made speak and write in English and are easy to find on facebook.

Erika

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