Off the Shetland Miniature Website

I know if you are like me, you don't always get to other sites such as the Shetland, Miniature Website (http://www.shetlandminiature.com) . Well I was there today, and read the article below. The movie is worth watching if you are wanting to see and know a little more about minis. I will leave the link as long as it works.

Below is a direct quote from that site.

Bob And Mary Sansevere and their family made the local ABC News with their miniature horses. The segment shows the whole family including Samantha, Sawyer, Spencer and little Shane getting in the fun with their miniature horses. Check out their news clip

Jeanne DeBruce’s Miniature Horses became supermodels when they were asked to pose with the human models for the new Hobby Horse Horse Clothing Company catalog. Those little horses give the glamorous human models a run for the money. Or as one person said “Their were people in the photos, too?”

Now when someone asks the ridiculous age old question , “What can you do with them?” be sure to add modeling, acting and making news to the long list of fun things owners do with their miniature horses

CSPA - Chariot

Saturday, June 21, 2008 went to the Central States Pony Association show in Gordyville - Gilford, IL. Rebel was being shown by Jason Prince so I wanted to see Rebel and just say hi to people I know.
I had a chance to snap one photo of a little girl ready to go into costume class.

While wondering around I noticed one chariot. What was impressive about this chariot was the obvious attention to detail that when into it.

The detailing included gold trim around the front hull, wooden trim painted and applied to the sides, gold sleeves on the axles between the frame and the wheels and gold painted washers to hold the wheels on before a cotter keys..

Chariot Racing Events: 2007-2008

Tired of watching boring hockey on TV? Like to go to see harness racing at the Meadowlands or Balmoral Park? Nothing to do in the winter? Consider going to see Chariot Races in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Utah or Nevada. (No, I have connection nor will make any profit off this suggestion.) This list was found on Chariot Chick's website at http://chariotchick.ning.com/

2007-2008 Race Season:
November 10th &11th Gillette, WY
December 1st &2nd Glendo, WY
December 15th & 16th Dubois, WY
December 29 & 30 Hudson, CO
January 5th & 6th Douglas, WY
January 26th & 27th Torrington, WY
February 2nd & 3rd Riverton, WY
February 16th & 17th Saratoga, WY
March 1st & 2nd Riverton, WY(State Championships)

Please note that the club listed below is having website problems, so some of the links (suchs a photos are not working, but may get corrected).

Or go to the World Championships of Cutter& Chariot Racing Association and check out their 2007-2008 schedule of events. These occur in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Nevada:

• November 15 & 16 2007 - Wells Nevada invitational
• December 8 2007 - Ogden Utah Golden Spike Event Center Play day benefit race. Any one that wants to enter a team contact Jay Hancock 801-732-8618, Rick Johnson 435-245-0127, Tony Greaves 801-301-2845 Dick Gibson 731-0432 before draw on November 30, 2007. (Bear River, Beehive, Skyline, Wasatch slopes)
• December ?, 2007 - Idaho assn. National North & National South Play day. Teams that want to enter contact DelRay Page 208-745-8597 before December ?, 2007.
• January 5 & 6 -Afton Wyoming Homestead Log Home Builders and the All American Cutter Race Association first annual ($10,000 added) Cutter Race invitational for more information Contact Kelly Garland 307-883-2231or Connie Titensor 307-884-8985
• February 15& 16 2007 - Shiners day Invitational Jackson Hole Wyoming Proceeds from this race benefits shiners hospitals and people that need there help. Teams come from all different association to participate and help this worthy cause.
• February 23 & 24 2008 -Utah State Chariot Racing Championship in Ogden Utah at the Golden Spike Event Center.
• March 1 & 2 2008 -Wyoming State Chariot Racing Championship in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
• March 1 & 2 2008 -Idaho State Chariot Racing in Idaho Falls at the Sandy Downs racetrack.

World Championships Cutter & Chariot Racing Association

• March 22, 23 28, 29, and 30 2008 at the Golden Spike Event Center in Ogden Utah.Come witness the heart pounding excitement of a real horse powered drag race. This is continues excitement a race will be run every 5 minutes and over 30 races a day!

Some of these events do include miniature horses racing.

The War on Weeds

A couple weeks ago I had a mini that was colicky. Took her to U of I and among the usual tests was a liver enzyme test which came back was some bad numbers (watch for a later post). Bottom line she could have ingested some toxins from weeds. Key suspects were deadly nightshade or poison hemlock. So began the "War on Weeds". First I would like to say that with all the horses I have, I have had only two other suspicious cases that might have been attributed to noxious weeds, however they were never confirmed. This time, I decided to become proactive. So for the past four days we have been digging, cutting, and stomping (does not do any good) weeds. Deadly nightshade is an easy one to spot. Sorry no photos of it but there are some great ones at: kaweahoaks.com/html/nightshade.html .

Poison hemlock is another weed we have. Being originally from the east coast, I made the assumption all those pretty plants were Queen Anne's Lace...wrong!!

It can be distinguished from the benign plants by the purple blotches on the stems.The stuff has been growning all over the yard and in the fields and I never really worried about it. Occasionally the horses would nibble a bit on it, but it never seemed to affect them. You can read about it in many placed, but I will just use the Merch Veterninary Manual.

To quote the online Merck manual the toxic principles and effects are:
"Piperidine alkaloids (coniine and others) in vegetative parts. Acute course. Dilated pupils; weakness; staggering gait; slow pulse, progressing to rapid and thready. Slow, irregular breathing; death from respiratory failure."

Symptoms include nervous trembling, dilated pupils, salivation and coordination problems usually in the hindquarters. Check for week pulse and look for a bluish appearance of gums and mouth tissue.

I have read that in serious cases death due to respiratory paralysis may occur within ten hours of the beginning of symptoms. There are treatments for less serious cases, and these may include stomach tubing with mineral oil and immediate use of stimulants.

The last dangerous weed we know we have is cockleburr. This week is something that I have tolerated, and every fall end up cleaning manes on the horses for hours on end. Sure, I run them down with the lawn mower when they are small, but still the manage to grow in places I just can't quite reach. So back to the online Merck manual, and what did I find:

"Carboxyatractyloside (seeds and young seedlings). Anorexia, depression, nausea, vomiting, weakness, rapid weak pulse, dyspnea, muscle spasms, convulsions. Lesions include GI inflammation, acute hepatitis, nephritis."

Okay so a lot of big words, but obvious not good for horses, so I started in on them as well. Well below is one little load of many that I ended up digging out, piling and burning. Yes, there are still more around the place, and it has become a daily chore. So you are probably thinking, why not use a herbicide to kill all this stuff? Really simple, I own peacocks and I don't want to kill them with the poision chemicals I would have to use. So excuse me for now, have an appointment with another load of weeds.

Other Chariot Sites

I get a lot of hits from Google when someone searches for chariots. You have to look a lot to find some good sites for miniatures, therefore I will provide links below as I find them.
Other Chariot Sites:
Ritchfield, Idaho in 2004 had these sites:
http://www.showshown.com/richfield/chariot/
Now this is not a joke, the next time I am near Idaho, I will try to get more information. I snagged this image from their site and hope they do not mind.
I will add information to this site as I find more links.
Please note, chariot racing is dangerous. The drivers have bicycle crash hats on and are wearing winter clothes. This is not the type of class you would see at a miniature show. The AMHR chariot classes are judged on gaits, appearance of the team and the drives must be wearing costumes which must be Roman style. The goal at an AMHR show is not to see which chariot can go the fastest (although I have been at some when two very experienced drivers were there and did let their horses run a lap). I have also been at a show where the chariot broke and if it were not for the control of the driver and the fact the horse did not spook, no one was hurt.
I have included another shot of the chariot.

At the Horse Wash

Getting ready for a showing weekend means a lot of preparation. You have to wash the horses, clip the horses, keep the horses clean while you take them to the show...it's work, work, work.

But there are times you can play Tom Sawyer and get someone else to do the work.

We took advantage of the cute little horses, and convinced my grandson and some of his girl friends that horse washing was fun!!! In the photo Grapenuts getting her first bath prior to clipping. Grandson is in the green shirt, he's the official holder since the girls don't know how to control the horses.

They washed four horses that day, and in the end everyone except the horses needed to take a shower. Don't know who got the wettest!!

Horse Hitches in Arthur, IL

Late April we traveled to Arthur to visit friends. It was time to start working the fields so we drove around to see what was happening. As we drove around we saw a 7 horse hitch disking in a field. We were pretty impressed until about 10 minutes later we saw the hitch on the right.

Not impressed? Well, you really can’t tell much from this angle with the horses all lined up in the diagonal row…so I walked around the back and snapped the photo below.

Count them!!!

YEAP, Eight rumps!!! Could not believe this so I walked around to the front to count noses...still eight!!! What was even more amazing is these horses were not two rows of four but eight across.

It sure is interesting what you can see if you just travel around a little.

Phantom Has Arrived!!!

Phantom left for Utah on Wednesday at 5 PM. He arrived Saturday morning, Below is the email I received from the new owner:

The boy is here and all is well. Thank you Thank you!
He came about 11:30 this morning and was alert and curious and just as cute as pie. I let him trot down to his pen and all the other horses were just all eyes. I had a flake of hay and fresh water but he wasn't hungry. The driver said he was an easy traveler, that he slept and licked the mineral block and ate and drank. I definitely recommend the HauledWright service. He went over to see Fury through the fence and stomped his right foot to let him know the boss had arrived. Fury was doing that funny mouthing "I'm just a baby" thing. Within a half an hour, they were grooming each other's neck and shoulders. My thoroughbred put back his ears standing at the fence and Phantom reared up at him. Oh, when he first came, he rolled. And rolled. And reared and kicked and just loosened up. He has had four visitors who think he is just stunning. I left to do errands for a few hours and he had eaten most of his hay when I got back at 6:00. I gave him another flake and put half a scoop of probiotics in a little crimped oats to help him get over the stress of traveling. He seems to be doing great. He has met the three big horses west of him, the three of ours to the north, and Fury to the east. Two that are just loose came and visited on the south. He seems very confident. I bit some pieces of two baby carrots for him and they were a big hit. He is so beautiful! And he has beautiful movement. Fury has been highly anxious all day so we gave him some probiotics, too. It looked like rain for a while, and we have a stall space fixed for him in the barn, but I'm glad it cleared up so they can be out. About 55 today, 40ish tonight. I will take pictures. I think that in a few days, if they continue as they have started, Phantom will be ready to start his reign.

I have not used HauledWright previously as a transport service, but I will admit both the new owner and I were very satisfied with their service. The lady driver, Frenchie, seems to be efficient and all business. She arrived with a clean trailer and stall already for Phantom with fresh hay and water. She called about an hour before arriving and although she was running a little late coming to pick up Phantom made it up and delivered him earlier than I expected.

Toad Hill's Slate

Let's start by saying: "Can you say Multi-Color Champion 2009?" That's what I was thinking when I saw this new foal who is 2008 model born to Willow this morning. Willow is a consistant producer of color and was last year's National Champion in Produce of dam.

So what about the foal? Born May 24 over Memorial Day weekend. There's a name in there somewhere, just haven't figured it out yet. Anyway I suspect he (most likely) will be a dapple grey like his big brother Phantom.

Kiss Me Kate and Paint Me Picasso are also out of the same dam and were the two shown in the produce of dam class.

So give me a day or two to really get to know this colt and I will write more.

Mom (Willow) below is having a bad hair day in the photo below, but how many moms look this good after giving birth to a 40 pound baby that morning?

Toad Hill's Sandy Beach

Toad Hill's Sandy Beach is a 33", AMHR registered sorrel filly born 7/7/05. I kept her until now because her sire is Toad Hill's Ivanhoe, the sire of T H Stormy Weather, another mare I showed in 2007. Because I am really into showing black and white pintos, Sandy just does not fit my breeding program. Since I showed four horses in 2007, she did not make the show circuit.

Sire: Toad Hill's Ivahoe by Spragues Buckeye (30.25") who was sired by NFC Yankee Clipper (28") out of 4 GS Hemlock ABrook Silvr Jane (33") Ivanhoe's dam Koch's My Angel Baby (32.5")

Dam: Klavohns Oreo Delight (32.50") sired by HCM Navajos Bold Innovation (32") out of Klavohn's D. Q. Double Delight (31")

To the right is a photo of T H Sid... and Sandy.