Floral » Page 7 of 7

Treasure State Miniature Horse Club

January 2010

Welcome to the New Year! I would like to take a moment to wish everyone the best in the coming year. May it be full of good things for everyone.
It is now that we start planning for the upcoming show season. This article in its entirety may be read in the winter issue of Miniature World Showcase.

12 Months of Feeding Tips by Karen Briggs

January No matter where you are, keeping your horse hydrated is an important consideration. When the temperature drops, horses drink less, and in areas where water sources tend to freeze over, job one is making sure your horse always has access to unlimited amounts of fresh liquid water. Horses will drink more when the water is luke-warm

February Time to check your horse’s body condition. Is he carrying an appropriate amount of weight for his size, age, and performance requirements? It’s easy to overlook winter weight loss when your horse is hiding under a thick, fuzzy winter coat. Ideally, he should be about a 5. Meaning the spine neither protrudes nor is buried in flesh, the fat around his tailhead should feel slightly spongy, his withers should be rounded, and his shoulders and neck should blend smoothly into the body. If you press lightly against his rib cage, you should be able to feel his ribs beneath the surface, but not see them easily when you stand back.

March An ideal time to get a fecal egg count test done on each horse in your care. The results will help you and your vet decide which horse needs deworming and which drug is best to use.

April Colic Alert! Be careful turning your horse out on pasture as the spring grass can be a shock to his system. Grazing muzzles should be clean and in good shape for those horses that need to wear one in the fight against colic, laminitis, and obesity.

May For those of you who aren’t breeders is to check your horse’s weight and the tack for proper fit. Remember that normal seasonal changes in nutrition can alter the way the tack fits.

Classifieds: For sale, mares…too many! Check out our website www.burnindaylightminiranch.com.

We have a functioning kitchen! Woohoo! Mike has been hard at work on getting our kitchen remodeled (with my design plans...I never cease to amaze myself! Hahaha!). It turned out so nice! There is a little bit more tiling behind the stove and the electrical outlets to be replaced, but it'll be done soon. Went with a porcelain slate tile. Looks really nice as the countertops. We had a good Christmas. Mike got me a Porkie (pom/yorkie) mix puppy. He's cute and will be making his rounds with me at the shows. Carver got spoiled by all his grandparents. He made out like a thief in the clothes department as well as toys. Been cleaning out the house some more and selling more stuff we just don't need. Nice to have lots of space again! Added a new pony to the herd. AMHR/ASPC stallion from Jon Hoopes. He's sired by Camino. Chantico will make his show debute in May. He's quite a spunky little weanling! Haven't done a whole lot with the horses as the snow keeps coming. But I'm hoping to get some driving in if we can get a break from the white stuff. Need to get some ponies as well as myself into shape before the first show hits. Don't want to disgrace myself by passing out running the rail! Hahahaha! Carver is doing well. We're battling the potty training still. But I hope to have him trained in time to hit preschool a couple days a week when he turns 3. Mike has taken quite a bit of time off work. He had lots of leave to use up. So it’s been nice having him home and doing things around the house. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Still got a few things left in my closets. So check out my sales page on my website. http://www.rhinestoneminiatures.com.
Mike, Keri and Carver

DoubleDay Farm- Happy New Year! and a new decade. Here's wishing the best to all of you for a bright and prosperous future both in the Mini world and out.
Jerr and I are just keeping busy passing the time to get through Winter. Been horsey-sitting for friends of ours for almost 4 weeks while they've been in Sunny Phoenix! Not on vacation though, had a death in the family so I can't be too jealous of them being there while we are here shoveling snow every day. It's tough when they call and tell us it is 70 degrees and they are out sitting on the deck!
We were both off work all the month of December, Jerr on vacation leave and myself on furlough. We enjoyed each other's company and got a lot accomplished. Sort of a "preview" of Retired life that will begin in early 2011 I guess you could say!
Horses are fine. We wrapped Shooter's leg and turned him out of the corral for the first time today (the 3rd). It's been 18 weeks since his injury and a long recovery to get that tendon healed properly. Let's just hope we did a good enough job and come March or so he can begin driving and jumping training again.
I am just glad no bones were broken and that the vets were able to do such a good surgery job and put him back together for me.
We are down to 5 horses, and have one AMHA/R gelding available for sale. I can't show them all at once and we are finished with breeding after 17 years of cute little ones running around each Spring. Times change and we want to travel and do different things in life, so cut way back on the work here at home. We sold the last girl in November, congratulations Claudia in ID. We hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of that nice filly. I have 3 B sized horses and can't show them all so may be putting our youngest up for sale as well. I have a 4 y.o. and a 2 y.o. and I think they will keep me plenty busy so not sure I want to add a yearling into the mix. Then I have Shooter who is A and he is only 5 this year so all of them require a lot of time as they are all untrained or green.
My sister got married December 12th so we added a new "family" to our family. The holidays were nice, we had a lot of fun with friends and family. Way too much food.... I'll be paying for that for a few months. I hope everyone up your way had a lovely season as well without too much cold and snow to hinder. Keep warm! Lou

News from Mini Acres Clif and Sharon Hanson, Brandy, Christion, Kortney and Hunter Deaton

Hope everyone had a great holiday season, it is always nice to get a couple of extra days off and spend them with family, even though most of my family lives close it does not seem we get to spend enough time together. We had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner here and had lots of family and food to make the days very festive. Kortney and Hunter got lots to open and I think they got everything they asked Santa for. Hunters is going to be 4 years old on the 2nd and Brandy a little older on the 3rd. Her Knee is finally healing and she should be back in the ring this spring. We have our 21 year old quarter horse home and my sister gave Brandy an 8 year old pinto. She is ready to ride again and very excited about spring. Hope she does not give up on the Miniatures, she says she likes riding much better than driving however. will see what spring brings. Horse shows, Not great word for Montana show for 2010, I cannot get the Fairgrounds to commit to dates or anything, with the new manager so pretty much told them to forget it. I have called county commissioners, the fair board and it all goes back to the fair manager and she is not cooperative at all. Julie just emailed and sounds like she is not putting on a show either lack of facilities, so not sure what is in store for the club shows for 2010. I have contacted the arena in Vaughn and it is $500 a day and $10 a stall so they are calling me with available dates, so will try to get something going there or there is another arena in Great Falls will call and get their rates, so I need info on who would come and dates that work. Do we want it the end of July like we have been doing or do we want to move the date? Email me with your opinions so I have something to work with. We cannot afford more than 2 judges with the added expense of the arena, and class prices may have to go up a little depending on how many will be able to attend. Steve has accepted the President’s Position, Brand Vice President and Sharon Secretary, Treasurer. We look forward to 2010 and hope we can have more Montana shows, we were so excited for the possibility of 3 shows and now I don't know how many we will have....Don't forget dues are due for 2010 mail them to Sharon Hanson 45 Sun Loop Ln Great Falls Montana 59404 Also Clif would like to thank everyone for allowing him his term with the club and will continue to support it. We have no new babies coming this year we need to sell some down also so there is not as much work. So will be working with Sissy and the yearlings for this year. Bailey will be trained to the cart, can't wait and hopefully will get some driving in...that’s all for now from the Hanson House hold Come on Spring and warm weather

News from Tiny Acres
We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family and friends stop by and calling. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year with all your foals being fillies.
I had a total hip replacement surgery November 30. They said it would take me 3 to 4 months to heal so that being the case I decided if I was going to be layed up. I wanted to do it in the winter months. I'm doing real well. I start physical therapy the first week of January. I have a goal to be able to start working my horses in March so I will work real hard to make that goal.
Leo says the horse are wintering well. Everyone is fat and hairy. We have 2 foals coming the first of April. I'm really excited about Mya's(Westwind BTU Crown Prince Mya Dream) foal. The sire Is Dunner(Westwind BTU Crown Prince Get R Dun).I hope the weather breaks so I can get out and see them. I really miss petting and brushing them.
I did work on getting my web page updated. I would also like to thank all of my clients that bought horses from me this year. Hope they enjoy them as much as I did breeding them.
Your Mini Friend
Karen

Happy Holidays and here is to a great New Year.
We had a nice quiet time at home over the holidays. Did get to spend a little time outside working with the horses. They sure do love the snow. I can’t wait for spring to arrive so I can get started back working the horses. We are expecting 3 foals this year. One more than I planned but have a mare that hasn’t had a foal in 3 years and I didn’t think she would settle anymore so let her keep the stud company…well, looks like she is expecting….Can’t wait to see the new arrivals.
Well guess that about does if for me for this month. Remember, each day that passes brings us one more day closer to spring…
I have several nice coming two year old fillies for sale. One is Countrylanes Kiss N Tell 4 A Buck who is AMHR/AMHA registered. I also have a real pretty American Show Pony black filly that will mature around 38”. Her name is Ashleys Millennium Majic. Her sire is a hackney pony and her dam is a real pretty Shetland mare with tons of motion. Would love to see this filly shown. There are pictures of both fillies on my website. Willing to work out payments and free board until spring. Both are reasonably priced. E-mail me at PNARanch@aol.com and my web address is jpminiatues.net.
Announcement! Wild West and Little Hooves and Harnesses Miniature horse clubs are having a sanctioned show over the 4th weekend. It will be a fun show with 3 judges and open to minis and Shetlands. Entry fees will be at a special price to members of either club at $100 per horse. Members must be paid members by March 31st. Go to either club’s site for membership forms. Plan your vacation for this time as there are many things to do after the show…Glacier Park, hiking, fishing and beautiful scenery! See you there!