Friday, February 09, 2007

Responsible pet owners

Regarding my previous post: it isn't only horses who are accident-prone, you know. (Read the comments on the last entry.)

I used to have a few registered Jersey cattle. I didn't have facilities for a grade-A dairy, so I needed something to do with all that milk. I gave some to hogs, mixed with wheat shorts; and I raised Holstein bottle calves from a nearby dairy.

One of my prize yearling Jersey heifers somehow ended up breaking through ice in a 2-foot-deep pond. She couldn't get out, and died before I found her the next morning. We lost one of my Holstein babies in a different pond, another winter.

Another of my favorite heifers obviously was frolicking a little to heartily, ran headlong into a fence, got entangled there, and broke her neck. Cliff had to put her out of her misery.

My beloved Mandy, the dog I had before Sadie, ran across the highway and was killed. Am I irresponsible for letting her run free like the other dogs in this neighborhood? Probably so. She's the reason I won't turn Sadie out now, although Sadie has enough pent-up energy for a dozen dogs.

And now, about horses. The horse I owned a few years ago had a habit of pawing the woven-wire fence and tearing off his shoes. Finally Cliff put electric wire inside the woven wire so Pleasure Boy wouldn't get close enough to paw it. Our neighbor kept a horse on our property at the time; that mare would paw the woven wire fence, get her foot caught, and stand patiently until somebody came to set her free. It was a potentially dangerous situation for her, but thank God she never panicked.

We have barbed wire fences; we also use electric fencing around our hay fields. I'd love to have fancy, horse-proof fencing all over our place, but we don't have that kind of money. The local Tennessee Walking horse breeder tells me, "Well then, you shouldn't have horses."

No, of course not. And people who can't afford children shouldn't have babies. But then, I wouldn't be here, if my parents had followed that rule. Nor would my kids.

We have caverns on this place in which you could set our two-story house and not see the roof. Some of the banks of those caverns are straight down. We've had cattle get down in them before, and they had to be helped out. There's no practical way you could fence around all those caverns, dangerous though they are. I'm including an overhead view of our place (click on the picture to make it big, then notice the thin red line. That more or less shows the boundaries of our 43 acres). All the wooded areas you see, although you can't tell it from the air, are huge canyons.



If we had to fence all our property, then fence off the ditches... well, it isn't feasible. We do the best we can with what we have.

I take good care of my horses: I worm them regularly, have the farrier out often, get their vaccinations and have Blue's sheath cleaned when needed (sheesh). I do the best I can with what I have. Blue is my childhood dream come true, and I love him. We either have to take some risks with our horses, or not have horses at all.

And hey, the horses here get better care than 90% of the horses I've seen around the countryside.

(I hate debates, so this will be the last I have to say on this subject; but that's just me.)

11 comments:

  1. your horses appear mighty fine and healthy to me!

    I didnt mean to start a 'who has a better fence debate' in the previous post. But I couldnt help my reply to the previous commentor who acted like he was the only responsible horse owner on God's green earth...

    I have a nice barn on 30 acres and I have a 6 strand barbwire fence that when built had cattle in mind. Ive roped years off my old horse, he knows what belongs around his legs, is safe, and what doesnt. I plan on getting another horse again soon since the old guy is mostly retired because of his arthritis. I have no plans on changing my fencing, I cant afford it either.

    I look around at the hundred of horses and horse owners in my area, some of them have a lot larger income than my household. Their horses are kept in wire fences as well.

    So? Being a horse owner my entire life, I think our horses are a lot better off than most........

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  2. If you already have posts in, electro brade only costs about $75 per 1200 feet.

    I would no sooner cut safety corners with my horses than I would let one of the kids drive a car that doesn't have seat belts and air bags. So I respectfully disagree with the excuse of justifying bad decisions because others are doing the same thing.

    Ask your vet what sort of fence injuries they've seen in their practice. If their stories don't convince you nothing will.

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  3. why ask my vet when Ive got you?

    obviously your the expert

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  4. I figured you might respect the words of your vet since you don't seem to have an open mind to what I am stating, cowgirl. Horse, to me are more than livestock. Cya

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  5. My husband is more than livestock. Yet for years I fed him trans-fats and cholesterol in abundance. Because he liked all that stuff. My children were certainly more than livestock, but I overfed them, and now they both fight weight problems. You can love something, even if there are imperfections in how you take care of them. I have cut corners all my life, and I have often paid dearly. But at my age, I doubt I'll change. I've never done anything perfectly. "Perfect" is pretty hard to come by.

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  6. Dang, a whole debate/discussion in my comment section. And my subjects are usual about as uncontroversial as they come!

    Wooo hoooo!!!!

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  7. Donna, you bring out our passions.

    I see you quote Parelli. Have you done any of his or Linda's clinics?

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  8. Nope, I haven't attended any clinics. In fact, nobody ever taught me to ride. I just got on the first horse my husband bought me and away I went; still don't have a clue about "leads" or "seat".

    I've read some negative things about Parelli (on that message board I linked to yesterday) but he seems to have good ideas. My favorite horse guy is Mark Rashid. I have all his books.

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  9. for the guy who writes like he is above all, my horse means more to me than you'll ever know. Hes been my best friend for over 20 years. So before you go shooting your mouth off about things your are ignorant of, do your homework.

    Really donna, you gotta love it when things get stirred up on your blog, it rarely happens at the Res or anywhere else I hang for that matter.....and you were right on about the picture, it is an Indian Mound.

    One year when I was at the Equifest in Wichita KS, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a Parelli demo. He is good. My all time favorite is John Lyons, have you ever read his magazine "the perfect horse" ? pretty good stuff as far as magazines go. I sat in on one of his demos also at the Equifest, I like the way Lyons trains.

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  10. I yield to the self proclaimed "Barngoddess"

    Lyons broke his are at our Equine Expo last year.

    Donna, do you have satellite TV? If so you should check out RFD-TV. They have two hours of horse shows every evening with Parelli, Clinton Anderson, Lyons, Cox, Roberts and many more.

    I've attended a Parelli session, and all it was was a pitch to come down and work with them for a month at their ranch. They seem to be in it for the money. I enjoy Clinton Anderson much more because he actually teaches things in his sessions and he's changed a lot of my horsemanship ideas that have been with me for 40 years as well.

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  11. I've seen great similarity in all the above horse trainers. Yes, I do have RFD. I think my favorite there is Clinton Anderson.

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