2 3 4 5 5 6 7 WEANING FOALS

The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute
Volume 5, Issue 3—November 2008
Stable Sheet
W E A N I N G F OA L S
Inside this issue: Training Mythunderstandings: Breaking vs. Training Allergies! What does Miner do? The Summer Experience in Equine Management Program Wild Cherry Poisoning Turn on the lights for early spring breeding Nurse Mare farms have a new way to provide for orphan foals! NYSHC President's Note 2
3
4
5
5
6
7
As fall approaches, the dreaded weaning
process hangs over the heads of many
breeding farms, and broodmare owners.
Never having worked with broodmares
before coming to Miner, this was my first
time dealing with this unpleasant task.
Being terribly guilty of anthropomorphizing
any and all animals, (as I’m sure many of
you are) the thought of separating mom
and baby is heart breaking. How horrible to
leave a baby horse on its own just as the
nights are getting frigid and mom’s warm
milk would surely help cold little tummies
warm up! However, in the back of my mind
I knew they would probably handle the
break easily. They had certainly already
grown up quite a bit and become very
independent. Not only were they eating
large quantities of hay, but had discovered
the magically wonderful stuff called grain,
getting bold enough to shove mom out of
the way at breakfast to get their fair share!
We weaned our two fillies in rapid
succession. The oldest (6 months old) done
less than a week before the younger one (4
months old). There were not days and days
of mom and baby screaming to each other
across the farm. In fact after a couple calls
and a day or two of looking expectantly at
me when I walked past as if I would bring
their mom back soon, things just continued
on like nothing unusual had happened. The
broodmares did a bit more calling, I think
more out of discomfort during the drying
up process than actually missing their
babies. The broodmares are happily back
out in another field with several of the
The weaned fillies, HD Kildare “Rayne”(in front) and HD Aiden Lair “Lolly”, decide that a pile of soft hay is a nice place to rest and convenient for munching. farms other mares for the winter. The
remaining mare and colt, as well as the two
weaned fillies are happily living together in
their pasture as well.
Because we only have a few foals, unlike
some of the larger breeding farms, we can
wean a little bit differently. All of our
broodmares with foals live together in a
large pasture with a covered shelter. Instead
of doing a mass weaning of all the babies,
we pull one mare out at a time. While the
remaining mares won’t nurse the weaned
foals, still having one or more mares around
probably helps ease them into the idea of
being on their own. Also, by leaving the
foals in the pasture they have spent all of
their life in and pulling the mares out,
rather than moving the foals to another
location, we are able to avoid an additional
stress.
(Continued on page 7) TRAINING MYTHUNDERSTANDINGS: BREAKING
VS. TRAINING
Many people who are training horses will ask them
questions that the horse has no way of understanding or
answering. Then they will fight with the horse or hold
him hostage until the horse either gives in or gives up.
The so-called trainer walks away feeling like he or she
has won the game because the horse finally did what
they wanted him to do. But no actual communication
took place. What happened was "breaking" not training.
When you break a horse rather than train it, you get a
trained flea. What do I mean by that? Well, you start
training fleas by putting them in a jar. You know they
are going to jump and if they do that, they'll jump out
of the jar. So you put a lid on the jar. Now when the
fleas jump, they hit their heads on the lid. Being smart
fleas, they learn not to jump so high. Now you can take
the lid off and they won't jump out. Voila! You have
trained your fleas not to jump so high. That is exactly
what you do when you "break" a horse.
A lot of people train horses this way. They condition the
horse to random tasks one by one. They do not do it in
a systematic way that is logical to the horse.
Remember that horses have very simple minds. They can
only connect a cause-and-effect sequence of about two
steps. To be horse logical, the next thing you teach a
horse can never be more than one step away from the
thing you just taught him and not more than two steps
away from the thing before that.
It should be easy for the horse to understand how to do
the next thing you want to teach him because it should
flow naturally from the last thing he learned. It should
be horse logical for him to behave in a certain pattern.
He shouldn't have to guess about what you want until
he accidentally gets it right. He shouldn't have to stress
himself mentally or physically until he learns to do the
"correct" thing by avoiding the "incorrect" thing.
At Meredith Manor we teach our horses a "language"
based on their body position relative to ours. The horse
first learns on the ground that certain body language on
our part calls for him to be in a certain position relative
to our own. With this as a basis for understanding, we
gradually shift the concepts of mirroring the trainer and
working in a corridor of aids from ground work to under
saddle work and eventually to whatever game we
ultimately want the horse to play.
Horse showing is a game a lot of people like to play
with their horses. Someone defines some rules,
prescribes a set of mannerisms, and the guys whose
horses come the closest to those prescribed mannerisms
are the winners. When it gets too easy to win, the
somebodies change the rules so it takes something
different to win the game. And everybody's off again.
Horse show rules are no more logical than the rules we
make up for football or basketball. They're all just
artificial rules that can get changed at any time.
We teach our horses to perform according to these
prescribed mannerisms to make them competitive at the
horse show game. When you are training, it is important
to remember that producing a prescribed mannerism
should not be your highest goal. The way you mentally
and physically gymnasticize the horse is the real game.
The horse show mannerisms are only a way for you to
demonstrate that you and your horse are physically and
mentally prepared.
If you've only learned to duplicate the mannerisms, you
and your horse are going to be left behind when the
somebodies change the rules. If your horse was properly
trained, horselogically gymnasticized both mentally and
physically, you'll be able to adjust to the new game
rules.
As your horse's trainer, you mentally take command of
the horse's muscle and strength and use it to play
whatever the game you want to play with your horse.
Whether it's polo, cutting, reining, jumping, pole
bending, barrel racing or whatever other game you're
playing, the real game is the interaction between you
and the horse. It is about mental, not physical control.
And that control has to be methodical and horse logical
for you and the horse to play the game as well as you
can.
(Continued on page 7) ALLERGIES!
If you don’t have them yourself, you’ve likely lived with
someone that sneezes their way through ragweed
season, breaks out in itchy spots from food (or worse!),
or carries their epi-pen everywhere hoping to stay clear
of bees. Allergic responses are the result of the immune
system, which is designed to fight disease, going over
the top in the production of antibodies. Humans can get
skin sensitivity testing done to identify the offending
substances and can often be managed with careful
immunotherapy. Equine allergies can come on without
warning and may take months or even years to develop.
The most common manifestations of an equine allergy
are skin conditions or respiratory problems.
Our carriage horse, HD Saranac (aka “The Princess”),
occasionally had unexplained hives as a young horse,
but they were transient and infrequent. It wasn’t until
she turned 9 years old that she began to sneeze. And
sneeze. And sneeze. Sneezing to the point that she spent
more time sneezing than anything else- poor thing! At
first, antihistamines (such as “Tri-Hist”) provided her
some relief, as did making sure we didn’t ever sweep
the barn when she was in it, her bedding wasn’t dusty at
all, and we wet down her hay. Sara was put out to
winter pasture along with the rest of the herd at the end
of the summer and seemed to do well all winter.
Spring came around and again we were back at the
antihistamines and all the management techniques, but
this time it was to no avail. At this point, our
veterinarian recommended allergy testing for Sara. Since
horses have fur and variable pigmentation of skin, skin
testing isn’t very helpful for a horse, blood testing is
necessary to try and identify the allergens causing the
problem. There are several labs that provide this service
to veterinarians and will screen the blood serum for
many different common offenders. It is not cheap with
the testing running about $350, but it also doesn’t take
that long to spend that kind of money on drugs to
manage the problem!
The blood test identified LOTS of things that Sara is
allergic to, but the ones that seemed to cause her the
most problems are the pollens of grasses. We’d found
the answer to the seasonality of her problem! The same
company that did the testing also provides treatment
sets designed specifically to treat the individual horse’s
profile. Again, not cheap, but reported by the company
to be 80% effective, it was worth a try.
The treatment comes in bottles of increasing strengths of
the allergens/antigens. The horse is started on small
doses of the weakest strength by giving subcutaneous
(under the skin) injections over a schedule that gradually
increases the dose over a period of months until finally
the horse will be maintained on a monthly schedule.
The amounts are very small (1cc maximum) and the
needles are very small also, so there is minimal
discomfort to the horse. For Sara, she’ll do just about
anything for a peppermint (fortunately not on the list,
but molasses is!) so she gets a treat at shot time and one
person can do it in a matter of seconds.
Once we started the treatment, she started getting better
within a month and shortly after that was fully weaned
from antihistamines as well. Sara did well from 10-13
years old, and then over a winter, I forgot the monthly
maintanence. I will not do that again. The sneezing
started up again with a vengeance, so back to the
drawing board. Sara’s back on the plan and doing well
so far.
Next time I’ll tell you about the horrible time we (and
she) had getting her symptoms under control this past
summer while waiting the new allergy treatment to kick
in.
—Karen Lassell, [email protected]
SAVE THE DATE!
EquiDay will be
Saturday, March 21, 2009
EquiDay is a long-standing spring
tradition in the North Country which
provides seminars on a variety of horserelated topics, a mini-trade show, and a
chance to catch up on a winter’s worth
of news with fellow horse enthusiasts.
Watch this space, details coming soon…
WHAT DOES MINER DO? THE SUMMER
EXPERIENCE IN EQUINE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
The most prominent feature of the equine program at
Miner Institute is probably the Summer Experience in
Equine Management (SEEM). It is a 13-week long
internship designed for college students that are serious
about seeking a career in the horse industry. Students
work in all aspects of the horse barn from the basic
chores, to training young stock for saddle or harness, to
managing stallions and broodmares.
In a competitive job market, it is important to have
experience and a skill set ready to go, not simply an
understanding of things such as breeding and training.
While having students make mistakes is NOT our goal,
we understand that the best way to learn is by doing.
Anyone who “does”, knows that an even faster way to
learn is by making the occasional mistake! SEEM
students are the “do-ers” at Miner; they aren’t simply
watching demonstrations or getting horses ready for the
trainer.
The program began in 1987, headed up by Katie
Ballard (UVM animal science alumnus and now Miner’s
Director of Research) as a course listed on the books of
UVM for their animal science majors; it was a sister
course to the already established Summer Experience in
Farm Management. It spread quickly to the “land grant”
colleges of the northeast (how I found it as a UNH
animal science major) and touted as the practical
experience to complement the coursework. With the
advent of internet search engines, we’ve had applicants
from all over the country that found Miner on their own
adding to the great word-of-mouth method of getting
folks to find us out here at the beginning (not the end)
of the Earth.
Brochures and applications are all available under the
Education section of our website, www.whminer.org.
WILD CHERRY POISONING
Recent remnants of Hurricane Ike passed across western
PA on Sunday and Monday prompting concerns about
leaves from wild cherry trees that were blown into
pasture areas. In some cases reports were made about
trees being blown down across fences. Each year cattle,
sheep and horse producers, across the United States,
lose animals to poisoning from these trees.
Easily identified the members of the “wild cherry” family
include Wild Black, Choke and Pin Cherry. These trees
can grow 15 to 20 feet tall and are commonly found in
fencerows, roadsides and open woods. Fruits are true
cherries and are small (does anyone remember
peashooters?) and have a darkened red to black color.
Leaves are positioned alternately along the shoots and
are elliptical in shape with a point. All plant parts of the
cherry tree family contain the poisonous compound but
damage to or wilting of the leaves results in highest
poisoning incidences. Damage can result from frost,
trampling, drought and wilting as a result of storm
damage.
Cherry leaves contain a compound called glycoside.
When damaged or stressed the glycoside breaks down
into cyanide and sugar. The cyanide is the poison
compound and the sugar makes the leaves more
palatable to the animal. Small amounts of healthy plant
parts can be consumed safely but only small amounts, 2
ounces or a few handfuls of damaged leaves can be
deadly.
While cherry trees are not good for livetock, they are good for firewood. In these days of escalated fuel costs, cutting down those trees and stacking them with the cordwood will not only save your horses, but will keep you warm many times over as the saying goes. Cyanide prevents the animal from being able to utilize
oxygen in the blood at the cellular level. Animals will
breathe normally but the cells and tissue will suffocate.
Signs of poisoning rapidly appear. Animals will tend to
breathe more rapidly and deeply. Later trembling and in
coordination lead to collapse. Blood and mucous areas
of the mouth will be bright red in color. Violent death
results from respiratory and/or cardiac arrest, usually
within moments to an hour. If animals survive for 2-3
hours their chance of survival is good.
Do not try to handle downed animals. Additional stress
leads to additional complications and handlers have
been injured by kicking animals. Intravenous solutions
of sodium nitrate or sodium thiosulfate have proven
successful but timeliness is urgent.
Best control for reducing wild cherry poisoning is to
identify and remove all cherry trees from areas close to
grazing livestock. Treat stumps with herbicides to
prevent resprouting. Note that if you treat growing
plants with herbicides prior to leaf drop these treated
leaves can also result in poisoning.
Sources: PSU Veterinary Sciences, VA Cooperative
Extension.
—Paul H. Craig, Dauphin County Educator
TURN ON THE LIGHTS FOR
EARLY SPRING BREEDING
If you are planning to breed your mare anytime before
April of 2009, you should be “putting the mare under
lights” starting soon! It will take at least 60-80 days from
the time you start the light regimen until she’ll cycle
regularly enough to make the breeding go as smoothly
as possible. Early in the season, mares go through a
period of transition where they’ll show signs of heat, but
likely not ovulate the follicle. Ultrasounds, collection
fees, shipping fees etc. will add up fast if your mare is in
heat for 12 days straight with no egg to fertilize! Mares
need at least 8 hours of darkness to be sure the lighting
program works, so invest in a timer for the lamp. You
can either extend the “day” to be around 16 hours long,
or do what we’ve had success with at Miner and give a
“pulse” of light starting 9 ½ hours after sunset. You’ll
need a 200 watt bulb, a timer and a way to make sure
the mare keeps her head in the stall so her eyes pick up
that light (close the dutch door, or put a stall guard up
over the door opening. Once you’ve started the lights, it
needs to happen EVERY night without fail until May 1st
or once the mare is confirmed 40 days pregnant,
whichever comes first.
USRIDER OFFERS TIPS FOR
WINTER TRAVEL SEASON
Lexington, Ky. (Nov. 18, 2008) – With the change of
seasons, USRider, the national provider of roadside
emergency assistance for equestrians, reminds those
who travel with horse to be careful when traveling and
to invest time doing routine preventive trailer
maintenance to enhance their travel safety “While
trailering horses in the winter is not all that different
from trailering any time of the year, you do need to
make a few adjustments for hauling in cold weather,”
said equine travel expert Neva Kittrell Scheve. She
added that during anytime of the year – regardless of
temperatures – the basic rules apply:
 Make sure your trailer is safe.
 Drive carefully with safe following distances.
 Headlights on for safety at all times.
 Make sure the horse’s inoculations are up-to-date.
 Carry a current health certificate and certificate of
negative EIA if crossing state lines.
 Wrap all four legs with shipping wraps or boots.
 Carry an emergency first aid kit and know how to
use it.
 Learn to monitor vital signs of the horse.
 Carry backup supplies appropriate to the length of
the trip.
 Carry emergency contact numbers for yourself and
your horses and keep in a visible place.
 Carry a truck/car emergency kit. During the winter
months, be sure the kit includes a shovel, sand, red
flag, horse blankets, human blankets, candle,
matches or lighter, and tire chains.
It is very important to make sure your vehicle is ready
for winter driving to maintained according to the
manufacturer’s service schedule and that you use a
trusted mechanic. USRider recommends that you check
tire pressure and tread wear before each trip. This is
especially important with temperature changes. If you
are traveling from a warm climate to a cold climate, air
pressure in your tires will drop. On the other hand,
when traveling from a cold climate into a warm climate,
the air pressure will rise. The main reason for
disablements is early tire failure (blowout) from
temperature build-up from tires that are under inflated.
A weak battery will usually reveal itself during cold
weather. So, if your battery is more than a couple of
years old, be sure to check it prior to cold weather
setting in.
When driving, a good rule of thumb to follow is “Rain,
ice & snow – take it slow.” Before setting out on a trip,
check weather reports and plan accordingly to allow
extra time for inclement weather. Keep in mind that
weather and driving conditions can change rapidly, so
be aware of changing conditions. It’s important to look
ahead to keep track of the driving conditions in front of
you. Actions by other drivers can alert you to problems
and give you time to react. “Don’t be susceptible to the
false security of four-wheel drive, cautions Cole. “While
four-wheel drive may help you go, it won’t help you
stop.” Another important way to help maintain control
over your vehicle is to avoid using cruise control on wet
roads. Since it’s difficult to know what road conditions
you may encounter during the winter, make it a practice
to re-fuel when your vehicle when your fuel gauge
drops below the halfway mark.
Be sure to dress the horse according to the situation. If
the horse has a full winter coat and does well in daily
life, it will not need a blanket for the trailer trip. In this
case, open the roof vents and a few windows in the back
so the air does not blow directly on the horse. If you
have a stock trailer that does not have windows that
close, a light sheet can protect the horse from the wind.
If the horse is body clipped or does not have a heavy
coat, it should wear the same weight blanket that it
would normally wear, and vents and windows should be
open.
For more information about the USRider Equestrian
Motor Plan and additional safety tips, visit
www.usrider.org online or call 1-800-844-1409.
NURSE MARE FARMS HAVE
A NEW WAY TO PROVIDE
FOR ORPHAN FOALS!
As the plight of “unwanted horses” continues to make
headlines, any and all ways to NOT add to the problem
are welcome. Before the drug protocol was developed
to get a mare to produce milk (she needs to have had
one foal in the past, but is currently open and without a
foal at side), mares were bred specifically to get them to
lactate and then weaned very early from their foal and
hope they’d accept the orphan. The problem existed in
that often farms ended up with foals that hadn’t served
much purpose except to get mom to make milk.
At the 2007 AAEPconvention, Dr. Peter Daels presented
the previously known drug protocol to bring mares into
milk production along with a new technique to improve
the acceptance rate of the new foal. Mares were lightly
sedated, given oxytocin and prostaglandin, and were
then palpated to gently massage the mare’s cervix. This
all causes a response known as the “Fergesun Reflex”;
the mare will lower her head and begin to nicker softly
to the foal as if it were her own just following birth.
A Standardbred breeding farm used this procedure on
20 rescued mares and had 16 of the 20 accept the foal
within ½ an hour, the other 4 had accepted their foals
within 24 hours. Not only did the mares get a good
deal- life on a cushy farm, but there weren’t the “extra”
foals usually produced to make a nurse mare! Good
news all around. For more information on this study,
see www.thehorse.com and search “nurse mare”.
—Karen Lassell, [email protected]
NYSHC PRESIDENT'S NOTE
Your continued membership support is extremely
important to the success of the NYSHC. These funds are
utilized to continue our work in the state on your behalf.
We are offering Equisure’s $1,000,000.00 Excess Equine
Personal Liability Insurance through Saddle Partners of
America as a member benefit. Dues for general
membership is for one adult and all children in a
household under 18 years old; family membership
covers two adults and all children under 18. If you have
questions about the NYSHC insurance through Equisure/
Saddle partners of American contact: Diane Lesure at Email: [email protected].
You will be mailed directly a copy of insurance
coverage, but you can also view a document covering
Frequently Asked Questions and other information about
the program at www.nyshc.org and clicking on the
Membership Information link in the left side menu. To
guarantee that we acquire this insurance on your behalf
beginning January 1st, please mail the membership
form and your check ASAP.
If you are currently a member of the chapters listed,
kindly remember to note that on the form. Forty percent
of the NYSHC portion of your dues will be rebated to
the chapter of your choice for their operational
expenses. This centralized process is facilitating more
economical insurance for the entire organization and
other benefits.
Group, business, and educational membership dollar
amounts are the same as last year and we have
apportioned the dues according to the quantity of
membership or employees. Our Board of Directors,
through conversations, indicated that equine groups and
businesses would like to help us further through
increasing their support. Thank you in advance for your
support of the NYSHC.
—George King
(Weaning, con’t from page 1) The one glitch in the system is that one of our seasoned
broodmares, who has foaled late in the season in the
past, seems to sense at the start of the weaning process
probably means her foal being weaned last. The idea of
being left with several rowdy, obnoxious weanlings is
not appealing to her and she tends to take her
frustration out on the babies with nips and kick threats.
Since the general premise of this method is to make this
a stress free as possible for the foals, we weaned her foal
second this year even though she was a little younger
than the remaining colt. We’ll remove the last mare in a
couple more weeks and introduce the weanlings (soon
to be yearlings!) to some older youngsters to have as
playmates and to continue their learning process of how
to be a horse in a herd.
—Claire Gebben, Equine Intern
(Training, con’t from page 2) Training horses is about developing the horse's mental
attitudes to the point where they enjoy playing the same
games that you do. That means taking mental control of
your horse. The controlling factor is not strength, not
size, not speed. The horse is ten times stronger, bigger
and faster than we are.
Let other people be the ones who jerk on horses and
slap them around or hassle them until they've "learned"
something. You want to be the one who can
communicate with the horse using horse logical
emotions, horse logical shapes and change them from
what they aren't into what they can be by using what
they are to start with. Training is about what to do
rather than about what not to do.
—Ron Meredith, President
Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre
© 1997-2008 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. All
rights reserved. Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his
“horse logical” methods for communicating with equines over 40 years
as a horse professional. He is President of Meredith Manor
International Equestrian Centre (147 Saddle Lane, Waverly, WV
26184; 800.679.2603; www.meredithmanor.edu), an ACCET
accredited equestrian educational institution.
The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute 1034 Miner Farm Road PO Box 90 Chazy, NY 12921 Change Service Requested Non‐Profit Organization U.S.POSTAGE PAID Chazy, N.Y. 12921 Permit No. 8 Terry Young Photography HD Brookdale (Tedwin Titlist x HD Massena), otherwise known as “Ducky” is a 3year old classic bay mare with a big star and even bigger personality! Currently measuring 15 hands plus a little, she’s definitely not done growing. She’s very easy to work with and around; she’s started nicely under saddle as a dressage or sport horse and I think she’ll make a lovely carriage horse as well. Ducky’s first show season brought her from a crowded junior horse saddle class at the Clinton County Fair and on to a couple of solid performances in Introductory Dressage Tests at the NY Morgan Show in September. She’s been on numerous trail rides around the farm and on the “back 40” and takes it all in stride. A perfect partner for the amateur owner and trainer for showing or just for fun! $6000 Miner Institute always has young stock for sale, some more trained than others, but all have solid foundations and a history of excellent health care. Prices are negotiable. To inquire about Ducky or to see what else we might have, contact Karen Lassell at 518‐846‐7121 x120 or [email protected] www.whminer.org
518.846.7121 OFFICE
518.846.8445 FAX