Typical Morning Eldercare Chores

I don't know that there is such a thing as "normal" or "average" at an equine Sanctuary, but this outlines many of the common summer morning chores.

First, of course, is breakfast.  Between 6:00 and 6:15, feed is measured into individual feed tubs according to each Elder's individual needs.  Warm water is added to the feed which is allowed to soak to make a thick "mush."  Breakfast is served at 7:00, with each horse eating in a separate stall, paddock or shed.  Once breakfast is finished and the horses turned out, we:

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Wash dishes

Since the horses eat "mush" feed tubs get nasty fast and, in warm weather, start to smell bad if not rinsed after meals.

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Rinse Beau's place mat (a car floor mat he eats on to prevent him from eating dirt when he drops food, then picks it up -- if not rinsed after each meal, the mat is a huge fly party.)

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Remove manure and wet sawdust from stalls and sheds.

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Rebed stalls and sheds with clean sawdust

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Fly Spray

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Dampen shed floors to knock down dust

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Shower Clara (because, otherwise, she won't go away)

(which of course rinses off aforementioned fly spray and as a bonus attracts a horse fly.)


Clara's shower then leads to this -

and 

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Okay - back to work.
Next...
Pick up manure in small paddocks and dry lots (the rest of the fields will be cleaned up this evening when the temperature starts to come down.)

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Dump collected manure and dirty bedding in manure spreader

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Finally, clean and refill water tanks and buckets

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Meanwhile, the residents are all doing this:

 Mona

 Lizzie

 Beau

As it should be.
They served us, now we serve them.

June 1-14, 2011: Buy natural products, support TREES' geezers!

Ferrell Hollow Farm (FHF) is a dedicated retirement farm in TN for senior horses over the age of 20, most of who arrive with special needs. In keeping with our passion to help as many senior horses across the country as possible, we have selected a non-profit sanctuary also dedicated to caring for senior horses to help!

Traveller’s Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary (TREES) is a non-profit rescue located in VA. They are not your typical non-profit horse rescue organization though. Many of the residents come to the sanctuary from backgrounds of neglect or abandonment, but TREES does not dwell on the past. Instead, they celebrate the personalities that emerge as their elders return to "just being horses" in a low stress environment. http://www.equineelders.org/index.htm “Honor the Wisdom”!

For a limited time, Ferrell Hollow Farm will donate a portion of its proceeds from sales on their website’s store page to TREES! Any web order placed from June 1st thru June 14th qualifies! Please visit

http://www.ferrellhollowfarm.net/Store.html to begin shopping!

Ferrell Hollow Farm’s Natural Horse Care line was developed out of a need for non-chemical products that actually worked. All formulas are developed and tested by Cindy Daigre on the senior horses at our retirement farm. Only pure grade essential oils and pesticide free herbs are used. FHF also has a natural body care product line for PEOPLE! As with all of our products, only cruelty-free ingredients are used (no animals are harmed)!

TREES has created a wish list of FHF items they would love to have. You can help them double up on the benefits of this program by not only receiving a monetary donation at the end of this fundraising period from your purchases, but consider ordering something just for them to use on their elder residents!

TREES' Wish List of Ferrell Hollow Farm Natural Products:
*Herbal Skin Gel
*Fly Spray
*Fly Balm
*Colloidal Silver Wound Spray
*Colloidal Silver Wound Gel
*Mosquito Spray

Please use this link to begin shopping!
http://www.ferrellhollowfarm.net/Store.html






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Ferrell Hollow Farm Fly Spray

Traveller's Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary recently received two bottles of Ferrell Hollow Farm Natural Fly Spray. Now I will admit, I was more than a little skeptical about this product since it smells more like salad dressing than like fly repellent. I beleived that something that smelled so yummy to me would smell yummy to flies as well. However......as of this morning, I highly recommend this spray to anyone seeking alternatives to chemical repellents. We tried the spray during hoof trims, and the farrier himself commented on the results.

We also received two bottles of coat spray, which we haven't tried yet, but after what we saw with the fly spray this morning, can't wait to try it out. According to the product description, "Natural Coat Spray is wonderful to brush off sweat and grime, condition the coat, soften dry manes and tails, soothe itchy skin and insect bites and leave them with a beautiful shine." We have just the guinea pig.......Josh! He's had problems with dry coat and itchies since he arrived. We'll see what happens. If it works for him, I'd have to say it would work for most any horse.

Ferrell Hollow Farm is a Tennessee facility that "specializes in Full Pasture Boarding for Senior and Special Needs Horses." For more information, please visit their web site and be sure to check out the "Products" page.

Thanks, Cindy!

Booty Call!

Alright. Not what you're thinking.

We mean Fly Booties! Seems there are at least twice as many flies this year as in past years. As a matter of fact, I don't remember them ever being this plentiful before. We've always had to put fly boots on some of the residents during the summer, mostly those who make a habit of schmearing their mashes on themselves turning their legs into lucious fly-bait, but his year it seems everyone may need to wear them.

For many of our Elders, these boots are more than a luxury. Without them, some stomp and fuss at flies so much that they begin to lose weight. The fly boots keep stomping and stress to a minimum, allowing the horses to maintain good weight and health through the Dog Days of summer.

We just received an order of boots, thinking we were prepared for an "average" summer. This summer, however, ain't average. So, we're putting out a Booty Call. If you would like to recycle, repurpose, or regift some fly boots that your horse can't or won't wear, we'll put them to good use! We're not married to any specific brand, style, or shape as long as we can keep the flies off the horses' legs.

Got Booties?

If "yes," please send to TREES, PO Box 2260, Spotsylvania, VA 22553. Or let us know if you'd like to drop them off in person and meet the recipients! 540-972-0936 or info@equineelders.org

Got Bots?

'Tis the season. Botfly season. The flies themselves don't harm horses, but their larvae are common parasites of the equine digestive tract.

Ever see this on your horse's legs? (They may appear on other parts of the horse's body as well.) Marye brought these bot eggs with her when she arrived. They were immediately removed.

After the adult botfly attaches eggs to individual hairs on the horse, the eggs begin to hatch when stimulated by warmth and moisture when the horse licks his leg or rubs his muzzle over the eggs. The larvae then burrow into the tongue or gums, where they stay for several weeks. As the next stage emerges from the tissues, they are swallowed and attach to the stomach lining. Approximately nine months later, the grub-like larvae pass out in the manure, pupate in the soil, and the cycle begins begins again.

Last fall, I visited a herd of horses whose legs were literally covered in solid masses of bot eggs. Viewing the photo of "Bot Larvae" at the link listed below will illustrate why that was a disturbing sight. Aside from the potential masses of larvae in the stomachs, it must be tortuous to have that many larvae burrowing into the tissues of the gums and tongue.

Ivermectin will control bot larvae, but wouldn't preventing infestation be easier than managing the subsequent effects?

For more on bots, visit http://www.extension.org/pages/Stomach_bots_in_horses

Girl Scouts, Horses, Bats & Bluebirds

As its Bronze Award project, Girl Scout Troop 3502 chose to help Traveller's Rest with its Integrated Pest Management program (part 2 here.) After visiting the Sanctuary and learning that several equine diseases are transmitted by insect bites, the Scouts agreed to research bluebird and bat habits and build shelters to encourage more of the mighty insectivores to take up residence at TREES.

Today, seven bluebird houses and two bat houses were delivered by five representatives of the Troop. In addition to researching construction details, the girls compiled information on where to position the houses, when the houses are likely to be inhabited, and the benefits of encouraging bluebirds and bats to live at the Sanctuary. As a bonus, each house is signed by its builder; each one a signed original!

We'd like to thank Troop 3502 for the time they invested in helping TREES' residents stay comfortable and healthy in their Golden Years. Hopefully, the girls can return next spring or summer and watch young bluebirds cruising the skies. Thank you, Troop 3502! Come back any time.

Integrated Pest Management, Part 2

Flies

Picking up manure on a frequent basis helps control fly populations as well as internal parasites, but as a whole, flying critters are almost impossible to eradicate entirely. Poop-scooping is an obvious step in controlling fly populations. Here are a few other things TREES does:

All of our residents eat “mush,” which is simply Triple Crown Senior Formula soaked in warm water to an oatmeal-like consistency. Since many elders tend to drop feed as a result of dental challenges, the mush ends up on walls, in stall corners, smeared on stall gates and on the horses themselves. Even after it has dried, leftover mush attracts a lot of flies. To combat this problem, a whisk broom and dustpan is always nearby. Walls and gates are brushed off after meals, corners are swept, and horses’ faces and legs are cleaned when necessary. Flies are experts are finding the tiniest bits of leftovers, so all feed dishes are removed from stalls and rinsed or scrubbed after each meal, even when they appear clean.

Because flies can find bits of food the humans miss, many TREES residents wear fly masks and boots during the day. It seems that no amount of grooming or washing can remove every mush molecule once Sonny or Rienzi smear breakfast all over their lower legs. Fly masks andboots do not affect the fly population, but they do keep the horses more comfortable.

Another control measure involves good old-fashioned fly strips. Strips are hung in stalls and run-in sheds, especially near feeding stations. They do a good job, but need to be replaced often. Fly strips are useless once full.

“Fly Predators” also seem to be effective. We’ve noticed a drop in numbers since beginning to use them, but because our neighbors have both horses and cattle, we are visited by their flies. Since fly predator orders are based on the number of horses on a property, next year we will order based on both farms’ populations and place predators along the property line.

Mosquitoes and other flying pestilence

While flies are a big problem around many farms, mosquitoes warrant attention too. Several very unpleasant, sometimes fatal, equine diseases are transmitted by mosquitoes. West Nile Virus is one example. During wet years like this one (our area had the second wettest May on record this spring) it’s hard to do anything about puddles, but under normal circumstances, there are a few easy steps toward reducing mosquito populations. Most obvious is to eliminate standing water. Turn empty containers upside down so they don’t collect water. Don’t allow old tires to collect on the property. If you maintain bird baths, dump and refill them twice a week. Horses’ water tanks and troughs should be dumped and refilled twice weekly as well.

TREES also encourages resident bluebirds, barn swallows, bats, toads, and frogs. As a matter of fact ALL insect-eating critters are welcome here! According to “

Chiroptera: Life History & Ecology,” “Insect-eating bats are supremely good at what they do: a single little brown bat can catch and eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour.” Bluebirds Forever tells us that “bluebirds eat large quantities of insects, in fact 60-80% of their diet is insects.”Currently, only one bluebird house graces our fences, but plans to mount several more are underway. Bat houses will also be added this year. Toads have voluntarily taken up residence under all of the water tanks, requiring a little extra care when cleaning the tanks. Some toads can consume well over half their body weight in insects each day. Barn swallows often nest in sheds, run-ins and barns. BirdWeb says “Barn Swallows eat mostly flying insects, especially flies…..”

Ticks

Traveller’s Rest has been lucky in the tick department. For the last five years, the only control measure required has been our “tick buffers.” The grass outside all fences is mowed very short. This seems to keep the ticks in the woods or in unused meadows, whether on our property or the neighbors. Walk in the woods or “tall grass,” though and all bets are off!

TREES’ pest control measures require a little extra work each day, but since most are free or cost very little, it seems worth it to provide a more comfortable, and cleaner, greener, living space for the elders.

We’d love to hear other ideas. Please tell us about your integrated pest management techniques

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Integrated Pest Management

As part of our holistic approach to horse care, Traveller’s Rest is experimenting with several non-chemical means of pest management.

Internal parasites

Standard Operating procedure on many farms is to administer a chemical anthelmintic and/or boticide every six to eight weeks, year ‘round, no matter what. We’re trying some techniques that may make such frequent administration unnecessary. Most are aimed at preventing the horses from reinfesting themselves day after day.

When a new horse arrives at TREES, he or she is kept isolated from the other horses. This serves several purposes, but one is to keep a new horse with a potentially heavy parasite load from infecting pastures, paddocks or drylots occupied by other horses. The newcomer is kept separately for several months, being dewormed twice during that period. Manure is picked up in the area at least once, often twice, daily.

In established pasture groups, manure is picked up every day when possible, but is left no longer than three days. According to a report by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (Australia,) “the egg of the small strongyle may take between three to five days to hatch, depending on the temperature. When hatched the larvae develops from first instar larvae to second instar larvae and migrates from dung to pasture as encapsulated third instar larvae.” Cleaning up manure several times a week will hopefully break that cycle.

To monitor the effectiveness of this program, TREES would like to purchase the tools and supplies needed to perform on-site fecal egg counts at regular intervals. We’re researching sources and prices now. Results will allow us to administer chemical dewormers only when needed and will also tell us whether or not some horses are prone to heavier parasite loads than others.

Boticides will be administered once or twice a year, but to lessen the load, all horses are examined daily during the summer for bot eggs which are removed immediately upon discovery.

Part Two of our Pest Management notes will discuss flies, ticks, mosquitoes and other flying pestilence.

More info on Integrated Pest Management

More Fly Deterrent Tips

Its no secret, at this point, that our residents love their fly masks and boots in this worse than normal fly season. Short of erecting a glass bubble over the entire farm, there is no way to completely eliminate flies, but here are a few tips to lessen the problem:

• Muck stalls at least once daily. We do ours 2-3 times a day, depending on how much time the horses have been inside.
• In addition to picking up manure, remove all wet bedding, whether the moisture is from urine, water buckets, or rainwater. Pick up old hay not eaten within 24 hours.
• Pick up manure in sheds or in loafing areas at least once daily.
• Pick up all quids (wads of hay spit out by dentally challenged horses) left in stalls and sheds. They attract as many flies as manure does.
• Remove feed buckets from stalls or sheds between feedings. If you serve "mush" or soaked feed, rinse buckets and pans well after each meal.
• If your horse is a sloppy eater, clean food from walls when necessary.
• Use wide, shallow feed pans when possible so your toothless wonder does not smear food up to his eyebrows. If he does manage to plaster his face with food, use a soft wet cloth to clean him up before the food dries. Clean his legs, too, if he tries to clean himself up by wiping his muzzle on his legs.

These tips take just a few extra minutes, if done every day or at each meal and greatly reduce fly-induced discomfort, as demonstrated here by The Belle of Ellwood. Stay tuned as we post more about our little 33 year old Arab mare in the next day or two.

Horse flies and weight loss

Most people associate senior horses' weight loss with the winter months. Many elders, however, have problems maintaining healthy weight during the summer. It was Sonny, our 36 year old Palomino gelding, who finally pointed us toward a solution.

After applying yet another "guaranteed" fly repellent to Sonny's legs last summer, we watched in amazement as flies resumed their attack before the spray was thoroughly dry. Sonny stomped and paced and rubbed his muzzle on his legs. This old man was working off precious calories before our eyes.

For reasons we do not yet understand, flies seem to be attracted to the lower legs of "frail" horses more than they are attracted to other parts of the body or to more robust animals. One possible reason is that many of these horses are dentally challenged and eat "mush" which they then wipe on their legs while trying to shoo flies on their own. No amount of wiping, washing, currying or brushing seems to remove the microscopic morsels that brings flies running.

Fly sprays are often ineffective and ointments like Swat work only sporadically, but...........

.......fly boots work wonders! The first time we asked Sonny to wear boots, he stood quietly as we adjusted the velcro straps. As soon as the stall door opened, though, he launched into the air and bucked his way into the sunshine and down the length of the field (MYTH: Old horses are "bombproof". REALITY: They are not any more bombproof than horses in other age ranges.) By the end of the day he realized how much more comfortable he was and now stands at his gate after breakfast waiting for his "booties" before returning to the field. Maintaining his weight is no longer a problem.

Many of TREES' residents wear fly boots now. (Boots are removed at night.) Even horses who did not appear to be overly stressed by flies seem more content and require less feed to maintain a healthy weight. Yes, getting everybody "dressed" in the morning takes a few extra minutes, but the results are worth every second.