Arabians- pictures

[nr]

Yesterday I visited with a friend Joy in PA who raises some Arabians and thought I'd post some pictures for those of you who know about horses. One of these(the pix with the brown and white horses heads) is an Egyptian Arabian and another a ?Polish? Arabian (maybe I'm mixed up on the last one. ?Hungarian?) She has won yearly endurance races on the white mare with the coat on eating and plans to breed the mare since she is on the old side now. The same white mare wins best of show every year and had a tack room full of ribbons as proof. The black gelding in the fenced area with the two white horses was acquired after it was abused (blindfolded andregularly beaten- can you imagine?) and was headed for the glue factory so she gave him a home and worked with him a long time before he'd allow her to touch him. Now he is gentle as a dove. My friends had just had a kitchen fire the day before (of course right after they'd renovated the kitchen (isn't that par for the course?) so this idyllic scene wasn't quite as peaceful a day for her as it seems.

[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

[Mrs.Greg]

I bet thier WAY nicer with those silly coats off...

I like the Arabian breed they are a pretty fine-boned horse that has tons of heart

[Judith]

Mrs Greg,
Do you use blankets ever? Just curious as here in Vancouver we HAVE too. All that rain, we have lovely rain scald...Yuck. Every year we get to go through rain scald and mud fever. (just one more reason, i'm escaping the wet west coast....grrr....)

[Mrs.Greg]

[Judith]

EWWWW rain scald is like REALLY bad dandruff. It gets so bad that you have to shave your horse off (and it comes of in big pus chunks) and put MTG on . It's like the poor horse starts to rot from the outside in. If you dont have a typhoon sheet on forget it you are asking for scald! Mud fever is when the horses are in mud for a good portion of the day it is a bacteria(I think) that gets into the skin and then swells their legs up. At one point this year the horses got to stand in running water as things were so bad with all the rain here. We have better drainage than most but even out system just couldnt handle the floods. Horses do WAY better in the snow and cold than this stoopid rain.

[Judith]

http://www.poolhousevets.co.uk/equine_crackedheel.html


I've never seen mud fever this bad, but the photo gives you and example of what the poor equine set has to deal with inthis country.

[DJL]

I don't live in town Mrs. Greg, and I've used horse blankets. It's kinda necessary when hauling kids and horses to 4H in the winter, and always handy should a horse come up sick or injured. When the daughter was cow horsing, a blanket was a must, as otherwise our horses still had their winter hair when the first shows started. I was sure glad when I didn't have to dry out and change blankets anymore! Our horses get a bit of rain scald here when the June monsoons come, and scratches too.

[Judith]

Scald in Alberta too eh. I figured it was just a west coast deal. It really doesnt matter how much you them in the barn or how tightly you wrap them you will always get one or two that get it.

[Mrs.Greg]

Hmmm interesting,guess just like everything else theres reasons for why we do and don't do...gregs a big one for not liking the blankets..in our weather our horses can't be babied,they have to adjust. Sorry guys

[Judith]

Hey I'm personally looking forward to NOT blanketing! I think they do better when they are not coddled. It's just not an option out here. Testimonial has made a stand though. He said blankets are for geldings and he will rip them off faster than I can put them on! We have an agreement, he doesnt get scald he doesnt have to wear it. So far he is keeping his end of the bargain!

[DJL]

We don't use blankets to avoid rain scald, just scrape the bumps off with a curry and they survive. Scratches are a different deal, of course, and can't be ignored. I don't blanket my horses at the feedlot, although most of the pen checkers do. I figure it is easier for them to have a full winter coat and adjust to having the saddle and blankets taken off at the end of the day than it is to go all day in the cold with just the saddle blankets when they are used to being fully blanketed, and therefore only have half a winter coat. I also figure they are better off with no blanket than a frozen stiff one, like you see all too often.

[DJL]

Patching horse blankets is another reason I'm glad I don't have to do it anymore. My daughters mare will tear the blanket off of any other horse within reach, and she does a fair job of destroying her own too. Most of our blankets look like a hobo costume with all the patches.