HAT Chat Articles –
March 2005
A word from our President
There’s been a lot of rain around here over the past couple of months. It’s been great for watering the pastures and helping them green up, but if you’re like me, you’re probably getting a little tired of it making a mess out of your time at the barn. The ground feels like a soggy sponge when you walk across it and the horse’s feet dig holes in it when they walk, the round pen turns into a big mudhole, and everything seems to take twice as long to get done. And, just when you think things are just about dried out after a couple of days of sunshine, it starts raining again. Go figure.
Hopefully this rain will let up soon and give everyone a chance to get ready for HAT’s first horse show of the year on April 17th. Our Shows and Events Committee has been working very hard to make this our best show season ever, and I think everyone who participates will agree.
HAT shows have classes for just about everyone, whether it’s your first time in the show ring or your five hundred and first. So come on out, bring your horse, and spend the day with us. It should be a lot of fun!
Roger Dougan
HAT President
HAT Spring Show April 17th
HAT’s first open
horse show of 2005 will be held on Sunday, April 17th at
There are several
changes in this year’s show schedule:
·
The shows
at
·
A rain
date will now be scheduled for each show on the following weekend. The rain date for this show will be Sunday,
April 25th.
·
Perhaps
most importantly, changes have been made to the classes offered and the order
in which they are presented. These
changes include:
o
Removing
the speed events (Barrel Racing and Pole Bending) due to low participation
o
Dividing
the Horsemanship (Western or English) classes into separate Western
Horsemanship and English Equitation classes
o
Rearranging
the order of classes to better conform to other horse shows in the area
An updated showbill
reflecting the class changes is included in this issue.
As in past years,
HAT is a participating association in the alternative competition programs of
APHA (Paints), ApHC (Appaloosas), and AHA (Arabians). The HAT Show Secretary will help program participants
in filling out their reporting forms and sign off on the results from each
class. (For more information about
alternative competition programs, contact the appropriate breed association.)
It takes a lot of
work to put on a horse show of any size, and HAT is always looking for
volunteers to help things run smoothly.
If you are interested in volunteering some time during the show, please
contact the HAT office (contact information is listed on Page 2).
We hope to see YOU
on April 17th!
Upcoming
Events
Fannin
The Fannin County Horse Committee has announced the schedule for its 2005 Open Playdays Series. The events in this series will be held on the following dates and times:
(No playday in July)
Buckles will be awarded to the 1st place finishers in each age group at the end of the series, and many other prizes will be available throughout the year.
For more information, contact Patti Goerte at (903) 664-4914 or e-mail to goerte@prodigy.net; or Barbara Spindle at (903) 583-4950 or e-mail to galcountry1@yahoo.com. You may also visit their website at http://fanninhorse.freeservers.com.
Red River Theatre
Re-Enactment
Red River Theatre Company, Inc. will make
While tour books and magazines pages feature articles and advertised opportunities for horsemen and women as well as “city slickers” to pay as much as $2500 per person to join ranch hands on working ranches to round up and drive their herds over a weekend, no such opportunity at any price is offered in north central Texas.
The event at Kueckelhan Ranch will feature two cattle
drives, one beginning at
An orientation prior to each drive will be required of all registered drovers and will include educational material about the colorful history of cattle drives in Texas, herd dynamics and helpful instruction and a demonstration on how to keep the herd together and moving, and drover safety. From the outdoor arena, the drovers will depart and return their 200-400 cattle on a pre-selected course over the vast Kueckelhan Ranch.
Alton Hainline of Honey Grove will be on hand with his authentic and beautifully crafted award-winning chuck wagon. The ingenuity of the old west pioneers in designing and outfitting their homes on the range required that every available inch of their covered wagons and chuck wagon served a useful purpose to sustain their rugged lives. Hainline will be on hand to point out the features of the classic chuck wagon and provide stunning visual enhancement to the cattle drive.
The Red River Theatre Re-Enactment Cattle Drive will
coincide with and be filmed as part of the Best of America by Horseback™ trail
ride for an RFD-TV series by television producers Tom and Pat Seay of
Horsemen and women must ride their own horses. The number of drovers for each cattle drive will be limited. Contact Pat Ward at Ivanhoe10903@aol.com or (903) 664-2233 to reserve a slot.
Extension
Service News
by Eddie Baggs, CEA-Agriculture
Fields of Mounds…Could it be Fire Ants?
No doubt you have looked out across open fields and lawns and have seen numerous fire ant dirt mounds. These are solar incubation temples as such. Due to the recent rains ants will build mounds to capture heat and escape saturated soils. Ants are cold blooded insects and at this time of year are in the reproductive mode, while young queens are preparing for mating flights. The unsightly mounds are build to move babies and larva out of the wet soils to get sunlight and create solar heating to raise their brood.
They also prefer to build their mounds next to structures that act as solar heat collectors such as grave site monuments, curbs, air conditioner units, foundations, and any metal or stone structure above ground. They also prefer open fields with 100% sunlight exposure, hay fields and pastures are ideal. They don't need these mounds to survive though. The soil structure must be of a composition to stand after building the mounds, soils with clay particles work well for mounding. In sandy soil areas ant mounds are not as apparent. They nest underground and come out to forage for food.
Fire ants eat anything they can catch, such as insects, worms, plants and seeds. Adults can only consume liquids and the solids are taken back to the mounds and fed to the larva. Ants are most active when forging for food, usually when the ground temperatures are 65 degrees or above.
With the previous wet year it is a good bet that fire ant populations will increase. A good control method for hay fields and horse/cattle pastures would be a combination of 50% Amdro and 50% Extinguish. The Amdro product is fast acting while the Extinguish gives long term slow control. Both are a broadcast bait and should be applied at 1 to 1-1/2 pounds per acre. As with all pesticides the label is the law and should be followed as to application sites/methods, times and amounts. A useful web site on this subject is http://fireant.tamu.edu.
Educational programs conducted by the
Ask The Vet
by Dr. Katie Hayes, DVM
Rain Scald
Because of all the rain and wet conditions many horses in the pasture have crusts and scabs over their back and croup (hindquarters). The condition is called Rain Scald and is caused by the bacteria Dermatophilus Congolensis. This bacteria is present in the soil and environment and gets into the open pores of the skin due to its wet condition, especially when the horse rolls in the dirt. The skin then develops scabs and matted crusts which are tender to touch and hurt to remove.
Treatment is to first get the horse out of the rainy, wet conditions (such as a stall at night). Then, spray the affected area with a topical fungicide spray that contains Benzalkonium chloride, Betadine (1% Povidine iodine) solution or Nolvasan solution (Chlorhexidine diacetate). Also bathing with Betadine or Povidine iodine soap, leaving on for 10 minutes and then rinsing helps to loosen the scabs and kill the bacteria in the pores. We have the sprays, solutions and soap available for purchase at the clinic. Penicillin injections at a dose of 23cc for a 1000 lb. horse per day for 5 days will speed up the resolution of the skin infection.
Temperature as a
Foaling Determination
A client told me about a way of determining what night the mare is going to foal by taking her temperature nightly. Normally in the morning the temperature is 99° and in the evening the temp is 100-100.8°. If the temperature is 99° or less in the evening, the mare is going to foal within 16 hours. The client stated this has been 100% accurate for the foaling of 50 mares over several years. It is an easier way of determining foaling than milk strips. I will be trying it on my mares this year along with calcium milk strips to make sure it is 100% accurate. Let me know if this temperature method works for you. You can use any digital thermometer to take the rectal temperature; they are all accurate. If you have any doubts after removing the thermometer as to if it is correct, you can check it by taking your own temp-it should be 98.6 orally.
Founder Alert!
Winter grass is getting green! Be careful with those fat horses or previously foundered horses.
This Month’s Recipe
Irish Beef Stew Serves 6
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 1/2 lbs trimmed boneless beef round steak, cut into 3/4 inch thick chunks
2 tbsp flour
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) beef broth
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) stewed tomatoes
1 packet garlic and herb flavored salad dressing mix
3 medium potatoes, cut into 3/4 inch chunks
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Hot cooked noodles
· Heat oil in saucepot over medium-high heat. Coat meat with flour, then add to saucepot with onion. Cook and stir on medium heat until browned. Stir in broth, tomatoes, and salad dressing mix. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce to low heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.
· Add potatoes and carrots, cover and simmer an additional 30 minutes. Remove cover and simmer 15 minutes or until meat is tender and sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally.
· Serve over noodles.