We are goimg to try a new apprach to equine dentistry!
I am very excited, and in 2 month we'll have our own holistic dentist out here...
I had no idea that the electric tools used can be harmful to your horses health.
Here you can read why.
And if you would like Jerry to check your horse's teeth, apparently he flies all over the country to do so!

Small redworms - (Cyathostomins)
Today I worked on fecal worm counts, and usually we find stongyles, and stongyles only...
Today was different, not a single stongye, but a lone cute little bugger...
It turned out to be a RED WORM.
With my little camera I can actually take a picture trough the microscope...yes..this is not the moon!
Cyathostomins are the most common equine intestinal parasite. As the horse grazes it swallows the larvae of the small redworms, which are found on blades of grass in contaminated pastures. The larvae colonise the lining of the large intestine where they develop into adults. The eggs laid by the adult worms are passed onto pastures with the animals droppings and develop into larvae, completing the worms life cycle.

Larvae picked up in the autumn can go into hibernation in cysts in the intestine wall. These 'encysted larvae' can survive in this state for a considerable length of time, developing into adult worms when the conditions become right for them, typically in the spring.

They are fairly resistant to most wormers whilst in this 'hibernating' state. It is the emergence from the bowel wall of large numbers of encysted larvae that can result in severe diarrhea and weight loss - a disease known as cyathostominosis.

Below are pictures of the Strongyles we usually encounter.

Debbie Burt is organizing an Akhal Teke exhibition at the National Horse Racing Museum in Newmarket later this year.
"I was invited to Turkmenistan for their National Horse Festival last year and went out with fellow artist and Committee member Michelle McCullagh. The horses were incredibly striking and I wished to get something more out of our trip than sketches and lots of photographs.  "
Having learnt that the Akhal Teke were probably involved in the creation of the early Thoroughbred, I approached the NHRM to see if they would be interested in holding an exhibition of work based around our trip as we have been holding small exhibitions with them throughout 2013.
Since arriving back in the UK I have visited one of my fellow delegates to see her four Akhal Tekes  and have found out more about the breed in this country and hope to curate an informative and interesting exhibition featuring a variety of artists styles and (time allowing!!) a piece of my own sculpture.
The exhibition runs from April 26th to July 15th and we would hope to have images on the website and on our facebook page.

Yesterday I got up at 5am to pick Pegas up. Pegas is a 15 year old Akhal-Teke stallion bred by Tito Pontecorvo and trained and owned by Eloise King. Eloise has Pegas for sale while he'll be staying with us. Pegas has done a variety of sports with Eloise from dressage to sidesaddle, endurance racing and some jumping. Pegas has no offspring. He is extremely sweet and easy going. We are very excited to have him and can't wait to start work with him, after "our California" blondie gets some rest and adjusts to his new surroundings.  

Although having to go trough the worst of places, Bellevue/Seattle Enumclaw to pick him up, I only encountered 1 accident slow down en route, and smooth sailing after that. I stopped on the way back in Woodinville where I met Cathy Leddy, and she took a peek at him, and she gave me 3 Russian studbooks she'd had for years!!! Ohhhh..I'm in heaven!!! Made it well in time for the 4 o'clock ferry, our winter schedule is pretty dismal...it took us 2 full hours on the boat to get home...but..the ride is spectacular... More on Pegas soon!

Last year, we would hitch our pony Napoleon to an old sulky, load it up with hay, and venture on a trail we cut through
the bushes to reach the pastures where some 20 hungry mouth wee waiting for their hay.

Besides being time consuming, it was treacherous..there was a huge tree root, that would jeopardize the load, and if not navigated correctly would tip the bales right into the mud. After the root was a huge boulder, to steer clear from it Napoleon would have to go trough the thickest of the mud, a useless hardship in his opinion... Then to go back and get the next load...

Today,...where to start..we have a gaiter on loan!!! Yes! A green gaiter, with a little dump bed....big round tires as to not damage the grass... It hauls all the hay we want...and...a ROAD!!! No tree roots, no boulders and...NO MUD!!!! I NEVER thought I would like progress, but here I am...life is soo much easier now.

We easely zoom down the road, not to mention all the time we save...
As cool as the "wagon" was,...thank goodness our "pioneer" days are OVER!!!!

On new year's day we trailered the horses to the S end of the island for something different...and so we made it in the news!