Re: Re: fly control

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

> I never could understand why horses would be brought inside during >
the> day-is it that the bugs outside are so bad?

First, get a mental image of my field.  It's a 4 acre chert rock hill,
with just enough grass to let them pretend they graze, but not to sustain
them. The shed on back of the barn is the coolest darkest place and the
flies stay pretty much away.  There's a bed of sawdust (rough cut) there
and they can lay down and doze if they like.  That's where I put their
hay for the day so they stand in the cool and eat.  I lock Kaboot in the
stall to keep the flies off his injured coronary band right now.  There's
one horse and two ponies and if I don't put one of them in the stall the
other two will force the low man to stand in the sun all day.  Sometimes
I go out and rotate them out about now.  Funny thing, I've found that I
can do more writing out there than in the house and since Kaboot's stall
has the fan, I sat out there and worked on an article today.  He usually
prefers to be left alone but he was totally fascinated with me sitting in
a chair and ignoring him.  He ate my paper, bit my pen, rubbed his eyes
on my knee, played with my hair, and actually raise his front hoof and
tapped me (he's never pawed!)  Lots of horses around here get abscesses
from standing on hard ground stomping flies.  Kaboot would rather be out,
but the pony who gets run out of the shed all the time loves the stall so
much that I have to put a rope on him to get him out of there.  

Angie


> 
> Out here in northern Calif, my stalls are PERMANENTLY closed off 
> until
> winter rains, otherwise the horses stand in them and poop.  No 
> reason to
> come in, since there are about 100 trees in the pasture they can 
> stand
> under, and usually a breeze.  And.................I welcome every 
> poop
> dropped on the pasture, since it is my spring green grass, I figure 
> the
> horse poop is good fertilizer.
> 
> and ANOTHER question I have for your muggy/climate rainy afternoon 
> eastern
> states-how in the heck to they cut and dry hay to bale?
> 
> Karen in Lake co.
>