Prepare for the start of the 35th Iditarod sled dog race! 1,150 miles, Anchorage to Nome. See Iditarod Insider video Introduction to the 35th Race and more at iditarod.com. By subscribing ($19.95/yr.) you can watch live streaming video of start and finish, online video clips, updates throughout the race etc.
And guess what– our son Ezra will BE in Anchorage for the start, that lucky dog!! I’m hoping to get pix and some video from him! For myself, I plan to be at our local sled dog derby out of Laconia, NH, run by Lakes Region Sled Dog Club (March 2,3, & 4.)
Entrants in Laconia World Championship Sled Dog Derby (NH 2002)
ADDENDUM:
ED. NOTE: our son Ezra, student pilot, visited Alaska (Anchorage area) for the first time March 4-8. Sadly, bad weather and flight delays caused him to miss the Iditarod start… : (
FORTUNATELY THOUGH, his friend Scott DID video the start of the Iditarod which I have posted!
Here are recent portrait paintings with the reference photos I based them on…
Morgan horse Main Street (artwork unnamed) using representational technique
Client’s reference photo for portrait of Main Street
Alternate version of Main Street in a more freeform style. This work went through two iterations, a more representational style and this expressive approach.
Coaching in Acadia pastel portrait painting
Reference photo, taken in Acadia National Park.
Detail from pastel coaching painting
Oxygen (she taught me to breathe…) Memorial horse portrait pastel painting, from client’s snapshot below
Dreams Really Do Come True… Custom watercolor 3 subjects, morgan mare with her outstanding daughters; one was in memoriam.
Reference photos for 3-horse portrait above, provided by client
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Connie Moses– Blog:petArtistWithPeaches website:PortraitsWithHorses.com (horse and pet portraits)
See cheddarvision.tv for live webcam of cheddar cheese as it ages…
Less than a week into 2007 and already there is a contender for the year’s most bizarre story: a webcam that allows consumers to watch a block of cheddar cheese ripen in real time.
Ed. NOTE: you might just as well watch the mold grow on this still picture!
Dubbed cheddarvision.tv, marketing gurus for makers of West Country Farmhouse Cheddar have put one of the cheeses live on the web, so consumers can watch it mature live over the next year. Farmers hope it will raise the profile of their cheddar, which carries EU Protected Designation of Origin status, and help consumers to understand more about how it is made.
Viewers logging on to cheddarvision.tv see the cheese at the centre of a mock television screen. A counter notes the time lapsed, and a couple of clicks on the tv’s side button reveal extra pictures. The screen also grows darker as daylight fades.
‘Some might say this is the most boring website of 2007, but our cheese is worth waiting for so it’s better than watching paint dry… just,’ said Philip Crawford, chairman of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers group [south west England.]
DairyReporter.com was unable to find anyone who had actually watched paint dry to comment on this. But, www.cheddarvision.tv had registered more than 23,500 hits only four days in to the campaign, so it seems the idea has at least aroused some curiosity.
It is not the first slightly eccentric marketing campaign from the West Country Cheddar makers. Earlier last year they claimed their cows ‘mooed’ with ‘oo-arr’ regional accents. “I spend a lot of time with my [cows] and they definitely moo with a Somerset drawl,†said farmer Lloyd Green. A university professor agreed it was possible.
And, a survey commissioned by the same group also found that up to 405,000 people in Britain eat cheddar in the night with no clothes on, every day.
[Ed. NOTE: this webcam cheddarvision.tv had over 284,500 views as of 4:30 EDT on Feb. 13, had over 400 hits during the 10 minutes it was on my screen, and has its own cheddar fan club!]
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Connie Moses– Blog:petArtistWithPeaches website:PortraitsWithHorses.com (horse and pet portraits)
100 horses saved from drowning by luring them to shore with other horses. I read the story somewhere, it was in the Netherlands– horses marooned by a flood and suffering from exposure and hunger, and four horsewomen rode out and led the herd to safety.
What a brave and wonderful thing to do! Horse folks will know this was a HIGH-RISK endeavor for the ladies. I think there was also underwater fencing to navigate past, you can see sections of it, and deep spots where they had to swim; it looks like they had made a tape enclosure on shore, and I can see pieces of poly fence tape flapping in the water. One horse had a very hard time making it back and had to be herded by men on foot. At end of the long version this horse has collapsed; comments say he didn’t make it and about 20 were ultimately lost.
short version from cable news, narrated in Dutch…
Looks a wonder some of the onlookers didn’t get trampeled; interesting observation of herd behavior and a tribute to animal lovers. Posted on YouTube Nov. 3, 2006 (it’s all over YouTube, search on paarden marrum for more of the same. Old news I know but maybe new to some.)
this crossed my email desk so I just had to share… he he! photoshopping fun!
Can anyone come up with a funny caption for this photo???
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Connie Moses– Blog:petArtistWithPeaches website:PortraitsWithHorses.com (horse and pet portraits)
Notes from the forum naturalhorsetrim at Yahoo Groups (with a Yahoo ID you can join in.) dated Jan 31, 2007. Sort of technical but natural hoofcare barefoot enthusiasts might glean some insight here, as well as traditional farriers…
Dr. Robert Bowker recently did a workshop with Pete Ramey and Garrett Ford
of Easycare. I have printed some of it below its fascinating stuff
indeed. He has also done some recent research with Dr. Hilary Clayton
(the biomechanics expert) that is interesting and this will be
released in a few months too.
Dr. Bowker’s presentation was truly ground-breaking. We all sat entranced for two full days of deep, technical, scientific hoof information. There was barely enough time to skim the surface. I took over 50 pages of hand-written notes, and I was writing as fast as I could! I certainly can’t do his information justice in these few short paragraphs, but I’ll provide a brief glimpse.
Throughout the two days, some of his information was so important, I labeled it “mind-blowing.†Here are a few of his mind-blowing points:
The hoof wall is not a rigid structure, but is fluid; the hoof wall inside is like “peanut butter.â€
All hoof wall does not grow from the coronet; a significant portion of inner hoof wall is formed from “grocery bags†of cells in the second epidermal laminae.
There is improved perfusion of blood flow through the foot on pea rock, sand or foam pads, and a dramatic decrease of perfusion on cement or wood blocks.
Movement is so important because it improves the perfusion of the foot.
With peripheral loading of the hoof wall (through shoeing or trimming), blood flow stops for a brief moment in the foot, when standing, with every single heartbeat.
In a good-footed horse, the entire digital cushion area is all fibrocartilage; in a bad-footed horse, it is fatty connective tissue.
In a good-footed horse, there is fibrocartilage directly over the bars; in a bad-footed horse, there is simply a piece of thin, connective tissue.
Fibrocartilage is created through stimulation—movement. Once created, it will stay there permanently. Horses that don’t move enough, don’t ever develop the fibrocartilage.
A solar load on the hoof encourages bone to be laid down; a peripheral load on the hoof encourages bone to be lost.
Peripheral loading of the hoof (shod or barefoot) is a negative thing!
A horse living outside will take 4,000-6,000 steps per 24 hr; a horse living in a stall will take 800 steps per 24 hr.
There is no direct connection that he can find between the hoof wall to the coffin bone that can create support—there is simply dermal tissue between the laminae & the coffin bone.
The function of the laminae are not to support the horse, but rather to produce tubules for the white line and sole.
4-point contact is artificial, because if these points were active, they would be worn down and recessed.
Increased laminae density is a sign of stress.
Solar plug—ground material that packs in the hoof—minimizes peripheral loading effects.
Scooping out sole and bars accentuates peripheral loading effects.
There is 1/3 the amount of pressure on the hoof wall when standing on rubber vs. standing on concrete. This is because the hoof is fluid, and there is more surface area on rubber.
Bars should be a weight-loading structure, with a healthy bar at a 45 degree angle to the ground.
Most of the sole comes right from the bars and is growing forward. If bars are removed, you remove sole regeneration—bars provide keratinized horn for the sole.
The coffin bone is not parallel to the sole; rather it is closer to the sole in the center.
The thickest part of the sole is under the coffin bone.
At least one-third of hoof wall comes from laminae (up to 50%)
Evidence suggests that P3 is partially supported by a thick sole in front of the bars.
Some Bowker-isms: “Peripheral Loading Device†(a horse shoe), “Humanoid†(person), “Gooder†(really good!)
REFERENCE: Equine Foot Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University.
I’ve read Pete’s book and all of his articles, but nothing substitutes for hearing someone’s concepts first-hand. Things that can get confusing in print often become clarified in person. One of Pete’s most helpful and important concepts is paying attention to the depth of the collateral groove, as a simple tool to gauge sole thickness. On a hunch, Pete measured 8 very different hooves (sliced in vertical cross-sections) in Dr. Bowker’s lab, and in every case, the distance from the bottom of the collateral groove to the corium was 7/16â€. This measurement will most likely apply to all hooves (except those with a false sole).
Keeping this measurement in mind, he suggests that an adequate sole will lift the collateral groove off the ground by about 5/8 - 3/4â€. This measurement is taken from the bottom of the collateral groove to the ground surface of the hoof—in other words, don’t measure depth of collateral groove to bottom of sole; measure depth of collateral groove to a straight edge laid across the hoof to simulate where the ground would be. (This takes for granted that the hoof wall is not too long, of course). If the measurement is less than 5/8†(either at the heel area, or apex of frog), sole should not be removed, since it is too thin. If the measurement is more than 3/4â€, sole can very safely be removed. A very helpful guideline!
Pete’s clinic was brimming with great information: trimming techniques, an overview of hoof boots & boot padding, the latest research from Bowker and others, before & after trims including pathological cases, and photos of wild horse hooves, as well as very nice domestic hooves. Most of the day was spent in the classroom, with trimming demonstrations in the late afternoon.
