08.30.09
Cutest pets and animal pix links
100 Great Sites to Satisfy Your Daily Cute Pet Pics Fix
A lot of info here covering all kinds of animals!
Horses attack a rat
[Received from a reader, please comment in reply!]
HI Connie,
I recently witnessed some very bizarre behaviour by 3 of my horses. I am a middle aged lady who has had horses since childhood and consider myself an acute observer of all things equine. But, this was a new one on me.
I was working with a greenie in my round pen when I noticed 2 other horses in the background doing some wierd stuff. My big WB started rolling a large log and excitedly pawing at it. I chalked it up to an adolescent horse that had found a new plaything. He reached down and picked something up in his teeth, then shook it violently and threw it across the yard. Another horse ran towards the thing (at that time I thought it was a large clump of grass with roots and dirt attached) and pawed violently until he kicked it across the yard - with his front feet. At about this time, I was done with the youngster and cut him loose - he immediately ran at the object and stomped it with his front feet - sending it flying back across the yard. The object hit a fence and started spinning in circles. This got my attention. I wondered why it was moving - it should have come to a rest! I was closer to the object than the horses and went over to see - a very large woodrat, dazed and confused, trying to get to his feet and leave. The horses gathered around and tried to prevent the rat’s escape by excitedly pawing and biting at it. This wasn’t a norway rat (or a barn pest trying to hurt them) - this was a wild woodrat that only wanted to leave - the horses were totally the aggressors. I managed to hold the horses at bay long enough for the rat to make his escape. OK - I am a sucker but I just hate to see any creature in fear of their life and have to help - no matter who or what that creature is.
I remember a few months back there was a picture on the internet of a mule that had supposed attacked and killed a mountain lion - At the time I thought it was bogus. Now I am not so sure. I have seen donkeys go after dogs, and horses get aggressive towards potential threats, but never seen a whole herd attack something that meant them no harm. Have you?
Janice King
friend to animals
08.28.09
Scenic views at Shelburne Farms
View of the Coach Barn from the Inn at Shelburne Farms. This is where our horses got to stay, while WE sweated it out in a campground!
Abby watching a sight-seeing farm wagon
The Adirondacks of New York state beyond Lake Champlain
view of 3/4 of interior of the Breeding Barn
Nancy & Jim, and Sandra & George and friends– leaving the Coach Barn for the Club’s picnic drive
These and many other blog pictures on Horsepaintings’ Webshots
Amazing horses, videos
Massive 6-horse Percheron hitch from Alberta, Canada. Awesome demonstration!
Kids training horses, great instructional videos by these guys!
Carolyn Resnick’s method…
Gypsy stallion performing at liberty
Friesian/appaloosa cross, talk about flashy!
Horses in paradise– relationships!
08.27.09
Caravan of carriages videos– Lake Champlain picnic drive
We had 8 drivers going out on a picnic drive together! Our destination was a peninsula jutting out into Lake Champlain. Stay tuned for pictures, these are the couple of videos I managed! (Had to pay attention to our guys, and making sure everyone was OK and saw all the turns we took, AND I was the delegated pooper-scooper! Duh!)
Heading out on the Granite State Carriage club’s picnic drive on Lake Champlain, at Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, Vermont, August 20. Horses ahead of us include singles and pairs, put to everything from marathon carts to Meadowbrook-style 2-wheeled carts to “farm” wagons.
Trotting on a tree-lined avenue along the way to the picnic spot. Glendale on left gets a little spunky and breaks into a canter a couple of times.
08.26.09
Friends carriage driving at Shelburne Farms, Vermont
Friends Patti S. and Nancy K., Granite State Carriage Assoc. members who attended the Club’s drive at Shelburne Farms with us, Aug. 17-21.
Patti and Nancy drive Eli, Arabian gelding
Eli is a very good boy, Patti started clicker training him as a (former) stallion– he thinks of himself as a one-woman horse!
These and many other blog pictures on Horsepaintings’ Webshots
08.24.09
Granite State Carriage club drives at Shelburne Farms, VT
It started out a bit scary for us. We arrived a day early at Shelburne because as the drive hosts (organizers), we wanted to be prepared for the other members of the Club when they showed up Monday morning, August 17.
As we were getting ready to drive, Gilford stole Hubby’s hat! Photo by Nancy K., THANK YOU NANCY!!
Sunday Aug. 16 we drove to Shelburne, ensconced our horses Glendale and Gilford in the Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms, parked our horse trailer/camper at a local campground (where we would be camping the rest of the week), then treated ourselves to one night’s stay in the Shelburne Inn. While we soaked up the ambiance at the Inn and tried to ignore the extreme heat and humidity, our boys were alone in their own luxurious quarters. (The Coach Barn was originally built for Dr. Seward Webb and Lila Vanderbilt Webb’s personal coaching horses, and the Inn had been their summer residence.)
Friends Kim, Jack & Morgan drove Abby, who was our first driving horse 8 or 9 years ago!
But Monday morning, when we walked down to the barn to feed the guys, we found our stacked hay bales pulled over and our grain bin broken into, with several feedings of grain eaten through their plastic bags. At first we couldn’t guess what had gotten the feed– too much damage for a small critter, could a deer maybe have gone into the barn?– but then we realized there were piles of horse manure in many of the other stalls, that Gilford’s own stall was practically clean, and we saw that Glen’s stall was totally trashed.
Daisy and Keely give Andrea a ride!
Even though Gilford was shut in his stall when we got there, apparently he had gotten out sometime the night before, possibly all night long, and had helped himself to the whole place; while he was roaming around, his little brother had been going nuts about being left behind all alone. Someone the next morning must have found Gilford and shut him back into his stall. So we spent the next two days worrying that he might colic or founder from overeating grain. We gave him extra hay, plenty of water, and no grain at all for three days. When he seemed a little overheated the first afternoon, we hosed him down, gave him an alcohol sponging, and borrowed a fan to put on his stall. I even braided his mane to get it off his neck. Luckily for us, he was fine and showed no ill effects. He had a grin on his face for days!
The Pearson family on our picnic drive
We had 12 horses on site and two more trailered in for a couple of day drives. 14 horses, 8 drivers plus family/friends along with 6-8 day guests drove for four days on the lovely grounds of Shelburne Farms, enjoying dirt roads, woods and farm trails along the shores of Lake Champlain. There were five pairs including ours: Jim and Nancy B’s Fjord pair, two Morgan pairs belonging to Rich and Mary H. and George and Sandra N., and Pat P’s new Welsh pony pair, and of course our Arabian-Percherons.
Patti S. and Nancy K. with Eli, alongside Lake Champlain during the Club picnic drive.
Other attendees were Kim and Jack M. with their Morgan-Percheron mare Abby, Patti S. and Nancy K. driving Patti’s Arabian gelding Eli, and Al and Sallyann G. with their tall Morgan Appollo. Keely P. drove miniature horse Daisy, to everyone’s delight! People kept their horses in the Coach Barn on the grounds and stayed either in the nearby Shelburne Campground or in area motels or B&B’s.
Sandra and George with their Morgan pair and friends
The first two days were quite uncomfortably warm, so most folks did their carriage driving either in the late afternoon or very early mornings. By Wednesday the breeze had come up and temps had gotten more reasonable. Thursday was the very best day, when it had cooled off considerably. How lucky we had scheduled our picnic drive then, when all the carriages drove out together onto private property to enjoy picnic lunches on a grassy peninsula on Lake Champlain. Thanks to the generous family for allowing us to use their land, and to the management at Shelburne Farms for making everything possible!
Sallyann and Midnight’s Appollo
Sallyann & Al hitching Apollo
Rich hoses off one of his Morgan pair after an outing
Mary and friend with the Morgan pair
Thursday evening many of us met up at the local Olive Garden to have dinner together. The camaraderie was great as we shared stories about our Shelburne experiences and other horse tales. Many attractions in the area had been visited, including the incredible Shelburne Museum of Americana and art, the Teddy Bear Factory, Wildflower garden, Morgan Horse Museum also UVM’s Morgan farm, ferry rides across Lake Champlain, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, and interesting Burlington nearby.
Yours truly with Hubby and the boys, unhitched during the GSCA’s picnic drive. Pic by Jack M.
Jim and Nancy hitch up their Fjords
Friday the drivers had to clear the barn by noontime and most people left for home, but Hubby and I took one last drive out which was quite pleasant; I drove the boys and by then they were either tired enough or used to the roads enough to be mostly a real pleasure to drive, not eyeballing things much and trotting along in sync, staying fairly straight. After our jaunt we hosed them off, made sure the barn was left clean, loaded the boys into the trailer, and headed off. All who left on Friday had to trailer home in pouring rain that afternoon, with lightning– but better then than during our carriage driving on the grounds, which was pretty perfect and enjoyed by all!
MORE PICTURES COMING SOON– and videos to follow!
These and many other blog pictures on Horsepaintings’ Webshots
Nice driving horse for sale with cart and harness, Vermont
Bert is a 22 year old, well-mannered standardbred gelding. He is owned by an older gentleman who was recently forced to sell his home and move into an assisted living facility due to medical reasons.
Bert has won many carriage competitions over the years right up to quite recently. He has also been in numerous parades throughout Vermont, and he rides too. He is a handsome horse and would be perfect for beginners or for someone who is looking for a very predictable and gentle animal. He is black bay with striped face. Bert’s shots are all up to date as well as farrier work.
The Meadowbrook Cart is in excellent condition, of solid oak construction, 44 inch wheels, split seat (rear entry), fenders, dash tray, box under seat, natural finish with pin striping. All harness and tack for the cart are included.
Asking $2200 for Bert, the Meadowbrook cart and all tack.
Call Annette at (802) 722-4500.
Pictures will be added here soon, please check back.
08.22.09
Horses– beauty, quotes and poetry
Whispers from the past– horses
from the site ThePastWhispers.com
which has loads of inspirational quotes and photos on a lot of subjects.
Thanks to Ellen F. for sharing this one!
08.15.09
Communing with bald eagles on Lake Winnipesaukee
The past two mornings I rowed my Alden shell to an island near ours to check the eagle’s nest, which I have looked at only once earlier in the summer. Yesterday there were two eagles on the nest, not sitting in it but moving around next to it. They were sort of far away to see clearly, so I rowed around the island to the other side where I was taking a breakfast break when I heard a lot of screeching.
Here came an adult eagle flying towards me, followed by an immature eagle (eaglet??) which was doing all the screeching. They landed in a snag at the shore edge, then after a few minutes the adult flew down into the water to land on a rock that was awash. She (he?) took several drinks of water. She was maybe 200 feet away from me.
Shortly another immature eagle flew around from the same direction, landed in top of a pine, and eventually moved to the same snag its sibling was perched in. Mom flew off, but they stayed; the first one was still being very vocal. So I slowly rowed closer as they calmly sat and looked at me.
Eagle chicks fledge at 10-13 weeks, then hang around near their nesting site for a few more weeks. These young eagles probably fledged in June.
Soon I was less than 100 feet from them and could see them plain as can be. It was so exciting I called Hubby on my cell phone. He motored over in the Whaler, bringing binoculars. We spent half an hour watching them both; somewhere along the line one of the birds had acquired something to eat, maybe a fish, which he grasped in his talons on the limb and was feasting on.
Then I noticed the adult eagle was not far up the island on a roost of her own, just hanging around. Finally we left, feeling very privileged and uplifted.
Immature bald eagles perching above water
This morning I rowed back; seeing nothing at the nest, I went back to the perches where they had been before, and found one youngster on the tree where mom had roosted the day before. After a while, the second immature eagle joined the first and they sat side by side. They let me row practically underneath them without flinching. I sort of tried to imitate their screeches and they looked at me like I was a bit nutty.
Kayakers spotting the eagles (in the dead pine tree)
Three kayakers came around checking the roosting spots too. They had camps on the island and told me that the nesting pair had raised chicks successfully for about five years now. Later I read up on eagles: they mate for life; they usually return to the same nest yearly unless it breaks down; the young ones do not get white heads until they are sexually mature, at age 5 or 6. They can live 25 years or longer. They typically migrate but not always very far, just to where there is open water in winter. We have heard that many eagles go to the larger rivers in New Hampshire.
They sit a lot near water because they are watching for fish, their favorite food. They will also eat carrion, other birds, and small mammals and turtles. They also sit a lot to rest, because they expend a lot of energy catching their food.
These and many other blog pictures on Horsepaintings’ Webshots
