Monday, August 3, 2009

Horse News to Use - August

BARN FIRES: AVOID HAY BALE COMBUSTION

Experienced agricultural producers in the southern Great Plains know that low wind speeds, high humidity, moist hay, and hot temperatures can be a recipe for disaster. Under such a set of circumstances, tightly stacked hay bales have been known to combust. Without proper preventive measures, hay barns or any other structures close to the blazing bales potentially might be lost. Continue reading...

AGED HORSE HEALTH SCREENINGS RECOMMENDED

Lameness, weight loss, colic, and equine Cushing's syndrome are the four top reasons for euthanizing an older horse, said Catherine McGowan, BVSc, PhD, RCVS, European specialist in equine internal medicine, who presented research by Thomas McGowan, BSc, DVM, PhD, at the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum, held June 3-6 in Montr�al, Quebec. Continue reading...

CRIBBING: CAN YOU STOP IT?

Many horses kept in unnatural environments and subjected to the stress of performance careers resort to repetitive behaviors (called stereotypies) such as cribbing, weaving, or stall walking. The cribbing horse grabs a surface with his top incisors, arches his neck, opens his throat, and swallows air with a grunting sound and a backward pull of the head. This activity wears down the top incisors and develops unsightly muscles under the neck that can interfere with proper neck flexion when ridden. Serious cribbers might lose weight because they become so addicted to their habit they'd rather crib than eat. Once the habit starts, many horses keep cribbing even when turned out to pasture. Continue reading...

Hope you enjoy these tidbits of information. Check out this:

$15 Off All Orders of $100 or More at Horse.com (some restrictions apply)

Deb Stowers
Sierra Ranch, LLC
Http://sierraranchok.com
http://sierraranchok.net

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

1993 Dodge One Ton Dually Diesel Truck - $7995

This is my pride an joy, but I have found a new hauler for my trailer that is much more comfy. Never thought I would find something that would haul like this truck, but did. So now my baby is for sale.

This 1993 Dodge 1 ton dually diesel is set up for hauling. It will haul most anything. Guys at the feed store would come off the dock to see what it was. You can put 2 tons of feed and the silly thing won't even go down. Over load springs are awesome! It has 411 gears on the rear. Top speed empty is about 70, but makes it great traveling the mountains with four horses in the Sundowner. It has a gooseneck ball with rings. The ball folds down. It has a bumper pull ball as well as a tractor attachment (for lack of better term). We have used it to haul fertilizer from the feed store. It's a 5 speed manual. Jump seats in the crew cab. AM/FM CD player. Great tires.

We bought the truck in 2000 with 138850 miles. We replaced the engine shortly after buying the truck (within a year) and about a year later had to rebuild the rear end and transmission. It now has 183,650 miles on it. We keep synthetic oil in the motor and change it regularly.

This truck is ready to start pulling your horses to your next playday, trail ride or other event. Email us for more details. We are negotiable on the price, but this is a fair price for the work this truck will do for you!
I will try to get more pictures to add to the Multiply photo album:
Deb and Rick Stowers
Sierra Ranch
Rick's Cell 918/688-0665

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Goings on at our house...

I know I have been out of touch a bit. Had a billion things going on and no time to write. But today gotta get stuff off my chest. :) Hopefully you have seen the countdown. We are down to 2 weeks and it can't be soon enough. For both parties. Others might have followed my Twittering (http://twitter.com/sierraranch) and know about what has been happening.

In the mean time things have gone from bad to worse to normal again. Last Sat. (3/21) we got a call that Rick's dad was in the hospital and not doing well. We needed to be in Agleton TX before the youngest brother got on the plane to go back to NC. The middle brother was flying in later on Sun. So we made a 9 hour driving trip and got to the hospital about 2AM and visited a second. We couldn't find his house even with the GPS. How many cattle paths can be named Bastrop Drive??? Stayed 4 hours in a hotel, got up and visited with Dick and others at the hospital. We followed a neighbor to his house and went back to wait.

Greg got in about 11PM Sun. They stayed at a hotel. Doctors would not really give us a good time frame for the end. The friends had arranged for Dick to come home on Monday since nothing could really be done. The boys got things worked out on Monday and their dad came home. Several step kids and many friends came by the house to see him. We stayed there with him and the nurse. One set of step kids slept in the downstairs.

Tuesday Dick got quieter and we thought this might be the day, but he held on through another great gathering and the morning. Greg's daughter got in and said her goodbyes and shortly later the nurse came out and let us know he passed. Dick was diagnosed with lung cancer. As they were looking they found cancer in his bones, spine, lythm system, and who knows where else. He just wanted to die at home and did. He didn't want to linger and didn't. The nurses made sure he was comfortable.

Greg was listed at the executor, but wanted to pass this on to Rick since we live closer, so know we get to oversee the disspurment of the estate. Any one want a nice house on the Bastrop Bayou? We have a court date in about a month.

So far we have inherited a no tailed cat named Bob. Allyson is taming him. I think he may have been an inside cat at one time, but he was an outside cat at Dick's. He is at least nuetered. And he is not a manx. It feels like something cut his tail off. I even snuck Bob into a hotel room to get him home.

We will also be taking over Dick's gun show business. They boys split up the guns he had, but we currently have all the parts, gun smithing tools, and other stuff. Rick is researching what to do with this. He might actually get to quit work sooner which we would all like. :) He can see this as a great side business to have with the horse operation.

We went through most of the stuff in the house and have a big job ahead of us, but we will take the challenge. That's what the oldest do. Middle children are so funny. :) We got things tied up pretty well and headed out on Thursday evening so that we could be home to get Allyson ready for the prom. Rick told the family that we need to focus on Allyson now that his dad is gone. Everyone agreed. We hope to bring her down with us when we go next.

The whole week that we were in TX the kids were being watch over by our version of a village. :) Allyson stayed part of the weekend with my Mom. Our neighbor that lives behind us and takes Ashley to work made sure that Allyson got ont he bus every morning before taking Ashley. I called each morning to wake Allyson and got to talk

to her all the way to the bus. :) She is so funny. Then after school mom made sure they had food. Mom even spent Sunday trying to teach the kids to clean house. (What Fun!) I don't know that it worked , but after a week of stepping into my shoes, my Mother has much more understanding of what I go through and what works. Now she even understand the count down. LOL!!!

Allyson had fun at the prom. She was taken out to eat at Olive Garden, petted fishes, danced to death, and then went to the after party. Ryan got to go to the after party some and they had fun. It went from rain to snow and by the time I went to pick her up from a friend's it was snowing buckets.

OMG it is SO NOT suppose to snow like this time of year! For freaking sake it's SPRING! We got at least four inches and will have the world's largest muddiest mess, but at least it's moisture. We needed it so bad. Just this all at once thing is a bit much. What is so funny is seeing the green grass sticking out of the snow. LOL!

Well, I better get to my ratkilling. I am 1100+ emails behind in one email account and 12,000+ behind in another. All my IM stuff is falling behind and I really need to get all the bills and estate stuff up to date. But my desk is a total mess. LOL!

And my cat is mad she doesn't have place to sit. :P And just 14 more days until Ashley's driver's test. We can't wait. OK, enough rambling. Must go do something. Not sure what, but something! Now it makes sense that the newsletter for the ranch has not gone out and the million other things I need to do.

Hope you had a quieter week than we have! Hope you have a wonderful next week!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Patricia Reszetylo's 40th Birthday

My friend Patricia Reszetylo's birthday is March 17th. She's committed to having that day mark the start of a lot of exciting things for her home business. (Just like many of the rest of us are doing!)

And what I want to tell you about is how YOU can benefit.
( There is a LOT of WIIFM for you here. )

WIIFM = What's In It For ME?

You do like horses, right? You're on my newsletter list - so that's an unnecessary question.

Do you have any interest in running a successful website? What's successful? How about one that brings you visitors from the search engines, and one that makes you money?

[ Hey, let me sign up for that call already!
http://sierraranchok.net/ClubHorseTalk]

And building a website isn't an overnight thing. How about another partner of ours that has been teaching his students to make 4 figures from eBay with a simple, blueprint-style paint-by-numbers program? He has students that make eBay sales in 24 hours after getting started with his program. And he has people making up to $5,016 in 6 weeks - and that was a person who had never sold anything on eBay before.

Did I mention that an 8-time national champ at Dressage is pitching in! Get access to HER Q-n-A calls as part of this, too.

The doors will be opening after Patricia's Parade of Breeds call Wednesday dealing with the American Drum Horse. Prices will be going up after Patricia's birthday - Tuesday the 17th of March.

Check this out! Join the preview call if you'd like more details, or if Patricia or Tim can answer any questions for you.

Attend the Preview Call:
http://sierraranchok.net/ClubHorseTalk

We'll keep you updated on this special deal:
http://sierraranchok.net/ClubHorseTalk

Best of wishes,
Deborah Stowers
Sierra Ranch
www.sierraranchok.com
www.sierraranchok.net

P.S. Patricia wants me to ask if you'd like to borrow her $2,000 Laser Dressage saddle for a year? Check out the new HorseSalt site at: http://sierraranchok.net/HorseSalt

Monday, February 23, 2009

Couple of Countdowns at our house!


Created by OnePlusYou


Created by OnePlusYou

Asley will turn 18 on April 11th, but Monday she will take the test. After this we feel we have done what we can. You don't want to know waht the next step is with her. :)

Rick has told me that June 1 he will be full time at the ranch. So this count down is to remind me what are the most important things to be working on.

Hope you have a great week!

Deb Stowers
www.sierraranchok.com
www.sierraranchok.net
www.horsematch.net

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Horse News to Use!

If you have read our newsletters before you know we are about how to protect you and your horses from disaster. We have lived through at least one. You can still see our barn pictures from last summer. And we feel everyone is better to at least think about these different possibilities before these things happen. Happy reading!

Strategies to Prevent and Respond to Barn Fires

At the 2008 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 6-10 in San Diego, Calif., Rebecca Gimenez, PhD, noted that barn fires are the No. 1 local emergency that affects everyone from horse owners to veterinarians, and property owners to the horses themselves. Barn fires kill more horses annually than any other type of nonmedical emergency. Of 11,500 agricultural storage facility fires per year, 88% are barns or stables with animals, resulting in about $250 million in property losses annually. In 87 horse-barn fire incidents reported in 2006 and 2007, 461 horses died and an unknown number were injured. Read More...

MRSA More Common in Horse People

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterial infections have become hot news lately, especially among horse people. This topic likely won't die down soon because recent research shows that MRSA is up to 10 times more common in equine veterinarians than in the general population--and that it can spread from horses to humans. "MRSA appears to be an occupational risk factor for large animal veterinarians," noted Maureen Anderson, DVM, DVSc, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathobiology of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Read More...

Managing Horses in Icy Conditions

Ice is an unavoidable part of winter in many parts of the world, but there are ways to minimize slipping incidents around the barn. Heather Sherratt knows something about keeping horses in icy conditions. Her farm, Elphin Mountain Connemaras, near Ottawa, Canada, was hit hard by the 1998 ice storm that caused weeks-long power outages and several deaths in Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. "My ponies are barefoot, and that helps," she said. If going barefoot over the winter isn't an option, farrier Pat Sweeney of Mandan, N.D., recommends applying borium to shoes to increase their grip. Sweeney also said that snowball pads and rubberized rim pads will help keep snow from packing into the foot. Read More...

Hope you enjoyed reading more about horses in the news! Have a great weekend and look for our full newsletter soon! You can also sign up for our newsletter below and receive it from our aweber service!

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Email:
Thank You for signing up with the Sierra Ranch Newsletter!

Happy Trails!

Deb and Rick Stowers
Sierra Ranch
deb@sierraranchok.com
www.sierraranchok.com
www.sierraranchok.net

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Blaze's Tribute Equine Rescue - February 2009

skysmall11
Blaze's Tribute Equine Rescue 17667 Markita Dr. Jones, OK 73049 (405) 399-3084 or (405) 615-5267 blazesequineresc@aol.com www.blazesequinerescue.com Federal I.D. 43-2024364
February 9, 2009
Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue, Inc. located in Jones, Oklahoma, is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that strives to improve the lives of neglected, starved, and abused horses. We provide equine rescue regardless of age or disability. We promote and teach horse care and humane, natural methods of training horses.
RESCUES:
Blaze’s Equine Rescue is currently caring for 59 horses. We were able to adopt out 8 horses in January. We still need to place many more into loving forever homes. If you or someone you know is interested in adopting a rescued horse, please contact Natalee at any of the contact numbers above.
Blaze’s Equine Rescue has started off the year very busy with animal cruelty cases. On Sunday, January 25, 2009, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office contacted us regarding 2 horses, extremely emaciated and 1 was down and unable to get up. We immediately contacted our Veterinarian requesting her assistance. We arrived at the location at 3:30 pm and immediately started trying to save the down mare. We tried to get the mare up and tried to save her for a little more than 4 hours in the freezing weather. She was just too weak and unable to stand. It was apparent that this poor girl, named JoJo, was not going to survive. We made the painful decision to let her go and end her suffering. JoJo was extremely emaciated and her companion Willow was in equally bad condition.
We brought Willow home and started her rehabilitation process, but 2 days later Willow went down. Once again we started trying to save Willow, even placed her into a sling and lifted her to her feet, but she was unable to stand. She just couldn’t place her feet underneath her. She was showing neurological signs. Unfortunately, Willow did not make it. We began to panic and worried for the other horses in the barn with Willow and prayed that it was not something that was contagious. We sent Willow to OSU for a necropsy to confirm that our horses were safe. The necropsy found screws, bark, and porcelain type material in Willow’s stomach and colon. These poor girls were eating anything that they could find trying to survive. The former owner of these horses spent 10 days in County Jail before being baled out. It is just so sad what these two girls had to go through. It was heartbreaking that we were not able to save them.
IN LOVING MEMORY SWEET JOJO AND WILLOW!
On Wednesday, February 4, 2009, we were contacted by the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division to pick up 7 horses. Most of these horses are emaciated, infested with parasites, lice and in need of dental work and feet trimming. Please consider making a donation towards their rehabilitation. In 2009, we have picked up a total of 9 horses from the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division alone and this is only February. pacman
This is Pac-Man, a 6yr old, Paint, Stud. He is extremely emaciated and weighing in at 656 pounds. This poor boy should weigh at least 1000 pounds. Such a sweetheart! Please consider making a donation towards Pac-Man’s rehabilitation.
molly
This is Molly, a 22 year old Thoroughbred, Mare. Molly is very thin, has a tattoo, so we know she is a former race horse. Please consider making a donation towards Molly’s rehabilitation.
porter
This is Porter, a 15 year old gelding. He is emaciated weighing in at 862 pounds. He is such a sweet boy. Please consider making a donation towards Porter’s rehabilitation.
paisley
This is Paisley, a 6 year old mare. She is emaciated weighing in at 706 pounds. She is a sweet girl. Please consider making a donation towards Paisley’s Rehabilitation.
DONATIONS NEEDED: Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue needs your assistance. Please consider making a donation, in any amount, to help us with our efforts of rescuing neglected horses. These horses can not speak for themselves and we need to be there voice. Please help us continue to save these magical animals from such horrible neglect. Donations can be mailed to:
Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue 17667 Markita Drive Jones, Oklahoma 73049
Or you can donate on-line at www.blazesequinerescue.com
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:
We are seeking volunteer’s to work concession stand at the Oklahoma City Fair Grounds during different events throughout the year. If you are interested in helping Blaze’s raise some extra money and would like to work concession stand about once a month for a few hours, please contact Desiree Walling, our volunteer coordinator, at dwalling@hintonet.net.
ADOPTABLE HORSE OF THE MONTH:
Layne is our adoptable horse of the month. She is a sweet 3 year old, sorrel, Quarter Horse, filly. She is halter broke and broke to lead. She is very well built, would make an excellent horse whether for pleasure or performance. She is ready to train and willing to please. Layne has been in our rescue program since June of 2007. She was a neglect case when she arrived. She is a beautiful horse and needs that loving, forever home to call her own. If you are interested in giving this sweet girl that special home, please contact Natalee at any of the above numbers or submit an application on line. Layne can be seen at www.blazesequinerescue.com under rescued horses.
Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue Thanks You in advance for your continued support! We simply can’t do this alone and your help is greatly appreciated. Please support a rescued horse today!
Remember, “SUCCESS COMES ONE BIT AT A TIME”.
These folks do wonderful work. Please help them help the horses if you can.
Thanks,
Deb Stowers