sitting with the horses

I've gone back to sitting with the horses each day, just reading a book. Lucky has decided his place is to stand over me sleeping, and run the other horses away when they come over to see me. He's an interesting character...

In the ring, Lucky and I are still negotiating our relationship. He is very quick to get upset, dramatic and defensive. I find my requests must be subtle, and I must give him lots of space. I added treats to our sessions, and playing with walk, stop, stand and come with treat and scratch rewards. Ben and Poco watch this with great interest. In fact Ben was quite vocal when I played with him that he should be getting treat rewards also.

I read about someone who rewarded the spectator horses as well as the playing horse for each accomplishment, only to find that the spectators had learned the same lessons from watching. So, I'm adding that to our routine to see what Poco and Ben pick up.

Now that Ben is back to normal weight (after his dental issues) I'm riding him 20 minutes daily to get him back in shape. In his mid-20s, we are taking it slow. He seems happy to be out and about. We had a lovely short ride tonight and I watched the sunset while he munched grass.

Until next time, enjoy sitting with your horses on these lovely fall days!

Carrie & the boys

My dog's health care program

I currently share my home with 3 dogs. Daisy, our Golden Retriever, Fearless the Border Collie and Wyatt the collie/husky.

All the dogs follow a fairly basic health program. I feed Dynamite Ultimate Dog Food, and occasionally supplement the dog food with pulp from the juicer, cooked and raw vegetables, and a bit of fruit. Most days they just eat the Ultimate, wetted with warm water. The Ultimate is grain-free and very calorie dense. My largest dog only eats 2 heaping cups daily and stays at a perfect weight.

Spring and fall, the dogs spend 28 days on Dynamite Herbal Tonic and Waiora Natural Cellular Defense (NCD). The Dynamite Herbal Tonic contains a variety of herbs known for liver cleansing and having vermifuge (anti-parasitic) properties. The NCD contain zeolite, a mineral that binds to and removes heavy metals.

As the dogs age, I usually give them either Dynamite Free & Easy or a mix of yucca, MSM and Ester C to support their joints.

The dogs get filtered well water to drink.

I feed the dogs raw beef bones or chicken necks to chew, to keep their teeth clean and get some fresh meat into them.

I have been following this very basic program for years, and the dogs have consistently tested negative for heartworms or other parasites.

I do vaccinate for rabies according to Pennsylvania law. My hope is that the rabies challenge will lead to a revision to the law to allow for titers rather than the vaccine.

For fleas, I sprinkle Borax on the carpets and vaccum, or bath the dogs in mild soap and water. 8 minutes in soap drowns most fleas. Neem oil can also be helpful repelling fleas. I use the Dynamite DynaShield as a topical repellent before taking the dogs hiking.

The dogs also received one round of puppy vaccines.

A couple great books to read about dog health are The Nature of Animal Healing by Dr Goldstein and Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health For Dogs & Cats.

That is my dogs' entire health program. Simple. The dogs glow with health.

Carrie

www.carrieeastman.com