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tehkusogaki · 1 year ago

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A lot of the horse's problems aren't actually horse problems: they're people problems. I would assert that 90% of their maladies are from poor husbandry, not evolution. After all, horses have been wildly successful from an evolutionary standpoint. Especially considering that most other perissodactyls have become extinct, or are endangered. But horses? In places where they roam they have become so numerous as to be a problem.

It's true that they are built for one thing, running, but they do it very well. And when they aren't kept in a box with little mental stimulation you can see that their evolutionary adaptations suit them very well.

Horses are "insane" and "sickly" because we took a highly social grazing animal with strong self preservation and flight instincts and put it in a place without enough space to run, keep it in an enclosed barn that is typically dusty and poorly ventilated and dark, where it typically only eats a couple large meals instead of a constantly available food source, it is often isolated from fellow horses, and then given strenuous work when 90% of the time it is just standing around.

Of course horses suffer respiratory problems: they're supposed to be out in the open fresh air and they're not.

Of course horses suffer injury: horses are supposed to spend most of their time roaming and playing with herd mates, not standing around with only short but strenuous exercise periods.

Of course horses suffer stomach issues: they're meant to be grazing constantly, not fed large meals of dry hay and pails of grain.

Horses are neither suicidal nor homicidal, but their instincts and anatomy have one solution to danger: run.

And if they are in an enclosed space, or tied to fence, or have someone pulling on their face, they can't do that.

So of course the results are disastrous. Often ending in either injury to the animal or the handler.

But a well treated horse isn't usually aggressive. Horses are generally docile and sweet. If you have a horse that would just as soon kick you as look at you, either that animal has an usual amount of aggression (it happens, behavioral problems are a big reason why many animals are euthanized: fido is sometimes unsafe around people), or it has been horribly mistreated at some point, or it has just picked up some bad habits from bad handlers.

It is unfair and inaccurate to call horses cowardly when they have won humans empires.

"Fragile" is hardly an accurate term when horses are capable of amazing feats of athleticism. Watch stadium jumping: those horses are frequently jumping rails their height or near it. Watch team roping or reining: the sudden stops, spins, and changes of direction all done with a rider. Or even just a wagon pull: there's a reason that when we needed a term to describe the power of an engine, we called it horsepower.

But horses are athletes, and like any athletes in any sport, injuries are going to be common. Are basketball or football players more fragile than the rest of the population because they are prone to injury?

The most common injury to horses isn't them spontaneously shattering their glass bones: it's soft tissue and joint injuries (and a broken leg would be a death sentence for any ungulate).

If we put our other livestock though the same physical rigor we demand of horses, their injuries would be just as common. But the only thing we need a cow to do is get fat.

Rethinking how we manage horses is the best thing we can do for them. Making sure the majority of their time is spent in a big enough space with other horses would go a long way toward their welfare.

Trying to create a "grazing" feeding schedule by either pasturing, feeding smaller more frequent meals, or utilizing slow feeders/hay nets could drastically reduce ulcers and colic.

Taking time to properly warm up before strenuous activity like any athlete should, and making sure all equipment is used properly and fits the horse well, and that the horse is properly cooled down and stretched afterwards would probably reduce injury.

Making sure barns are well ventilated, cleaned frequently, large enough, and most importantly: that stalls are used as infrequently as possible with the horse given plenty of turnout, will help with a whole bunch of maladies from respiratory to mental.

The point is: nature does not need to rethink the horse, we need to rethink our horse husbandry.

I recall at least one of you guys having worked with livestock animals. Why are cows so damn indestructible while horses keel over and die if mercury is in retrograde or a dog barked in Kazakhstan?

gettingvetted here.

Let me tell you a story about how livestock animals work.

In the beginning, God created the horse. God looked at the horse and saw that it was beautiful and strong. “However,” God said, “it breaks too easily.”

Then God created the cow. God looked at the cow and saw that it was more durable than the horse, and tasted good to boot. “However,” God said, “it poops too much.”

Then God created the goat. God looked at the goat and saw that it was perfect.

God looked around and saw that he still had some spare bits of fluff on his work table, but no brains to put into it. So then God created the sheep.

Now let me tell you what my equine surgery professor said on the first day of class.

“Horses are only interested in two things: homicide, and suicide.”

And that’s all you need to know about horses.

#this is old #going through the draft pile looking for something #probably a little redundant there #no one has ever accused me of being succinct #horses

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warningsine · 9 months ago

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Over the years, Cody Clements, a marine ecologist at Georgia Tech, has planted over 10,000 coral fragments across the South Pacific.

"You can just break off a branch from a coral, plant it into the sandy bottom, and it will grow into a whole new coral," explains Clements. "I have corals out there that I've planted and they were the size of my pinky — and now they're the size of a basketball."

As he was gearing up for an experiment in 2018 in French Polynesia off the island of Mo'orea, something caught his attention. It had to do with sea cucumbers — marine invertebrates that are distantly related to starfish but resemble soft pickles.

"They come in various shapes, colors and sizes," says Clements. "Some of them are very large." They're slow-moving scavengers, and collectively they hoover up truckloads of sand to feed on algae, microbes, and organic matter. (On a single seven-square-mile reef in Queensland, Australia, researchers previously found that the sea cucumbers there are processing the equivalent of more than five Eiffel Towers of sand each year.)

At the reef in Mo'orea that Clements was studying, there were quite a few sea cucumbers. Clements decided to clear them all from his study site to make things uniform for the experiment.

But a few days later, "I started seeing that the corals were starting to die from the base up," Clements says. "And I was just like, 'OK, this is pretty abnormal.'"

Clements wondered whether relocating the sea cucumbers had had something to do with it. And in new research published in Nature Communications, he and his colleagues demonstrate that when they removed sea cucumbers from a study patch, tissue death of Acropora pulchra, a species of staghorn coral, more than tripled. And mortality of the whole colony surged 15 times.

The reasoning, says Clements, is that sea cucumbers are like "these little vacuum cleaners on the reef that are cleaning things up," digesting and eliminating microbes that can lead to coral disease and demise — threats that are exacerbated by a warming and increasingly polluted ocean.

A hunch and a museum etching

Back in 2018, when Clements first suspected that clearing out the sea cucumbers may have triggered the mortality of the corals, he rang up his supervisor at the time — Georgia Tech marine ecologist Mark Hay.

Hay recalled an etching he'd seen years earlier in the Fiji Museum depicting an old sailing vessel transporting perhaps hundreds of tons of dried sea cucumbers. It's an amount nowhere near what he's observed in the modern ocean where these squishy animals have been harvested as a delicacy to near oblivion.

"And so they must have been super abundant at one time," says Hay. "And so we had wanted to [ask], 'OK, if there were that many of them, what were they doing? And what's their real role in the world?'"

With so few sea cucumbers in most places, however, there'd been no way to answer these questions. But off the island of Mo'orea where Clements was working, there were a few bays with enough of the critters to run a simple experiment.

This was the approach: The team would identify natural patches where sea cucumbers hung out. In some, they'd remove the resident sea cukes. In others, they'd leave them alone. In both, they'd plant corals and then watch what happened.

The question they were hoping to answer about coral health was this, says Clements: "Are they more likely to get sick when we've taken the cucumbers out?"

And so the study plan was hatched.

A rough and bloody start

In early 2022, Cody Clements was three hours into his field season. He was examining a large coral colony when a searing pain tore through his right hand. Clements looked down to find a giant moray eel had bit down and wasn't letting go. Instead, it was thrashing.

It all happened so fast, Clements recalls. And before he knew it, the eel — uncharacteristically — let him go. Clements thought he might bleed out, but fortunately he made it back to his boat and then to shore. The local hospital patched him up the best they could, but ultimately he went to Tahiti where a top-notch hand surgeon managed to reattach his thumb.

"He did a really great job! I mean, compared to what it looked like the day of," says Clements.

Ten weeks later, he was back in the water to begin his experiments anew. The rest of the field work went off without a hitch, and the results left no doubt. Wherever sea cucumbers were removed, there was "15-fold more death" of the whole corals, says Hay.

They ran a similar experiment in Palmyra Atoll — a small island about a thousand miles south of Hawaii with what Hay calls "no permanent human population."

"You have to get special permission to go within 50 miles of it," he said.

The reefs of Palmyra differed from Mo'orea in important ways — they're more isolated and therefore more intact.

"I remember getting in the water at this site that's called Crazy Corals," says Clements. "I literally gasped. I was like, 'Oh my god. I've never seen corals like this.'" Some were as large as buildings. Clements was immersed in a pageant of underwater life. "There aren't many places like that left in the world."

Clements and Hay found a similar result, though less pronounced, among the corals in Palmyra Atoll. "Part of the difference is that our time on Palmyra was limited," says Hay, "and the experiment did not run for as long." And of course, the Palmyra corals as a whole seemed to be in much better health.

Still, tissue mortality more than doubled without the sea cucumbers.

A slow-burning fuse

Hay thinks the reason for the increased mortality at both the Mo'orea and Palmyra reefs may be related to the vast volume of sand that sea cucumbers process.

"We think of these sea cucumbers as little Roombas that run around and take sand in," says Hay. "They digest microbes out of it. And so the waste that would otherwise accumulate on the bottom — it's not being left there to heat up and grow microbes, many of which could be pathogenic."

The idea is that fewer microbes mean less disease, which translates into healthier coral. But ocean warming and pollution encourage more microbes and more disease, especially as sea cucumbers have been overexploited.

Hay likens it to a slow-burning fuse that we lit 100 to 200 years ago when the massive harvests of sea cucumbers were well underway. What we may have been doing for decades, he argues, is removing these pudgy custodians of the reef at the same time we've introduced a barrage of other threats. "And all of a sudden," he says, "it's blowing up on us. We've lost huge amounts of corals in the last several decades."

"I have children that are in their mid to late 30's," Hay says. "I can't show them [a reef] anywhere in the Caribbean like when they were born."

Hay says a considerable amount of the global loss of corals is due to disease. The role that sea cucumbers play in suppressing coral mortality has been "just a missed part of the ecosystem that we didn't understand was important," he argues.

Kaylie Pascoe, a coral reef biologist currently in a PhD program at the University of Arizona, said the design of the study was elegant.

"We know sea cucumbers are the filters of the sea," says Pascoe, who wasn't involved in the study. "But putting the two together — looking at coal disease and sea cucumber abundance — I thought was really unique."

Pascoe appreciated that corals were planted for these experiments, but she'd like to know the impact that sea cucumbers have on corals growing naturally. Still, she says the research brings to mind a possible solution — the Hawaiian custom of "Kapu," which basically means a no-harvest time.

"Maybe that sort of practice could be applied to sea cucumbers," she says, to allow them to grow back and do their job — "filtering sand and microbes and bacteria for the coral's health, creating the habitat for all the marine organisms."

It's an idea that resonates for Cody Clements, especially for Holothuria atra, the particular species of sea cucumber that he examined in this study, which he and his colleagues argue has little economic value on its own.

"Sea cucumbers provide an extra level of insurance against the things that are causing coral decline," says Clements. "Doesn't mean it's gonna fix everything, but we want to give them as much of a fighting chance as we can."

#sea cucumbers #nature #marine biology #coral reefs #news tag

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majesticallyproducts · 1 year ago

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Explore and Purchase Slow Feeder Hay Nets for Horses at Majestically Products

Slow feeder hay nets for horses revolutionize the way equine enthusiasts manage their horse's feeding routine. These innovative nets offer a solution to regulate and extend feeding times, promoting a more natural grazing pace for horses. By mimicking the natural foraging behavior, slow feeder hay nets facilitate a slower consumption rate, aiding in better digestion, reducing the risk of digestive issues, and minimizing hay wastage.

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eezkeepers · 4 years ago

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An automatic hay feeder is a really helpful tool in a lot of ways such as to streamline the supply of fodder in your farm, maintain the health and stability of goats and horses. Not only this, but you can also take care of the animals well through providing slow feed hay feeder models. You can also save a lot of money and efforts in getting the best offer and waste management tools. Using the best horse hay feeder is quite advantageous for the horses as well as horse owners. We provide personalized services and best quality products at the best prices here. So hurry and contact https://eezkeeper.com.

#slow feed hay feeder #best horse hay feeder

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thescienceofequus · 4 years ago

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TheHorse.com | 10 August, 2020

Q: I've always been taught to not ride a horse right after it’s been fed. However, I have a mare who has gastric ulcers, and my veterinarian recommended that I feed her prior to riding (specifically, alfalfa). So which is it—feed or don’t feed before riding?

___

A: While it’s true that it is typically best to avoid feeding horses concentrates (especially those high in starch) within a couple of hours of riding due to the effect this can have on available metabolites during exercise, allowing access to forage has a number of benefits. Remember horses are designed to eat fibrous plant material almost constantly, while at the same time traveling considerable distances.

As a result of this constant forage consumption, horses have evolved to secrete gastric acid into their stomachs on a continuous basis. Acid is secreted whether they are eating or not and is needed to activate enzymes involved in protein digestion. The act of chewing causes the release of saliva, which contains sodium bicarbonate and calcium—both of which act to buffer stomach acid. It’s a brilliant system, because the constantly secreted stomach acid is buffered by the continuous release of saliva from chewing.

But what happens when, instead of continuous access to forage, we meal-feed our horses? The stomach acid is secreted as always, but there is no longer a steady saliva supply. That’s because most horses finish their allotted hay meal in at most a couple of hours unless eating out of a slow feeder. This leaves the stomach environment to become increasingly acidic and raises ulcer risk.

If we happen to come and ride our horses at this time, not only is there a more acidic environment in the stomach, but there’s also less fiber to prevent movement of stomach fluid. The stomach is never completely full, and the fluid portion of the stomach contents sits at the bottom of the stomach with the larger feed particles such as chewed hay floating on top, forming a sort of mat. This mat helps to prevent the stomach acid from sloshing around. The mat is particularly important because the area of the upper stomach, above the level of the stomach acid, is the most at risk of ulcers and has very little protecting it other than this mat suppressing acid movement.

The glandular cells in the lower two thirds of the stomach that secrete acid also secrete mucin and bicarbonate, so they are protected (note that ulcers can still occur here but they are less common). But the cells of the upper squamous portion don’t secrete acid and therefore have very little protection. They’re not designed to come in to contact with stomach acid. As we ride the stomach acid sloshes about and—if there is not a good fibrous mat—it will come into contact with those unprotected squamous cells, leading to an increased risk of ulceration.

If it has been several hours since your horse last had access to hay or other forage, I recommend offering some hay prior to riding. While consuming forage might increase body weight, which some believe is a negative attribute for horses needing to work at speed, researchers have showed that feeding small amounts of hay or grazing prior to exercise doesn’t negatively impact performance.

If you have a choice in hay available, I recommend offering access to alfalfa before exercise. The reason for this is that studies have found that alfalfa’s high calcium and protein content have additional buffering capacity, which researchers believe help further reduce ulcer risk over other forms of hay. If your barn does not feed alfalfa or you don’t want your horse to get a full flake of alfalfa hay, then feeding a pound or two of alfalfa pellets is likely to be sufficient. You could offer these while you’re grooming and preparing to ride.

#equine science #equine health #equine welfare #equine gastric ulcers #stomach ulcers #equine nutrition #equine husbandry

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dappleddd · 3 years ago

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i'm so tired of seeing tik toks of feed routines for their horses and they dead ass have no idea how a horses digestive system works. like no - feeding you horse 5kg of feed in one bucket is not good for them. they physically CANNOT digest that much food. a horse's stomach can only hold so much and not to mention a horse's stomach best digests when only 3/4 full.

STOP FEEDING HUGE HARDFEEDS and feed more bloody forage (ie low sugar hay in a slow feeder net)

this mare was a hard doer when i got her - changed her to a high fibre low starch feed with as much hay as she can eat and i have a happy mare. she hasn't had a single ulcer flare since i purchased her and is barefoot.

#horses #equestrian #ottb #horseblr #rant #offthetrack

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blackroseraven · 3 years ago

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Muck day today.

We got there and found one of the kids had her horse and Fancy in the crossties. Apparently there was a show they were heading to. When I went and checked the food hadn’t been done, though, so I decided to go ahead and start on that.

Other Teacherlady came and helped, although she had to keep going back to the feed room because whoever the hell did the buckets only did like. Half of them and forget a lot of the meds and stuff? Really kind of strange.

She’s pretty worried about poor old Dazzle. Dazzle just. Doesn’t do anything and has really really bad days and winter is going to be terrible on her, but she also has really GOOD days and doesn’t seem to want to give up on life. But. We have to keep an eye on her.

So. Apart from Sonya running in a circle around me while I was taking the horses out and nearly yanking me off my feet with the lead rope that was still attached to her - all so she could get to the hay feeder five goddamn feet away rather than the ENTIRE OPEN PASTURE - it went pretty nicely and quickly.

Then I uh. Brought Jaeger and Hale up to their field. I was about to leave and then I saw Jaeger was rolling so I decided to watch. He um. Tried to roll uphill and got briefly stuck on his back because he’s so round. Then he flopped over and was fine.

Ugh. Winter’s going to be hard on him, too. I worry about him.

But we mucked. It started slow and gross but I picked up my pace nicely and it ended up going quickly, and we actually didn’t need a lot of bedding, so that was super nice too: it’s just... hot. Not super hot today, but still hot enough that it’s kept most everything dry.

Once mucking was done I got Q and Quattro. Q was. In a mood today. Energetic, mischievous, managed to. Rip a giant hole in my carrot bag after nearly swallowing it, then get molasses all over. Everything. He also found partner’s water bottle and tried to figure out how to take a drink from it so. That got covered in molasses too.

Problem horse.

Quattro’s hoof is definitely looking better, at least, but he’s super super sensitive and anxious about it being handled. I managed to do it all the same without needing to resort to putting him in the crossties, and was able to poke the affected area and clean it pretty good without him getting too upset.

Although his new thing that he does is. Bow forwards and start putting ALL his weight on top of me, the asshole. He’s relatively small and sleek for a horse but he’s still a goddamn horse.

I brought them outside. The outdoor arena was... ridable but gross? I hopped on Quattro first, and we figured out the dry spots - nearly died sliding through some clay at very minimum speed, but it was so slippery Quattro’s legs popped out from under him and I nearly fell of - then did some canter and exercises. He did a really good swap; not a flying lead change but rather slowing down in a corner, then shifting his lead. He can be so smooth when we figure out his rhythm together.

Q followed us for a while until he got bored and um. Opened the arena door because I didn’t lock it, and left to eat grass. Quattro got a little anxious, but he remained really well focused, and we were able to do a lot of both physical work and brain work until partner came out with Zara, and I swapped my horses to ride Q alongside her.

And like. Q is such an asshole on the ground, but he’s turned into a wonderful little trail horse that I feel I could trust with most riders. He’s cooperative with other horses, keeps his speed steady, listens surprisingly well. It’s just. When he’s not focused on working he turns into Ass Horse.

It really ended up being a pretty soothing little ride, with Quattro tagging along and. Being weird, but largely enjoying himself. Apparently I accidentally made him mad at one point teasing him about how he was throwing his head by mimicking it and he literally came running up to Q’s side and shoved his face into mine. Weirdest horse.

He also accepted a LOT of pets and touching today, and I’m really happy about that, too.

But uh. Once we finished up, I ended up chasing Quattro around to koppertox his hooves. And then I had to leap over to Q because he was attempting to swallow the bag of carrots and we’ve been down that route before and I didn’t want to deal with it again. Instead he ended up flinging it down the aisle because he’s a jerk.

I took them out and. Quattro got his revenge on me touching his ouchy hoof by running through a mud puddle and splashing us all.

Jerk horses, all of them.

So yeah. A good day today. Lots of horse visits, lots of horse work., lots of work work.

Days like this are very long. But every moment is worth something special.

#horse #quattro #jaeger #q

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dopescotlandwarrior · 5 years ago

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A Hero Among Us-Chapter 7

On AO3

Chapter Seven

Jamie reached for Claire. It was still dark but his body told him the dawn was coming. He pulled her mouth to his and grimaced at the pain in his balls. He needed the Sassenach to wake up and receive him. She would surface for a minute to kiss him back and then down she would go again.

Jamie rubbed himself on her backside and when that didn’t work he got up to take the Brix ratings and feed the horses. Watching her from the door he could not stop himself. He took her in his arms and kissed her, running his hand down her naked body and between her legs. He rubbed her softly feeling her body wake to his fingers, just as his guilt wrapped around his arousal.

“I love ye Sassenach.”

Walking to the barn was painful and his head was full of her. Naked, reaching for him, legs spread wide and moaning his name. He saw her arching her back, clinging to him and throwing her head back in ecstasy when pushed her into her release.

“Ah dhia!”

Hay was shoved into the stalls, grain thrown into feeders and he was on his way to the vineyard. Why was it taking so long for the reds to rise, he wondered. He wanted to be done with this harvest so he could just sit and rest for a day, a day with his Sassenach was what he needed. The first mad dash to harvest the whites was the morning after their wedding and he felt like a train shooting down the track ever since.

Jamie was learning much from Ben Yountz who came daily when they were not picking clusters. He remembered all the steps taken to squeeze the juice from a small portion of the white grapes he kept to make ten gallons of wine. Adding yeast, and other chemicals, all provided by Ben, and keeping the brew stirred and cool as the sugars were converted to alcohol by hungry yeast. It was all fascinating and time-consuming. He was so grateful to Ben but he needed a break with his lady.

Jamie read the Brix like a sleepwalker, completely in his head, moving by rote, until he saw the magic number and he dropped the hydrometer in his haste to get the bell ringing. Cabin doors flew open and sleepy men were running with their canvas bags and tool toward the hills and terraces. Another adrenalin-fueled morning that was thankfully cool and breezy so far.

As the men filled their bags, Jamie assembled three containers deep in the vineyard to lessen the distance from the vines. They filled fast as the men were more practiced. When one would fill, Jamie would use his God-given strength to haul it to the front yard where the buyer would collect the grapes. The buyer, in this case, was Ben Yountz or his men and the money flowed into the Fraser’s new bank account.

The frenetic pace was heightened with the red grapes as they were picked at the highest Brix and the sugars would soon be consumed by the plant itself if they didn’t get the clusters off the vines. It made time pass for Jamie but every time he stopped for refreshment he would ache for her again.

When Claire woke to the shouting outside she knew it was time to pick the reds and she scrambled out of bed looking for her breeches. She felt strange today like she needed to eat or drink something although she wasn’t hungry or thirsty. She dressed quickly and Misses Crook was ready to pin her hair up so she could run outside and be part of the action.

“There ye are Misses Fraser, yer all…” The older woman looked at Claire’s blush and studied her face. “Are ye feelin alright this mornin lass?”

“I’m fine Misses Crook, thank you.” The sentence barely out of her mouth before she jumped on the banister and slid toward the door. At the bottom of the stairs, her body shook with need as the vibration of the banister brought her arousal to the forefront. She took a deep breath and jumped off, taking a moment to understand the heat she awoke and the wetness between her legs. A few minutes to steady herself and she pulled the door open. She could see Jamie running back to the men dragging a container. His shirt was off and the sweat glistened in the sun making her feel weak and wobbly in the legs.

At noon the men were halfway through the last one hundred acres and they came running in for food put out by Misses Crooke. Claire, who was always helpful, was somehow mentally absent today and of no help to anyone. Crook had found her laying on her back in the back yard grass like it was a Sunday in November, not the third most important day of the year. She laid back in the shade with long grass in her mouth, legs crossed, kicking her leg. Misses Crook shook her head and prepared the midday meal alone.

Jamie hauled the last container up, red-faced and dripping sweat. He was starving but decided to grab three more containers from the storage barn before he ate. The sun beat down on the vines and he knew every minute was a threat to the product he needed to sell. He walked quickly to the barn stopping short when he saw her lying in the grass. It almost stopped his heart because she looked so beautiful lost in her daydreams. He could not help himself from staring at his love. Her hair had come down from laying on it and his hand itched to feel it in his fist. As sweat rolled down his temple he was snapped back to their reality. It was time to move.

Delaying that righteous order from his brain he dropped to the ground next to her and received her open mouth kiss and arms that held him to her. He nuzzled her neck and found her incredibly responsive, almost wanton, and he felt himself crumble at her feet. He feasted on her mouth watching for approaching men until he was panting for air. He watched his bride mentally remove his clothes as she looked at his muscular torso with interest.

“Sassenach, I must get containers to the vines. God, I want ye, now, I hurt for ye lass but I have to go. Please, keep thinkin what yer thinkin and I will make it come true, later. Just a few more hours mo ghoal. He kissed her soundly and took off for the barn.

Pushing through the stored inventory he found all the pieces to assemble three containers. He grabbed them all and turned to leave but one extraordinarily hot Sassenach had taken a seat near the door. She sat atop a high table watching him out of half-closed eyes, her shirt was open to her waist and she licked her lips like he was a pork chop.

Jamie stumbled over the pieces he dropped trying to get to her. Like a bull in rut he was possessed with having her in the most savage way. He grabbed her jaw and pulled her mouth to his, crushing his intent into her consciousness, not caring the door was open to anyone walking past. Yanking the binding off her breast he feasted on her nipples, sucking and flicking them hard as she arched her back and shoved them into his mouth. From lips to nipples his assault continued until she broke the kiss looking like she was slapped in the face. Her shaking fingers found her buttons as she jumped down and walked backward from Jamie, still panting, she ran out the door toward home, telling Jamie to get back to the vines.

Jamie’s screaming erection was painful and throbbing, his mind was giving orders to go and take her in a brutal fashion that left no doubt she would submit to him. His legs were moving toward the door when he shook his head violently and stopped. He limped back to the fallen pieces of container and picked them up before running back to the vines. The men had dumped their grapes on the ground because their heads were in the harvest, working against the sun, wasting not a moment on the secondary concerns. He took a deep breath and shook his head again before picking the clusters up.

Claire ran inside the house looking red-faced and completely undone. She felt fortunate no one had seen her and Misses Crook was bringing trays in from the cabins. She needed a bath, no she needed a swim, no she needed a nap, no… What she needed was Jamie and that would have to wait. She ran to her rooms to pace.

Jamie pulled another container into the yard, muscles bulging, wet with sweat. Taking a moment to catch his breath he looked up at the Sassenach in the window. She watched him with lusty eyes that almost crippled him and he had no more strength to resist her.

“Jamie! It’s a fine day to harvest your red grapes, man. Well done!”

Jamie turned his half-mad eyes at Ben walking quickly into the yard with a broad smile and happy eyes. He pulled his shirt out of his waistband and put it on offering a hand to Ben. They studied the clusters and Ben took several Brix readings. He nodded his head seeing the sugars at their peak.

“The wine from these grapes will adorn the finest tables in America and Europe in three years. It is exciting to know the fate of this glorious fruit is it not? Jamie, are you alright, is the sun getting to you?”

Jamie nodded his head but kept his gaze at the ground. “I have’ta go.” He ran into the vines again leaving Ben behind. He brutally sliced through the fibrous stems before moving to the next, and the next. Each one of the clusters kept him from Claire and he cut them from the vine without mercy. Dumping his bag into the container Rupert told him to slow down before he made them all look bad. Jamie heard nothing through the tornado in his head.

“I’ve come to show these youngsters how it’s done, Jamie.”

Ben was in his undershirt and the big smile was still in place. He reached for Jamie’s knife and bag telling him to rest for two hours before they concluded their business later. Jamie could not remember saying anything to Ben as he handed him the tools and started running for the house. Ben gave his row a huge smile before his practiced hands and arms quickly relieved the vines of their bounty.

Jamie kicked off his boots at the porch and ran upstairs to find Claire in her robe quite startled at the intrusion. He watched her eyes run the length of him, stopping on his bulge and thinking things he could almost see himself.

“Would you mind removing your shirt, darling Jamie?”

Again, she ran her eyes slowly over his bulging muscles wanting to lick the caverns and hilltops, the flat plains, and below. His hand in her hair pulled her to a reality that promised uninterrupted action and her heart hammered in her chest. He reached for her heat pulling her robe off so he could continue unimpeded. He lifted her to the side of the bed and pushed her back down to the mattress so he could suck and lick the places she loved, and he craved. His kisses were demanding as he bit her lips, neck, and breasts.

Claire watched him with smoldering eyes that sent erotic messages to his balls, making him quiver with need. His kisses built her arousal to a fevered pitch and she begged him between kisses until he dropped to her core and spun her into orbit with his tongue and fingers. She moaned his name and arched her back as her orgasm shattered her. Jamie could not wait for her return and buried himself deep inside of her pulling her knees up and forcing them apart for deeper access. He was out of his mind and pounded into her with a brutal force. He looked up at her suddenly, afraid he was hurting her but saw the eyes of a wildcat wanting him. It almost finished him right there but his love wanted more and he wanted to give it to her. He pulled out of her and dropped to his knees again letting his tongue tempt her arousal again until she clutched his head to her and pressed her knees open as far as she could. Her head was moving rapidly from side to side as she released her second orgasm, back arching and panting.

Jamie stopped and looked at her. So beautiful, legs spread open and shaking with her release. He had never seen anything to compare. Looping his arms under her knees he lifted her pelvis in the air where he could watch his cock sink into her body before coming almost all the way out. The sight was so erotic he lost it, growling into his release and pounding into her with several more deep thrusts. As his mind cleared, still on his feet, he almost cried at how far away she was from his heart and arms. He pulled her gently up onto the bed and held her close to him with his nose buried in her hair.

“Am I your dearest love?”

“Aye, for all time, in this life and others, ye have always been my dearest love Sassenach.”

He kissed her shoulder and they slipped away for a hot afternoon nap. Jamie’s eyes flew open sometime later and he felt adrenalin pumping through his heart screaming for him to get out to the vineyard for the third most important day of the year. He looked at his sleeping wife and smiled at the one thing that could lure him from his task.

The men were up in the terraces and Jamie replayed the landslide in his head feeling mounting concern. He yelled for the men to come down, carefully, staying away from the edge, then he held his breath until the last man was down. They looked at him with confused expressions.

“Too many heavy men in the terraces, I got scared it would tumble down takin all of ye with it.”

Jamie dispatched the heavy Highlanders to the last ten acres on the hills and ordered five of the Chinese men to the terraces instructing them through Cho’s translation to stay away from the edge and watch for changes in the ground. As the men climbed to the five terraced rows of vines Jamie walked from one end to the other watching the dirt so he could warn them away. He walked and scanned the ground under their feet for an hour until the last man was down.

“That was more fun than I have had in years! Jamie, thank you for letting me help. Hey, you look better son, did you rest a bit?” Ben handed back Jamie’s bag and knife, still smiling, and wiped his brow with a forearm.

“I’m gonna take a few clusters to the Beringer’s for approval and I’ll be back within the hour. If they turn them down, I’ll be back in two hours to conclude our business. You did everything right Jamie, now it's up to me to get the best price for them. One hundred and ten dollars a ton sounds about right, what do you think?”

Jamie smiled while his mind became a human calculator and forgot how to speak. Ben knew the look of a man in his figures and laughed as he walked out of the vines.

After the last container was hauled to the front, Jamie wiped his face and looked at the men enjoying a boisterous supper after a hard day’s work. He smiled at the lads knowing he would miss them terribly until they came back for next year’s harvest. He hoped they fared well in the interim.

Supper in the house was upbeat as Claire chatted away about the vines, how wonderful Ben was, and how tired Jamie looked. He was tired and very uncomfortable with the heat that continued to radiate from his skin.

“Sassenach, I canna cool off and need to dunk myself in the lake. Do ye mind lass, if I take care of that?”

“Yes, I mind very much, unless you take me with you. Misses Crook and I found a bathing suit at the general store and I purchased one, so now I can swim too.”

Claire blushed suddenly making Jamie laugh as he figured she just recalled the last time she went to the lake with him. She was so adorable, how could he ever withhold anything from her, not that he would want to. If she was comfortable with her new swimming clothes then he was delighted with her company.

Claire raced upstairs and called to Misses Crook five minutes later making the older woman shoot up the stairs to aid her Mistress.

Jamie had watched Misses Crook closely in the past six weeks and gradually came to find no ill will toward Claire, or even him for that matter. It was the first time in his young life that he actually forgave someone he would rather have killed to be done with it. It made him happy to think he was doing what the Bible taught instead of chasing his need for revenge or justice. He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Can you please help me with this, I can not figure out how to put it on, Misses Crook.”

Her laces were quickly untied and clothing removed down to her shift. Misses Crook looked at the garment and circled Claire with it trying to find a way to get it on her. Undoing the large buttons in the back she told Claire to step into it and remove her shift.

“Remove my shift? I will have nothing on if I do that!”

“Ye’ll have this on ye and there’s no place to stuff yer shift so I think ye go wi’out it.”

Claire looked uncertain as she stepped into the flimsy garment and pulled her shift off. She pulled the swimsuit up and stuck her arms through the holes as Misses Crook buttoned up the back.

“I dinna think it fits ye Mistress and there’s more showin of ye then ever before.” Misses Crook struggled with what to say, knowing how much Claire wanted to swim with Jamie. “It’s perfect Misses Fraser. Have fun playin in the water.”

Claire looked at her reflection in the mirror. The baggie garment hung on her with pant legs that stopped between her knee and ankle. The cap sleeves rested between her shoulder and elbow. She decided she would rather look ridiculous and swim with Jamie so she found one of her large dresses to wear over it and joined her husband below.

Jamie sat in a rocking chair on the porch, head back, eyes closed, looking like a handsome angel. She ran her fingers through his hair and he smiled but did not open his eyes. Claire looked around for prying eyes and sat on his lap kissing him soundly, shocking him awake. He stood up quickly catching her as she launched from his lap.

He pulled her back to his chest and whispered in her ear making her giggle. “Why Misses Fraser, how indecent of ye, kissin in the sunlight for all to see. I ken ye need to be punished for yer brazen behavior. But first, let’s cool off in the lake, lest I pass out when I beat ye.”

Claire struggled against him giggling hysterically. Misses Crook smiled in the kitchen hearing the two of them.

Because there was still plenty of light, and a suspicion the men might want the same relief, Jamie kept his pants on and encouraged Claire to remove her dress and come into the water. She paced a bit at the shore and looked around biting her nail. When she finally got brave enough she pulled off her dress and stood on the shore looking like a small child in her mother’s clothes. Jamie suddenly disappeared under the surface and did not come up. He was doing his best to conquer any need to laugh at how cute his wife looked in a swimsuit at least five sizes too large.

Claire ran into the water yelling for Jamie, afraid he drown when he did not come up. She felt him grab her around her waist and screamed as he pulled her under with him. When she was on her feet again Jamie floated on his back lazily going in circles around her.

“I’m a lucky man Sassenach. God has seen fit to give me a beautiful wife, who can swim, and hold her breath, so I can pull her underwater when I want to.” His laugh was genuine, from the belly, and Claire jumped on him hearing his startled grunt before he went under.

Claire smiled at him. “God has been good to me as well Jamie darling,” said through her giggles.

The sun set on two lovers kissing and playing in the water. They were both so relieved the harvest was over, they had a new friend and teacher, and they were poised to make a fortune in the coming years. Not to mention crazy in love and complimentary personalities that fit like a hand and glove. Claire’s suit had stretched almost to her ankles seemingly with gallons of water stuck in the fabric. She sat on the shore and tried to wring-out as much water as she could. Jamie laid down beside her, eyes closed, one hand playing with her buttons. When he spoke his voice sounded heavy with fatigue.

“Sassenach, I fear ye have pulled half the lake into yer swimming clothes and the sun has set makin it hard to impossible to dry the thing before ye freeze. Ye know what ye have to do, right lass?”

“What?”

“Take it off and put yer dress on.”

“Without a stitch under it? Certainly not!”

Jamie had released three of the buttons and let his hand touch her back, startling her. Without opening his eyes his hand roamed freely up her shoulder, stopping to undo three more buttons and listening for his love to reveal her approval. When he could reach around her and caress the skin on her sides, inching closer to her breast, he heard it. Her breath through open lips was like a slap to his resting balls and the closer he got to her breast the bigger they became. His fingers pinched her nipple and shook her breast making her gasp. He smiled wickedly in the dark.

“I can help ye love. I’ll hold yer dress out for ye so let that suit fall to the ground, or maybe I’ll just take ye right here.”

Jamie rolled to his stomach and put his face between her legs kissing her core and making Claire giggle and moan. She shot to her feet and grabbed the garment to her. After looking in all directions for five minutes she dropped the sodden suit and pulled her dress over her head. With the skirt touching the tops of her feet she finally relaxed.

Jamie buttoned the back of the dress quickly, “well, I wonder how long those blokes have been there.”

“Where?!” Claire nearly shrieked spinning in a circle looking in all directions.

Jamie grabbed her around the middle, laughing how sorry he was to trick her and kissing her into forgiving him. With shoes tied and the sopping garment held to her side they walked back to the house and more loving if Jamie had any say in the matter.

He teased and she giggled until he stopped abruptly pulling her to him and whispering to her to stay quiet. She could feel Jamie’s body tense as he looked in all directions for any movement. His skin crawled with warning something or someone was near. With the sliver moon shedding little light, there could be a dozen men within five feet of them and never seen. He took Claire’s hand and walked quickly home making her pant and run to keep up with him. Seeing the house he relaxed his gate a bit. Once inside he kissed her forehead and said he was going back to make sure nothing was amiss. He asked her to wait for him and then kissed her with his intention. Then he was gone. Most of the men were asleep already but Angus came around the corner of their cabin and brightened when he saw Jamie.

“Ah, Jamie boy, who would ye be lookin for?”

“Ye’ll do, I heard someone moving in the vines when I walked back from the lake. Too dark to see anything but what would someone be doing in the vines is what I wonder.”

Angus fell into step with his friend, secretly hoping for some action to relieve his tension and speed sleep. They crouched and listened, changed location and listened, then continued to move through the vines but heard nothing. Walking back Jamie was uncomfortable about what he heard and felt, he just couldn’t imagine what anyone would be doing in the spent vines. When he stepped into their rooms Claire was sitting back in the window seat with her robe falling away from her legs. The robe that drove Jamie crazy because it never stayed closed. He sank to the floor and ran his hands up and down her perfect legs before kissing her from knee to core, coaxing the wanton and lusty Sassenach back into his arms.

Misses Crook was reading in her room and smiled when she heard the moaning climax of her Mistress and Master. There will be bairns soon if they keep this up, she thought. She smiled and shook her head when the noises continued. Apparently, they were not done.

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customizednetsproductsstore · 1 year ago

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service-horse-honey · 5 years ago

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There's just so much cute happening here at @sweetberriesgv in #Gainsville with Honey & Gator. Check out some fellow service horses: @flirty.the.mini.service.horse @charlieminitherapyhorse @bbkingservicehorse @servicehorsefoxie @summer.the.mini.service.horse @cincoservicehorse This page is not sponsored or paid for in any way by any of these businesses. These are all just businesses & products that I use on a weekly if not daily basis. Check them out! Businesse/products @procyon_training (obedience & service animal training) @tackshackocala (tack & supplies) @cryptoaero (feed & supplements) @equinefusion (jogging shoes for horses) @comforthoofs (US distributor of Equine Fusion) @espomanaturals (bedding/litter) @sillysounds (horse ear protection) @equiderma The World's Greatest Equine Products. (natural fly repellent, shampoo, & conditioner) @outwardhound (backpack) @kurgo (leashes/harnesses) @noxgear_nation (light up safety harness) @dreamchaserequestrian (custom equine clothing) @protective_pet_solutions (equivizor fly mask) @preventfeeders (slow feeder for horses) @freedomfeedernets (slow feed hay nets) #horsesofinstagram #horse #blessed #maresofinstagram #socute #minihorse #ocalatrainer #miniatureservicehorse #servicehorse #mylife #myjob #servicedog #serviceanimal #servicehorseHoney #dogtraining #centralfloridadogtrainer #horsetraining #ptsdawareness #positivereinforcement #clickertraining #procyontraining #animal #pet #househorse #training #australiancattledog #honorarypegasus #sweetberries #tricktraining (at SweetBerries Eatery and Frozen Custard) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8xWMFsAx2v/?igshid=riyv2ivki91o

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madrivervalleyicelandics · 6 years ago

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Personal reflections on the ethical dilemma of responsible care and decision-making for horses that can no longer be ridden:

(cross-posted from my Facebook page, here’s the link to the FB post if you’d like to interact with the post on that medium instead: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2189166171191133&id=1257596561014770&__tn__=K-R )

This is sort of a hot-button issue, so bear with me. After reading a few posts and discussion threads this morning, I decided to write about this subject, which is one that weighs heavily on my mind as a horse owner (or steward, if you prefer that word), breeder, trainer, and overall enthusiast.

We live in a country where it can be said that every good horse is just one bad sale away from slaughter. The US market is saturated with horses who cannot find suitable homes, due to age, injury, health or behavioral issues, etc, and each year thousands of horses are shipped over our borders for slaughter after running through traumatic sales and bouncing around from location to location, scared, stressed, and poorly cared for in the interim. The scale of the problem is immense, and for many owners the message is clear: keep your horse. Keep the old horse you can no longer ride, do not try to re-home it into situations where it leaves your control and may be mistreated, passed around, injured further or ultimately end up on a truck to a slaughterhouse.

It seems very simple: you've made a commitment to care for an animal, and so that commitment should be for life. But horses are complex creatures with very nuanced needs.

So this is the story of two retired mares that I own and can no longer ethically ride: Glæta and Tinna.

Glæta is a beautiful 1st prize mare who I purchased as a competition horse. She was known for being a somewhat complicated ride, but she was fully trained and I bought her at around age 11. She was diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease less than a year after I bought her, and because of her young age, her diagnosis was delayed because we were chasing symptoms and missing the big picture - we simply could not believe that our new, young, athletic mare had developed this awful condition normally associated with elderly horses. By the time we finally figured it out, her suppressed immune system (a symptom of Cushing’s) had caused her to develop secondary infections including Ehrlichiosis and then Lyme Disease. We gave her all of the best veterinary care and medication and I spent years paying for all sorts of therapies ranging from traditional to alternative, as well as giving her the best care and biomechanically correct R+ training possible (she was the first horse who sparked my interest in clicker training, and my first foray into bridleless riding and liberty work). We had more good years together and did ultimately return to the competition track, but over time, Glæta began to let me know that she did not enjoy being ridden anymore. She did everything I asked, but I could feel that she just wasn’t fully comfortable. The Cushing’s / Lyme combo made it hard to build her topline normally, and meant that sometimes she had aches and pains that she told me about with just a meaningful look. On those days, I knew not to bother her. I felt that there was no reason to push a horse who had done so much for me to do something she no longer enjoyed, so I made the decision to stop riding her. I took to ponying her a lot, but it was not really enough exercise or stimulation. She could not retire onto lush pastures, given her metabolic condition, and due to the hormonal component of her disease, she became infertile so our dreams of breeding her were dashed. Her days consisted of doing a whole lot of standing around in our paddocks. It didn’t seem like a great life, and she began to lose muscle and gain weight, even on a low-sugar, slow feeder diet and no grass.

Tinna came to me as a bit of rehab training project. She was a horse I had trained in the past who had lost the ability to trot since I’d seen her last, and she had become quite tense. Once she arrived home and I was able to have her thoroughly examined by a vet, we found a large rope of scar tissue beneath her skin, running from her elbow to almost her wither - we suspected that at some point she had had quite the injury and torn her tricep. The scar tissue had shortened that side of her body and she was very tense and reactive. Using clicker training, classical dressage techniques, regular bodywork, and scar tissue massage daily with arnica oil, I was able to retrain her to trot and to move harmoniously and comfortably. I even began to ride her again, and got her up to walk/trot/canter, some tölt, and basic lateral work. But she was only able to tolerate light work, and no matter how carefully I conditioned her, once we got past a certain point of exercise, she began to express discomfort. Ultimately we found that she, too, had contracted Lyme disease, and based on the numbers, it seemed she had had it for a very long time (which prompted my new policy of testing ALL new horses that come in for training for Lyme disease, if they haven’t been tested). Treatment did make her more comfortable, but she was still not able to be exercised normally. The amount of exercise that we were able to do with her was not enough to keep her fit, and she began to gain some weight. I knew that, without exercise, she would develop metabolic issues if she were allowed to graze on pasture, but that put her in the same position as Glæta - confined to dry lot paddocks. Not a very interesting life.

So you see my problem: I love my horses, had the means to keep my retired horses, and I wanted to keep them, and I didn’t give a damn if I never rode either of them again - but keeping them meant that their health needs were not being met. They were not getting adequate exercise or stimulation, and “putting them out to pasture” was not an ethical option, as it would have resulted in inflammation, obesity, and the further decline of their health. Neither one of these mares could be ethically rehomed, as they both required rather special care and handling, and were not suitable as pasture pals or riding horses, even for light riding.

I got lucky. I found Meadow Ridge Farm, which is a fabulous Natural Horsecare facility in Ontario that provides a stimulating lifestyle for herds on paddock paradise track systems. The horses roam all day on miles of tracks, where they have slow feeder hay stations instead of grass to graze. Their hooves largely self trim, and their body condition stays fit and healthy as they move around so much. Boss lady Jen White is very skilled in equine nutrition and feeds them mineral-balanced diets, trims and balances their hooves if they fail to self trim adequately, and provides them with any medication they may need. I continue to own both of my mares, but I board them with Jen. Both are healthy, happy, and well-adjusted - far better off than they were here at my farm.

Retirement boarding facilities like Meadow Ridge are SO needed. But for many, they are not accessible. For those owners, the question of what to do when a horse can no longer be adequately exercised becomes even more complicated. Some horses can go out to pasture, but many can’t, especially easy-keepers who cannot tolerate a lot of pasture. Some people can build paddock paradise systems, but many, like me, do not have a suitable property for track systems. Many of these horses cannot be ethically re-homed. I will say, right now, that I feel there is no shame in humanely euthanizing a horse who can no longer be adequately managed. If the choice is between the horse merely surviving (no thriving) with compromised welfare, or being sold into uncertainty, or being put to sleep while comfortable in a happy, safe environment before he begins to suffer, I feel that I would always prefer to see a horse put to sleep than forced to live in pain or be risked to uncertainty. It is my hope that, as veterinary medicine continues to improve and we all continue to learn more about our equine partners, retirement boarding facilities like Meadow Ridge Farm will become more and more common and popular. Until then, I try to always be open-minded and nonjudgemental when people run into the problem of what to do with a horse they can no longer ride. It’s too common to see snarky people snap, “well, you shouldn’t have bought the horse if you ONLY wanted it for riding,” and, as I found with my two mares, things are simply not so cut-and-dried.

Horses require exercise to stay healthy. They need to move constantly in order to have healthy digestion, balanced blood sugar, good circulation, joints, hooves, etc. When that becomes impossible, for a myriad of reasons, it creates a complex ethical question for the person who loves the horse. It’s not about RIDING, it’s about exercise and adequate welfare for the animal. Be kind in these discussions, and recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Different horses have different needs, and deciding what comes next for a horse who can no longer be exercised normally may prove very complicated. Sometimes there is no happy solution. At the end of the day, I do believe that most people want what is best for their animals.

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