Rykin Mania

Rykin is my NEW horse ... a 3-year old sweetie! I got him on August 17, 2007. He is Swedish Warmblood x Saddlebred. I looked for 5 months online til I stumbled across Rykin. I was ready to put the cash down for a horse out in Utah and I thought I'd better do ONE MORE search! Well at 11pm that night I saw Rykin's ad and immediately shot out an email.

My fiance' and I went out to Holland, MI to meet Rykin and fell in love immediately! Made arrangements and brought him home. Here is a video clip of Rykin meeting Rudy for the first time. CLICK HERE .... have your volume on!

I want to train him myself using Clinton Anderson's dvd's. So far so good!

Will post updates on our progress.

Christmas 2007 Pix

I was so excited to finally get Christmas pictures of me and the boys!
I got the santa hat off ebay ... and just got the garland ball thingy's at Michael's craft store.

Pix with Rudy

My fiance' John even jumped in for one with Rudy!

Pix with Rykin

Soaked Hay Cubes in Winter

It's always a worry to owners that our horses are getting enough water in the winter. One way I found to get quite a bit water into them is to soak hay cubes. I use half alfalfa/half timothy cubes.

Here is the process I do for making them:

First I cover just the bottom of the bucket with the DRY hay cubes (this is enough of a treat for 2 horses)

Then I add HOT water to cover the hay cubes ... just enough so they start to float.

In about 10 minutes they swell and start to get soft.

This is when I start to smush the up with my hands! Making sure I get all the hard pieces broken up. This might be overboard for some people but I don't want my horses choking on them!

Here is Rykin mow-chowin' on them! He LOVES them!

And of course, one quick pose for the camera!

Rudy Mania

Rudy is a 13 year old American Saddlebred I adopted from Horses' Haven. Words cannot describe how much I love this horse ... I have had him for 4 years and those have been the best years of my life!

Here is a picture of Rudy and I, taken this fall.
Why did Rudy end up at Horses Haven?Rudy was one of the unfortunate horses that ended up going through auction. He was purchased by a meat buyer and 'almost' on his way to the slaughter house in Canada. A compassionate horse lover saw him go through the auction and just couldn't stand to see him go to slaughter. She found out who bought him and where he was and emailed Horses' Haven for help. Horses' Haven had enough money to purchase him from money that was donated in canisters placed around in local area businesses. A member of Horses' Haven drove 12 hours to pick him up and bring him to Horses' Haven.

The ONLY problem Rudy had was that he was a skinny horse. So you see, horses that wind up in slaughter houses can be healthy, they can be young, they can be any breed .. it doesn't matter. If you thought they had to be sick or old to end up there ... think again! AND even a old sick horse deserves a better end for the many years of service and happiness they have given us.

A happy ending for Rudy but it just goes to show that "Every Horse Matters" ... what a gift he has been in my life!