Baker Creek! Their forums are a huge resource too! Very happy with them. http://rareseeds.com/shop http://www.idigmygarden.com/

This morning is the first morning of a head cold for me. I put the advil in the fridge and the coffee creamer on top of the fridge. Direct inverse of how it should have been. I'm devouring coldeeze and vit c... :(

:iagree:

My husband is the sixth of eight kids and he was admittedly by all of them raised by his oldest sister. His mom was an overwhelmed SAHM with not a lot of money, stressed and crabby and super busy and the older kids took care of the younger. THey had a lot of difficulties but they all remember an idyllic childhood. THey had limited "quality parental time" but tons of family time and now are all very close to their parents and each other. I can't imagine having more than two kids for myself but I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to have one big happy close family. They're turning out some quality people.

Bake it covered and make sure it's meatloaf consistancy with chicken/turkey broth. That's my method anyway! If I don't do the whole thing homemade I do the Pepperidge Farms mixes, at least two. We love our stuffing!

I have five to feed and it's pretty crazy sometimes! One of the dog is just enthusiastic about her food, one is passive, and the other three want their food and everyone else's! LOL I feed them all in their own place in their own bowls. I will make them stay back as I put the food down otherwise I get food all over the place. If the pup rushes in I'll pick the food back up. When she sits back like she's supposed to then I will put the food down and tell her she can have it. I reward her with her dinner when she's being calm and respectful, not in the instant that she's freaking out. You have horses; you know the timing on rewarding them for the good behavior. Separate them and stand there with one's food and let her freak out all she wants but don't put it down. When she finally calms down, sits and looks at you like "huh. are you putting that down sometime today?" then put it down. No cross words exchanged, no interference from the other pup, and she made the food descend from heaven by sitting down and being calm. :)

were they shaped like a tic tac? I remember little square hard candies that came in that classic bag of ribbon variety hard candies that were red/purple...

:confused::confused:

My extended family lives in the SW states and we celebrated a lot of Christmases there. It being close to Mexico, chiles were used as decoration a lot! Lots of evergreen and juniper and lights. We always did luminarias. That tradition has spread but when I was young it was purely a SW thing so felt very desert-y to me. Don't try to make it a cold Christmas-embrace the warm Christmas!

Maybe you should work on writing for clarity. You asked, I answered, you got snarky. I'm sorry to discredit your hero, I didn't discredit you at all. You did that, and now continue to do that in my opinion because you flew way off the handle instead of calmly discuss what is and isn't valid about Clinton Anderson's training philosophy. You asked for names and I gave you names. I rode in one of Ray's clinics years ago, I happen to personally know people that are on that list and I am telling you that CA is not given much credit in their world. You asked, I told you. You're just being crabby b/c I disagree with you and you're being really obtuse about it. I don't know what your deal is with your cowboy references, if you think you're some sort of cowgirl and I'm not in the ranch world you're sadly mistaken. You don't know much about me nor did you ask with any respect or open mind. Overreact much?

Sorry, but the horsepeople at the high levels of horsemanship do not give CA a lot of credence. He's a couple steps behind Parelli. You sound like you've bought the koolaid but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. He's too hard on horses, has a heavy hand, no sensitivity or feel. Give me a break if your training knowledge and skills don't go beyond CA. You've stopped way short of higher horsemanship if you haven't gone past watching his tapes. You're discrediting yourself if you are only drawing from CA and discounting any other trainers! By horse community I'm talking about Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman, Martin Black, Lendon Gray, as I said. Horsemanship, not horse training. There's a difference. Across discipline lines. Regardless of ribbons.

Clinton has some good ideas but in general is not viewed as a real high quality trainer. He overfaces his horses, pushes and overwhelms them. He pushed a colt at RTTH so hard the colt attacked him! Trainers like Buck, Stacey Westfall, Ray Hunt, Jon Ensign, Martin Black, and their people are much more respected by the horse community.

It's ridiculous to blame her, she can't be blamed and to be honest I don't blame the horse either. The horse is just being a horse. The people putting the two together are at fault for making a bad match or at the very least not intervening when it was obvious the mare was going to be full of it. It's as if they made her wear a pair of shoes that were too big for her and then blamed her when she couldn't walk in them! There are things she could learn from the situation but it doesn't sound like she's in a good learning environment for it. Her interest and talent are going to be squished there. It isn't always a bad thing to ride a difficult horse but only when you have techniques to handle it in your tool belt. Agreed-she can learn to "stick to her guns" by making a more level headed more go where she wants it to go, not by bucking out the dang mare. When she's learned and practised she will be more able to handle a hotter horse but she's not ready now. Stick up for her, she doesn't need to be kicked around for this and she needs someone to tell these people she was over-horsed and it wasn't her fault. Her fall was the result of poor choices but not HER poor choices. Say one of those two things to anyone that mentions it and then just end the conversation: "that's all I have to say about it." I do hope you're barn shopping-there must be a better place for her. If you ever read Chronicle of the Horse they can probably recommend someone in your area if you ask on their forums.

They can drive you crazy! They're extremely complex and though I would put our horses out there to anyone there would be the caveat... this one doesn't like this, this one paws in the trailer... I always try to remind myself that they spend 24/7 out there with each other and then we come to interfere... Really they're a blessing in psycological research-if I can figure out what is motivating a horse I can surely figure out what is ticking with a person! Have you seen the Buck documentary? A good buddy of mine calls that the "patience tree": when you're tied you're tied and we'll come get you when we're ready for you. Very good for them!

Well, there is something to be said for Mare Magic and possible magnesium supplementation. And checking saddle fit. And for ovarian cysts. or back injuries like kissing spine. Flat out bucking is FEAR or PAIN or EVIL. If this has been a reasonable horse in the past then I would say that she really does need her hormone therapy or a physical, or a better saddle, or epsom salts, or something... Your posts describe a horse in pain to me. But-it's not your horse. Nobody can micromanage a horse and control their every move, that's what your kid is supposed to be learning, but if there is something off about the horse it's the owner/trainer's job to fix it or find a suitable horse for your kid to ride. Horses get into loco weed, have hidden injuries, have deficiencies, pain, ect... lots of reasons a horse can go off the hook. You don't want your kid on there trying to work through it. Here, again, I'm not a real freaker-outer about kids learning to ride. You have wrecks, horses are like riding huge deer, things happen. And they have happened to my kids, both in lessons and at home. But if your people know the mare is a freak and haven't managed her well there's no reason for your kid to be up there. I don't ever intentially put my kids on a wingy horse. I'd tell them your kid isn't learning much horsemanship when she's bucking out their crabby mare so you'll be pulling her from the program. Done.

I've never had a problem with the dog confusing items. Maybe I just have had a long series of really smart dogs but they know that the stuffed animal that smells like dog slobber is theirs and the one that smells like laundry soap is my daughter's! Same for shoes and the only socks they get are ones with knots so they're different. But if you think it will cause a problem by all means forget my input.

My pups have all hated Kongs, I think it's the smell. Two of my dogs have hound noses and they don't like any commercial dog toys that have rubber or plastic on them, they turn away their noses like they're offended. The plastic water bottles have been a big hit here too, milk jugs, socks with knots, sacrificed old boots, an old ax handle was a great chew toy for a while-the wood was so hard it didn't splinter-and I always go to the 2nd hand store and buy a bunch of stuffed animals that have no buttons or noses that can be removed and those are huge hits too.

I started the year my kids would have been in 2nd and 4th-we pulled them out after numerous problems with the public school and other kids so some decompression time was good. I also had to get my son motivated to work, something that hadn't been happening with school, and bring my daughter up to speed, which also hadn't been happening. So we got off to a bumpy herky jerky start. The routine and pace solidified over time. I've since talked to a couple other people that have pulled their kids from the same school and they did the same thing, herky jerky start and then found their pace.

The person that has the anti-pw blog feels she was personally slighted by PW. I think that is what is motivated her, along with a lot of jealousy. I think you have to see she has issues, it's way too rabid to be any form of normal. I used to read PW in the early days and really liked it, having been a homeschooling ranch mom it was fun to read her funny spin on it all. I vividly remember seeing one of the first photos she posted of her kitchen and I thought oh, ok... this lady really isn't someone I can relate to long term. The more she revealed about her personal life the less I could relate to her. Until then I thought she was a little more in the trenches than she really is. From what I've read here and other places, I'm not the only one that has that perspective. She didn't really represent herself accurately in the beginning or maybe she has just changed but I think that's why the haters get traction and the anti-pw blog gets readers/contributers. In part-jealousy is a factor too!

Ours is The Gadget.

:iagree:

For resale alone, get a better quality. A wintec is money well spent-they are a quality yet inexpensive saddle. A wintec AP shouldn't cost much at all; comparable to what you posted here. Also consider used quality saddles like a pessoa, crosby, or stubben, at least those are some that I know. I'm not up on all the english saddle makers. There are others here that will know more. Some might turn their nose up at a wintec so know where you stand with that, I guess. It's a synthetic but if winning shows/tradition is important you might want to get a more traditional leather saddle. Here's a used crosby for $175, get a saddlemaker to clean this up and it will look a lot better than it does here and you will get your money back out of it when she outgrows it. http://www.tacktrader.com/show_item.php?tack_id=404164&share_this=Y A quality used will be a much better saddle than an inexpensive new one-the leather won't feel like plastic, the tree will be better, the fittings stronger, the stitching better, and resale will hold up. Make sure you fit the horse she rides the most-don't get too narrow of a tree unless she rides a narrow horse....

I worked for an orthopedic vet last year and many of our patients were Newfies. They are very prone to leg problems given that breeders are going for larger and larger dogs (they win ribbons!). High nutrition, early neutering, and lack of hard exercise all contribute to a big heavy dog on growing limbs that could have conformational faults as well. Same could be said of a Great Pyreness (or any of the large breeds) but I wouldn't let it stop you. Just be as picky as you can to get a pup from parents that have had the Penn Hip exam, NOT the OFA which is really arbitrary and outdated. Do your research on the Penn hip exam vs the OFA. There are procedures you can do with a growing pup that can offset later problems-xrays while they're still growing, usually around the time of neutering, can tell you if the hip sockets are shallow or likely for later problems. They can do an early surgery to fix those problems before they happen. No vet in his/her right mind will say this out loud, but neutering a large breed when they're young causes them to slow down and put on weight and stress their joints/bones. I saw in surgery notes from the specialist vet that it was best to wait until a large breed dog was a year old approximately before altering the dog but as I said, SO not PC. :D Keep puppy food to a short time frame, watch what you feed them. Research this as well. My GP is a year old now, not neutered, thin and athletic and gets a ton of exercise. He chews on tons of raw bones and eats a lot of eggs (both the ones I give him and the ones he finds from the chickens) and I've given him Vit E, glucosamine, and Calcium since he was a pup. Ortho-wise, he's in great shape according to the vet.

There's a lot I wouldn't hesitate to eat after a night out like that but chicken and dumplings I would not. Now may I direct your attention to the "dog eating from people bowls" thread. :D

I let the dogs clean the occasional dish and I regularily use bleach on our dishes. We're never sick. :)