When living with horses, grooming and monitoring basic vital signs are essential to their care and wellness.
Horses are amazing animals. I have always appreciated them for their beauty and their companionship. I currently have eight residents in my stable - two Friesians, a Fell pony, and five donkeys. Caring for equids is a huge responsibility, but it brings me great joy to see that they are happy and in the best possible health. Temperature, pulse, and respiration are three basic physiological parameters that can be monitored and recorded on a regular basis. It is important to know how to take these three vital signs correctly and safely. Yesterday was "TPR" day in the stable.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Here are Rinze, Bond, and Banchunch grazing in the paddock. I take very good care of all the horses. They are seen regularly by a veterinarian, an equine dentist, and the farrier. I also make sure they are well monitored in between check-ups – this means keeping track of their normal behaviors and vital signs. Taking a horse’s temperature, pulse, and respiration, or TPR, can provide valuable information about a horse’s general state of well-being. It’s a quick and easy way to determine how the animal is feeling.
My stable manager, Helen Peparo, keeps a binder for each animal so she can record all the important health information in one place.
There is a page specifically meant to record TPR, which is done once a month for every horse, pony, and donkey. It is important to do this regularly to determine what is normal. At the bottom of this page, Helen indicates the normal ranges for horses.
Helen also keeps a feeding record. This page lists what each horse eats and how much.
This page is for any special medications – my horses are all very healthy and are not on any special medications.
Banchunch is my Fell Pony. The Fell Pony is a versatile working breed originating in the north of England in Cumberland and Westmorland farms of northwest England. Fells are excellent riding and driving ponies. Banchunch is safely secured to crossties before any grooming or medical exam.
Horses should be groomed at least once a day. Helen and Dolma groom the horses every morning. Here are some of the brushes they use. Daily grooming not only keeps them clean and comfortable, but it is a good way to check on the horse’s general health and well-being, the health of the skin and coat, and any other possible abnormalities.
Helen uses a curry brush to remove dirt and loose hair from the coat. It is made of rubber or soft plastic and has flexible nubs that also massage the animal.
Banchunch stays pretty still for his grooming session.
Helen uses the curry brush all over his body including the legs. Each of the horse’s legs and around each foot is also wiped with a towel, not only to clean, but also to feel for any bumps or lumps that may need special attention, as well as heat or swelling, which may indicate an injury. All of them are healthy and doing well.
Cleaning a horse’s hooves is also very important. They should be picked daily. A hoof pick is used to remove dirt, stones, and other debris – particularly in the grooves beside the frog. Regular hoof cleaning can prevent thrush, a foul-smelling bacterial infection. This hoof is very clean.
Here, Helen brushes Banchunch’s forelock, which is similar to the bangs on humans and falls forward over the front of a horse’s head. The forelock is part of the horse’s mane, the distinctive ridge of hair that grows on the top of a horse’s neck and runs from the top of the head to its withers.
Taking the temperature is the first step in the TPR process. Helen uses a digital thermometer. His temperature is 99.7 Fahrenheit, which is well within the normal range for horses and ponies.
In order to take a horse’s heart rate, Helen stands on Banchunch’s left side and places the drum of the stethoscope on the horse’s chest just under the elbow.
Helen counts the number of full beats for 30-seconds then multiplies the number by two for the rate per minute. The normal pulse for an average sized adult horse is about 32.
Next, Helen stands a few feet away and watches his ribcage rising and falling. A cycle of one rise and one fall of the ribcage constitutes one breath. Helen multiplies the number of breaths he takes over 30 seconds and doubles the amount to obtain a respiration – the number of breaths per minute. The respiration rate for a horse at rest is around 12 to 15 breaths per minute.
In addition to a horse’s normal, resting vital signs, the horse’s weight is also important to monitor. Equine weight tapes can be used to obtain an approximate weight by measuring the heart girth or barrel.
Next is Bond who has been boarding here at the farm and is very happy with the rest of the herd. Helen takes time to groom him and give him a thorough check.
Grooming can be very soothing, and for many horses, it helps stimulate circulation. For young horses, it’s a good time to practice standing still, being patient, and being touched.
Here she is brushing Bond’s long tail. The tail of the horse consists of two parts, the dock and the skirt. The dock includes the muscles and skin covering the coccygeal vertebrae. The term “skirt” refers to the long hairs that fall below the dock. On a horse, long, thick tail hairs begin to grow at the base of the tail, and grow along the top and sides of the dock.
“The ‘dent’ above the eye is called the supraorbital fossa. It normally just contains fat tissue. It can also give a rough indication of the condition of the horse. Horses in poor condition tend to have bigger ‘dents’ and conversely, fat horses have less of a dent or no dent at all. Bond is in excellent health and condition.
Helen also checks Bond’s gums. Mucous membrane color can be a quick indicator of a horse’s health. The gums should be a pink to pale pink color and moist to the touch. To take his capillary refill time, or CRT, Helen lifts the horse’s lips, presses a finger firmly against the gums, and then takes it away. She counts the number of seconds it takes for the color to return to the area. It should come back quickly – and Bond’s did.
Last, but never least, is Rinze. Because all my horses are groomed every day, they are quite used to this process. Rinze is such a good boy.
Helen goes over his coat with a horse-hair brush to remove any dead hair. The horses are just beginning to shed their summer coats. Rinze’s coat is so shiny.
A horse’s face should always be kept as clean as possible also. The face and nose are often moist, making it very easy for dirt and mucus to build up. After grooming, all of Rinze’s vitals are taken the same way as the others. I am happy to report that all the boys are doing great.
Here, Helen and Dolma head out for some exercise with Bond and Rinze before tending to the donkeys. Have a good ride!
It takes a lot of work to maintain the fencing here at my Bedford, New York farm.
The pasture fencing is made from 100-year-old white spruce railings. I purchased all the antique railings from Canada and when the fences were built here we used new cedar uprights to support them. A number of posts have deteriorated over the years and need replacing. Pete Sherpa and Fernando Ferrari, longtime members of my outdoor grounds crew, began replacing them last summer. It's a tedious process and has to be done by hand so as not to disturb or damage the antique wood. The duo is at it again this week and doing an excellent job.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I have lots of fencing here on the farm. This antique fencing surrounds all my horse paddocks and various trees. The antique pasture railings were constructed into a split rail fence, but now many of these cedar uprights are wobbly and no longer support the railings as they should.
My Friesian horses, Fell pony, and my five donkeys get turned out into their paddocks every day, so it is important to maintain the fences and ensure they are all in good condition. This photo of Banchunch, Rinze, and Bond was taken by my stable manager, Helen Peparo.
Here is a closer look at the fence with its original posts and antique railings. Many of you have commented on how much you admire these fences. The railings are sandwiched between two cedar posts and attached to the inside of one of them. The other supports the railings from the other side.
Here’s Pete removing nails from one of the railings after the post was pulled from the ground.
The nails used to secure the railings are quite long – four inches. It takes a bit of time to remove them so they can be reused.
Some of the uprights were so worn, they broke during the removal process.
Here’s Fernando with another post – look how it has deteriorated. These posts will be chipped and repurposed as wood chip top dressing at a later time.
To remove one, Pete digs around the post by hand using a post hole digger, a hand tool used to manually dig deep and narrow holes in order to install fence posts.
Here’s a closer look at the post hole digger – this tool is available at any hardware store. A post hole digger is also known as a clamshell digger, because of its resemblance to the seaside shell.
Once Pete has removed enough of the surrounding soil, he pulls out the old, deteriorated base.
See how deep these posts are in the ground – a good two to three feet.
All the new uprights are placed next to the ones being removed.
Pete places a new cedar upright into the hole, adjusts it for level, and turns the post so that the nicest side faces out.
Each hole is more than three feet deep. The new posts will be very secure here – and no cement is needed.
Pete uses a tamping bar to pack the soil tightly around the post as he backfills the hole with soil.
Once the post is secure, Pete rakes around the post to make the area neat and tidy.
And then Fernando attaches the railings to the post once again.
Here, one can see which posts were replaced and which ones are still in good condition. The next step is to cut the tops of the new posts, so they are all the same height as the fence.
Pete uses our STIHL chainsaw. STIHL designed and built its first electric chain saw in 1926 and 94 years later, it is still one of its best pieces of equipment. This one is run on an AP 300 S Lithium-Ion Battery, which is powerful and compatible with a wide range of other STIHL tools.
In just a few minutes, the post is cut.
This new post should last another 15-years or more. It is made of cedar. Cedar is extremely durable and holds up well to outdoor weather conditions.
No wonder we put in so much effort to maintaining these old fences – they look stunning against the backdrop of these lush American beech trees.
And the fences keep my handsome steeds safe in their pastures.
Another good pruning job is complete at my Bedford, New York farm - this time, on the purple columnar beech trees surrounding my swimming pool.
Back in 2018, we planted more than 170 purple columnar beech trees, Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Purple' along the inside of the pool fence. The columnar beech is a splendid tree with deep-purple foliage that holds its color all season long. It reaches 40 to 50 feet in height and only 10-feet wide which makes it perfect for tight spaces and for use as an interesting hedge. Last week, my gardeners gave the hedge a good pruning to keep all the beech trees healthy and looking their best.
Enjoy these photos.
When planning the gardens around my pool, I wanted to create a natural border along both sides of my pool fence, so I chose a dark purple color palette. The hedge on the left is made of purple columnar beech trees, Fagus sylvatica ‘Dawyck Purple’. The shorter plantings on the right are Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diabolo’ and Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ shrubs.
Columnar beech trees are fastigiate meaning their branches slope upward more or less parallel to the main stem. I knew they would be perfect around the pool, but like all garden specimens, they must be well-maintained. I instructed my gardeners to prune them all at least a foot so they were all even.
Here’s a view from the top – they definitely need some pruning.
From this vantage point, one can see the hedge surrounding the enclosed pool. It is developing so nicely and disguises the fence very well.
The leaves of the Columnar Purple Beech are rounded ellipses, two to four inches long and one to three inches wide, with an undulating margin and a slightly pointed tip. They are smooth and softly lustrous in the sunlight. In spring the new leaves are a vibrant, deep purple-red. As they mature in summer they become dark burgundy-purple, holding this color well through the hotter weather.
To ensure the pruning is perfectly straight, we always use a landscaping twine, so it is visible and can be pulled taut. The twine is pulled between bamboo poles and placed along the sections of the hedge. The yellow level is placed on the twine as a guide.
Here is the twine stretched over the hedge. Brian also checks the line and level several times to be sure everything is trimmed properly.
And as each section is done, Brian moves the bamboo stakes and twine to the next area to be pruned.
Ryan uses our STIHL battery telescoping hedge trimmers to trim off the long tops as a start. Pruning means to lop or cut off any superfluous branches or shoots for better-shape and better growth. These look fuller every year – in part because of our regular pruning.
This STIHL hedge trimmer is designed with less bulk than others of its kind. It features hardened, precision-ground cutting blades and anti-vibration technology, keeping hands steady during every job.
Brian uses the STIHL battery-powered hedge trimmers to lop off the tops more precisely. This trimmer is lightweight, starts instantly and delivers quiet, powerful performance.
And Pasang works more closely to cut off any dead, diseased, damaged, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted plant material.
Beneath the hedge is a variety of dark-leafed plants. This is Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ – a unique perennial in the mint family Lamiaceae, with most species native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and southeastern Australia. Ajuga has lush dark burgundy-black foliage that blankets the ground when mature. The Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’, also known as Black Scallop bugleweed, ground pine, carpet bugle, or just bugle, has very glossy foliage and bright blue flowers in late spring.
Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ is a dwarf, spreading groundcover that creates a tight mat of rich, chocolate brown foliage with dark green undertones.
This is a Nasturtium. Nasturtium plants, Tropaeolum, are loved for their rich, saturated, jewel-toned colors. Planted in the spring after the threat of frost has passed, they are fast and easy to grow. Nasturtium is a genus of about 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants. It was named by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum, and is the only genus in the family Tropaeolaceae. These flowers can vary in shade, but the most popular versions are orange, yellow, pink, red, or mahogany. There are also varieties in subdued shades of butter yellow and cream.
Here’s a closer look at the interesting leaves of Nasturtium. The leaves are circular, shield-shaped and grow on a trailing plant. They are fragrant, with a mustard-like scent.
On one end, I have several potted Stephanotis – one of five to 10 species identified within the genus of twining vine-like shrubs. It is sometimes called Madagascar jasmine. The leaves are leathery, oval-shaped, and opposite, and the plant’s woody tendrils can grow to 20 feet.
The flowers are narrow, tubular, waxy horns about two inches in length that open to a crown of five lobes and stamens.
It doesn’t take long for the ground to fill with clippings – and this is just from one section.
To clean the area after pruning, Brian lightly blows any cut leaves and debris with STIHL’s backpack battery and handheld blower. The backpack battery eliminates the cost of fuel and engine oil and can be used for several hours before needing another charge.
Here’s a look at one side of the newly pruned hedge – so straight all the way down.
Here’s the hedge from the outside of the pool fence – it looks so much better behind the growing skirt of Cotinus and ninebark.
At the far end of the pool I have five staddle stones. Staddle stones were originally used in the 17th and 18th centuries as support bases for granaries, hayricks, and game larders. They typically looked like giant stone mushrooms, but mine are square – a more rare and unique version. I wanted the pool to look as natural as possible where I could enjoy the panoramic views of the landscape with my family and friends. I’ve worked hard to develop the surrounding gardens and am so pleased with how well they’ve grown. This is one of my favorite summertime areas of the farm.
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