WILDWOOD FARM CLIPS & CLOPS OAK HARBOR Issue 22 Wildwood Farm CLIPS & CLOPS Oak Harbor April 2021 YOUR NEIGH-BORHOOD HULLABALOO Compared to a lot of other families population down. Head lice ran Horses In the Evening & in the area, his was considered to be rampant, especially with the Indian Babies fairly well off. His family had enough kids from the reservation. Harsh by Two short stories money to buy him one new pair of today’s standards, people had to Levi’s a year. He only got one, so make do with what little they had. It By Kathy Cleveland they had to last all year. His Mother was a pretty rough time back then. would buy them several inches too My father often told me how grateful There is something so relaxing about long and roll them up. She would he was to have food on the table. So watching horses while they eat. unroll them as her son grew taller. much of his family’s wealth There’s a calm in the corral that can’t Lots of kids didn’t get a new pair of depended on the horses that made be found in the everyday hustle of jeans. They got hand-me-downs. cattle ranching in the arid New the workaday world. Have you ever Mexico territory possible. stopped to listen? Listen to the For lunch, the children would bring a sound of horses methodically biscuit or a raw potato to school. The He always felt a deep connection to chewing, with an occasional swish of potatoes were placed in the old pot the horses in the corral. I have fond a tail? Listened to the soft rustle of bellied stove first thing in the memories of him with our horses in hay as the horses toss it about, morning. By lunch time they were the evening. He would often step out finding all the good bits? Horses cooked enough to eat. That was at dusk with his cigarettes and spend deeply contented, broken only by lunch. Just a biscuit or a potato with a little quiet time alone, talking with the occasional posturing of the nothing on it. No salt, no pepper, no the mares…. watching, mares… a pinned ear, a sour glance; butter, no jam. They were lucky to listening….soaking it all in. are but fleeting as the sweet smell of get it, and they knew it too. It was hay beckons. There is a feeling of known that some kids would save My husband, who does not ride, is well-being and abundance. the biscuit that Mother had given drawn to the corral as if pulled by a them for breakfast and bring it to giant magnet. Nearly every evening, My step father grew up on a small school for lunch, trying to hide how after a 10-12 hour work day behind cattle ranch in New Mexico. As a poor they were. the wheel of a semi-truck, he heads child, he rode his horse to the one to the corral to spend a little quiet room school house like so many of Once a month the school teacher time with the horses. I know why he his classmates did. It was during the would wash the children’s hair with Is there. Horses show us what it is time of the Great Depression. kerosene to keep the head lice Continued on page 11 WILDWOOD FARM CLIPS & CLOPS OAK HARBOR | Issue 22 2 New Research Reveals Horses Can Read & Remember Your Facial Expressions. New research has shown that horses are able to read and remember the emotional expressions of humans. Animal behavior experts at the University of Sussex and the University of Portsmouth in the UK presented domestic horses with large photographs of humans with happy or an angry expressions. Several hours later the horses saw the person who had been in the photograph, but this time the person adopted a neutral expression. Moreover, the person didn't know if the horse had seen the happy picture or the angry picture. The researchers monitored the horses for particular behaviors, such as looking behavior, to assess their emotional states. What can looking behavior tell you? Horses, and a "What we've found is that horses can not only read human facial number of other species, including dogs, tend to process expressions but they can also remember a person's previous potentially threatening stimuli in the right hemisphere of the emotional state when they meet them later that day, and crucially, brain. This is indicated by a left-gaze bias, because visual that they adapt their behavior accordingly," says Professor Karen information from the left eye is processed in the right McComb from University of Sussex. "Essentially horses have a hemisphere. Conversely, more 'pro-social' stimuli is processed memory for emotion." in the left-hemisphere, which leads to a right-gaze bias. "We know that horses are socially intelligent animals," says Dr The horses' stress behavior and heart rate were also monitored, Leanne Proops of the University of Portsmouth. "But this is the first as was their approach and avoidance behavior. time any mammal has been shown to have this particular ability." The study showed that even brief exposure to a pronounced "What's very striking is that this happened after just briefly viewing facial expression affected the way the horse later responded to a photograph of the person with a particular emotional expression - that specific individual. The horses reacted more negatively to they did not have a strongly positive or negative experience with the person when they had previously seen the angry the person." photograph, and responded more positively, and less stressed, when they had previously seen the happy photograph. New Items for April www.thenoblehorsevintage.com www.theurbanequustrian.com Shop online! Our store is open 12:00am – 6:00pm Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday WILDWOOD FARM CLIPS & CLOPS OAK HARBOR | Issue 22 3 WILDWOOD FARM CLIPS & CLOPS OAK HARBOR | Issue 22 4 WILDWOOD FARM B&B WILL YOU? This is your moment. Learn that the perfect companion never has fewer Today at Wildwood Farm B&B than four feet? Book online at A wall street analyst A Technician Realized that only two things define us: Our patience when we have WILL YOU? nothing and our attitude when we have everything . Learn to not only talk to discovered a pa ssion animals, but to listen? Immerse yourself in the equestrian world at Wildwood Farm B&B located on beautiful Whidbey Island. a passion Our ranch has a long history of igniting the spark between horses and humans, whether you want a small introduction or total immersion. Come experience the power of possibility with these magnificent creatures and explore the abundance of silent repose. www.wildwoodfarmbandb.com WWW.PNWRiding.com PACIFIC NORTHWEST RIDING ACADEMY WILDWOOD FARM CLIPS & CLOPS OAK HARBOR Issue 22 WILDWOOD FARM CLIPS & CLOPS OAK HARBOR | Issue 22 6 2. Protein Deficiency WILDWOOD FARM Another clinical nutritional disorder in horses is a AND TRIPLE CROWN Nutrition Corner protein deficiency. While often linked to the energy that calories offer, proteins serve a different FEEDS. function. They provide your horse with amino acids, Our partnership with Nutritional Disorders In Horses which support your Triple Crown began in Nutritional disorders in horses include various vitamin and horse’s connective tissues, including their bones 2014 through a mineral deficiencies. The most common deficiencies to watch and muscles. When your horse lacks protein, you promotion with the for include: may see the following signs: USEF encouraging farm Dull hair coat 1. Energy Deficiency members to compare Muscle loss A calorie or energy deficiency is a clinical deficiency, so it their current feeding Reduced appetite produces visible, measurable symptoms, which include: programs with Triple Weight loss Stifled development Crown products. We Dull hair coat Slow Hoof Growth Muscle deterioration Horses under two years of age and nursing mares have found the TC are at the greatest risk for a protein deficiency. products to be superior Cracked hooves Recommended protein levels for foals, weanlings As with humans, calories provide your horse with the energy and and yearlings range from 6-12, while a lactating over other products power to perform. For high-performance horses, pregnant or mare requires a protein level as high as 13 during primarily because of the lactating mares and horses under two years of age, their energy the first three months. In comparison, a high- EquiMix technology demands are higher, which means they require additional hay, performance horse’s recommended level is 11.5. and the research grain or pasture-time. Restoring your horse’s protein to normal levels can support of a leading happen within a week, depending on your Supplements like corn oil can also give your horse the calorie edge team including treatment plan. Because a protein deficiency can independent content they need to not only gain weight back but also keep it on leave horses under two years of age with lasting throughout the year. Older horses or even picky eaters that are effects, it’s essential you start a treatment program representatives of struggling to maintain their weight also benefit from the nutritional as soon as possible. Supplements that provide Equine Universities, boost a weight gain supplement provides. amino acids, especially lysine, are recommended Medical clinics and top for a faster recovery. level riders and trainers. Meet Dalsegno Dale was born in May of 2006, out of our mare French Dancer (TB) and by the Hanoverian Stallion, Grandezine. Dale was born around noon out in our big field, and his timing was totally unexpected.