Calendar Timely Reminders Useful Web Sites Questions & Comments Contact Information

November 21 2005
Volume 1, Number 8

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of you are doing fine! It has been a real hectic three weeks between the Horse Health Days & putting together our Winter 2005 issue that will be coming out the first of December. I just finished up four meetings last week at Grain Valley, MO, Spring Hill, KS, Cameron, MO, and Ottawa, KS. I want to thank everyone that attended--they were a lot of fun and full of valuable information.

I got word last week that a station in Vinita, Oklahoma plans to start airing our radio show. Also, we are getting close to finalizing our show on KFEQ out of St.Joe, MO. It will air on Sunday mornings at 7:00. Thanks to Mark Scales, our horse specialist in Pittsburg, KS, The Checkerboard Corral Radio Show will be having a special 10-minute segment aired for 10 days straight during the NFR at Las Vegas. “The Checkerboard Cowboy Up-Date” will cover the highlights of the NFR on a daily basis along with interviews of the NFR contestants. Check out your local station to see if they have picked it up yet.

We have some great plans coming together for 2006. Horsemen’s Priority Conference- Feb.5th & 6th; Topeka Expo Centre Craig Cameron Tour- April 18 thru April 27th Teddy Robinson Clinic- 2 day Fence Work clinic – In the works for Spring 2006 at Louisburg, KS.

If you didn’t make it to the Solum Brothers Mid America Equine Sale and Cow Horse Futurity last week in Carthage, Mo., you missed a great weekend. The Teddy Robinson Clinic was unbelievable!

The highlight of last week was going to school and having lunch with my eight-year-old son, Brent. I didn’t set a very good example for him, because we didn’t eat our “breaded piece of mystery meat” and we headed across to Guy & Maes to split a slab of ribs. My conclusion is that 3rd grade school lunches have really not changed much, but I had a great time with Brent!

We are really enjoying having Luke around the house and having him home. We did receive some wonderful news from our other son Nick and daughter in-law, Megan. We found out we are going to be getting a granddaughter in March. We are real excited. I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great kickoff to the Holiday Season!

Let me know if I can be of help.

Happy Trails!

Ernie

Country Christmas Dinner Theatre Set for December

BAXTER SPRINGS, KS – Looking for something different to do this Holiday Season and help others out in the process? If so, join Horses of Hope Therapeutic Riding Center in Baxter Springs, KS  for its annual Country Christmas Dinner Theatre on December 2, 3, 9, and 10. Proceeds from the Horses of Hope Country Christmas Dinner Theatre benefit rider scholarships.

The Country Christmas Dinner Theatre begins at 5:30 p.m. each night with refreshments. Live music will be provided by the Duling Band followed by a family-style dinner. Also during the evening, there will be a silent auction of country crafts, decorations, and all sorts of items. In addition, there will be a live auction for beautifully decorated holiday wreaths. On two nights, the silent auction will include a special offering of half of a processed hog.

The culmination of the evening will be the dinner theatre production of Dennis and Nan Allen’s “All I Want for Christmas.” The cast members are made up of community members and Horses of Hope clients.

Don’t miss your opportunity to attend this exciting holiday event! Call (620) 674-3458 to reserve your tickets. Individual tickets are $20 each or buy a table for friends and family for only $150! Your ticket purchase is tax-deductible as allowable by law. Horses of Hope Therapeutic Riding Center is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.

Horses of Hope Therapeutic Riding Center in Baxter Springs provides equine assisted therapeutic services in southeast Kansas, southwest Missouri, and northeast Oklahoma. For more information visit www.horsesofhope.com

Calendar of upcoming events:

December-January

 February

The Checkerboard Corral Radio Show continues to grow!  Tune in to one of the stations airing our show.
                Sunday      6:00am - 7:00am       WIBW 580am or listen on-line at  www.580radio.com
                Sunday      4:00pm - 5:00pm       KOFO 1220am - Ottawa, KS
                Saturday    6:00am - 7:00am        KKOW 860am - Pittsburg, KS
                Saturday    9:00am - 10:00am      KMDO 1600am -Fort Scott, KS
                Saturday    9:00am - 10:00am      KCTE 1510am – Kansas City
                Saturday    4:00pm                      KFRM 550am - Clay Center/Salina-Wichita              
               
                Coming Soon!
                Sunday       7:00am                      KFEQ 680am - St. Joe, MO

                Tune in to  www.horsecity.com  & listen;  Rotated on their program!
           

Horse Management Tip

Taking the Time to Warm Up

How often does your horse act silly when you first start riding, especially in cooler weather? If your horse tends to be fresh or offers to buck a little, take the time to get them warmed up before you start expecting them to perform.

Once you are through the saddling process—always walk your horse around a little after tightening your cinch and before mounting up. Taking these steps before jumping in the saddle can settle that cold-backed horse a little. Be sure to allow plenty of time in your warm-up, especially if your horse hasn’t been ridden a lot lately. This extra warm-up time will help both you and your horse enjoy training time or fun time better.

For those riders who are not confident their horse is going to ride off easily, take the time to lounge them for a while. Once you are ready to mount up and ride, head to that nice working spot and walk circles approximately 60’ or larger in diameter. Walking your horse helps loosen them up before pushing them into a lot of work. After you have walked for a while (and more than a couple minutes), trot the same circles in both directions. Trotting circles will calm most horses--if you stick with it long enough. Begin trotting big circles and if after several circles you don’t feel your horse relaxing, move the horse into smaller circles until they begin to relax. Some horses need trotting a few minutes and others much longer. The more a horse resists slowing down, the smaller I begin to make circles and sometimes all the way to a one-handed stop circle. All of this needs to be done on a loose rein with a take and release training process in order to relax the horse. I rarely ever lope a horse until I know they are completely relaxed at the walk and trot. Then we increase the speed to a lope and look for the same response.

How much time does this all take? It can take 10 minutes or 45 minutes—depending upon the horse’s disposition. Be sure to allow enough time to warm-up your horse properly. Rushing them into heavy work like running or roping when they are fresh is sure to test their dispositional traits.

If you’re a “jump on ‘em—an go” type rider, you’re likely to find yourself on the ground sooner or later if your horse is feeling just a little too fresh that day.

Ride Safely,
 

Dawn & Geff Dawson
2 Bar D Ranch
Alma, Kansas
                            www.ranchcowboy.com                            

Horsey Treat Recipe

Here's a great Thanksgiving treat for your favorite horse:

    "Horse Muffins"

    1-1/2 cups bran
    1 cup whole wheat flour
    1 tsp. baking soda
    1 tsp. baking powder
    3/4 cup skimmed milk
    1/2 cup molasses
    2 tblsp. corn oil
    1 egg (beaten)

1) Stir together bran, flour, soda and baking powder.  2) Mix together milk, molasses, oil and egg.  Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  3) Bake in greased or paper-lined muffin tins at 200o for 15 minutes.  A special treat for that special horse!

Timely Reminder

Don’t forget, if you are interested in seeing what the Purina Program can do for your horse, take the Purina Challenge. E-mail us, and I can get your Purina representative in touch with you to match the right feeding program for your horse or horses and TAKE THE CHALLENGE!  When it comes to Equine Research, Purina Mills is the company that can say, “WE FEED OUR FEED TO OUR HORSES, BEFORE WE ASK YOU TO FEED IT TO YOURS!”
 

Useful Websites for horse owners:

Questions & Comments:

We at the Checkerboard Corral would love to hear any questions, comments or suggestions you might have, and we are always looking for items to add to this publication.  To contact us, please send an e-mail to Ernie.Rodina@agbusinessmail.net  and have a great day!

Past issues of the Checkerboard Corral and all associated event flyers can be viewed on-line by clicking here.

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Our Partners:

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Contact Information:

To submit any information you would like us to consider for publication on our website, in the printed publication or on this newsletter, e-mail your information to associate editor, Joann.Riggs@agbusinessmail.net

If you are not currently receiving the free printed publication of Checkerboard Corral and would like to be on our mailing list, please send us your name and mailing address.  We are always interested in hearing your ideas about the value of this newsletter, or whether you have any problems downloading or viewing this document. If you have additional E-mail addresses of friends or contacts that you would like to add to our subscriber list or names and addresses to add to our printed publication of Checkerboard Corral, please contact: Ernie.Rodina@agbusinessmail.net or surface mail to:

Checkerboard Corral
10715 Kahlmeyer Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63132

Happy Trails Everyone!

Ernie Rodina

(c) 2005-2007 Checkerboard Corral
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