Better Horses Network - Vol 4, Number 24

I hope all of you are enjoying this Christmas Season. I had a great time this year attending the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. My family went out there with me the first weekend and we are able to hook up with our Nick, our son, who lives and works in Fresno, California. His twin brother, Luke, was just two hours away at the Marine base in Twenty Nine Palm, but could not get away.

Many of you should have received your Winter Edition of Better Horses by now. If not make sure you pick up your copy at your local Purina Dealer. You can also go on line at www.betterhorsesnetwork.com and subscribe to receive it. Beginning in 2009, we will be starting our 10^th year of the Better Horses Network Publication. Our Stallion Edition is scheduled to be sent out around Feb.1^st. If you are interested in advertising in the Stallion Edition, e-mail me at ernest_rodina@purina-mills.com or ernie@betterhorsesradio.com and you can call me at 785/418-6047.

We still have some of the Premier Priefert 12 foot panels left to sell at the American Royal in Kansas City. As part of a sponsorship for the American Royal Cutting Horse Show in Kansas City, Priefert provides the panels to use for the event. These panels are practically brand new, being used only once. Along with the panels there are a few gates available also. This is an excellent opportunity to purchase the best panels offered in the industry at a great price. You can call me at 785/418-6047 for more information.

Kicking off our 2009 year of Equine events and education will be our 6^th Annual Priority Clinic to be held February 6^th& 7^th at the brand new Ransomed Heart Ranch in Lone Jack, Missouri. This is a very special weekend where we bring in some of the great horsemen and horsewomen to give a clinic involving their discipline. Along with their clinic they share their testimony to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Scheduled to do clinics this year are, NCHA Trainer Nick O’Dell, NRHA Million Dollar Rider Brent Wright, NBHA Barrel Racer Dawn Dawson, Cowboy Poet and Entertainer Geff Dawson, Equine Clinician Terri DeLouche, National Sales Manager for Adequan-Alynn Mann, and more! We will be having a reception and clinic on Friday night and follow up with a great day on Saturday. After the clinics on Saturday we will wrap up the day with a barbeque supper and service lead by Steve Stafford. A special thanks goes out to Bill and Dave Puthoff, The Open Range Fellowship, the Ransom Heart Ranch, and all of their friends and employees for letting us hold our Priority Conference at their great facility.
Cost for the weekend is only $10/family. This always proves out to be a special weekend and hope that you can join us. For information call Terri Delouche at 660/441-1697.

If you are not feeding Purina’s horse feed, this is an excellent opportunity to give it a try by taking the Purina Challenge. When looking at cost/head/day along with delivering Top Performance, you can’t beat our products such as Strategy^®. We also continue to keep getting excellent testimonies on Ultium^®, Equine Senior^®, and our new WellSolve^™ diets.

We are very excited about our Better Horses Radio Trailer that we will be getting any day. We are so excited to be teamed up with Twister Trailer and taking our show on the road. In January you will want to check out our website at www.betterhorsesradio.com and see where we plan to be with the trailer.

I want to let you know it is folks like you that make my job worthwhile. I want to wish you and your family and very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a great 2009 year!

December

December 6 16th ANNUAL LAWRENCE OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS PARADE, 11:00 am, Downtown Lawrence, KS. Come join in the fun! For additional information, contact Parade Chairman Jana Dobbs at (785) 838-9400.
December 13-14 HEALTHY STRIDE WORKSHOP, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Chestnut Acres, Excelsior Springs, MO. The Key to Fluid Movement -- Healthy Stride is the personal farrier to the performance horses of Linda & Pat Parelli and for their natural horsemanship program. Jim Crew will present the importance of correct equine posture balance and how to achieve it. For more information or to register, contact Pam or Gary Johnson (620) 342-8052. For more details, Click Here.

January

January 14 "THE GIFT OF THE HORSE" SUPPORTS SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS FOR ;YOUTH INVOLVED IN ANGUS BREED - Sheri Spader of Spader Farms in Rosendale, MO, and family have offered SF Blue Sky McMaxill, a 2-year-old Blue Road Quarter Horse to benefit the American Angus Auxiliary's scholarship funds. With over 90 days of training donated by Rich Masoner, "Blue" will be auctioned Wednesday, January 14th at 7:00 pm at the Trowbridge Family and Friends Invitational Angus Sale at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Co. This gift honors the memory of former American Angus Association^® Executive Vice President, Dick Spader, a devoted horseman and Angus enthusiast. For more information about "Blue" and this special gift, visit www.angusauxiliary.com and access "the gift of the Horse' webpage. For more information, contact Rich Masoner at (816) 351-8148 or Brett Spader at (785) 633-5512.
January 24 KCRFTHA GAIT AND BITTING SEMINAR, 10:00 am, Family Center, Harrisonville, MO. The Kansas City Regional Fox Trotting Horse Association will host a Gait and Bitting Seminar -- this four-hour event will feature a video presentation of the gaits of the Missouri Foxtrotter with a presentation by a member of the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association judges committee followed by a presentation on bits and how they can improve your horse's gait. Time will be provided for a question-and-answer period. This seminar should be helpful for those new to Foxtrotters as well as those with years of experience. For more information, contact Therese Murray at (816) 505-9980.

February

February 6-7 6^th ANNUAL PRIORITY CLINIC, Ransomed Heart Ranch, Lone Jack, MO. Scheduled to do clinics this year are, NCHA Trainer Nick O’Dell, NRHA Million Dollar Rider Brent Wright, NBHA Barrel Racer Dawn Dawson, Cowboy Poet and Entertainer Geff Dawson, Equine Clinician Terri DeLouche, National Sales Manager for Adequan-Alynn Mann, and more! Along with the clinic, great horsemen and horsewomen share their testimony to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Reception and clinic on Friday night and clinics and a barbeque supper on Saturday. Cost for the weekend is only $10/family. For more information call Terri Delouche at 660/441-1697.

Red Hats and Purple Chaps

A new riding group has started in the KC area and we would like to get the word out! A group of women who were members of the Red Hat Society in Indiana decided to start a group targeted for women who ride. So, they started Red Hats and Purple Chaps, also known as the Galloping Grannies. They have grown to over 200 members who ride in parades, hold clinics and trail rides, and enjoy all kinds of "two-legged" activities as well. Not all members own horses; some ride scooters, golf carts, or serve as ground support during parades.

Red Hats and Purple Chaps is now starting up groups in other states. Lisa Dunz has started Red Hats and Purple Chaps - MoKan, also known as the Purple Posse. Membership is open to women and girls, ages 10 and up. If you're over 50, you get to wear a red hat; members who have not yet achieved this milestone wear pink hats. Members are encouraged to use a fun nickname and dress in wild combinations of red and purple.

FOR SALE: 12-Year-Old Barrel/Pole Gelding

Merridoc, EasyJet, Joyful Hope bred. We bought this horse for Baylee, but he is a real push type horse and does not fit her well. He is sound, easy to get along with, kid safe, husband safe, and you can trail ride him or practice all day and he never refuses to do it again.

We would consider trade for a more free running type horse that has got a good mind or just a good broke youngster. Asking $4500. Make offer or let me know what you have. You can see him on www.barrelhorseworld.com, Ad #54563.

The Better Horses Radio Show

            Tune in to one of the stations airing our show:

                Saturday    7:00am - 8:00am          WLXG   1300 am - Lexington, KY
                Saturday    8:00am - 9:00am          WOCA 1370 am - Ocala, FL
                Saturday    9:00am - 10:00am         KMDO 1600 am - Fort Scott, KS
                Saturday    4:00pm - 5:00pm          KFRM   550 am - Clay Center/Salina/Wichita, KS
                Sunday      5:05am - 6:00pm           KMA    960 am / 99.3 fm - Shenandoah, IA
                Sunday      5:00am - 6:00am           KOMG 92.9 fm - Bass Country, Ozark, MO
                Sunday      6:00am - 7:00am           KTPK   106.9 am - (Country Legends) Topeka, KS
                Sunday      6:30am - 7:30am           KFEQ   680 am - St. Joe, MO
                Sunday      9:00am - 10:00am         KDKD 95.3 fm - Clinton, MO
                Sunday      4:00pm - 5:00pm          KOFO  1220 am - Ottawa, KS
                Sunday      4:00pm - 5:00pm           KTJJ     98.5 fm - Farmington, MO

Better Horses Radio is a nationally syndicated radio show hosted by Ernie Rodina and co-hosted by Dawn Dawson.

LISTING EVENTS IN OUR NEWSLETTER -- If you are an organization or business who would like to list your event in our Calendar Section, click on the Event Listings box above for rates. Then contact Jo Ann Riggs at e-mail address listed with your request.

CLASSIFIED AD LISTING -- If you are interested in a Classified Ad listing, click on the Classified Ad box above. Rates and placement information is located directly below the box. Simply click on "please click here." Be sure to check our Classifieds each newsletter as ads are changing all the time.

NEW CATEGORY FOR WEBSITES -- Due to many requests for website listings, we have a new section in our Classified Ads called WEB LINKS. Check this section from time to time as we add website links that may be of interest to you. Enter our Classified Ads and click on Web Links, then click on the name listed and you will be taken directly to that party's website.

Our subscriber list has grown to over 8,600+ recipients -- almost entirely horse-owning households!
Our ad and event services are a great way to reach those people!

Here we go again, freezing cold, snow, ice, and all of the elements that go with winter. It seems as though there is no time to do any riding, and all we do is feed and clean stalls. In my situation I use all two stalls and the turnout lot for three of my horses. In doing chores, I use this time to tie up all of the horses while I clean and feed. It never fails to show how tying up your horses for a significant amount of time, will help teach them patience. It also forces me to handle all three of the horses a minimum of twice/day. Besides just tying them up, I use this time to work on improving sacking them out.

Besides spending more time with our horses, it makes me feel like I am doing more than just feeding and cleaning.

Just in time for Christmas, you may want to bake your favorite horse this special treat:

    1/2 cup oats
    1/2 cup horse mix (can use horse power)
    1/2 cup bran
    1 cup lucerne chaff
    1 cup oaten chaff
    3 cups molasses

Directions:   Pre-heat oven to 350^o. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. (Mix well -- your hands are the best to mix this with.) Put mixture into a cake tin and flatten down. Put into pre-heated oven for 1 hour at 350^o.

Take out of oven and let cake cool carefully as the molasses really sticks. When cool, add a little more molasses over the top and serve. Your horse will love you for this one!

Timely Reminder

As always, let me know if we can be of any help to you and your horse operation. 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!”

We at Better Horses Network 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.

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