The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute May 2013 Stable Sheet. In This Issue: See PIXIE, Page 4

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1 The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute May 2013 Stable Sheet In This Issue: Competitive Trail Rides: 2 A Reflection Influential People Kentucky Derby Open Barn Party 2013 Horsemanship Retreat: June Survival of Sperm After Castration Summer at Miner: One For the Record Book Featured Miner Morgan: GCM Vernon Hall 8 Join us for an Open House at Miner Institute Saturday, Aug. 10! noon to 4 p.m. Featuring: wagon rides Parker s Family Maple Farm maple creamees Rulfs Orchard apples AgriMark cheese MINER INSTITUTE S FIRST COMBINED DRIVING HORSE MAKES HER DEBUT! Gayla Driving Center in Georgetown, KY hosted its annual Combined Driving Event (CDE) May 17-19, 2013 and HD Philadelphia (UVM Equity x UVM Valkyrie) and her whip (the driver) Carrie Ostrowski took home the blue ribbon in her division, Training Level Single Pony, with the lowest penalty score in dressage followed by clean goes in cones and on the marathon. Pixie went to KY last fall to begin her driving training in earnest. We had hooked her several times here at Miner, but had mostly focused on developing her riding skills in dressage, hunter pleasure, some jumping, and on the trails. Carrie was the year-long intern several years ago and always felt that Pixie had great potential as a CDE pony since she s wellbalanced, handy, bold, and has horse-like movement in her pony-sized body. Since Pixie would have likely just spent the winter hanging out with the mares in the pasture, this seemed like a great opportunity for Pixie, Carrie, and Miner, so off she went! The roots of Combined Driving as a sport are in England where HRH Prince Philip developed the first set of rules in 1970 for the Royal Windsor Horse Show. It is modeled after ridden three-day eventing where the horse competes in three distinct phases: dressage, cross-country, and stadium jumping. For driving, which can be for horses or ponies of any size as well as for single horses or multiple hitches; they perform a dressage test, drive a marathon course with solid obstacles, and maneuver a course of pairs of cones. Dressage forms the foundation of the whole CDE. It is a precise pattern that the driver must negotiate in an arena that is 40 x 80 meters with distinct markers that note where certain movements begin and end. The horse must show See PIXIE, Page 4 The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May

2 COMPETITIVE TRAIL RIDES: A REFLECTION Training then competing in the 15 mile GMHA Mud Run was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and the fact that we kicked some major booty doesn t hurt either. Don t be mistaken, logging 150+ miles in a little over six weeks was not always a peachy time. Jo (HD Spitfire) and I rode in the rain, sun, heat, cold, wind, sleet, and even the snow; but the bond that developed between her and I made every day worth it. Training I based my training schedule on what I had researched for my January Stable Sheet article and general exercise physiology principles for training for endurance events. I trained five non consecutive days a week; four of the days I would ride a shorter ride and one day I would ride a long ride. My shorter rides were around 5-6 miles and my long rides started at 8 miles and I added 2 miles a week, reaching 14 miles the week before the ride. The last week I used as a taper week and only rode lightly the first few days so Jo would be well rested for the ride on Saturday. I began my training doing my mileage at a walk and then increased the time I spent trotting each week. I was quite happy with how well my training plan worked and it got Jo in really great shape for the ride. Ideally it would have been better to train longer, but Mother Nature had other plans and decided to extend winter longer than expected causing me to shorten my training schedule. The Ride Jo, Karen, and I arrived at the event location the night before to allow Jo to settle in. This was a good strategy because this was Jo s first time away from the farm by herself. The next morning vetting in was bright and early. The vetting in consisted of trotting out both in a straight line and in two circles to check for lameness, and a head-totoe evaluation for any cuts or bumps before the ride. After being vetted in, we were paired with a veteran horse and rider to ride with. I am so thankful we got paired with them- I honestly do not think we would have done as well without them. He helped us to set pace, gave me tips along the way, and was also quite impressed with Jo. In the middle of the ride we had a quick P+R which checks to ensure that the horse is not over exerting itself and to check that it is safe to continue the ride. Jo came in with a heart rate that was high, but she recovered quickly. After passing the check we were quickly back on the trail. We made good time getting to the P+R so we took a more leisurely pace to the finish to ensure that we had a good final vet check. After crossing the finish line we quickly prepared for our final vetting out. The final vet out was the same as the initial one and Jo scored extremely well for her first ride! She only lost minor points for being slightly tired, a bit dehydrated, and for having small wind puffs on her front left and rear left. She ended up with a score of 96.5/100 placing us second in rookie horse and second in rookie rider! Along the way Jo was focused and driven in a way I have never seen her before. Even though we had never done real hill work before, she took on the mountains of Vermont like she had been training hills her whole life. At one point the rider we were riding with even joked that Jo was helping his horse more than we were being helped by him! He also commented that Jo was built well and had an attitude that could easily allow her to complete a 50, 75, or 100 mile ride. It was an amazing feeling completing the ride and also doing so well. I m so glad we were finally able to find Jo a job that she not only loved but also one where she will really excel. I hope we can find someone who will compete with her at longer and longer distances. I know she ll take them on in a way only HD Spitfire can! Kim Farnum Equine Intern The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May

3 An office renovation has forced me to clean-out an office that has been accumulating (and I mean accumulating!) items for over 25 years. Yesterday, I tackled my desk drawers which became an archaeological adventure the deeper I dug, the younger (and thinner) I looked in all the pictures I unearthed. At the very bottom of the drawer, in an old address book I used as a child, I found a picture of Marian Wright, sitting in a box seat at the NY Morgan Horse Show sometime in the 1970s. Finding this picture made me pause and reflect how this woman set the course for what my life has become. I was fortunate enough as a child to have a cottage on Keuka Lake next door to Marian Wright. She and her husband had retired and resided on Keuka Lake during the summer. Marian had been a horse enthusiast for a long time, first with Saddlebreds and finally with Morgans. I was 10 or 11 years-old and had been riding a 40-ish year old horse that we owned (poor Dutchy!) and had started taking riding lessons at a nearby Quarter Horse farm with hopes of buying my own horse someday. I had finally convinced my father that for $200, I could buy one of the horses at the stable I was taking the lessons. I excitedly shared the news with Marian on one of the last days of summer vacation before school began. She replied INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE Marian Wright in her calm, steady voice, articulating every syllable, Katie, I need to take you somewhere before you buy any horse. I wasn t a very patient person, but I knew not to argue or disagree with what Marian told me. At the end of September, she took me out of school, (not sure how she managed that!) and drove me to Syracuse to attend the first day of classes at the New York Morgan Horse Show. I vividly remember that the Stallions In Hand class was being shown as we entered the coliseum at the NY State Fairgrounds. I stopped dead in my tracks, jaw dropped, as I watched some of the most impressive horses I had ever seen. I don t recall who the horses were but I do remember the long flowing manes and tails, heads high, and BIG, exuberant movers! That single moment with Marian set the course for the rest of my life. There was absolutely no way I was going to settle for a Quarter Horse after seeing those Morgans. My father, good-naturedly, cursed Marian for increasing the financial commitment he had to make (seven-fold) to satisfy my horse needs. That one trip to the NY Morgan Horse Show led to the purchase of my first Morgan from Mary Meixell then my decision to attend the University of Vermont (would not have been my college choice had it not been for the UVM Morgan Horse Farm) where I met my future husband which led to a growing fondness for dairy cows which steered me into participating in a UVM summer internship program at the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in dairy farm management where I have been in one capacity or another ever since. I hope you will take a minute to think about the influential people in your life or at least consider that even the simplest actions, such as taking a kid to the NY Morgan Horse Show, can set the course for someone s life. Thanks Marian! JUST ARRIVED & NOW AVAILABLE FOR STALLION SERVICES AT MINER: Katie Ballard ballard@whminer.com Contact Karen Lassell at lassell@whminer.com or , ext. 120 for more info. Canon (UVM Springfield x Pastorale) Democracy (Summitry x UVM Fidelity) The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May

4 obedience, relaxation, and a correct way of going. Individual movements within the test are given scores by the judge and are then tabulated to form the final score that s assigned. For CDEs, the score is converted to penalty points and the lowest penalty score leads that division. Often at CDEs, as was the case at Gayla, drivers proceed directly to the cones section following the dressage test. Pairs of cones are laid out in a long course (20 pairs at Gayla) which the driver must have committed to memory. They are marked in order and always have a red marker on the right, and white on the left to make sure that you go through in the correct direction. The cones are placed close together with a small amount of clearance based upon the carriage s wheel-base size and balls are put on top of the cones that will fall if the driver hits a cone and will get penalties. The course has a maximum time assigned to ensure that you move right along and penalties are incurred for PIXIE, Continued from Page 1 Pixie on the Marathon negotiating the Tiki Huts. Carrie Ostrowski, whip and Jimmy Fricker as navigator is ready for the upcoming turn. time gone over the maximum time. Fast and accurate is the name of the game! The marathon section is the adrenaline part of the CDE. The course is long (Gayla s Training Level marathon was about 10 kilometers total) and is broken into sections of various speeds or walk and trot to test the driver s ability to rate the horse and develop its fitness for cross-country. The really exciting part of the marathon is in the obstacles, or hazards section where drivers must negotiate a series of solid gates in the correct order, again labeled with red and white. Time within each hazard is taken and penalties are added for every moment from entering to exiting the hazard. Upper levels of CDEs have horses galloping full speed through the hazard with the navigator, a passenger on the carriage, helping to both give the driver reminders of where to go through the course, but to also act as ballast around fast, tight turns! Penalties are given for times being off the ideal and times within the hazards. It is a highly specialized sport, but a very friendly one. For me at my first CDE, I found the other competitors to be cheerful and helpful. It was a great deal of fun to be at the CDE, but even more rewarding was watching a student alumnae really showcase the talents of a Miner Morgan! Karen Lassell lassell@whminer.com 2013 Kentucky Derby Open Barn Party Thank you to everyone who came out to our May 4 Kentucky Derby Open Barn Party! Visitors enjoyed our beautiful renovated horse barn, which was built in 1906 as the dairy barn for William Miner s Heart s Delight Farm. The stalls were occupied by 14 very well-behaved Morgans. Refreshments were delicious, plentiful, and southern-themed! HD Valhalla, Hallie gave a great impromptu demonstration with Katie Ballard. A good time was had by all! Special thanks to event sponsors: Duprey s Feed, North Country Floral & Gifts, Blair & Webber Photography, Adirondack Tack, and Alltech. The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May

5 2013 HORSEMANSHIP RETREAT AT MINER June 27-29, 2013 Love horses and want to learn more about them? Do you have a horse and wish for some new skills to handle them? Do you like to surround yourself with people who feel the same way about horses? If any of the above is true for you, then you won t want to miss this experience! The final schedule details are still being developed and I m open to suggestions, but there s already a lot to be enthusiastic about. Natural Horsemanship trainer and clinician, Tim Hayes will spend a full day with us to improve ground work with horses. Tim teaches with an emphasis on understanding the horses mind, reading their body language and safe, kind, effective handling skills. It is a solid foundation upon which to build or improve your relationship with any horse. There will be ample opportunity to practice these skills over the course of the 3-day retreat. We ll go over basic health evaluation skills with practice doing thorough nose-to-tail checkups. A nature walk will be a plant and weed identification trip. A relaxing evening including a yoga-for-riders class. Plus more. Stay overnight in comfortable accommodations and we ll feed you too! It is limited to 6 people to insure plenty of hands-on time. All inclusive price of $450. Contact Karen Lassell at , ext. 120 or lassell@whminer.com for more information or send in the form with a deposit (refundable if we can fill your space). Being and interacting with your horse is also a fascinating, enlightening and empowering technique for learning about yourself. It immediately reveals your truest nature. Horses are amazing mirrors for humans because in many ways they are very much like us. And just like human relationships, the only way to get your partner (human or horse) to change, is to change yourself. Tim Hayes June 27-29, 2013 Horsemanship Retreat Registration Name: Age: Gender: Address: Phone: Short history of your experience with horses: Any specific issues or items we might try to address or include for you? (We can try, but no promises): Health limitations or dietary restrictions we should be aware of? Horses are large, unpredictable animals. We will endeavor to keep everyone safe, but you will be asked to sign a release and hold harmless agreement. Please return with a deposit of $100 payable to: Miner Institute, PO Box 90, Chazy, NY Attn: Karen Lassell. The balance of $350 is due upon arrival at Miner for the retreat. The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May

6 SURVIVAL OF SPERM AFTER CASTRATION The castration of GCM Vernon Hall, Vern, a mature stallion, provided an opportunity that was hard to pass up. Karen and I have wanted to attempt to freeze epididymal sperm for some time. Several equine reproduction labs in the country have successfully frozen epididymal sperm from stallions at the time of castration or who have to be euthanized. Studies have shown that stallion spermatozoa can be harvested from epididymides that have been stored for up to 24 hours, resulting in 5-25 breeding doses. Obviously, if you value your stallion s genetics, freezing semen from a healthy stallion is preferred and results in the best semen quality after it is thawed. Prior to Vern s surgery, we did our homework investigating procedures for successfully harvesting and freezing sperm stored in the epididymis. Former equine student and intern, Ryan Brooks, who received his MS degree from Colorado State University and is an Equine Instructor there, provided a great deal of help as we prepared to preserve Vern s genetics. Since Ferrous (HD Irondale) was also being gelded at the same time, we thought it would be interesting to process the long yearling s immature sperm and compare their quality to Vern s more mature battalion. On D-day, or should we call it T-day, our equine intern, Kim Farnum, got the privilege of attending the surgeries at Vermont Large Animal Clinic. We had previously discussed our needs with the surgical vet and he complied by removing as much of the epididymis and ductus deferens as possible. While the sperm are produced in the testicle, they are stored and matured in the epididymis and ductus deferens prior to ejaculation. With over 3 billion sperm being churned out each day from a healthy testicle, quite a few sperm can be stored waiting for their chance to escape. Albeit, in Vern s case, this was probably not the opportunity they were hoping for. The vet ligated the ductus deferens so the sperm wouldn t leak out then proceeded with the castration procedure. Kim was handed the testes upon their removal, rinsed them with saline, then packed them in one of our cooled semen shipping containers and returned to Miner Institute. Upon their arrival, we carefully dissected the coiled epididymis away from the testicle and found that the ligation material had slipped from its position, allowing some of the sperm to escape and blood to enter the opening. Unfortunately, all of the testicles appeared to have suffered the same fate. We moved ahead with our procedures, but realized quickly that we were not only flushing spermatozoa from the epididymis, but also small amounts of blood. Blood has spermicidal properties and definitely influenced the viability of the sperm we harvested. We continued to process the sperm and were able to freeze 9 straws (3 breeding doses) containing spermatozoa with a marginal motility of 35%. Upon thawing a few weeks later, we discovered the sperm motility had dropped to nearly 0%, with a few diehards making their way across the microscopic field. The Breeding Gods were not looking favorably on us that day; sorry Vern. With some slight modifications to our procedures after our steep learning curve, I think we will be successful in the future. In the meantime, all males at Miner Institute regard us with guarded suspicion as we look forward to the next castration. VERN: THE WINTER OF DESPAIR AND THE SPRING OF HOPE Vern healed beautifully and without any complications from his castration surgery in November, was the short and sweet follow up that I d hoped to report in this issue of The Stable Sheet. Alas, this was not the case. Despite having been on a couple of different types of antibiotics combined with some bute to help with swelling and discomfort, and hot packing the sheath area to facilitate drainage, Vern wasn t healing on his left side (the right closed just fine). He tried very hard to be a patient patient, but when one day the swelling seemed even more increased, he let us know with uncharacteristic kicking out that THIS HURT and he was through with our kind of help! After another visit from the vet and a telephone consultation with Dr. Phil VanHarreveld at Vermont Large Animal Katie Ballard ballard@whminer.com Clinic, it was decided that follow up in the clinic would be necessary. Suspecting that the end of the spermatacord that had been cut with testes removal had become necrotic or dead, they sedated him to do an ultrasound which would show the piece of tissue that would need to be removed. They didn t find anything with the ultrasound so they needed to lay him down for a quick follow-up surgery to clear out the draining tract and hopefully find whatever was causing the infection. They searched as well as they could, cleaned the wound as best they could, and then after recovering and giving a few bags of intravenous fluids, Vern returned home again with some serious heavy-hitter antibiotics and hopes that this would take care of the lingering infection. See VERN, Page 7 The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May

7 SUMMER EXPERIENCE AT MINER: ONE FOR THE MEMORY BOOK The Summer Experience in Equine Management will mark its 27th year in The program emphasizes horse handling and training skills; students learn ground training techniques such as halter breaking, lungeing, longlining, and ground driving. Students also get experience handling stallions, and with semen collection and processing, as well as managing broodmares. In addition, students also have the opportunity to participate in other farm operations such as milking, calf care, and field work. When Cathy Lombardi arrived at Miner Institute for the 1998 program, she admits she had no idea what she was getting into. She had just wrapped up her junior year at Cornell University and knew she wanted to go on to veterinarian school, but she wanted to get some more experience handling horses. The program, she said, exceeded my expectations by 1000-fold. Cathy went on to vet school at Kansas State University. She now works at The Oaks Equine and Farm Services, a fourdoctor vet practice in Southeast Virginia. The summer experience program at Miner, she said, really probably helped me get into vet school. She cited the vast amount of horse handling, seeing firsthand how a breeding-training operation runs, and the ability to conduct research as invaluable experiences. Cathy grew up riding horses in Westchester County, NY. She found out about the program at Miner through the animal science department at Cornell. The 13 weeks she spent at Miner exponentially increased her horse handling skills, she said, adding that many of her vet school classmates didn t have the same level of experience handling horses. It was really amazing, she said of the program. Before coming to Miner, Cathy said she had never had any experience driving horses, and learning how was one of the best parts of the program for her. Learning how to drive and experiencing how horses are trained to drive was incredible, she said. She hopes that one day she may get back into it. In 2012, Cathy was an invited speaker at Miner Institute s annual EquiDay event. She spoke about Lyme Disease and Colic in horses. That was a huge honor, Cathy said of coming back to Miner for EquiDay. Cathy said that when she encounters college students, she always talks up the summer experience program at Miner. I absolutely recommend the program to undergrads, she said. I definitely think it s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she said. It s really important for equine vets to know multiple facets of the horse industry. The program at Miner helped my ability to practice and to relate to a wide variety of clients. Rachel Dutil dutil@whminer.com VERN, Continued From Page 6 Three times per day, we d put on our gloves (you shouldn t touch the stuff) and fill a syringe with 32cc of chloramphenicol to administer orally. We watched him carefully for signs of diarrhea that would show that the side effects of the medicine were too hard on him. Despite its alluring cake-batter-like scent, it is bitter, awful stuff and he didn t even want to eat treats for sometimes over an hour after getting medicated. We apologized to Vern multiple times per day for making him endure this yuckiness, but promised him that it would work out for the best in the end. Three full weeks of antibiotics later and he was finally closed, healed, and DONE being castrated. Vern is now officially a healthy gelding! We did treat him for 3 weeks with omeprazole for ulcers, since he had so much medicine and so many times that his stomach was empty and his appetite improved considerably. As well, the equine dentist gave him a great check-up and floating to make the hay that he was eating even easier to chew. All that s left for Vern now is to become the great riding horse we re sure he s meant to be. Karen Lassell lassell@whminer.com Learn more about Miner Institute s equine program at whminer.org/equine.html View the Miner Morgan sales list at whminer.org/equine-sales.html The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May

8 The William H. Miner Agriculutural Research Institute 1034 Miner Farm Road P.O. Box 90 Chazy, NY Change Service Requested Non-Profit Organization U.S.POSTAGE PAID Chazy, N.Y Permit No. 8 FEATURED MINER MORGAN: GCM VERNON HALL GCM Vernon Hall (GCM Shiloh x Promise Maid) is a long and lean black chestnut gelding. Vern has lived at Miner for several years, first as a leased stallion and more recently donated and gelded. He came to us pleasant and willing, but not knowing very much for his age (he s 21 now). He sired 2 foals, one for us (HD Gouverneur, a 3-yearold gelding out of UVM Valkyrie) and one for a farm in Ontario. THIS is Vern s year! We ll be training him to ride this summer and I m hopeful that he ll turn out to be as nice a Western Pleasure mount as I think he s got the potential to be. He is sound, has a strong topline and an easy way of moving and he has great hair! As he s settled into gelding-life, his comedian personality is really coming though; this guy will keep someone entertained. Watch for Vern to move to the sales list, but feel free to contact me about him before then if you d like to meet him or hear about his progress in training OFFICE FAX Like Heart s Delight Morgan Horses on Facebook! The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute Stable Sheet May