THE HORSE GAZETTE


take the Purina® 60-Day Challenge Rabbit: Get $3 off your


You’ll do just about any- Horse Megga Store


thing for your animals. At Purina®, we understand. We’ve been feeding animals for 116 years. And we perfect our feed at the Long View Animal Nu- trition Center, a working farm and the only facility of its kind in the country. In fact, we’re so confi-


OPEN TO THE PUBLIC...and much more than just a feed store! Roping, Barrel, Pleasure,


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26-equine study courses leading to a Bachelor of Science Degree, Professional Horse Trainer or Riding Instructor Certification, or any single course for your personal enrichment.


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Don Blazer teaches Conformation and Selection for Performance, Training Performance Horses, Bits and Shoeing and The Business of Making Money with Horses. Nancy Cahill teaches Perfect Lead Changes. Norma Fay teaches Fit to Ride. Tammy Fifer teaches Dressage: Foundation for All Riding Disciplines. Cathy Hanson teaches Preparation for Competition and Showmanship In Hand. Ruth E. Kochard teaches Legal Aspects of Horse Management. Betty Lindquist teaches Equine Massage. Todd Martin teaches Train for Rein- ing. Holly Mason teaches Flexibility by Design. Dr. Jim & Lynda McCall teaches Behavior Modification Techniques and Coat Color Genetics. Eleanor Richards teaches Nutrition for Maximum Performance and Stable Management. Dr. Jack Sales teaches Equine Health and Disease Management and Equine Reproduction. R.E. Smith teaches Traditional Vaquero Hackamore Training. Cherie Vonada teaches Riding Instructor Role and Responsibility and Teaching Techniques and Hunter Under Saddle.


dent about our feed, we guarantee it. Try Purina® feed for 60 days. You’ll see the difference in your animals or we’ll buy it back. Just for participat- ing, you’ll save from $15 to $50 off (value depends on specie) Purina® feed for the year.* Additional details are outlined below. As a sign-up bonus, you


will receive a welcome e-mail with one coupon per animal you enter in the Challenge. You are welcome to enroll up to two different species. Here are the Challenge offers you could receive:


Horse: Get $10 off your


feed purchase when you buy two bags of premium Purina® horse feeds and Purina® Horseman’s Edge® horse feed. Click on the Savings and Eli- gible Feeds button on the homepage to see the full list of eligible feeds. Flock: Get $3 off your


feed purchase when you buy two bags of Purina® Layena® Sunfresh® Rec- ipe or Purina® Start & Grow® Sun- fresh® Recipe poultry feeds. Click on the Savings and Eligible Feeds button on the homepage to se the full list of eligible feeds.


by Ingrid Edisen


purchase of one bag of Purina® Rab- bit Chow™ rabbit foods. Goat: Get $5 off your


purchase of two bags of Purina® Goat Chow® goat feeds. Cattle: Get $10 off your


purchase of two bags of Purina® Wind and Rain® Cattle Mineral or get $5 off your purchase of two bags of Purina® 12% Phosphorus Cattle Mineral. Show: Get $10 off your


purchase when you buy two bags of Purina® Honor® Show Chow® ani- mal feeds or two buckets of Purina® Honor® Show Chow® High Octane® Supplements.


To see which feeds are


eligible for the Challenge, click on the Savings and Eligible Feeds button on the homepage.


Want to save even more? Don’t forget to sign up


for our Purina Difference™ Rewards Program and receive additional sav- ings on Purina® feed for your animals each season (fall, winter, spring and summer), such as: Horse: Savings of $5 on


Purina® horse feeds. C h i c k e n : Savings of at least $2 on Purina® poul- try feeds. Rabbit: Savings of at least $2 on Purina® Rabbit Chow™ rabbit foods. Goat: Savings of at least $2 on Purina® Goat Chow® goat feeds. Cat- tle: Savings of $5 on Purina® cattle minerals. Show: Savings of $5 on


Purina® Honor® Show Chow® ani- mal feeds or Purina® Honor® Show Chow® High Octane® supplements. Purina Difference™ Re-


wards Refer-A-Friend Program Through the Purina Dif-


ference™ Rewards program, you can also participate in our Refer-A-Friend Program. Through this program, you will receive a referral code unique to you through an e-mail alert. For each friend who signs


up for the Purina® 60 Day See The Difference Challenge at PurinaDiffer- ence.com and uses your unique code, you will receive a $5.00 off coupon for Purina® feed. You can refer up to five friends and receive coupons for up to $25 off of Purina® feed. For new Purina Difference™ Rewards members, look for communications about the program this summer.


Switch Offer When shopping at Pu-


rina® Certified Expert Dealer loca- tions, customers buying competitive feeds can receive an additional in- centive to buy Purina® feed through the Purina® Switch offer.** You can receive $5.00 off your in-store purchase just for returning an empty bag of competitor’s feed. This is great way to save $5.00 while sampling Pu- rina® feed. Offer valid while supplies last and available only at Purina® Certified Expert dealers; see dealer locator.


month after the last Tennes- see trail ride, I never went on any LONG trail rides again. However, that did not stop me from doing short, suburban type rides. So, the adventuring spirit continued, but so did the hell (at times).


for 25 years had many loose dogs. A pack used to follow me and my horse up and down, threatening us all the while. One dog in particular, a pit bull mix, would try to get in close. And at the top of the street, whenever I passed another house, their porous fence allowed whatever dogs they had at the time to get out. For a while that particular family had a terrier that actually leaped up and tried to bite my mare’s throat. By then I had her so well trained not to freak out and RUN that she had erroneously listened to me too well. Fortunately that dog disap- peared after it bit a jogger. One warmish, sunlit


October day I was riding deep into scratchy hill country cedar brush with a friend of mine. We’d hiked over the ridge from the backside of our home barn and were going cross country, skirting the backsides of the vari- ous pseudo-ranchettes. Along a high line, a cut through utility easement, we were reveling in the feeling of “riding the rough coun- try.” Our horses were perky and happy to be out...until we ran into a large fallen tree that blocked our way. Just as we deliberated the best way to navigate this, a swarm of wasps rose up. The horses were stamping; we were yelling. In our haste to get out of there fast, I forced my difficult mare to jump the tree, complete with a Western saddle and for once she didn’t argue with me. My friend pushed through around through the thick underbrush and


The street I boarded on


trail rides from hell - part 3 As I explained last


we dashed away. Once clear of the stinging insects, we paused to catch our breath. “Look at that!” my


friend said, pointing to some- thing about 15 yards away. I turned and spot-


try ride around the neighbor- hood, four of us were making our way deep into “the woods” when we encountered another sunbeam Fellini-like scene. Another set of people, a family of three on foot, approached us on the rough caliche soil pushing a baby stroller. The afternoon sun backlit the couple and the gentle rays of sunlight that could make it through the trees lit up the stroller’s pale canopy. The stroller jerked and bounced mightily as it rolled over the rocky soil--much like a grocery cart would on a cobblestone street. The man walked up to us and ordered us off of his land. Fair enough even though nothing was posted or fenced. But what got us was his statement that we horseback riders had caused the “erosion” with our horse’s feet and he pointed to a ten-foot deep dry creek bed that had been cut by much greater forces than we could ever imagine. To this day I still wonder if that baby suffered from shaken baby syndrome. About fifteen years


queen mode” back then and had signed up for an out-of-town


ago, I remarried and sweet talked my second husband into accom- panying me on a quasi-horse camping situation which stopped his enthusiasm for good! I was in my “dressage


lighted by a sunbeam as if they were on a Las Vegas stage were two tortoises mating. This did not seem to be the right time of year but what did we know? It was an odd scene after a slightly tortuous experience. On another hill coun-


be true. But the first night we got there, my new husband was upset to find no toilet and only a bucket in a cinder block corner that the barn help (who were all away at a show) used for their “shower.” We never did find a working bathroom or hot water. The stalls went on for miles. I told him to use one as a latrine. He still refers to this trip with a sneer. It was very cold that weekend. The frigid temperatures bit my naked crotch every time I hid to squat. My husband announced he was going on strike would not take a shower at all and considered it my fault. The clinician had to be swathed in multiple human and horse blankets and stoved up in an open VW van with a space heater aimed at his back. In the video tapes from this clinic it looks as its snowing. I’m so covered up I look like a helmeted beach ball Bedouin--not the dressage queen of my fantasies--as I bounced up and down in the saddle. By Sunday we argued


our way to an IHOP before my first ride. The wind whipped our dry, nasty hair up into a feathery froth as we trekked in from the parking lot. We sat down--our skin almost frostbitten, looking transient hard. “Have you been camp-


ing?” the waitress asked sweet- ly.


still married. By God’s grace, I am


clinic. We were warned it would be in the outskirts of town and at a large barn but we needed to be prepared as if we were camp- ing out in regards to food, etc. Supposedly there was a shower available to us (one of my new husband’s requirements) and were promised a nice warm bed to sleep in as there was a mobile camper set up. The bed part proved to


Serving Texans’ Hay Needs Since 1995 Horse Quality Coastal Hay


We strive to harvest our hay every 32 days with 400 lbs. of fertilizer to the acre, every cutting to keep the quality high. Tedding the hay allows faster drying to keep more protein rich leaves intact.


State of the art pivot system allows us to keep the quality high, with efficient use of natural resources. We have 1,000 acres of Coastal Bermuda... we farm year round.


When you need hay, we have it. We are capable of storing 40,000 bales in 4 weatherproof storage facilities.


Conveniently sized square bales. You can pick up hay from us, or we can deliver it to you. Devine, Texas Page 8 Visit us at: www.HorseGazette.com


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