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All about horses in northern B.C. Issue # 111: January 29, 2002 Published each Tuesday by Kristi McCrindle, editor, Southbank, BC With this recent cold snap, I want to remind everyone to make sure their horses are getting enough water. Most horses limit their water intake in the cold, so try to provide warmed water for them. Eating snow is hard on their systems - it uses up valuable heating energy to melt the snow and cools the body off as well. Water intake is important to ward off digestive upsets such as colic caused by impaction. So if possible, use a water heater, or consider adding a warm bran mash as I mentioned last week. You can also use wet beet pulp to add water to his diet - if your horse will eat it before it freezes! I haven't much else to talk about this week. I am getting caught up in the preparation for the Fall Fair - the Bulkley Valley Exhibition Light Horse Show section of it anyway. While the show doesn't happen until August, I am already 2 months behind in the planning stages! If you are interested in being part of the 3rd largest horse show in BC, please email me at kristi@hiway16.com - we can always use volunteers in all capacities! We are also desperate for cash sponsors this year as so many businesses in Smithers have closed down this year. If you can donate just $30, you can be a class sponsor! It is good advertising, as well as making you part of the tradition of the Fall Fair. photo courtesy Chris Hassell I'm hoping to trade some horses around today - weather permitting we'll be moving my buckskin gelding to a friend's place for her daughter to put some miles on him, and I'll be taking her mare home to work with in the arena. If that works out (it warmed up but now it's snowing!) I'll let you know more about it next week. But for now, I'll sign off. Till next week, ~ Kristi :) email to editor: kristi@hiway16.com Photo Show for horse photos Horse articles (word search: horse) Check our Horse Trailer Sharing Page or... add your listing if you wish to share your horse trailer ride Join us for a discussion about everything to do with horses on Horse Talk Your opportunity to meet horse enthusiasts across northern B.C

	Past articles are all available in the
End of the Line - Part 8	End of the Line - Personal stories	Colour Genetics 101 - Part 7 (last part on dun dilutes)
So the next question is, what do we do with the body? Again, the severity of the problem may dictate where you have your horse put down. Again using the broken leg by the highway analogy, you are not going to worry about hauling your horse off to a vet clinic, instead you are going to find someone to put your horse down (either with a gun or have the vet come out to the scene) and then afterwards you will deal with removing the horse's body. However, if you are dealing with a chronic debilitation, quality of life or old age case, or any other situation that is not immediately requiring a decision, you have some choices in where you have your horse put down. Part of this decision will depend on where you live. Putting him down in your backyard and burying him under his favourite tree might sound touching, but it may not be practical. You will have to arrange for appropriate equipment if you plan on a burial, and also a suitable location must be chosen. Some areas have regulations on carcass disposal, even on your own private property. These regulations are put into place to protect waterways, buried pipes and wires and so on. If you live way out in the country, there's a good chance you know where everything is and can find a good spot. However, if you are more urban (such as many horse owners are, on 5 acre parcels at the edge of the city limits, for instance) there likely will be rules governing the burial of large animals. Remember too that some dumps will not accept large animals. Contact them first! Some dumps will allow you to bring a large animal carcass for a disposal fee. You could haul the body out into the wilderness if you are able to. There the horse will become food for many wild creatures. This is not a good idea if the horse was heavily drugged or put down with a fatal dose, as those drugs may cause problems with the scavenging animals - same goes if the horse was on any sort of medication shortly before death. Another consideration of this method of disposal is that of neighbourhood dogs - personally, we chose to bury our dead horse to prevent my dog from getting into the carcass. Another option is to contact the owners of certain types of dogs. For instance, owners of huskies used as sled dogs are often looking for meat or fish that people don't want, and they may be very interested in a fresh body. Anyone who owns a kennel may be willing to dispose of the body for you. Check out your options carefully ahead of time. Some people are not willing to look at certain options, and that is okay - "to each his own" as they say. Best to know what you are comfortable with ahead of time.	Some months ago, a woman wrote to a mailing list I am on and asked for opinions on the difficult decision she was facing. Her horse had been diagnosed with a combination of maladies, from navicular to laminitis to arthritis, and possibly even Cushings disease. She was seriously considering having her old friend put down, but was concerned that many people would think her cruel for her decision, and so turned to the list members for support. I emailed her back privately and we started several days of correspondence. I listed, in detail, what each of those conditions meant to her horse. Navicular meant pain in his front legs and feet, as did the laminitis. The arthritis was in his hind end and so he hurt there too. The Cushings disease was actually the least of her worries, but added one more thing to an already burdened old horse. Once it was clear to this woman that her beloved horse's quality of life was suffering, and that she held the key to end that distress - and that was more important than anyone else's reaction - the decision became easy. She decided to have her old fellow put down that coming weekend. Someone else sent in this poem in to the list, about how to tell when it was time to put a horse down to ease its pain. This is a super poem to help support you when you need to make that final decision. When the spark in the eye burns out, When the old flash of mischief doesn't flash, When you no longer get greeted with a whinny, When he asks for you to make the choice, - author unknown After the weekend in which she let her old guy go, she emailed me and told me that it was done. Though sad, she felt that she had done the right thing, by allowing her old horse to be released from his earthly bonds, to move free of pain and to run again with dignity - and to cross the Rainbow Bridge. I hope you enjoy the Rainbow Bridge story as much as we did. If you are new to Northern B.C. Horse, check out all the previous issues on the Archive page. Kristi is building a great knowledge base about horses, with the emphasis on our area of the world. Northern B.C. Horse is brought to you courtesy of our advertisers including: Burns Lake Building Supplies Griffin Enterprises Hoskins Ford Northern Horse Supply Ridennoure Paint Horses The Tack Store Thanks to our advertisers for making this all possible... ...for information about advertising, email jim@hiway16.com Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse	There are a few other factors that can be found on dun horses but they are not listed in the nine dun factor points. Smile lines are not officially recognized as a dun factor, but many dun owners have discovered these only on their dun gened horses. Smile lines are the little light coloured lines that follow the same lines as that of the horse?s mouth - a small streak extending past the corners of the lips on each side. Not all duns have these either. Fishboning is another dun trait that is not as commonly found. Fishboning, or barbs, refer to the barb-like extensions from the dorsal stripe, extending out towards the side of the horse's barrel (sort of like the transverse withers stripe but further along the back). These also can be barely visible to very vivid. Many people get confused because of the lack of understanding of the actual genes involved in creating these colours. While we now know that cremellos are not albinos, and that buckskins and duns are caused by different genes, many years of incorrect information has led to many beliefs that are known now to be untrue - but without spreading the word to those who don't know, that misinformation continues to be spread. The dun gene dilutes a base colour to another recognized colour, much the same way the cream gene does. A red dun is simply the dun gene acting on a sorrel base coat. A dun gene on a bay coat (which you may remember is a black horse with the agouti modifier) produces a standard dun, often confused with buckskin. These horses tend to be yellowish in body colour with dark brown or black points. A dun gene on a black horse produces a grulla or grullo (pronounced grew-ya or grew-yo, feminine and masculine). The hairs on a grulla will actually appear grey in colour, unlike a true grey horse which is a mix of white and coloured hairs. Grullas have also been referred to as mouse duns or black duns. Wow! So far this has been an in-depth look at several of the genes responsible for various colours of the horse. Over the coming weeks, we'll continue to look at other genes, including pintos and roans (which you are likely familiar with) and pangare, smutty, and rabicano (which you may not heard of before!).
	If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com

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