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Fall is upon us so Winter won't be far behind. Soon we'll need to batten down the hatches and close up everything to keep our horses as warm and cozy. All closed in for winter coupled with sweaty saddle pads, moist leather, urine and manure and you’re in for some serious “barn odors” that are far from cozy. Bad barn smells are one factor but also consider yours and your horses respiratory health. Fresh, clean air is a key component of that. Here’s 5 tips to help you keep your barn smelling like roses (well maybe not roses per se but at least not stinky winter “barn odor” smells) all winter long!

1. Fresh Air. Check your stable for proper ventilation. Without creating a massive draft, crack windows and stable doors at least for a short portion of each day to allow for fresh air flow through your barn.

2. Sufficient Bedding. Yes, proper bedding is costly but this is not a place to cut corners in the winter months when horses are standing in their stalls more often than not. Whether you bed on straw, shavings, or pellets make sure you have a sufficient amount of bedding to absorb urine in your stalls. Investing in quality stall mats can also mitigate the amount of bedding needed thus saving your expense on bedding in the long run.

3. Clean Up. Pick urine and manure from your stalls daily then spray Bye Bye Odor on the urine spots. The Bye Bye Odor will eliminate the ammonia in the urine. Believe your stall smell just fine? Get down at floor level where your horses noses spend a great deal of time and take a wiff. Ammonia not only smells bad but is detrimental to respiratory health. Bye Bye Odor eliminates the ammonia but likewise it has a light, refreshing, pleasant smell on its own.

4. Water Buckets. Don’t just refill water buckets but make a habit of dumping, rinsing and then refilling at least every other day. This is a year round tip. If you are just constantly refilling buckets with grain and hay remnants floating around it will sour. Encourage your horses to drink more water by keeping a fresh, clean supply readily available for them.

5. Blanket Maintenance. Try using a light fleece sheet under your winter blankets that you can wash easily and that will dry fast for reuse. This will keep the layer closest to your horse fresh plus wick away any sweat that might accumulate if they do get too hot, and cut down your grooming time by always having a clean layer on them. Winter blankets usually only get washed 1 or 2 times a season. Spray urine and manure spots on your outer blanket and straps with Bye Bye Odor to neutralize the smell.

Happy Fall!

We have a busy fall at Spalding Labs! We'll be all over this great country. If you're nearby, stop in and say hello!

Cowboy Dressage Final
October 9 - October 14 at Murieta Equestrian Center
Soft Feel (or Fresh Rein) is the guiding principle of Cowboy Dressage. The Finals competition is held each fall with this years major prize giving called Riding for the Brand. Riding for the Brand was an unwritten code of the Old West but understood by everyone who agreed to live the cowboy life on the open range — that the cowboy should always “ride for the brand.” In the early days of the American West, a brand was a ranch’s trademark. It meant protecting the ranch and its livestock, whatever it took. The brand also represented pride, duty, stewardship, loyalty and dedication. Perhaps a few lines of a cowboy poem say it best: “Riding for the brand means to help neighbors and friends, search for that one last stray, even though you’re tired and it’s the end of the day. It’s just not the cowboy way to quit.” Cowboy Dressage reflects those principles of being moral, just, fair and dedicated.
Discover one of the fastest growing riding disciplines, Cowboy Dressage at cowboydressageworld.com

Equine Affaire
November 7 November 10 in W. Springfield, MA at The Big E
North America’s premiere equine exposition and equestrian gathering… a unique celebration of the horse offering unparalleled educational, entertainment, and shopping opportunities. Enjoy an unparalleled program of hundreds of training clinics, seminars, and demos presented by leading coaches, competitors, trainers, and industry experts on a wide range of disciplines and topics. Hone your basic horsemanship skills at this diverse pavilion featuring a full schedule of demonstrations, video presentations, and interactive educational displays and activities for new riders and horse owners of all ages. Meet dozens of fascinating horse breeds from around the world "up close and personal" through association-sponsored exhibits and demos. Discover training, breeding, boarding, and lesson facilities; stallions at stud; and horses for sale to help you find the right horse, trainer, teacher, and equestrian service. Browse the largest horse-related trade show in the east with acres of leading retailers and manufacturers offering an impressive selection of equine products and services. Catch all the action of (or ride in) this timed and judged ultimate test of horsemanship in which pre-selected horse and rider teams will compete for $5,500. Find your next horse at Equine Affaire's Adoption Affaire! Meet dozens of adoptable horses of various breeds, ages, and disciplines from several different rescue organizations all in one place! Don’t miss your chance for a fascinating hands-on gentle giants experience!
Learn more about Equine Affaire’s celebrity line up at equineaffaire.com

Horse Expo
November 8 - November 10 in Pomona, CA at the Fairplex
One of the fastest growing expos in the United States, California’s Western States Horse Expo in Pomona is a must-attend event for any horse owner. In three short days, you can catch up on the latest training and education, shop the nation’s premier equine vendors and connect with your horse friends. Attending the expo is a low-cost, high quality way to stay engaged in the horse industry, making sure you have the tools, knowledge and products to help make the most of your investment in the horse owning lifestyle year round.
Check out the Horse Expo’s schedule at horsexpo.com

We hope to see you at one OR ALL of these terrific events!

I read, recently, that 90% of the population of the U.S.A. now lives in large cities. How different from the first half of this nation’s history, when a majority of the inhabitants lived in a rural environment, either on farms, or in small communities close to agricultural activities. Indeed, frontier life was even closer to nature.

Today, most children grow up so far removed from the food producing aspects of life and society in the past, that many of them are ignorant of these vital and basic contributions to survival. Increasingly I am shocked by comments or questions that illustrate this growing area of ineptness. I believe that early in their schooling, our children should be taught the history and significance of human nutrition. Let me relate just a few incidents, which dramatize the ignorance that exists in our urbanized population:

1.  Hawaii. I am visiting a large cattle ranch. A tour bus pulls up and the tourists come out to hear a ranch employee explain, briefly, the history of the ranch. Most of the passengers are taking photos of the grazing cattle. One asks, “What do they eat?”
Answer: “Grass!”
Response: “Grass? They eat grass?”

2.  I am doing a rectal palpation on a mare at a boarding stable. A well-dressed gentleman watches me. His young daughter boards a horse at the stable. As I completed my examination he asks, “Why did you do that?”
“I’m checking to see if she’s pregnant,” I explain.
“In there?” he gasps.

3.  A woman telephones me. “A sheep herder gave my kids a two day old orphan lamb. They love it. What should I feed it?”
“Cow’s milk,” I respond. Out of a regular human baby bottle.
“Cow’s milk?” Where am I going to get that?”
“Do you drink milk?” I ask.
“Yes, sure!”
“What kind?” I ask.
“I drink skim. My husband likes regular.”
“Where do you get it?”
“At the supermarket,” she explains.
“Where do they get the milk?” I ask.
“I don’t know. From a dairy company I suppose.”
“And where does the dairy company get the milk?”
“I don’t know! How should I know?”
“Well, it comes from somewhere!”
“Well … Oh! … Oh! … Cow’s milk!”

4.  Hawaii again. An agricultural and spectacular natural paradise. I am doing a seminar for a group of mainland horse owners, most of them residents of large cities. We are invited to participate in a cattle roundup. Everybody is pleased. Suddenly a wild pig bursts out of the underbrush. Two of the Paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys) immediately go after the pig. One ropes its head, the other its hind legs. Thus captured, they tie the 85-pound porker behind a saddle, and when we get back to the ranch headquarters with the herd, they untie the hog and release it into a pasture fenced with hog wire. One of the Paniolos says, “We gonna fatten him up for a month and then we gonna have a luau (a barbecue).

One of my students says, “Oh, they’re turning him loose. I’m so glad. I was afraid they were planning to eat him.”

“Not yet,” I explained.

5.  A rock music star bought a cattle ranch in my area. One Sunday I received an emergency call. “One of our cows is trying to have a calf. It’s been halfway out of her all morning, but it’s still stuck. Can you come out?”

I had a very full schedule, despite the fact that it was the weekend. So it was discouraging to know that the ranch in question did not possess a cattle chute. It had been one of my clients for years before these new owners had bought the ranch. I remembered some of the “rodeos” necessary to treat some of the cattle.

So, I drove to the ranch with apprehension. There she was, lying on her side with a calf half way out of her. She was near an old oak tree. If I could drop a lariat around her neck and snub it to the tree trunk, there were enough people around to hold her while I injected a tranquilizer to restrain her.

So, I sneaked up towards her back, my lariat ready to throw if she moved. She did! She must have heard me because she explosively jumped to her feet and started to run. Realizing that her escape would mean a lot of wasted time in a busy emergency laden day, I ran after her and threw my lariat rope at her head. It landed on the back of her neck and slid along her back as she ran away from me. But, then the loop went over her hind end and over the calf’s head and forelegs. I reflexively pulled it back, and (yay!) it snared the calf. I leaned back, and presto! The half delivered calf popped out of the birth canal and was on the ground before me.

Then came a gasp from one of the guests and she said something I have never forgotten. “I didn’t know they delivered calves that way!”

6.  Both our son and daughter were active in 4-H as they grew up. It’s a fine organization. We made sure they were involved in non-slaughter projects. At our county fair it always disturbed us to see the crying youngsters as the livestock projects they had bonded with and cared for went off in trucks headed for the packing houses. So our kids raised and trained rabbits, goats, horses and a dairy heifer.

Once, we were requested by 4-H to lead a 4-H pack trip into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Debby rode up front with the pack outfit guide. I rode at the rear.

At one point we were on a very steep trail, barely wide enough for a single horse. One side was a very steep mountainside. On the other side was an almost vertical drop to the canyon floor.

Several young men, backpackers, came down the trail. Up front, our column was stopped to allow the backpackers to pass us. They were going uphill. We were going down.

As the first hiker made his way past the horse in front of me, the horse lifted his tail and defecated, necessitating the hiker to step over the steaming pile and, as he did so he grimaced, and said “Ugh! That is disgusting!”

I dismounted, blocking his progress, and I said, “What? What’s the problem?”

Still grimacing he pointed at the mound of fresh manure. I bent over and picked a ball of fresh manure with my bare fingers. “What?” I said. “What’s the problem?”

Shocked, he shouted, “You’re crazy! You’re nuts!”

I studied the ball of manure, sniffed it and offered it to him. Revolted, he drew back shouting “Oh no! You’re crazy! I can’t believe it! You’re insane!”

“Looks okay to me,” I responded. “Here,” I offered him. “Take it. It’s okay.”

“Aaah!” He gasped. “Crazy!” And he jogged up the trail away from me.

“It’s okay!” I called after him as the 4-Hers closest to me collapsed in laughter. “It’s okay. He’s just a nice healthy horse!”

Okay! I normally watch only four TV channels, two to get opposing political positions, one for its veterinary and wildlife programs, and one for its once a week reality humor. So it has been a drag for me to watch otherwise wasteful TV in order to collect the data for this article.

Moreover, this is the second time I have reported the unexplainable phenomenon that the pharmaceutical industry, even including its academic research constituents, persist in using the letter “X” in naming new drugs. Why? This applies not only to the product’s proprietary name, but also to many of the generic names.

I am obligated to report about this puzzling, irrational, but obviously effective tendency to increase sales of the respective drugs. Why else would they do it? More importantly, why does it work?

My research project ended today, just prior to me sitting down to write this column. I have no doubt that if I continued to search the channels for drug commercials flaunting the letter “X”, the forthcoming list would be much larger. But, frankly, two weeks of watching the Boob Tube and writing down drug names, many of which are in ads warning of such side effects as internal bleeding, loss of vision or hearing, cardiac arrest, pancreatitis, anaphylaxis, angioedema and even death, are all I can take.

As I accumulated the list below, I wondered if television itself was responsible for some of the cited side effects.

So, without further comment (and why I am the only person with a degree in medicine to have reported this “X” phenomenon, to the best of my knowledge), here is the list of “X” drugs I saw in television commercials in one two week period.

Nuedexta, Apixaban, Naltrexone, Rivaroxaban, Prodaxo, Eluxadoline, Xeljanz, Naloxegol, Zoustavax, Nuedexta and Rexulti.

There were even ads for drugs with two “X”s: Axploxion and Axploxionex.

You know if I were a pharmaceutical producer, I would try three or more “X”s, like: Pexenicillinexbiotix or Axisperxinex or Hydroxinogenex Peroxide. Imagine the efficacy of such products.

Since I wrote this, new products are being advertised. Two begin with “X”. The third has a silent letter preceding the “X” (which is pronounced “Z”).