Dave Mizejewski

| Posted by Sharon Biggs Waller

On Monday I had the privilege of interviewing Dave Mizejewski for my livestock Q and A for Hobby Farms.  Dave is a media personality, author, blogger and a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation.  You  may recognize his name from Backyard Habitat on Animal Plant and from his appearances on NBC’s Today Show, The Martha Stewart Show and Good Morning America.  And of course now you’ll know him as a guest source for Hobby Farms!

Dave is one of those people who is utterly passionate about wildlife, and he totally understood that a good many (I’m even thinking maybe ALL) hobby farmers and urban farmers want to have a farm that exists in harmony with the surrounding wildlife.  Not only is having an eco-friendly farm good for the planet, but when predators and prey are in balance, they tend to stay away from your own livestock and plants.  And many can even help out on the farm.  Raptors keep voles and mice out of the barn, bees and other pollinators increase yield, and birds that eat insects keep that pesky population in check.  But sometimes a predator can learn that chickens or other farmyard critters are easier to get hold of (and probably even tastier) than a fleet-footed mouse or rabbit.  That’s the case with my reader’s question.  A hawk had learned to pick off her free range chickens, kill them, and eat them on the spot.  Since raptors are protected by federal law, farmers have to learn to work with a predator instead of against them.  Dave explained that raptors are very smart, and once one learns to hunt chickens she keeps doing it until she fails a few times.  Once she realizes it isn’t worth it, she moves on to other prey.  That means my reader might have to keep the hens off the range and indoors for awhile.  As Dave said, sometimes the total protection of the flock for a little while is worth it in the end.  And for sure, my reader can go back to admiring her resident hawk soaring over her fields dive-bombing field mice. And that’s as it should be.

To read Dave’s entire answer, you’ll have to wait for the May/June issue of Hobby Farms.  But in the meantime, if you’re interested in finding the best tractor or all purpose vehicle for your farm, take a look at my article on the subject (my pro source is the AMAZING Cherry Hill–yes, I know how lucky I am to get to interview people like this) in March’s Horse Illustrated, which is out very soon.

In the meantime, look at this great photo on Dave’s blog.  This will give you a good idea of his sense of humor.  I love the koala’s little hand holding the leaves.

I also want to apologize for the lack of posts on the blog.  I had foot surgery just before Christmas and it’s been healing slowly.  I thought that would give me more time to write the blog, but turns out it’s hard to be inspired when you’re incarcerated in the house for weeks on end.  I couldn’t even walk to the barn to see my animals.  My husband finally brought my boy goats, Barley and Clover, up to the house on Christmas Eve so I could see them.  They bleated when they saw me.  Heart…melt.  Yes, indeed.

Anyway, I have lots to share with you in the coming days, so, as they say in the newspaper trade, watch this space!

 Chickens, Uncategorized 1 Comment

| Posted by Sharon Biggs Waller

I found this wonderful video of the children in the ballet school.  The pride on the children’s faces is amazing. SAB

 Uncategorized 2 Comments

The Nutcracker

| Posted by Sharon Biggs Waller

Each holiday season I watch a lot of Nutcrackers…I’m kind of a ballet fan, which to me is like human dressage.   My niece and I kick off the season by going to see the Nutcracker at the Joffrey in Chicago.  I watch the other Nutcrackers on the Ovation channel, performed by many different ballet companies around the world.  This year, the New York City Ballet  televised their Nutcracker live on PBS.  Not only was it fabulous, but Chelsea Clinton took the viewers backstage to see what goes on behind the scenes.  There was a short piece about the School of American Ballet, which is the associate school for the New York City Ballet (there are lots of kids on this Balanchine version of the Nutcracker, as it should be).  Something the dance mistress said really caught my attention.  She said that the children were not allowed to hang on the barre, put their elbows on the barre, yawn, talk amongst themselves, or do anything but dance and listen.  She said when she speaks the children stop, look at the teacher and listen.  They aren’t allowed to even scratch their arm, because if they do then they can’t hear what she is saying.  She went on to explain that this training would give the young dancers discipline and to prepare them for the performance.  It also instilled respect for the art of ballet.   This may seem an antiquated notion today where discipline is thought of as a punishment, but discipline means to learn, after all.

This whole thing struck me because dressage demands the same discipline and respect.  Get away from that and you lose the heart and the craft of horsemanship.  My instructor Kass instilled in me the importance of focusing during a lesson, of taking the time to hone the basics, and to perfect my seat.  So many people simply want to buy an expensive horse, start doing piaffe and flying changes and skip the other “boring” parts.  Not at Kass’s.  I went to Texas to train with her for three weeks and I, a professional trainer, was lunged for several hours a day at the sitting trot, and with no stirrups or reins.  That time in the saddle paid off.  I have a position that I’m proud of, and I’m happy I spent the time perfecting it.  And I’m glad to hand my knowledge on to my students.

There is a term in ballet called reverence.  Dancers apply this by bowing and curtsying to the teacher and pianist after class.  They aren’t doing this to give the teacher  a big head.  Reverence pays homage to the teacher’s knowledge, which was handed to her by another teacher, which was given to her by another teacher, and so on.   In this way the dancers honor the art of ballet.  We have our own reverence in dressage where we salute the judge in competition.

I don’t ride as much as I used to but I carry this discipline and respect into other facets of my life, such as in writing or working on the farm.  It holds me in good stead and I know having discipline and giving respect will help the young dancers in their lives, no matter what path they choose.

Oh, and you should have seen the children dance!  Watch a little here.

 Horses
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War Horse

| Posted by Sharon Biggs Waller

I’m absolutely thrilled that the movie War Horse (based on the play with handspring puppets, which was based on the children’s book by Michael Morpurgo) is coming out in the theaters this month.  And it’s not just because I love a horse movie, but because it makes me happy when the general public discovers how important horses were in our history and the sacrifices they made for mankind.

War Horse takes place during World War I (The Great War) and it would be the last major conflict in which military sources used mounted cavalry.  But even so, the horses’ use was restricted due to the wide scale employment of barbed wire strung across the battlefield, not to mention the machine gun, which easily ended any cavalry charge in the most deadly way.  Nevertheless, horses and mules were conscripted and used for transport, supplies and moving artillery.

Here is the very sad part.  Draft horses, light horses, and mules died in great numbers.  Between 1914 and 1918 the US exported nearly a million horses to the war effort in Europe.  6 million equines served in total.  Most of them perished on the battlefields.  Most of the ones who did make it through were slaughtered in France.  Very few made it home.

British author Jilly Cooper, who wrote the scandalous and hysterically funny novel Riders, worked tirelessly to get a war monument to animals installed at Brook Gate, Park Lane, near London’s Hyde Park.  She succeeded in 2004, and the the Animals in War Memorial is beautiful.  The first inscription on the monument reads:

This monument is dedicated to all the animals

that served and died alongside British and allied forces

in war and campaigns throughout time

The second:

They had no choice

Moira and I wrote about warhorses in The Original Horse Bible, and although we knew about the horses’ fate, it still upset us all the same.  Between World War I and II, many breeds neared extinction, such as the Exmoor pony, the Cleveland Bay, and the Trakehner.

I suppose this is why I nearly burst into tears this last weekend when I took my niece and nephews to see the movie Hugo and saw a huge cardboard display advertising War Horse.  I was toast when the first trailers came on TV.  Only last night my husband caught me welling up.  I just can’t help it.  When the part where Joey, the star of the movie, is  on the battlefield in harness, he turns his head and his little face, his white blaze, is covered in mud.  It gets me, it really does.  I just want to run out to the barn and bury my face in my horse’s mane.  See for yourself:

Show of hands.  Who cried?

 Horses, The Original Horse Bible
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Hooray for Helmets!

| Posted by Sharon Biggs Waller

I had a little accident recently on my horse.  I’m fine, my mare’s fine, but it proved to me, once again, how important helmets are.

My husband and I had just mounted up to go on a little hack around the farm on a nice fall day–no fast work, no road riding, just around the fields and trails.  We recently put in power to the barn and dug a trench for the new power line that stretches across the road that leads into the barnyard.  It had been backfilled with dirt for several months so we didn’t think much about it.  However, it rained the night before our ride and what was previously firm footing was now actually mud.  So, as Murphy’s Law would have it, as soon as I mounted up my mare stepped back and both her hind legs slid into that ditch.  So down we both came and Tully fell on top of me.   Instead of a ride on my horse I got a ride in an ambulance instead.

The point of this whole story is that I’m able to sit here and type this blog because I was wearing my helmet.  I hit my head pretty hard on the ground so I have no doubt that if I hadn’t been wearing my helmet it would have been a lot worse.  I always think stories like this encourage other people  to wear their helmets, otherwise it’s easy to get complacent.  You start to justify it: “I’m just going around the field, I’m not cantering or jumping; my horse is steady; I haven’t fallen in years so why do I need a helmet?” I’ve trained horses for nearly 20 years now and three of my worst accidents have been from the standstill.  Consider these sobering facts from the Equestrian Medical Safety Association: Most injuries occur during pleasure riding. A fall from two feet can cause permanent brain damage; falling off a horse is equivalent to falling eight feet or more above the ground.  A human skull can be shattered by an impact of 7-10 kph.  Horses can gallop at 65 kph.

The Center for Disease Control reports that head injuries in equestrian activities is on the rise.  In 2007 it reported that between 2001 and 2005, 11.7% of all sports related head injuries were from riding horses. That was the most for any single athletic activity.

A good example of the danger of helmet complacency is what happened to Olympian Courtney King-Dye.  Courtney is one of our shining stars in dressage.  She was in a hurry one day and rode a horse without a helmet.  Her horse tripped, she fell off and sustained a very bad head injury.  She was in a coma for a very long time.  Courtney’s life is changed forever, her family’s life is changed forever. As a result of Courtney’s injury a movement arose for dressage riders (and other disciplines too) to wear helmets.  I will let Courtney tell you in her own words:

Just as Courtney said, we are all a role model for someone.  So take a moment to dig out your helmet.  You never know whose life you might end up saving.  I hope my story of dodging a traumatic brain injury helped influence you too.  In honor of Courtney’s bravery in telling her own tale and supporting helmet safety, I’m holding a contest.  Send me a picture of you riding in your helmet and I’ll put you in the running to win a signed copy of The Original Horse Bible.  Send pics to sharonkbiggs@aol.com.  Entries close December 31st.

Here are some great Web sites about helmets and helmet safety:

Equestrian Medical Safety Association www.emsaonline.net

Riders4Helmets www.riders4helmets.com

 Horses, The Original Horse Bible
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The Original Horse Bible Update

| Posted by Sharon Biggs Waller

The Original Horse Bible is selling really well!  It’s currently ranking 52,000 in books (out of millions!) on Amazon right now, and number 50 in equestrian books.  So a big thank you to everyone who purchased a copy.  And in honor of this and the book’s two month release I’m offering a signed book mark for anyone who wants one, even if you haven’t purchased the book yet.  Just drop me an email at sharonkbiggs@aol.com with your address and I’ll send one out to you!

Just in case you missed the book trailer, which was created by the amazing team at Striking Media, here it is:

 

 

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Chicken Breeds

| Posted by Sharon Biggs Waller

I’ve been hard at work on my latest project, a “magabook” for Bow Tie (the publishers of Hobby Farms, Urban Farm, and the Popular Farming Series) for the past few months, hence the lack of posts on this blog!  The book is on chicken breeds and will be out in January or February.  I love writing about breeds, and as most of you know horse breeds are my specialty.  I think I’ve written about every equine breed in the world, although now and then one pops up that I haven’t heard of.  I suppose it’s a natural progression that I write about other animals.

I have to say I really like writing profiles.  I suppose it’s because I’m fascinated with history.  I write historical novels in my spare time so I guess there is a link there.  I love to learn about a breed’s history and how or why it developed.  I was talking to Diana Gabaldon last month on her blog and happened to mention the Scots Dumpy, which is a rare Scottish chicken. Diana writes the extremely wonderful and popular Outlander series, which is about a time-traveling nurse from the 1940s who falls in love with a very dishy highlander from the 18th century.  So Diana is technically a historical novelist and like all historical novelists loves all the unusual bits and bobs that are peculiar to a certain era.  I told her about how the Scots Dumpy, a short legged, squatty little chicken, was a favorite of Scottish crofters, and how they were great “watch birds,” alerting people to danger or strangers.  Anyway, Diana was intrigued and said she planned on including the breed in a future story.

I thought I’d share this kooky video with you, found in during research of meat birds.  In the 1940s the Atlantic and Pacific (A&P) grocery store chain announced a contest to find the Chicken of Tomorrow, which would be the best meat bird going.  I really get a kick out of old videos, especially the ones with that 40s sounding guy whose voice is filled with gravitas.  Listen for the part where he says “Say, that makes me hungry.”  It’s priceless.  I also love the bit where they are comparing the chickens side by side. The guy is sort of poking at the thinner chicken’s leg like “look at this skinny thing, sheesh!”

 Chickens
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