Archive for November 2018

An Amazing Article on Why Your Horse Should Not Be Blanketed

CashSnowcovered4533

This is the best, all encompassing science on why horses should not be blanketed or groomed in winter, and should be fed free-choice grass hay 24/7. Well done! Natalija! All documented and referenced at the end.

By: Natalija Aleksandrova
Holistic Horse & Hoof Care

In order for a mammal to survive, internal body temperature is kept within a very narrow range. If the temperature exceeds these limits either above or below, the chemical reactions on the cellular level function improperly. Or they stop functioning at all. Fluctuations outside of the normal temperature range result in health problems or death of the animal. Mature horses maintain their internal body temperature at a range around 38℃. Foals, rapidly growing youngsters, pregnant and lactating mares have a higher norm of their internal body temperature (Hines, 2004). Most horse owners are aware of the damage and crisis inherent with fever states. Few horse owners realize how well adapted horses are to deal with cold when certain aspects of their lifestyle are in place for them.

Over thousands of years, the wild horse has spread over the entire world. Whatever place in the world they live, the horse was exposed to constantly changing temperature — through a day/night rhythm or a seasonal rhythm. Yet even today wild and semi-wild horses, as well as domestic ones, provided with species appropriate living conditions, survive perfectly any conditions Nature exposes them to. Whether it is the north of Europe, or Australian deserts, the horse is exposed to all of Nature’s changing elements — wind, sun, rain, snow, fluctuating temperature, etc. Never in nature seeking such excessive enclosed shelters as man-made stables and barns nor caves, never in nature seeking ways of covering themselves with fabric. The horse has naturally evolved ways of thriving.

Read More→

What God Allows in His Providence Often Seems to Contradict his Purpose

Getting that first Benji movie made was like careening through a mine field of slammed doors, unplanned disasters, catastrophic mistakes, and a noticeable vacuum of money, knowledge and experience.

I was convinced that God did not want this movie made. But it turns out he absolutely did. I just wasn’t ready! He had work to do. I had what Lee Domingue calls “a God-sized dream, which is what you have whenever it seems impossible, unreasonable, and too expensive, but you have a passion for it nonetheless. A passion planted by God.”

So it’s up to him to make you better, stronger. Many times I thought this is the end of life as I know it, but it all had to happen exactly as God planned it or neither Benji nor The Soul of a Horse would exist today. All of those adversities and obstacles were there to season me, to build my competence, my knowledge base, and to test my passion. For passion is what kept me from ever giving up and gave me the drive to find ways around those impossible obstacles. God was literally molding me with experiences that would provide the wisdom and tenacity to ultimately make it all happen against a great number of apparent odds.

The memoir below begins on my second day ever on the set of a real movie. The first time was back in college. I was an extra. This time I had written the screenplay and was producing and directing the film.

Read More→