Please join us for summer fun to include riding lessons, games on horseback, crafts and more!! These day camps are designed to delight horse lovers ages 5-16!
We just added a second session for our Young Riders Camp on July 28th!
We also added Vacation Bible School hosted by Christian Congregational Fellowship Church on July 15th!
Please see our calendar of events for dates and times! Contact us for an application!
Dear Friends and Family,
We would like to announce to you all a whole new look and feel at JBIT Ranch.com! We’ve partnered with a fantastic design firm called Zero Strategist to bring JBIT Ranch.com into the 21st century. When you get a chance, please visit and take a look around. Among some of the more exciting features are a new Calendar of Events that will list Play Days, Riding Camps, functions, events and eventually even help you schedule your lessons and trainings. Also, brand new is The Natural Horse Blog. Our new blog will help keep you up to date on all of the JBIT Ranch happenings and you will receive periodic updates from Todd on horses, natural horsemanship and all manner of things relating to The Natural Horse. The blog will be our new means of communicating en masse and is an optional service, but if you want instant updates please take a moment to subscribe via email or subscribe via RSS feed and large mass emails will become a thing of the past. If you don’t care to subscribe thats fine, you can still check in regularly to read what’s going on. Additionally, if you have your own blog you can add The Natural Horse Blog to your blogroll, here is the link -
We are very excited to be able to bring you along on our journey in a new and better way.
Thank you all for your friendship and support. We appreciate you.
Warmly,
Todd and Barb
Post updated 6/15/2011
Almost every call I receive about a “problem” horse at some points includes “I have a box of bits. I’ll bring them all and you can tell me if I’m using the right one.” I usually say to go ahead and bring them, but we probably won’t use them.
Does that mean I am against bits? Absolutely not. At the right time in a horse’s development, the right bit used correctly for the right reason can be the kindest and most effective tool for the job. In most cases however, usually due to bad information, the wrong bit is being used the wrong way and for the wrong reason.
Through a program like ours and the Parelli program, a tool like a rope halter or hackamore can be used to teach all of the basic foundational skills a horse needs to be prepared for the refinement phase that often includes the introduction of a bit. Additionally, as the rider is learning his or her skills and dexterity, rope halters will significantly reduce the price our horses pay for our mistakes.
What we do not recommend, however, is that you go home, throw away your bit, put on a rope halter and hop up. If you are starting a young horse, hoping to help fix undesirable behaviors in an older horse, or just want to “go natural,” let us or other qualified natural horsemanship professionals help you build the language and communication necessary to make the transition.
If you’ve gone “natural” will you ever have to use a bit again? The answer is no, but there may come a time when you want to. If your goal is trail riding, even extreme trail riding, you may find the rope halter/hackamore remains your tool of choice forever. If you have performance discipline goals in your future, you may find that after building an excellent foundation, the proper bit is the tool for advancement.
We have been trying out our new DSLR and got some new pictures of Todd and Bubby! Take a look, we will have a lot more photos to come as we get further into Spring. Check back to see more of JBiT in action.
This is a hot topic, so I will only share my own experiences. First, I firmly believe that God didn’t put anything on the bottom of a horse’s foot that was not intended to touch the ground, and taking portions of the foot out of contact with the ground can, and usually does lead to undesirable changes in the hoof. I also believe you have a right to understand how I arrived at my conclusion.
I’ve had the feet of between 30 and 60 horses in my care for over 12 years. Most of those horses live here on the farm with us and I’ve been able to watch them and their feet every day while they’ve been in my care. Some individual horses have been here for all of those years.
For the first 8 years I shod our horses in traditional iron and aluminum shoes, including young horses born and raised here that I cared for from their first trim to first shoes, and back to their current barefoot state. Five years ago I made the decision to go barefoot, studied furiously and made the transition. In that 5 years we have lost fewer days to hoof issues than it would have been normal to lose in a couple of months with lost shoes and the resulting lost hoof. We have transitioned horses whose hooves were so weak and damaged from nails and shoes that they couldn’t even hold a shoe anymore, and were completely lame, into very sound horses riding on gravel and rocks completely sound and comfortable with beautiful, thick hoof wall and growth that dramatically outpaces the wear. We have transitioned founder horses including one in my care right now who was an 18 degree rotation in danger of sole perforation, and who is now our busiest lesson horse happily and soundly walking, gaiting and cantering on gravel roads and rocks several hours each week, and is also showing reattachment of the coffin bones to the hoof wall.
I do understand that there are times when the equine hoof may require protection. Primarily during transition from shod to barefoot, and if the horse needs to ride or work on terrain significantly rougher than that on which he lives and works regularly. In that case, there are several hoof boot options that do the job wonderfully without the perforation of nails or the permanency of shoes. We have had great success with the Easy Boot Epic. Many of these boots have completed the Tevis Cup 100 mile endurance ride proving their suitability and durability in even the harshest of conditions.
So to shoe or not to shoe? My answer is, if there is a reason to shoe, in the last 5 years, I haven’t found it.
A current negative Coggins test is required for all horses residing on The JBiT Ranch, and is required on almost every farm in the country, at any public horse event, and on any state or National park. What you may not know is why.
Coggins was the name of the veterinary scientist who developed the definitive test for determining whether or not a horse was a carrier of the EIA virus. EIA (Equine Infectious Anemia) is a blood borne disease of the immune system in horses that acts quite similarly to AIDS in humans. It is not known to be contractible by humans, though, so rest easy. Before uniform, mandatory testing became the norm, it was not uncommon for entire herds to be mysteriously wiped out over a period of time by this silent killer. Since that time, however, EIA has been controlled to the point that reported cases are quite rare.
Please take a moment to look at your current Coggins certificate and note its date. To remain current, the Coggins test must be repeated annually (if traveling outside of Virginia, check your state’s requirements – they may range from 6 months to 2 years). This test can only be performed by a licensed veterinarian and generally costs about $20 plus farm call. What happens if a horse turns up positive? First, the farm on which that horse resides is quarantined by the State Department of Health. Every horse on the property, and any that left the property during the time the infected horse was present, must be tested. This is often done at the expense of the owner of the infected horse. The farm must remain quarantined for 30 days at the end of which all horses are tested again! The infected horse? Unfortunately he has only two options. A life of quarantine whereby he may never be within two hundred yards of any horse or horse pasture, or the animal must be destroyed. It’s quite reassuring to know all this can be avoided by having a current Coggins test.
Several different signs will help you determine when your mare will foal. The most important of which is her due date. Mares gestate an average of 340 days. Go forward a year from her last cover and come back 25 days. Understand that any mare can foal with any, all or no signs at all and any mare can foal healthily anywhere from almost a month early to a month late. Most mares stay somewhere near the averages and the following signs should help you know when it’s time to lose some sleep.
Bagging up is usually your first sign. You’ll feel a pouch starting well ahead of the teats, but the teats will remain deflated. As she progresses, the teats will eventually fill out, in many cases, ’til they seem like dimples in the udder, which will be huge at this point. It’s imperative to handle these udders daily, especially if you’ve got a maiden mare, or she may be so shocked by the baby biting at them that she won’t let it nurse (she will eventually, but you’ll be there for hours) – which reminds me, on a sidebar, have a baby bottle handy. If the baby hasn’t nursed in two or three hours, it may just run out of steam. No big deal, but it then often helps to strip out several ounces of colostrum into the bottle and feed baby for the energy to keep trying. Also, slathering the teat with fresh colostrum gives baby a clue as to where it came from. Remember – and this is critical – you can’t go back to bed until you’ve not only seen baby nurse, but felt its throat to be sure it is swallowing, not just playing. A foal is born entirely devoid of any antibody protection whatsoever. Everything it needs to fight disease in its first fragile months of life will come from its mother’s first milk. This first milk, or colostrum, can only be absorbed thru the stomach lining for the first 12 to 24 hours. Failure to nurse properly in the first 24 hours will mean plasma transfusions later. Very pricey!
I would recommend going online to http://www.valleyvet.com or http://www.kvvet.com and ordering a Predict-A-Foal kit. It is bout 30 bucks. You get test strips that test the calcium level of milk that you dilute with distilled water (they call it “test solution.”) When all 5 bars turn red, you’re having a baby. It’s been better than 80% accurate for us.
Next big development will be the softening of the muscles around the tail head and the very noticeable relaxation of the vulva. When she loses all tail tone – you can fold her tail flat on her back and she can’t stop you – you’re very close. Also, the teats themselves may go from dry black (or pink on some spotted or white mares) to shiny. Another good sign. She may also develop wax on the tip of the teats. It’s like dripping candle wax, or old, crystalizing honey. Not all mares do this, but many do. She may also stream milk down her legs for up to a week before foaling. If it is excessive, it’s not a bad idea to strip out about a pint and freeze it. For that matter, if your first mare goes great, after baby nurses couple times, strip out about a pint and freeze it, then if your subsequent mares should become aglactic (doesn’t lactate) you have colostrum to bottle feed the baby for the antibodies it needs. Also, start stripping milk, a few squirts each day and look at it. It should be very clear and a pale yellow at first. It will thicken and become more cloudy as she progresses. Generally don’t waste test strips on clear milk. Often on the day she will foal, the milk will suddenly turn white. While that is a powerful sign, some don’t turn white until the baby is out and some are white for a week.
Any or all of these signs can be present in any imminent mare. Each is different, so you add up the signs till you have enough to feel she’s ready. The Predict-A-Foal kit is priceless.
Final twist, if your mares have access to fescue, even a little bit in hay or pasture, they may suffer fescue toxicosis. An endophyte infects most fescue that, among other things, interferes with the hormones that signal the end of gestation and the beginning of parturition. In other words your mare comes up on her due date, and just nothing really happens. She may get a little bag, she may soften up behind, but not enough to foal and the date comes and goes with no baby. The first mare I encountered this with went a month late before I figured it out. Luckily there is a simple remedy. A drug called Domperidone, often sold as Equi-Done, comes in a 5-dose paste syringe. It should run $50 or $60. You administer one dose orally each morning from the due date on just like wormer. You’ll often see fast changes and most foal within 3 days if they were truly ready and the fescue was truly the problem. If the mare is milking well, though, fescue is probably not a problem and she’s just taking her time. Note that this does not actually induce foaling in anyway. It just allows the hormones to release if she is truly ready to foal. As any mare can be up to a couple weeks late and be perfectly normal, I’ll often let several days pass after the due date on a mare who is not “shaping up” before I give her the Dom. To give it before she’s ready is just a waste of money. Also, if your mare has been grazed on fescue throughout her pregnancy, she may have what‚s known as Red Bag Syndrome. The placenta, instead of thin and whitish, can be red and thick. In some cases the placenta has been too thick for the baby to rupture. A perfectly healthy baby is foaled in a perfectly normal delivery only to suffocate in the placenta, a VERY good reason to try and be there. It’s rare, but it happens. A small opening with a sharp knife when baby is more than halfway out (shoulders must be clear) should be all it takes.
If it helps, I’ve read darn near everything ever written it would seem, could just about give a lecture on the topic and I’ve been off by up to 11 days. Just a gentle reminder from God that we ain’t Him 
Routine dental care is absolutely vital to your horse’s health and general happiness. Lucky for us, though, it usually only needs to be addressed once a year, is most often quite simple, and is not terribly expensive.
A horse’s teeth begin erupting about a week after it is born and continue to erupt throughout its life. Like an iceberg, what you see is only the tip, with much more lying in wait in the jaw for future eruption. You may have wondered at times, as you watch and listen to your horse contentedly munching its grain, about the amazing strength and power it takes to pulverize hardened grains and kernels of corn into the fine meal your horse finally swallows. The equine jaw is enormously powerful and the punishment taken by the teeth is tremendous. As a matter of fact, left unchecked in the wild, dental wear is a major contributor to the much shorter average life span of the wild and feral horse as compared to its domestic counterpart. Teeth that have worn past a certain point can no longer process food well enough for it to be readily digested. The result is a horse that eats constantly while literally starving itself to death. As a horse owner, seeing large amounts of grain being dropped at feed time or finding whole grains or large pieces of roughage in the manure should be a clue that it’s time for a trip to the dentist.
A routine float that primarily consists of rasping the molars to an even surface, rounding edges, rasping any long canines and removing wolf teeth is a job for a certified equine dentist. The routine float usually costs around $60 dollars and should be performed annually. Occasionally more than just routine work is needed to get teeth back in shape in which case a good equine dental professional is equipped to bring in power tools and specialized knowledge to return your Flicka to her pearly white grin.
Lastly, because poorly and unevenly worn teeth are not only inefficient, but can be sharp and painful to your horse, teeth are often the first thing a smart horseman will check when dealing with riding and bitting problems. If you do not know when your horse’s teeth were last done, they’re due. Again, a quick mark in your calendar will ensure Charger gets his annual visit to the dental chair, and that you are riding a happy and healthy horse.
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