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The official newsletter of Horses for Clean Water, http://www.horsesforcleanwater.com
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Message from Alayne: It’s Show Time!
I don’t know why it is, but sometimes it’s just so darn hard to share good news. So often I catch myself quick to complain or to be cynical, yet I’m hesitant to say—hey, things went really well for me and let me tell you about it. I guess in the back of my mind I’m afraid to sound like I’m boasting. Or maybe I’m afraid I’ll jinx myself. But whatever my human weakness, I’d like to get beyond it for just one moment and share with you some good news: Matt and I have now completed two of our four major reining shows for this season and things are really coming together! For those of you who show horses or who compete at anything you know about goal setting and what it takes to meet objectives. I have been competing in reining for nearly 10 years but for the last 3 years I have been truly committed to becoming competitive. Besides year-round, weekly lessons with my trainer it has also meant an exercise program for me including weight lifting and cardio workouts 4 to 6 times per week. It means studying the rules of reining, watching countless hours of reining tapes, going to big-time reining shows to study the pros, learning about the right equipment and tack, going to schooling shows to practice, studying sports psychology... In a countless number of ways I have been honing nearly every aspect of my riding career towards becoming successful at reining. I am thrilled to report that this past weekend at our big Washington Reining Horse Association show in Monroe my two reining horses, Bob and Pepper, managed to win quite a bit of money and we placed in nearly every class we rode in. Inger (my trainer) and Bob even won one class while Bob and I placed second in another. Bob and I improved our scores with each run, receiving our highest score yet of a 69.5. Just having my special Pepper Horse back “in the running” is a reward in itself. After a year and a half of fighting the infection that nearly claimed her life and another year of therapy, Pepper is back to reining and she rocks! Somehow Pepper seems better than ever. As we ran towards our sliding stops she seemed totally in the moment with me, waiting for my every cue. What a thrill! After many, many years of practicing and working towards goals, to quote an old TV program, I just love it when a plan comes together! I feel extremely fortunate and I am excited to see what the rest of the season will bring. Best wishes to us all with our goals! Alayne Do you have some goal-oriented stories you’d like to share with Alayne and TGH staff? We’d love to hear from you, just e-mail us!
“Amplification” strategy may be key to combating WNVOregon State University, Media Release, May 4, 2006 CORVALLIS, Ore.—The spread of West Nile Virus appears to be triggered by a complex interaction of mosquitoes, nesting birds and specific weather patterns, scientists say, which leads to “amplification” of the virus within mosquito populations. Researchers from Oregon State University and the University of Florida have identified how those factors mesh to create heightened risk of the West Nile Virus in southern Florida, and they hope to expand their studies to the rest of the nation. Results of the research have been published by the Centers for Disease Control. 
Many early hydrologic models predicting the transmission of West Nile Virus and other mosquito-borne diseases may have been a bit too simplistic, relying on factors such as total rainfall to estimate disease risk, said Jeffrey Shaman, an assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at Oregon State University. The situation, he adds, is much more complex. Researchers call the process through which more mosquitoes become infected ‘amplification,’ and there are a number of factors that lead to that stage. “By identifying these factors in the wild, it will enhance our ability to create control strategies.” In their studies, Shaman and colleague Jonathan F. Day from the University of Florida found that spring drought followed by continual summer rainfall is critical for the amplification and transmission of West Nile Virus and a similar disease, St. Louis Encephalitis Virus, in southern Florida. When drought occurs early in the year, the limited water resources confine mosquito populations to selected habitats—specifically isolated, densely vegetated hammocks where conditions remain humid. These moist hammocks also happen to be the spring nesting and roosting sites of many species of wild birds, which act as hosts and carriers for the diseases. While confined in the hammocks, the mosquitoes feed almost exclusively on the nesting birds and as a result, each bird is bitten by numerous mosquitoes. A single infected bird can thus infect many more mosquitoes than if conditions were wet and the mosquitoes were more broadly dispersed, Shaman said. When summer rainfall increases, surface humidity levels rise and the mosquitoes are able to disperse and initiate secondary transmission away from the original amplification sites, the researchers pointed out. With this dispersal, the mosquitoes are more likely to come into contact with humans—elevating the risk of human incidence of the diseases. Not all of the world’s more than 3,600 species of mosquitoes transmit diseases to humans. The mosquito must be sufficiently competent to act as a carrier, thus some species can act as hosts for certain diseases, while others are more “refractive,”—not carrying enough of the disease to transmit it. West Nile Virus transmission requires mosquito species that prefer feeding on birds, but like mosquitoes, not all birds are good carriers. Some are ineffective hosts, Shaman said, while others—like crows—are very susceptible and may die from the virus. Birds that are effective hosts may carry the virus and infect biting mosquitoes for 4-5 days before recovering from the illness. “It is this coming together of factors that leads to the spread of the disease,” Shaman said. “But because the amplification is concentrated—in time and space—it does make it easier to devise control strategies. Chemical application is the most likely scenario, but because it could be applied in selected areas, it would be more cost-effective and potentially less environmentally threatening.” The spread of West Nile Virus through the U.S. has been sporadic, the researchers say, with hotspots arising one year in Colorado, and other regions during other years. The key to understanding the spread of the disease is to investigate the local conditions that may lead to amplification. Read the entire OSU news release article at http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2006/May06/westnile.html. More proof of the value in composting! This January 27, 2006 article is from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Services website. Unused antibiotics and pharmaceuticals in horses and animals are excreted in their manure. These compounds, often called “pharmaceutical pollution,” may linger in the environment and encourage bacteria to mutate and form strains that are resistant to current antibiotics. This article offers yet again more evidence of the important role composting plays. Microbes in Manure Can Minimize Potential Pharmaceutical PollutionARS News Service Bacteria are usually viewed as “the enemy” and targeted with potent antibiotics to curb their ability to cause infection. But according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists, microbes—including several types of bacteria—can be a farmer’s ally when it comes to reducing the risk that antibiotic-containing manure may pose to the environment. Livestock and poultry producers rely on antibiotics to treat a host of diseases and infections. In fact, more than 21 million pounds of antibiotics were administered to U.S. farm animals and pets in 2004. Such treatments help promote animals’ health and well-being, in addition to ensuring a safe food supply for consumers. The trouble is, when animals excrete in their waste antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals that their bodies don’t use, the compounds may linger in the environment. This so-called pharmaceutical pollution can encourage bacteria to mutate and form strains that are resistant to current antibiotics. Scott Yates, a soil scientist with ARS’ George E. Brown, Jr. Salinity Laboratory in Riverside, Calif., wanted to find out what happens to antibiotic-laced manure once it’s mixed with soil, as typically happens when livestock manure is spread onto farm fields as a fertilizer. Yates and colleague Qiquan Wang studied one commonly administered veterinary antibiotic, sulfadimethoxine [typically called “SMZs”], which is used to combat a number of diseases in livestock and pets. They developed a mathematical model which revealed that thriving manure microbes play an important role in determining how quickly sulfadimethoxine degrades. Some microbes in manure can digest and inactivate the excreted antibiotic. According to Yates and Wang, farmers should try to create a hospitable environment for these tiny helpers. They should store waste from treated animals in a warm, moist place for as long as possible before spreading it onto fields. This gives the beneficial soil microbes an opportunity to act on an antibiotic, before it has the chance to leach into soils and waterways. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency.
Tip of the MonthFree Rubber MatsYou’ve probably heard of folks getting free, or VERY inexpensive, rubber mats for stalls and walkways, but you might not know how to go about actually obtaining them. It’s pretty simple and painless really. Look up raw materials suppliers for a gravel pit in your area. Or better yet, just write down the name of the companies that you see running dump trucks in your area and then look those up in the phone book. Make a “cold call” to the pit office and just ask them if they give away or sell their used conveyor belting materials. Many times they are happy to give it away as that cuts down on their disposal costs by taking it to a landfill or other less environmentally friendly option. Also, if you are able to make it to the pit office by scheduling an appointment, many times they will even help you load the rolled up mats into your pickup truck with a front-loading tractor bucket. Some mats can be VERY long and EXTREMELY heavy. If you know your exact lengths that you need ahead of time, take a SHARP utility knife and a tape measure with you and you can cut your mats to length right there at the pit if they aren't able to help you load them with a tractor. Be prepared for varying widths and thicknesses of belting, too. Some companies ask for nominal dontations per foot and then give those funds to local food banks or other charities. Others charge nothing at all. In addition, the pit may also have old worn out screens used for filtering out gravel sizes. These can sometimes make nice arena drags or harrows. Ask the pit operator if they give away or sell those and be prepared to dig around in piles of scrap metal; bring heavy gloves and wear sturdy shoes. Good luck and happy mat hunting! Farm Focus: 4-Her Kacey NelsonMy name is Kacey Nelson. I’m 15 and in about two weeks time my family will be moving to a new house up in Arlington, WA, at the north end of Snohomish County. I’m been very involved in 4-H for 6+ years and recently started participating in the new 4-H’ers For Clean Water program. My mom has put me in charge of planning the layout of the horse areas. I plan on making our new horse property as environmentally friendly as possible. I will be documenting the process of developing the farm. My goal is to be one of the first official demonstration farms designed by a 4H-er. Our new house is on 7 acres of land, 5 of which will be grazing land for our horses. We have a 6-stall barn that we are currently repairing and making horse ready. We have three horses. I have a new three-year-old black and white Paint mare named J-Lo, who I am taking lessons on and plan to show in Western Pleasure, Huntseat and Dressage. I also have a 14-year-old sorrel and white Paint mare named Lady (although she’s often referred to as Bug or Piglet!), who I show in Dressage and Huntseat and my mom has a 23 year old Morgan/Quarter Horse mare named Sundance. I started my plan by surveying our property to identify those areas that need to be addressed first. Our property is cut right down the middle by a small fish-bearing stream. To help keep our property and the stream clean for the young fish we have put up fences 30 feet away from the stream to keep the horses away from it. We have fenced around the front half of the property and will divide it into sections, so we can rotate the horses around to graze them. Fencing the back half of the property and replacing the existing bridge over the stream will come later. We have plans to put in sacrifice areas around the barns so that we can keep the horses off the pastures during the winter. This will help keep the pastures dry and looking nice with lots of fresh grass. It will be also be important for us to pick up any manure everyday so we can keep the areas as clean and ‘fly free’ as possible. To help manage the manure we’ll put at least two compost bins along the side of the barn for easy access. To help control water flow off the roof of the barn we’ll put up gutters and drains to divert the water away from the barn and sacrifice areas. Additionally we are working with the Conservation District to develop a complete small farm plan. We will also be clearing the blackberries and invasive plants from the stream edge and planting new native trees and plants to provide shade for the stream and the fish. I want to do my best to help keep the environment and my horses healthy. My horses are one of the most important things in my life and I wouldn’t want to be without them. It’s important to me to help protect the environment because it will keep our property and our horses healthy. Practicing healthy farm keeping habits can help keep your horses and your property healthy, too. I encourage everybody with horses at home to practice these healthy horse-keeping habits because it will keep you, your horses and your neighbors much happier. Educational EventsMeet HCW Staff at these upcoming events this spring. Visit the Educational Events page for more detailed class descriptions.
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