Ready!

We arrived in Fort Collins yesterday to see our horses before the big sale today at Colorado State University. They all look great, the students have done an outstanding job of getting them prepared and we are excited to see how they sell today.

Kool Dory was hanging out in her stall last night where we got this picture, she actually won the student competition between all of the horses in the class!

You can view the auction (and bid if you feel inclined to do so) at Superior Livestock Auctions online at 12:00 pm central time.

Think back to August 27th........

It really does not seem that long ago, I have a quick video clip attached of that morning at about 5am. We are loading the first of four of our horses from here at Longview that were going to Colorado State University for the training program that leads into the Legends of Ranching Sale. This gelding is Kool N Lucky, and this was the last time I saw him in person. I am really excited to see him and the other three horses that went to Colorado this year because the transformation is amazing. The sale is this weekend and we are making preparations to head out West to see our horses again before they are sold and go to their new homes! The program assigns a student to a green horse and with guidance trains them for general purpose riding use. The students then organize and participate in the Legends sale/auction to sell the horses they trained in the program. I am looking forward to meeting the students that had our horses, and seeing the horses again.

Dr. Vineyard is a new mommy!

My husband Mort and I are proud to announce the arrival of our new baby boy Owen. As I spend time enjoying my precious new boy and losing more and more precious sleep (!), I'll be taking a blogging hiatus until I return from maternity leave in June. I hope everyone is having a wonderful spring!

Initially Cocoa Teal Birth Announcement

Shutterfly has cute baby announcements and Valentine's Day cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Growing, but stil needs a name....

Dottie's foal is growing and doing great but he still needs a name. I know, its totally unacceptable that he doesn't have a name yet, but a name is something that stays with you the rest of your life and when you're special like this little guy, it has to be a good one.

He is a month old now and we took he and his mom to the vet yesterday since she was teasing very strong on Wednesday evening. When we unloaded the foal, the vet techs commented on how stout he was for his age. Good genetics supported by good milk from mom and a little extra support from Purina Strategy GX - Professional Formula Horse Feed is doing the trick! Mom is eating 10 lbs of Strategy, 15 lbs of Coastal Berumagrass hay, 6-7 lbs of alfalfa hay every day and the "little guy" is nursing mom and eating right at 1 lb of Strategy GX since he is 1 month old now and he nibbles the alfalfa and grass hay as well. We're in a drought down in south Texas so grazing is more about roaming around and not so much about nutrition.

The vet ultrasounded Dottie when we arrived yesterday, finding a 40 mm folicle on one ovary and a 20 mm folicle on the other so she will be bred today and should ovulate by Saturday which would be perfect. We are breeding Dottie back to this baby's sire, so we will have three in a row, full siblings. Hopefully, soon we'll have a name for this little guy. Coming up with a registered name is easier than the barn name for me. I'll entertain any suggestions you may have, maybe we can get him a name before he gets started under saddle!

The Legends of Ranching

Some might be wondering why we have information about a horse auction called "The Legends of Ranching Sale" on our website. The horses that we raise here at the farm stay here to work with us, developing new products, and then go to individuals that would like to purchase them. For the past several years Purina has been actively involved with this sale and has had horses in the sale. We send 4 long yearlings to Colorado State University in late summer/fall each year. Students train the horses to work under saddle, and the horses are then sold in an auction the following spring, which is the Legends Sale. The sale has many of the top ranches in the country offering horses for sale. You can see more information here; http://equinescience.colostate.edu/content/view/125/75/ We are excited for the opportunity to be involved with this event, and enjoy the chance to show off some of the horses that are bred and raised here at Longview. The sale is covered by Superior Livestock Auctions, which gives everyone the chance to place bids over the phone or on the internet. Superior's site is; http://www.superiorlivestock.com/ Keep checking back, there will be more posts to follow as we get closer to the sale and I will post pictures of the horses and the sale!

Manufacturing research feeds

I had a fun and productive day yesterday with Kent Lanter and Steve Furst at our Mulberry horse feed mill in central Florida. Kent and I traveled there to oversee the manufacturing of a new feed that is being shipped out for a large research project. Kent is our "mad scientist" so to speak that helps us on the process research side and to figure out how all the different ingredients us nutritionists want to put in a feed will actually end up as something a horse will eat! Steve is the plant manager with a huge amount of experience and always runs a great mill with a crew that is willing to work with us on new feeds and designs.

I always like spending time in our mills and it makes me proud to see how things are running smoothly- from ingredient testing, to mixing, pelleting, blending, packing, etc. Its nice to work with all our dedicated employees that are ensuring the feed is made correctly and with our high quality standards.

We made three different rations yesterday, 30 tons of feed in all that is now enroute to its research location. I wish I could tell you what it was, but of course, that is top secret while we are in the development phase. I can tell you this- if this product performs as expected, it won't hit the market until 2012 at the earliest! It takes time to do good research and develop new and innovative products that are good for the horse. A lot of formulating, testing, retesting, field trials and more.

So enjoy the pics of our Mulberry mill at sunrise and all the feed ready to load on the trucks! That's all you're getting for now....

And I have to give a shout out to Dr. Kelly Vineyard. This is actually a research project that she has been working on- and she was not able to make it to the mill because she is officially on maternity leave! Baby Owen Robert Vineyard was born last Tuesday, April 5th and the whole family is doing very well.

Have a great day!

Nine is Fine!

Number nine out of ten expected foals arrived yesterday, he got to go out and explore the world this morning. (He thought the human with the camera was the most interesting thing apparently) Our foals get 24 hours with mom in a stall before their first turnout. It gives the mare and foal a chance to really bond, lets the foal get plenty of milk without having to chase mom, and gives their eyes a chance to start adjusting to being in the daylight. This gives them the best possible chance to get a healthy start before being exposed to all of the good stuff in the real world!

One more foal to go and all we have to do is get the mares bred back for next year!

New Product Release for Ultium Growth!!!

It is with great pleasure, that we announce the release of two new Ultium Growth products: Ultium Growth- Black Foal and Ultium Growth- Chestnut Foal. Through years of nutritional research, we have finally determined how to feed broodmares to influence foal coat genetics and ensure your foal is born in your desired color! See the pictures below of our babies, each a chestnut (yes I know some of you Quarter Horse people would want us to call this sorrel) and a black foal, each born from a mare feeding the appropriate “color marking” feed. Stay tuned to this blog for more information on when these feeds will be available in your area. And yes, we are working on more Ultium Growth color feeds- especially for grey, bay, palamino and even pinto horses.

PS. April Fools!