Cedar Ridge Foals
Nutrition
Training Health
Registration
Paying
2008
Foals
2007
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Foals' Page
Feeding/Nutrition
We raise our foals in a natural atmosphere, on green pasture and
natural mare's milk (with few exceptions where a mare may need dry lotted). Our mares get so fat on our rich Iowa grass that we
don't feed them much (if any) grain during the summer and fall. Our
foals are not pushed for early growth with excessive grains....They eat only what it takes to
get them interested in grain so they wean better. This helps avoid
epiphysitis, contracted tendons, and OCD/DOD, which can be permanently damaging.
So when
we sell them, they are just healthy, sound, average-sized foals, and are not
too large or overweight (which would be unhealthy for their bones and
joints). We do this because we think it's right, and because the
majority of our market wants it this way.
However, once you
buy a foal, you can customize its feeding program to meet your own needs...we just get them ready for you to do that.
Why,
when bigger foals bring more money?
We want our foals to have the best possible
opportunity to live long, sound lives. We do not push our foals to be
overly large because we feel it is not in the best interest of our foals' legs
and hooves at the ages we own them, nor the future owners of our foals. A diet high in grain
rations can cause several disorders of the joints in young foals and can lead to
permanent damage. Perhaps this is why we have also found that a lot of potential
buyers will not buy foals that have been pushed. For these reasons, our
foals are not generally shown before we sell them. They simply don't
compete (in the short run, while we own them) with a big foal that has been
pushed with large amounts of concentrates, additives, and/or hormones.
:-)
We
don't mind. Our rewards don't come from trophies, but from happy new
owners! (-:
Our foals still
achieve about the same size and look as they would with more grain, but their growth
lasts a little longer. If you continue with a natural-growth program (not
pushing too much concentrate), your
foal will just be a few months behind its counterparts who have been pushed
harder, but
your foal will mature just as nicely....and hopefully with sounder joints and
hooves. You can feed more
concentrates once you take the foal home. That's up to you to
decide. New owners can better manage that type of feeding program
than we can, so we leave that up to you.
We just give them the good start it takes to succeed in any feeding program
later.
We hope you're glad that we
care about our foals, and that we do this for their benefit...and YOURS!
Nutrition
Training Health
Registration
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Socialization with People
Most of our foals are handled immediately and
are fairly-well imprint trained at birth. For their first week of life, they
are handled frequently, dewormed, and watched closely for health. After that,
they are allowed to return to pasture with their dam where they are
frequently exposed to humans, but are not haltered and led daily. Most of
our foals willingly come up to us for attention (rubs, scratches) during
this time. A few are more shy, and gain confidence later than others.
Sometimes we halter train them prior to
weaning, but we have recently begun halter breaking foals after weaning and
really like it. We can take time and be very gentle with them,
and it's working well for us.
So far, we've never sold a foal that wasn't
halter broke or that didn't load in a trailer. That is part of the training
we give them while they are here. If we do have a foal that needs to leave
quickly, we will most likely offer a discount due to him/her missing this
training.
Keep in mind that foals can be unpredictable
because they are young, and that they may behave wonderfully here but my try
you at your home until they realize that you are their new handler. If we
feel a foal is not behaving well here, we will tell you about it. We will
not let you be surprised if we know of an issue.
Nutrition
Training Health
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Health Schedules
Our foals are dewormed at birth, and then are
dewormed multiple times with an Ivermectin-based dewormer over the next 5
months. During this time, we generally will deworm with Panacur at least
once.
We used to give vaccinations just prior to
weaning, but have switched to vaccinating at 7 or 8 months of age now, or
prior to warm spring weather of the yearling year. We will continue to
discuss this with vets, and will try to change this page when we change our
practice.
Nutrition
Training Health
Registration
Paying
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Registration
We will hold off on registering a foal until
is approaches 7 months of age so that its new owners can choose the foal's
registration name. We have found that most people want to name their foals,
rather than accepting some clunky name we think of (I'm horrible at naming).
But when a foal approaches 7 months and if we still own it, we will register
it and name it as we wish. Buyers can still rename the foal if they desire
by paying AQHA for the renaming fee.
If you buy a foal that has not yet been
registered and is less than 7 months old, you will receive its registration
application and a transfer paper. It will be up to you to name and register
the foal before it is 7 months old to avoid extra fees for the late
registration.
If you buy a foal that has already been
registered, you will receive its papers and a transfer report. You can leave
its name as is, or you can communicate with AQHA about changing the name if
you desire.
Nutrition
Training Health
Registration
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Click the links at the top of this page to see
our individual foals' pages.
Dixie welcoming past foals
sometimes accepted
via
for 
