Elegant Equine

06/08/2024

Due to issues with the ferry from Argentia to North Sydney our vacation has been extended by 3 days. We will re open on the 29th. On the plus side, it is a beautiful place to be stranded for a few extra few days.

05/20/2024

68 blankets, one order 😳

05/05/2024

Due to unforeseen circumstances we will be closed until the 29th of June.

Good afternoon. Just a PSA to inform our clients that we will be closed June 1st to June 25th. We will be unable to arrange for drop off and pick ups during this time. We are headed out on our annual road trip, this time to the beautiful province of Newfoundland. It will be business as usual when we return. Thank you for your understanding.

05/01/2024

04/03/2024

Some horses are so talented. I have no idea how they managed this one.

03/22/2024

🚨 🚨 🚨 SAVE THE DATE! 🚨🚨🚨
Saturday October 26th 2024
Mind*Body*Soul Equine Seminar

A place for horse owners/riders/lovers to come together to learn, shop and network .
Speakers are passionate in their fields and topics will vary from hooves to nutrition to rider care and more! Shop for everything horse and rider lifestyle while supporting local small businesses.
Lunch is included and every attendee gets a swag bag FULL of goodies, samples, coupons and more ! Lunch included !
Possibly the best part? A portion of profits are being donated to charity ❤❤❤

01/24/2024

If any of my friends could take a minute to vote for 'Kibbles for Paws', I would be very grateful. You can vote every 24 hours. Thank you

Ottawa's people's choice awards presented by Mattamy Homes

01/14/2024

Just a reminder that I am very sensitive to scented detergent. Any pre-laundered blankets MUST be laundered with UNSCENTED wash. Putting the blankets through an extra rinse doesn't remove enough of the scent for me. Unfortunately, due to the increase in the number of blankets that are being laundered with a scented detergent, we have to implement a wash charge for any blanket that hasn't been cleaned accordingly.

12/21/2023

DIY conversion of front closure from buckles to snaps. This is Bobbi's rain sheet. I got tired of getting down on my knees, in the mud to do it up.

12/18/2023

Merry Christmas from our herd to your's. Wishing everyone all the best in the new year

12/18/2023

My boss would like to inform all of our clients that we will be closed Dec 23rd until Jan 3rd. We will be spending this time with family and friends. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 😊. Stay safe and remember to ride as much as possible. 🙂

12/12/2023

This is the organization that I deliver food for. My drop offs include the Ottawa Cat Rescue as well as athe Kemptville food bank. This is a great cause. Please consider making a donation if possible, if not would you mind sharing?

We need a little Holiday Cheer from our awesome and supporters.

What started out as a couple of pallets of dog food 5 years ago has turned into literally tons of food being distributed monthly.
This summer was extraordinary when It came to our suppliers supporting our mission of feeding animals in need but it does come with a cost.
Our two Toronto shipments, average cost of $1500 each includes the Transport carrier's fee, the fee for the organization that finds us a carrier as well as the rental of a forklift.
Our Montreal shipments, which happens every three weeks cost on average $500, this includes the rental cost of the 20' truck and the fuel.
We do also buy animal feed for the sanctuaries in our program, average cost. $550 monthly.
We will purchase specialty items for rescues that are in dire need, such as p*e pads, dietary foods etc.....average cost $100 monthly.
Our fifth big expense is our monthly payment on our storage in the amount of 400$
These numbers add up quickly and we are hoping that with your help we can bring down what we owe and start the new year with a little less debt 😊

Ways you can help!

🐷Share, react and comment on this post

😺Sponsorships monthly or one time donations

🐶Donations in any amount

⛽Sponsor a driver's delivery fuel $35

🚜Sponsor farm sanctuary feed $35

🐶Sponsor specialty animals items $35

⛽Sponsor some diesel $150

🚚Sponsor a rental truck $185

🔑Sponsor a storage fee $400

Please consider giving us a helping hand, we and the animals we feed would be forever grateful!

E-transfers can be sent to
[email protected]

Include in the e-transfer message what your donation or sponsorship is for.

A huge thanks to everyone that has supported us through our food delivery adventures, we look forward to feeding more animals and helping more families and their pets stay together ☺️

11/28/2023

A challenge to start the day.

11/25/2023

I'm dying 🤣

10/28/2023

It's that time of year again

10/20/2023

We will be closed Nov 14th to Nov 24th.

10/15/2023

I would like to start a blanket for sale/ISO thread. Please feel free to comment with what you are looking for or have for sale.

09/28/2023

A good read.

🐎 IS IT TIME TO STOP TALKING ABOUT RUGGING HORSES? 🐎

Every year, at this time, we start talking about when to rug, what type of rug to use, what weight of rug, off day on night, age, health, wind, rain, temperature, etc, etc.

So a recent social media "rant" by an equine vet got me thinking. A little bit of self-reflection and reappraisal never hurts! I thought it would be good to start with a few facts.

🐎Many owners over-rug their horses and ponies at this time of year. Either putting on rugs when they aren't needed or putting on rugs that are too “heavy" (insulating).
🐎Many owners judge how to rug their horse/pony by how they feel. Horses are 7-10 times heavier than most people and covered in hair with only 2.5 times more surface (not 7-10x). They don't lose heat as easily as we do.
🐎The horses comfortable external temperature range (thermoneutral range or zone) is ~5-25°C (41-77°F). Ours is ~21-30°C (70-86°) [depending on which source you use]
🐎Over-rugging can make horses uncomforatble and "unhappy", it can lead to horses exhibiting signs similar to colic, it can be a factor in obesity, lead to pressure sores, increased risk of skin disease.
🐎At ~6-8°C, clipped mature stabled horses began to show signs of sweating with a fly rug and 1 or 2 fleeces.
🐎We all do it, but putting your hand under the rug or feeling your horses/ponies ears is not a reliable way to judge "comfort"

It's not time to stop talking about rugging. It's not just me talking about rugging. , , , and all regularly highlight the problem of over-rugging horses and ponies.

And in my role as President of the National Equine Welfare Council (NEWC), I have a responsiblity to keep raising this issue.

NO ONE IS SAYING DON'T EVER PUT A RUG ON A HORSE OR PONY! All we are saying is that there is a tendency to put on rugs sooner than they are required and/or to put on a heavier rug than is required.

Of course there are potentially a lot of considerations when deciding to rug and with what, including, the weather, size, age, body condition, fitness, diet, breed, coat (length, clipped/unclipped), shelter, health and indiviudal variation.

BOTTOM LINE - We still need to keep talking about rugging. If it upsets anyone the solution is very simple. They can use the under-used technique of "just scrolling on" 🙂

POSTSCRIPT: Thought it may be worth adding this after reading some of the comments.
POSSIBLE REASONS FOR USING RUGS ON HORSES....
1) Keep off flies
2) Protect exposed pink skin from UV
3) To hold water for keeping cool (evaporative cooling rugs)
4) To keep horse clean
5) To keep horse warm

ILLUSTRATION:
The wonderfully talented Erin at Chestnuts created this brilliant illustration, and we are very grateful that she has allowed us to use it. Thank you Erin Chestnuts!
https://www.facebook.com/CustomChestnuts/

09/24/2023

Very informative

*** FOCUS ON RUGGING ***

Continuing our focus on rugging, this figure illustrates quite nicely what happens if we "over-rug". The image shows the air temperature in blue on a fairly typical autumn day similar to those many of us are experiencing now.

The horse has a 50g turnout rug on and the horse is clipped. The morning starts cool but it warms up to between 15°C and 20°C for much of the day. We can see that the horses's surface temperature measured under the rug follows a similar pattern BUT by 11:00 in the morning the temperature under the rug is already above the horses upper limit of its thermoneutral or "comfort" zone. And it stays above the 25°C line until later afternoon when the sun starts to get lower in the sky and the temperature starts to drop.

So once again, the message ISN'T DON'T RUG, the message IS DON'T RUG TOO EARLY, DON'T RUG ACCORDING TO HOW YOU FEEL & DON'T OVER-RUG.

Your horse covered in hair, is ~7 times larger than you but only has 2-3 times more skin surface. Most heat is lost at the skin surface. Your horse loses heat much more slowly than you. They won't feel the cold when we do.

In this example, this horse would likely benefit from a 100g rug overnight but doesn't really need one during the day if it stays dry.

For more information and resources on rugging, including rug testing and rug user surveys, please check out our website https://drdavidmarlin.com/rugging-round-up/

09/18/2023

It was a 'hairy' morning

09/07/2023

Someone partied a little too hard