Wild Ivy Farm, Inc.

02/13/2025

Xiomara, Lilly and Sammy made a music video for your entertainment (and theirs, frankly).

02/12/2025

Abbie's having a go at being trendy with her boho hippie headband, but all I can think of is Olivia Newton-John when she broke free of her boho hippie image and made the Physical video.

02/11/2025

Here are the replacement tines I’m trying. They are 3D printed by Equine Custom Supply. There are two different styles depending on which brand of fork you have. These are for DuraFork. There is one other version from another company that I’ve seen that are a bit different than these.

On the ECS website you can choose your preferred color. I got a set of 3 for about $15. If you search long enough you can buy a whole replacement head for $12 (and up) but then you’d be throwing away a whole -minus one tine head as well. For $15 I can repair three and keep more junk out of a landfill.

The space where the new tine needs to go has to be cut, or dremeled flat. I dremeled. The tine gets positioned and then ziptied. Zip ties are supposed to be included but mine tines didn’t come with them so I had to use some zip ties from my junk drawer that have probably been in that drawer since zip ties were invented. I suggest newer zip ties because they have to flex around several bends and my elderly ties broke trying to negotiate the turns.

The new tines are much chunkier than the original ones. That may affect the use of the fork but that will be in the next post. These last one of them that I installed was a bit longer than the times on the fork but only because the old times were worn down like an old horse’s teeth! I cut the tip off the replacement time to better match and can verify that the plastic on the new ones is much tougher than the originals! That roughened, squared off tip could affect usage too, so stay tuned for feedback on that as well.

Installation was just a bit fidgety but some of that may be due to brittle zip ties. Positioning the new part had to be “just so” to align it with the backs of the other tines.

Tomorrow will be the test flight for them so I’ll report back on the actual use!

02/07/2025

Winnie said “Bring it on!” when she heard there was more snow coming today.

02/07/2025

Winnie had the zoomies this morning! She made several laps around her paddock at top Winnie-speed. The Icelandic Horse is excited to have some Icelandic weather 😄

01/31/2025

Dear Dura-Fork: Please make tine number 11 stronger.
🤷🏼‍♀️🤣

01/31/2025

Does anyone have an explanation for this phenomenon? This doesn’t just happen at my barn, either! The rakes are used here by dozens of different people of all sizes. Majority of the users are right handed. They are used in shavings, sawdust, sand and snow.

What is it about tine #11?!?

I’ve ordered some replacement tines that are 3D printed and fasten on with zip ties. I’ll let you know how they work out.

01/31/2025

Let me tell you a story about these two. Winnie, our wee Icelandic lady, adores Xiomara. She looks at Xiomara the way a 12 year old girl looks at Taylor Swift, only with less screaming. While all three of my mares have learned to tolerate Winnie, they won’t exactly let her join their snooty clique and they won’t admit that they like her.

A few days ago Alex, the resident marauding Appaloosa, went through the fence and got into the paddock with the mares. He wasn’t intentionally malicious (this time) but when I tried to remove him, he showed me his ‘skillz’ at spins, fake-outs, sprinting and rollbacks.

Xiomara immediately told him he was not to come near “her” Winnie and maneuvered herself in between Alex and Winnie every time he dashed by. Xiomara pinned her ears, shook her head, lunged at him, and kicked out. Alex had no interest in bothering Winnie, he was only trying to evade me, but Xiomara took no chances! She made sure Alex knew exactly what would become of him if he got too close to Winnie. Roadkill! she shouted. Mincemeat! she snarled.

Winnie, adorably, was clueless and just wanted to know if I’d brought her any cookies.

Alex was eventually winded enough to let me catch him and return him to the paddock from whence he came.

Xiomara regained her royal aloofness toward Winnie.

Winnie continued to admire Xiomara from a distance when not politely asking if anyone wanted to pet her or perhaps give her a small snack.

01/29/2025

Snowy morning photos, the “Teen-Angst” Movies edition:

01/25/2025

He did pretty well for his first time! It’s always good for people to know we aren’t just “sitting there”.

Watch episodes and clips from my show "Somebody's Gotta Do It" here.

01/18/2025

We have a cold blast heading our way this coming week. We were fortunate to have a lovely donor arrive with a truck load of blankets a few days ago.- if you need a blanket (either to borrow for the cold snap or for regular use) let us know and we may very well have a size that would work.

01/15/2025

Has anyone ever noticed that quadrupedal animals, other than horses, gallop “disunited”? Horses gallop in four beats with one side as a “lead”. For example, a gallop in left lead will go:
Right hind
Left hind
Right front
Left front

Other animals (in my limited observations) will “gallop” as:
Right hind
Left hind
Left front
Right front

I’ve looked at video and stills of dogs, cats, cows, giraffes, gazelles, big cats (Cheetah, Lion, etc) and rhinoceroses and they all follow what equestrians would say is a disunited or cross-canter/gallop. The little bit that I’ve looked at zebras seems to indicate they have a true gallop like horses. 🤔🐎

Also, be careful of putting too much faith in drawings and diagrams online. Just in a quick search I found two that were wrong about footfalls. One had the walk as a diagonal gait and the other incorrectly labeled a left lead gallop as a right lead (or vice verse).

12/14/2024

I’m beyond proud of our “Morgan-ator”! She started riding here at 5 years old and eventually became a beloved camp counselor for our summer campers as a teenager. She and her Morgan, Sherman (The Shermanator”), were a dynamic duo until he passed away. Morgan has always been a gem and I’m not surprised she is as successful and busy as she is now 💖

https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/family-lights-up-trenton-rv-park?r=emf5h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2yWp60KuB54ZjsxflYy90wFVDv5iePCVD57LwOl1ZWoO3q8ibI8xJced8_aem_C3kKi59mb7U9JXHQ4V1rOw&triedRedirect=true

Free Santa Event Sunday, Holiday Light Display, and Tavern Warm Up Timberland This Winter

12/08/2024

Winnie’s luxurious forelock may be pretty but when it comes to getting a halter over it, she ends up looking like she’s auditioning for a Def Leppard video if it gets stuck.

12/06/2024

11/20/2024

Leather worker in Bradford who will do tack repair!

This photo is just a screenshot so you’ll have to go to the original page to look for the post.