Last year I gave a favorable review to the Ultrashield Green fly spray. It seems to be a popular product! This spring, at a clinic at a big name barn in my area, I noticed 3-4 dayglow green bottles in the tack room. Good news travels fast, and one good product deserves another. Absorbine is kindly offering five bottles of its new Ultrashield GreenGel, which is like SWAT except without the funky chemicals. See this video for more info. How can you win a bottle? Hmmm, a contest about fly control. Let's see...
I know! The next big green equine thing
Describe your idea for the next big green equine product breakthrough. It can be real or funny, it just has to be original, creative, or memorable enough to get attention. Here's mine:
Horse hot-walker that harnesses energy
to heat the barn in winter, cool it in summer.
Respond in a comment with your entry, and provide some identifying info (name, email, etc.). If you don't leave a way for me to reach you, you'll have to check back on Memorial Day to see if you won.
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definitely harnessing the methane gas from ALL that horse manure to power the barn... and get a nice check back from the power company (you know, since we are producing MORE that enough energy to power the barn and our meter is now going backward).
ReplyDeleteDefinitely harnessing the methane gas produced by ALL that horse manure. Use that energy to power the barn... AND subsiding horse showing ventures with the check the power company is writing us since we our meter is now going backward!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of an all around eco-friendly barn. Everything from solar panels on the roof of the arena, to the actual construction (ie: shape and size) of the buildings, to the chemicals used on the farm.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of using natural symbiosis to create greener farms. Perhaps working in partnership with someone for manure management, or rotating pastures with different animals.
It's not exactly what you asked for, but I do think it should be the next big green trend. Either that, or eco-friendly horse blankets/saddle pads/etc.
ugh :( I wish I was more creative! Ive been wracking my brain and welp, I've got nothing! :/
ReplyDeleteWe need arena lights. As a barn mom, I sit around way too much!! How about we power some arena lights with treadmills and eliptical machines. We can workout and watch the lessons at the same time!
ReplyDeleteMy "big" idea would be to use rainwater for baths and keeping the rings watered down when they get dusty. It has rained here (New England) a lot this season already, but I know when August rolls around we will all be crying for a few rain drops. Last year my barn's well stopped working in the middle of the summer and it was a huge headache. We weren't allowed to use any water for baths or watering rings, only for filling water buckets. And this was after we had historic floods earlier that Spring. I am a bit nervous to see if we have similar issues this year.
ReplyDeleteKate
axford.k @ gmail.com
We need arena lights. As a barn mom, I sit around WAY too much during lessons. How about we power up some lights by hooking them up to a few treadmills and elliptical machines. I'd get my workout and get to watch my daughter's lesson!
ReplyDeleteLemme see...
ReplyDeleteBiodegradable health care products, like vetwrap or natural antiseptics. I can totally see a vetwrap made with a plastic similar to the stuff "sunchips" bags are made of! It degrades in a few months inteads of in hundreds of years like a regular chip bag.
I would find it terribly amusing to drive through the neighborhood with the manure spreader on full throttle. Eco-friendly fertilizer for all! That will get your lawns green and will not run off into our waterways or coastlines. A dinoflagellate bloom is not called a "red tide" for being "green"!
ReplyDelete(I love the Ultra Shield Green fly spray. I just used some today!)
H-m-m...how about harnessing the heat generated by the manure pile to heat water for baths and other uses.
ReplyDeleteThe composted manure makes incredible garden soil as well. Add some lime to sweeten it and tomatoes are huge and beyond delicious.
jedvorak@juno.com
natural bailing twine! All that plastic rope is disgusting and just gets thrown away! If they used a natural fiber it would not only be prettier and entice people to try and reuse it, but it would not take up so much room in landfills.
ReplyDeleteIf I could invent something, I'd make fans for the stalls that the horse could power by pulling on a rope. My gelding ALWAYS has something in his mouth! I turn for a minute and he's eating the reins, the lead rope, ANOTHER horse's reins, my shirt...you get the idea. He isn't stalled, but if he were, he'd chew down the place without something to do! So if he could tug on a rope to power a fan that could cool him down on our HOT summer afternoons, I think I'd have a busy horse and a cool horse, without the cost of electricity! Maybe he could even have two ropes, one is a mister, the other a fan. "Bored horse"-powered swamp cooler!
ReplyDeleteI think the best green ideas are simple, inexpensive and of course effective.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of building barns, indoor arenas, run-in sheds with purpose...to take advantage of the sun, wind,etc...
My barn was built so there's always a nice breeze in the aisle. Unfortunately we don't reap the same benefits in the stalls. I'm not really engineer-minded but what if there was a was to construct the stalls to benefit from the wind in the aisle? I don't know, put a hole at the top of the outside wall of the stall and maybe it would create suction. ha ha who knows but I love a good breeze... keeps the flies at bay without using any chemicals and the horses are comfortably cool without the use of power to run box fans.
jkurpiew [at] gmail dot com
A company to break down materials we don't think of as recycleable... nylon halters to half chaps you've worn through, to helmets that need replacing. Come companies do this for electornics, mattresses, etc. Salvage, repurpose and recycle everything you can! (missamandarose@yahoo.com)
ReplyDeleteKinetic energy has already been used to power wristwatches and flashlights, and the military has been creating batteries that charge themselves using the soldiers' movements throughout the day. Since turned-out horses flick their tails all day in fly-season, I recommend using that energy to further do battle on summer bugs:
ReplyDeleteThe product would be called the TailZap and would look like a typical braided tail-wrap with streamer ends to swish flies. However, the wrap would contain several small batteries that would be charged by the movement*. These batteries could be removed and used to power bug zappers placed in the barn. Since several horses would use these tail wraps, a fresh supply of charged batteries would always be available. Plus, the zappers could be placed wherever they're needed, since they won't need to be close to an electric outlet.
*Horses wearing TailZaps should be turned out with pasture mates that are not known to chew horse clothing.
Monica Hesterprinm@aol.com
Self cleaning stalls, like a large scale automatic cat litter box, could be solar powered. One for the pasture would be nice too(a manureba..like the roomba), since my barn has lots of pasture.
ReplyDeletea paddock vacuum!!! You know how they have those little robotic vacuums for your kitchen floor??? Similar to that, except it would pick up horse manure, and be more four wheel drive, sturdy (or smart enough to know how to stay out from under a horse's feet), and of course it would have to be bigger to hold everything it collects :)
ReplyDeleteDiesel trucks powered by... (ahem) "horse gas"
ReplyDeleteI've never met a horse that farted as much as my mare. There's gotta be some way to harness that "natural gas"!
elizabeth.g.hocking@gmail.com
Halters and lead ropes made from braided bailing twine. I was thinking a rope style halter for pasture use.
ReplyDeletelove.appys@yahoo.com
I'd like to see more eco friendly horse gear - like bamboo saddle blankets, stable sheets, pillow wraps, bandages, etc.
ReplyDeletehave every horse owner learn about pasture roration with different animals/crops. We rotate our horses with our goats and alpacas. Not only do they eat different things - they have different parasites and are incompatable hosts to the other species parasites!!!
Of course I LOVE the idea of solar panel roofs on barns and arenas...
My last idea is a totally portable covered arena, something like a pop up tent. The reason this is eco-friendly is you wouldn't have to worry about groundwater issues and water run off like you would for a fully covered arena. When you know you're not going to ride during the rainy season, you just collapse it down and let nature do it's thing! :)
oooh I like Amanda's idea! Seriously, I dislike throwing out lead ropes, saddle pads, etc... that have no life left in them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how we could salvage them but it'd be awesome if we could!
I think having something (like a powder or granules) to sprinkle over wet bedding to remove or neutralize the urine would be fabulous. Then just fluff up a pitchfork for a second use! Think of how much bedding you could save if you didn't have to remove the dreaded wet spot!
ReplyDeleteI think every stable should have parasitic wasps to reduce the fly population, and keep a flock of guineas to reduce the tick population. This would reduce the amount of chemicals we use on our horses, and the guineas would fertilize the pasture while eating weed seeds. Win Win Win.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some type of grass or ground covering plant to plant in paddocks. This mythical plant would thrive in drought without watering, would never get worn down by the horses, would never need mowing, and would never get muddy during rainy & wet weather. This would keep our horses cleaner and safer from muddy paddock accidents, it would help prevent erosion and run off by stabilizing the soils. And the added bonus would be that the snow & ice magically won't stick to it so the horses can be on a grassy paddock all year round. :)
ReplyDeleteHorseshoe recycling. Anyone else have a big pile of old worn out shoes just sitting around? Seems there should be an easy and convenient way to recycle all that metal. It would be even better to be able to buy shoes made from recycled materials.
ReplyDeletecandeelu@yahoo.com
Solar powered horse finder... oh how I always manage to need to find someone on 20 acres in the dark... click a button and they would beep/flash ANYTHING! :) I can't even just use a flashlight to "find the eyes." I currently board at an eventing barn. Do you KNOW how many 16.0-16.3 hand bay Thoroughbreds we have!? (with minimal markings, of course!)
ReplyDeleteJust a little something to make me swear a little less!
love,
Hollyn R. (Bella's Mom)
Madman Farm/TNT Equestrian
madmanfarm@gmail.com
I vote for pneumatic tubes from house to the barn! Think of all the gas we'd save going to and fro!
ReplyDelete