Tag Archives: Equus

Carol Hayward Fell

Born and living in Durban, Carol has a BA Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics and a Teaching Diploma from UKZN, Pmb. She was a lecturer for several years at the Durban University of Technology, where she taught Ceramics and Ceramic History. Now, in addition to producing ceramic sculptures for exhibitions and for sale in art galleries, she also teaches Painting and Drawing privately to adults from Carolart Studio, run from her home in Durban North.

 

 

For over 20 years, Carol was renowned for making her tall, coiled intricately patterned colourful porcelain vessels and sculptures, including her “Fish Wife” series of sculptures. For these, she received achieved numerous awards and many of these works found their way into the permanent collections of Public Art Museums in South Africa. Each work has always been fully signed and often dated. Carol has always been invited to participate in many art exhibitions on an annual basis. In addition to making ceramics, she has devoted time to drawing and has produced many oil painting

HORSES

In 2006, after doing a lot of drawing and oil painting, she started her first small sculptures of horses and became immediately entranced with this wonderful subject which has been represented throughout Art History. Since then, she has concentrated on exploring this vast subject and has aimed at achieving ways of interpreting the elegance and beauty and as well as increasing the size and complexity of my horses.

 

Hand built, in high–fired Stoneware and Porcelain clay, the horses reflect her life-long interest in the Art of Ancient Civilizations; Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese etc. These ancient cultures all represented the horse quite differently and their shapes and forms have inspired many of her horses, giving them their expressive qualities; long necks, elegant heads, arched tails and slender bodies.

 

For the unique style of the white horses, she developed own technique of surface treatment. Over the dull buff stoneware clay used to construct her horses, she paints several layers of pure white porcelain clay, then she slip-trails fine intricately detailed surface textures, patterns as well as creating the decorative patterned saddlecloths. Using sharp tools, she also sometimes incises patterns through the layer of white porcelain clay to reveal the beige stoneware clay underneath.

Much of work over the years has included a humorous element and this is also reflected in the horses, especially those with other animals sitting on their backs – birds, cats, dogs, monkeys, rabbits etc, in whimsical situations. Some horses have female reclining nudes painted across their bodies.

In 2014, her work “White Horse with Vervet Monkeys, was awarded the top award, chosen by an overseas judge, as Best on Show, at the Corobrik Ceramic Association of Southern Africa’s National Ceramic Exhibition, held in Cape Town.

 

She has participated in invited exhibitions and has supplied galleries widely throughout SA and abroad in a career spanning 37 years.

 

Currently self-employed as an Artist and private Art teacher, Carol feels that she has achieved an ideal balance between teaching and creating new works. Her love of photography has also helped her accumulate a detailed documentation of almost every work she has ever made. She and her art students continue to inspire each other and she derives enormous pleasure from introducing adult beginners to art – seeing them grow fast in ability and interest. Her passion for tackling new subjects and pushing boundaries is often infectious and she is rarely daunted by technology; rather seeing how it can be used as a tool to further expose her art and that of others in her art groups to the general public.

 

 

 

When it comes to horse food, being cheap can be expensive! -Hannah Botha (MSC Equine Science, Royal Agricultural College, UK)

When a bag of feed is R10 more expensive than an alternative brand it does raise eyebrows. When the price difference is R20 or more, most horse owners will query whether this is value for money. Interestingly, however, even discrepancies greater than these can become savings!

EQUUS 175mm x 90mm Ad Banner

 

When it comes to choosing a concentrate for your horse, opting for the bag with the budget price can turn out to be the expensive decision in the long run!

Not only does it often cost more in terms of Rands per month to feed cheap concentrates, but the negatives

also add up in terms of poor performance, poor condition, the cost of additional supplements, greater quantities fed and the possibility of additional veterinary bills which completely tip the scales.

 

When selecting your horse feed, you should do so in the manner you would select a veterinarian for your horse. Most horse owners choose a veterinarian based on the quality of service provided, not the price charged for this highly professional work. Your horse’s nutrition should be no less important.

There are many different feeds available on the market today and, without exception, cheaper feeds tend to contain a lot more fillers and less of the better quality ingredients. This is possibly even more relevant in todays climate, with raw materials increasing in price, and some companies may even swop out previously used ingredients for cheaper options.

The differences in nutritional value between different feeds are significant and, generally, the aid old adage

“You get what you pay for” is true.

Contrary to popular belief, the most expensive component of horse feed is not protein but rather the total energy value. Other important factors which add to the end price of better quality concentrates are:

 

  • the amount and type of oils used
  • the quality of the vitamins and minerals added
  • the selection of starches incorporated- to provide useable energy sources
  • the addition of a live yeast culture
  • The quality if proteins and amino acids used
  • the quality and quantity of the fibres used in the composition.

 

The correct inclusion of essential Vitamin B and E alone can easily add R4-00 per bag, a live yeast culture up to R8-00/bag and the inclusion of good quality oils can bump the cost up to more than R10-00 per bag. Just these 3 ingredients alone can account for more than R20-00 per bag but in the long run, however, can help you save money, improve performance and ensure that riding, breeding, training or any other equine activity can be fully enjoyed.

Horses are no longer kept for transportation, but rather, because we are passionate about them and equine related sports. Attempting to save R2.00 per day, thus, only to have a horse contract, tying up, laminitis or dangerous colic, all related to the choice of feed, becomes nonsensical.

It must be noted that where a horse is fed, for example, 4kg per day, the difference in feeding costs between a budget feed at R200/40kg compared to a much higher quality product priced at R220/40kg (ie.R20 more per bag) will be R2.00 per day. This becomes a negligible amount when compared to the cost of treating a bad colic, not to mention the costs of adding masses of additional supplements to “make your feed work”, impaired performance and the additional quantity required for feeding which is often required.

 

GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING HORSE FEED COST EFFECTIVELY!

 

Always study the information!

Choice of concentrate has a major cost implication on the upkeep of your horse, hence the importance of studying the bag tag and also of researching all further information provided on the website of any product you use.

Do not make the mistake of stopping your research at the advertised protein level as the protein level per se does not tell the whole story. When comparing products it is important to study factors such as energy value, yeast addition, the amount of fibre, specified vitamin/ mineral levels, the use of organic minerals, fat percentage, the type of oils added and specified amino acids such as lysine.

You will usually notice a vast difference in values across brands, as well as the amount of information offered on the top end products as compared to budget lines which tend to specify only the minimum values as required by law. Keep in mind that this law was passed way back in 1947 and requires the declaration of certain minimum percentages of Protein, Moisture, Fat, Calcium, Phosphorous and Fibre only.

When comparing feeds ensure you are comparing apples with apples. Some companies may display their nutrient values “as added ”, so it will only tell you the amounts put in not what your horse is actually receiving, where as others will give a better picture by detailing “as fed”, this will give a better picture of the actual nutrients your horse is receiving.