For 36 years now, innovating the line of reusable cotton gauze filter technology for automobiles has been the bread and butter for K&N Engineering. And what bread and butter it is that the steady growth has been established to make K&N a global company. From its roots of being a family undertaking, the filter company grew into immense proportions, having offices already in the United Kingdom and Netherlands. A leader in its field, K&N already has an extensive line of factory and replacement drop-in filters, Fuel Injection Performance Kits and its own line of Golden oil filters.

For starters, the automobile engine is essentially a giant air pump, combusting a mixture of fuel and air with a carefully timed spark. The more air the engine has available, the more horsepower it can make. The F150 K&N Intake lets the engine breathe cleaner air for more torque and tremendous power. It hinders dust particles from entering the engine’s combustion chambers. The cabin air filters, meanwhile, purify the air that enters the truck’s ventilation system.

The K&N air filter utilizes a special filter media made of cotton gauze and oiled with K&N’s special filter oil. This combination of gauze media and filter oil serves as a tough wall so that dirt won’t be able to get past. It doesn’t get steadily choke like what a standard, stock air filter does. Instead, the dirt captured by K&N air filter even acts to filter out more dirt. This gives the engine a steady diet of clean air for more horsepower. This condition also shows how improved the throttle response of an engine is.

Throttle response is measured by the amount of delay or hesitation that the vehicle exhibits between when the gas pedal is pressed down and when the engine responds by delivering power. Improvements in throttle response give s more “pep” in the car’s acceleration.

As the K&N air filter gets dirty, it can readily be washed up and re-oiled via the K&N recharge kit. It is a Lifetime filter, which means there is no replacement needed. It also means that it even draws a bigger bang for the buck as there is no more shelling out of additional money for replacement, low-performing air filters.

K&N air filters also add on fuel saving for an engine. As the engine is getting the maximum amount of clean air through the K&N filter, it becomes more efficient. This shows a drastic improvement in fuel economy as the engine doesn’t have to gasp for more air caused by an inefficient air filter. Other plus factors for better fuel mileage is by making sure that the tires are properly inflated and removing unused accessory racks and heavy items whenever a vehicle is not in use.

As the engine breathes easier, K&N air filters contributes for cleaner air. Its High-Flow technology reduces vehicle emissions related to pollution. The cotton composition is renewable, unlike the paper-made ones from trees that would surely take many years to grow to maturity.

These are just but a some of the breath-taking features of K&N air filters. Molded with many years of industry expertise, F150 K&N Intake will continue to heave cleaner air for optimum engine performance.

Proper bedding for horses is extremely important. Their health and performance depends on them having the proper amount of rest.
Studies have shown that sleep can be divided into 2 stages, Slow Wave Seep (SWS) and Paradoxial Sleep (PS) . Horses normally fall asleep while standing up and they enter SWS during which the muscles gradually relax.

If the horse is feeling comfortable in its environment it will lie down and drift further into SWS with further relaxation of the muscles.

The horse may then lie down flat to enter PS where the muscles are totally relaxed, that is, there is virtually no muscle tone.

An important point about sleep cycles is that the horse must lie down flat to complete a sleeping cycle that includes PS. If a horse cannot, or chooses not to lie down then it can rest in SWS but cannot achieve the total relaxation of PS.

Paradoxial sleep is sometimes termed the sleep of the body because of the general muscular relaxation. SWS is known as the sleep of the mind.

And so with that in mind I started researching the different types of bedding for horses.
Here are the various types of horse bedding I have found.

Straw bedding especially wheat straw was used in virtually every stable some fifty years ago. Horses were mainly kept for hunting, competitions or belonged to riding schools. Some horses had “hay coughs”,now called Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and since the majority of horses were looked after by professional grooms, COPD meant nothing to the average horse owner.

Today’s the situation is so different. The growing trend to keep equines as pets and not only as work animals has spurred a growing trend to find new types of bedding.

Straw as Horse Bedding

Benefits

• If clean and dust free, it makes an excellent bed.

Disadvantages

• amount of waste material generated
• costly to dispose
• Heavy to cart to the muck heap
• Dangers of spores and dust
• May create respiratory problems for horse and humans
• horses often eat straw bedding.

Findings from other studies have shown that when given the choice of straw or wood shavings as a bedding type, horses spend more time on straw.

Horses appear to spend more time performing bedding-directed behaviours on straw and this seems to reduce boredom in stabled horses

The use of beddings other than straw may increase the risk of abnormal behaviours such as weaving.

Both straw and wood shavings are economical and easy to obtain.

Straw is generally warmer bedding than shavings because it traps air.

Sawdust as Horse Bedding

Benefits
• Readily available almost everywhere
• Relatively inexpensive

Disadvantages

• May irritate a horses lungs
• Can cause the “heaves” (a respiratory problem)
• Heavier to load and muck than straw, shavings or wood chips.
• Horses with respiratory problems should not use this type of bedding.

Peat moss has countless tiny air-filled cells that provide a comfortable cushion under the horses foot, making it a bedding recommended by veterinarians for convalescing horse’s with severe foot problems.
It naturally neutralizes, not covers up, but organically neutralizes, ammonia fumes.
Veterinarians have long recommended peat as a beneficial alternative stall bedding for horses suffering from COPD, commonly known as “heaves”.

Peat moss has long been recognized as one of the most effective natural filtration materials found in nature. The natural beneficial microbes, and the material’s outstanding absorbency trap and contain harmful urine and ammonia fumes.
Benefits

• Counters the build up of stall ammonia.
• No further need of special stall deodorizers.
• Generates less waste volume than shavings or straw, or pellets • Requires less storage space.
• Small amount of daily waste generated
• Rapid break down time compared to wood products or straw
• Keeps a white horse from getting urine stains

Disadvantages

• The brown earthy colour makes the stalls look dark
• More expensive initially than sawdust or shavings

Hemp as Horse Bedding

Hemp has been cultivated in North America since the 17th century. For a number of years it was against the law to grow hemp, it is once again legal to grow hemp commercially in Canada .

The outside of the hemp stalks are harvested for use in the textile, composite and paper industries. The core of the stalk is used for animal bedding, garden mulch and building materials.

Queen Elizabeth of England,uses the European company “Hempcore”, producers of hemp bedding, as her equine product supplier.

HempChips, an Ontario based company, researched the wide spread use of hemp bedding in Europe and did stall trials and test marketing of the product in Ontario prior to launching HempChips at the Royal Winter Fair in 1998.

Benefits

• HempChips are dust extracted and cleaned of any impurities
• Ensure a clean stable environment
• Reduction in conditions that lead to respiratory problems in horses
• All natural - there few chemicals used to grow the hemp stalk and no chemicals used during processing.
• Highly absorbent - therefore you can use less
• Horses will not eat hemp stalks

Disadvantages
• High initial Cost of putting down the bedding
• Difficulty in locating local sellers.

Newsprint bedding is shredded newspaper/cardboard. It is ecologically conservative and very absorbent.

Benefits

• Soft and comfortable
• No Dust
• Horses usually will not eat it
• Horses are easier to clean after lying in newsprint as opposed to shavings
• Easy to store and transport in the small bales
• Good for places that are allowed to burn muck

Disadvantages
• Light weight can make the muck heap prone to blow around the yard in windy weather.
• Makes the stable look unkempt with the newsprint blowing all over the place

Branded Wood Pellet Products.
Wood pellets are compressed shavings (usually pine). They are treated to remove toxic substances and dust, and they expand when wet.

Benefits

• Some pellets clump so it’s easy to clean.
• Very Absorbant therefore you need to put down less
• Branded wood pellets are free of dust and toxic substances
• Greatly lowering the chance of respiratory problems
• Easy to sift through with pitch fork
• Mucking out is faster easier and less wasteful
• Reduction in the amount of waste thrown out
• Requires about 1/3rd the space of a traditional flake shaving bale.
• Comfortable, shock absorbing, and aesthetically pleasing.
• Stalls are drier and cleaner
• More Cost Effective in the long run
• Easier to use

Disadvantages

• Upfront cost is higher
• More difficult to find than sawdust or wood shavings

The Benefits of Rubber Matting are numerous. Just like us, horses and ponies feel the strain from standing on hard surfaces. If they slip, injury is also likely to be greater on concrete than on a softer surface.

Benefits

• Rubber matting provides a very comfortable standing surface
• Extra traction helps to reduce the risk of injury in the stable.
• Provides a much warmer, safer and more comfortable floor
• Reduces the quantity of bedding required.
• Different brands and differences in cost and quality.
• Good buffer between the horse and the floor.
• Extra cushioning alleviates pressure and stress of hock and knees.
• Less bedding need

Disadvantages of Rubber matting

• The cost of some stall matting is quite high

A good friend of mine uses the ComfortStall® System for her 2 box stalls. It is true that she goes a little overboard (to say the least) when it comes to caring for her horses. They not only have the Comfortstall® system for the floor of their box stalls but peat moss as bedding. To me this is the best type of sleep arrangement for any horse. By the way, the matting for the 2 stalls cost a total of 1500 $ cdn including installation.

Like any other bedding, the amount of material you will need depends on the type of horse being housed, how many hours the horse spends in the stall, weather conditions, and the size of the stall.

Also be aware that stabling is not natural for equines, so measures must be taken to ensure a healthy, comfortable and happy environment is created.

There’s a horse show across the state in a few weeks, and you’re planning on being there with your horses. However, it’s been awhile since you last pulled a horse trailer, and you’re a little concerned about your trailering skills. After all, you want to arrive at your destination safely, with the horses as calm and relaxed as possible.

Guiding a loaded horse trailer down a country road or highway requires practical experience and know-how. There’s very little room for error. What do you do to ensure a safe, uneventful journey?

How to Ensure Safe Trailering

If you’re out of practice, or if you’ve never towed a trailer before, obtaining adequate personal experience prior to the actual event is of the utmost importance. Just as if you were learning to drive for the first time, you should begin by practicing basic driving skills before getting out in traffic with the trailer.

The more experienced you become, the more prepared you will be for anything that may potentially happen. With more confidence and a higher level of awareness and preparedness, you should be better able to handle any unexpected situation that comes along.

Find a level field or a parking lot in which to practice. Mark your course with several highway cones, then, set out to work on the following driving skills:

Turning with your trailer.

Backing your trailer.

Parking your trailer on a grade.

Stopping the trailer rig suddenly.

Ready for the Highway

After you’ve practiced all the basic driving skills while pulling your horse trailer and you feel confident in your ability to handle the rig safely, you’re ready to test your skills out on the road.

Try towing your trailer for short distances, at first. Make sure that you feel comfortable with turning corners in traffic, with backing your trailer, with parking on a grade, and with being able to stop your trailer quickly (should the need arise). Once you are confident in your towing abilities, you’re ready to travel any distance with your horses.

Just remember to always be alert when out on the roads. Drive defensively and be prepared for any possible situation.