All the Creatures

Oregon is one of the most lenient states when it comes to owning and breeding non-native wildlife. It should be no surprise that they have an extensive list of what animals they will allow to be owned and what is considered illegal.

For example the mongoose is illegal and the ferret is legal. In fact many wildlife species are considered as domesticated animals in Oregon. There is a 25 page document that lists all of the animals that are illegal and legal to own in Oregon. The link is below.

Non-native wildlife that is legal to own in Oregon. 25 pages. Lists animals by scientific and common name. Fish and Game of Oregon document.

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Having a pond full of beautiful Koi fish is a source of joy and an achievement to be admired. You see, Koi need some very special needs in order to remain healthy and grow. Besides food, Koi require highly oxygenated water. It is simply not a case of digging a hole, lining it and putting in the fish. Koi need lots of oxygen. Because they use the oxygen in the water rather rapidly it needs to be replenished all the time.

There are several ways to oxygenate the water in a Koi pond. One way is to have enough surface area of the pond to allow a natural exchange of oxygen happen between the air and the water. Most pond systems have a pump and filter. The larger the pond or number of fish in the pond is what dictates the size of the pump. Most Japanese gardens with large Koi ponds use industrial pumps and have a pump house. Smaller backyard ponds use surface area and pump that operates a fountain or waterfall. The motion of the water speeds up the exchange of the oxygen from the air into the water. The faster the motion, the more the exchange.

Another thing that all Koi ponds must have is an area deeper than 3 feet deep. This area is what the fish will need to escape from predatory birds that like the taste of fresh fish.

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It is interesting how my mind wanders sometimes. Tonight I was thinking about the horse that will be coming back to me next month and wondered how he has changed in the past 7 years. He was the colt of my mare that past away last October (you can see a picture of her and her son here) and I sold him when he was 4 years old. The sale was not something I had planned but money was tight and I needed to sell a horse prior to our move out of state. He was the one that was worth the most on the horse market at the time and I sold him to a neighbor. I was thinking about him and his mother and his sire tonight.

I then began my search online to see what had happened to his sire. The stallion was gelded shortly after my colt’s birth (yr 2000). The owner of the stallion had died suddenly about a few weeks before my mare gave birth. Her stallion was gelded and sold by her husband and I think he also sold many of their horses. The now gelding went on to become a titled dressage horse with his new owner. He was still competing in 2008.

That took me on another search to see if my mare’s own father (sire) was still alive. His name is Winter Sultan. On the Summertime Farm’s stallion page, I found out he passed away in 2008. Curious about my other horses, I entered their registered names into Google and found out that many of their family tree members have now passed on. I never did find out what happened to CA Shahara Zam, my Arabian gelding’s dam (mother). No doubt she has now died too since my gelding is now 25 years old.

Many of the old Arabian breeding farms of the 1990’s are now gone. Ryding Hy Arabians that used to be located in Woodside, CA is no longer in business. It was there that I first saw my mare, as a young weanling. She was offered for sale during their “Hot August Nights” yearly open house. her price at that time was $7,500 which was a bit too much for our bank account. The next year we went back and there she was again, as a yearling, still not sold but now her price was $750.00 a far cry from her first asking price. We bought her.

She was a very easy horse to train. I went trail riding with her, showed her at halter and English and she even taught my daughter how to ride. Her son is coming home to stay with us and I can’t wait until he arrives. He is now 11 years old.

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