Did you know horses have FROGS? Dakota Lee shares with you the most important thing you should do when grooming your horse. Dakota sends a shout out to Lufkin Middle School and Roxboro School in this episode. Dakota is currently in NYC, stay tuned for some episodes from The BIG Apple!!! On her quest for horses in NYC, did she find any??? If you have a question you would like Dakota to answer, submit your question in the comment section. Also, if you enjoyed this episode, be first to comment! Dakota tries to reply to each comment, and really loves the very first ones. Dakota will be at the Apex Peak Fest in Apex, NC for a live book signing next to the Kids Stage this April, so mark your calendars.
Has Dakota visited your school? She wants to visit your classroom as an author in residence, so ask your teachers to view this site and contact her for your class right away!

Dakota Lee gets up close with her horse to show you what teeth floating is. Equine Dentistry is the fancy name for a horse dentist and in this episode Sonny-D gets his teeth ground down with a large power tool called a Rasp.  The molars on horses are continually growing.  This happens because horses are meant for eating grass all day every day.  Sometimes only the inside of the molars gets worn down, making the part of the teeth closer to a horses cheek very sharp.  Then it’s time for teeth floating!  DakotaLee.com

Dakota Lee, teen author of Flash of Freedom, tells it like it is about horse manure!  Be VERY glad this isn’t smell-a-vision!There are some very interesting facts about manure.  Where does all the  manure of a barn go?  In a muck heap!  Actually horses have a gross factor.  They will NOT step in a fresh pile of poop!  They won’t even eat grass that has been growing from a pile of manure. They can tell the difference!  Horses do not like the long, tall, skinny grass.  Another factoid about horses…when they get off of a trailer, they would have pooped in the trailer…it’s a stress thing.  Who knew?  Horses do NOT want you to know this factoid–they CAN walk, trot, canter AND POOP at the same time!  They use pooping as an excuse to slow down, stop, take a break, and poop.  What is amazing is that horse poop in the muck heap is dried and doesn’t stink anything like cat or dog poop.  I can actually pick it up and it doesn’t stick to my hands! Wow!  Hey, come help me muck out stalls in the barn.  You have to get the big piles and then you are not done.  All the little bits have to be cleaned out too!  It’s a long and hard and gross job.  Oh well!

Who knew a PVC pipe could be used in so many ways! Dakota Lee, teen author of her book, Flash of Freedom, talks about her experience at the barn with a horse injury. A young mare, Wysteria, walked up to her owner with a bad cut on her knee. Dakota was at the barn and able to take the ride to the vet. After stitching up the knee, and wrapping it, they brought out the PVC pipe sliced lengthwise. They used it on either side of the front leg to stablized the use of the knee during healing. Then they wrapped it up again. Wysteria is on stall rest and is restless indeed! Dakota shows how it was all done. In a future episode, Dakota shows the results of the healing and explains in more detail about the wound. Stay tuned! Subscribe to her feed and as always, please leave your comments!!