I finally went and put in a section on animals too!

That's great! Now we can have discussions on other animals and pets as well as fish. Also, this may help draw in some new members. Nice work Robyn!

I'm new to this site, so I'm probably not doing something right. However, I suspect that most of the contacts to this site will be for ponds and animals and plants associated with water - streams, ponds, aquaria, etc. Most of the other animals (and plants) have specific or group sites, magazines, books, e-lists, etc., already. Don't let that keep you from trying to see what atttractions exist. I suspect this might relie on ecosystem relationships. In orther words, those critters that benefit from a pond environment (depending on 'artificial' and/or 'natural' might draw more interest than critters like my Irish Setters or any other number of dogs or cats. Now cayotes or wolfs are another issue. (The old natural vs domestic issue. Wild bunnies (cottentails, etc. vs. lop-eared, etc.)

Great site. Correct that. One of the best (if not best) I've found so far. Love the work and effort you're doing/providing. Just new at all this (ponds) and I'll try to learn a bit more before making too many totally stupid comments.

Erik Erickson
Decorah, IA

I had no intentions of trying to be the be-all end-all of forums. There are a ton of animal, fish, and pond forums out there. The main purpose of the these forums was this: I have been answering 10-30 e-mails a day since 1997. I have probably written 10,000 pages of stuff. It's a shame that only the questioner ever sees what I wrote. Not that anything I say is any good but it gives people a lot of ideas and may help their situation. The point of the forum is that I'd rather people post my questions to me here. That way, others can read my response and also other people can also put in their answers and further help the person who asked the question. As my site covers dozens of animals not having anything to do with aquariums and ponds directly (don't tell that to Gino, my cat, who has jumped in an open aquarium a few times), I put a section in here about animals as well so that all facets of my site are covered here.

This is one of the better forums I have found also on the web and is quite informative in alot of areas not just a couple. I really have to thank you for giving me (just a beginner and all) the opportunity to see your answers or replies because thus far. I can tell you've made a difference to a great many in their ventures into the pond world and the like areas of interest. I can't wait to get going and see what participating in these discussions will help me to get started on or what hurdle I will overcome in the future. Our family has two cats Lucky and Kal plus a french loppy rabbit named Lola.

The fact is...if you are an animal lover...the chances are that you have more than one type of animal/reptile, etc. So having a place where we can share pix and stories about all of them here is great and we thank Robyn for providing it for us. Not to mention those who live in a rural environment might have all sorts of rescue anmimals from birds, squirrells, raccoons, etc.

My family has:
Horses
Cows
Dogs
Cats
Tutles
Frog/Tadpoles
Deer
and loads of other wildlife including wild turkeys and hogs.

So what kind of horse is a Paso Fino? Are they tall 10 hands+ or shorter? Do you ride often, I'm thinkin probably, huh, since you said they are your passion? Do you have a lot of horses on the property and what are their names? We live out in the country here in MN on gravel so we have alot of horse riding in the summer months on these roads when neighbors are exercising and the like with their horses. Do you have any that go to show and do you belong to a local saddle club? We live 8 miles out of Buffalo (a National Rodeo grounds is there) Ever hear of it? My daughter has a friend and her family goes to the State Fair Shows and has won several trophies for her stuff. They are so cool to look at and the whole family is so proud, I suppose because it's a family accomplishment not just one member. Her mom is really INTO horses. Thats how it all started I guess.

faithinfrogs
Char

Paso Finos are from countries like Colombia, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Arub, etc. They are not too big. Abut 13.2 to 14.2 hands generally give or take an inch or so. But they are very sturdy and can carry a lot of weight.
I show in the Paso Fino show here in Miami where this breed is very popular due to the heavy latin influence.
Check out this show that took place not too long ago. Sorry there is so much spanish, but some is in English

http://www.showtimepasofino.com/index.php?m=show&id=66

I have a few Paso friends that live in MN. I heard you guys have lots of snow out there still.

The weather was warming up then within the last 4 days we've gotten here 16 inches.
About 8 this past Monday and last night (Wed) about the same. Last nights was fluffy and lighter snow so it makes shoveling a much easier task. I got your link to come up but the video didn't run is there a program needed to view this or do I maybe need to disable the pop up blocker like you mentioned at the other links?

faithinfrogs

Could be the pop up blocker. Are you on DSL? If dial up you will never see it, but be able to hear it.

Unfortunately just dial up here right now. My husband and I have been discussing dsl but the cost difference with the telephone service we have here is so balloon priced that we're kinda hoping in the near future the price drops alittle more. In the meantime we're a bit slow here, chug chug chug. I'll see if my laptop can view at the library the next time I swing in there.