Chris,<br><br>Thanks for the reply. <br><br>Yes, we have had our share of problems lately. I don't pay much attention to horses myself, but I have heard of the problems. Chief among our problems lately has been water. We have too much. While dams and water managment programs have been successful in curtailing widespread flooding, flash flooding and localized flooding have really been a problem this year. One flash flood a few weeks ago succeeded in rearranging several boulders on my father's property that had for years resisited our feeble efforts to move them (including a small dozer). I wonder if there is a connection between the excess water and the ticks? Or the water, the ground squirrels (there are a about a zillion of them this year), and the ticks? I know a couple of fish and wildlife guys, I'll ask around.<br><br>Take care,<br><br>Andy