Nutrition through hay......

Orchard Grass, Timothy, Alfalfa, Mixes of all three, whatever the kind the number one thing that you want to make sure your horse has enough of during the winter is copious amounts of FREE choice hay! Another pointer here for everybody to remember is that all horses eat up to one or two percent of their body weight in roughage every single day! The better amount of nutrition and calories should ALWAYS come from your horses roughage!

If you have the storage space and equipment to move and manage round bales or large square bales that that will be your best bet in maintaining and managing a larger herd of horses! However, when doing this you always want to make sure that you have a trusted hay dealer with a good hay reputation. Go with somebody you know and not with somebody you don't! As in many cases when farmers are out in the fields working to bale the large square bales or round bales their equipment that they use to bale with can catch up the many dead carcasses of animals along with it, leading to a bacteria causing toxin called Clostridium botulinium toxicosis. There are vaccines in place by your trusted veterinarian that you can give your horse but keep in mind they can be very expensive and they are in rounds of three! When the round bale is delivered or large square bales are delivered YOU have to make sure that you have the set-up to handle something like this as well. To prevent the hay from getting wet I would suggest having a round bale holder with a solid covering and upkeep from the ground as this will prevent the bales from getting moldy if stored incorrectly! If you have a car-port run in shed or any run-in sheds than the round bale or large flakes of the large square bales than they can be put into their as well but the elevation again in any muddy or wet areas in key to prevent your hay from getting wet and in turn later down the road getting moldy!

If you do not have the storage space or equipment to deal with a feat as big as this then having deliveries set up with larger loads of small square bales than this is fine too! Please keep in mind for larger herds of horses the amount of square bales that you throw out will increase as the proper amount of forage for each individual horse is crucial in the winter. This amount goes up for older horses, rescues in poor weight, or any high metabolic breed of horse! MOLD IN YOUR HAY is a big deal for many people that will find themselves getting larger deliveries! Mold can be caused by the farmer cutting the hay too early in the cutting season as this is when the grass is still wet when baled causing the hay to become moldy when it is unable to breath and dry. As well as storing your hay in a faulty barn where it can get wet. Even the smallest amount of water can damage your hay if not caught early enough the mold spores can be tracked onto other bales and spoil those as well! Many people will make the mistake this winter of feeding their horses moldy hay. Even through wetting the hay down if fed to your horse this can cause serious impaction colic to your horses hind gut!

Let's get back on track here! :) What I find that works best if your budget allows and your hay dealer has the space or you have the space is to start saving up in the Summer when your horses are out on pasture grass and you don't have to worry so much about throwing hay out for everybody! Save your cash now as I know that for me this is better said than done, see if you can get larger loads in or buy it off of your hay dealer as he bales and makes it so later down the road you can just go pick up however much you need or in the other case you have however much you need on hand! This will save you time and a headache later when you run out in the middle of winter! In order to determine if your hay is of decent nutritional quality you will want to use the "twist test", the "twist test" is when you take a handful of whatever kind of hay you have on hand not too much but just enough that you can twist. When you have your hay in hand twist it however many times until it breaks apart! If your hay breaks in less than two to three twists than your hay is of good nutritional value for your horse, however this cannot be said for one that is twisting their hay strands four or more times. The more times you have to twist the poorer the nutritional quality is on the other hand the less times you have to twist the better nutritional quality your hay is! Now, I know this is only one way to tell and there are many ways out there but this is the way that seems to work best for me! I hope through reading this you have learned the meaning of the nutritional value through your horses hay! Check back in for more recent reads! :)

Catching up.......

Wow! Its good to be back again! I know that you readers out there that follow my blog posts haven't seen anything from me in a while! As well I have been super busy with well life happening I guess.... Well, my horse inspired me each and every day to begin my blog posting on a weekly basis! After spending some much needed bonding time with Betty, I was able to rekindle that love of blog posting that she had first inspired me to do upon my first tasks with her and thank you to all that have followed this amazing journey with me and with her! Now lets get to the part that you really want to hear! As the summer months have slipped by, and the colder months are starting to sneak up quite fast. I have still have continued to do groundwork as the constant reminder and reconditioning techniques of this process are important for both the horse and rider of any age or discipline! As I still keep this thought in the back of my head, I have moved down the path closer to riding than I have before! We have NOT done anything major as we have just been practicing at a walk, and trot. Nothing further beyond that as Betty's brain is very sensitive and has some scarring from her past that I have to be careful of! As when I do anything with her I have to ask her permission first, and if this is something that she will allow me to follow through with her. I was very surprised at the response that I received from her!As I slowly slipped my leg over each side of her stomach and positioned myself gently onto her back my mind was an open book as to what I could accomplish with her. As I picked up the reins and gave my first click to her, her response was very, very fast and she picked up on what I needed her to do right along with me! She was able to move off my leg pressure perfectly from both the right and the left! After a good twenty minute warm up, at the walk and at different patterns. I was finally able to accomplish the trot with her! I felt that I was able to trust in her so much that I decided to take upon the task of riding her bareback! Which mind you worked out perfectly!! I also decided to use my Dr. Cook Bit-less bridle, as due to dentist complications she is not able to be ridden with a bit in her mouth! That Dr. Cook works wonders with her! If you ever have a horse that is in need of a Bit-less bridle TRY the Dr. Cook, however keep in mind that these bridles are expensive but they are well worth the investment! Videos will be posted later, as I only have pictures right now!

The Dynamite horse returns again......

So over the summer our five guys return to the Dynamite program as this is when the grass is greater in sugar and some horses cannot process that sugar correctly becoming IR to it. As I know this a big concern for all horse owners! For those of you that do not know of the Dynamite program they are a company that makes all special products. You special order them off of the website and they ship them to you within the two week time span. For horses that are not a familiar face to the Dynamite program you need to usually start them out on the regular Dynamite to fill their deposit. You then wait about a month or two and then you switch them over to the Dynamite Plus which uses a PH gut balancer (DynaPro) to help balance out the sugars in their gut. We had our horses on it all summer and they had no founder or lamanites what so ever. They had no colic episodes from the grass either! :) YAY! :) Anyways, since it worked so very well last year every single summer we switch our horses back to this wonderful product! Depending on how many horses you have on this it will last you a good two and a half months. For our five guys out of the five two of them have to have a wet mash, because of severe choke problem. We give them about half a scoop of Stanlee hay pellets which you can get at your local feed store. You dump the clear scoop of Dynamite Supplament into the feed and then let soak accordingly to how long you need! Follow the link to the Dynamite Marketing through my sidebar. Click and discover more!

Queen for a Day......

On March 15,2004 a very special girl was born. Her name was to be Sun's Pocco Betty (Betty for short). I first met her four years ago when we moved to a new boarding facility. For the first few weeks our horses were kept separate and then as they started to get familiar with things, we were able to turn them out with everybody. After about 3 months boarding there, we were asked a couple times a week to care for eight of the owner's horses. We took on the task and if it was not for that very important question that the barn owner had asked us I would have never gotten the opportunity to work with such a special gal. We then set up a working board arrangement where we took care of the other horses and cared for each one, I had handled her for a month or two very lightly not a whole lot, I noticed that she was the one that was the most difficult turned her but to you when she was scared or didn't know what else to do, was very agressive during feeding time, and was not able to be touched by a human hand. Everybody was terrified to even go in a stall with her for fear that they might be kicked. I took upon the task myself to work with this very difficult horse, my first step was getting her to be able to trust humans again, I started from square one, even showing a sign of interest was a reward for her. I build my relationship with her from the ground up, and it has grown ever since. I still continue to work with her every single day, even if its just hand grazing or a peaceful walk down the driveway or through the fields is considered a form of groundwork, at the moment I am working from the riding position and starting to get her familiar with different saddles, different weights, as well as trust when I am on her back and she cannot see me. I was able to ride her in the outside arena yesterday and she was spot on. So far I have taught her to move off of leg pressure as well as respond to voice commands and rein aids. So far I haven't had to use whips or any artificial aids. All I use on her is a rope halter and that's about it. She is very sensitive and moves of of leg pressure extremely well. I am very proud of the results that I have accomplished with he. My world without her here would not be complete, she is the other half of me, my soul-mate. For every birthday that our four horses have we always have them wear a crown and I must say I think that she enjoyed it. She loved the attention and quite honestly I think she was posing for the camera!!!

Dealing with the Cold Weather.....

I know that many of fellow horse owners have had a hard time dealing with this harsh winter. It was a lot warmer last year than this year. There are some brutally cold winters coming up and there are multiple ways to deal with making sure your horse is protected and warm. SHELTER A lot of horse owners deal with this subject differently. There are owners that leave their horses out in the fields, make sure that if you decide to do this that your field has a run in shed (for a break in the wind) and that it is big enough for all horses to fit into the run in shed. Horses with higher metabolism's tend to burn calories a lot faster and require more hay to keep themselves warm. Older horses, pregnant or expecting mares, growing and developing horses, and throughbreds are also a big issue.

BLANKETING I know that a lot of people are a little bit touchie on this issue, but here's the fact yes they were once wild horses that lived out in the mountains, ranch, etc. They had natural resources and they adapted to their surroundings fairly easily, but once you take those natural resources away they depend on you their "owner" to take care of them and provide them with these. They are now domesticated and can't depend on being "wild" anymore. Blankets do not ruin their hair coat, they provide a way to keep insulated and keep their body heat from escaping. This serves as a way to conserve on hay too b/c you do not need to throw as much. If your horse had difficulty and is a hard keeper make sure that you get the right gram and weight for your horse. A fleece or stable sheet is required to layer underneath of a turnout sheet and is a alternative. If you can get big square bales to put out in the field this can be useful too. Round bales I always advise people to stay away from because of a toxin called "Botulism". Or forage poisoning. This causes signs of weakness in all parts of the body because it prevents the release "acetylcholine" from the nerves which causes the muscles to contract. This is caused from dead animals being caught in the baling process of the hay and when your horse eats the bale that contains this or any hay around it the entire bale is deadly and needs to be thrown away. There are vaccinations that you can give your horse to prevent this from happening to them, remember that the Botulism shot is a three-step process and requires multiple visits from the vet and can get extremely pricey. Make sure that you are getting your hay from a decent hay dealer and one that you know is good from experience.

HAY In the winter (depending on what horse you have) they need to eat ten percent of their body weight. KEEP IN MIND THAT FOR OLDER HORSES AND GROWING AND DEVELOPING HORSE; PREGNANT OR EXPECTING MARES, this value goes up and increases. Also, as well as how cold it is depending on if they stay in or go out this value also increases and goes up.

WATER If you have the option of using a heated bucket during these harsh winters then that will serve your horse well; especially if that horse is older and has choke easily then this would be the quick fix. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO LOOK AT THE HEATED WATER BUCKET AND LOOK TO SEE WHAT THE VOLTAGE IS FOR THE EXTENTION CORD; IF YOU ARE USING YOUR HEATED WATER BUCKET INSIDE THEN YOU STILL NEED TO USE A HEAVY DUTY EXTENSION CORD. IF YOU ARE RUNNING YOUR'S OUTSIDE USE ABOVE A CERTAIN VOLTAGE. Always make sure that your horse has a good amount of water during the winter and that it is fairly warm. If you can you need to have a water heater in your tank to prevent the tank from freezing and easy access to warm water for your horses. Their are a lot of health problems brought on by drinking water too cold too fast. If you can always make sure that the ice is cracked and they can get to it.

GOOD LUCK AND KEEP WARM!

Building the Trust up from you and then learning to trust others.......

I know a lot of people feel the same way that I do about their horses only responding to the person that they trust, which is "you". Ever find yourself in a difficult circumstance or situation and their are multiple people trying to help you but the ONLY person that can help the horse is the one who spends the most time with them and who has the special bond and or relationship. When you do groundwork with your horse a lot of people think that its only groundwork and you can't really accomplish a lot but when you do it for three years with your horse you learn how to address issues that other people wouldn't understand how to work through. You learn how to deal with issues that might present themselves in a calm manner. I think that a lot of people that aren't around horses a whole lot do not know how to PROPERLY deal with them, or deal with them in a agressive manner out of fear for the unknown.

THERE IS NOBODY THAT UNDERSTANDS YOUR HORSE BETTER THAN YOU!!!!!!!