Is Thin In?

Does my horse look skinny to you? He's the one on the right, in case you're just joining us.  The other one is the Mustang who thinks Junior belongs to her. Photos courtesy of Max's Chloe.

I look forward to quizzing TJ on her BCS skills on Saturday morning before we spend the day at QH Congress. 

Knowing the BCS needs to consider the whole horse, I cannot see the ribs, can you? I can certainly feel them, but not see them and if the second photo with the awesome sunset lighting didn't pick them up more than a hint then they're not too bad. I think the topline is obviously bony with the hip points and the sacrum being most evident.  He still has a fatty spot behind the shoulder, though. 

Poor guy is built funny.  He's got a big strong chest but such a wussy hip.  He's missing balance between those bone structures.  It was pretty well masked when he was Fatty Boombatty, but not so much anymore.  

I'm also a terrible muther for the lack of real muscle building exercise he's been receiving.  

Anyway, plans are underway to fix it, I'm just looking for opinions on the visual.

I showed my mom the same pictures and her immediate response was "He's so skinny!!!"  Now, keep in mind that my Dear Mother had QH's in the 60's when horses like Wimpy were king.  BULK! So she can't be my only source of outside opinion.  She thought Junior looked good when he was an 8.5 on the BCS.  Eeew. Sorry, Mom, done picking on you now. :)

Equine Nutrition - Here we go Again!

I wasn't planning on changing feed, but this morning I made a discovery that made changing feeds a necessity....

At the end of June, before heading to MN for a month, I bought enough Safe N Lite to get him into about mid August.  Today, upon realizing I had only about 3 feedings left I headed up to the Drive-Thru.  For those of you who (like me) don't know what a DT Feed store is, it is a something else!  You drive in, tell them what you want, they load it up and run your card, bring you a receipt to sign and you drive away.  Oh, and they nearly always are Feed and LIQUER.  Yup.  I'll have two bags of that and a six-pack of that, thanks.  It's real. Still can't get over it.

Anyway, So I get there and guess what?!?! They no longer carry it!  And neither does anyone else in the area.  I checked.  Sonnuvah.....  Not much to be done about that but move on!

So with only about enough grain left for 3 feedings, I need to act fast.  Ideally you transition a horse over a week.  I'm gonna have to do it in just 3 days. Certainly not ideal, but I'm left with no choice.  I came home and pulled out the old Nutrition binder and went to work.  For those of you just joining us, you can check out the posts under "Equine Nutrition" on the right-hand side for the epic saga that has been Junior's grain journey.

Rather than get myself into trouble again by finding a feed that is difficult to acquire, I decided to look at our two barn grains.  Currently the barn feeds Tribute's Kalm N EZ and Purina's Strategy Healthy Edge.  KEZ was one of the feeds Jess analyzed for me way back when, but SHE was not on the market yet.

Remember back then we were dealing with a hot, obese horse having very limited turnout?  Now we are dealing with a generally calm horse on the slender side of good weight who is getting ample daily turnout.  He wasn't even hot when he was in his stall for almost a week when the thrush was so bad.  That seems to be gone, now, btw.

So we're looking at a different situation: and a much more "normal" horse with fewer "special needs." Hopefully it wasn't JUST the feed that made the difference.  I suspect turnout has made the biggest difference, along with a brighter stall he can stick his head out and feel like he's in a herd rather than a dark lonely box.

Below is the comparison of the main things I'm interested in with regards to feed analysis.  All 3 are considered "low sugar/low starch" but I couldn't find the starch percentage for KEZ.  There's of course a lot more factors to equine nutrition, but for the most part all the main brands offer complete nutrition so I'm not getting into the Ca:P ratios or anything that would make my brain hurt more than it has to.

I think I'm taking a gamble with either feed since each is above or below on each line.
-KEZ has better fiber content.
-SHE has nearly the same mcals so I can feed about the same size ration.
-SHE has lower protein - we found most feeds contain more protein that a horse needs based on the NRC guidelines, but I don't mind having a slightly higher number there since he could use muscle, too much though and they just pee it out and make the stalls smell worse.
-Fat is higher in the SHE and some research suggests that has a calming effect on some horses.

As of tonight's feeding I'm going to substitute 1/4 of his ration with Strategy Healthy Edge and by Tuesday PM feeding he'll be totally on the SHE.  I have a thing against Strategy but I've heard much better reviews of the SHE so hopefully it'll work out.  Or it'll be back to the drawing board!

Just a parting shot for you:

Bugs and a Butt

We're adding Supplements! We need more butt and less bugs!

Once upon a time I had Junior on SmartCalm because I thought he needed it. What he actually needed was more turnout and less grain, but live and learn, right? I've decided to try out a few new things...

For the summer we're going to try SmartPak's Smart Bug-Off. In the summer, Junior gets hives along his neck and back, usually around July. Dr. J (our vet) took a look at them last summer. I'd rather not make him go through that so if this works, then great. Other fly protection we use is a fly mask with nose and ears (also protects his nose and cyst eye from UV) and I purchased an Amigo combo fly sheet for this year to replace the harder mesh one I got for super cheap at a tent sale and Gunner proceeded to tear holes in. He got the hives even with that fly sheet. Since his ears are clipped I feel better with added protection.

I got enough BugOff to last into August so if he still gets hives in July we won't get another bucket next year.

We're also going to try Tri-Amino to add muscle building protein. My reasoning for this? Well, his weight is good right now, but I can't seem to build up his topline enough. It's gotten better since the really pointy time in the winter, but seems to have hit a plateau and I think the photos of when I bought him show a more developed topline even though he was much thinner than he is now and I'm pretty certain we're working harder now then he was just before I bought him. It's hard to know precisely how much protein is in his diet since our hay varies and right now grazing time is inconsistent due to our wettest spring on record, but I know his grain is lower in protein than most, so if the hay isn't making up the difference then that could be a reason. When I did the hay analysis before (See sidebar topic of Equine Nutrition) he was getting enough, but who knows what it is now. I'm starting with a 45 day supply to see how it goes. I know that the supplement won't do any good without proper conditioning exercises, so to give it a fair chance we'll continue working hard on conditioning, which has admittedly slumped in the weeks since my injury the day of the show and it's driving me crazy not to be able to ride along the trails/fields to get some hill work in! The "Backing over Poles" excercise in The Book doesn't work because he will just step ON the pole or push it backwards. Nerd.

Back to the supplements.

My Barn Manager is awesome which means that I don't have to measure my own supplements. Yay! Or my own feed! Yay! But for the sake of having something to blog about I filled the first week's worth.

A How-To guide on our Feeding System:

1) Gather supplements and containers, 7 for once-a-day, 14 for twice-a-day. Having a grey tabby named Brutus nearby is helpful but not necessary. Et tu?

2)Insert properly measured supplements and label. The BugOff is pellets, and the Tri-Amino is sort of a granulated powder.

3)Load each meal's supplements into appropriate bucket in the same order as the horses are stalled/fed, which is why Junior's is buried closer to the bottom since he's about a dozen stalls in.

4)At mealtime, each horse on the "Barn Grain" (currently Strategy Healthy Edge), is fed out of a bin on the feed cart. Each horse on a different feed (these include Strategy, Kalm N EZ, Equine Senior, and others) has their own labeled container. There is a chart on the cart listing which horse get supplements, which have their own bucket, and how much barn grain they get. After each meal the feeder re-fills all the buckets and swaps the empty supplement bucket out for the next full one. This is part of my morning feeding duties on Sundays and Mondays. I really enjoy the organization of it. :)

He'll be getting his supplements in the AM feeding but I wanted to give it to him tonight to see how he'd take it....

All seemed well until....

I left him alone for a while and came back to find this:

SOOOOOO unlike this horse to leave ANYTHING in his feed bin and clearly he tried very hard to avoid the Tri-Amino and actually left grain. Crap. I didn't see any of the BugsOff left. I left the feed tub in the stall for the night, hoping he gets bored enough to eat it, otherwise we're in trouble....

Tomorrow I have a lesson with the clinician from the last show clinic. We'll be working on Equitation and Showmanship. While my back was bad I did more showmanship practice than riding and tried to work on getting a speedier cadence. We'll see how it goes!

Junior's Weight - The Never Ending Saga

One year ago I began drastically changing Junior's ration. As you know, this was based on an Equine Nutrition Class project. I took TJ's data and made some choices. Our goals at the time were to:

• Lower his BCS with a low starch/low sugar/high fiber concentrate. The digestibility of the hay was very low so this would help the digestibility of the hay, too.
• Not lower his busy-work feeding - he was stalled too much - he had begun cribbing out of boredom and frustration.
• Somewhat affordable because there was no discount on board if I stopped feeding the 12% barn grain - so the feed costs were additional. AND I had to pay for any hay over the 4 thin flakes/day. This was MY goal, TJ did not factor in cost, only suitability.

The whole "Plan" is HERE, but due to some questionable grain storage practices I ended up switching entirely to the Safe N Lite instead of the 50/50 mixture I had listed.

We seemingly met our goals in the Spring. The barn move greatly helped with a number of things including increased pasture access (from random less than 5 hours to up to 12 hours/day.)

However, as the winter began we noticed weight loss and I believe some energy loss as well. I don't mind having this calm, collected guy, but his BCS is too low. So it's back to the math.

I can't (thankfully) make this Rocket Surgery type science this time because I'm estimating the DE in the hay rather than having it analyzed. I think we were, in fact, underfeeding him this fall. When he was getting all that grazing (1.5 lbs/hour estimated) he was fine. The BM thinks he currently gets an estimated 18-25lbs grass hay per day. He gets a good 18-20 in his stall, but some hay is fed in the pasture so it's hard to accurately guess how much he's getting of that. I can't really do math with 18-25lbs, so I'm using 20. He had been getting 2lbs Safe N Lite each day. Then in fall it was upped to 3lbs/day. With that ration he SHOULD have been fine on DE of 21.48 Mcal/day, but apparently not. NRC guidelines list 20 Mcal/Day for adult horses in light work.

He is currently getting 5lbs S&L/day bringing him up to 23.4 Mcal/Day. This SHOULD be enough... wasn't he an easy keeper!?!?!

A new puzzle piece to this problem is that I will now be going through 1 BAG EVERY 10 DAYS!!! That is a lovely $52/month for 3 bags. When I made the choice to move him to S&L it was cheaper per bag than now and we were feeding so very little. I get an $18 discount on my board for providing my own grain. If I switch to one of the barn grains: Strategy or Kalm N EZ, I can pay only $18/month for grain AND not have to make trips to the feed store.

So what next? Some more math and research. Kalm N EZ was one of the grains TJ analyzed for me. She was looking for low starch low sugar feeds so she did not analyze Strategy. Max is on Strategy Healthy Edge, but that has to be bought by the owner.

A possible switch to KNEZ will be feeding him 2lbs/day giving him 21.44 Mcal/day. I just bought 3 bags of S&L, so when she's at the last bag I'll probably start switching him over. If the 23.4 Mcal/day seems to be helping over the next few weeks (he's been on that a few weeks now) I might do 3 lbs/day which ups it to closer to the DE he's on right now.

Sigh...

On a side note: I missed two days at the barn due to long work days and crappy winter snow. It's amazing how quickly 3" of snow can cripple a city that doesn't have enough plows. Anyway, I rode last night with the help of the BM telling me when he was "round" like Monet told me to make him. I'm much more of a visual thinker than a tactile one. I would LOVE mirrors in the arena! His neck was not solid but the two hard bumps were definitely there. Before and after the ride I did stretches. I broke down and did it with treats - need to go buy carrots. I was reading an article and it said to do the stretches in a special location to help prevent the horse from being grabby. His annoying grabbiness has been the reason he doesn't get treats. Can I train him to know the difference? He certainly stretched further and longer with the food reward than with the pat/verbal praise award. Hopefully we can keep him from being like this:

Weight and Balance

In some ways I hesitate to post what I'm about to post. Though I know that you, my loyal readers, will only have constructive comments and suggestions, but being the "Overanxious" person that I am, I dream up all sorts of horrible things in my head like someone telling me that I'm doing something so obviously cruel that I should be ashamed to call myself a horse owner or that I've ruined my horse beyond repair.

So please be kind and be assured that as we speak I'm already soliciting answers from professionals. I'm just sharing the case study with you. For those of you who have not followed this blog from the beginning I have some history re-caps:

First a little history re-cap about "Balance": In the beginning I used to call him "The Eight Legged Moose" or say that he had "four left feet." I also said he had ADD because several of the incidents included him looking off to the side quickly when he saw another horse. For a long while he was stumbling in the front end at the canter. Often. We actually dropped to his knees on at least two occasions. There was a time early on that I worried about cantering him at all, convinced we were going to go ass over tea kettle like I did once with Banee. These are the only two I have on film: the first in a lesson during our first few months (Nov. '08), and the second at the last show we were in (June '10).

THESE seemed to be front-end related, only at the canter, and the one in June was the last time he's done it... knock on wood. I had him checked by Chiro #1 shortly after that and his only response was that he was "stiffer in the neck than I expected" which doesn't make me feel like I got my money's worth. Then he was tight in the right shoulder and I started doing the Alpha-Stim and stretches, which I've not done much of since he shoulder got better. Possibly related or unrelated is this other issue: every so often and with increasing regularity in the last few weeks an issue seems to be expressing itself in his left hind. I know this has happened on and off for a long time. If I can describe what it feels like during the ride, it feels like he forgets the foot behind himself. It hesitates to come forward. This is mostly happening at the trot, more so the more I ask him to extend and hardy at all when we are jogging. He happily exhibited it to Monet who gave me some homework to do to help it, which I promptly forgot and therefore didn't really follow through with. When I had my jumping lesson on Nov. 21, she told me the bumps on his neck were evidence of vertebra out and she adjusted him. Fast forward to now: he's still got the bumps and that left hind is very frequently "catching". This is from today. You can see it if you stare at his left hind. I slowed it down a few clicks so that it's easier to see. It feels bigger than it looks:

History re-cap on Weight: Bought him in early September '08 and he was underweight. Not dangerously so, but thin. This is him that first month:

I'd say he was a 3-4 on the BCS scale. He proceeded to gain WAY too much weight and he yo-yo'd for a good while. In the fall of '09 my friend TJ used Junior as her project horse in her college Equine Nutrition class and in January of 2010 I changed his grain and started measuring and bagging his meals since I couldn't rely on the barn feeders to get it right. Further history in the Topics tab under "Equine Nutrition." When TJ did the project we palpated him at an 8.5 on the BCS scale and looked like this:

Now he looks like this and I think he's at a 4 (BTW you really have to FEEL a horse to estimate accurately, pictures are far less accurate):

If you compare the rear shots, he not only is more triangular, on the topline, the top of the hips is narrower than the bottom, which looks disproportional.

And ribs, even visible through the fuzz. :( Only positive thing is that his tail is much fuller and longer than it was even a year ago. But that's just cosmetic of course. :( Nobody cares about the paint job if the engine is broken.

You can look at his full profile in the Christmas pictures, but we'd been outside for a bit and his hair had fluffed up. He's just been unblanketed in the three that are here.

What was most upsetting to me today as I compared these images, is that even though his side view from 9/08 is similar to now, the rear profile is much flatter in todays images. This leads me to think that he's lost more than fat: he's lost muscle and that's not a good thing.

Is the muscle loss the cause or the effect? Or are we looking at two different things?

I wish I knew the answer. I know the possibilities: sore back? sore hip? hock? caused by what? bad tack? does he have a mild injury somewhere? Does he need more chiro? Certainly not from Chiro#1, but we're trying to get Chiro#2 scheduled. More massage? A supplement? More Alpha-Stim? Where do I do the Stim? Stim is difficult in the winter because the horse has to be wet. Though well insulated, the barn is not heated. Should I lunge him instead of ride him? But I can't get him to extend a trot on the lunge line so that won't work him very deeply.

I did some sensitivity tests, running my comb down his back from withers to spine but didn't get much reaction so maybe his back/loins are fine and the issue is in his hip? He was doing this before Chiro #1 saw him, but like I said, I didn't get much information out of that guy.

I know I NEED to get that muscle back, but I need to ask for some professional opinions on how that should be accomplished. I want a better diagnosis that what I have so far and I don't want to do any more damage. He seems perfectly willing to work, just not as willing to extend as he should be because clearly that's difficult/painful. He's not fighting me, I just need to keep pushing him and if I let up at all he drops right down to a slower jog.

All of the preceding questions were rhetorical, of course. I'm afraid no one can really answer those from watching a video or looking at pictures. If that were the case Vet's wouldn't need to make farm calls. So we've got some work to do.... just not sure what it is just yet.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Equine Nutrition: The Plan

Here's what I'm certain you've been dying to find out: Junior's new feed ration!

You may recall my student/friend, TJ spent a term using Junior as her project for her Equine Nutrition course in my college's Equine Science Department, taught by my Vet/Friend. She (TJ) began to teach me what she learned. I didn't know the first thing about Equine Nutrition until late November. Now I know a little more, or at least think I do. Science and Math were not my strong subjects in school and creating rations takes both. Don't be afraid. It shouldn't be nearly as complicated as I made it, but as my mother often reminds me, I've never really done anything the easy way.

I won't try to fit everything I learned in to this post, but here goes. Horses evolved grazing on grass and other ground forage. They ate for about 18 hours every day. They ate slowly all day long in order to get the nutrients they needed. Once we domesticated them we made them work all day instead of eat. We needed to feed them more calories and nutrients in more concentrated amounts, so we began feeding them grain. And the horses loved it. So now we have two forms of feed: Forage and Concentrates (grain) to feed. Ideally for a mature horse a 100% Forage diet is best but that's not always available or practical, so a 90:10, 80:20, or 70:30 F:C ratio becomes common. You really don't want to go below the 70% forage.

The NRC guidelines will tell you your horse's daily requirements: National Research Council Table
You start with bodyweight. Most horses in light work should have 1.5-2.5% of their bodyweight per day. We'll take that 2% of bodyweight (for JR we estimated it's 1150lbs) which is 23lbs and make 80% of that Forage and 20% of that Concentrates.

In addition to ratios and percentages, you need to make sure the horse is getting the right amount of energy, so you find out how many Mcals are in your Forage and Concentrate. In order to find out how many Mcals are in your Concentrate, you can call your feed company. For your Forage, you can have it analyzed for a fee. You should have your hay sampled each time you get a new batch.... yeah right. Like anybody does that!

Then you just make sure the horse is getting all the vitamin and mineral needs and you're all set. Sound complicated? It is, but it doesn't have to be. The reality is that the hay he's being fed today probably isn't at all the same as the hay we sampled, but hay doesn't differ all that much if it's the same type (ie Grass vs. Alfalfa). It's all a bunch of guess work, really. Most equine feeds have the nutrients they need.

Bottom line is to feed good quality forage and add grain or ration balancers if needed. If your horse is healthy, in good weight, and is performing how you want him to, then you're doing just fine. We're NOT doing just fine. Junior is overweight. He was underweight when I got him in September of 2009, but the pictures on his coggins papers from October 2007 show him to be overweight, too. It seems he's an easy keeper.

His current ration was supposed to be 4 flakes (12-13lbs) of hay and 6lbs grain/day, or at least that's what we thought he was getting. It is difficult to estimate with the "1/2 scoop" method and when I actually weighed on of his feedings I found he was getting 5.5lbs of grain IN ONE MEAL. So he was getting way more than he should've been getting. I began weighing and pre-bagging my own feed the next day.

We're going to go with 2% of his bodyweight and an 80:20 ratio. Junior has a BCS of around 8 so he could really stand to lose a few lbs. Since September he's been feed approximately 25% more DE (Digestible Energy) than he needs, NOT including the grazing forage he was still getting at the time. So we're going to start with 2.0% and then if he doesn't get into a better BCS I'll drop him to 1.5% but it will take a while to see progress.

He'll be getting 6 flakes of hay (approximately 18-19.5lbs) and 3lbs of grain per day. The Concentrate will be a 50/50 mix of the barn grain and Seminole Wellness Safe & Lite. The mixture is purely to save $$. Since the hay will be costing me an extra $30/month using some of the grain I'm already paying for with my board will be better. The Safe & Lite has 26% fiber which is really high and will actually bring up the digestibility of the fiber in the forage.

You shouldn't make drastic changes in your horse's feed, so this past week I've gradually lightened his grain from the 5.5lbs he was getting to 3lbs. Over this next week, that 3lbs will lighten to 1.5lbs and he'll get one extra flake starting midweek. Then over the next week I'll slowly swap out half the barn grain for the Safe & Lite, and add the 6th flake. Then we'll have to see how it goes. I'll take the 5th and 6th flakes away during the summer good grazing time and hopefully he won't balloon again.

Oh, and I stopped the Smart Calm. When I started pre-bagging I did every-other day, than a third day, and then just stopped it. I haven't noticed a difference yet, so that's good. I have a whole month of it sitting and waiting to see if I need it, but I do not anticipate that I do. The Safe & Lite contains Magnesium anyway.

In addition to what TJ taught me, I read this book: Equine Nutrition and it helped me a lot. It's written for the average horse owner in plain English.

I'm BAAAACK..... with an Epiphany!

I was given the golden opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in three years so I took it and that is why I've been AWOL.

Junior survived without me but gave me the silent treatment and was REALLY mouthy trying to see what was in my hands. I have signs on his stall asking people to not give him treats, but I'm not sure it's working. I think I need to make more signs that explain WHY so that people who think it's "mean" not to give horses treats will know I have my reasons. He stopped being mouthy when he hadn't been getting treats by hand. I will put them on his ledge from outside of his stall and he can take them from there, but he does not get treats by hand, ever.

I rode him last night after watching part of a lesson he was in. He really is VERY good for the novices. He packs around with a very pleasant look on his face. The only "bad" thing he does (if the rider doesn't know enough to prevent him from doing it) is that he will beeline himself over to say hello to one of his horse buddies and he's not very cautious or polite about it. The only "bad habit" he's gotten (someone asked me if he was getting any) is that when I get on I need to quickly establish 2 things: A) When I ask for Whoa you WHOA (he sticks his nose out and drags his feet for the lesson kids) and B)No, you may not pack around like a giraffe, you will lift your back and relax your neck. He does not fight me on either of these, I've just discovered that if I start the ride with those two reminders he's great the rest of the ride.

Since TJ gave me her nutrition project packet, I've been trying to make a decision on what to do about his feed. Her evaluation showed he is currently getting 30% more digestible energy than he needs....no wonder he's fat! Now, as you know, I am not rolling in the dough, so in addition to making decisions about what is best for Junior, I must try to get the most out of my money. So yesterday I had an epiphany...

My latest Epiphany is that I dropped his feed from a full scoop to 3/4 scoop sometime (I didn't write down the date) between August 19th and September 6th when he started SmartCalm. Considering the 3/4 scoop (combined with his forage) is 30% more digestible fiber than he needs, the full scoop was even MORE energy than he needs. I'm wondering if the change in his attention span is more a result of the decreased energy than the inclusion of the SmartCalm. He is not deficient in any of the ingredients of SC. TJ and I will be working out a plan that I will start implementing in the New Year. Why wait? Well, TJ's project was based on samples and rations including his pasture time, which being December is not the same as it was when the grass was growing. So we're taking her project and we'll be extending the research to include a cost analysis of the feeds she determined were good choices, and a ration that is accurate for the winter. Plus I'll be gone soon for 2 weeks over Christmas and new grain means I have to pre-measure and pre bag and it'll take some time to slowly switch the feed over.... another month won't kill him, even if I am the Overanxious Horse Owner.

I rode him again today and since we had the arena to ourselves we worked on some hard stuff: pattern prep for Equitation and Horsemanship classes. I can do stops and pivots and lots of gait changes along the rail, but when I start moving around the middle of the arena he gets excited. When I ask him to stop he dances around and chomps at the bit. My goal each time is to wait until he is standing calm and square before asking him for another cue. I just try to stay calm and patient with him. I'm sure I need to ride him without a rail more often, but when my riding time is during lessons that is often where I have to stay.

I ordered a cooler, by the way. I had a coupon in the last Dover catalog for their Rider's contour cooler at $29.90. That's the cheapest I've found and the reviews on it were good. Here's the link to the cooler at the coupon price, if you're interested.

A Day at the QH Congress

When I decided to take the job in Columbus, Ohio and move far away from my life in Minnesota, one of the silver linings to that black cloud was the realization that QH Congress and Rod's Western Palace were IN Columbus, and Schnieder's Tack was just up by Cleveland. Ohio has proven to be packed with horses and packed with very high quality Quarter Horses. Even the small open shows I go to have Congress quality teams. Boarding is expensive here compared to back home and horse property? EX. PEN. SIVE. But I'm lucky enough to get to enjoy a trip to Congress each year, and that's one of the small things that keeps me satisfied with living in Ohio.

Today two of my college students and I spent about 9 hours at the Congress. We started off by shopping, of course. There are TONS of vendors. I refrained from any outlandish purchases, but I did manage to find some new show gloves, a big Jolly Ball for only $10, and some new work reins. I went back and forth about reins, almost buying some from Rods but decided to check some other places and ended up with a $20 pair of brass snap-ends from Dee's. They were the cheapest I found and I almost didn't get them because they were 7' I thought my show reins were 9'. Luckily my show reins are only 7' so it's a good thing I didn't get the 9' as I can barely maneuver the 7'! Having the same style of work rein should help me be more comfy with the show reins.

While we were shopping I stopped by the model horse booth and a nice older gentleman introduced himself as Peter Stone. Yes, Mr. Peter Stone himself, there to sign models. Though I like his sculpts a lot, I have stopped spending money on model horses when there's a real one who needs shoes! Mr. Stone was incredibly nice and we talked mostly about how he's gone back to school at Notre Dame for a PhD in Peace Studies and Theology (or something like that!) and how he's actually in the middle of mid-terms right now! He also gave me a pamphlet about their "Design a Horse" when I told him his new foundation Quarter Horse would look just like my Junior if he had the spots.

I also ate a huge plate of "ribbon fries" and a Stromboli, but not at the same time, of course!

We watched lots of Pole Bending and Barrels and all the splits of the Amateur Select Horsemanship. We didn't stay to watch the finals because we felt like we had seen all the outfits already and were a little blinded by the crystals. Some of those ladies were so sparkly they looked like they were covered in those old "twinkle" Christmas lights! I kept thinking that if the point was to sparkle that much putting battery powered LED lights in the blouses wouldn't be so off base! Poles was Novice Youth so the kids were lucky if they got a clean go-round, but the Barrels were really great times so it was exciting to watch, but it was chilly in the Colosseum.

My iPhone was super helpful. I was able to find out when the HMS was starting in the other arena by checking the live video feed. When we were watching the Horsemanship we were debating on who was doing this one part correctly and I was able to go onto horseshowpatterns.com to see the actual pattern they were doing.

Then we all became exhausted and I didn't realize until I got home that my feet were freezing! Dry fuzzy socks and being wrapped in a blanket has not broken the chill yet.

I saw a lot of ugly tack, some I drooled over, some show clothes I thought should be banned, and some I recorded into my memory for use in later designs. The funniest thing we saw all day was an advertisement all over the Colosseum. Not only did they get their own phone # wrong and had to fix it, there is a lovely spelling error that makes them look like professionals! I photographed it for your viewing pleasure. I have blackened out the # to protect the stupid.

Junior becomes a Guinea Pig

One of my student-friends (Equine Science major, President of the college club I ride with, 2 time Intern at the Gluck Center), we'll call her TJ, is using Junior as her subject for a Rations project in her Equine Nutrition course, taught by my friend, Dr. Vet. In a nutshell, the students gather information about the horse and it's food stuffs and work out the ideal feeding plan. I AM SO LUCKY to have this done at no cost. So far, TJ and I have gathered pasture samples, cored bales of hay with a nifty tool that takes a tube shaped sample out of the middle of a bale of hay, took grain samples, and yesterday she weight taped him and felt him all over to do a body score. His weight (tape weight made more accurate by Dr. Vet) is 1150lbs and TJ scored him at a 7 (dear god) and KAT said she would say a low 6. This is TJ's first time scoring, but she had to make a call based on what she has learned already.

The weird part is that the BO is nervous that if our feed stuffs are lacking that I will run screaming through the barn telling all the boarders that their horses are being starved or something. Though I think we ALL have a right to know what our horses are being fed nutritionally, I will not be very loud about the outcome. Most all of the folks in the barn who know anything about equine nutrition feed their own feeds already anyway, which is probably a clue that the barn feed is crap, but we'll just have to see. I'll be able to compare the analysis of the grain to the feed tag and see if the tag is accurate. I've already told Max's Mom that I'll be sharing the info with her (she already feeds her own grain) but I won't go spreading it around. If the analysis is REALLY bad I might share the info with the BO, but knowing what I know about them and how they treat complainers, it'll be a, just-so-you-know offer, not a "YOU NEED TO FEED BETTER" demand. Pick your battles. In order to stay with KAT, I have to stay at this barn. Period.

So what if the analysis IS really bad? Well, the project should give TJ a plan for how to counter-act any deficiencies in his feeding and I'll have to decide what to do with it. If it means buying my own grain, then I'll buy my own grain. If it means another supplement, then I'll feed another supplement. I don't know the first thing about procuring Hay so I hope I don't have to deal with that, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

So I'll be updating you with whatever info I get from TJ and her Rations Project.

Had a nice lesson last night. He was very good and he surprised me when KAT asked for an extended jog on one long wall and he was super easy to extend and super easy to bring back down. He kept his frame perfectly on the way up, but did pick up his head on the way back down. I could use very subtle cues and I wasn't expecting it to be so, but I guess beginning most of our rides with a jog to posting trot and back down again have made this smaller transition better, too. Neat!

"Pig Horse"

Junior's been riding fine. His rhythm is back to normal at the lope and he doesn't seem to be resisting my corrections. Maybe he was a little sore somewhere. Wouldn't surprise me since he runs around like a fool in turnout all the time. I've been riding every other day or so and not too hard since the humidity is nasty. I rode for about an hour last night because it was cooler and the breeze was really nice.

KAT had finished a lesson, I rode by her, and she said "Wow, your horse might need to go on a diet." I had to laugh because I haven't yet asked her to tell me what she thinks of his body condition, but I guess I didn't have to. I do respect all of your opinions that he's not overweight, but when you can feel (or not feel as the case may be) his ribs and you can see that he's getting a positive crease at the top of his tail, and can see the crest on his neck and feel it, it's harder to tell. I looked at the body score chart and then had KAT go over the spots on him and yes, they are all rather too fleshy. He's a nice square horse so I think he hides it well, but once you get your hands on him it's more apparent. I should have taken my need to drop the girth a hole on the off-side (so that I had enough to tie!) that we were getting tubbier.

So we'll be going on a little bit of a diet, just for a bit. He seems to hold his weight really well over the winter since I pamper him with blankets, but I'll increase it again as soon as the grass is gone. Then perhaps next summer I'll slightly drop his feed when the grass comes in so that we try to maintain a steady weight instead of this up and down we've had for the first year. We were feeding him 2 scoops when he came home, but his previous owner's scoop must have been smaller than ours (yes, I KNOW you're "supposed" to weigh it) because he ballooned quickly. Then we dropped him to one and he maintained well at that until the summer grass came in. I know this yo-yoing isn't healthy so I'll try to manage it better. Going to weight-tape him tomorrow. If he doesn't improve I might start pre-bagging his feed. It's not a step I want to do since I'm paying for full care, but if I have to I will.

After my ride last night a mom and her little girl who had just finished their lesson came over to give Mighty (the stall next to Junior) a carrot and the mom told me "My daughter calls your horse Pig-Horse!" "Oh, that's.....nice." "Yeah, he's always sticking his nose out of the stall so we can feed him carrots!" "Yes, well, that's his trick. He begs." Kind of makes me want to put a sign on his stall that says "Please do not give Junior any treats!" since I give him lots of carrots myself, but I don't know if that's really part of the problem or not. But now that I think of it, if even a quarter of the lesson students give him treats you know, because he sticks his nose out (see my video "Junior wants a Cookie"), that's like 5 more treats a day, plus what I give him, plus what Max's mom gives him. That sounds like a lot.... I will have to consider this. I have a lesson on Thursday and I'm going to ride in my English tack. He's been doing nicely at extending his trot and at my last lesson KAT said "Wow, if he can do THAT at a show you'll be in the money for sure!" IF is such a frequent word for us!

A Test and Weight

A reader named Kristina gave me a very nice comment on my last post and included a simple test I could do on Junior's back. So, Kristina, I tried what you suggested today and I'm not sure about the results, since I've never done it before. I can take a video clip of it this week so you can help me interpret the results if my description does not give you enough information. Here's what I saw: I did the test (with the older style hoof pick with the red rubber coated handle) while he was just standing in the stall so he could move away if he was uncomfortable. He had no real reaction but if I pushed harder he contracted his muscles when I got to his loin, kind of how people react when they're tickled?, but he didn't flinch or move away. He reacted the same on both sides but if I used the rubber end of the hoof pick the reaction was less, even when I pushed harder. He never took a step away from me but he would shift his weight when he contracted. Does that mean good or bad? Would you like to see a video of the test?

And now on to something else:

When I brought Junior home last September he was a little underweight. Not anything alarming, but a little slim for my taste. He put on weight quickly and we actually cut his feed at some point during the winter (I can't recall when that was) because he was starting to get portly. I think he's "okay" right now, but with all the summer grass it seems he's bulked up again. Here are two photos from last September during the first week I had him:



Here are pictures from recently, the in-stall photo is from today.



I know it's not a drastic difference but what do you think? Is he getting tubby? Should I adjust his feed or just let it go since the grass will be diminishing soon? Your thoughts?

Oh, and our ride tonight was the best it had been in a long time. I had no issues with the turns since I was more aware of supporting him. From the very first lope-off his lope was the slowest and most even cadence that he's done in a good while. He kept his frame without a lot of fussing and we did some lope-offs one handed. It was a good ride but I kept it down to 30 minutes because of the heat.

Sleazy is fun to say!

I am currently washing a Sleazy hood of KAT's so I can take it to work and use it to develop a pattern for my own. KAT said I could borrow one of hers and when I went to get it I realized it was in need of a good cleaning. So partially to "pay her back" for borrowing it, partially because I think my colleague would flip if I took something that dirty into our shop, and partially because I could smell it in the car, I'm giving it a double run through the washer. Then I'll hang it to dry. She said I could dry it, but I'd feel bad if something happened to it. I didn't try it on him, but I'll do that when I bring it out, just so I can make a note if it doesn't fit him an any location and adjust my pattern as needed.

It was raining and very windy and he was being a jerk in the stall. I took the training bands out and his mane is sort of at about 30 degrees from straight up, so that's a start. The hood will help. He actually reached out and nipped me again so I yelled at him and gave him a decent wallop. He's getting worse about that and I need to make him stop. I think it's more playful than aggressive because it's not accompanied by pinned ears or anything, but it's not a behavior I will accept. Because he'd been off since Wednesday and his attitude wasn't positive I decided to just lunge him

He tried to turn a total of four times, twice he turned really quickly so I had to pull him in until he stopped and I could turn him and twice I was able to stop him right away and send him off the right way without pulling him in. It took him a while to start to listen (both directions) but there was a nice stretch of time that he did EVERYTHING I asked him to do. I had him on a nice big circle (I keep him in closer most of the time because it's easier for me to stop him if he turns), he stayed consistently on the circle, no pulling or moving in and would lope off from walk and jog, and transition all the way from lope to walk. He was really working for me, working off of voice commands to transition up or down and whip movement to transition up. Even when Rip came in with the family that leases him Jr stayed pretty focused and on the circle. I didn't check how long I lunged him, but he was damp behind the ears and between his front legs so it was at least a half hour. It's interesting to watch him when I lunge him because he goes through the same phases as he does during a ride, but I can SEE his body change and become softer. By the time I was ready to quit he was walking a HUGE circle and he was in good frame with a free flowing walk and a really lovely cadence. I guess that's what he looks like when KAT makes such flattering comments about him. He really is a lovely horse. We've got lots and lots of work to do, but we're coming up on our 6 month anniversary and I am VERY happy with him.

Quick Lunge and Weight.

I decided just to lunge him today. Since I've been riding in a shank snaffle I have been lunging him just in his halter. His obedience and discipline have been improving steadily for a long time, now, but with the halter I have less control. I decided to lunge him in my regular snaffle, that way I can have more control and give a little "reminder" session.

This is how I set up the bridle: I remove the reins (I have them on snaps) and fit the nose band and throat latch. I always start him to the left so I run the snap end of the line into the left "D" of the bit, up the face, under the throat latch (this helps keep the line from getting in front of the bridle and into his eyes) up over the poll, under the opposite throat latch, and clip the line to the off-side "D". I lead him to the arena this way, and grab one of the barn whips as I enter the arena. With the line in this configuration I can give fairly equal pressure on both sides of the bit when I tug on the line. Instead of pulling his head IN to the circle as with a halter, it acts more like pulling on both reins. The only down-side to this is that in order to change directions, I must bring him in to the center and swap the line to the other side. He's good about the change and stands very nicely or starts sucking on the lunge line and being a brat. One of the two. He actually loped a few laps with the line in is teeth today. His choice. I usually make him let go before I send him off, but I wanted to see how long he'd hold on to it.

His obedience to voice commands has become very good. If he's REALLY hot when we start out I just let him canter around at whatever speed he prefers, as long as he's staying in an even circle and not acting too crazy. I buck in a stride is acceptable. I buck and a directional change or other nonsense is not tolerated and he is made to come down into a small circle until he gets his mind back to work. He will toss a buck every once in a while, but mostly he just canters. Once his initial burst of "yippee! I'm out of my stall!" has subsided he gets ready to work. To transition gaits up, I say "trot" and for canter I either say "canter" or just throw a kiss. If he's coming down transitions a tug on the line is helpful to reinforce the voice command, but is not always needed. I usually gauge how long to lunge by his willingness to come down to a trot and then his willingness to come down to a walk. If it takes several vocals and tugs to get him to trot I ask him back into a canter (once he's finally obeyed the command to trot) until he seems more relaxed. If he attempts to change direction or tries to stop without my command we keep going until he's doing everything I ask of him and his ears look pleasant. He'll also relax his neck when he's fully paying attention. Once he'll "walk on" without trying to stop I know he's warmed up, calmed down, listening, obeying, and ready to ride.

I don't think I'll be lunging him much during the months he has turn-out. I considered turning him out today but there was a good amount of ice between the barn and the turn-outs and I was afraid he'd slip. There were horses out in the next pasture and I know he would've tore back and forth down the fence trying to play with them. Still makes me feel very guilty that he doesn't get out in the winter. I think he's adapting to the routine, though.

About the weight: If I used the weight tape correctly, he weighs about 1075 lbs. Does that sound right for a 16 hand horse? If you look at my YouTube video of Junior's first days you can see his ribs when he lopes by. There are NO ribs showing now! I wish I would've taped him when he first came, just to get an estimate on the weight difference.