The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread

[CindyDawg]

Had to check. It depends on which angle you look at :') 1 would say 2 dark (the front) 1 white and one half and half on the back:')
When I first started bathing him I couldn't get him white. I would scrub and scrub trying to get the spots off. (His spots are actually big freckles).
A little girl about 10 brought her horse up to me a few days ago. She was really upset. She found some "grey" hairs in her horses poll hair and upset he was getting old (made my day. Thank goodness for high lighters:'). I showed her that Okie has 4 differnt colors in his mane. That perked her up a little. She told me , "you won't be able to tell when he starts to get old".

[HairOfTheDog]

How did your horse founder? Was he on grass? I am in a constant quandry about pasture management, how much pasture is too much, and always wanting that special balance where there is enough roughage out there to not have to feed hay, but yet not so much that they founder. I only have about a 4 acres pasture, and most of the time it is overgrazed and I have to feed. But right now I have them blocked out of it so it can grow, and I am wondering exactly when to let them in there.

I feel safest when there isn't pasture and I feed only hay, but it would sure be nice to be able to not feed hay and leave them out in summer.

[HairOfTheDog]

I had a white (very light grey) stallion when I was showing in high school. They make special shampoo now for white horses, but you know what is cheap and gets them white? Laundry bluing. It is hard to find sometimes, because only old ladies still use it in laundry, and in their hair ;~D

But it would whiten yellow stains, particularly in their tails. Just add a bit to water and sponge it on him, let it sit and then rinse. For my stallion's tail, I would just hold the bucket up and soak his tail in it.

[CindyDawg]

I feel really good now.BRB. I'm going to take that bottle of blue out of the cabinet over the washing machine and throw it in the trash lol

[HairOfTheDog]

LOL! - Sorry! You aren't older than I am I don't think! - I just don't know anyone under 80 that still uses it!

Don't throw it in the trash! - Use it on your pony!

[fly_so_free]

"I did find in my Navicular research a guy who relieves Navicular horses with trimming and leaves them barefoot...He thinks shoes are unnatural and a big part of the problem.

I recall reading an article about this too. It said something like horseshoer's trim too much from the hoof when putting on the shoes, or something like that. It was interesting.

Almost all the horses around here (my area) are shod, because the ground is too rocky and most of the trails that are left, cross over pavement.

I think if I lived in an area where a horse could go barefoot , then I would do that.

[HairOfTheDog]

You know, really my area is not overly rocky, where I typically ride it is pretty good... more likely to be muddy than rocky...

I wonder.... But with Bay's Navicular, he is being trimmed real rounded to break over easier, with pads on... and he is comfortable. I would want a farrier who would be equally good at barefoot trimming for Navicular in order to risk changing what I've got. But I do wonder if we default to shoeing out of habit and custom rather than need...

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I've read alot about that lately too. That shoeing is a big part of the amount of lame horses out there. Who can know? :)

I'm going to try to get a neighbor that lives out here to show me a few times about filing them. I may have to break down a few times a year and have a farrier do it. The thing is that with the amount of rocks we have they stay pretty short on their own. I have read that horses on rocks actually have better feet then those on just ground, because they stay wore off naturally for the way each indivdual horses walks.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I think we may have talked about this before, but I am 110% sold on Purnia Horse Chow Pellets. No guess work. You feed the amount for the weight of your horse and they get the right balance of everything.

I have enough pasture that my horses get to graze a few hours each day which keeps them happy mentally. They each get their ration of feed, and BTW, if you are on a good worming program and your horse has no digestive problems you can feed the minimum required.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I know I shoed just because I was told I needed too. Our stallion has not been without shoes in 10 years. LOL, if he is like me, he's going to enjoy the dirt between his toes:).

It's going to be an experiment. I heard today from Celia of some stuff called "Venice turpentine" that is suppose to make their soles tough. Them I am going to use some kind of hoof dressing on the hoof walls. Their feet tend to get very dry and brittle in the summer.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

You feed a combined hay/grain pellet? Or just a complete feed pellet that you supplement with hay?

Interesting, I have used those "cubes" camping... same thing?

From a pasture management standpoint, I just don't know how to look at the pasture and tell if there is too much and founder is a risk. Especially because mine is pretty unplanted weed grass. If there isn't enough, I can supplement with hay. I just worry because they can founder so quickly.

[HairOfTheDog]

Their feet tend to get very dry and brittle in the summer.

I have fed them corn oil too... on top of grain, for both coat shine and for dry hoof.

Back to feed, just so you know what I am doing now when considering your pellets, I now feed Orchard Grass hay, and a complete Senior horse pellet, that at times I mix with plain dry COB if he is borderline too fat, because the Senior horse is rich... (14% protein I think). Not feeding very much grain, a small 1 lb coffee can not-quite-full, enough to mix his joint supplement and his Navicular pills in.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Yeah, Horse Chow is a complete Hay/grain pellet. I have not bought hay in about 10 years, other then the occasional one to take on a camping trip so they have something to keep them busy tied up.

Using pellets their teeth will need floating more often, but to counter that I throw a handful of whole corn in once a day, and it has worked like a charm. I was having to float twice a year, since starting to feed the whole corn I've skipped a year.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

What do you think it costs to feed a horse per month on it?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Horse chow comes in 3 varieties. The protein level is about the only difference. There is HC100, 200 and 300. I use 100, which has 10% protein. Rocky the stud horse gets 15 pounds a day over 3 feeding. Rusty gets about the same. Harley is getting about 18 a day, because I thought he need a bit more weight when I got him.

I really like the way they look on this feed. It keeps their underline real tight, and they don't get those bulging sides that are all grass bellies, because they are not getting all that bulk. My horses all look fit and trim, but not at all skinny.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

It's about 15.00 a week per horse. My horses are all about the same weight, around 1000 lb.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I'm not kidding Hair. We use to have a very old horse that had digestive problems, and I had a horse who had broke his jaw (we didn't know it) and it heal crooked. The vets all said these two should NOT have been as heathly and have such good weight on them as they did. It's because even if they can't chew good because of teeth/mouth problems or because they are older and the digestion is not working as good, these pellets are 100% digested because they fall apart in the gut chewed or not.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Oh and 1 thing. if you do some research on them you may see some scary stuff that pellets can choke a horse. I have NEVER had a problem, and have been told that it is only a problem for horses who do not have access to a constant supply of water. Being dry is what would cause them to choke.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, that is real close to what I am paying... maybe a little more $$.

Mine go through probably a bale of $7 hay a week... two bales between the two... grain is pretty cheap... $30 per month.

It's the supplements that get me. $40 a month or so for Bay's joint supplement... and he'd still ~need~ that.

Is it a largish cube that you break up? Would I be able to mix his supplement and medicine in it? - He wouldn't eat the pills alone, but he eats the pills right up when mixed with grain, they aren't bitter like Bute.

[HairOfTheDog]

What I think I would like about the pellets is the avoidance of the dust that invariably gets in hay when it is stored, and just the space hay takes. It'll fill my whole barn for a winter's supply.

Bay coughed the other day when first starting work.... happens when it's been dry and dusty.