I went against all advice and rode..

So yesterday I was going to try the new pinchless bit I got and see how he moves in it. I have come to find out a lot of new things about Memphis that we had previously worked through:

1.) Wants to move when mounting. We had worked on this and he was standing like a champ before I got pregnant.

2.) Not trying to get away from the saddle when saddling. Again, worked on this one too and had it all figured out.

3.) Not moving once mounted. I had him standing like a champ after mounting a few months ago.

And he had developed a new habit:

1.) Trying to bite me while under saddle.

The biting thing is brand spanking new. Never had him do this before. He only did it when we were riding on the road to get to the forest. I couldn't figure out what he was doing at first and thought something was bothering him. After ruling everything out, I can only come to the conclusion he was trying to bite. Jerk. I started hitting him with my foot if I could reach, hitting him in with the lead rope, or just plain smacking him. Problem is, I didn't catch it in the begining and so it kinda developed into something a little nastier than I wanted. I'll have to work that out whenever I do get back into riding hardcore.

Other than that, he did like the bit and did move well in it. I think some of his problem is he doesn't want to do what I say. He did shake his head a little but nowhere near like he was in the other bits. He also didn't have any sores on his mouth when we were done. Good boy.

My worry with him though, is he has a BIG motor. A couple times when we stopped to wait for the others to catch up I noticed he was breathing super fast. And when we moved out again he would go right back into the fast as all get out flat walk/run walk with a few racks thrown in there.I held him back the entire ride since I didn't want him to injure himself by wanting to flat out go the entire time.

Now, I will say that his calling in life is trails. This horse turned into a totally different horse on the trails. No more trying to bite me, his ears perked forward, very ready to just go down the trail, and responsive to *most* things. I might look into endurance riding with him once I can ride again, something I think he would do very very well at.

I know he is going to be sore today, but he's got until almost April off. Then we will work through a whole crapton of issues that I had already worked through. Mounting being a large one. I will admit I got frustrated with him and the mounting thing. I chalk that up to the pregnancy thing.

Other than that, he is a good boy. He just has some attitude under saddle that will need to be addressed.

Somebody needs to work with their horse

Not saying any names or pointing any fingers...... but I'm pretty sure the name starts with the letter R and pretty sure the finger is towards me. ;)

Went out and did groundwork with Memphis. Get this, I was working on his responding to pressure exercises; something I have not done in about 2 months. So I place my hand on his shoulder, apply mild pressure, and ask "over". He flipped his head around and tried to bite me! WTF?! This is not the horse that I like to brag about! He got popped in the mouth since I saw it right as it was happening so he didn't even have a second to think about it, he just got corrected. Then I tried it again and he moved his hindquarters over just like he should and has been taught to do.

I guess this all boils down to more groundwork with this guy. It's that reminder that says "HEY WORK WITH YOUR HORSE ON A REGULAR BASIS". I will be the first to admit he has gotten off really easy lately. Big idiot.

The new bits shipped out yesterday. I'd expect they'd be here by the end of the week since they shipped from OH. I'm also getting his teeth done tomm to eliminate that issue from the equation.

Oh and onto feed again, since Tribute NEVER responded to my email to them about the Kalm N Ez food question I had, I will answer it myself here by posting the feed tag. This way if anyone stumbles here looking for the same info, you can find whats in this food.

Just click on the picture and it will get bigger.

I've also been working my butt off lately trying to pay for the increased costs this month. Phew. I work this Sat, all of next weekend, and the Sat after that. This will cover the bits, his feed, and part of his board. So everything isn't hitting us out of our budget budget. I am selling off a few things too to help. Then I'd only have to work 1 day a month to make his feed costs and 2 extra days a month to cut his board in half from our budget. (I have two jobs, my full time and a part time for the horse stuff) Ah horses.

Bits

Alrighty then, since yesterday I found that the barn owner had used a Tom Thumb on Memphis. I despise Tom Thumbs. Very ineffective aid to a horse and she said he just shook his head whenever pressure was applied to the bit. I would too if I had no idea what to do when you asked me something since the aid was not clear.

He has not liked the Jr. Cowhorse I've had him in as of late either. This one has to do with pinching, since it does pinch his lips. Soooooo, since you know I can't ride right now, how about I get really into my horse and start researching things haha It makes total sense!

I bought two new bits today. If they work out well for him I'm selling both of my other bits and just keeping my O-ring and these two. I'll sell the Jr. Cowhorse and my Curb with a Roller. I bought the Robart Pinchless "Snaffle" with a roller aaaannnddd bought a short shanked "snaffle". The short shank is for whomever leases him, the roller snaffle is for me - the shanks are LONG and I don't want a child using that bit. Children seem to pull on mouths quite a bit and I do not want them pulling on his mouth with a long shanked bit, that's asking for trouble.

Anywho, I do plan on hopping up on him when these come in just to see how well they work. He's going to love me haha... I'm fat, well not fat, but have gained weight. He's a stout horse... should be able to do it. The guy I bought him from was heavier than me.

Anyway, the barn owner ended up riding him for the trail ride on Saturday. The mom couldn't ride since there would be no 4-H leader if she rode, so the barn owner had to ride. Memphis was the last horse out haha She also rode him at the back of the pack. Memphis HATES the back, she said he did an uncomfortable gait the entire time. She did say he was very comfortable once everybody started cantering and Memphis settled into a nice gait. I can only imagine it was a rack, since he LOVES to do that when others canter. Silly horse.

Oh well, that's all I got at the moment.

Feed part 2!

So I went ahead and got the barn owner to agree to feeding Memphis something new. I shouldn't say agree, more like laugh at me while I'm doing this. I picked up 3 bags of the new stuff yesterday and stuck it in a trash can I brought from home for him. It smells like licorice. Not bad though, you have to be right up on top of it to smell it, unlike the feed at the barn where the entire feed room smells sweet and grainy. It's also drier than her feed, the pellets don't stick together, but there is no dust to speak of. Today starts the transition to the new stuff. Hopefully he at least gets that nutty edge taken off of him. :)

Couple other thoughts about feed while I'm here and to expand on the comment on my last feed post. I do not believe horses need to be grained every day if they aren't doing work. I do think they need the grain if they are working as they are exerting more energy trying to please us than they would just walking around stuffing their mouths full of grass.

Now, my final goals for Memphis? To put him on just a ration balancer and then beet pulp for the extra if he needs it. I don't want to do that right now though for a couple reasons. One, I don't think the barn owner would go for that; I know I know he's my horse I should have say, but I do have to not burn bridges with this awesome awesome woman. Two, I'd feel more comfortable playing with his feed when he is living on my own property and that way the consequences of whatever I do are solely on me. (losing weight, getting too hyper, gaining too much, getting to dull, and on and on) And three, since he looks to be used right now and I think I'm going to find a leaser for him, I want to keep him on the feed for the extra oomph. (if that makes any sense at all)

Those are my thoughts on that at the moment.

Now yesterday I go to the barn and wanted to play with my idiot and put his new feed away. My idiot isn't there! Talk about freaking out! I had been asked about 3 weeks ago if he could be used for the year end 4-H trail ride and I told them sure if somebody wants to ride him and signs my waiver go for it. They forgot to tell me the date, so after much freaking out and phone calls I find him on a trail ride. PHEW! I know one of the moms rode him, so I hope he did well for her. Barn owner said he saddled and trailered just fine, which is good, since right before I got pregnant we worked on that quite a bit.

The only thing that worries me is the bit they are using and if they make him stand after mounting. Memphis has a VERY soft mouth and I was contemplating putting him into a D-ring instead of the leverage bit that he was in. I'll talk to the barn owner tonight and find out the bit thing and try to see if I can't get info out of the mom on how he rode. I just want to know everything I think. haha

Feed Fight!

So I'm currently trying to convince my barn owner to let me switch Memphis' feed. I have some reasoning behind this so I'm not nuts. Let me sum it up in the emails I have been going back and forth with her on, so I don't have to retype it all out.

Email 1 of the convincing:

Back onto the feed thing (I can see the sigh and eye roll from here hehehe) You had me worried about the protein so I spent most of last night researching protein, grains, fat, and molasses in horse feeds. My conclusion is that while I do not think sweet feed is bad, I really don't, I'm pretty sure it has it's place in a lot of horse diets and works very very well for most people in most situations. I'm just worried that it is not the correct type of feed for Memphis. I learned a whole lot last night about what happens to extra protien intake for horses (how neat is this: their body turns it into nitrogen which is then passed through the kidneys and expelled as urine) since I was concerned about the extra protien making him "hotter" than he is now. From what I can gather, most new research suggests that its not the protien making the horse hot, but the increase in feed that is given to a horse that is usually done with higher protien feeds.

Then I started reading about grains. I should NEVER have done this. I found out what the NSC "rating" (and what NSC means and why it is important) stands for and what each grain is from an energy standpoint to the horse. That started learning about hindguts, stomachs, choke (that was neat!), and those friendly little bacterias that help digest everything. It actually helps because I have more of an understanding now what happened to my first horse than I did when she died. Since I had to think about her feed and her change of conditions at the end and how it all relates to that little delicate interior that horses have.

Grains also led me to behavioral problems in some horses, seems to lean more towards the "light" breeds (that is not scientific, just what I came to my own conclusion on). The sweet feed has a higher concentration of grains that are cheaper and get the job done (like corn), but these grains also cause quite the spike in insulin in horses and can make some horses get "hot".

Blah, this is getting long. In the end, I don't believe its the molasses in sweet feed after I read SO much last night. My gosh I was up till 12am reading that stuff and did a lot at work yesterday. I think it is in part to the grain that they use in sweet feed and technically, I would say Memphis could go down on the amount of sweet feed and it would probably help take some of the edge off of him. My worry with that is getting enough nutrients and getting enough protein into his body.

The feed I'm wanting to switch him to does have a higher percentage of protein, which he will just expell through his urine. A higher fat content (which, I also found out that horses can eat up to 20% fat before getting the runs!) which has some research to back it up that it helps reduce colic in horses, and it has replaced high rated NSC grains with lower rated NSC grains, which take a little longer to digest and don't cause a spike in insulin that is quite as great. He will also be eating less of it as the calorie content is higher due to the fat which will also help. In the end still getting less energy from the feed.

So that's my final scientific review of feed. However scientific and long this so happens to be. Phew. Sorry it's long, but I feel like I should at least give some explanation for this instead of just pushing the switch.

Email 2 when she asked me about her own feed (not sure if she was curious or I irked her with that last email):

Pelleted feed I really don't know, just depends on what is in it. I'd have to go crazy over research on the feed you have :)

Found the feed tag on Southern States, when did you switch to this feed? Just curious as I remember purple bags before or the stuff from TS before.
Molasses is the sixth ingredient down, so I'd go with it is just there for flavor as opposed to anything else in the feed. Everything up, the first five ingredients, are just fillers for fiber. Limestone is added for calcium and then the corn meal add some energy and protein to the feed. Everything else is just supplements.

Now, I did looks up the NSC rating for the Southern States feed, as they do list it on the website. The rating percentage in this feed is 30%, the higher the rating the higher the starch is (I do not want to say sugar, since it's "not" but is but not haha). Compare this to the feed I am looking at where it's rating is 15%. (NSC rating tells you basically the carb/sugar/starch (all the same thing in my mind) percentage of a feed)

This is where I feel that just trying a new feed would be a start to Memphis.

I will say that the Southern States website is very nice and their feed info is excellent, I was not expecting that much information on the website

And something I posted on a horse forum about my own thoughts in the end on the feed:

"Right now, I don't feel like sweet feed is the enemy as I did maybe a week ago and early yesterday morning before I rolled up my sleeves and really got into the types of stuff in feed. There are many opinions on feed, just as there are on training methods. Everyone has an opinion. I think the issue with the sweet feed is the amount that he has been given. It is also made with the cheapest grains possible and I do not believe that the molasses is the evil feed devil in disguise.

I do believe he is being given too much sweet feed for his amount of work and think that if I wanted to, I could cut his feed in half and he would probably calm down on just that alone.

But then I look at the quality of what he is eating and that is what does it for me. I can put him on a better quality food and even though I have a baby coming and the what not, I can still afford to do this so I am. (I'm not rich, just retarded frugal) I don't think he needs the higher protein in the Kalm N EZ, but I know that it won't hurt him and the body will convert it to nitrogen and then expell it through the kidneys in the form of urine. I'm good with that. I also have figured out that the higher fat content, while horrid for us humans watching a wasteline, is good for horses.

He will be getting a smaller ration of food (gonna start him at 6lbs when the full switch happens and try to wean him down to 5 or 4, although it is all played by ear) and that alone should do it. Like I said before, I have to be a realist here and venture with the possibility that this may not work. At least if it does, I cross it off my list and move on. 50% of his issues is exercise the other 50% I'm going with his feed. There is a small 2% that is just him being big and dumb. (I know my percentages add to 102% haha) "

So, here is where I am. I have taken an interest in horse feed lately and horse nutrition. Am I an expert? Hell no. Not even close. But do I feel better now that I've looked all this over? Yes.

I'm also starting to wonder about the Southern States feed she has been feeding. As his kicking started about a month ago and that is around the time she switched to that feed. I hope she answers me on that. I am not going to tell her that I think the SS feed is the reason for his hyperness as of late, but I have a strong feeling of such.

Now, the new feed that I want to switch to is Tribute Kalm N EZ. I am going to tell the barn owner to just let me try it for 2 months. If it works I'm going to ask for some money off of the board. I think this is fair since I wouldn't be using her feed anymore. I wouldn't ask her for the full cost of the new feed off the board, but just like 25 to 30 bucks a month.

The new feed is 17 bucks a bag and I figure 3 bags a month. It is about 6 bucks more than the feed she is feeding per bag, so that really isn't to bothersome for me. I know that the feed store does bulk discounts and if this works, then I will look into buying in bulk. Where I will store it the world doesn't know but ya know.


Anywho, everything else is peachy. Just redid Memphis' leasing ad on CL and will be making up some flyers to put in feed stores this week or next. I'm a little worried about finding a leaser since he is a Walker and these horses seem to have a special group of people following them here in this state. But we'll see.

Other than that, my life is good!

Just upset

I'm a little upset today. I'm letting my fears of being hurt stopping me from enjoying my horse. I'm also letting his "problems" stopping me from really being attached to him. I am going to take him down to a half ration of sweet feed and put him on a no sugar feed for the other half. I'm hoping that brings down his activity levels some. He is a hyper horse and I'm starting to come to the conclusion that the sweet feed has a lot to do with it. I was going to talk to the barn owner yesterday but she wasn't home. I stuck around for an hour yesterday waiting on her but oh well.

I played with Memphis quite a bit. He did test me some in hand, which I think is just from nobody working with him. That is my fault, not his. It's a nice cool day though today so I'm thinking of going back down there and lunging him some and then working in hand again. Some walking and engaging some movements on the ground. That will be good for him, make him think.

I am also going to go ahead and request that he be put in a field by himself. Her fields are set up so that he will see other horses, just not allowed to interact. I'm hoping that the change in feed will help calm him down and then we can reintroduce other horses. This is my hope. Every time I think of her saying how he bolts out of the stall like an idiot and then acts like an idiot in the field in the morning, this just says ENERGY to me. If it comes down to it, I will work out the board price with her and just put him strictly on a low starch feed that either I provide or she provides. This week is me getting prices on this stuff.

Oh horses, drive me crazy. I just need Memphis to hold out for a year or two till we move.


Baby is doing fine. Think I felt the sucker move a few days ago, it was just a flutter, but I know it wasn't anything else but it. Makes me a little bit more excited. I got a baby coming, holy shit!