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.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
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
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
Thursday, September 8, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, September 5, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Babies and bad horses, oh my!
Babies
This ties into horses eventually. I promise. I heard the babies heartbeat last week! This made everything seem so real! Before I heard it, I knew I was pregnant but it didn't really hit home with me that I was. I guess because nothing in there is moving that I can feel, my body hadn't changed that much, and my morning sickness has been mild at best. So, it's easy to see, for me at lease, why I didn't feel that pregnant.
Then I hear this little fast heartbeat coming from my abdomen and its like everything is now changed. I'm taking care of this other tiny human right now. It's in there doing whatever it does right now and I'm the only person that can care for it. That, as corny as I'm about to sound, changes so much about what I have been doing up until this point. This month is tight with money and it will be for awhile. I'm trying to get as much in the bank as possible before the baby shows up.
Horses
Now, the baby ties into Memphis in a large way. I have elected not to ride while pregnant. I know a ton of people still do ride, but by my own personal choice, I have chosen not to. I trust Memphis a lot under saddle, but I have fallen off of him. He is not a short horse and falling off of him is a long fall that usually hurts. (That incident was funny- full out pace and he jumped a log and I went off the side)
Because of this Memphis is an eating machine that is just eating hay and money. Last week Memphis had kicked another horse resulting in a broken leg for the other horse. Yes, this other horse was put down. I decided then that I would sell him and did in fact put him up for sale. My reasoning was that right now I just can't handle the emotional aspect of something like this and I can't ride anyway so why not just sell.
Then walk in my barn owner and one of the 4-H moms at the barn. Barn owner told me basically not to sell. Her reasoning was that horses are horses and shit happens. She also said that Memphis is great in hand, great with groundwork, great under saddle, and he is good around the kids. The mom basically said the same thing and she informed me that she rode him about two weeks ago.
This is FINE by me. I had told her before that she can ride him and the little girl that rode him a bit back was her daughter. She then asked me if she could continue to ride him and take him on trail rides since he is easier on her back than her Quarter Horses. This again I gave her permission to do as Memphis needs to be ridden.
Now, for the time being this works and is in my favor. Memphis is currently up for full or partial lease. I like him being ridden while I try to find somebody to lease him since it will keep him in the right mind frame for a potential leasor.
Phew. This is long. I'll add more later but this is what is going on in my life.
This ties into horses eventually. I promise. I heard the babies heartbeat last week! This made everything seem so real! Before I heard it, I knew I was pregnant but it didn't really hit home with me that I was. I guess because nothing in there is moving that I can feel, my body hadn't changed that much, and my morning sickness has been mild at best. So, it's easy to see, for me at lease, why I didn't feel that pregnant.
Then I hear this little fast heartbeat coming from my abdomen and its like everything is now changed. I'm taking care of this other tiny human right now. It's in there doing whatever it does right now and I'm the only person that can care for it. That, as corny as I'm about to sound, changes so much about what I have been doing up until this point. This month is tight with money and it will be for awhile. I'm trying to get as much in the bank as possible before the baby shows up.
Horses
Now, the baby ties into Memphis in a large way. I have elected not to ride while pregnant. I know a ton of people still do ride, but by my own personal choice, I have chosen not to. I trust Memphis a lot under saddle, but I have fallen off of him. He is not a short horse and falling off of him is a long fall that usually hurts. (That incident was funny- full out pace and he jumped a log and I went off the side)
Because of this Memphis is an eating machine that is just eating hay and money. Last week Memphis had kicked another horse resulting in a broken leg for the other horse. Yes, this other horse was put down. I decided then that I would sell him and did in fact put him up for sale. My reasoning was that right now I just can't handle the emotional aspect of something like this and I can't ride anyway so why not just sell.
Then walk in my barn owner and one of the 4-H moms at the barn. Barn owner told me basically not to sell. Her reasoning was that horses are horses and shit happens. She also said that Memphis is great in hand, great with groundwork, great under saddle, and he is good around the kids. The mom basically said the same thing and she informed me that she rode him about two weeks ago.
This is FINE by me. I had told her before that she can ride him and the little girl that rode him a bit back was her daughter. She then asked me if she could continue to ride him and take him on trail rides since he is easier on her back than her Quarter Horses. This again I gave her permission to do as Memphis needs to be ridden.
Now, for the time being this works and is in my favor. Memphis is currently up for full or partial lease. I like him being ridden while I try to find somebody to lease him since it will keep him in the right mind frame for a potential leasor.
Phew. This is long. I'll add more later but this is what is going on in my life.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Good Horses
Well, it broke the 90 degree heat wave we've been having yesterday and it was a pleasent mid 80's. This prompted me to decide that somebody, even if its not me, is going to ride Memphis. Yesterday just confirmed that I should have no fear of my big dumb horse. :)
I decided before anyone got on him that I would lunge first. I wanted to see if he was going to be a total jerk or if he would take to being worked again. So I only saddled him and then walked him out to the arena.
I usually don't hold a lunge whip when lunging unless the horse is requiring me to use it. (Here is a random thinking from the innards of Rachel's mind: By requiring to use it I don't mean beat the heck out of the horse, I think I've only touched a horse with it once or twice and that was back in Dodge's day.)So I dropped the whip to the ground and then started to lunge him. He was an angel and acted like he'd been lunging for years. Guess all my working with him in the winter has paid off. He went through his gaits for me and transitioned as I asked him to. Needless to say, I was impressed and so I cut the session a little short.
Next was the 13 year old that has been begging me to ride him for a long time. I was kinda nervous to hop right up on him since I hadn't ridden in two months and in that time Memphis had done nothing. The 13 year old does have her own horse that she barrel races and she has a nice seat and hands, so I figured what the hey, she still bounces if she falls. :D
She did wonderfully. There was some resistance from Memphis when she was a little too tight on the reins, but after I showed her my method for dealing with him when he gets a little spunky (and for her to drop the reins a little) they worked out really well together. She wouldn't stop talking about how smooth he is and how much fun he is to ride. (she has a QH) She rode him for almost an hour and had him worked out in a sweat. I know he'll be a little sore today but it will be fine since he has 2 weeks off of work since I'm going on vacation.
He does need a new curb strap, his broke last night, and I may look for a larger bit for him since his a bit snug but works. It's hard to find things to fit his big goofey head. He got lots of kisses, pets, and two flakes of hay when I left last night.
For a horse that hasn't been ridden in two months, he did it like he was ridden every day. I love him so much and his great attitude.
I decided before anyone got on him that I would lunge first. I wanted to see if he was going to be a total jerk or if he would take to being worked again. So I only saddled him and then walked him out to the arena.
I usually don't hold a lunge whip when lunging unless the horse is requiring me to use it. (Here is a random thinking from the innards of Rachel's mind: By requiring to use it I don't mean beat the heck out of the horse, I think I've only touched a horse with it once or twice and that was back in Dodge's day.)So I dropped the whip to the ground and then started to lunge him. He was an angel and acted like he'd been lunging for years. Guess all my working with him in the winter has paid off. He went through his gaits for me and transitioned as I asked him to. Needless to say, I was impressed and so I cut the session a little short.
Next was the 13 year old that has been begging me to ride him for a long time. I was kinda nervous to hop right up on him since I hadn't ridden in two months and in that time Memphis had done nothing. The 13 year old does have her own horse that she barrel races and she has a nice seat and hands, so I figured what the hey, she still bounces if she falls. :D
She did wonderfully. There was some resistance from Memphis when she was a little too tight on the reins, but after I showed her my method for dealing with him when he gets a little spunky (and for her to drop the reins a little) they worked out really well together. She wouldn't stop talking about how smooth he is and how much fun he is to ride. (she has a QH) She rode him for almost an hour and had him worked out in a sweat. I know he'll be a little sore today but it will be fine since he has 2 weeks off of work since I'm going on vacation.
He does need a new curb strap, his broke last night, and I may look for a larger bit for him since his a bit snug but works. It's hard to find things to fit his big goofey head. He got lots of kisses, pets, and two flakes of hay when I left last night.
For a horse that hasn't been ridden in two months, he did it like he was ridden every day. I love him so much and his great attitude.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The turns this blog is now gonna take
Ok, well, now I guess I'm gonna talk about babies and horses. How I'm going to juggle these two things I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure I can figure it out.
Memphis needs the farrier.... bad. I picked his hooves the other day for the first time in a while. I usually just pick them up and do a quick look over each one and if they need picking they get picked, if not then I don't. Holy cow his feet grow fast in the 8 weeks since his last trim! I figured he would be wearing em down just a little since he has been outside so much but it seems to be making it worse. They're chipped, have some chunks coming out, and are misshapen. The farrier comes tomm, so hopefully Memphis will behave this time around. I will also breathe a sigh of relief that they don't look like a hot mess anymore.
In other news... it is still mid 90's here in KY. I'm not riding in that. I did take my saddle with me on Sunday with full intentions to ride my horse. The 20 minutes it took me to groom Memphis I was covered in sweat. Decided that riding probably isn't a good idea since I was also really upset to my stomach on top of being hot. Next week it's supposed to be mid 80's. It's fair game next week!
I want to go back over with him giving to pressure and continue to work on leg aids. Since I'm doing legs at a walk, I'm pretty sure I can ride like this until he gets it. It was *starting* to click with him when I was riding him before so I'm hoping he didn't forget much between next week and when I last rode him.
Saw the doctor yesterday and no heartbeat yet. I am just going into 10 weeks, soooooo it's a little too early to pick it up on the monitor. That's cool, it'll come at my next one I would suspect.
Memphis needs the farrier.... bad. I picked his hooves the other day for the first time in a while. I usually just pick them up and do a quick look over each one and if they need picking they get picked, if not then I don't. Holy cow his feet grow fast in the 8 weeks since his last trim! I figured he would be wearing em down just a little since he has been outside so much but it seems to be making it worse. They're chipped, have some chunks coming out, and are misshapen. The farrier comes tomm, so hopefully Memphis will behave this time around. I will also breathe a sigh of relief that they don't look like a hot mess anymore.
In other news... it is still mid 90's here in KY. I'm not riding in that. I did take my saddle with me on Sunday with full intentions to ride my horse. The 20 minutes it took me to groom Memphis I was covered in sweat. Decided that riding probably isn't a good idea since I was also really upset to my stomach on top of being hot. Next week it's supposed to be mid 80's. It's fair game next week!
I want to go back over with him giving to pressure and continue to work on leg aids. Since I'm doing legs at a walk, I'm pretty sure I can ride like this until he gets it. It was *starting* to click with him when I was riding him before so I'm hoping he didn't forget much between next week and when I last rode him.
Saw the doctor yesterday and no heartbeat yet. I am just going into 10 weeks, soooooo it's a little too early to pick it up on the monitor. That's cool, it'll come at my next one I would suspect.
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