Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Today's Observations

This morning when I went to put the horses out, I treated Sassy's hooves first and then installed new pads inside of her boots.   As I was picking out her hooves and then using my curved tipped syringes to get up in the cracks, I noticed that I cannot get up in there as easily, or as deep, as I could before.  So either there is too much dirt and goop crammed up in there, or they are starting to close.  I'm going with option B.

After I put the boots on her and turned her out, she did her usual race like mad, slide to a stop, and then trotted off to find breakfast.  I watched her move and did not see a single head bob.  I realize that it is probably a direct result of the new pads, but still it is a great sign. I'm calling it a good sign.

Another observation was Trax.  Actually this has been an ongoing observation for the last week.

Fat kids don't like salad.

I shouldn't call him that because really he is not my fattest horse by any means.  Killian is the king of the hay bellies.  Trax just always seems like a little fat kid to me.  I don't know if it is the look on his face, or the way he stands or what it is.  In fact, when standing next to him, he seems like a very short horse too, but he isn't.  He just has that appearance of a little short fat kid.  Actually his weight is about perfect, and when I am riding he is as tall as any horse I ride next too.

Anyway, he started refusing to eat the Bermuda hay we have a couple of weeks ago.  I attributed this to the low quality of the hay.  I am down to the last little bit of the Utah cubes I have been feeding for the last year and so was attempting to slowly wean the horses off of the cubes and trying to go to straight hay.

Trax is not okay with this.

So I sold off all my crappy hay to a neighbor who has cows. He got it for a smoking deal, and I got my feed container cleaned out. Then I went and bought good hay.  Trax nibbles at it, but one flake will usually last him 2 days.

Not cool.

Of course it is not the only food he gets, but he still needs to eat it.

But he is a "fat kid" who only likes candy...and cake. (alfalfa cubes or pellets)


Observation number 3-

Killian poops more than any horse I have ever seen, and doesn't get any more food than the other two.  Why is that?

Observation number 4-

My pens are not going to clean themselves so I'd probably better get off the computer and get to work.



2 comments:

  1. Good news on the hooves!

    Weird about Trax's eating habits. I wonder if he'll start eating more if that's all he has to choose from, or if he'll try to go on a hunger strike? I wonder if even your nice new hay isn't palatable to him for some reason? That would suck.

    Killian just wants to make sure you don't get bored. He knows you love scooping poop! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've had a few who wouldn't touch Bermuda hay. They would toss it around and decorate the stall with it rather than eat it. I put them on Bermuda blend pellets and they scarfed it up like it was candy. My pony has always been one to eat whatever you put in front of him. Add to that he is an air fern and it makes having him on pellets an easy way to regulate his weight.

    ReplyDelete