Last Weekend's Ride

I've been meaning to get these pics posted for several days, but things have been hectic here (DH home with a sprained ankle, gorgeous weather keeping me busy outside, etc.), so I'm a little slow.

Last weekend we took a really nice ride into the dune plantation across the road. We started out with DH on Ria and me on Quintas. With all her pain issues involved, Ria has been a lot more energetic and eager on rides. Unfortunately she also has been acting up some the couple times I've ridden her alone. We additionally want to get her trained for one-handed riding, which DH is more experienced with doing. So I asked DH to ride her some to do the training and see how she behaved. She behaved fine and is making good progress on the training.

For once I actually remembered to get the camera out of my pocket and take pics on the trail. Unfortunately, not all of them came out very well (as in most of those I took of DH).

We rode through the woods and out to the road that headed to the "stenslet" (I don't know how to translate slet. It is an open area that has a combination of stone and sand on the bottom. Very desert-like in some ways). I'd been out the road to the stenslet but hadn't ridden into it before. It is gorgeous out there!

You see that sandy area out in front of us in that last picture? When we got there, Quintas suddenly shook herself really hard. Just as I was recovering from that (I've never had a horse shake when I was riding before), she started getting down on her knees to roll in the sand! We got her up again and nothing happened, but it sure did freak me out plenty.

So we hurried to swap horses back because I was somewhat disturbed by that one. Of course she didn't do any of it for DH. But it did give us something to laugh about once I was over being freaked out.

Ria sure does shine really pretty in the sun! I am riding in my roping saddle, by the way. The first one I bought for it that ended up not fitting and the seller refused to take it back despite her promise to do so if it ended up not fitting after she was trained. But since I sit way better in it than in the second one I bought, I guess I ended up a little lucky anyway.

I had some trouble that day because we had to take my stirrup turners off temporarily. To make the long explanation short and understandable to non-horse people, Ria is being retrained from having a very stiff right side using the CorrecTOR so I need to adjust my stirrups crooked for the process to work. I am pretty short so already needed my stirrups close to the last hole to have the right length with the turners in, making it impossible to adjust them properly for this. So we took the turners off so the length was right. This is painful for my knees. Since then, we've soaked the fenders in water and twisted them hard with a stick in them, so they should be more comfortable next time even without the turners. But I am looking forward to getting her retrained so I can have them back.

Back to the story of the ride...

From the stenslet, we rode back towards home along the stream (Knasborg Å).

It was really a great ride and I think all four of us enjoyed it. I was very happy to see that Ria's hooves are enough improved for her to be comfortable walking and even JOGGING on gravel. This is great progress and proof that our do-it-ourselves farrier project was a good idea.

Feeding Daisy and the Rest of the Herd

 

Winter is coming fast and Daisy is already showing signs of its approach. For anyone who doesn't know, Daisy is DH's 23-year-old Oldenburg mare. The picture here is an old one, but it's our favorite. Bryan doesn't ride Daisy very often anymore because she hasn't been doing well with long rides. She enjoys the occasional trip to the beach and that's about it.

The point is that Daisy's getting very thin and that is a very bad sign.We noticed when we brought them home from the summer pasture this weekend that she was really showing signs of her age. We agreed that I would go out every day and feed herto try to get some weight back on her before the cold really hits.

We expected this to be a hard winter for her. We had gone out about a month ago and bought a special food for her, that is designed for horses that have a little troublekeeping weight on, whether they are breeding or are old. Luckily for us, she seems to love her new food.

When I fed Monday, she gave me a bit of trouble. This would be the first time for her to go into the box in many year and she was not liking the idea. I ended up feeding her at her usual trough and fighting to keep the other three horse off her food the entire time. That was both unpleasant and painful for me.

So Monday night DH went out and taught Daisy to go in the box. He ended up feeding the rest of the herd while he was there.

Tuesday I went out to feed only Daisy again. She went willingly into the box and was eager to eat. But then the other three started fighting in the shed, trying to be as close to Daisy as possible and unhappy about the lack of feed for them. I drove them out of the shed, shut them out, and went and gave them hay. The result was that Daisy refused to eat until they were back inside and even then she was uneasy, wanting to know what was outside. AARGH!

Last night our favorite fruit and vegetable man came by with some stuff he couldn't sell for us. Mostly carrots and apples on the verge of being too old. So DH went over with that stuff and to feed Daisy and ended up feeding hte whole herd again.

When he got back in, we made a new deal for the near future. If the whole herd needs to eat once a day now, let me feed them so there is no fighting and hassle. He agreed. This is new for me--DH has always stood for horse feeding. Our feeding method is complicated with several different feeds and supplements to mix and he would adjust it based on exercise level and weather. Now that responsibility is mine--if I can handle it.

It went really well today. Ria (QH mare, around 7, proper name Borregos Maria) got the new box spot because it has a section of concrete on the floor. That lets the messy pig clean up all the food she throws all over. Because she tends to fatten easily, she also gets less feed than everyone else. Having her in the box keeps her from getting as annoying with her neighbors because they have more food and eat more slowly than she does. Ha!

This picture, by the way, is from this summer when she was on the pony pasture with Tanja, the fat shetland pony, for both of them to slim down a bit. She looks GREAT that way but is already bulking up a bit from having free access to hay in the past few weeks.

Quintas (paint mare, 4, proper name Quintas Cold Cash) came home from the trainer looking very fit and trim. Since the typical Danish wind and rain (and early dusk) keep us from riding as much as we'd like, this won't last long. But she still needs some feed now because there is so little on the pasture and the cold nights are coming fast (2 hard frosts already!!).

These pictures are from DH's first ride on Quintas after she came home from the trainer. The helmet was a concession to my concerns that we didn't know how she'd react with nearby cows, lots of on and off fitting the saddle on "The CorrecTOR" and a good bit of wind. He minds the helmet much more than he minds the safety vest. The CorrecTOR does its job excellently, BTW, and  makes his saddle fit her perfectly. I don't think we had it adjusted right in the first picture--his feet are farther forward than he usually has them riding. Another day we had taken a good length trail ride on our two and you couldn't even tell where the saddle had been on Quintas except for the slight smudge from the leather grease on the girth strap.

 

Our final large horse is Tracy (solid-bred Paint, 2, Miss Tracy King). I am ashamed to admit that this is the best pic I can find of her on my laptop. I swear DH went out one day this summer and took awesome pics of all of them, but I can't find those pics on my laptop.

Anyway, Tracy is a young two, being a late-in-the-year foal. She is still growing, probably, so needs plenty to eat. She seems to have a great temperament and we love how she moves. We hope she might end up being an even better riding horse for me than Ria because she doesn't have the sensitive feet and tendencies to pudginess that Ria has.

So, with these different needs, feeding really is quite an interesting job. The basis for all of them is whole oats. But I have to mix the leftover oats from last year with the new oats from this year. Ria only gets a small portion because of her weight issues.

To the oats for Daisy, we add some wheat. It should help her put weight on. She can't have barley because it makes her legs swell. Daisy also gets a glucosamin supplement that we are trying for the first time to see if it helps her move better and feel better. A dose of "Shy Feeder B" encourages her to eat. She also has the special gain-weight food I mentioned above. It is a mix of a bunch of different things, so we tend to think of it like a musli.

Ria has a special Musli of her own too. It is designed for ponies and other horses that gain weight easily. Part of the point is that it should have a long chew time, keeping her occupied with less feed.

Quintas and Tracy aren't left out on musli. They have a normal one with lots of herbs in it. Daisy gets some of that one too. Those three also get a type of melasses that is mixed with wheat bran. It is much cheaper and less messy than liquid melasses. We tried liquid last year but it didn't work well. They didn't really like it. We manage to keep water liquid many times by putting it in the shed, so don't need liquid for that either (that's what my mom did for the sheep when I was growing up).

Then all of them get the main vitamin supplement and hoof supplement, although Ria is the one most in need of the latter. We also use some kind of soy product that I don't know how to translate. Also not exactly sure why, but they like it.

Sound complicated enough for everyone? We had tried a full feed two winters ago, but none of them did well on it. They tended to turn up their noses at it.

Oh, I forgot to mention the green pellets that are basically a pressed grass. They look like giant rabbit food pellets. They're filling and help prevent problems from grass changes. Ria especially is getting a few handfuls of those right now.

A Busy Saturday Morning

I am a bit overwhelmed by how much we've gotten done already today. (Ignore the typos. I am typing this manually because it is faster than the voice system and I havne't much time before we need to eat). I guess DH gets the credit for being a constant pest about getting me out of bed in the morning. He really tries to be understanding, but to him sleeping until 7 is sleeping late and if you're still in bed at 8, half the day is gone. He managed to get me up and moving around 9:30 or so.

He has gotten smart and gotten the girls into the "get mommy out of bed" game. He pretends he is coming back in to snuggle with me then lets the girls in and gets them all riled up into a play session. Although normally very careful about not walking on or banging into me, two border collies well wound up into a game of play fight with daddy will inevitably bang into, jump on, and walk over the other person in the bed. It also shakes the entire bed and makes a lot of noise. Although I do ahve a reputation for sleeping through just about anything, even that tests my ability and need to sleep.

Then, of course, Molly set off the "must go out and potty alert". DH didn't believe it was possible they needed out, so I got up and let them out. Although Shawnee had still been in bed with DH when Molly set the alert off, she apparently had an urgent need to potty. Molly always seems to be alerting for her sister.

I really just wanted to be in bed another half hour or so for the pain killer to kick in. Hrmm. Anyway, once I was out of bed, I figured I might as well hit the bathroom. On the way back, my leg was acting up, so I had to lie down again but DH massaged it a bit to loosen up the muscles.

Then I decided to see if Molly was able to find me when I hid on thec omforter like she can with her daddy. She HATES it if he hides all the way under the comforter and this has turned into a "find daddy" game. So this morning we played a little "Find Mommy" and I made it even more difficult after the first couple successes by slipping onto the floor under my comforter when she wasn't looking. The hardest part for her was figuring out how to get under the comforter when I was crammed in the little space between the bed and the cabinet. But she was very enthusiastic and I ended up giving her a pull command to drag the comofrter back onto the bed. Shawnee tried to get into the fun too.

By then my stomach was growling, so I got up. Made tea and musli for me and bread and coffee for DH. We tried to eat outside at the picnic table, but it was a little too breezy, so we retreated to the kitchen.

Then DH did the dishes and I wandered around to open windows in living room for fresh air. He also wanted to wash and peel potatoes. While he was doing that, I look the one houseplant from the living room that needed to be repotted out and did that. It needed some trimming, so I got the clippers out.

Then I noticed some dead branches on some of the lavender we had split up. It had been in a too shady corner was was VERY leggy and hadn't been trimmed as well in the spring as it should have. So I did it and the other clumps. One is coming in REALLY well now, so I was able to trim it back. I am afraid the others will die if I cut them back into the long branches under where the green stuff is. So I have to wait until they come better and hope that they start sprouting down the branches now that they have more sun.

I then took a very short rest. We've been talking for several days about trying to get some of the horses hooves trimmed. My mare especially was in desperate need of trimming and Quintas, DH's paint, is also in need of it because she broke some hoof off right before we moved them into the summer pasture (saw it first leading them over).

You see, we don't have a reliable farrier. We've tried several different ones. The only one we can sort of count on has absolutely no experience with Western horses and I don't think he trims them right.

(interupted for our main meal of today, which is more-or-less to be eaten at lunch time. DH busy this evening milking for a friend so it is easier to eat before he leaves then just have sandwiches later. today we are having the danish meatballs and potatoes we would have had last night if he weren't so late getting home from learning to do the cows that we ate the leftover burritos planned for tonight instead)

(okay, meal done and DH gone to milk cows. I can finally rest!)

We've tried a local farrier recommended by the most known one around here who didn't have time for new clients. The guy was a total jerk and I really hated him. He missed appointments, not calling until a few hours AFTER he was supposed to be here to tell us anythign. He put shoes on her but did it wrong, so he hammered a nail into the painful part of her foot AND tried denying it. (Imagine having someone pound a splinter under your fingernail and hold onto your hand when you tried to pull away) He was just an idiot for a number of other reasons.

Then we had the guy who bred Tracy do Ria a few times (once here and twice we drove her down to him) but when we tried to make an appointment with him a few months ago he told us he wasn't doing it any more. So there we stood without a farrier and horses in need. We did get the one we can count on to trim them, but it just didn't feel right.

So for DH's birthday in April, I gave himt he Western Horseman book on hoof care (Well-Shod) and a homemade gift certificate for the tools. He has now gotten them and we've spent hours studying the books. He's done some trimming, but not much more than cleaning up rough edges and such so far.

So this morning we got Ria out to try to get her feet done properly. The info in the book matched the gut feeling we both have had--they've been leaving her feet far too long in the toe. With the rain we've had this week, the summer pasture is a little wet. This softens the hooves and makes them easier to trim.

ria was uneasy because of her past bad experiences. It didn't help that DH was feeling a little unsure of himself and it took a while to do what needed to be done. But by the time all four feet were finished, we could really see a lot of improvement in how she is standing. We'll see how they wear over the next month then trim her again. We can't fix them completely at once, so will have to slowly adjust the angle so she is standing properly. We also want to get a tool for measuring the angle, because that will help a lot.

Tomorrow we will take one or two of the other horses. They don't have the severe problems Ria does and seem to wear well naturally. With Ria, we are pretty sure that she hadn't been trimmed properly as a young horse, which has given her lifelong problems.

Now that I am finished writing allt his, I am going to go outside and lie down to take a nap in the fresh air. I am EXHAUSTED! We had hoped I'd be able to sit on a stool while he worked on her, but she wasn't calm enough.