HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO

[Pixel]

Everyone in the tackroom and your four-legged friends!!!

Have a good day

thank you - and to you too

what did yours get for Christmas?

what larks! 28 stables mucked out (not all by Self of course) 51(?) ponies seen to and about 80 gallons of icy water in my boot all by 10:30am!

is there a better way to spend Christmas morning?

My sister fed ours and gave them a ton of hay on her way over to mum's on Christmas day, and I did the same yesterday, so today we were faced with a marathon poo-picking session. Oh well, it's all tidy now and we've burnt off some excess calories.

They have had beer in their feeds which they enjoyed and they are now working their way through their 'naglets'. Dpony has mulled wine flavour, dshetland has 'fruity mare', and dhorse has 'stout' because he is .

Dhorse got a new vest and this for the spring as his other lightweight rug is now a bit on the snug side (I know how he feels).

very smart

how do you keep the weight on your 'stout' boy though? mine are both looking a bit scrawny, despite weight-gain stuff and v little work

or maybe it is just that we are surrounded by fat show ponies!

Well he doesn't exactly do a lot of work

How much hay are yours getting? We do spend a lot on good hay in the winter as they get as much as they want. I think that's the main secret to keeping weight on. Plus they need a place where they can eat it out of the wind and rain, preferably at their leisure without being hassled by other horses. I think they fret weight off and don't digest as well if they feel they are competing for food. I hate to see them dancing about snatching mouthfuls here and there, they never seem to do as well.

Also regular teeth checking is a must.

Ours don't generally show any loss of condition until about the middle of Jan so they will get fibrebeet then which seems to do the trick. Until then it's just chaff, equilibra and garlic powder.

Obviously we are just aiming to get them through the winter without losing condition, especially as two of them are elderly. If they were working hard or competing we'd have to up the hard feed to give them some energy.

dunno exactly how much they get, there always is hay either in the rack in the field or in the stable - am trying to give this serious thought but distracted by the abuse in the background of our springer spaniel, he seems to be wearing a child's bikini bottoms, one of my bras and a glittery turban

will investigate and return

and swimming goggles

My mum's old horse used to struggle to keep weight on in the winter as he was part-shire and had a big frame. We found boiled barley did wonders for him. Also we felt good giving him a nice warm dinner on a cold night .

Quick, take a pic, I want to see the mad springer spaniel

Is the glittery turban yours as well?

haha no, it was someone's scarf turned into a turban

why doesn't our dog have more self respect? he should be able to defend himself against this sort of thing - yet try giving him a bath or putting a dog coat on him and he practically phones the RSPCA to report us for crimes against his canine rights

is boiled barley a bit like a bran mash?

it's the pony who's dropped the most weight, but each feed is nearly 6lb now (chaff, sugar beet, weight gain stuff, nuts, barley and blue chip) and he's on 2 a day - if he stays as he is he'll be fine but don't want him to lose any more

the vet thought he was ok when he came to check on his cut face though, he thinks most of the other ponies are far too fat

I think I just invent stuff to worry about sometimes

I shouldn't worry then if the vet says he's ok. It's true most people keep their horses too fat, you should see some of the lardy lumps here! Ours are well-covered and have nice rounded bottoms but they aren't fat. You can feel their ribs and they aren't allowed to develop thick crests or pads of fat along their backs. There is a woman a few fields along who has lost several ponies to laminitis but her current one still has a neck so thick he can hardly reach the grass and she is always unloading big sacks of feed from her car. I fear the poor thing isn't long for this world.

Dogs are useless at defending themselves. I tried to put a festive tartan ribbon on my cat last week and he let me know what he thought of that. I still have the scars!

Boiled barley more like lumpy porridge.

I can't believe you tried to decorate your cat!

are you making any new year's resolutions, apart from not to do that again?

Mitchy - a friend used to give her elderly horse Lucibix, and my grandma used to feed her 36yr old mare grass nuts (never lost condition) failing that Baileys no1 is designed for use in elderly or horses recovering from surgery. Easy on gut and puts condition on. We used it on our TB last winter.

ah thanks alice

alice what was that stuff, the alternative to blue chip that you were talking about that I should be able to get locally?

have scoured the threads and can't find it, though am sure you have told me again since

Pure Grow 28 made by sharp nutrition.

Mine are only on a bowl of chaff and a cup of that now and the weight seems to be staying on pretty well.

It is Rands and Wilson that i get my food from

Rands&Wilson

They are really helpful, will let you have a look round their 'factory' and let you look at the individual feeds, and what is in them. They stock a lot of brands and do bedding too.

HTH

oh I used to live there! well pretty close

looks like there are a few stockists within spitting distance of where I live now so will check them out - how would you make the switch, do you have to phase out the blue chip or can you just start using the new stuff when you run out?

thank you!

I don't know as i had stopped using the Blue Chip already. Best to ask them, they are really helpful

New Years resolution mmm...

To lose 1 and a half stone.
To get my act together, get over my terror irrational fear and start making the most of my gorgeous horse. To make more time for ds to ride dshetland as this will probably be the last summer we are able (he is almost too heavy for her now really and she's not getting any younger).

What about everyone else?

Pass BHS exams (chickened out last year but did get my NVQ)

Hack more

Take Barney to more shows!

Oh and take Joey to Topthorn, see if we can make a sideways show jumper of him too

Have this baby i suppose

Try to ride for as long as possible and get DH going well with the TB. One thing i can do reguardless of size of bump is shout instructions at them

also 'not buy any more ponies'