That Time of Year

The fields are holding up really well, given that we had twice our normal amount of rain last month. Still, more often than not, the horses have been relegated to their winter paddocks already.

That means I am back on the struggle bus of owning the one pony in existance who is a fussy eater and not an air fern. Without her preferred dietary choice of pasture grazing available it's a bit of a challenge finding things the pony will eat in enough quantity to keep up with her still growing body. Even yummy things like expensive timothy and alfalfa hay get picked over and wasted, and she's not a fan of most grains or treats.

She'd tell you she's a perfectly innocent of such crimes, tho

Even the grain she does eat often gets dumped and wasted because playing with the bucket is much more fun and interesting!

Here's what Princess Sophie will eat:

- GRASS
- Second cut local hay (some)
- timothy hay (some)
- alfalfa hay (some)
- ration balancer pellets (some)
- camelina oil

Sometimes will eat:

- Complete pelleted grain
- Nature Valley honey and oats granola bars

Tried repeatedly and will not eat:

- Apples/Apple flavored anything
- carrots
- every manufactured horse treat I've tried
- orchard grass hay
- first cut local hay
- beet pulp
- every manufactured grain I've tried besides her ration balancer ones (sidenote: I've tried to mix in identical textured grain with more calories but she's got radar for that and has got all the time in the world apparently to pick through individual pellets)
- anything in her paddock/field that is not perfect grass.

Thank goodness I also own the easiest pony in the world who doubles as an equine garbage disposal...Bridget happily eats any of Sophie's left overs and has been getting a little plump with all my failed attempts.

As for Sophie, I've been hanging hay nets in places she likes to hang out and leaving an extra bucket of soaked alfalfa cubes out while I'm mucking out. She's lost some weight in the past month, but she's still looking good so far. Fingers crossed!

Anyone else have a busy horse that isn't all that food motivated? Have any strategies to share?

Talk To Me Of Cameras

I've been blogging for years with media provided by my cell phone. The results have been hit and miss, at best :)

I do like how this one turned out, despite it being dark.

I know pretty much all of you out there have better media content than me, and I'm envious. I want to up my game.

My awesome photo from my last ride in the indoor. I can choose one: motion or less than ideal light. If there are both my pictures look like this.

What camera would you recommend a noob like me? I've been looking at point and shoot ones for a while now, and the specs and reviews are often contradictory and confusing. (Is it actually better than my phone, or no? Does reviewer grandma not understand USB cables or Bluetooth,  or is it really that hard to get the pictures off the camera? Your guess is as good as mine.) So, I haven't pulled the trigger on anything.

My cell phone makes my horses look so muddy! Oh. Wait.
Seriously tho, this is as good a picture as I can currently capture of a moving subject on a cloudy day. Unfortunately, the majority of our west coast days resemble this, and my horses do tend to move around! For every 10 pictures I take, there will be one barely usable one like this and the rest are garbage. It'd be nice to be able to take more usable pictures of my horses. Mud remover filter would be a bonus :)

Basically, I'd like something that can capture crisp images of a moving pony, preferably even in low light (for example, riding in the indoor, or outside on an average winter day here). Which reminds me, it needs to be somewhat sturdy to survive life on the raincoast with horses.

Nice quality video is great, but less of a need for me. I'm not fussed if I don't have a huge zoom or I can't record an entire lesson. Short video clips are fine with me.

So, fellow bloggers, what are you using?

Talk Horse Boots To Me

As mentioned previously, my little wild child of a two year old is...athletic. And yet, kind of not. She's a lovely mover, but she's also not shy about flinging those legs in all sorts of directions they probably shouldn't go in.

Baby giraffe

I've mentioned her energy levels and love of play time a lot here. What I haven't mentioned is that it's not unusual for her to come back with nicks and dings on her legs. It doesn't seem to be confined to one leg, it seems like basically anything from the knee or hock down is fair game from her other hooves. We're on tiny cut number 3 in the last month, which shouldn't be a big deal, but it's summer, and there is dust and flies and they take a bit to heal. I am tired of hosing and using multiple containers of fly repellents and magic healing potions. I don't want any teensy scars on my perfect pony that I spent too much on :).

So help me, because I'm new to this. My other horses have been nice enough, and athletic enough, but nowhere near motivated or bendy enough to injure themselves so creatively.

I'm actually embarrassed to admit this, but I've never bought any kind of boots or wraps for my horses before. Bridget is the first one I've used them on and she's actually won two full sets of jumping boots for herself as prizes from shows, so I don't over think it and just use those when my coach says to :) (Bridget's boots are obviously too big for Sophie)

Cute pic of Bridget, just because

What sort of boots do you prefer? As far as I'm concerned, she's going to have to be naked in turnout, but I wouldn't mind something to stick on her when we're out and about or for the first hour or so when I swap her field around (which is usually when she feels the need to show off her extra....special...moves anyway!)

Bonus points if it's something we can continue to use once she's under saddle, because I'm poor. Extra special bonus points if it doesn't involve wrapping or special care. What do the cool dressage kids use? Is there a version of that for ponies?

Google is presenting me with way too many options and I'm over thinking it. Basically I need something that comes in 14hh sporty pony size, and will protect her legs from the effects of potentially interfering with the other 3 legs. I'm not so much worried about support or anything like that, just something to effectively bubble wrap her and keep those legs pretty :)

You're Fired

Following the hilarity that was our pony ponying adventure, I took Bridget for a much less exciting trail ride to the lake, and she was happy again.

Also on Sunday, we had a less fun adventure in the form of a visit from our farrier, in which I had to suck it up and advocate for my horses so much that I was uncomfortable. I'm well aware he is the professional and I am not, but there really were some things I was concerned about, and so I asked my questions respectfully and with an open mind, while being firm I needed better than a vague answer. The immediate issue was eventually resolved, but I was left with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, as he made it pretty obvious he wasn't happy with me for asking questions and was very defensive and rude about it to myself and the ponies.

So, I'm going to look into trimming my two myself (with the online guidance and advice of our previous long term farriers who both have moved out of area. Truly, we have no one right now). Both showed me how and let me practice multiple times, so I *think* this is something I can do, but I will of course be educating myself further - I've done a couple of weekend courses previously, and will definitely be looking at options for further education.

As for the farrier who was having a bad day/week/month, in a strange coincidence, later that evening facebook exploded with a bunch of people who were very unhappy with him (in a local area horse group, of course, not actually anywhere the guy could see and respond). While I was a little relieved it wasn't just me who was unhappy,  I really don't agree with trash talking and posting pictures of his work online without actually trying to resolve the issue with him in person. Whether I personally would hire the guy or not, it's his livelihood and when I discussed my issues to his face, he DID attempt to resolve them. Maybe I didn't enjoy having to have that conversation in person, but ughhh, I'm pretty sure facebook isn't the way to go.

Anyone else had a similar experience? How did you handle it? Do you tend to ask questions and discuss concerns with your horse professionals, or do you just let them get on with their jobs and not call them back if you're unhappy with their work?

And...enquiring minds need to know...how many of you trim your own horse's feet? Any good resources you'd recommend for learning?

Friday Thoughts and Baby Pony Questions

I had a moment of inspiration last night when Bridget was playing the whole behind the leg/don't wanna game. I dragged out some poles to play with and she lit right up. Like a night and day difference energy/enthusiasm wise. We haven't jumped since Christmas, due partly to my lack of interest/being bored with teeny Bridget appropriate courses forever, and also due to not currently owning a jump saddle that fits adequately. I'm not overly brave over fences myself and I find excuses to not jump other horses so my own meager skills are getting pretty stagnant. I trust my own horses only, apparently :) So, canter poles in a dressage saddle are the best I can do at the moment with my tack and abilities. Sorry Bridget, maybe next time I can set up some cross rails - those should still be doable in a dressage saddle.

"You have treats?" pose. Side note: the coloring on her legs drives me nuts for photos...the backs and part of the sides of them are nearly white hair and it makes her legs look wonky in pretty much every picture ever. I swear they are normal, straight cob legs IRL (Ha, maybe you never noticed and now you can't look away, it looks so messed up, lol :)

My experiment was interesting, because I'm pretty sure she's telling me she's just bored and not a fan of dressage, rather than having any physical ailments that are troubling her. Last night she worked harder than she has in a couple of months, and was happy to do it.

It looks like I need to reinvest in a jump saddle! Not such a bad thing for me either - although dressage is my favorite thing, I miss eventing already and have hopes of one day taking Sophie out XC. I'd best be improving myself if that's a real goal - B and I had some tough times learning together, and Sophie is far more athletic/sensitive so I'm thinking I should try to be at my best if I want to do right by her.

On our way to the ring last night. Hacking back and forth adds time to my evenings, but it's another thing I think Bridget enjoys. I do need to do something about that mane at some point, lol

Sophie has just turned two and is growing like a weed. I've only ever had quarter horses at this age before, and honestly, by two, they've been about the height they're going to get, and even partway filled out too. I know they're still babies and it's not my thing to start them young, but I can see why some people would look at those little quarter horses and be like "Yep, that looks like something we could ride."

No riding any year soon for this one. For now, she is just in training to clean her own paddock :) She's the friendliest baby, so interested in everything I do.

Sophie...not so much. She looks like a just turned yearling. She's still all legs and narrow body, teensy baby feet, and quite bum high. She's super gangly and awkward looking right now. Most of the people she's met think she's a 2017 baby. That's fine, she'll catch up, I'm sure. There's no rush to start her under saddle or anything like that. Her dam is a  swedish warmblood who's pretty built, and her sire is a stout little Welsh B, so I'm sure she'll fill out.

This should be such a cute picture, but that pointy bum and tucked up belly from this angle makes me reluctant to post it.

Anyway, on to the questions...feeding this growing baby! She currently gets all the timothy and 2nd cut orchardgrass she can eat, plus a big flake of alfalfa twice a day. For grain, she's just been getting the young/working horse ration balancer sold for our local area, at the amount recommended on the tag. I still feel like she's a bit too thin and ribby at the moment. She's been here a month and a bit now so that's on me. I'm not panicking, because spring grass is here and she's out on that 24/7, plus I know babies go through awkward stages...but still, it's on my radar that she's not looking as well as I'd hope. It goes without saying she had a recent vet check and is up to date on deworming and vaccinations, and her teeth look good.

Eat, pony, eat! Pic from same day and she looks fine, it's all about the angle of the photo right now.

So, two questions, what is everyone else feeding their youngsters, and can I expect her to keep growing later than I'm used to? She's grown a noticable amount (guessing about an inch - she's taller than B now!) just in the last month.

Don't worry, as always I have a vet for advice, but I know bloggers are a wealth of information too!