Things are starting to heat up!

Now that it's the middle of summer, the temps around here have been 85ºF and up. It's supposed to get to 90ºF later this week. I've changed my schedule to where I now visit Calvin in the late-evenings to avoid the heat, or avoid it as best as possible without having to ride at 5am. I haven't ridden too much lately, just barebacking him around and hand walking him. Usually by the time I refill the hay, clean out their pasture, groom, and hand walk Calvin, I'm pretty tired anyway. I was going to ride yesterday, but he had a cut on his back that was bleeding. It was only a surface wound, but I figured no point in having the saddle pad rub and irritate it more. I'm not even sure where he could cut himself since Graf doesn't bite him anymore, maybe he rolled on a rock or rubbed too hard on a tree, he's not the brightest baby.

I recently purchased a fly mask for Calvin. The flies were all on his face and since his poor tail is still short, I figured he could use all the fly protection he can get. You'll see in the video that's what he is wearing on his ears. Some people use fly blankets and leg protection, but usually it keeps the horses too hot. Also, I know Calvin would destroy anything on his body because he's so curious, it'd likely end up looking like this. He wouldn't be the first horse I've owned that's destroyed a blanket!

I managed to catch Graf and Calvin grooming each other when I was in their pasture last night. They really do love each other now!  It's so nice to see horses together and allowed to act like horses. Stalled horses miss out on all of this socialization.

Be sure to make the video full screen to really see them grooming!

Grooming time! You can tell by looking at Graf's hind-end that he really loves it!

Heidi (in the background) stays away from the pastures after being shocked by the electric fence, poor girl! And don't worry, I cleaned up the poop seen in the video.

Update on Pasture and Free Feeding

In one of my posts, I talked about how badly I wanted to free-feed Calvin. He used to live with two dominant mares, so unless the other owners wanted to split the bill (which they didn't), I couldn't feed him extra unless I fed during grooming time. At my boarding facility, they feed alfalfa cubes 2x/day and with the mares, he wasn't even able to eat all of his cubes because the mares would take over. 

I decided to move him in with Graf, a large Warmblood gelding, because his owner was open to free-feeding hay on top of the alfalfa cubes. Things didn't go so well at first and Graf chased Calvin away from the food so I would have to lug it to the other end of the pasture for Calvin to eat. It was a frustrating process.

Now I'm happy to say that Calvin and Graf are best friends! A new gelding moved in the other pasture next door, and ever since then Graf has been protective over Calvin and would even pin his ears at the new gelding. Ever since then, Calvin and Graf have been best friends. By best friends, I don't mean they tolerate each other, I mean they do everything together and are hardly separate. I don't understand the horse brain but I'm happy for the change!

Graf and Calvin eating together

Grooming time! This picture makes Calvin look really tiny, but he's actually on a downhill slope.

Free feeding has been going really well too, except that these boys eat SO MUCH hay. We go through probably a bale per week for two horses! I don't know who eats more as they both seem to be eating constantly. Graf is larger, but Calvin is growing, so it could be a toss up. Grass hay isn't really fattening, just very rich in nutrients and fiber. The problem with straight alfalfa is that it doesn't stimulate the "full" feeling in horses so they tend to overeat. Feeding both horses grass hay on top of alfalfa will trigger that full feeling and prevent any bad habits (i.e. neurotic behavior) stemming from the "hunger". Horses are rarely, if ever, fat on grass hay alone. Calvin and Graf get alfalfa cubes 2x/day and grass hay.

                  Two hay nets that maybe last 2 days!     

                                        

Black bin at top of pasture so the horses are forced to walk to eat more hay. This keeps them moving and they enjoy jumping from the hay feeder,  to the nets, and to the bin. This was also after I cleaned the pasture, much nicer!

My hay setup includes 2 slow-feeder nets, a black bin full of loose hay, and hay in the feeder. The best feeling was working around the barn one night and seeing all the hay nets full but the horses weren't eating. They were actually full! Every horse I've ridden my entire life has never been full and would dive at any opportunity to eat hay or grass on the trail. I notice a difference when riding too, Calvin isn't desperate to dive at hay on the trail and is more focused on me.

Free feeding also helps with boredom, Calvin and Graf munch on hay while the other horses in the pastures next to us watch or just sleep. It makes me feel sad for those guys, they just stand all day waiting for their food to come. Most horse owners think free feeding is bad and will cause obesity, but horses are natural grazers anyway so it's more natural and helps prevents ulcers. Therefore, eating small bits all day vs. 2 huge meals is actually better for them. Horse people are a strange bunch though, most don't want to listen to science but instead something someone told them 10 years ago. 

I've also been cleaning out the pasture. My boarding facility believes that poop being left in the pasture is good for the horses. The barn manager even told me "It gets broken up and makes the ground softer for the horses to lay on!" and "moisture is good for their hooves!" Well that might be true, but before it gets to the dried and broken stage it goes through the wet and parasitic stage.  Horses don't sleep in their own poop willingly! Also, clean moisture is good for hooves like water or mud, but not poopy mud or water! Since the management never cleans the pasture, I clean it out. I would rather clean out two horses poop than deal with a pasture full of poop every day. To give you some perspective, one day of poop from two horses fills an entire wheelbarrow. I dump it in front of the pasture and luckily the barn guys use a tractor and clear it away. It is more of a matter of laziness, anyone with an animal knows that living in their own feces is detrimental. 

Most boarding stables clean stalls and pastures, this place is unusual in that regard, but there aren't many options where I live for pasture boarding and I think they realize this and take advantage. I guess the other boarders have the same attitude I do, because reasoning with the barn manager is out of the question. I can't wait until I can move Calvin to a better barn or maybe, if I'm lucky, my own property! In the meantime, I'll keep dreaming.

4th of July Ride

If you've seen me between the 4th of July and the present, you will have likely already heard about my trail ride from the 4th of July. So much of this may be old news to those I've talked to or seen my Facebook, but I'll go into more detail in this post.

I've been trying to coordinate a group trail ride with my other horsey friends for quite sometime. I coordinated with two friends, but one of my friends bailed because she recently found out she was pregnant. It's probably best that I don't want kids because there's no way in hell you could keep me off a horse because I'm incubating a fetus. If my fetus can't survive a fall from a horse then it probably wasn't meant to be (too crass? ah well). Anyway, that friend was out and that left me with "M." 

My boyfriend, J, works with M so that's how we met. M also owns a mustang and is very active in protecting our horses. As luck would have it, he also had a horse for my boyfriend to ride! We planned a ride for July 4th at 8am. M was kind enough to drive an hour and meet us bright and early! We wanted to ride early because it was supposed to be about 90º and humid, we obviously wanted to avoid that. 

So M and his friend T trailered to "the park" which is about a 30 minute ride from where I board (another 3 miles). What I didn't realize is the only road to my boarding facility was hosting a parade later that afternoon. As Calvin and I walked down this road, there were tons of July decorations up and flags waving. For those who don't know the horse brain, let me give you an example. Horses will spook if anything is "new." Oh you repositioned that trash can from one side of the arena to another? It must be possessed. That car parked on the road was not there yesterday? Must be a mountain lion. Therefore all the "new" things on the road were very scary. The parade hadn't started yet, but people still asked us if we were a part of it to which I replied "maybe next year!" Calvin was remarkably good walking down this road of decorations, he continued walking forward despite staring and snorting at everything. Maybe we will join the parade next year! 

Once we (calvin and I) finally made it to the park, or where the trails began, I met up with everyone. J rode this beautiful Arabian mare named "Noor," M rode his mustang "Iskra," his friend T rode a Quarter Horse named "Wizard" (I think) and I rode my mustang Calvin (obviously). All the horses were remarkably good and about the same pace, which made for a calm trail.

T on Wizard and M on Iskra (left), J on Noor and me on Calvin (right).

These trails are nice because there are some that are horses and hikers only when you want a break from worrying about mountain bikers careening into your horse. Thankfully this hasn't happened yet and most mountain bikers are very respectful of horses.  

Anyway, here are the pictures from the ride! Remember to click on the pictures to enlarge them, enjoy:

J on Noor

T, Myself, and J

Noor didn't like stopping and waiting

J leading with M's fast arabian, me meandering behind, and T in the back.

This trail I chose wasn't too long, but it was very technical with rocks, step ascents and descents, single tracks, and stairs. The horses didn't blink an eye, but they did get a good workout! 

Calvin was happy to be in the middle

Don't let the sweat fool you, he had plenty of energy!

Don't throw me into the cacti Calvin!

J looks great on a horse, I'm thinking we should probably invest in another one for him ;) 

The horses from my POV

The end! 

I trained Calvin toward the end of our ride because he is herd sour, meaning that he does not like to be apart from his horsey-buddies, a horse version of separation anxiety. I separated Calvin from these other horses briefly so he can learn that being away from them is not the end of the world. We'd walk until they were just out of sight and when Calvin calmed down, we would turn around and rejoin the group. By the end he was more tolerant of them leaving, but we still need to practice this exercise.

These last few days I've been letting him rest with either easy walking rides without a saddle and hand-walking. Hopefully we'll have another fun trail ride soon as everyone seemed to really enjoy this one.