I hope all my American friends are surviving the big chill you seem to be having at the moment. Does it help if I tell you, we have had a few very warm days but it starting to cool down a bit again, but still t-shirt weather during the day! Sorry had to rub it in! We have had a lot of rain, flooding so mozzies are out in full force. Sam and Poppy are sprayed with aeroguard every morning and night to give them a little peace.
Sam has started his fitness program. I am starting now, getting him ready for his first dressage comp in March. He is working ok. I am finding that he is starting out quite stiff and it is taking a good 15-20min for him to loosen up. His walk trot transitions are improving. He only jumps into them about the first 4 times then figures out to use his back end first. Then you can really feel the power.
Poppy is doing well but OMG she is fat. I have started to work her more to try and get her to loose a few pounds. How do people keep weight off little ponies? She is allowed out on native pasture for 1hr in the early morning (when the sugars are low) then she is locked up in a dirt paddock about the size of a dressage arenafor the day. During the day she gets 350grams of wheaten chaff, 1kg of oaten hay and the scraps of hay Sam has left from the night before. In the afternoon she is led off Sam at a trot for about 15-20min or lunged for 15-20min. For dinner 350grams of wheaten chaff, founderguard, 1kg of soaked and dried lucerne hay. She gets to have a pick of grass while I work Sam. She has pockets of fat in places where she shouldn't! Her crest is still loose but I really don't want her to founder - I worry.
Spoke to a fellow about an arena so fingers crossed that will happen in the new year. I had the gentleman out to look at the area for the wash bay so he will pour the concrete in the new year. Hubby and I will get the posts in over the Christmas period for the wash bay area and another yard. By the end of January I should have a wash bay!
My wonderful hubby also put shelving in my tack room. I think it looks great, all I need now is to find some saddle racks. It is all coming together slowly!
The blog of a worry wort owner and her wonderful horse Sam.
3 comments:
Nina--that sounds fabulous. I am super jealous.
What in the world is a mozzie?
Sounds nice and warm!
The exercise should help the pony a lot - insulin resistant horses and ponies (most ponies are IR) really benefit from that. The restricted diet is a very good idea; a grazing muzzle would help too - although our Norman would always get his off!
I know, I know! It's a mosquito. See, I did learn something besides how to drink lots and lots of Cooper's Pale when I was abroad.
Sounds like you are doing a good job with keeping the pony's diet under control. They are tough to keep from getting fat, but from what I've seen, the worst thing is letting them out on grass all day so it's good that you have another place to put her. Glad your rides with Sam are going well!
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