JANUARY 2012

January 1, 2012

Issue 2(and boy do we have issues.)

 Do you know what your horse is eating? Has anyone ever read a grain bag to see what we feed here at Mountain Glen and why? We are lucky to be able to feed optimum amounts of hay and provide turn out pastures on grass to our horses. This keeps grain consumption down.

Stop at a feed store and look at the plethora of grains there are. Every grain company now has formulated feed stuffs for every type size shape color of horse. We don’t feed one feed to our horses any more like the old days.

The grain we feed is based on a grass/hay diet. The grain makes up where the hay lacks in calories, vitamins, protein, amino acids and minerals.

Essential K is a high nutritional supplement grain for our horses that do just fine on hay for calories. A coffee cup twice a day gives a 1000lb. horse his daily requirements.

The 12% horse grain is a pleasure pellet grain for horse that needs some calories in their diet, but not excessive energy.

Kalm Ultra is a high fat/ low starch pelleted grain for the not so easy keeper without getting them too high.

 Mud fever blues.

We are at war, people!

What can you do???

There are many methods of dealing with this stuff.

Some people brush it off after it dries to keep the moisture level down on their legs. Others prefer to hose off their legs when they are muddy. Some people are pickers and believe that the scabs need to be removed in order to get the legs to heal. So many options.

W.W.H.D?

WHAT WOULD HOLLY DO?

For me Head and Shoulders seems to do the best for your buck. The Eqyss Micro Tec shampoo and spray are excellent but pricey. I don’t shampoo or pick too much because as you know it will dry their skin out. I hose off legs when the weather permits. If the horse starts to get the scratches (cracks) on the back of their pasterns, I apply furazone goo. Nolvasan works great too but they quit making it. Antifungals like miconizole 7 or fast actin Tinactin help too.   Sometimes you’ll get a case so bad their legs hot and swell up. Then you need to do a furazone sweat to draw out the poison out of their legs. Worst case scenario, you’ll need sulfas so it doesn’t turn into a staph infection. Or you can do nothing, hope for the best and wait until spring.

We are all in this together. I’ll keep the wash rack turned on so we can keep up with this stuff.

Outside of the mud being this year’s issue, it has been nice the horses are getting out all day. Unlike last year’s stall lockdown because of too much snow, wind, cold and ice that you couldn’t walk without falling down. I hope it keeps up like this and goes right into a dry spring. PLEASE!

Remember 25 times around the barn is a mile!

It’s better to do something than nothing at all with your horse. Get a head start on the riding season by walking your horse, grooming and breaking up their routine they have with me so you are both ready to hit the trail when the weather is good.

Well, keep your heels down and see you around the barn.

Holly