what's in your bucket blog hop

More blog hop from L at Viva Carlos!

So, What supplements and other feeds does your horse vacuum down everyday? 

Shyloh is a Haflinger and needs minimal calories to maintain her weight. I think I have said before how Jaime is just amazed at the little bit of hay she eats and still stays plump. Of course, if Shy could talk and you were to ask her, she would say she needs ALL the hay! But we know that is not true.  This blog hop was timed perfectly, as we just had Shy's hay tested at the MSU Stallion Expo.

Hay snack

Shy gets two flakes of hay in the morning and one to two flakes at night, depending on if she got an afternoon snack or has been on the round bale. The flakes also depend one weight, if the flake feels light, another one will be given to her.  Her flakes are grass hay. 

The breakdown of her hay is:

8.8% Crude Protein, which is considered average

34.7% Acid Detergent Fiber which is considered low (which is good)

56.5% Neutral Detergent Fiber, with is considered average (low is good)

809 kcal/lb or Equine Digestible Energy, which is on the low end, but perfect for a Haflinger in no work.

My hay!

I am going to break it down a little further, since acid and detergents sound like something you never want your horse to eat. 

Crude Protein is simple, it is the amount of protein concentration in the hay. Grass hays have the least amount of protein, legume hays have the most.

Acid Detergent Fiber is made up of components that are poorly digested. So if your horse has a lot of hay pieces in the poop, this number is probably high. The lower the ADF number is, the more digestible the nutrients in the hay will be.

Neutral Detergent Fiber is made of of insoluble fiber. These give the hay the bulk and make it filling to the horse. You also want a lower number for this.

Equine Digestible Energy is how much energy is takes to digest the hay, self explanatory. 

Free treats!

That is the Shy hay breakdown. Since she needs so little hay to survive, she must make up the rest of her nutrients by a ration balancer. Shy used to get a vitamin crumble, but I have not been overly pleased with it. It did the job, and we just finished the bag, but now we are switching. Shy is getting ADM Stay Strong. It is a metabolic mineral pellet (has the vitamins and minerals, plus pre and probiotics) and if formulated for easy keepers and starch sensitive horses. So no extra calories and no oats, corn, molasses, or alfalfa. I am interested to see how she does on this.

Shy also gets loose salt, just because when she was pasture boarded I bought a 50 lb bag of salt for her to make sure she was getting enough and she will eat all 50 lbs of this bag, dammit! In 20- years, when that bag is gone, Shy can just get a salt lick in her stall. 

In addition to the salt, Shy gets Magnesium. I started her with Magnesium and B vitamins when I first got her. I had done some research and  because she was so jumpy I wanted to try something.  Later, I took her off the B vitamins and continued to keep her on the Magnesium because there is some research that claims it helps prevent laminitis.  It's not a high dose, so it can't hurt her. Plus, it is banana flavored and she likes it. 

Shy also used to get raspberry leaf from a local herb store for her nasty squirting issues. Either it lost its effect or just being around Isaac is more that the raspberry leaf can handle. . .I ended up taking her off that. 

A little before show season, I start to feed Shy Healthy Glo, also from ADM. It is a fat supplement (I do not give her a full serving), but it adds a little shine to her coat.

Shiny pony

So to recap: grass hay, ration balancer (vitamin, mineral, pre and probiotics), loose salt, Magnesium. I buy it all in bulk (it is cheaper that way) and bag it up myself. Fun! Oh yeah. . .and whatever dropped grain that she vacuums up for me when we clean stalls. But I don't count that. And treats, but those don't count either.

What does your horse eat?

a little bit of random

Just some random thoughts that I don't get to write about too often and a few cute videos I found.

Who doesn't love Haflingers, rolling horses, and babies??

I am thinking of taking Shyloh off of her Magnesium and B1 supplements. I will keep her on the loose salt, red raspberry leaf and Maxum Crumbles multi-vitamin. I figure she has been doing so well, I might as well see how she does without the extra vitamins. Plus, the Maxum Crumbles has those two vitamins in it. I have a little over a month of her current supplement regimen bagged up, then take out the B1 (because that is what I will run out of first), then take out the Magnesium. We will see. . .I have been hemming and hawing about this for quite some time. The combo seems to work well for her so should I leave it? Me and my incapability to make a decision. . . Any thoughts?

With this yucky weather we have been having, one thing I am grateful for: that Shy is not a mud roller! It has been so rainy and muddy lately. A wed pony is one thing, but a muddy pony is something I am glad I don't have to deal with! The horses have all that room to roam, yet they will chose to stand in the mud up front rather than stay on the sandier areas out back. And they have no problem being rained on, they will stand outside the shelter if they feel like it. I saw this video on a Haflinger group I am part of:

Whew, Shy has no problem with puddles and did start going in the pond at the old barn (until she got stuck in mud, then got mad), but I am glad she does not love puddles that much! 

In Shy news. . .I no longer need a peppermint to catch her. When we first moved, she would come up to me because she was still getting used to everything. Then she started a feeble attempt at "Catch Me If You Can" for a short time.  And now, she lets me walk right up to her. That only took a year and a half, haha! Maybe one day she will actually come up to me. But I will take the not running away for now. Maybe it has to do with her being outside 24/7. Maybe she knows that even when I come to get her, she knows that she is going back out. No mystery as to when the next time she will get outside is.  

Nothing else really new is going on with me and Shy. The plan is to keep working on line driving, using the shafts, and recruiting headers so we can use the tire pull. I need a whip and a third hand to hold it. Chances are I will be ordering the cart after the new year. Yay! Here is what it will look like, but with a seat cushion!

Aside from horsey stuff, we are decorated and ready for Santa! The tree is up, the lights are on, and the stockings hung. I think our Christmas will be pretty low key, just the normal family stuff. After the holidays we are thinking of a weekend trip to get away. Not sure where yet. I am open to ideas!

One more funny video I found! Don't show Shy, I don't want her trying this on me!

monday musings by shyloh #43

A very special day is fast approaching! Does anyone know what day that is? I'm not gonna tell. . .

nah nah nah nah nah naaah!

Feel free to guess, though. . .

On to some business. . . I started a new multi-vitamin and it is mighty tasty! It is called Maxum Crumbles. Bob has been on them for a while and Caesar has recently started taking them. We already know Bob is a sexy beast, but Caesar is looking awfully fine now, too. The real question is: Can I look any better? I guess time will tell. . .

I got to hang out with gassy Casi in the arena because thunderstorms were imminent the other day. We had some fun!

~Shyloh

growth

At the place that I bought Shyloh from, the horse she lived with had grazed on her mane as a daily afternoon snack. Here are today's pictures of her re-growth:

Needs some more growth at the end

This side is looking better!

On another note. . .I think Shy is really trying to test me and see what she can get away with. I need to work on being consistent and asserting myself. We played around in the arena today and Shy did very well. We worked on a trick (funny how she only "knows" the trick if she can see a treat is coming), worked on the side pass, and worked on the mounting block. 

After our work, I put her in her stall because Beth was bringing the horses inside. When she saw Ryleigh coming, she nickered for him! So cute!

They are cute!

I hung out with her for a little bit in the stall, then her dinner came. I went to say bye to her and she swung her rear end around at me so fast! I jumped out of the way (luckily there was no kick out), but I got the message that she did not want to be bothered when she was eating. So. . .we just found something new to work on, because that was unacceptable behavior. I let her know this, but I did not strike her. And I did get my good bye in. . .even though I was upset with her.

But as I think about this behavior some more, maybe it has to do with the move inside and maybe it could be that I discontinued her red raspberry leaf supplement? Robin suggested that Shy could be upset that I disrupted our schedule by going away for the weekend. But I might start the red raspberry leaf back up and see if anything positive happens.

On a funny note. . .Beth told me that she has been taking Shyloh and Ryleigh outside at the same time. She said the first time was a disaster! Shyloh stopped to eat grass and would not budge and Ryleigh was pulling to get to the pasture. Beth was being pulled in two directions, stretched out to the max! But the next time, both horses seemed to work out a system and walked just fine to the pasture.

Trying to squeeze under to go visit Ryleigh!

So, I need to re-connect with Shyloh and work on our bond. This will be my focus this week and we will be taking a break from the long lines. But not for long. . .

If you have Facebook and you want to see some more photos of Shyloh, like her very own page, here!

supplement update

Shyloh has been on her supplements for a little over a month now. She is taking B1, Magnesium, and Red Raspberry Leaf. I think they are working, I mean, Shy had a child on her bare back! She has not been spooky, either, she actually seems quite calm.

Nom nom. Shy loved her supplements!

The other day we were in the grooming stall and a broom fell behind us (Thanks Baby Bob for continuously kicking the stall). Shy did not even flinch! I did, though, I was not expecting it at all. Today when I was bringing her inside, she walked over a tarp with no problem! We have not done any tarp work at all and I was very surprised that she did it. There was a tarp over an area in front of the entrance to the barn that is being worked on. I thought, well, I will try to bring her in over this tarp, through the dug out land, and around this pile of pea gravel. I figured, if she balked, we would just walk around and I would work with her later with a tarp. To my astonishment, she walked right through! 

If Shy does anything, it is more of a flinch than a spook. Shyloh has actually been very calm and cooperative with me! I am so proud of her! Today, she walked right up to me in her paddock and let me hug her without pulling away at all! It may be that she wanted to get out of the paddock so bad because she is not impressed with her new roommate. They do not hate each other, but they are not close friends. Caesar was upset that Shy got to leave out (even though he was out earlier) and he kicked her, right in the same spot that she hit the nail. She also seemed a little sore on her read end, so I think he got her a few other times, too. 

I was not able to do what I wanted today with Shy, so tomorrow we will work on it. But it was for good reason! We had a get together at our barn with people from there and people from our old barn. We honored Kathy with some beautiful framed pictures of Captain Morgan and a card. Mike brought pizza for everyone. Kathy was so surprised and grateful!  We miss the Captain!

cuteness alert!

OMG!
. . .Is this NOT one of the cutest things you have ever seen?

I think it just may be!!

And, don't you think Shyloh could benefit from these shoes? 

Especially since I found out yesterday that she had lined herself up to kick Beth a week ago! I was so upset! That is unacceptable behavior. It may have been that she was in heat, but that is NO excuse.

Also, here one of the articles that supports my supplement choices for Shyloh.

I discovered it at http://www.equisearch.com/, but it is from Horse Journal.

Click here to read the article.

showmanship

 **Update - Just received pictures from Robin, so I added them**

What a fantastic day at the barn with Shyloh, Robin and Ryleigh, and Terry! I learned A LOT from Terry tonight. For instance, even though Shy is scared, she is a very willing participant and learns quick. Terry is fully convinced that we can get the jumpiness out of Shy by October. Me. . .not so much. . .but we will see. Terry said that Shy is jumpy because of her past training.

Terry showed us how to do showmanship today. Showmanship is an event were the person is not riding the horse, but they get show the horse off and have the horse do patterns. It is kinda like dog shows, I think. Anyway, we worked on that to get Shy to think and used to being handled by me. We incorporated the use of a crop today, just to tap Shy along. She is pretty much terrified of it. But is does work! She will trot now when I run next to her, although, she is kinda trying to run away from me. We also worked on walking in a square, turning Shy correctly, and stopping. Shy did amazing!!

I have no idea what I am doing!

Trying to get Shy to trot next to me! 

I started Shy on her supplements today, which included magnesium, vitamin B1, and red raspberry leaves, in addition to the ground flax seed that she has been getting.  She gobbled them right up! I swear this horse will eat anything! She also tasted a french fry today and Cheese-its the other day. But for some reason, she was scared of the coconut oil that I used on her mane to moisturise it. She is a strange creature. Anyway, I will see if her jumpiness calms down over the next few weeks.

I am such an impatient person! I was discussing Shy's behaviors with Robin the other day and just saying that I was a little frustrated that Shy continues to be jumpy. She reminded me that I have not even had Shy a month! What?? It seems like forever! So I need to tone down my expectations. . .especially with the supplements. They will not work overnight!

But on a good note, I got Shy's massage results from Kathy.She said that she has a strong, straight, back and was impressed with her calmness and willingness to stand for the 45 minute massage! Kathy also said that she did not have any heat coming from her legs or anything, and that is a good thing! She is a healthy girl! Now I just need to get this dandruff and dry skin under control.

pooper scooper

I scooped poop yesterday, a lot of poop! Two wheelbarrows full, to be exact. Shyloh and Chick's lean-to had a ton of poop in it, so I decided to scoop it up. I did not want to do anything with her anyway, I wanted to let her know that every time I come out, I am not going to pull her out and make her do something.

Shy is not afraid of a big yellow wheelbarrow. She was not bothered by it at all when I wheeled it in her paddock and to the lean-to. As I started to scoop poop, I heard something, and looked back and saw Shy running. . .ok, trotting, towards me! At first I thought Yay! She is actually coming to me!, then I thought Oh, shit! She is running right at me. . .maybe she is pissed that I am in her "house"! I am still unsure of why she was running, but she just wanted to check stuff out and see what I was doing. After a minute, she lost interest and went back to eating hay remnants.

I decided to try some calming supplements for Shy, to see if they work for her. After doing some research, reading user reviews, talking to company representatives, and comparing prices, I decided to go with Magnesium and B1. I am going to see how it works and if it takes the edge off of her at all. I also did some research into dried raspberry leaves, but I think I am going to hold off on that until I see how these other supplements do.

My phone takes terrible night pictures. It looks all grainy, like an alien or the chupacabra should be creeping around in the background!

Shy's pretty view of the sky