Long time no post. Last week I went down to Florida and went on a cruise with my parents. It works out for everyone. My mom gets me to herself for a week, and it's about the best birthday/Christmas present that I can get. It was 85, and sunny all week. I don't need to go into details, but it was amazing.
One thing I don't like about vacation is the fact that I'm so far away and if something happens I'm useless. Luckily nothing happened to Ms. Mare. I did send a text to the barn owner the moment our ship pulled into shore. She was fine. She has started back up her nasty, nasty habit of chewing on EVERYTHING. The barn owner (aka: my hero) called her a termite. She said it was fine, and it didn't bother her. The thing that worries me is her teeth. I don't want her to ruin them. I saw a horse who did this and had to have fillings put in. I've tried the stuff you spray on and paint on....it just makes her more dedicated to her chewing. I saw that SmartPak has something called "Quitt" that I thought of trying. Has anyone tried it?
While on the cruise I made the mistake of opening my e-mail. I saw a message from my friend that we were on SmartPak's facebook and blog. Here's the link. I thought it was fitting since it was posted on Denali's 8th birthday. I went to their facebook and started to read through the comments on the post. They were all really nice, but there was one that made me so mad. I don't remember exactly what it said, but essentially it was "We don't need to supplement our horses, there is obviously a huge issue here." My blood started to boil and I'm not sure why I got so upset. It's fine for me to say bad things about myself, but no one else. I didn't have Denali on any calming things when I was riding her off the track with no training. I only put her on them once she started breaking so that she wouldn't kill herself. I spent about two days being my anxious self over a comment.
Anyway, March 1st I start with my lease of the big guy. We'll see how it goes. I still have yet to ride him, lol, but I've seen him go undersaddle and I hope it's fine. I'm not paying (my trainer is paying his lease for me :) ) since I work for her so that's great. I go out Saturday to watch and Sunday he's all mine. GULP!
5 comments:
Anytime Rose has been called a termite it's been the result of one of two things.
1. Teething (I'm assuming this no longer applies to Denali).
2. Boredom & not enough hay through the entire day.
I did at one point discuss the Quit supplement with my vet, who advised against it. Eventually I just moved to a new barn where they were willing to feed her "free hay" until we figured out that she needed about 8 flakes a day. The previous barn refused to feed her more than 2 flakes twice a day. Turns out, Rose just needs a lot of hay and her termite behavior goes away. Another thing that might help, if she doesn't need more hay, or it's an inconvenience for your barn manager to feed lunch, is to provide her with a slow feeder to make her hay last longer. Good luck in figuring out your own termite problem, I know how frustrating it can be!
-DS
Adventures In Colt Starting
I've tried the Quitt . . . didn't work along with numerous other things . . . . about the only thing that stops my mare is pine tar. messy but effective.
I would not recommend Quitt, basically it's a vitamin supplement for horses who are chewing due to lack of a balanced diet. It doesn't have that great of a success rate.
And that's exciting about your lease! Can't wait to hear all about it :)
They don't need to supplement their horses probably because they are not smart enough to realize when their horses have genuine deficiencies that need addressing. Please girl, you are better than those morons ;)
Yes, please ignore the idiot. It's not worth getting upset over (I know easier said than done).
My experience with wood chewing has also been lack of hay. Maybe a slow feeder?
Glad you had fun on your vacation. I bet it was beautiful!!
I'm excited about the lease!! Just remember to have fun. :) That's the best part of owning/working with/riding horses!
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