I have been challenged by Johanna to write about how I look after my horse, in order to win some prizes. Johanna sent me the banner above and I have to include it here in order to take part. Thank you Johanna! Apparently the language doesn't matter, so I am allowed to partake in English... And because I am a sucker for prizes and all things free, here we go...
I am a fairly new horse owner. I have owned Rainbow for nearly 2 years now. It's been a great two years and I now consider Rainbow my family. I see her every day and keep a close eye on her condition. So far, as a fairly hardly 'warmblood x' type horse, she hasn't caused me too many headaches on the health front. I know I have been very lucky so far. *touching wood
Ever since Rainbow came into my life I have researched many things relating to horse keeping and health that have puzzled me along the way... Everything from shoes vs. barefoot, to benefits of micronised linseed vs. chia seeds, natural calmers and equine dentistry! The topics of interest range far and wide.
I have asked questions from people who are more experienced than me and also sometimes sought information from our lovely vet, who has been super-helpful. Google is helpful too, as long as you remember to take horse forums with a pinch of salt. But, aside taking heed from more experienced people and doing as I have been 'told', I have also found myself questioning many things that are taken as the gospel of horse keeping, e.g. shoes or not, sugar or no sugar, bits or no bits...
I have found that equestrian products and marketing are a powerful force and equestrian shops are no longer little dingy places where you felt at the mercy of the single sales person, but almost supermarket-like polished retail outlets. "Anything you want, you can buy... and things you didn't think you wanted/needed, you will buy!"
How does this relate to how I look after Rainbow? My motto is: Keeping it Simple. This applies to everything I do with Rainbow. From feeding to care and tack, as well as riding.
One of the biggest motivations for me in Keeping it Simple has been removing Rainbow's shoes and going 'barefoot'. This was a big personal challenge as I set about doing something as a fairly new horse owner that, at least at the yard we reside in (still another couple of weeks - until we move back to my home country, Finland), is considered a bit 'hippyish', to say the least and the prevailing opinion is that a horse can't be worked barefoot. Period. I have enjoyed proving people wrong - however I have also learned to be quiet and let people think what they think. But for us it has really worked. Rainbow is fine shoeless and although I have to keep a close eye to her overall health, because many other health problems often manifest themselves in the hooves, so I'm always on the lookout for any changes... Hooves are one of the best mirrors of overall health. I have just had to learn to read the signs. As the saying goes: No hoof no horse...
Getting in tune with hooves has taught me a lot of about horse nutrition. The second Keeping it Simple: Being a good-doer Rainbow's main diet is hay/haylage. I fill a hay net that is half hay and half haylage - which is given twice a day, plus any ad-lib hay/grass when she's out grazing.
Once a day, I give Rainbow a bowl of unmolassed 'speedy' sugar beet (approx 100ml dry measure) that is swollen for 10 min. In that I mix Forageplus Summer Balancer, which is basically, currently, the best (and best value) vitamin and mineral mix on the market in my view. It contains all the sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals to promote overall and hoof health – and helps to counteract any adverse effects of e.g. lush grass. It's been created by people who own and successfully compete barefoot horses in all disciplines.
I mix the sugar beet mush, Forageplus, a handful of micronised linseed and chuck in some basic pony nuts for crunch (and sometimes some additional calcined magnesite), and Rainbow seems to get always quite excited when she sees me mixing her tea!
The third Keeping it Simple is to let Rainbow lead as natural horse life as possible. I want her to be able to get out for long periods of time every day, with friends. I hate seeing her cooped up in the stable.
I don't clip her as she doesn't grow a massive winter coat and I don't seem to be able to ride her to absolute sweat, so I haven't seen the point of doing that... And I doubt I ever will. I groom her a bit every day, but I don't get upset if she has spent the day rolling in mud. I think a muddy horse equals a happy horse. Yes, it takes me a bit to clean her up afterwards, but I have found with mud the best method is to let it dry and brush it off the next day – however awful your horse looks and other people may think you're mad for not doing anything about it then and there!
The same applies to mud fever. I don't wash her legs and brush them when she comes in from the field. Wetness and brushes equals bacteria pushed in the open skin pores from wet, resulting in infection - mud fever. Instead, I give her a deep straw bed so, by the next day, half of the mud has naturally dried and brushed off against the straw. Then I go through the legs with a soft-bristle brush and apply Sudocrem (zinc cream - nappy cream) under the fetlocks if they have signs of reddish skin on them. The first winter I had Rainbow we did have mud fever but I kept it well under control with the methods above and it never got bad. This winter, I started applying Sudocrem before she went out first few times in the late autumn and I managed to keep it at bay the whole season.
Fourth is not over-rugging and being sensible when rugging for different 'purposes'... given that horses have managed quite a few millennia without humans rugging them... In all weathers...
And final requirement for me in horse keeping is regular exercise. Rainbow works 5–7 a week, this keeps her sane and grounded (not that she's a very fizzy type anyway). I try to have one day off completely and one day exercised by lunging, so she needn't carry me on her back every day. Although I like keeping it simple in terms of tack, I believe when it comes to exercise variety is the spice of life. In an ideal week we would do some pole work or jumping, some flatwork and around 2+ hacks. I know it doesn't always work that way, as life has a sneaky way of getting in the way, but I do maintain that we have at least one or two hacking days a week (keeps horse sensible as well, as they get exposed to the world and aren't just cocooned in the stable and paddock environment) and the rest is schooling with or without jumping.
This is how I do it with Rainbow and I feel it's been very good so far.
I would like to pass the challenge onto Liisa and Noora. Ladies - you have been challenged!
http://www.laukonhevoskuntoutus.com/2014/04/pidan-huolta-hevosestani-bloggaa-ja.html
Sorry I am being a bit of an intermittent blogger at the moment. The move to Finland is taking its toll and I am just very busy. I started to pack last weekend. The long Easter weekend meant I could really get stuck in and attack the loft etc at a vengeance. And I did make progress.
Rainbow's had a bit gentler time of late - hardly any schooling and we've been mainly hacking out. I think because I have quite a lot of stress organising myself, my stuff, two cats and a horse to Finland, I have been avoiding doing anything arduous with Rainbow and just to enjoy the outdoors and friends' company.
Saturday hack was lovely with Sarah and Sampson, but we were sprung into action as we walked straight into a scene of a road traffic accident which involved our friend's horse.
Our yard friend had been out with her horse when the horse had spooked at a bird or something - she had fallen off and the horse raced home. He had run down a steep downhill track and presumably slipped, then burst onto a busy village road and hit a car. When we got onto the scene we met our another yard friend (who lives in the village and had by the luck of it been on a walk with his wife) who had managed to catch the trotting riderless, bleeding horse on the road he'd been walking down just at the right time.
No one on the scene had mobiles on them and our friend's wife ran to us to ask if we did. It's funny how you spring into action when needed; without thinking much, I hopped off Rainbow and handed her to the friend's wife (who I knew was horsey, so could hold her) and called the emergency services. My friend Sarah phoned the yard owner at the same time to notify her and to summon help. We needed a horse box for the injured horse, which luckily, although bleeding, was standing on all four legs.
Luckily our friend, the rider and the driver of the car were both OK. Our friend had managed to get hold of the yard and told she was OK and running back to the village as fast as she could.
Eventually the police came. The our friend arrived too and so did the yard owner with the lorry. The horse was taken to safety back to the yard.
All this time and the commotion both Rainbow and Sampson were both very calm. Not bothered by the people, injured horse or lorry reversing up at all. And I surprised myself - this is what the adrenalin does - I hoisted myself back on Rainbow from a small curb with little effort, whereas usually I much prefer a mounting block...!
A vet came to see our friend's horse at the yard straightaway and he was cleaned and bandaged and given painkillers and antibiotics. He looked surprisingly sprightly in the end.
I'm glad our friend was OK too and we didn't have to send a search party or ambulance for her.
The driver of the car, although the car had taken a hit - the horse had tried to jump it (he's a TB ex-racer) - was OK and more apologetic for not being able to stop in time. She lived on a farm so was used to animals and I just tried to console her and say there's nothing you can do if a big animal like a horse jumps in front of you out of the blue. There had been two cars behind the lady, who had witnessed it, but they hadn't stopped, just apparently driven past her...! Really, some people just...Grrr.
Anyway, very proud of Rainbow, even though yesterday she managed to rear in front of me and get loose when I was trying to sedately take her for a bit of grazing with a friend who was taking her horse to grass.
Before I realised, Rainbow couldn't resist and went onto roll, and when she got up she tried to do a little buck-spurt but was attached to me and the lead rope. Cue full-height rear. The rope tied around her leg accidentally, so I had to let go. She bombed off to the other end of the field where her friends were grazing... My friend Anna was left to hold her now also very excitable horse, which was snorting, bouncing and scooping the ground in frustration....
She managed to take her horse back to the stable and Rainbow let me catch her straight away - and lead back to the stable albeit she was still quite strong and bouncy.
Never a dull moment with them...
Let's end on a calm note... some lovely early-morning pics from couple of weekend's ago of Rainbow out with her friend Neve.
It's amazing. I think little breaks are a good way to reset the situation with both the horse and the rider.
As I went to the yard on Tuesday, I was greeted by a very muddy but happy looking horse in the paddock. She'd been out every day, in the warm sunshine, and she had really been working hard on establishing a suitably thick and crusty layer of mud on herself, which took me ages and about four different types of brush and a scraper to take off. Successful hols all around then :)
Wednesday I lunged Rainbow – just in case there was any freshness about – but, as before, I discovered that Rainbow really takes breaks in her stride and becomes even more horizontal than she normally is. Good-o. So I lunged anyway and noticed, to my pleasure, that she was moving well and almost seemed a bit looser/relaxed in her stride than before the holiday.
Thursday we had our fortnightly 'dressage' lesson and I noticed, almost with alarm that, as soon as I sat in the saddle, I was very deep in the seat, legs resting on the sides relaxed and in a good position. I almost got worried! 'What's happening, I am sitting well and I am feeling good in here, even though I haven't ridden for closer to two weeks...!' Even my instructor said she'd been watching me when I had been warming up and she'd noticed that I seemed to sit really well.
Lo and behold. It basically proves to me that a) breaks are good for the body and the soul (applies to horses and humans) and b) doing other sports helps keep muscles supple and helps with riding (I skied last week). So, this summer – I have already made a promise to myself – I will take up running or swimming, or possibly even pilates, alongside riding, to keep myself in top shape and help me keep my seat as lovely as it was yesterday.
Today wasn't bad either, still felt good. We went for a very chilled hack around the village with Sarah and Sampson. Both horses were angels and the evening was warm and gentle, not a whisper of wind. The first evening hack of the season. Felt almost like a summer's evening. I will leave you with this pic I took of the field which is opposite to the entrance to the yard.
Well I have to say I sometimes scare myself how efficient I can be...! I popped in Finland last week, to sort stuff out for our impending move and I have managed to not only secure a home for myself but also for Rainbow. The trip also included four days in Ruka, so I had to cram in some house-hunting, stable-hunting, bank matters, work networking, etc in about two days I had in Tampere itself. And I rather succeeded. Just proves that most things are possible if you just put your mind to it.
I will be returning to my home region of Tampere, so the stable had to be nearby. I visited about five places in one day, which I had shortlisted for appropriateness/value for money. (yes, I had made an Excel sheet...) The criteria I had was:
- near-enough location to my new home (preferably not longer drive than what I have here)
- nice stables with good atmosphere for both the horse and the owner (friends/other horses)
- good care for the horse when I'm not around
- long all-day turnouts and possibility for field grazing during the summer months
(This was a biggie for me, as R doesn't currently get out long enough day-to-day in my opinion and I will be also busy establishing my business in Finland, so I need to know she's happy and not stuck in a stable.)
- nice surroundings and plenty of hacking
- a decent-sized outdoor school and an indoor school a definite plus (even though yards with maneges are usually v expensive)
I found a place which looks very idyllic and has enormous areas for paddocks and fields, it's in the neighbouring town of Kangasala and its location is perfect for where I have found a place for myself, on the borders of Tampere and Kangasala. I timed my drive between the two and it was pretty much 10 min. It's about 15 km drive, but the roads in Finland take you from A to B very quickly. My current drive here is just under 12 km, so not a massive difference.
The yard also has a small indoor school (prob ideal for lunging mainly), which might be improved in time... and the owner of the yard seemed very nice. The place had a peaceful atmosphere and the horses seemed content in their paddocks/fields.
Now I just need to pack my things and get the cats ready too!
