Our horses...

So, our friends have been posting about the way they feed their horses, so I decided to give a shot at remembering how we do "our way of doing business."

Okay, lets start with Bailey, the bad-mannered-off-the-track-mare but, I love her!

Pasture is what she gets in the Spring/Fall/Summer in the Winter she gets Grass hay with a salt block year round. She gets a TINY bit of Grain every once in a while. Not a lot because, this is Bailey, a cup of grain is enough to make her act like she was 2 again for a week!!!!!! Remember the salt. This is essential for horses. Also sometimes she gets Quietex (from the syringe) when she is overly "excited."

Now, Fanny, the...hmmm...the old gentle(when she wants to be) mare.
Fanny gets Pasture like Bailey, she also gets Grass hay in the winter. Both of our horses gets Blankets in the winter so they don't have to burn as much fat. Fanny is like 25, a "senior," so she gets Alegra Senior feed, we pick ours up in big 50 lb bags at the Co-op in Shoshone for about $19, this last about 1-2 months depending on how much Bailey gets. She gets " half of a #10 can" of this every day with 1-2 TBS of MSM to keep her joints loose. The kind we got was about $8. Alegra brand Senior is pellets, and the texture of MSM is like salt, so I add a splash of water to the mixture and stir it with my "stirring" stick to make the MSM stick to the pellets, before I started adding water the MSM would fall to the bottom of the bucket and she wouldn't eat it. She also has access to salt(oops, I just switched pastures, I still need to move the salt). I don't know ow long we will keep her on grain, probably not for the whole summer.
When we got Fanny she was way underweight. In just the first week of having her on grain we saw a noticeable difference in her weight( sure, it was small but it had only been a week)

Another key to healthy horses is to worm them regularly. I made a a plan that I hope to follow, I made it last week after they got their April worming.

I based my plan off of a more professional plan. But do what you feel is best for your horses! I do 2 stronger "Zaps" a year because both of my horses are older, so you figure what's best for you.

As for feet, we have a great Farrier, J2. We like to have our horses shod in the summer(they have to be done every 8 weeks) and just let them be barefoot in the winter when we don't use them. This also lets their feet relax for a few months.

Don't forget to Vaccinate, West Nile, Tetanus, WEE(western Equine Equinox a sleeping sickness) and EEE(Eastern Equine Equinox same as WEE but Eastern instead of Western) are the first most important ones. Some people get more specific but these are really the only ones you need.

Today I noticed a sore on Fanny's leg so I will look at it tomorrow to find a remedy, I'll let you know if I figured out a cool trick!