Thursday, November 4, 2010

They're Still Here

It's been an absolutely beautiful fall...


Not that I have actually had any time to ride my horses. What do you want to bet that after I spent the last month busting my butt to get the new house finished and will finally have time for my horses again, that the weather will turn crappy?

Not that the horses have cared about the lack of riding time. The the only thing they have missed is their evening grain. They don't really need it if they aren't being ridden and a couple of weeks off of their supplements won't hurt. I kept up with it as long as I could. But bringing everyone in and out every day got to be a little much on top of everything else. Everyone who showed Insulin Resistance symptoms had already recovered before I laid off.

Moon grew a butt this year...
Time off has probably been good for him. A little time to unwind. He and I will get back into the swing of things though.

Turk has been traveling increasingly better...
Constant turn-out has been good for him. Now that his feet are balanced and his injured foot has had constant support, I can see that he is traveling straighter and truer in the body. He's at about the best body weight I have ever seen him. I sure don't want him to lose any more weight, but not packing around extra weight sure has to help his feet out and definitely limbers him up.

Behind Turk, in the distance is Spooks. The black horse is s.o.u.n.d! Yayyyy! A shoeing, a month of IR supplementation and a couple of weeks of constant turnout and one day I noticed he seems to be moving pretty darned good. I haven't noticed a single gimpy step in a couple of weeks now.

The most dramatic difference, thanks to recognizing and supplementing for IR has come from Frosty...
He's lost all of his blubber, fatty deposits and is traveling out free and easy again. Much like he did when he was a 3 and 4 y/o. I'm really anxious to get back to riding this guy. I hope his sudden desire to buck like he was earlier this year left with all of the other symptoms.

This is the last week I am taking away from riding though. The house is mostly done and the few things that need to be finished up can be done as I can fit them in around the horses. I just keep hoping the weather holds up. Would it be too much to ask for a mild winter this year?

15 comments:

Mrs. Mom said...

Fingers crossed that it stays decent out there!!

And ride for me will ya? ;)

Fantastyk Voyager said...

They're all looking good. I'll bet ya can't wait to get in the saddle again.

Crystal said...

hmm I wish for a mild winter every year, hasnt been warm enough for me yet, but maybe I wouldnt appreciate summer as much if winter was nice too.

The ponies are sure looking good, will be nice to getting riding again.

sue said...

I'm with you on a "mild winter" and some signs of a possible one in New England are showing.. the bees don't have their nest too high in the trees, neither do the squirrels, the chipmunks are gathering, but not with the "oh no" look that I have seen before... so I'm hoping here... BTW love the horse pics and the kitties in the previous post....

Unknown said...

Yeah mild winter. No snow!! The horses are looking good though. Glad you got them sorted out.

Kristen said...

I'm with you, I vote mild winter!!!!

cdncowgirl said...

Fingers crossed! lol
I'm hoping for the same thing here, after are non-existent summer we deserve it.

Oh and re your Ed Wright phone call comment. He gave all, or almost all, of us at his clinic the go ahead to call if we need to. He happened to be calling me regarding a pad I was buying but checked in on the barrel racing/riding too. And rest assured you weren't the only one to make scary comments about Ed and his clinics. Totally unfounded, as long as you have an open mind. Get your butt to a clinic, he's awesome!

Sherry Sikstrom said...

I am sure hoping for a mild winter as well, would be nice to be able to keep up with things instead of the total stall that usually happens

Callie said...

The horses look good. Glad to hear everyone is sound. Curious and I may have missed this somewhere along the line, but what supplements did you use for the Insulin resistance therapy?

Paint Girl said...

That is so great that your house is almost done!
I would love to have a mild winter here, but from what I have been hearing is it is going to be the worst one we've had since 1954. Great. I hope you get the mild winter you are hoping for!!
The horses are looking good, and glad to hear that they are all doing so well!

Allenspark Lodge said...

Bill & I took Ranger & Jesse out yesterday, along with GD & Estes. We just poked along (I was doing good to just get on) and did a little trail obstacle course. The forest rangers were out with a HUGE chipper, going after the piles of trees & slash they had cut down last year. I didn't know you could put whole logs in a chipper, but they sure did! Guess what that sounds like? Plus gas cans, lunch boxes, pop boxes, backpacks, etc. left along the trail. The two Mustangs did a double take at 'the creature', soundly side-passing by to keep an eye on IT. OK, so GunDiva's horse showed them up this time, gladly taking the lead. Then came the obstacle course on our return trip. Jesse had to touch every gas can before she deemed them safe to step next to; Ranger really did not like the green Sprite box (go figure) & Estes scooted through quickly. Got up the trail a bit and realized we hadn't gotten any pics. Next time.

Glad to hear your horses are doing well. Loved the pictures. Good luck with ride time...and ENJOY.
Miss you guys.
Juanita

GunDiva said...

Well, Mom just had a verbal dump about our last ride, so I guess you can tell all of our guys are still sound. They're going to pasture though in a week or so and I'm going to miss getting to ride - ESPECIALLY if it turns out we have a mild winter.

You'll have to do all of the riding for us. Give them all big rubs from me.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Callie-I used Lampley's Horse Sense on the horses I have here in Colo. My mom actually ordered a product called Command IR Ultra for a horse back home in SD and that worked great. The IR Ultra is produced by Brookside Equine Supplements. I also use their MSM and like it the best of the different makers of MSM that I have used. It can be found in the Valley Vet Supply catalogs or online.

Unknown said...

Hope you can get out and ride - today! I miss the immersive horse time I had on vacation.

So with enough of us thinking mild winter, maybe we can bring it on?

Everybody looks great and ready to work!

Callie said...

Oh, and sorry late getting back at ya, but thanks for the advice on what you use for the metabolic issues. I appreciate the note left on my blog. ;) Any info on supplements that work, I'm willing to give a try. May need it in the future! Thanks, again.