Cavalcade Stables

25/11/2024

This ⬇️

DID YOU KNOW…?

1. Long toes increase the risk of suspensory ligament injury by 3.5 times!🤯
2. Toe grabs increase the risk of suspensory ligament injury by almost 16 times!😳

Talk to us about how to help your horse stay injury free!

20/11/2024

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19/11/2024

This is all phenomenal advice!! ✅

While this isn’t the typical roller coaster temps, this is the first morning I haven’t had fans on first thing. Remember that temp swings cause horses to stop drinking as much - this is the time to prep for colics!

Also, many of my horses at The Liberty Barn are wooly mammoths. We are clipping them as quickly as we can (thank you volunteers!) and I would encourage you to as well. We won’t get really cold weather for a while and I’m sure your hairy friends will appreciate the clip. Even if you do a trace clip, that’s better than nothing. Don’t make your horse suffer! Many clippers available here on the Treasure Coast - just have to ask! A clip is cheaper than an emergency vet visit!

We all know the adage to give more hay when it’s cold as this warms a horse from the inside.

However, horses don’t drink as much in cold weather.

Lots of hay + little drinking = colic.

- Increase water intake.
--- Ensure your troughs and buckets are very clean. Empty and scrub with soap and bleach and rinse well. Algae and other muck growing can turn a horse away from a water trough.
--- Ensure the water trough or bucket is not near an electrical source such as a hot wire. Stray voltage can make a horse refuse to go to the trough. Heated buckets can also have a short - and it’s not always detectable by you!
--- Did you get a new horse? The flavor of the water may have changed. Add flavoring to the water to mask the change or get a 5 gallon jug of drinking water from Walmart or other store.
--- Color of the bucket - amazingly, horses have preferences when given options of colors. They prefer turquoise or light blue buckets to drink out of. https://bit.ly/30GPbsv
--- Add salt to feed. Here’s a very basic explanation of why salt increases thirst: https://bit.ly/38yylQX Commercially available electrolytes may or may not have enough salt to increase the thirst in horses. If they are not losing electrolytes through sweat, they do not need electrolytes. Sodium chloride is what increases thirst. Do not use Lite Salt as this is potassium chloride and it will not have the same effect. 1-2 tablespoons on the feed divided over the day on the meals should be sufficient. Salt blocks can help but only if the horse voluntarily goes to them and uses them.
--- Other flavoring: Gatorade water - I have found that they like orange flavored best but others can be tried. Molasses water. Alfalfa tea - soak alfalfa for a while and then remove the stems - leave the leaves.
--- Fake them out: add a handful of grain such as sweet feed or senior to a much larger amount of water. They think they are eating but are mostly drinking. Hydration hay with more water than recommended is also helpful. Handful of hay pellets in a large amount of water can also be used. In general, if you have a large colon impaction that you are trying to gut hydrate, you do not want to add a lot of bulk to the dam that is present in the colon. So using low residue feeds such as senior pellets or hay pellets is better than straight hay or hay cubes.
--- Grazing wet grass. Grass itself contains a lot of water. But we can add more by spraying it down before the horse grazes.

- Watch your horse's manure. If you notice smaller, more well-formed f***l balls, this is an indication that an impaction is imminent. The horse is drawing water out of their gut to hydrate their body. This is the time for action - decrease hay, increase water intake.

If you have additional helpful tips, please comment below.

Remember: Proper Prevention Prevents Poor Pooping! 💩

19/11/2024

PSA: Having horses will break the bank. Their expenses frequently cost an “arm and a leg.” STOP POSTING asking for farriers, vets, saddle fitters, stables, and trainers to discount their time and value so that your chosen hobby/responsibility is more palatable to you. Sell the horse to a better home and just go get a damned goldfish!

End of rant.

19/11/2024

👏 He’s 👏 NOT 👏 a 👏 four 👏 wheeler! 👏
You HAVE to do your part.

18/11/2024

Yup!

"Advanced training is just the basics done really well." - Ken Ramirez
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"Training often fails because people expect way too much of the animal and way too little of themselves." - Bob Bailey
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"Please just do your homework." - Fred

05/11/2024

Packed lesson schedule ✅
Brand new thirsty sod at Cavalcade West ✅
☀️ Happy riders vs happy grass ☔️
Who will be the victor? 🤷‍♀️

Latest Tuesday 06z Hurricane models. Showing Rafael exit Cuba west of the Keys and SFL. Could still see some stormy feeder bands to watch Wednesday. Some might make it up towards the peninsula. www.spaghettimodels.com

04/11/2024

This is why we cannot get tunnel vision but keep our situational awareness working to prepare the horse and empathize with what may be threatening to your horse. Scolding him for jumping at the silent battery operated golf cart some jabroni is sneaking up on your horse with, doesn’t help your horse’s confidence in you nor his surroundings!

31/10/2024

🔥 Shout out to Martin County Fire Rescue for helping a neighborhood horse!!! Great to know that our local guys are so experienced and willing!!!! 🤗 🎉 👏

30/10/2024

🌈 The magical color changing Wally Man is getting spiffy✂️ in between sun showers today. 🥰 Can’t wait for the finished product!! (Precious, you’re on deck!)

25/10/2024

This is another cause of the new mindset that “does great on daily Equioxx” somehow means “sound.” 🙄

Getting harder and harder to find those horses that weren’t pushed too hard to early. Totally understand how expensive it is to feed them for a few more years and take it slow while you’re hoping to turn a profit, but we are truly doing the whole industry a disservice by selling horses doomed to break down and need “maintenance” at a young age. 🙋‍♀️ Give me the back burner one that was started “late.”

=> I’m NOT impressed that your three year old sale horse has a mile long resume.

After seeing multiple videos posted by various breeders bragging about their 2 ½ year olds/recently turned 3 year olds and sharing videos of them cantering around in the arena, I have decided to once again circulate the below article.

First of all, breeders *should* have the knowledge to understand a horse’s fragile and slow maturing musculoskeletal system. Breeders should not condone their own horses let along anyone’s horses being cantered around under saddle at an incredibly young age. Period. This sets a terrible example and is quite honestly animal abuse. Just because a horse does not object does not mean it is right. And quite frankly, most of the videos posted show animals that are already in pain or developing pain…

As breeders, we should strive to produce healthy and sound animals. We should promote horsemanship that produces long term soundness. No, starting a horse later does not guarantee soundness. But it certainly helps.

I am a firm believer in scientifically backed approaches to horsemanship. You can’t argue with science that has been proven time and time again. Let’s dispel some stupid rumors:

1. There is no such thing as a (skeletally) slow maturing horse or one that is fast maturing. No horse is skeletally mature before the age of 6. And that is on the low estimate for age.

2. Growth plates are not just in the knee. Every bone behind the skull has a growth plate. Not every single one needs to be converted to bone before starting. There is a schedule of when bone fuses…this is the information needed to know when to start a horse. Not their outward appearance. It is a known fact that during growth, proprioceptive awareness can regress, greatly increasing the risk of injury.

3. Starting a horse is not the same thing as riding a horse. Starting a horse does not mean cantering it 3-4 days a week in an arena.

4. Injecting a horse that is in pain does not mean you fixed a problem. You masked it.

5. You can build correct muscle and teach a horse how to move their body from the ground. This creates a solid foundation to work from once your horse is ready to actually be backed. Teach a horse to use its body correctly before backing and you’ll save yourself a lot of vet bills down the line.

Hocks are “late” for maturity. The growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals do not fuse until a horse is 3-3 ½. Ever wonder why so many horses seem to have hocks issues?? Horses need to learn to carry themselves and their own weight well before adding a rider.

The growth plates that are LAST to close are at the base of the neck. This area is where we ask a horse to raise the base of their neck and come round. If under too much stress, the growth plates can fracture or be permanently damaged.

There are DOZENS of activities you can do with a young horse to build healthy muscular development. None of them involve a saddle or your weight on their back. Teaching a horse to carry themselves correctly BEFORE adding a rider is essential and cannot be done in a week. A 2 ½ year old horse is a baby. Mentally and physically. We see far too many injured performance horses at VERY young ages - broken down and/or sour from work. It’s wrong. Period. They need slow and steady work and need time to recover from even the slightest of injuries.

PLEASE, if you are considering when you should start your horse and what that work load should look like, please read the below. There are some wonderful things you can do with your young developing horse. Please don’t rush a year out of greed.

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf

24/10/2024

It’s not easy, it’s often not profitable, but we need to be the change that we want to see in this industry and help guide the folks who truly don’t know better yet. Most are ignorant, less are actually knowingly cruel.
I owe hundreds of horses from my past an apology from my participation in a terrible side of the industry that I’ll never be able to undo. Teaching the newcomers how to do better is the only way.

What’s more important?
Can we consider one without the other?
How do we stand up for the horse with no voice if we don’t want to offend the humans with a voice?

If we see a horse being beaten up… should we step in and say it’s wrong?

If we see an overweight horse with laminitis being fed buckets of hard feed… should we step in and say it’s wrong?

If we see an oversized rider riding a too small pony… should we step in and say it’s wrong?

I am kind. I am probably the kindest person it’s possible to be. Genuinely. But the more I work in the industry, the more I see things that need calling out. But we can’t, or we don’t. For fear of being unkind.

I would say that this is especially important at the moment, with the whole Social Licence movement. And with equestrianism so under the spotlight… but, no… this should always be important.

Horses do everything for us.
We owe it to them to be their voice.

But how can we do this whilst respecting the feelings of the people we perceive to be not adhering to the welfare of the horse?

I think we need to normalise GOOD stuff. Dressage judges need to reward the happy horses, show judges need to not place people who are the wrong size for their horse, publications need to show examples of good practice.

And we all need to speak up… and normalise speaking up, without being unkind.

But… how?

22/10/2024

Don’t be in a hurry to get to the wrong place. In horse training, in riding, in dealing with each other, in life itself. Might have to print and post this in the barn aisle. 🤔 In every stable!

15/10/2024