The call to morning hay.....
My proudest moment......Thank you sooo much Alternative Equine Club 🤣❤️
THIS....Never fails to delight me, even though it happens every day! In fact he's normally waiting at the gate by lunchtime, but today I had just added to the track system, so there was lots of fresh grass to eat. 😍
Took the old lady out Treasure Hunting today. It was.....er....a little different from normal. 24 going on 4!!!! Please excuse the heavy breathing, I was on a Sex Phone Line at the time (No, sadly my Broken lungs can't keep up with shenanigans) 🤣
As we all know getting Charlie backed and ridden away has been a mission akin to the preparation and execution of the moon landings. After literally years of false starts, we have been solid with mounting and moving a few feet for at least a year. Him parking at the Mounting Block is my way of asking his views of me getting on. If he moves away, it's his way if saying No Not Today, and I listen. I do not want to move his sticky feet though any type of force or 'getting after him' so we have in fact become stuck.
Today we were lucky enough to have a visit from one of my oldest, bestest friends, Mel, all the way from Welsh Wales. Charlie said YES, Let's do this. And this is what we did......
EMS. It's very popular at the moment. Think of it as Type 2 Diabetes which is also very popular. It's basically the inability to regulate blood insulin. The culprits in both cases are too much sugar and too little exercise.
Sugar is in all processed foods (both human and horse). It helps us all eat the rubbish that's manufactured for our convenience. Sadly for horses there is also a lot of Sugar in short stressed grass.
Most of us horse owners are not lucky enough to have miles of land, so our paddocks remain short and stressed (and full of Sugar).
Added to which, our leisure horses do very little exercise, and many spend half the day in a small box. Think of the human sitting at a computer all day, munching on snacks, and sitting all evening watching TV (stuffing more snacks). Go back 100 years. Horses and humans mostly worked physical jobs and ate no processed food.
Horses in the wild do not get EMS. They walk miles every day, browsing on scrubby grass, bushes, trees, plants and herbs.
So what can we do?
We try to keep our horses as naturally as possible. Daisy the Highland has/had EMS. This is how we keep her healthy (along with the other Natives in the small herd).
Firstly they all live out 24/7 without rugs. Secondly they are on the best track system I could build in a 3 acre paddock. The track is pretty bare, so they have small piles of hay scattered around. I also throw random hazelnut and hawthorn branches around, or cut nettles or milk thistles. Then there are smaller tracks or pens into the long grass in the middle, which I strip graze, so they have a little each day. The main track is 250m around, and Charlie particularly loves to gallop full tilt around it for no apparent reason other than he can!
Next up is Daisy's diet. She is fed once a day. Jo has had EMS ponies before, so did extensive research into what goes into bought EMS supplements. We have found its much cheaper to add our own straight ingredients: Honeychop Lite and Healthy,
Yes, It is a good book.....
Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk › Guid...
A Guide To Riding The Ridgeway On Horseback: The Ridgeway Romp
The Track System is working great for keeping the ponies exercised!! Good job they come when called....
Coming in round the ever expanding track system ( speeded up a little, I haven't really been on the Helium gas)...
Charlie's Challenges. Teach Your Horse to Park at the Mounting Block.
Oh dear!!!!! Is this a new type of bit?
