I've owned and boarded a lot of OTTBs and thoroughbreds at this point....If there's one thing I'm good at, it's putting weight on these "hard-keepers" and keeping them looking good even during the winter. Here are some things I've learned over the years: 

1) Routine: All the horses have access to hay or pasture 24/7 and get fed grain twice a day.  Our hay is baled off our own land or neighboring pastures, so the horses don't get a large variation in nutrition from hay shipment to hay shipment.  For me, the benefits of feeding large roundtables in the winter, when there is little to no grass, significantly outweigh any negatives.  Access to continuous forage is absolutely necessary to prevent ulcers (which 90% of OTTBs have at some point), helps alleviate boredom which causes bad habits, and also makes the horses less "starving" at feed time.  When the weather is bad, I feed the roundtables liberally and clean up any bad hay they won't eat with the tractor.  In my experience, a well-fed horse will not often eat plants or weeds they shouldn't.  I don't try to force the horses to eat moldy, peed on, or weedy hay...even if that means some of it is wasted.  

Two or three smaller grain meals are significantly more digestible than a single large meal. Feeding twice a day also gives me the opportunity to check on every horse and make sure they have normal appetites and no other injuries.  

I always add water (warm water in winter) to all grain meals.  This helps with digestion preventing choke, aids in keeping the horses hydrated, and also encourages them to eat any powdery supplements they might try to filter through.  

In the winter, I try to set up heated tanks or I go out and break the ice on frozen water troughs multiple times a day. I do whatever I can to encourage as much hydration as possible. 

Early detection is key! Feed changes should be made slowly, but I also try to match the horse's feed amount to how much work they are in. If I have a horse that is being hauled to horse shows 6+ hours away, two weekends in a row, he's probably going to lose some weight. That horse is going to need a little extra food the week prior to and post-competition.  Likewise, if a boarder is going away on vacation and their horse is going to get 3 weeks off, they probably don't need as much feed.  If I see a horse start to lose or gain a significant amount of weight, I immediately make adjustments.  

2) Feed: My magic feed formula is Powell's Easy Choice + Rice Bran + Alfalfa. 

All the TBs on my farm get Powell's Easy Choice, a 14% Protein 6% Fat Feed. I like this feed because there aren't big fluctuations in formula, it's low in sugar/corn, and it's formulated to meet the vitamin/mineral requirements of horses in this region. I've had horses on other popular brands of feed such as Nutrena and Purina, and they did not look as good as the horses on Powell's.  I had two horses come to me on other brands of feed this past summer and they had significantly worse coat bleaching and hoof quality issues than other horses, which are both symptoms of vitamin/mineral imbalances. 

For horses in hard work or those that don't gain or maintain enough on just the Powell's feed, I add in rice bran as a source of fat.  Almost all TBs will need alfalfa (I like either chaffhaye real alfalfa hay), for at least part of the year.  Alfalfa is a fiber source even picky eaters will enjoy, it adds protein, and it's high in calcium acting as a good stomach acid buffer. For this last reason, it's also great for horses prone to ulcer or other stomach issues (like most TBs).  

3) Supplements/Vitamins/Minerals: Too many supplements are unnecessary and can even be harmful.  Everyone should know the ingredients and nutrition levels present in each supplement they feed their horse and how all these work together and in combination with the rest of the horse's feed.  I put all my personal horses on a hoof supplement like Farrier's Formula or SmartPak's SmartHoof, that is high in biotin, copper, and zinc. This area has high iron content which can cause dry coats and brittle hooves unless it is balanced with copper and zinc.  For seriously hard keepers or those in hard work, I will often add a splash of vegetable oil for calories.   When the weather is particularly hot or cold, I give all horses electrolytes or a little table salt to encourage drinking.  

4) Exercise: Moderate exercise will often make a horse gain weight and look better. I've had a few horses that no matter how much you feed them always look "ribby."  These horses often have little muscling or fat along their topline and have big "hay bellies" that seem to expand causing more ribbiness.  An easy solution to this is moderate exercise! Just 2 days a week of light hacking/trail riding can make a HUGE difference for these horses.  Most thoroughbreds want to work, and moderate exercise can also help encourage them to have a healthy appetite and stay focused on eating forage during the day.  

5) Turnout, Shelter, Stalls, Flies, & Weather: We make an effort to keep the pastures mowed and free of an excessive amount of weeds and manure. Dragging the pastures in the summer is a good way to break up mature piles and allow them to decompose. I try to let each field rest for a minimum of a few weeks every year so the grass can recuperate. This also helps "heal" excessively muddy or worn down areas.  

A lot of horses will actually lose weight in the summer, even when the grass is plentiful.  Why?...Flies!   Many of my horses are very dramatic  and will literally run away from them. I have one horse in particular who unless he has 24/7 access to a stall will stomp his shoes off, pace the fence, and loose hundreds of pounds.  Fly spray, fly sheets, and adequate shelter can help with this.  The heat during Arkansas summers can literally "sweat the pounds" off a horse.  Some horses will have to spend the day or part of the day inside if they are going to maintain condition.  

For other horses, time in a stall causes anxiety and stress, no matter what the weather is. While it might seem "nice" to bring her in out of the bad weather, she will spend the entire time frantically running in circles, screaming for her buddies, and certainly not eating.  These horses need to stay outside happy in the herd! 

We've all heard that horses will lose weight in the winter--but there's no reason for this.  While some don't, many TBs, especially pasture kept ones, have to wear blankets.  These horses have been kept in controlled mostly indoor environments for their entire lives as have their ancestors for hundreds of years.  I blanket all clipped horses under 60 degrees and most unclipped horses if it's below 30, staying frozen during the day, or if it's below 50 and precipitating.  If your horse is shivering, they are well past the point of needing a blanket! 

6) Ulcers:  OTTBs, horses in heavy training, and horses that are traveling, are all at a major risk of developing ulcers. Any horse I'm showing regularly gets Aloe Vera Juice added to their feed twice daily --it's cheap, is proven to help, and has no drawbacks! If I am going on a particularly long or stressful trip, I will give my horses 1/2-1 tube of ulcer guard on the day I leave and every day I am gone.  Horses displaying major sings of ulcers often need a full 28-day course of omeprazole or ranitidine, but I usually leave this up to the discretion of my vet. 

In general, I try to create an environment for the horses that is as consistent, predictable, and low stress as possible.  All these factors above also contribute to a very low rate of colic for horses on my farm! 

If you have any questions about my feeding program and routine, just ask! Send me an email anytime at christy00821@yahoo.com.  

They say that time accelerates as you get older. It must be true, because here it is, halfway through September.  

I feel like we still have so much left to accomplish before winter, but in reality, we expanded four pastures onto the new land, spent countless days cleaning up the property and starting on a new border fence, got additional acreage along the driveway fenced, and completed numerous other projects like an outdoor wash stall, pea gravel areas, run-in improvements (and moving), mowing and weeding.  Many of this is thanks to Evan Niehues, the man on the tractor! 

Both yearlings are tame and able to be handled (big thanks to Susan Sullivan at The Flying Q).  They are growing like weeds and looking more like beautiful future sport horses every day.  The yearlings have been one of the most rewarding horse experiences I've ever been a part of --and I haven't even ridden them yet! 

I have probably taken a total of 4 days off from riding TOTAL the past 3-4 months.  Every day, sometimes as many as four horses in a day. It's been exhausting....and I do not feel like I'm riding any better than I was at the start of the summer! 

We sold one horse and have another out on trial. Never Ceasing "Piney" has gone to multiple jumper shows, including a two day show in St. Louis.  I've taken local dressage lessons, hunter/jumper lessons, and gone down to Texas for two days of lessons and long day of trail riding.  Last weekend, Piney went to Kansas City to school XC. He quickly showed that the BN course was well within his capabilities and we ended up jumping most of the Novice course and some even more challenging combinations near the water and with ditches....he jumped everything in his usual cool, calm and collected manner.  To say I'm excited to take this horse to his next USEA recognized event would be a big understatement!  

Over the summer we've also been lucky enough to welcome some great new boarders, horses in training, and a couple new lesson students! 

What went wrong? 

Just one of the many questions I asked myself, on yet another long ride home, reflecting on this crazy journey of being an eventer. 

We had such an awesome February. Piney made huge strides in all areas, winning his second starter level event at Stone Ridge Eventing, and Stromboli seemed to have settled into a quiet routine for the first time in his life. Stromboli was jumping well, he was dressaging well (even got a 33 at a schooling show!), and everything was in its place.  

I have been working on myself as a rider, fine tuning my jump position, trying to be more even & lighter in my hands, sitting up and using my core.  Right now I am the strongest and fittest I've ever been in my entire life...and that's pretty cool! 

We went to Texas Rose expecting to conquer --but that didn't happen...instead we got eliminated and had arguably the WORST dressage test of my life (i've said that a lot, but remarkably they do continue to be worse and yet worse again). 

I'm about to present an unpopular opinion: You can work hard, but sometimes effort is not enough.  You cannot fit a square peg into a round hole.  Stromboli isn't even a square peg --he's a crazy trapezoidal one with some extra pointy points.  

Stromboli has made me no stranger to the bottom of the score board. It has always been a huge fight, with seemingly very few victories, yet looking back on his career we have still achieved an impressive amount:

• We completed 17 out of 18 recognized events without XC jump faults.  
• He absolutely killed it at all local jumper shows at all levels.
• We only finished one recognized event on a letter instead of a number.
• He earned his USEA Training Level Bronze Medal.
• We both moved up to Preliminary & finished our first and four others without XC jump penalties.
• He only had one jump penalty, a single rail, at the BN or Novice level. 
• He only scored over 50 in dressage at the Texas Rose Horse Park...never at the many other locations we competed at.  
• He only ever scored better than a 40 in dressage once (impressively bad)! 
• We finished on what may be the WORST (highest) numerical score in USEA History without having any XC jump penalties or stops in SJ: 117.9 in the Open Prelim Division at Hunter Oaks.
  
• We did all of this with only one professional ever taking him over a jump --Buck Davidson, very briefly at a clinic in 2014.   

So am I upset? Sad? Mad at myself? Mad at him? Do I feel like a crap rider? H NO! 

Could I have ridden better? Sure....I picked when I should have kicked.  But did I ride better than I did last year at that same location?  Yes...absolutely I did.  

Am I upset about the thousands of dollars I've spend on training and clinics for that horse? The thousands of miles I've driven him across the country to learn and compete? The thousands of dollars in vet bills, special tack, chiropractic work, special shoeing? Do I regret any of it? Absolutely not...Stromboli has taught me how to lose, how to take nothing for granted, and most importantly that being a good horseman is about a lot more than competition results.  

So bring it on 2017! 

In riding, you can never stop learning. It seems like the more time passes, the more I realize just how much I still don't know.  Here are some things I've learned over my 20 years of riding and horse care. 

​Fitness is important.....so important! 

Your horse has to be fit enough to perform the job you are asking of him/her.  Here are a few thoughts on this subject:

1) Keeping a schedule & having a program is important.  Your horse is an athlete, treat him/her like one! Would you expect your grandma to go from months of only puttering around the house to being able to go out and run a 5K race or go on a 10 mile hike? No way! If you were preparing for a race would you go out and run 1/4 the length of the race a few times & then go for it? Probably not!  Yet people do this with their horses all the time.  You have to start with low intensity exercise and build.  This program has to be tailored to your horse's body condition and your riding goals.  Get a watch and start writing down your rides.  Add intensity (faster paced work, hills, jumping) as well as the duration of workout over time.   Horses, especially older ones, lose fitness quickly.  If your horse gets time off, you need to start back at a lower intensity and slowly build from there. Although it has its place, body clipping is not a substitution for fitness.  So many horse injuries are preventable with proper fitness. 

2) If you have any kind of riding goals, you have to get your horse fit.  This can be anything from taking lesson, trail riding, fox hunting, hunter/jumper shows, or dressage clinics.  If you can't get your horse in shape and maintain his/her fitness, it's your responsibility to get help from someone else. If you haven't been able to ride due to weather/travel/other life commitments, you sometimes have to say no to an event you signed up for and instead stay home and get your horse in shape safely, slowly, and correctly.  You will not make progress if your horse isn't fit. 

3) Different horses need different programs for fitness.  While OTTBs may seem like they get fit and stay fit easily, I've noticed that many may not be "mentally" fit.  Most of my TBs need to be ridden, even if it's only for 15 minutes, at least three times/week. When they are ridden less, they seem a lot more likely to be hot, spooky, and overreactive.  Similarly, the ability to canter madly for 10-15 min straight on the lunge line does not always equate to having the muscles needed to carry a rider through an intense jumping or dressage lesson.  I learned this lesson with Stromboli when I first started taking him Prelim. He wasn't out of breath at the end of the XC phase, but he definitely lacked the muscles needed to be adjustable & collect himself properly.  I finally saw the results of a truly fit horse at the end of last season when my XC felt smooth, light, and easy.  Heavier breeds of horses may need more aerobic fitness activities such as trot/canter sets in the field.  

4) A lot of horse behavior issues also relate to fitness.   Horses in work are better behaved on the ground, keep their weight/muscle better, and are less prone to bad habits like eating wood fencing, tearing each other's blankets, and other destructive habits.  Likewise, if I take my unfit horse out and expect him to do a lot of jumping, he's going to be uncomfortable which will probably manifest itself in the form of "bad behavior."  Don't set yourself up for a bad ride...get them fit! 

Side note...rider Fitness:  Riding is easier and more fun if you're fit too.  If you're tired after a weekend of riding, a long trail ride, a fox hunt, show, or lesson, imagine how your horse feels! 

Although it is a bit scary (global warming anyone?), we have barely had a winter here in Fayetteville.  It has been awesome to keep the lugging of frozen buckets, three layers of blankets, and ice down to a minimum.  There have been only a few days where it has been too cold/wet/frozen to work the horses, which has been great. 

I've been using the winter to really re-focus on Stromboli's dressage. Stromboli was supposed to have some time off to rest and repair after Texas Rose, but after three weeks in the pasture with no riding he became a terrorist, rampaging around, putting his leg through the fence (twice) and taking out his excess energy on Piney and Tonic.  He definitely doesn't need to be doing gallop sets, but putting him back into work on a 3-4 day/week schedule has made him a much happier horse.  He left last week for more intense dressage training with Claudia Cooley in Springfield, MO.  I'm looking forward to more lessons on both horses, and pretty soon it will be time to get Stromboli jumping and galloping again in preparation for our first real event of the season! 

The warm winter has also allowed me to finally get Stromboli's "little brother" (in looks only) going.  

With Never Ceasing (Piney), I have been focused on building fitness slowly with lots of trail rides, field work, and a little dressage. I believe that building this fitness is so important, especially in a young or old horse, as I want them to have the physical ability to do what I ask of them.  When it comes time to go to a show or other outing, the last thing I want is my young horse coming home sore because I didn't prepare him fully, and then associating that experience negatively.  

Piney has taken a lot longer to come into his own than I expected. He has never had any kind of bad behavior, except some nervousness and herd-bound behavior on excursions, but until recently, he has always been very "un athletic" seeming, slow, uncoordinated, and had a bit of a weird shaped body.  Some shoeing changes, moving him to the barn with the other big boy geldings, and most importantly, giving him the time to grow, has finally made him into an athletic and super fun horse to ride!  I have a smile on my face every time ride him! I'm so glad his withers are finally higher than his butt.  

I feel so lucky to have two amazing horses that are so different, yet talented in their own way.  We also have a lot of exciting new developments at the farm, that will be announced in the coming months! 

​Last month, we went to Feather Creek Schooling Horse Trials. I rode Piney in the intro division (18") and he jumped clean in both XC and stadium to finish on his dressage score! Majorly proud of this guy, who had barely jumped a whole stadium course, never mind XC.  He cantered around the whole XC course in perfect rhythm and is extremely brave.  

Stromboli improved in dressage, scoring a few points better than usual, and put in a beautiful clean Prelim SJ round. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell after coming through the finish flags, so I elected to only run him around part of the XC. Thankfully, we both are totally fine, and I learned a hard lesson that  he definitely needs back shoes/studs for any kind of jumping on turf. 

On February 5th, we went to Stone Ridge Eventing's schooling horse trials. Piney was really improved over Feather Creek, but the courses were much more difficult. We had a few silly/green moments, but he has an incredible attitude, definitely made progress, and is well on his way to becoming a real event horse! So so proud of this horse.  

Stromboli also went to Stone Ridge and did two dressage tests, scoring a personal record of 36 and 38! 

I couldn't end the season with my brain farts at Heritage Park, so I signed up for Texas Rose Horse Trials in November (conveniently also close to my sister in Dallas). 

I decided to go down early to take a lesson with my sister's coach and hopefully have a less strenuous and stressful experience for Stromboli.  Thursday morning, I got in my frosty truck in the early-morning dark and drove for two hours. In the middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma, I pulled into a gas station and realized that I forgot my purse at home. It did not look like my airhead streak was over.  I considered scratching from the competition and heading home right then.  Luckily, I had paypal and my sister helped me get an Exxon Mobil Ap set up on my phone, so I ended up driving all the way to Texas without my drivers license and having my husband overnight my purse to my sister's apartment. 

I had a great lesson Thursday night with Lauren Lambert at Southern Cross Equestrian.  Stromboli felt like a real prelim dressage horse and we had a very solid sitting trot, some really nice transitions, and acceptable leg yields and lengthenings. 

But....by the time we got to the actual show grounds on Friday, he was frantic and terrible.  Saturday morning for dressage he was furious, not eating, had hives, was super sore on his left hindquarters, and every aid I had didn't seem to work well.  We scored badly in dressage just like usual.  For show jumping we picked up one-rail. It wasn't a great course, but we got lucky --and it was still probably better than many SJ courses we've ridden at this level.  

By Sunday he seemed back to normal, relaxed & happy. Texas Rose is known for having a stout XC course and this one did not disappoint.  I felt like I was heading out onto a Rolex course.  

I rode every single fence and it went according to plan. I took some long routes & rode conservatively so as not to repeat my previous mistake.  I never felt nervous or panicky, and was thrilled to gallop through the finish line clean & just a little over time.  After my ride, I began cooling my horse out as my sister checked scores. She informed me that I was listed as TE. I couldn't believe it.  I had done so many stupid brainless things this season, but I knew that I had total control this round & cleanly cleared every fence. There was one fence that was removed from my division right before my trip that I was a bit concerned about, but it was clearly flagged off & unjumpable during my ride.  I also had jumped the wider part of a corner when Stromboli got a bit spooked by someone on the course, but there was definitely no disputing that his entire body went between the flags.   I ran up the show office where the TD informed me that I had jumped the wrong fence 15 (down bank) & the jump judge had confirmed this with another witness. I still couldn't believe it. The turn to the intermediate down bank would have been different from the one I rode, and I could clearly remember thinking through my pace and approach to the correct fence.  I was absolutely crushed & felt COMPLETELY INSANE. I felt like I had just woken up and someone told me that the year was 2015 and I had hallucinated an entire year that didn't happen.  

Luckily my sister had watched most of my ride and didn't think I had jumped the incorrect fence. RNS VIDEOMEDIA was on site, so I raced over to their tent to see if I could see some video footage of my ride, at least to justify in my mind my total lapse of consciousness. I can't tell you how incredibly nice & helpful these guys were to get the video of my round up on a camcorder immediately. Sure enough, I watched my ride.......the evidence was indisputable. I JUMPED THE CORRECT FENCE!  I ran back to the main office, went with the TD back to the RNS video tent. I finally got the correct score for my round.

I can't tell you how defeated & insane I would feel right now if I hadn't had that video evidence! I thank god for the awesome guys at RNS & I will be very hesitant to run XC again, especially at this venue, without having people I know on course watching & preferably videoing. 

I ended up placing 7th in the large and competitive division.  On the long ride home I reflected on my weekend & the 2016 season, scoring issues aside, I could not have cared less about the ribbon. I achieved a personal best score at the Preliminary Level and I finally felt like I was a contender. I started the season having some difficulties controlling Stromboli at the training level and even put him up for sale. I felt like he was nervous and miserable, and would be happier in a different situation. I think fate was looking out for me --only one person ever even sat on him, and I'm so glad I decided to commit fully to making the best out of my current situation.  Dressage be-damned, he's the best jumping horse I've ever sat on in my life.   It's going to be a long winter trying to keep this confidence, but I will keep reminding myself about the serious prelim horse I have and what an incredible feeling it is to be able to jump the green flags.

Who knows what next year will bring, but we are officially qualified for a CCI1* now! 

​SEE THE VIDEO THAT SAVED ME: 

If there's one thing I know about horses, it's that things NEVER go according to plan. 

I had planned on ending my season with Stromboli at Heritage Park in KS at the end of October. Dressage went well, but I got very stressed before my test due to the bit checker having some issues with my unconventional leather bit and the bell for me to go in the arena seemed to be greatly delayed.  Needless to say, I turned the wrong way and got my first error of course --on a dressage test I knew front & back and had ridden a dozen times before.  We still picked up our best score at Prelim yet, by 6 points.  This was a very bad sign.  

I felt confident after a good run at Feather Creek, but by the time I walked the course at Heritage Park, the jumps looked HUGE.....and I mean HUGE...and set on weird half-strides --not good for my "attack the course" kind of horse who has been known to put one-stride in two-strides multiple times on course. Things were going well, until they weren't. I was blazing fast...and completely neglected to slow down and set him up for a turn to a very difficult ABC coffin.  I blasted through the turn, tried to correct, but came in so poorly my horse had no way of jumping the A-element. Poor Stromboli picked up his very first 20 on course. I circled, approached, and he rode perfectly through it. He blasted around the rest of the course like it was nothing.  50% of the division picked up stops, run-outs, falls, or some kind of elimination on course, so I was in good company.  Show Jumping the next day went fairly well with just one-rail.  I ended up 11th out of 20 riders.  

I left this event very proud of myself for finishing with confidence and not letting one mishap ruin my entire weekend, but I still felt like I let my horse down. A small (ok, really a big) part of me was a bit worried about my mental state & nervousness in competition.