I haven’t written because I’ve been doing my head off.  I have to post the thing about our first ride down Boardman’s Lane this spring and Sophie coming un-glued, because that freaked me out: my gentle, boringest, most trustworthy horse freaking out about – what?  A ditch?  An electric fence buzz?  And running backward across a newly staked out for landscaping yard, tearing up the stakes and string and leaving divots in the level dirt big enough to store an alligator in.

Yes, it’s spring.  But I did ride her for at least five or so minutes over the winter, and she nearly bucked Rachel off, which Rachel definitely didn’t need.  But as I say, there is a post about this. What I really want to write about is this spring’s anti-founder strategy. 

I did what I always do, start off like Geneva taught me: feed the horses in the morning so that their stomachs are full before you put them on the grass.  The first day, I turn them out for ten minutes, rewarding them for coming back in with a dessert- a handful of alfalfa.  The second day, it’s fifteen minutes – I just shovel manure and work around the barn till it’s time to bring them in.  

This year, I set up the first fence all along the east side of the pasture, a long, maybe thirty, forty foot strip that ran the length of the grass north of the barn.  The grass is always longest there, richest, and gets oldest first.  So I wanted them to eat it down.  I left all the gates open when I put them out there, so nobody’d be trapped in that narrow run.  And they ate it down well over the course of almost two weeks.  The first week for the fifteen minutes, then twenty, finally half an hour, with hay in the morning.

When I felt like it was good to go past fifteen minutes, I started cutting down the morning alfala for everybody but Sophie.  I’d keep Sophie in the jail at night, or Jetta – in the morning, I’d run Jetta out through the barn, then put Sophie in the jail, or keep her there if she was already in there.  Then I’d run everybody else out on the grass, feed Sophie hay, work a bit, then let her out the last fifteen minutes.

I meant to do exactly what I did last year, but I was moving too fast – couldn’t take the time to remember to check the blog, didn’t even check the calendar.  I keep re-inventing the wheel, which is just stupid.

But it worked.  I checked her digital pulse often, sometimes finding it, sometimes not.  Once it was hot.  But the next morning, it was gone.  She’s doing fine.  Still has a little pulse, but no sore feet, no stiffness of movement.  So whatever I’m doing, we seem to have dodged the bullet again this year.  I’m keeping Jetta in the hot jail during the day – Jetta is my tank, and putting Sophie in there at night, just in case the heat is part of the problem.  But so far, so good.

I have re-defined the pastures.  I started with the three in the back and the four out front.  But when Rachel had to give up her horses, she gave me back my gate, which gives me one more to work with.  So that huge middle pasture is now two.  We’ll see how that works.  I ended up grazing out the back before the front – the grass was just too long there, and I had to get to the weeds to spray them.

Always an experiment.

I don’t write here a lot. That’s because nobody reads here a lot. I started this blog in hopes that my experiences with my horses might help somebody else in their own efforts not only to love, but to serve and care for an equine companion. I am not much of a trainer, but I am trying. And so I write this stuff down here, when I can.

Training: I favor the Parelli program. I know there are a lot of people out there who are doing “training programs.” Parelli was one of the very first, and as far as I am concerned, this is the very best. My friends have gone to Clinton Anderson, feeling that he is quicker and more get it done. But I don’t believe in “quick and easy” relationships. Parelli is elegant and the psychology of the horse is respected – not just for the sake of manipulation, but for the sake of understanding. Horse owners have to take their responsibilities seriously – the mental health of the horse, and the safety of the owner depend on this.

I started using the program years ago, and it has given me a clear and wonderful way of learning to share the world with my buddies. Funny how, as you grow to know them, you can “see” the “looks on their faces” as clearly as if you were trying to decipher a human face. That means a lot to me. They know me now – and respect me most of the time. When I say no, they know exactly what that means.

Now, to sum up some things:

Sophie’s Foundering. It happens mostly in spring and early summer. I beat it completely last year, but it took work. When the grass came on, I only let her stay out on it for fifteen minutes at a time, long after i was giving the others half an hour to an hour. I’d let them all out but Sophie. Then I’d feed her a breakfast of hay and go home. When the time came to put everybody back inside, I’d go a little early and let her out. I’d take fifteen or so minutes to muck out or whatever (if you can’t find fifteen minutes worth of work around your place, you must have tons of money and lots of help).

After that fifteen minutes, I’d bring her in with the boys. My two older geldings keep very well, and for the first several weeks on the grass only need a half hour to forty five minutes of grazing the lush spring grass to maintain their weight and health. My older quarter mare needs far more time to keep her in flesh, and the colt has needed that, too. Now that he’s grown up, we’ll see. Spring this year will tell. All are in good flesh now. In fact, I fed them too much because it’s been too cold, and Dustin, the oldest and the alpha, colicked – we think maybe on the extra grass hay – as I have written in the post before this one.

We had no thrush this year, which was good. And the grass held out till October. Five horses on an acre and a quarter from end of April to end of October. Not bad management, if I do say so myself.

If anybody does read this, and has questions about what i’ve learned about training or feeding or managing, just post and ask, or write it in a comment, and I’ll answer. We sat on the colt for the first time in October. Geneva did the honors, and that colt was brilliant and gentle. But we’d put in so many hours of consistent work in both discipline and communication. It was good to see it all pay off.