I am the epitome of fair-weather rider.
Yes, occasionally my job puts me in the position to ride in sleet, wet, and snowy stuff (see Christmas Eve 2009 and numerous summer thunderstorm occasions) but if I can get out of riding in it and being grouchy and just care for everybody and get back inside, I will. I mainly just don't like cold + wet.
This is all a preface to me not being a stellar horse mom in an on-and-off fashion this winter, as it has been both chilly and soggy. But, obviously, I am out for a spell at least twice a day (and pass through much more often, when I get bored with whatever inside thing I've found to do) and try to do what I can, training-wise, in the time I'm doing more menial horsekeeping.
With Pax it's been a small and steady stream of desensitizing. The same halter that used to threaten to eat her face now equates pats and cookies, and she dives her head into it. Saddle blankets are down for the most part— her expression is still pretty plaintive when I whip them out, but she doesn't try to escape. Richard "helped" with the category of "Hugely Loud Hammering on the Stall Walls While Horses Are Still Latched Inside and Feeding." (Catastrophe avoided, though I was in the arena doing work on a lead and somehow managed to get tripped and trampled by, out of 22 horses, MY specific two. I think they were aiming.) So she can now stand reasonably quietly in a stall while someone bangs the crap out of the adjacent boards. Whips are in there also, as we are learning to differentiate between Lunge Whip: Utensil For Equine Decapitation and Leg Amputation to Lunge Whip: The Annoying Thing That Cues Me to Trot in Circles. And tonight we flapped some huge, scary, jangly, and multicolored turnout blankets around our head and back. Even though she's quick to give you the apprehensive white-eyed stare, it never seems to take long before she'll let you throw whatever scary thing you have onto her bag so she can drag it around a bit.
Pretty proud. :) Good filly.
In a debacle over choosing a feed brand to switch to. I wish I had taken a Feeds and Feeding course at university, but also think I'd be even more torn between schools of thought. I visited with two feed representatives from a regional distributor, Livengood Feeds, last week and then had a long discussion and thought session with the Purina nutritionist today. Definitely got some good information from the Purina guy, and gave me lots of mental goals for our string— but on the flip side, I did have to talk myself down a little bit and remember that, at the end of the day, that guy is there to sell me more horse feed. While I'm really willing to make some adjustments to get a quality senior product to our older guys, I don't feel that I should also pour more money into Salty the Overweight 24 Y/O Grade Pony in order to improve his coat texture and maybe see a few millimeters more cover over his topline. I don't doubt the benefits of feeding more expensive full-dose concentrates, but weighing that out on a cost-benefit analysis of Camp Horses versus Performance Horses and even Backyard Pleasure Riders.. doesn't make sense. I want to put more resources into the oldest horses who really need the nutrition, but I don't want to pay extra to have Super Shiny Camp Ponies. I know it's nice, but there's a limit. Also, though he was happy to talk benefits of good hay (and we feed good hay— each horse eats around $85 of Coastal a month, bought in bulk) he tried very hard to debunk that Coastal has enough protein to provide maintenance to a handful of easy-keepers. I'm sorry, but I take one look at some of the round grade and Mexican-bred horses we have who spend 23.5 hours a day eating hay and trace minerals, and 30 minutes tearing around at a rocket-fuel gallop, and I can't get behind sacrificing more of our budget because a feed-pushing nutritionist says they need more protein. I'm really not worried about them. I feel like they could eat wood chips and still end up with a high-scoring body condition. But on the flip side— I do trust Purina and I love buying a product with that much R&D that goes into it. But asking me to put my easy keepers on a 32% pellet.. Err...
