PHOTOS!

The view from Digby's stall into his run.

Love.

Shiny butt.

You know I'd fall apart without you....

You know I'd fall apart without you...

I don't know how you do what you do...

Cause everything that don't make sense about me, makes sense when I'm with you...

Like everything that's green, boy I need you...

But it's more than one and one makes two...

Put aside the math and the logic of it, you gotta know you're wanted too...

<3 Lyrics are from the song "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes. Photos are by various people through the years. The adorable TB gelding in question is, of course, your favorite hony, Mr. Dig My Size. I figured a nice photo tribute would be fitting for these past few weeks. He's still the star of the show, remember!

The doctor calls...

Today at work we had a very, very experienced and knowledgeable vet come to inject the hocks of one of our yearling fillies. She had gotten OCD's removed from both hocks and was getting injected post operation. My boss had previously mentioned that I needed to talk to this particular vet as he might have some ideas. I kept trying to get his number with little or no effect on my boss. :) Typical! However, the vet stopped by today so I helped out!

I asked him about Mr. Dig My Size after he was done injecting our filly. He had a few good ideas that I'll list quickly:

1. Make sure the toe on his front hooves stay short. He said to square them off if possible and keep them short to prevent low heels.
2. Make sure he stays a good weight, especially not too fat!
3. Keep diligent about footing he gets worked in.
4. Make sure he stays SOUND behind, especially in the right hind (hock especially) so he can keep weight off his front feet as much as possible.
5. If all else fails, Digby is a good candidate for a long term chemical nerve block. Basically, Digby would be injected with a chemical in his hoof that would last around 6 months. It is similar to being de-nerved with less complications. Digby would probably do well with this because he trotted off SO sound when we blocked his hoof originally to take x-rays back in June 2011. I personally think of it like giving a horse Ace as a sedative to take the edge off vs a month long sedative. Similar effects, just different time frames.

My vet had mentioned the majority of these things to me originally so I was not shocked by any of this. She did not mention a long term nerve block though. Due to this and his current stellar soundness....

The hony is coming back into work. Officially. Whoo!

We will do this again!!! <3

I'm going on vacation (I know, I know... lazy! Haha!) until Tuesday so I won't be jumping right into this obviously. I'll probably do a week or two of straight hand work before trying to start riding. Ok ok, I MAY just tack him up and walk around. :)

If he goes lame, I'll try a chemical nerve block... barring I don't find a lot of horrible, horrific reactions to it via Google. Hopefully we don't have to try this but it's good to have in the tool box, just in case. :)

Life ain't always beautiful...

To quote the Gary Allan song... "Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride."

Work at dusk...

My life has been crazy lately. Between work problems and home problems and Digby's board going up (although that happened about two weeks ago).... Ugh. I am READY for Monday! Let this week be over!!

In between all these messes, some truly wonderful things have happened.

1) Digby is still sound. I have no plans on bringing him back into work at this time but perhaps once summer is over? He tends to do best in fall/winter months. The wheels are turning in my head... :)

2) I still have a job. I'm not sure I was ever close to losing it but at this point in my life, with this economy, and the lack of jobs, I'm still happy to have one. Even if it does occasionally (or more than occasionally, depending on the week) suck.

3) As you may remember, I was lamenting about the fact that with Digby's board being raised, I could no longer half lease at my previous barn. It's the one I currently lesson at and there's a horse who is a bit quirky but I adore. With the board being raised, it was just out of financial reach. Due to an extreme show of kindness, an eventing friend has graciously donated a few extra bucks that will allow me to half lease for the summer months. I have no words. I am so touched by the support of a fellow rider that I literally cannot describe how thankful I am. I can only say THANK YOU SO MUCH!

4) I get to go to work, play with baby horses all day, and come home to a gorgeous fluffy cat and a loving dog. My horse is happy, healthy and still comfortable. My leased horse (don't worry, I will blog about that shortly!) is AWESOME. I pray every day that my friends and family get to have the same support and love in their own lives.

To end this post, you get a picture I took of an ADORABLE baby who was sooo tired one afternoon when I was trying to bring him and his mother in:

Pictures like this remind me that my job may suck, but at least there are foals to make me feel better! <3

Daily Dose of Digby (ok, for the past few weeks...)

What Digby's been doing the past few weeks:

A lot of this...

Some of this....

A bit of this too....

TONS OF THIS....

And as always, this... <3

Why I love COTH Forums....

I'm a avid stalker on the COTH forums. While I technically do have a name, I post like twice a year so I just say I stalk. A few days ago a post popped up on my radar about a horse with bipartite navicular. I was, of course, immediately intrigued. Since then, I have acquired the e-mail address of two other ladies who own horses with bipartite navicular! How cool! This makes three people total that I've spoken to with horses like Digby! One has not e-mailed me back yet (it is Memorial Day weekend, she's allowed to be busy I suppose) and the other has e-mailed me back a few times so far. We chatted a bit about our horses, what we've done with them, what we've tried, what's worked, what hasn't. It's just SO refreshing to find someone who is going through a similar problem! Turns out, this woman has a gelding with it and she de-nerved him with much success. I will definitely be mentioning her success to my vet when I call her early next week to let her know about Digby's soundness!

I'm not sure I want to go that route but it's definitely worth mentioning considering her success, isn't it? De-nerving isn't 100% guaranteed to work on any horse, even if the surgery is successful. It also has it's risks. The nerve can grow back thus making the horse lame again or a neuroma can develop. A neuroma is a large bundle of nerve fibers that cause pain at the site where the nerve cut took place. Not exactly ideal.

This is why I LOVE forums. I found people who have experience in something that is extremely rare that I would of never even remotely been in touch with. My vet wouldn't have talked to them, I wouldn't of, my farrier wouldn't of. Now I get to talk to someone who has a similar problem. We can commiserate and share successes! If I can find TWO people with bipartite navicular horses, I'm a firm believer that you can find just about anything online! :)

In other news, have a great Memorial Day weekend! Be safe and have fun!

Comic relief!

For a good laugh, go check this out...

http://galsandhorses.blogspot.com/2012/04/for-sale-or-lease.html

HAHA! :) I needed a good laugh.

Responsible Horse Ownership

There's currently a post on the COTH forums that is from a poster who was looking at a horse to buy. It's a 5 year old QH who was trained in reining. Part of the post is a quote from the owner:

"...He is in egg bar pads but is still lame. I basically have him turned out with minimal riding. I've been told I should turn him out barefoot for about 6 months, which is what Im' going to do on May 1st if I still have him. My vet suggested Tildren and injecting navicular bursas and coffin joints. This is why I need to find him a home. I don't have the money to fix him. He has a cyst on the right navicular. He was born with bipartite naviculars in both fronts although, the right one was questionable at 20 months and is no longer visible. He was lame at 20 months but shoeing and injecting coffins resolved it. He has been slightly lame since Aug 2011. Both naviculars have degenerated. I haven't had him tested for insulin resistance. No vet has offered that...."

This horse has congenital bipartite navicular just like Digby if he was born with bipartite navicular bones. This horse, however, has it in both fronts as opposed to Digby who only has it in his left front. It makes me so sad to hear that someone is trying to SELL their horse because he has this problem because they don't have the funds to fix it. Now, I do not know the original poster, I do not know the horse, or the seller. I'm not in their situations. But I have my own horse with this same problem and trust me, I have limited funds as well.

Let me just start by saying, I can't believe they're trying to sell a horse with that. Who's going to buy it with x-rays like that? No vet is going to be like "yeah this passes the PPE." The owner is at least being open about the horses situation but where are you going to find someone who wants an expensive pasture pet? Digby has been sound 99% of his life and let me tell you, he had a pretty good career. Just look at the jumping video link on my About Digby page. He's 13. He trained to race, did pony races, evented up to novice, went to college, jumped heavily there, showed in the 3' jumpers, jumped up to 4'3", and I dabbled around on him for the past two years. Digby has worked. He's had a career in his life. This horse in question is 5 and has been lame for a while now again after shoeing and injections stopped working. The navicular disease has gotten worse. He's FIVE YEARS OLD. Horses live for a long time. Who wants to spend possibly thousands of dollars on a horse in the future that has been lame already for a great portion of his life and is only 5?

It's possible that 6 months barefoot in a field will help this horse too. Digby's sound again. It's possible if this horse loses weight (I'm assuming he's over weight because the post mentions a possibility of insulin resistance), that will help. It's possible with the best farrier around, a proper diet to encourage weight loss, and a slew of good vets that the horse will get sound. I'd love to hope that the horse can be sound! I really would. Realistically though, could he really? It's a young horse who has had soundness issues basically his entire life so far. Is it even worth it to spend the money? What person is going to step up and take care of a horse like this if not his current owner and possibly breeder if they've had him since so young?

If anyone knows this horse or the owner, I'm sorry. I am not trying to insult them at all. I am frustrated by my limited funds as well. I wish I could find someone who would pay to try to fix Digby. I can't afford to do Tildren on my horse. I can't do stem cell. I can't do PRP. I would do anything to "fix" him but he's not "fixable." It's not possible with my current income. It might not even be possible if I win the lottery (which is at a whopping 640 MILLION dollars at the moment...) unless they have some way to rebuild his entire internal hoof structure. But I would personally never, ever, ever sell Digby. I purchased him. I didn't know of his issue when I bought him but now he's my problem. I wouldn't even give him away unless I was incapable of taking care of him anymore (because of total lack of funds after I sold my car, got rid of my cell phone, did everything else I could or death) and I'd only give him away to someone I knew who was fully aware of the costs, of what the potential costs could be down the road when it gets worse, and what limited information we know about the disease. If I could not find that ideal situation for him, I would donate him to a vet school/clinic for them to put him down and then study his legs and hooves to help future horses.

If my five year old horse kept going lame and I couldn't find a good situation like I mentioned earlier, I'd give him to a vet school/clinic and let them do a bit of research with the horse, then they would put him down and do more research. I know this is how they would proceed because I've asked around for when Digby gets to the point where I can't keep him sound anymore as a pasture puff. I'd love to save all the horses but you just can't sometimes. :( It absolutely breaks my heart to read things like this, especially when they hit so close to home. It's just not fair to the horse to be sold to another home. I would please, please, please hope the owner either puts the horse down (or better yet donates him like I suggested to have him put down afterwards so it helps future horses with this problem) or pays for him to be retired in a field until he is not happy and "comfortable enough" anymore.

Posts like these remind me that it's a degenerative disease and eventually Digby isn't going to stay sound. :( It might be 2 years, it might be 20. It's going to break my heart.

<3 Go hug your horses today.

Vet update!

Just had the vet out earlier today to finish off Digby's yearly shots and discuss our finalized plan for coming into work.

Digby was given the ok to start hand walking if I felt the need in April. I'm planning on hand walking and /or ponying him on trails. He's also given the ok to start riding in May! YESSSSS! :) We're still not allowed to jump (sigh) obviously but he's allowed to be ridden. I just need to keep track of his weight and the footing like we talked about before.

I'm also starting him on a course of Pentosan. I'm not starting it today because he just got his shots but I will in a few days. We talked about Pentosan, Adequan and Legends and decided that we would start with Pentosan. I'm also supposed to give him a vit/min supplement once he goes off grain instead of a ration balancer because it's less calories. I asked for a specific one she recommended but she said find a really expensive one and look for something cheaper with the same things in it. Ha! Ok. She also recommended putting shoes back on and starting him on 1/2 gram bute per day once he goes back into work. I asked about ulcers being on a long term bute management course and she said try it and if he doesn't like it, we'll put him on Previcoxx and treat it with Gastroguard and then leave him on a ulcer preventative supplement.

All in all, a good Digby day. :) I have newer pictures but for some reason my computer is being stupid and won't let me upload onto here. Sorry!

Daily Dose of Digby

Digby and his herd after feeding this afternoon... :) They were wild for a minute before I started filming so this is the tail end! He looks pretty darn sound doesn't he! Let me know if the video doesn't work. Digby is the bay in the blue blanket, for the record.

USEF Small Hunter Division

Read the article here. 

I'm super excited to hear that there is going to be a Small Hunter division again! While Digby can no longer jump so he's not too interested in it, I'm thrilled! The article goes on to say that it's a 3' division, open to juniors, ammies and professionals. The horses allowed to compete with be between 14.2hh and 15.2 1/2hh. I think it's wonderful that these "honys" (like Digby) who were too small to do the bigger shows but aren't ponies now have their own division.

Personally, I have little to no desire to compete in horses that are 16.2 hands + just to be competitive. I'm 5'1" and pretty tiny. I look RIDICULOUS on a 16.2 horse. I look a bit silly on a 16 hand horse if they're built like a tank. While I'm fantastic for selling horses because I make everything look huge, it's just that I... make everything look huge. I'm much more suited for the 14.2-15.2 height range. I'm more comfortable on horses this size, I look better on them and they're usually a little bit more in my price range since there's a lot of people who can't ride them.

I'm very excited and hope that this division does well in the shows! :) Is anyone planning on showing in this division? Or know anyone who will?

Slow updates...

Not much to say! I had a very busy weekend at work, as well as some "normal life" stuff, so I haven't been doing much with Digby. I just curry him off and pick out his feet and let him be a horse. I've asked him to stand still, say yes and say no a couple of times just to do something but otherwise we've had a lazy weekend.

We're in the slow process of switching him over to his spring feed. I'm feeding 3/4 senior feed and 1/4 ration balancer. It's been so warm that I'm doing this a little sooner than I'd like to of but he's at the perfect weight now so probably by mid March he'll be on just ration balancer. We'll see how it goes!

The current barn leasee/manager is staying until April! So I think I will still move him but not till the beginning of April. This makes me a feel a little better and have some time to think and analyze the situation. Yay!

Digby and the herd grazing last week.

TGIF!

Here's a funny video of one of our Standardbred weanlings... :) He's been in for a while for a really bad abscess. He actually left to go back out with his group of weanling friends the day after this so it wasn't his first time out. He's just that cute.

Annddd... as for videos that aren't mine. Check out this video! HOW CUTE!

Daily Dose of Digby

Digby... with his hay hat!

Blondes DO have more fun :)

Electrolytes: the good, the bad and the... ulcers?

Let me start this post off with a big old "I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks!"

Digby is not a big water drinker. I currently supplement him with Apple-A-Day during the cold winter months and during the hot summer months. If he's at a facility that gives beet pulp during the winter, I don't give them because I feel he's doing ok water wise but I'll still give them during the summer. If it goes below 25 degrees, he gets a 1 oz dose of electrolytes in the AM. If the temperature varies greatly, I give him a 1/2 oz dose. In the summer when it's super hot and humid, he gets between 1 oz and 1 1/2 oz. I've tried SmartLytes and while he gobbled it down with no problem, he seemed to sweat more and drink more with Apple-A-Day. I won't use Stress Dex or AccuLytes because of all the sugars and filler in them. It seems to work for him. In the winter, he drinks enough that I don't worry about colic and in the summer months, he sweats.

I've always been under the impression that electrolyte supplements are a bit useless but no harm done unless you give too much. It makes me feel better. He definitely drinks more. Win win. According to some research (thanks to whoever posted about this the on COTH forums!) I didn't know about, electrolyte supplementing can cause ulcers. Oh goodness. Didn't I just discuss how I didn't want to give NSAIDs because I was worried about ulcers? Digby is a worrier by nature and I want to do everything possible to not give him ulcers if he doesn't have them already. I also read that little to no drinking can be a sign of ulcers. I think I knew this already and forgot... Oops.

 He has a Himalayan salt lick in his stall that he does regularly lick. I was thinking of offering him free choice salt (either straight table salt or a mixture of half lite/half table salt) in a small bucket as well to help. Any ideas?

Vet update!

The vet (finally) made it out today to look at Mr Dig My Size. Digby got a couple shots. The vet and I got to discuss lots of good topics. Overall, she's pretty pleased with how he looks. He's at a good weight and seems happy. I'm still supposed to give him off until May. We're going to reevaluate in May if she hasn't come out for spring shots yet.

When he goes back into work, we're going to carefully evaluate the following things:

• Weight
• Footing
• Shoeing
• Medication

Weight being that he typically gets plump during the spring, summer and fall. This is highly frowned upon this year. He needs to be a BCS of 5 if not slightly lower (think 4.75 haha). We need to carefully watch what types of footing he's on and watch what he does best on. We're going to hopefully leave him barefoot but if he doesn't come back into work well, we're going to shoe him like a navicular horse including shoes (perhaps a type of bar shoe that we didn't try) and wedges. I'm supposed to leave him on his hoof supplement and possibly research one for tendon/ligament injuries if I find the money to do so. As for medication, he's currently not on bute or Isox or anything. We can start playing with them if nothing else works. I don't want to keep my horse on bute every day but if it means riding vs no riding, I might have to.

So, overall, she was happy with how he's doing. Now... we wait.

The world of Dino

Dino! From http://ponytude.blogspot.com/

On Friday, I met up with Allison and Dino. You can read her post on the day on her blog which is linked above. Just a little bit of history, I rode Dino at school quite a bit. He was always adorable (still is!) but had a bit of "behavioral" problems. I say behavioral problems in quotes because they miraculously improved by leaps and bounds after the pony was put on a regime of bute. I asked for a vet to come out or even a massage therapist but given the limited budget of any school, it was declined. He was quite naughty and opinionated. He also had issues with sweating known as anhydrosis. 

After Allison got him, she has done a lot of work trying to find out what's wrong with little pony beast Dino. It turns out he has a host of weird problems (not unlike Digby), that include PSSM, anhydrosis, tying up and Cushings. He's been coming along great now that the majority of his "issues" have been fixed. He looks fantastic and is putting on muscle in all the right places.

Rules of Ponyland (aka things I learned while watching Dino):

1. Ponies will be ponies. When you need them to behave, they somehow know and act exactly how you DON'T want them too.
2. Sunflower seeds are delicious. (I knew this because Digby lovesss them... but another opinion always helps!)
3. Dino and Digby must have guardian angels to have such wonderful owners who spend their blood, sweat, tears and hard earned money to find and treat such unusual issues.
4. Being cute always helps. With anything. Any time. Ever.
5. No animal is ever bad, naughty, or rude for months/years on end without a cause. One ride? Maybe. One week? Maybe... but probably not. One month? Definitely not. One year? No freaking way. Something needs to change.

Although Dino was not exactly the super star of the day (he was a bit naughty actually, see rule #1 above), I enjoyed seeing him. He looked fantastic, especially compared to how he was in school. I've seen pictures of him so I chalked up his behavior to the fact that he was just showing off his "bad ass pony skillz" for me. As if I could of forgotten them! :) I was unconcerned by his behavior. Photos don't lie Dino! Videos are even better. Allison and I chatted for quite a bit, talking about Dino's issues and Digby's issues and all the horses we liked at school. It was nice just to see Dino, even if he did wake up on the wrong side of the stall that day, and have another owner who works hard on keeping her unusually problematic equine in the best of possible conditions within a limited budget.

Sometimes you just need a happy ending and, although untraditional, this certainly was one.

No news is good news!

I've tentatively scheduled to see the vet this Thursday. I'm the first appointment so I should have time to get him ready and she shouldn't have to cancel or be late for any reason. I'm being flexible with her because I'm not a high paying client and honestly he doesn't NEED to see her. I just want to see her to discuss a few things and get a few shots. Not a big deal at all.

In other news, there is no real news. Digby's doing well. I've started clicker training him again by reviewing his old tricks (saying yes and no). I haven't been asking him to bow because the chrio/massage lady said it's really bad for his back. Understandable. Plus there's no good area to ask him to. I'm hoping to figure out the command for "stand still" this week. I've put in an e-mail to the school (that's where he learned to say yes and no in the first place) so hopefully they get back to me. He gets so overeager when working with the clicker that I need to convince him to stand still and don't move until I give the command for the next trick.

I also started working on his ground work. He's getting better as he realizes that omg, I HAVE SNACKSSS!! :) This makes him very eager. Unfortunately, I've tried this trick with trails and trailering and it doesn't work so we'll have to make progress with limited treating. I'm thinking maybe I can incorporate the clicker training, which he clearly understands and does well with, into our groundwork sessions.

Have a great week everyone! Look forward to a post about a fellow blogging pony and a vet update later in the week!

Digby, earlier this week.

Totally unrelated but totally cute!

Totally un Digby related but adorable none the less. Foaling shift starts this week (I believe... we're having some "discussions" about when exactly. Sigh. Shouldn't we have figured this out already?! The first mare's due January 25th!) and I am so, so excited to hear little baby whinnies! It's my favorite part! I'll be sure to take lots of photos and put up a post every once in a while of the youngsters.

Daily Dose of Digby

Digby... waiting for his chiro appointment last Monday.

Chiro work!

Digby and his old owner doing some gymnastics, winter 2010. How cute :)

On Monday, Digby had a massage/chiro appointment. His masseuse is a wonderful woman who just ADORES Digby. That makes me happy. He wasn't sore anywhere really but he hadn't been done since June, actually on the day we discovered his congenital bipartite navicular. I figured he was due. He had had his shoes pulled and had to adjust to not working and being turned out a lot more. She was pretty happy. He was a little out by his poll and a little sore in his back, all on the left side but nothing too major.  His hind right was also fairly "locked" but it's fixed now. He's had two massages by her now and he's definitely figuring out what it's about. She doesn't crack them or force the horses into anything which I like. She simply asks them to bend or respond to pressure so that they release themselves. Digby almost has this figured out by the second time. He also drank a lot of water during and after, which is a sign that he's smart. (As if we didn't know this already!) It helps flush all the lactic acid and build up out of his system.

We discussed a lot, everything from ulcers to Digby's diet to his blanket. I'm going to have the vet out after I start foaling shift (no later than Jan 18th!) just for a general check up, to pull a coggins, give him a rabies shot and discuss some of the things we talked about while she was working on him. The wonderful massage lady and I talked about the likeliness of Digby having ulcers. I've never treated him for ulcers and as far as I know he's never been treated ever. He's a little bit of worrier and has been a lot of places in his life. He's had several owners, has had limited turnout for several years, has been on bute/NSAIDs, gets dewormed, and used to be shipped a lot. All of these can be stressful. If you've met Digby, I'm sure you've seen him get stressed at some point. He looks totally fine. He's at a good weight, eats anything and is happy. However, he said due to his colicy nature in winter and just general "worrier" attitude, it might be worth discussing with the vet. If he got ulcers ever in his life, they are certainly still there. Consider it on my "to discuss" list!

She wonders if there isn't something about Digby's nutrition or vitamin/mineral balances that might not make his soreness and lameness worse. It sounds like a complicated chat but it really wasn't. He tends to get sore easier than you would except, has issues with being colicy in the winter, does fine when on electrolytes, and is sound every season but summer... when he's typically getting little to no grain thus not meeting his nutrient requirements. I do try to give him a vit/min supplement from SmartPak but that's just a standard supplement and might not be meeting his personal requirements. I assumed he went lame in the summer because the ground was hard, but to be honest, the ground is pretty darn hard in winter as well and he's sound, sound, sound at the moment. It's just something else I will have to bring up to the vet.

As for the blanket, it's a very heavy blanket weight wise. It's only a medium weight (I believe 180 or 200 fill?) but it's heavy pound wise and she thinks it might be causing some of the soreness in his back. Sigh! Nothing I hadn't thought of myself but frustrating none the less. I guess I'm blanket shopping...

Shamless plug - if anyone is interested in a massage/chiro work up for their horse, let me know. I'll give you her name and number. She's a very nice, helpful lady! Digby lovesss her.

Feed and weight

As you know Digby can be a little bit of a hard keeper in the winter. He's had many, many feeding programs in all seasons. I'll do a quick outline of them here.

Before DelVal
- Mostly unknown. I do know for winter though he got as much hay as he could eat and lots of beet pulp. Grain tends to make the kid a little nuts from a young age, apparently.

At DelVal
- I don't quite remember but I believe it was a handful of sweet feed for most seasons. I'm not sure about winter.

With his next owner
- Free choice hay, 2 qts beet pulp and 2 qts 10%/10% Pennfield Grand Prix Granola twice a day. He came to me looking great. Probably a BCS of 5 and very fit. I did look at putting him back on Pennfield when I moved to a self care barn but it's very expensive. I figured I'd try other options first. I still wish it was cheaper but it's a high quality grain for sure. He looked fantastic, in good weight and was being worked pretty darn hard, as well as having a full body clip.

With me in NY
- Round bales while outside, 3-4 flakes of hay while inside given 3x a day, more if kept inside all day due to weather, 3 qts local feed mill senior pellets 2x day. 2qts beet pulp in PM as wel. Kept weight on for the rest of the winter at a BCS of 5, maybe 5.5.
- Spring: gradually backed off grain until turned out in May as a live out. Had acres of fresh grass. No grain.

With me in PA (first barn)
- 2-3 flakes hay 2x a day, given no grain at first. As winter approached, started gradually upping grain from handful to 3 qts 10% pellet for a local feed mill. He was in work, though possibly not as hard as last winter due to my fault not his, and had a full body clip. I asked to have his grain switched to senior but that was frowned upon. I was also not allowed to buy beet pulp to feed. He ended up being about a BCS of 3.5. It took till I moved in April to get weight back on.

Second barn in PA
- BCS of about a 4.5 when I moved. Was started on McCauleys WB100, 2lbs 2x a day and 2 flakes of alfalfa 3x day. Had access to fresh grass when outside. Gradually brought down to 1lb WB100 and then when he went lame, was put on McCauleys M30 1/5 lb per day and hay was reduced to 1 flake of alfalfa 3x day.

Current barn in PA
- BCS of 6 when moved. Currently a 5. Started on small amounts of Triple Crown Senior and gradually upped as winter got colder. Currently gets 4-5 flakes (more if it's absolutely freezing, like the past few nights) when in at night, otherwise has free choice round bales in field and limited grass outside. Getting 5 lbs total for the day of TC Senior. He also gets a half dose of electrolytes when the temps are unusually warm, cold, or the temp at night goes below 25. This is a prevention measure since he is not getting beet pulp or soaked feed to help him get more water in. He has, as far as I've known, coliced twice. Both times were in the winter. I use electrolytes to try to get him to drink as much as possible to prevent this.


Here's the good part. I preemptively upped him a little last week since it's so, so cold here with lows going into the teens at night! He actually put weight ON! Holy crap. Now, he's not in work, he's not body clipped and he's still wearing blankets of various weights depending on the temps but holy crap. He's notorious for not being able to keep weight on. I wish I remembered what DelVal had him eating (maybe someone else does??) during the winter cause he was skinny there too. He's pretty calm as well, not hot at all to work around, which makes me happy. Could I get away with this feeding regime if he was being worked? No idea. TC Senior is low NCS (aka low sugar and starch... or jet fuel, as Digby likes to think) and pretty high fat which is supposed to be "cool" energy because horses don't burn it off like they do sugars. So maybe it would work. I'm so pleased that he's keeping weight on and actually PUTTING it on even when it's so cold out! Yay. Happy dance for Digby.

I've started thinking about what I'm going to do come spring, fall and summer when he doesn't need the calories at all. I think I'm going to put him on Triple Crown Lite or TC 30% which foods designed to be full of the good stuff (vitamins, minerals and aminos acids that they need) without a whole lot of calories. It looks to me that the TC 30% is actually lower calorie and you feed less of it so I'll probably lean that way. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm just happy he's not a skinny mini! :) Go Digby! And a big thank you to Triple Crown for keeping him sane and still plump!

2012 goals.

2012 goals

1. Get and keep Digby SOUND - He's currently sound. We just need to keep him there. I will have the vet out soon to do a yearly check up on him and hopefully discuss some options of keeping him sound.
2. Learn better ground manners - This will come into effect once I start foal watching at the middle/end of this month and have days off during the week. I want him to be more respective. And, for gods sake Digby, stand STILL on the cross ties. This has been worked on every single time I put him on cross ties but he still does it. He might always do it.
3. Keep a healthy weight - He tends to lose weight in the winter and gain weight easily every other season. I'm trying to keep him at a slim 5 on the BCS system this year to put the least amount of stress on his joints.
4. Be more confident jumping - This one is for me. I'm going to start riding again when I go to foal watch schedule and want to start working on my position over fences more seriously. I tend to lose my leg over the fence more than I'd like to admit and it makes me less confident. It's not that I'm scared to jump, I just lack a good lower leg and sometimes I get a little nervous because of that.
5. RIDE DIGBY - Enough said!

If all goes well, Digby will be brought back into work some time in May. Fingers crossed, toes crossed, prayers, jingles, whatever else that he stays sound. Ideally, I'd love for him to stay sound (even if it requires maintenance such as Adequan, bute, Isox, etc) and be able to do a little lower level dressage. Maybe we could find a trail riding buddy and tackle some trails to get back into shape? Digby definitely can't do that alone. He needs a confident, not spooky friend to hold his hoof the entire time. Possibly due to the fact that he associates trails with cross country... but I'd prefer the calmer, walking, trotting, a little cantering type trails.

Digby. 7/3/10. One of my favorites. :)

What are your horsey goals for 2012? What about your non horsey ones? I'd love to hear them!