Horses Have to Eat Too, Right?

All my horses tend to be chow hounds. In late spring and summer they live strictly off pasture and a daily treat of fruit or carrots. In fall and winter, I supplement with grain in differing proportions depending on how much green grass and hay is available. The grain ration is never enough for my guys.
And that can be a problem, both physically and behaviorally.

Cody puts on weight easily. Already this fall he's a fat little butterball, which is a problem because miniatures are especially prone to diabetes. Yet he's only getting a bit of grain right now to counter the pasture they're on where the drought's sucked much of the nutrition right out of the dead grass.

Cody pretending to be slim - he was too vain to have a new picture taken.

When I'm distributing their grain, Bonita follows me from feed bowl to feed bowl, trying to snatch a mouthfull from each. Because she's the baby of the herd at just a year old, I put feed in her bowl last. Eventually she'll learn patience. Her mother, Bella, did.

Bonita checking out the "treat wagon"

After being Hah!'ed at enough and told "Not your bowl!" a hundred times, Bella figured out it takes me as long to put grain in everyone's bowls as it does for her to walk once slowly around the outside of the barn. She learned to self-regulate! So now I don't dawdle when I feed because I want to be sure there's food in her bowl by the time she comes back in.

Bella had colic recently and I stayed up with her during the night walking her a bit and rubbing her tummy and generally worrying over her. A fair percentage of horses die each year from severe cases of colic, so it always requires a sharp eye to be sure it's not developing beyond a simple, mild case. Luckily, Bella responded well to pain meds and being fussed over. It took her a couple of days to come back 100% but once the crisis point was past, I was grateful.

Bella, feeling much better thank you.

So much to worry about with the horses seems to be over what they're eating or how they're eating it. May I just ask how horses survive and thrive in the wild? Do we over-coddle?

Of course, my little beasties love to be coddled.

Speaking of which, Ricky showed up Saturday morning with this mysterious coiffure.

Reminds me of those mysterious crop circles that appear overnight.

Hmmm... isn't it Queen Mab of the Faeries who comes in the night to braid horses' manes? Or perhaps it's the little girl who lives on the other side of the pasture.

~~~

No guest post for Wednesday, but I do have a story about a very naughty lizard. Plus, I've got a meme in my back pocket that I haven't forgotten about...

Birth Day

This post was originally published October 16, 2010.

This little filly was born Friday morning. Right now she's a mousy gray with gray-blue eyes on her way to being who knows what color once she sheds her baby fur. It was a clockwork birth and the as-yet-unnamed little girl and her mama are doing great. Bella, the mare, is half Miniature and half Shetland Pony, and is pony-sized. The baby is sooo tiny compared to her. But she's tough and sturdy and already trotting around like a pro. I kept close watch on them all day yesterday and I never saw the baby lie down; in fact, I caught her drowsing on her feet a couple of times. Talk about growing up fast!

Unfortunately, this was an unplanned pregnancy and what happens when you wait too long to geld young studs. Gelding will be soon on the agenda while the weather is still nice.

This is the filly at a little over an hour old.

First breakfast!

Talking with Mom and looking a lot like a stuffed toy.

Sharing the sun and doing her baby donkey impression.
What she lacks in elegance she makes up for in adorability.

Wondering about her place in the world.

A close up of her blue eyes. They'll likely change to brown, but her brown-eyed mother came from a breeder who specifically bred for blue.

Ricky, the likely daddy, very curious and concerned about what's going on with his girlfriend in the pasture across the driveway. He's been whinnying. A lot.