We all read, horses need a consistent diet.  Don't change things, only make changes over weeks.  Change is bad. Like anything taken too far a consistent diet can be just as bad as a diet with too much change.  From a taste perspective.  Horse needs some medicine for tummy or muscles or cold or you get the idea.  A horse that is used to having the taste of their food change here and there are more apt to eat up when you need them to.   A month ago I needed to give my mare some antibiotics for a cold and she ate them mixed with her grain with out a problem.  Different tasting water? not a problem.  From a gut bacteria perspective only having the same food can mean only feeding the same bacteria.  A bit of variety here can encourage a full colony of good bacteria that can make the difference when your horses diet changes.

Not All Supplements Are Equal

We all know not all manufactured supplements are equal.  Some work better than others.  One companies put weight on horse supplement works great.  But their joint supplement doesn't work as well as another companies joint supplement.  Yet the main ingredients look the same.  

This is a clue as to why some work better than others.  http://holistichorse.com/Nutrition/the-importance-of-digestive-absorption.html

Turns out we need to be experts on the main ingredients and the minor ingredients.  My suggestion?  Try a brand if it doesn't seem to work change brands.

My favorite quote.  Albert Einstein Quotes. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 


Finding someone to ride with can be a chore.  The worst.  Personalities have to mesh between horses and riders.  But I have found it is very worth the time and effort.  There are always a luck few :-) who seem to magically improve without a riding instructor. The rest of us?  Takes time and energy to improve.  If you are just doing the same thing you have done before you are not improving.  Improving means you are learning, trying new ideas, even chucking new ideas that don't work. 


Why this quote? every time I start riding by myself for to long I fall back into bad habits, the definition of insanity,  How about you?  What is your definition of insanity statement?

Time for me to stop training and start riding

You spend hours training your horse, then you go somewhere and well,,,, train your horse.  :-)  Me?  My mare did awesome the other day.  Sure she is not perfect LOL, but after sleeping on how she did, I made the comment that it was time.  You ask time for what?  Time for me to start working on Me.  I need to get quiet, supportive and hold up my side of the partnership.  Basically trainers warm up their horses with a basic plan (like stretching before doing a sprint race), depending on the horse they may include a light reminder about an item or two.  During the race, they where in the moment riding their race.  After the race a few came back in and did some light reminder training before leaving.  I noticed a real focus, the pros where riding their race probably from the moment they got up that morning.  As they warmed up, waited their turn, and rode their race they where focusing on Riding Their Race.

Its time, time for me to be in the moment and Ride My Race.

Sweet Feed

Sweet Feed for my horses is for hiding the vitamins and supplements.  Since finding a really great herbal person it also hides herbs.  Do you think I can find high molasses content sweet feed? nope, the manufactures are all cutting back on the sweets because we as consumes are saying we want to feed lots of sweet feed without lots of sweet.  First I noticed doubling the amount of sweet feed to get the horses to eat the additives, so after some thought, went and purchased some molasses.  Now the horses and I am happy again.  Sometimes you have to adjust when manufactures adjust what they offer.

Sharing and Learning

Have a friend who is a barrel racer in Alaska. After another winter in Colorado, was sharing with her about some changes I made in my riding. The fun and interesting item that came up, is that some really nice barrel racers in Colorado mentioned I should go to the horn sooner and stay on the horn longer. Me I was like well there is this and that reason for not. So after a winter of working on learning to go to the horn, I shared with my friend about going to the horn sooner. And you just know she had the same reaction I had. :-) It made me feel better :-)

Be open to learning, its okay to take your time thinking a new item thru before implementing the new way of doing things.

Should top riders bring their top horses?

In Barrel Racing you get all sorts. Some are complainers, its not fair. Me? Bring Game ON :-) Was talking to a very nice competitor and she mentioned that she was not riding her rodeo horse, because people would complain. Ouch.

There are so few events where its $1,000 or more added and open to all comers. This year there are just 3 such events in my area.

One way of thinking about these events is, this is my opportunity to compete against the best. This is how I choose to look at it.

So Complainers go complain somewhere else. When I am ready to compete maybe I will offer to pay her entry, just so I can really see how good I am. Winning means nothing if the competition doesn't show up.