Hope you've been having a wonderfully horsey fall. Today I'd thought I'd write about how I take care of Littles, and some of the special things I do for her. Since she has come to hat trick (our new barn) and been in full work she has changed so much! She truly transformed from a pony who no one rode or really cared much about, into an amazing athlete and my best friend in the world.
First of all, Littles is on indoor board. This means she goes outside in a paddock with other horses all day, and then comes in at night. For the winter, she will definitely stay on indoor board. She doesn't grow much of a coat and she isn't the biggest fan of the cold, as well as I feel safer having her in the barn at night where she can be checked on an monitored. I know I am a little paranoid, but things like water consumption, bowel movements, and behavior can tell you a lot about your horses health, and having her indoors helps me better monitor that.
I also provide her with a mineral block. This is just my way of ensuring she gets all the right minerals in her diet. I put it in her food bucket so it's easily accessible. She has free choice, and consumes only as much as she needs.
After I ride, I always make sure to stretch out her legs and rub down her cannons. As well, I always ride her with boots of some kind. I'm a bit of a boot fanatic, and may make a blog about that later on. It's just so important to take care of those legs! So much strain is put on their tiny legs and it's super important to take the necessary precautions to prevent injury.
Now onto how much I ride her, and what we generally do in a week. Littles is ridden 6 or 7 days a week. She is a very hot horse so it's important to keep her working. She really isn't the kind of pony you can just throw in the field for a month, pull her out, and expect not to die. We generally have one jumping lesson a week. And sometimes we jump school an extra day. So probably about two days of jumping a week. We don't regularly jump her huge, more often we just do grids, rollbacks, tight turns, etc... We already know she can jump whatever we put in front of her, it's more about what's in between right now.
Out of the 7 days, we spend at least 2-4 seriously flatting. This includes transitions, leg yielding, shoulder in, haunches in, among other things. Getting her to use her body right is important for any jumping we do. Her flatwork is improving greatly, and it really impacts her jumping too. I've always been told a good jumping horse schools 2nd level dressage, so I'm really hoping to get Littles to that point someday.
The other days that we aren't flatting or jumping, we're probably doing stupid things bareback. It's important to mix some fun into your routine. We've done bareback barrel racing, tackless riding/jumping, even pulling a sled!
A couple extra things that are so so so important for any horse. Water! They need lots and lots of water, as it is the number 1 protector against colic. They also need free choice hay, especially during the winter. Horses diet mainly consists of forage, and when the grass dies, they need a LOT of hay.
So there are my little tips, tricks, and routines for maintaining my equine athlete. Sorry that blog was a bit all over the place, but I hope you enjoyed! I've got a lot of good blog ideas, so I will probably start posting more in the coming week or two. Remember to hug your horses!
Annie and Littles
