Hay in Florida is always expensive. It is mostly trucked in from quite a distance, some from Canada and some from the mid-west. Usually the quality is excellent, but it is not unusual to pay $17 – $20 U.S. per 60lb bale. It’s, therefore, rather important that every scrap gets eaten and there is absolutely no waste.
This is where our Haysmart hay nets come into their own. Especially with the rather piggy types like Riley, who could inhale their whole hay ration in one plunge if they could just get enough hay into their mouthes at once. The Haysmart nets mean that nothing falls on the floor and the piggly wigglys have something to occupy them for more than 10 minutes!
Riley (Rather Boldly) is entered for the Ocala Horse Park and the Three Lakes events in February. He will debut at Ocala in the Open Training, and then he will run in the Open Preliminary at Three Lakes. Three Lakes is a new venue and it will be fun to do a completely new course with the horses.
Our wonderful saddle sponsors, Voltaire Saddles, have been kind enough to give us new beautiful girths to go with our comfortable Voltaire saddles. This year, Solo is getting fitted with a new saddle. We can’t wait to show it to you. He has always been awkward to fit, as he has a wide back with a prominent wither. Voltaire take the time to make sure the fit is everything we need and it is exciting to know that Solo will have that extra special comfort and support from his saddles going into 2016.
Benny and Rummy, the OTTBs are living an idyllic life. They do light work, usually just a little lunging every second day and go out in the paddock together every morning for about four hours. Back into their stalls for snacks and a little nap before dinner. I am trying to make sure that they gain every pound possible before they do the big ship to Florida. It’s a long haul and neither of them have ever shipped that kind of distance before. We are envisaging that they will lose weight on the journey and we are prepping them as carefully as possible. They are still on Purina’s Equilibrium Fibra Plus, but have now had their grain increased slightly as neither of them show any signs of being hot or excitable on this diet, they are just gaining weight and settling down. They are both on Omega Alpha’s Biotic 8 and they will get Omega Alpha RegenerEQ and Gastra FX to help deal with the stress of shipping. I am excited to show you their new ‘after’ photos, which will be two months from when we picked them up.
Rummy is dead quiet in the paddock. Never thinks of being naughty or annoying his neighbours. Benny, however, is always poking and prodding Rummy to see if he can get him to run around a little. A couple of days ago, they started galloping around the outside of the paddock. We all ran out with grain to try and slow things down. It’s never fun when they get running and it’s even less fun when they do it on the snow and muck of winter. Even as I was willing them to slow down (their tails were up and they were having none of it) I couldn’t help but admire them both. They were so fast and graceful, light on their feet and very sure footed. I must admit I am quite smitten by them both.
