Hungry, Hungry Horses!

Getting caught up from yet another busy weekend...Saturday was spent competing Twix the Super Pony at the Maryland Horse Trials (where he finished 5th in a very competitive Novice division and jumped double-clear despite me riding like a monkey in SJ!) Sunday I returned to the horse trials to volunteer as a dressage scribe. So if you competed in Ring 2 on Sunday and don't understand your comments, just shoot me an email! I really enjoy working as a scribe - it's helped me really appreciate the showmanship involved with throwing down a good test. And, as a Chief HM Judge, I feel totally validated when the judges make comments about horse and rider pairs who are wonderfully turned out!

Anyway, I was all set to go riding after work when Twix's owner called and said the main highway that I take to get up there was closed in both directions because of a gas line break. Eek. Traffic up to "my boys" is already pretty horrible, so I can't imagine how it was with over 6 miles closed in both directions. So early night back in DC...hanging out with my guinea pigs, Chuck and Mortimer (apartment-sized herbivores!) and figuring out what I should write about to best help you prepare for Festival, and I came up with "Feeds and Feeding."

Here in the Capital Region, and similarly for some of the other Pony Club regions in this area, we host predominantly one-day rallies. Gates open at 6 am, the briefing is usually at 7:15 am, and the first turnout inspections are at 8 am. Depending on our numbers, we can be done as early as 2 pm, or as late at 7 pm. The main reason why we have one-day rallies is that although we are in the heart of horse country, it is very difficult for us to procure an affordable facility that has sufficient stabling and riding areas. So while I know my Pony Club members are pretty awesome in the one-day rally format, I always worry a little bit when I ship them off to Championships because they are not used to a lot of the extra judging that goes on at an overnight rally.

One of the big things we miss in the one-day rally format is the opportunity to set up a feed room/trailer, and unfortunately this is one of the areas that I see as being the weakest across the board at Championships, particularly for regions like my own who are not as experienced in the multi-day rally format. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the "common mistakes" we see with feed rooms/trailers.

1) The Feed Chart. The HM Committee is always looking for ways to provide better guidance on how to put together a useful feed chart, but I think it's best to look at the purpose...Just as Iwas not able to get to my horses today because of a gas leak that closed the highway, it is possible that something could happen that would result in you arriving late to the Horse Park to feed in the morning. Thus, the purpose of the Feed Chart is to effectively communicate to anyone, not just a teammate, WHAT and HOW MUCH your horse eats, and WHEN he/she eats it. The information on the chart (and labels on the actual items) should be descriptive enough for an AHMJ to readily identify who gets fed what. Everything should be listed in weight, rather than volume (e.g., "6 lbs of Timothy hay" or "1 lb of Senior Sweetfeed"). You can list a conversion of your "scoop" (such as "4 quarts scoops = 1 lb Sweet feed"), but the chart must have some sort of weight listing. The feed chart should also list all supplements and medications to be administered and with which feedings they occur. Supplements and medications do NOT need to be listed in weight.

2) Hay. The biggest mistakes I see with hay are a) not labeling your hay with a simple duct tape label, and b) not tying it up after you've taken what you need at feeding time.

3) Grain/Concentrate Storage. So this is always a little tricky, and trust me, HM judges don't want to make it tricky. Basically, storage containers need to prevent the grain from getting moldy, but also prevent any animals (usually horses, but we all know that random small rodents mill around the barn late at night!) from getting into the food, eating it, and possibly getting very sick from eating too much at once. Horse trailers as feed rooms are considered "secure" and thus, you don't need to worry as much about horses getting into the storage bins (unless your horse is REALLY proficient at opening the side doors of a trailer or the ramp!) If you end up in with a feed STALL, however, you do need to secure the lids of your storage containers as described in HM Rule 13d. I strongly recommend pre-packaging your grain (making sure each meal properly labeled), unless all of the horses on your team eat the same feed. And I always recommend packing an extra day's worth of meals...just in case! And remember - plastic baggies are NOT acceptable for grain storage!!!

4) Top Off Buckets. Crazy old people like me may still call these "fire buckets" (like we could put out any sizable fire with our 5 gallon buckets! And geez, don't we require legit fire extinguishers??) Basically, every night before barns close, you need to put out labeled bucket of drinking water for us to use to top off your horse's water buckets during night checks. And yes, we do night checks. And yes, if you forget to put out a bucket, we will find a way to make sure your horse gets water, but make it easy on us and just put the bucket out every night! In the morning, you should empty the top off buckets and store them in the tack room. If you leave them out all day, the water inevitably gets gunky and gross. One of the biggest problems we see here is buckets that are too small. Top offs need to be 5 gallons, or two buckets that combine to be 5 gallons. You can use an extra "traditional" water bucket, "pickle" or "paint" buckets (like those big buckets they sell at Home Depot) or a combination of two small 2.5 gallon buckets. Please note, Cosequin buckets are NOT 5 gallons, so if you use them for top off buckets, you should probably use two.

5) Showing Up Late in the AM. You might be thinking, "what does this have to do with feeds and feeding?" Well, the reason why we have official "barns open/closed" times is to try and make sure horses are fed at approximately the same time, preventing a lot of kicking, fussing, squealing, and general shenanigans that can ultimately result in injury. The whole team can arrive together to do morning chores, or just one or two team members can come early to get the horses fed, but they must be fed within a reasonable timeframe of "barns open."

Alright, all this talk of feeds and feeding has made me hungry...

7 days until the official start of Festival 2011!!!