lupinfarm's journal: a pretty little wilderness

[lupinfarm]

We went to Bethany to see Crystal (the pony) today and stopped in to the Orono Co-op, which BTW has changed a whole lot! Anyway, mum fell in love with her instantly and we're getting things organized so that Christine's husband can trailer her over here in the next couple weeks.

Just a question for you guys, she's on hay and grain right now and she's on the skinny side... how much should we feed her a day to get her back up in weight? ... She's on a sweet feed right now and hay, we have an alfalfa mix hay (not too much of the alfalfa because there wasn't a whole lot in the field when it was baled).

 

[freemotion]

If she's only "a bit on the thin side" just feed her good hay and she will gain the weight slowly, as she should.

You can gradually introduce some beet pulp, soaked of course, mixed in with her grain. I say gradually because some horses don't like the taste/texture at first. But it is a safe way to put on a little weight without too much grain and risk of founder.

I don't like to feed horses straight alfalfa, anyways, so the mix is ok. I like grass hay better.

If her coat is rough, you can add a little corn oil daily to her feed, no more than 1/2 cup total, gradually increasing it. Watch for bowel tolerance. It will help her shed out nice and glossy this spring, after some neglect.

But my favorite is still good grass hay and then nice pasture and let the weight come back slowly, as long as she is not dangerously thin. Have fun with her!

 

[lupinfarm]

By the way, this our girl still at the rescue...

 

[patandchickens]

Cute face I'd just make sure she has plenty of good quality hay, preferably a alfalfa-grass mix (with DECENT alfalfa in it, not just all thick stems and the leaves all fallen off as dust). Honestly I would not grain her, it's just asking for problems (especially in a pony) with no real benefits.

You might want to have a soundness exam done before you put her into work. Her muscling makes me suspicious that there may be things you'd want to be aware of.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[lupinfarm]

Yeah she sees to me like she's been worked a lot on the front end, perhaps a kids western pony for a while? ... Pal had a similar body type when we got him.

 

[OkieJonesClan]

She is pretty. Congrats. What a pretty coat she has

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

She is so pretty!!!!

 

[punkin]

She has beautiful coloring. I'm sure she will fill out nicely under your good care.

 

[lupinfarm]

Crystal, who we've renamed Luna came this afternoon and settled in right away with a good roll in the snow. We're getting snow this week so we're going to have to either set up the barn before wednesday or get her a rain sheet before wednesday.

It's her first night out there in the big field and I would rather have had her in the roundpen tonight but it was too late to get her in there, and I didn't have enough time over the weekend to fill the holes in the gate opening on her field, and put a gate on the roundpen. I'll see about posting some photos tomorrow!

 

[lupinfarm]

Luna is doing great! ... We bought her a cute waterproof weatherbeata shell today and turns out she doesn't mind being blanketed because we put it on her and she was just like... "ehhh whatever"

Also, Thursday we get our feral cats from the Toronto Humane Society! they're fixed, and have had all their shots so that's kind of exciting. We've also got to pick up some clean fill to fill the holes out side Lunas paddock gate, and get the stall ready for Wednesday night as we're supposed to get rain on Thursday now.