Horses | Chris's Blog

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http://blogs.talygarnec.co.uk/2010/02/nestle-get-set-go-free-promotion/ I think they are having a laugh. 4 days ago
Come to "Unaffiliated Show Jumping" 21 March from 10:00 to 17:00. Unaffiliated Show Jumping Starts with Lead rein... http://bit.ly/dkAclC 1 week ago
I posted 4 photos on Facebook in the album "Amelia and Jaffa" http://bit.ly/cGBWie 1 week ago
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Splash

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

It is 6.55am and I am on the train to Sheffield Uni with Martha. So I thought I would take this opportunity to write a blog as I haven’t had much time lately. On the New horse front Abbi went home – too nappy and bucking. Billy came and went – bucking and Jimbob will be staying. The 15hh horse that was supposed to be arriving didn’t but there is the possibility of another 15hh horse coming soon. I had a message off splash’s owner yesterday which I found quite amusing. She said she hasn’t seen Splash for nearly two years but she has seen pictures of him on our website doing show jumping and dressage so she figured he must be worth a bob or two now and she wants to sell him and do we want to buy him. The answer to that is NO definitely not. Splash is an 8/9yr old 16hh shire cross. Yes he does do the dressage competitions here even winning his class last Sunday. BUT it was a walk trot class as he is not controllable in canter and there was only 5 adults in the class. He had no warm up beforehand otherwise he gets too worked up. Show Jumping competitions – well as some of you have already witnessed are horrendous. It amounts to a wall of death for the very brave or very stupid. Lessons are manageble for fairly strong riders, he is never ridden by novices. For some reason that is beyond me or Amelia the people that ride him really like him. I think this is because he has no malice in him and they think he genuinely trys to do as asked. I found out some history about him the other day that explains a lot. Apparently before we had him he was ridden and jumped by a young girl who is brave but inexperienced in the schooling of horses and therefore was probably ridden like a big pony. Splash is a horse that trys to please and therefore would’ve tried to jump whatever was asked of him but he would’ve been scared and she wouldn’t have noticed probably jumping him higher than he was confident to do and making the mistake of thinking he was loving it cause he goes like a bat out of hell and hurls himself over. The outcome of this inexperienced schooling of young horses Is typically Splash, a horse that is tense and scared and does things fast out of fear and unfortunately will probably carry that baggage with him for the rest of his life. It is such a shame because his type is the sort that with calm, kind and sensible handling he should have been a calm and steady horse. I was thinking more on the lines of giving him the summer to see if we can make any further progress with him or sending him back. Martha was impressed with the course on offer for Journalism and Sheffield is now looking like the favourite. I have been enjoying these jaunts around the country viewing prospective Universities. Although the train journey today was less than impressive. Why is it dearer to travel at peak times when there is less chance of getting a seat, surely it should be cheaper. I must admit to being somewhat peeved at paying £153 for two return tickets from Cardiff to Sheffield only to find that we had to sit on the floor between Bristol and Cheltenham Spa. Having arrived back in Cardiff at 8.30 with 40 minutes to wait for the connection to Pontyclun we decided to get something to eat We found a Take away on Mary Street called Wok and Walk, Stir fry in a box How cool is that

Posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 1:34 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Snow

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

I’ve always liked the snow especially when is newly fallen and carpets everything in a lovely white blanket. It looks so nice in Austria and that’s where it should stay and if I want to see it I’ll go there on holiday. Here it is such an inconvenience. On Tuesday it wasn’t too bad but I knew they had forcasted snow so we double rugs 28 horses which are normally in and put them out leaving 4 in, Amelia’s two, Storm cause she fights and Michigan cause he jumps field fences and runs away and I’m so glad we did. Wednesday we couldn’t get anything in or anything out but not to worry 2 days of snow then it rains washes it all away and we’re back to normal, well thats what normally happens obviously not this time. We have had to cancel all evening lessons this week as once the temperature drops in the evening and everything freezes it is difficult to drive up the lane. We have only one tap working so Steve has spent all his time transporting water and hay around the fields. Staff and students can’t get in so there’s not much help either, although Jess, Caroline and Gareth have all managed one day. We did manage some lessons in the day today but the dressage has been cancelled tomorrow. Jennifer was supposed to fly home from Portugal Thurday but her flight was cancelled, having arrived at the airport severely hung over from the goodbye party the night before she then had to return to her apartment. Having packed to leave she had given away or thrown out all her food, shampoo, soap, etc and returned the radiator she had borrowed. Fortunately her agent got her on a plane to London yesterday and she gets home tomorrow. Steve goes into hospital Monday for surgery. So that means me and Amelia and the Quad if this snow keeps up. It will probably be worse for me if it starts to thaw though, I imagine we will have a lot of burst pipes and my plumbing skills are not that good. I’m not sure Unibond and sellotape will work. The horses don’t seem any worse for their unexpected holiday. I think they are far happier out as long as they are warm and have plenty of food and water. Colic is a worry after the incident with Fred and therefore we need to make sure they are drinking enough. I am very impressed with my garden pond/waterfall which has frozen up considerably but is still pumping the water

If these Artic weather conditions keep up Please check the Website for updates on lessons and competitions http://www.talygarnec.co.uk/

Posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 11:54 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Colic

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Working with horses in bad weather is difficult enough but ice has got to be the worst. Last Monday morning we’d had a covering of snow overnight which had turned to ice. It was not possible to get the horses in from the field or the ones that were in out of the stables. Tuesday morning the ice was as bad and we decided to leave the horses out until lunchtime. Hoping it might thaw enough to get them in. The ice was still bad but we had some grit we could put down and we managed to get in the horses and ponies needed for lessons that night and the Christmas gymkhana the following day. The rest we left out with hay in the field. Jess who had noticed that Fred had been lying down in the field was concerned that he seemed quite stressed in the stable so I went to have a look at him. As soon as I saw Fred I knew he had colic symptons. He was quite distressed. I took his rugs off as he was sweating and his respiration rate was over 45 breaths a minute (normal being between 8 to 15) He seemed more settled laying down although he did try to roll. I called the vet out. It was impossible to walk him as there was ice all over the yard. Although walking is useful for about 15 minutes if the colic is spasmodic it does nothing but tire your horse out if there is an impaction present. When the vet arrived she was quite concerned. She took his temperature and pulse which was up a bit and then gave him an injection of Buscopan which is a muscle relaxant, she then had a feel internally and felt that the colic was caused by an impaction. This is the more serious type of colic and is the major cause of death in horses. The vet was not happy with his capillary refill and decided to adminster Liquid paraffin staright away. This involved passing a tube down through his nostril and into his stomach then mixing Liquid paraffin with warm water and pouring about third of a bucket through a funnel and down the tube. Hopefully the liquid paraffin will pass through the system and break down the blockage. The vet also injected some strong pain killers. We called the vet again at half five but there had been no change and although Fred was looking comfortable in himself due to the pain killers he had still not passed any droppings or ate or drank anything. The on call vet rang back at 7pm but there was still no change and he came out again at 10pm. He was pleased that Fred wasn’t any more distressed and looked well in himself and therefore felt that the cause was an impaction and not a twist but he was concerned that it had been at least 12 hours since he had ate or passed any droppings. Having had two horses with a severe impaction in the past both of which died I was now extremely worried. We ran the tube through the nostril again and adminstered more liquid paraffin and more pain killers the vet also had a feel internally whilst doing this he dislodges some dropping which he felt looked oily as though the paraffin was getting through. He left with instructions to monitor him through the night and try to get him to eat or drink. I stayed up till 3pm and Steve took over from 4am. As the vet suggested we tried him with Bran mash, apples, carrots, apple juice in his water and handfuls of grass, the grass was the only thing he took an interest in but that was only to nibble a bit and spit it out. The following morning I rang at 10am, still no change. The vet said he would be out at 12 noon, this was now over 24hours with no food and no droppings. The vet arrived at 12pm and again was pleased that he wasn’t looking to distressed as the pain killers would have been wearing off by now and decided to adminster one last dose of liquid paraffin. We had 40 plus kids in the indoor school for the Xmas Gymkhana at this point and I didn’t want them to see this so Jodie kept them in the school whilst Amelia and I assissted the vet. The vet felt that as he was comfortable we should give him more time and only make the decision to put him down if he became distressed. Only a handful of staff were aware of the situation and we have never been so pleased to see droppings in the stable at 4pm in the afternoon and an obvious wet patch, although he was still not eating. I stayed up most of the night on wednesday with him and on Christmas eve he did start to nibble at the grass i had picked so Steve found some grit to make a path from his stable to the garden so I could let him graze. He wasn’t very enthusiastic about eating but at least he was picking a bit. I am pleased to say by Christmas Day he seems to be back to normal. Sarah and Dave from Davey King Vet Practice Bridgend were marvellous and couldn’t have done more for him.

Posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 2:57 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Feeding Horses

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Last week during our student theory lessons I was teaching feed including calculating feed rations for horses in different enviroments, some students were having a little difficulty working out feed rations so I found this piece on the internet which I thought maybe of interest.

The Impact of Cold Weather The following formula is used to calculate the increased DE (daily energy) requirement for a horse as a result of cold temperatures and wet, windy conditions: critical temperature – actual temperature = % increase in DE required.

Adjusting Energy Intake: An Example The following example clarifies how to adjust energy intake for a dry environmental temperature of 30°F with a wind chill that results in an actual temperature of 25°F. The example applies to a 1,100-pound horse at maintenance.

Step 1. Subtract the actual temperature (including the wind-chill adjustment) from the critical temperature (accounting for wet conditions if necessary): 45°F – 25°F = 20% increase in DE requirements.

Step 2. Because a 1,100-pound horse at maintenance requires 16.4 Mcal of DE per day and because the horse in this example requires a 20% increase in DE, you multiply as follows: 16.4 Mcal x 20% = +3.28 Mcal increase. The requirement thus increases as follows: 16.4 Mcal + 3.28 Mcal = 19.68 Mcal DE/day.

Step 3. Next you need to determine the amount of feed necessary to supply these increased calories. A 1,100-pound horse typically consumes 19 pounds of ration daily (1.7% of its body weight). Because the recommended DE level of the ration (concentrate mix plus forage) fed to a horse at maintenance is .90 Mcal DE/lb of feed, we can calculate the increase in feed as follows: 3.28 Mcal ÷ .90 Mcal = 3.64 pounds of additional feed to provide 19.68 Mcal DE/day.

Step 4. Determine the total amount of feed the horse requires by adding the 3.64 pounds of additional feed to the 19 pounds of feed the horse requires under normal conditions: 19.0 + 3.64 = 22.64 pounds per day of total ration.

Makes it all the clearer but I think I will stick to double the height and minus 5

Posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 1:56 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

October Half Term

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Some one please remind me next year not to run a dressage competition the morning after the halloween party which was only two days after the team jumping. Not that I expected 39 teams and to be on the go from 7am to 10.30pm and neither did I expect 54 dressage entries. The Team jumping kicked off with the first of the series on Wednesday and it was a a very good day with some excellent rounds and some very competitive teams. Talygarn managed quite a few places and a win in the 2ft teams. It was also lovely to see Gareth Evans compete in the 1ft 9 teams and for his team to come 5th, Gareth had some riding lessons here then started here as a student, Gareth suffers from slight Autism and Aspergers syndrome but he has acheived so much in the time he has been here. It was also my birthday on Wednesday so I kinda tried to look upon it as a rather large party! Photos from teams are on the Gallery. The Halloween Party which is run and organised by the Pony Club Centre was one of the best this year. I thought it was going to be a bit quiet but we ended up with quite a good crowd and some brilliant costumes. Its lovely to see so many people being supportive of the event after all the hard work the Pony Club Centre committee do to raise money to pay for all the equipment. Millbrook riding Club are always very supportive and it was lovely to see Freya Murkowski who drove down from Essex for the evening. After nearly knocking myself out in the Sumo wrestling last year I decided I wouldn’t go on anything this year but after a few glasses of wine I found myself on the gladiator jousting and then the rodeo bull I should know by now to fall off straight away because the falling off doesn’t hurt but gripping onto the thing for ages kills my hip the next day, sure sign of a candidate for hip replacement I’m thinking. By 11.30 most people were leaving so we had a major clean up in readiness for the Dressage the next day followed by a few drinks on the picnic benches whilst waiting for Sharon and Darrens Taxi. Which Sharon had ordered for 11.50 but was now coming at 12.50am. Darren insisted it was the worst Taxi ever as they had ordered it for October and it was now a month late. This week I have had a new Yard Manger/Instructor start – Jodie. I’m not sure its been the best week to start with having so much on and I think Jodie doesn’t know whether she is coming or going. I have also been trying to get all the horses Clipped before the end of this month. We left Michigan as we knew he would be difficult but I wanted to get him done this week as he is now getting very hot in lessons. We had a riding school show jumping comp on Friday so after it had finished and I had ridden Destiny I picked Leigh up at 5.30 Before I left I gave Michigan 10ml of Sedazine to calm him down. Unfortunately he still looked rather alert when Leigh turned on the clippers. Michigan is so big he doesn’t have to do much and we have no control. He merely moved sideways and threw his head up. I left the floor and Leigh was knocked into the wall. So another 5 mls of sedazine and 30 mins later also armed with twitch we tried again. We managed to get him to stand still but in the worst light possible and on the basis that we really needed to get some coat off him I resorted to clipping in the dark. We did eventually get him full clipped by 8pm, don’t look too closely. Steve took Amelia to Gloucester to jump on Saturday Which mean’t I was up at 7am to pick up the rolls for the evening. After all the preparation for competitions I have had to do this week alongside helping Jodie, teaching, college paperwork, clipping, students, lessons, Pony Day etc I really felt like I had run out of Steam by this dressage today. I have to say it ran very well and our Judges Barry Kelvin Hall and Jacqui Jones were marvellous along with the staff but I was glad to get to see the end of the day. This October Half Term has been more than hectic and tomorrow I am going to pack and try and clean up the house a bit before I leave tomorrow night, once I’m on that plane I am going to forget everything for a couple of weeks and relax in Thailand. See ya all when I get back, ready for the Christmas Gymkhana and more Team Jumping!!!! More Photos from Halloween Party on Gallery

Posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 1:25 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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