Weight gain monitoring pics- last week in April, 2009

I took these pictures on the same day as the hobble pictures, Tuesday afternoon.

The other day I was in our tack room picking up my saddle when I glanced up on the shelf and saw TWO weight tapes! Boy was I excited. I thought I was going to have to buy one. Turns out, the feed store gave them to husband for being such a good customer (since we don't have any grass, we feed a LOT of grain at the camp). The only thing is, there are two different equations to use to calculate weight- For non-horsey people, the girth measurement is the circumference around the horse's body, just behind his front legs and over the withers (the bump behind their neck). A horse's height is also measured as the distance from the ground to the withers.
The two different formulas were:
1. For ADULT horses, girth x girth x body length / 330
2. For YEARLINGS, girth x girth x body length / 301

Tex's girth width was 53.5, and his body length was 53 (doing the best we could to measure it). When I did the calculations for adult horses, he came out to weigh 460 pounds. I didn't like that number at all, so I decided to try the yearling formula. Using the yearling formula, his weight came out to 504 pounds. That sounds much better, so I've decided to stick with that, just to keep my hopes up! Grow, Tex, grow!

Tex is shedding his winter coat more every day, and he's going to be a beautiful color when it's all gone! I think his rear and backbone muscles (I don't know the technical terms) are filling out.

After I went home that night, I caught my new baby chicks doing something funny! TM

Hobble Trained!

The place where we have our horses in central Texas has almost no grass in the corral. We simply don't have the cross-fencing needed to establish pasture, and on top of that, rain comes in short spurts or not at all in the past few years. I knew that Tex needed grass to put on weight- he prefers it over hay, and sometimes will skip his grain to gaze longingly over the fence wishing for the grass that grows in the "people space" around the barn. That's what made me decide to hobble train him. It would allow him the freedom to graze in the people space without me having to worry too much about him running off.




Hobbles are a leg-restraining device that does not hurt the horse at all. Once a horse learns to accept hobbles around his/her legs, the horse can walk, but not trot or run.




One thing I'm learning throughout this training process is that I don't have to spend the money to get the "Official AQHA Sponsored Equipment Whatevers." I did a quick internet search about making your own hobbles to find out that I could make a pair with an old piece of cotton rope. We just happened to have one! It looked easy to twist and make the hobbles in the pictures online, but when I started trying it myself, it wasn't quite that easy. I decided (for now) to tie them the best I could and not worry about being perfect.




Tex learned to accept hobbles in about 2 total hours, split between two weeks. I started by letting him graze with his rope hanging down. He seemed to not mind at all when he stepped on his lead rope, as long as he could still eat. The next day, I used the old cotton rope to wrap around one leg at a time and pick up his feet with it. Not only did it teach him not to fight the rope around his feet, but it also helped with his feet-picking-up behavior. The next time I worked with him, I began to tie the two feet together. He freaked out one time, came close to falling, but then realized, "There is grass to be eaten- why worry about these feet restraint thingies? Who cares-I'm hungry." I supervised that first tying day. Yesterday was the 2nd tying day, and he seemed to remember that it was no big deal. You can see in one of these pictures that he's walking, having his foot restrained by the hobbles, and there is no effect in his behavior.



After watching him for a little while, relaxing in the grass (with Jade, our border collie/blue heeler) while he grazed, I decided to leave him somewhat unattended while I went to fix some supper. It was a very happy success for me and for Tex. TM

This week's pictures

This week's pics were taken on Thursday. I hope to give you guys at least DECENT pictures to look at. I wanted to show everyone all of his zebra stripes! I believe with 90% certainty that Tex is truly a grullo, as his papers state. I found a website, www.grullablue.com, that describes characteristics of a grullo horse. According to that site, Tex's dark face, black/brown legs, darker tips of the ears, and dorsal stripe from head to tail all make him qualify in the grullo category. On top of that, grullos often have zebra stripes on the back, shoulders, neck, and legs. These are the stripes I've found on him, even before he's shed out very well. The pic of his hind legs isn't very good, but you can see the subtle striping. The ears are my very favorite! I have a feeling I'll enjoy looking at those from behind when riding him in the future!






Also, this is his weekly picture to gauge growth. I am seeing a little bit of difference on his ribs in person, I think, but that is hard to tell in the pictures. Just like wearing white can make certain body parts look larger (my bottom half could resemble a lollipop in white jeans), the brightly exposed pictures before covered up many evils on his ribs by making him look bigger than he is. The darker pictures below are a more representative of his true body condition.

Talking with the vet

I called our vet, Dr. Kyle, on Friday to discuss Tex's nutritional needs, when to castrate, what to do about the hernia, and what to expect. I have the utmost respect for veterinarians. Dr. Kyle advised me that to maintain a horse, you must feed them 3% of their body weight in total pounds of feed, which includes hay, grass, and grain. While growing, horses need 4% of their body weight in total pounds of feed. Also, he said that protein is more important than fat at this time, and he suggested (as a friend did) to put him on some sort of equine junior or youth feed. I'm currently making that switch slowly from his high-fat pellets, which is what we feed all of the other horses that we take care of.
One of the first things Dr. Kyle said is to BE PATIENT. Well, I'm willing. I'm looking forward to moving (we're moving back to the great state of Louisiana in June) because there is actually grass in Louisiana, versus this central Texas drought-bound area. We have a LITTLE grass, but no fencing around it. I think that Tex will do very well when he finally has access to unlimited pasture grazing.
Dr. Kyle also mentioned that testosterone DOES have an affect on growth, so we need to leave Tex as a stud for as long as we can. I can keep him separated for a while, but he must be cut before the move. The vet and I agreed to wait 30 days and re-evaluate the horse's body condition. Apparently anesthesia needs a decent body condition, or could harm the horse. I'd like to learn more about the details of that.
No, he may not reach his full genetic potential for height - He's strongly King bred, and King was 14.3 hands, so I may have a 14 or so hand horse. That's fine with me, because I'm a shorty myself!
After the phone conversation, I felt relieved about my decision to take Tex, and felt even more hopeful for the future. TM

Trimming Day!!

Every day since I've had him, I've worked with Tex's feet to make sure that he won't give my farrier (husband) trouble. I feel sure that if my horse is troublesome, husband will start charging me for his services! I had set a goal of having him ready by Thursday, but Thursday evening was filled with other things, so Friday was the day of Tex's first hoof trimming - first ever.

I want to learn how to do his feet myself, but for the first time, with so much corrective trimming needed, I wanted the expert to take care of it. I tend to make hooves quite uneven while trimming right now, and I'm not the strongest when it comes to the back feet.

Tex held up his front left foot pretty nicely with only a little arguing, but when it came to his back left, he put up quite a protest (but he lost the battle). However, when husband moved to the back right, Tex seemed to remember the trouble he encountered, and must have decided that it wasn't worth the fight.

I didn't notice a strong difference after the trim, but I know these things take time. I wish I could have immediately noticed a difference- Patience is not always my strongest virtue, but something tells me this horse may teach me otherwise. TM

Wednesday pictures

On Wednesday morning, April 15th, I decided to take some pictures of Tex for a few purposes- to help me gauge his growth, to post on here, and to post onto a forum site in which people critique the confirmation of your horses. I'm still nervous about posting the pictures, and haven't yet. I may wait until he puts on a tiny bit more weight and those scars heal up a bit before posting pictures of him. Looking at them myself was enough critique for one day!

After putting the pictures on my computer and scrutinizing them, I noticed one major thing that needs work (besides the hernia, of course)- his feet, particularly the front right. All four poke outward more than I would like to see, and that one sticks out like a cowlick on husband's hair.



He does look scrawny in these pictures, but I'm nothing but hopeful. I also took some of him with myself and with husband, so that we can measure his height differences over time. That night, I marked a small notch on his stall door at the height of his withers, just in case the pictures make it difficult to interpret small height differences. I'd like to pick up a weight and height measuring tape as well.

I've decided to do my best to take pictures of him AROUND every Wednesday. TM

Round pen work

Monday, April 13th. Mondays are my day off work, and we decided to visit some friends down the road. They have a panel round pen, and invited me to bring Tex out to their house. He loaded and unloaded very willingly from our straight load horse trailer. I let him loose in the round pen, let him get used to his surroundings while I enjoyed a glass of Mrs. Barbara's famous sweet tea, and then we began our first round pen lesson.
Tex seemed to remember a lot about the previous day's lungeing session. He trotted off easily when I kissed and glared at his hip. He easily stopped when I said "whoa" and stepped into the path of his shoulder. He even gladly faced me completely again, without me having to pull on his lead rope! I think that I may end up doing a combination cue for stopping- a bit of a tug and then stepping into his shoulder's path. I hope that will carry over during his riding, so that he can know that any pressure on his face means something. The same goes for the whoa.
On Sunday, I had asked him to do all of his turns toward me because of the lunge line. Monday, at liberty in the round pen, I asked him to turn away from me. He seemed a bit confused at first, because he thought he was doing what we had practiced the day before, but once he understood the concept, he did it correctly around 5-6 times. Now I'm thinking through how to cue an outside turn different from an inside turn.
I actually have a huge VHS set of John Lyons' first video series. Apparently they cover every monotonous hour of him breaking one horse from start to finish. I've only watched the first video while I had strep throat this past summer because it was the best thing to put me to sleep on the couch. However, I think I remember hearing within my sickly drowsiness something about how to cue an outside turn and an inside turn. Before I struggle through the old VCR rewind and fast forward buttons, does anyone have suggestions?

I've updated the blog settings so that anyone can leave comments, so feel free! TM

Our first lunging/longing session

The next Sunday husband helped me build a tiny round pen made of rope and fence posts, and Tex and I headed out for our first lunging session. However, during the walk to the round pen, he tried to stomp my face off! He was quite angry about leaving the barn, and very disrespectful of my space. I was a bit shaken, and although wanting to do this project independently, I felt safer having experienced husband there for support. Husband made him do the first couple rounds around the round pen (still attached to the long rope), and I finished the rest of the 20 minute lesson. Tex may have been lunged one or two times during the month that Anna had him, but he didn't know a lot about it.

He learned to go when I kiss and to stop when I say "whoa." I was particularly impressed with his whoa, and his immediate response of turning his face and entire body toward me after the whoa. When I used to lunge Spiderman, he almost never turned his whole body, no matter what I did. I was also quite satisfied with Tex's speed of learning and his attention to me.

By the end of that lesson, he walked MUCH more respectfully back toward the barn, and hasn't tried the stomping in the 5 days since.

When asking him to stop, I was unsure whether to step in front of him to ask him to stop, or to remain in the middle of the circle and pull on his halter with the lunge line. What are the reasons for each, and is one better than the other? Also, what is the correct spelling for lunge/longe?
TM

Tex- the first day

Last Thursday, April 9, 2009, I traded my crazy playday horse, Spiderman, for Texolena Outlaw, a 2-year old grullo registered quarter horse.

Tex came to me from a young lady named Anna Bear from Killeen, TX. Anna had acquired him from a man down the road from her barn who could no longer afford to feed him. The man said he fed them "a flake now and then." Well, I'm imagining that flake may have been once a week, because this guys is severely underweight for a 2 year old.

Anna found my ad for "playday horse for sale or trade" on craigslist.

The trade was a known risk for me, but I was ready to move on from Spiderman. I liked the fact that Tex was already registered, his color was nice, his conformation didn't look bad in the pictures, he had a consistent strong cow-bred bloodline, http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/texolena+outlaw
and Anna described his disposition as very laid back. I had to commit sight unseen to the trade, because it's a 2 hour drive between our house and Killeen, and Anna had to use someone else's trailer to transport.


Here are the only pictures that I had to look at before making the decision to take him. They're from his craigslist ad.




I had been trying to sell Spiderman for nearly a year.
Here is picture of husband riding Spiderman, who I had owned for 2 years. He was sweet on the ground, but competetive in the saddle, and was always a fight when it came to pleasure riding.


When I finally made my decision and convinced husband to say yes around 11:30 pm, I couldn't sleep. I stayed up until 1 am looking up his pedigree.

Anna and her horse trainer/friend/employer, Amber, arrived at our place around 10:45 am on Thursday. When he stepped off the trailer, my first thoughts were 1. "Oh boy, he's tiny." and 2. "Oh boy, that hernia is NOT tiny." He has an umbilical hernia, not unusual for young horses, that must be fixed with surgery. However, surgery to fix the hernia needs to be combined (for health and financial purposes) at the same time as he loses his manlihood.

Amber rode Spiderman in our arena while Tex hung out in the stall, and by 12:30, It was a done deal. This is a picture of me with Tex and Anna with Spiderman, the horse I traded (an even trade, might I crazily add). They loved Spiderman, and I, although not quite sure what I had done, did not regret committing to this little guy. TM