It's been a LOOONG time!

I almost forgot that I had this blog!

I feel compelled to update you on how Santana is doing. I actually just moved her closer to our house 2 nights ago!

A lot has happened since the last time I posted, so I will try to paraphrase:

-I moved Santana from Trinity River Farm to Centerline Stables in Fort Worth. Centerline was AWESOME. The trainer was so great and it felt great to be at an Eventing barn with no kids!

-We put our house up for sale. After talking to my parents, they decided to GIVE us an acre of land if we would build a house on it. It was an offer that was too good to pass up, so we went ahead and decided we would work on selling our house. We thought it would take a while since there were at least 5 homes for sale on our street, but our house sold in about 3 weeks! This left us in a little bit of a predicament since we hadn't really planned anything out. We ended up moving in with my parents since we are building right next door to them. We figured we could save money for the new house this way. This left us about 30 miles (one way) from Santana. I thought I could manage it, but there is just not enough time in the day and during the week to get out to see her like I should, so...

-We moved Santana on Saturday! I was so sad to leave Centerline, but I had to do what was best for us at this time and right now it's for her to be close. She is literally 3 houses down from me now. And the best part is that I am not having to pay board! So not only is she ridiculously close, but I am saving money!

Sorry no pics right now, but I will get some up soon!

It's been almost a month...

And a lot has been going on. I will warn you a little with this post; it may be lengthy.

So, to start out with, Danielle still hasn't gotten Lilly. It's been a BUNCH of phone tag with the lady that is keeping her (LeeAnn) and a lot of wasted time so far, BUT we believe LeeAnn took Lilly to the vet last week to get her shots up to date! This is a major step in the right direction. Danielle wants to make sure Lilly is completely up to date and negative for any diseases before bringing her to the farm (VERY SMART!). I'll keep you updated on this process.

Another thing that I have been busy with is trying to put some weight on Santana. I took some pictures on her birthday (January 26th) and, when comparing them to the pictures I took of her on the day I got her (December 10th), I noticed that she had lost quite a bit of weight. She had been getting fed the same feed that the other horses were being fed, Heritage 14% pellets made by Big V Feeds.So I made the decision to switch her feed to something more natural vs. feeding her more of this feed. Horse feed is a lot like dog food in the way that there are often a lot of fillers present. Things like corn meal, etc that don't really have any nutritional value. In my opinion, this feed is not the best feed for a horse to eat.

After quite a bit of research and some opinions, I decided to go with alfalfa pellets instead of any type of grain. Alfalfa is a type of hay that is very high in protein. The pellets are basically a compressed version of the alfalfa hay and do not contain any types of grains or sugar of any sort and there is very little processing necessary.

The recommended amount to feed a horse that is trying to gain weight is about 1 pound per 100 pounds of horse. This would mean that Santana would need about 11 pounds per day. Once she is up to a good weight (she is almost there now), you can back the amount down to about 8-9 pounds per day.

I also added ground flax seed to her diet. Many people eat this as well. Once ground, the flax seed is a light colored powder that is just sprinkled on the top of her pellets. She is getting about a cup of this per day currently. Once she is up to good weight, I will back this down to 1/2 cup per day. The flax seed adds "good" fat to her diet to help her gain/maintain weight. This also helps tremendously with her coat! She will be gleaming once she sheds her winter coat!

Also, since she is on a straight alfalfa diet, I need to add a multi-vitamin to her diet. A lot of processed feeds contain these vitamins and minerals in them as well as the fillers and sugars, etc. I chose a multi-vitamin that is specially formulated for alfalfa diets and horses that are in medium to heavy work.
I never knew a horse's diet could be so complicated! Back in the day, my horses were super easy keepers. I never really had to think a whole lot about what I was feeding them because they always stayed fat and happy.

This coming Saturday (March 5th) will make 4 weeks that Santana has been on this new diet. i will make sure to take pictures and show the before and after. I can already tell a difference, but I want to see what you think!

Lilly

So Danielle and I were able to go and see Lilly this past Saturday! We drove out to Red Oak, Texas which is about 45 minutes from the farm. We got there around 11am and Danielle looked her over. I do not know her exact age, but I would guess her to be around 8-10 years old. She is a true dun meaning she has the dark line down the middle of her back and zebra striping on her legs (you can barely see these in the picture below). She is a pretty girl!

Danielle isn't 100% sure if she wants to take her just yet. She wants to think about it and make sure she isn't just making an emotional decision since losing Delia. I do know that she really likes her though. She is a very "green" horse, meaning that she hasn't had very much training at all. She doesn't know very many things, but she is a very willing horse and you can tell she loves attention and being near people.

I will keep you posted on what Danielle decides. I hope she chooses to bring her to the farm!

Bad News Bears...

So a little bit of bad news (don't worry, it's not too bad)...

#1. I dont have pictures of Santana's new kicks. When Nelle (pronounced Nelly) came to do her feet last Saturday, there were a million things going on at the barn. There were lessons going on and people everywhere. Couple that with the fact that the weather had been bad a few days prior and Santana had been kept up in her stall and you get one very impatient horse! She did NOT want to stand still and was being pretty ornery! So, we ended up putting a twitch on her to help her relax and remind her to behave. A twitch is a device that is placed on the horse's upper lip and tightened. This doesn't really hurt the horse, it does 2 things really. One, it gives the horse something else to focus on other than whatever they think is bothering them and two, it actually releases endorphines to the brain and calms them. She had obviously been twitched before because she put up ZERO fight and she was a different horse once it was on!

Here is an example of a twitch on a horse:

I will get pictures next time! PROMISE!

#2. Danielle and I didnt go look at the horse, Lilly, last weekend. The lady who is keeping her was playing phone tag with Danielle and Saturday came and went. The good news about this is that Danielle finally talked with the lady and we are going to look at Lilly this Saturday! So I should be able to get pictures, maybe even a video, of them this weekend!

As far as updates with Santana go, she is still doing very well. I rode her last night and Julie was commenting on how much muscle she has gained in the last month.

If there is ever a time where she is not a complete mudball, I will take some updated pictures and post them!

It's been a long time...

So it's been a little while since I have posted on my blog, I need to keep up with that!

The weather hasn't really been cooperating with Santana and I lately. Last week it was rain, rain, rain and this week it's a combination of the leftover rain and it is coooooooold! Brrr! Santana's water buckets freeze over several times a day, which reminds me that I need to look into getting at least one heated water bucket. Who would have thought we would need that in Texas?

I noticed last weekend that Santana was losing a little bit of weight. Probably due to her workout regimen which, until this week, has been a steady 5-6 days a week. Prior to me owning her, she wasn't getting regular workouts. It is also probably due to it being winter time as well. So we increased her hay intake in the hopes that this will keep weight on her. She seems very happy about this!

Nelle is coming on Saturday to trim/re-shoe Santana. I will try to snap some pictures during this process, so I can share that with everyone.

I am also excited about Saturday because Danielle (which is a girl that feeds at Trinity River Farm) is going to look at a horse. The horse is named Lilly and belongs to my husband's Aunt and Uncle. Lilly was given to them by a friend and they never ride her, so they have decided that they would like to find a good home for her.

First, a little background about Danielle and her situation. Danielle rescued a horse at the beginning of December, just before I got Santana. Delia was an older horse, but Danielle after she brought her to the farm and had the vet take a look at her, Danielle found out that she was older than they had originally thought, around 24 years old. So Danielle took it very easy with her and she was mostly a companion animal.

Well about 2 weeks ago, I got a phonecall from Julie, the owner of the farm, saying that I would need to come and let Santana out of her stall because Danielle had to trailer Delia to the vet. It was New Years Day, so I was very worried. I text Danielle and asked if everything was ok. She replied that she had made the decision to put Delia down. Apparently, Delia was unable to pass food down her throat. The vet tried to do a scope (this is when they try to stick a camera-like thing down the throat to find out what the problem is) and when they did the scope, Delia's esophagus ruptured and she began bleeding heavily.

So, this was obviously a very sad thing for Danielle. She has come to grips with the fact that she did the right thing for Delia and she is ready to move on from this.

SO....I told her about Lilly and she is excited to meet her and see if they will be good for each other!

We are going together on Saturday (hopefully) to look at her. Again, I will try to get some pictures!

New Year!!

I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year! My husband and I met several friends at another friend's house to ring in the New Year. It was a ton of fun!

So now on to the important stuff, Resolutions! (I will keep mine mostly geared toward Santana for this blog)

1. Save Money! This is definitely on my list this year. My husband and I have some small debts that we want to pay off in the next 6 months or so. We are looking at selling our house this year in order to build a new one, how exciting!

2. Get Santana in shape! My little girl will be 5 years old this month, but she still looks a little like a baby! Time for her to grow some muscles and stop getting winded after a 10 minute workout (me too!)

and lastly... (I don's want to set my goals too high for her this year since she is such a newbie)

3. Attend at least one schooling show with Santana! A schooling show is exactly what it sounds like. It's where you can trailer your horse to a show and just school them around so they can get used to the atmosphere and requirements of what a "real" show would be like. Schooling shows are a great opportunity for horses (and riders like myself who have been out of the groove for a while) to gain experience without the stress (and financial burden) of a "real" show.

Anyone else have any Resolutions they want to share?

Conformation

This is not to be confused with confirmation =)



According to wikipedia, Equine Conformation evaluates the degree of correctness of a horse's bone structure, musculature, and its body proportions in relation to each other. Basically conformation is how the horse is physically built. Just like with people, there is an "ideal" conformation for horses and this will change with what the horse will be used for.



I am hoping to Event with Santana (I will go into Eventing a little later on).



This horse's name is Livingstone and is the subject of an article written by Judy Wardrope titled The Right Conformation for an Eventer. He shows her idea of an ideal Eventing horse.



Here is Santana. I know the pictures aren't as good as the one above, but we will have to make do. She looks pretty good compared to this guy! She is a little undermuscled, she needs to be consistently worked, but I think putting that aside, she is built pretty well.
Anyone who Events will tell you that conformation is important, however the most important thing a horse needs in order to Event is heart. I dont really know Santana well enough to know if she has heart, but she definitely tries to do what I ask of her.

Fingers crossed that there is a future in Eventing for us!