Ridecamp: [RC] Fw: conditioning and feeding pasture horses

 Hi Kari,
 Maybe I can help with a few of your questions, as my herd is all out on 80
 acres and no one is getting any feed that races at the moment )except one
 being shipped to Maine Friday). What we do is start feeding a few flakes of
 alfalfa and complete horse feed pellets about Tuesday before a ride..  (NOT
 a few flakes apiece)  We feed alfalfa and a complete horse feed pellet at
 rides.   We do not feed anyone sweet feed, unless it is mixed with beet
 pulp, which we occassionally give at rides as a treat.

 People found back several years ago in this region that many were
overriding
 their horses.  No, you do not have to ride that much!  When people ask me
 how much they should ride, the first thing I ask them is: where do you keep
 your horse?  If you keep your horse in a stall, that is a big difference
 than on 100 acres.   We have watched our herd extensively and estimate they
 walk about 20 miles a day!  So during race season, we often don't even ride
 them between rides!  We have seen new horses come into our herd and "leg
up"
 without even riding them!

 The next question I ask people is how fast are they going to ride?  I don't
 ride to win.  I do rides in about 7 hours.  I am mainly riding  horses we
 are training to give them experience.  And actually I ride them a lot more
 than my kids ride theirs.  Now my kids, well, they often DO ride to win,
 but they are riding very seasoned horses (3000 and 2000 miles) and both
tack
 in between 150-165.  And maybe the reason their horses have lasted so well
 (Jesse won his last ride, and his mare is now 19) is they DON'T ride much
 between rides.  Lots of rest time.

 So, as you can see, there are a lot of factors involved in conditioning/
 maintanence/training time!
 Hope this helps some!
 Louise, family mileage somewhere around 12,000.
 Louise Burton
 Firedance Farms Endurance Arabians
 Oklahoma
 http://pages.prodigy.net/firedancefarms
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