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Re: [RC] fever rings - Jim HollandOne more thing.... There was an excellent article sometime last year in EN by Art King on the impact of changing the diet and environment of a horse to attend rides. For example, having a horse on a grass pasture 24/7, then hauling him on a trailer for x hours, then feeding him only grain and/or beet pulp for several days is a drastic change in his diet. In addition to being in a strange place, the "bugs" in his digestive system get a shock. IMHO, that is "traumatic". For that reason, I have changed the way I feed. Although I have enough pasture to leave my guys out 24/7, I no longer do that. They WILL have SOME hay (the same hay I feed at rides) in their diet at all times. They get beet pulp in their diet at all times, and the same grain I feed at rides. I feed nothing at rides that they don't get at home and in the same proportions....only exception is that I increase the beet pulp/Omolene mixture and spread it out to many small meals a couple of days before the ride to "preload" the hindgut and hopefully, to "swing" the digestive system toward handling beet pulp/Omolene and away from green grass. They are confined to a bare paddock with free access to their stalls at least SOME of the time most every day...enough that they get hungry and HAVE to eat hay....and they get used to being confined in small areas. (Like paddocks at rides) In the summer, they are out at night and in during the day. (Helps with the flies) "In" means in a bare paddock with the freedom to come and go in their stalls as they see fit. In the winter, they are out during the day, weather permitting, and in at night. In addition, I make a point of seperating them periodically. Ride one, leave the other, bring one into the barn for a few minutes, leaving the other out, etc. as much as possible to get them used to being seperated from their "buddy" for periods of time. Some horses handle this better than others. For example, Sunny buddies up big time and having Magic leave is traumatic...runs laps, hollers, won't eat, etc. Magic, after a while, decided that it's no big deal, the food's good, and Sunny will be back later. Doesn't even holler anymore. The objective is to reduce the impact of an environment change when you attend rides. It's more work for me, fer sure. Does it work? Hell, I don't know...but it sounds good on paper. Anything to help my guys and gain an "edge". :) Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and Mahada Magic Laura Hayes wrote: Thanks, but to see the actual horn broken really bothers me! My husband and I were just talking about it this morning, as Music got horizontal cracks from the National ride, and I did not ride hard, the weather was good, and there were not alot of roads....I feel like I am abusing him! We campaigned a horse years ago named Rushcreek Kapper, who did the same thing - just frustrating. Laura ----- Original Message ----- From: "Truman Prevatt" <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Laura Hayes" <mark@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 7:50 PM Subject: Re: [RC] fever ringsMy mare got rings from the OD. We did as much hard road riding as we could to simulate the concussion training for it but she still got rings - not lame. We got rings from going out West in 2001 - was it the trailer ride or the rides we did? I have no idea. I have noticed minor rings from a lot of things. We got rings for West Nile. We will probably get rings from this cold weather we are having in FL this year. A lot of things can bring on rings. Unless there is something else, I wouldn't worry much about it. Truman Laura Hayes wrote:Heidi wrote:<<<In horses without an adequate base, I've also seen rings corresponding to past endurance rides.>>> My gelding, Desco Music, who is 15 this year and has three or fourenduranceseasons and two years LSD before that, gets 'rings' or actual breaks inthehorn along the coronary band after some rides. He is never lame from it, and we can not seem to connect it to hard roads, heat, speed or other outside factors. It is very disconcerting to me, but since he appears to suffer no ill effects, other than cosmetic, I guess I am not willing to retire him because of it. Any thoughts? Laura Hayes AERC#2741 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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