beginning conditioning/ questions.

[Kimberly Price <PLOUGH1@ix.netcom.com>]

Hello all,

   Mystery and I did our first true conditioning ride of the season,
after a soggy winter, sore back and abcess kept him a pasture pony for
almost 3 months.  He did very well and seemed quite happy to get back on
the trail with his lighter, faster arab buddies(who allowed friendly
competition and did not dishearten him....)  His recoveries were very
good, but he is a heavier animal and must be treated as such....

  Mystery is a bigger horse and has to learn he must trot faster to keep
up (not canter or gallop) or just let those lighter guys go.  So this
year we are continuing what was discovered last year: yes, he can do a
fast trail eating extended trot, and no, making meanies at those arabs
will not keep them from passing, hee, hee.

Questions:  (foam vs sweat)

I just read mentioned about horses foaming instead of sweating?  Susan,
can you elaborate on this for me?  Rumors I've heard are:: a good foam
between the legs means hes working his rearend well (true / false?).
What else? How do you tell the difference between foam and sweat?  What
is bad about one or the other?  I'm pretty sure he was foam (not
sweating)yesterday, he was lathered wherever a piece of equipment
touched him.  Good, bad?  What are we looking for?

Questions: (feed away from home)

Mystery gets grass hay and a huge pasture at home.  He also gets Ovalene
200 when working but not too much as I cannot feed it to him everyday.
Camping / riding season has started and the lady who owns the ranch
won't just let me buy grass hay from her for trips.  Local feed store
carries oat hay and alfalfa I can buy.  Is it safe to give him a flake
of alfalfa once in a while (like at night after a ride when camping)
even though he isn't getting it normally (he doesn't need it normally).
Is it 'safer' to stick with oat hay?

Question for Steph:

Is there another address we should send you questions that we are unsure
about being within that endurance criteria subject matter?

I think Steph does a great job maintaining the list and I am grateful
for all the hard work involved.   Some subject matters are in the "gray"
area (like mine!) so I'd like to know if I am unintentionally breaking
the rules...

Thanks and good riding to all!!
Kimberly (&Mystery the Morab.."come on, let me gallop...I can catch
'em!")
Black Mountain Ranch, Ca