A change in supplements

Here we go! Another attempt to have two horses happily on the same supplements.

Dude has been off supplements for a bit to see if the funky smell he developed this summer would go away. It did. No one could successfully determine why he had a funky smell, and he seemed perfectly happy and unconcerned about being a stinky guy. But it just didn't seem right to me to keep him on something that might have been causing him to smell. Wouldn't that mean his system is not processing an ingredient correctly? 

So, moving on, I looked at a bunch of options, knowing I wanted to stay with a multipurpose supplement - joints, coat, and general peace, love and happiness. And even though I did read up on several possibilities, I really kinda wanted to stay with HorseTech because overall I've been happy with their products and their customer service is really great. And the bottom line was that in the end, HorseTech did seem to have the best match for what I needed.

Bestie recently finished up her old supplements, so about two weeks ago they both started on HorseTech's TriSport, with glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM as the key ingredients. The previous supplement Dude was on also had hyaluronic acid, but I'm just not convinced that's a deliverable in powdered form. Bestie was only on glucosamine and chondroitin previously, so she's getting a bit extra oomph with the new supplement. They've been on a half dose for two weeks.

The only bummer is that the TriSport doesn't have a pre/probiotic, so I bought a container of HorseTech's DFM ProLactic. I started adding a half scoop of that in their containers this week. Over the next couple weeks I'll increase to the full dosage for both the probiotic and the joint supplement. 

I also recently doubled the rice bran Dude's been getting to two scoops, and he's still getting rice bran oil also. The good news is that I'm seeing an incremental change along his top line and sides. I didn't go to the barn for a couple days and when I took off his blanket, I noticed he's not so ribby. Funny how it's easier to see when I'm not looking at him every day. I'm also giving him an extra flake of hay at night when I'm there, which is most nights. I'm like the hay police, making sure that even if I've given him an evening flake, he still gets the two flake allotment that all of the horses get for their late feeding. He definitely needs the extra hay.

Probably all of these factors - extra hay, rice bran, rice bran oil AND keeping him in an extra sheet under his midweight have contributed to the little weight I'm seeing. The winter has been so cold he easily could've kept dropping weight. It's a relief to see him gaining; it's been a long haul over several months.

A Friday night at the barn

With book club and yoga this week, I hadn't made it to the barn Wednesday or Thursday. Friday it snowed all day, so the first order of business upon arrival was ... getting in the door. The way the entry door is positioned, the wind seems to swirl in along the side of the barn, past the door and back out the other side along the silo. With snowstorms, the snow accumulates right in the entry. After getting through the snow to the door, I found it was so tight that I actually thought the door was locked; even with a few knee prods and hip checks, I couldn't budge it and ended up walking around the barn to the side door.

No one else was there that night and as I entered, the horses all swung their heads my way. Because our stall walls don't go all the way to the ceiling, a few were peering over the tops of their walls as I came in. Such a funny perspective to see their ears and wide spaced eyes peeking at me.

It's always so great to get to the barn. No matter if my arrival is daily or there are days in between visits, I always get the major welcome from Dude and Bestie ... Dude's deep growly nicker and Bestie's high pitched whinny.

Second order of business was rehanging Dude's Jolly Ball. It's his stress reliever for when it's turnout time and he's impatient; he bangs it with his nose to emphasize the fact that he wants out NOW. Better than kicking the door, which he also does when he's worked himself up into a REAL tizzy. The twine holding the ball wears through every so often and has to be replaced. It's funny, when the ball is on the ground he pays absolutely no attention to it..

Third order of business was grooming. It's that dandery time of year, and their coats get just plain yucky between the dander and shavings that work under the blankets when they roll in their stalls. After brushing them both, there was still some time before the feeding of evening hay, so I grabbed a flake for each of them. 

It's pretty warm in the barn - typically it doesn't get much below 35 degrees even when it's below zero outside - so I had left Dude's blankets off while I brushed Bestie. To air him out, ha ha.

After redoing the buckles on the front of his blankets, I slid down the stall wall just to hang out for a bit, sitting in the shavings with my back against the wall. I love the peacefulness of being in the barn at night alone as the horses eat. That peacefulness didn't last long - after a minute Dude stuck his nose under his hay pile and tossed the whole thing in the air - over me. End of peaceful contemplation. :)