What's on the Menu?

There's a lot of news and fun stuff this week, so lets get the lesson over with right away, shall we?

Basic Feeding

First of all, go and re-read this post from January, which covers basic feeding.  There is an entire science to equine nutrition, but for Horsemanship level 1 test we ask specifically about:

9. Basic feeding: succulents, grain, roughage & water

And here are the short answers we’re looking for.

1. Water:  Horses need to drink between 8 - 12 gallons (40 – 60 litres) a day of clean fresh water.

2. Roughage:  A horse should get the bulk of his food from roughage, either by grazing or from hay.

3. Grain: This can be fed whole, crushed, or in processed forms such as pellets or cubes.  Not all horses need grain, and too much starch can make a horse too ‘hot’ or can cause laminitis (founder).  Typical grains for horses are corn, oats & barley (COB).

4. Succulents:  A horse should have either grass or at least some succulent food such as carrots, turnips, beets or apples every day.

Bonus question: What might be another reason, aside from extra calories, for feeding a pelleted complete feed?

Next week: Stabling.

Last Week at Red Colt

It was an absolutely glorious day on Sunday for our Intro and Mounted Combat workshops.  In the afternoon we had 30 people with swords in hand in the yard!

Kirsten and Aurelia provided a carrot cake at the end of class to celebrate Red Colt’s first year of operation.  It was delicious -- thank you!!

And it also happened to be Winnie’s birthday that day as well, though she indicated she preferred carrots to carrot cake.  Happy 17^th, gorgeous!

Finally the die hard riders stayed to practice mounted games with the Pony Club who came in from cross-country riding in the fields.  At one point every horse at the barn was being ridden. And then there were James and Chris who couldn't resist getting some of the other kind of fencing done, and finished a removable paddock gate -- thanks guys!  Truly, an awesome day!

Upcoming events of interest

Prince Phillip Games
For those of you interested in watching high speed mounted games I invite you to come down to Southlands Riding Club in Vancouver on Sunday May 13^th.  The Pony Club is holding it’s second PPG playday of the year, and there will be loads of action between 9am and 2pm.

Horseback Archery Tournament
A reminder that our friends at Borsos Torz Archery will be holding their Tournament at Mount Currie the weekend of May 25-27.  For more details check out their site: http://www.horsebackarchery.ca/

If you'd like to carpool to the tournament I'd suggest posting a request here or on the yahoo group.  In the meantime, here’s a taste of the excitement: