Recent content by Sugar_and_Spice

Have you tried giving the old hat a good scrub with a packet of Flash cleaning wipes or similar? This is what I do with mine and it comes up good as new.

As a child I rode a pony which lived in a field with three others. There were two stables, which the laminitic and the arthritic ones went into at night. The laminitic tethered days during spring, on a 20m rope attached to the headcollar. He was also difficult to catch so if he was going to...

I can't help with a recommendation but you'd need to know about good basic horse management (so you can pick up on those neglecting their horses and so you can offer horse owners what they actually need instead of unsuitable conditions), grassland management (so your fields aren't ruined), info...

The feathered horse, your stirrups are too short for that saddle, your knee has nowhere to go with your stirrups that short. Your knee isn't in a bad place at all but then because of that your lower leg has nowhere to go except too far back. Drop your stirrups down a few holes and if you find...

Not quite the same thing, but you can buy a flexible rubber pelham. I'm not talking about the metal ones covered in rubber but the ones just like the snaffles with a chain running through the flexible rubber mouthpiece.

Tool boxes from DIY stores are good for grooming kits etc and usually can take a padlock and the best ones are sturdy enough to be used as a step for mounting too. If you get a few the same you can stack them up with the most used on top, and either store the saddle in top or throw a wet rug...

This. With the exception of if you don't think she will actually do the right thing by the horse in the long term. The warning signs are there, letting teeth and vaccinations lapse, letting hay run out, wanting you as a safety net for excess bills. Would she actually call the vet every time...

If it isn't broken don't try to fix it. Your routine is sensible and the ponies are fine.

I experience the opposite, hard stoney ground that I won't trot on but which others come back talking about the good canter they just had. I think some people just care more about the ride than the horses welfare. I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong, if they bought a horse with the main...

IME all vets say supplements are pointless, but then they get to treat the horse when it becomes really ill from lacking something, so I don't fully trust that opinion. I feed a decent vitamin/mineral supplement at 1/2 dose (because the forage obviously contains something) to anything with...

I go with 6 days riding and one day off. Slow gradual build up. Usually 6-8 weeks to get fit after a holiday, but I'll do it slower after injury to avoid reinjuring. When you've got the horse fit enough, riding ever other day is adequate. Unless the horse is unmanageable without daily work, or...

Changing clothes is the only way. Leave a coat and boots at the yard and leave your non-horsey coat in your car, obviously you cant walk in there in socks so you'll have to change your boots once on the yard. It really helps to keep your car free from the horsey smell. A hat helps keep the...

Does your horse have some sort of problem that makes you think a balancer will benefit him? If not, why feed it? If something with him goes downhill without the vitamins/minerals then yes feed him a supplement, but if he's fine why worry? Balancers are extra protein too, if you think he...

I will use good quality supplements for horses with health problems, because I've found them to work. I don't feed anything just for the sake of it or just in case. When choosing I'll pick between bran/chaff/sugar beet for the base, if one horse has a particular need for one of them then that's...

I can imagine not being a horse *owner* though I wouldn't like it. But I'd have to have horses in my life in some way still, even if it was just living next door to a horse sanctuary, or riding at a riding school once a week or something.