Had a wondeful day :D Polocrosse and hacking! How is he looking?

Kokopelli

Kokopelli

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So I went hacking on my own :D :D :D
I feel I achieved a lot from it even though it was just a walk around the village but still very pleased :)

Also tried him for the first time with the stick and ball, he is fine with the stick but apparently the ball is going to eat him :rolleyes:
Just a question though, should I keep trying with him the ball or shall I just leave it? Only because polocrosse isn't my main discipline and if he doesn't enjoy I don't see the point in doing it.
Also the money I would save from buying a stick and ball of my own I can get a new breastplate and girth rather then wait for insurance to come through.

Some piccies:

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And how is he looking weight wise? I think he looks too skinny but other say he doesn't look too bad. He is shiny though and is bright just a bit underweight.

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Thank you for reading as always.
 
I love the last photo of you on him, his little face looks so sweet! You look really nice together :)

For me, I think he's a bit on the lean side, but mine have all held their weight really well (unfortuneately not their muscle :P), so I'm comparing him to them.
 
Well done for going out hacking on your own! I did today as well but as I'm not in a distance of hacking to a friends so I'm always on my own lol.

He looks as though he could do with a bit more covering over his ribs and also some more top line across his back/bottom but when he is tacked up and ridden he looks well enough.

How old is he? From the pictures it looks as though he is a little sway backed :)
 
He's a very nice horse and you are a good rider who loves him but I'm afraid I think he looks very weak and poor :(. You can see almost every rib and he is so so weak over his back.
My TB is on adlib haylage this year and it's made keeping weight on him much much easier then when he was on hay. He gets two big haynets a night and one out in the field with him. I've even been able to cut his hard feed down.

I would re-asses your feeding and make sure he has hay/haylage all the time, even in the field (not much goodness in the grass at the moment). I don't mean to be harsh as you obviously care for him so much but if I was his owner I would be concerned. TB's are meant to be light but they should still have some covering and muscle. All your good work schooling won't help if he hasn't the weight to turn to muscle :).
 
I think he is a bit poor too :( what is he currently being fed on?

As for polocrosse, why not? Merlin and I played it, and also evented to 1* - no reason why not too :)
Merlin loved it, and even played in a few matches! That said it is a bit further to get the ball on the ground from a 16.2 :p
 
Cheers everyone, he does actually weigh more now than when we got him, hes putting it on gradually.
We're in the process of changing feeds atm. He was on pony nuts and alfa and we are changing him to A&P Calm and Condition, we're gradually building it up he's having about half what he's meant to have but tonight we upped it a bit more again, we're being very careful about changing to quickly. Once he is happy on this we are going to add a fed balancer, either blue chip or top spec, we add oil to his food aswell. He also has haylage available 24/7. As for the muscle tone- also working on that its going to take a while but we're getting there.
I don't think he is swayed back, I asked the vet if he was when he was getting vetted and he siad he doesn't think he is. Hopefully he isn't

only_me- I would love to continue doing it as a bit of down time, I'll keep working him with the ball and see how he goes :)
 
I agree with Flamehead - sorry. My TB is looking quite similar atm so I know how hard it is getting weight and muscle on them. Her suggestion of ad lib haylage is good, although ad lib hay will do just fine as well. If you want him to muscle up he needs enough calories to put weight on and create muscle. He's definitely looking much better than when you got him though :)
 
well done on the hacking :D I would give him a few more goes on the polocross he may get better and find he enjoys it as something diffrent
 
Polocrosse is definatly a blast :D If your interested there is a taster day at Hartbury on 19th Feb open to everyone, including numpties like me :p

I will keep an eye that his new feed is working if not will have a re-think. We are weighing weekly though and since we've had him he's been putting on weight :)
 
Hey, just reading through the comments...definitely give allen and page C&C a go. My warmblood can be difficult to keep condition and top line on and since having him on that he's really picked up and looking very healthy and shiny (no rib in site) :)
 
I don't think he is sway backed he just lacks muscle over his back, over time with the correct work he will put this on and look much better. He is thin now but you can tell you are doing a good job with him, keep building him up gradually as you are and I am sure he will look great in a few months. Once his summer coat comes through I bet he will look like a different horse. :)
 
Good job, he looks like a lovely boy. Those that said he is underweight, I don't believe you have had him that long? You want weight to be put on slowly, I am sure he will improve. Good luck, glad you had fun with him today. Where did you get Andy from out of interest?
 
Paint it Lucky said:
I don't think he is sway backed he just lacks muscle over his back, over time with the correct work he will put this on and look much better. He is thin now but you can tell you are doing a good job with him, keep building him up gradually as you are and I am sure he will look great in a few months. Once his summer coat comes through I bet he will look like a different horse. :)
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Thank you, I'm glad he isn't sway backed. Hopefully by spring he will look loads better especially as we're moving to a new yard with better grazing :)

letrec_fan said:
Good job, he looks like a lovely boy. Those that said he is underweight, I don't believe you have had him that long? You want weight to be put on slowly, I am sure he will improve. Good luck, glad you had fun with him today. Where did you get Andy from out of interest?
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We've had him about a month now, he has gained a bit of weight but not enough to make a big difference. We got him from friends in PC near evesham. I think before that he was in devon :)
 
Lovely little chap!.

Have you tryed feeding micronised linseed?. You can get it ready to feed in a flake like form, and it is completly non-heating. You introduce gradually then chuck a whole mugfull in with the feed. It is also good for general health, joints and gives them a shiny coat....though judging by those pictures, he's already like a polished coin!!.

Spring is just around the corner, so id worry more if he looked like this in nov/dec.
 
For our skinny TB who'd blow up with any feed too high in sugar or carbs (Calm and Condition sent him into orbit, and then it took an entire summer for him to come back down from that particular high... He literally couldn't walk or stand he was so hyped by it all!) we gave him Alpha Beet. Honestly- it's a miracle worker. He went form an obviously loved (his coat was shiny and he looked happy) but very thin (no topline, no muscle, could count his ribs and hang your hat off his hipbones) TB to a sleek, fit, well covered horse. AND he remained sane! Worth a go maybe?
 
If it helps with putting on condition, I have a TB who'd look like that easily come end of Feb despite all the right feed/haylage, until I discovered brewer's yeast and double duvets! TBs seem to get cold so easily, and also to have something missing digestion-wise that the yeast replaces and turns them into better doers again.
 
I've seen worse TB's and this year is a pain as loads of horses not that fond of the hay made, I'm sure spring grass will sort it

Polocrosse - I'm going on the 19th and bringing lots of new people to try it :D

Its not a case of your horse not enjoying it, he just hasn't got a clue what you are on about

The polo pony I've been working on was not sure about the net with a ball in it at all. What really worked, with her being food orientated, was letting her sniff it and feeding her polos through the net. That way she became confident with the ball and decided it wasn't so bad.

Also do things like let the ball drop down the neck, to prove its nice and soft and doesn't bite. This doesn't have to be a polocrosse ball and you can train with mini footballs or tennis balls (dog balls? anything really)

You can also do this as a ground exercise by tapping the ball with your hand first, then doing mini throw and catches against the horse and work you way back, until you can throw a ball at them from quite a distance with no reaction (again scratches, praise and treats)

Then they must get used to you leaning out all over the place, so one of my exercises is to pick up roll a little way and pick up again. I did lots of times around the arena like this until pony was used to it.

Lots of praise and the occasional treat and he will think this malarky is ok!
 
Thanks for advice with feeding, I'm going to see how he goes on C&C though as I don't want to keep chopping and changing and upset his tummy.

Jen_Cots- I'm very excited about going, I went to a taster day at jackbarrows but not on my own pony so rally excited about Hartbury :)
When I'm sat on him I can drop the ball onto his neck and bum without much of a reaction but if I throw the ball or the ball gets thrown to me he gets a bit upset. Also when I go to pick up he moves away from the ball which makes a bit tricky for me considering I'm new to it aswell :)

We fed him an apple out of the net today and intend to keep doing this with him and see how he goes :) I will try the one on the ground though and see how it goes thank you, looking forward to the 19th :D
 
Ah ha - so this means you have already met me then (was on fat brown thing!!), at the taster day

Shying at the ground is easy lots of ground work rolling the ball to his feet and if possible lots of balls in the area (tennis will do) so they are perfectly normal and not to be avoided. Then when you go to pick up if he normal shys away use one rein and bring him over the ball, so he runs it over (i.e. abandon the pick up and correct his line).

When learning to neck rein a full cheek really helps too, but these are banned in the game, so quite a few people use D ring bits to get the extra steering.

I wouldn't loose heart as it took me quite a few sessions to get a polo pony used to it (polo balls normally hurt, so understandable reaction!)
 
I think I may remember you :) I went with a friend and rode a hairy liver chestnut 13.2 fat welshy :p

I'll keep trying with him because he's the perfect build to play it, he's just a bit too skitty at times :rolleyes:
 
Lovely pony. 'Scuse my ignorance but what is the purpose of the big fluffy nose band? Is it keeping his nose snuggly warm in this cold weather?! x
 
EllieBelly1 said:
Lovely pony. 'Scuse my ignorance but what is the purpose of the big fluffy nose band? Is it keeping his nose snuggly warm in this cold weather?! x
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When he raises his head he can't see so it encourages him to lower his head. Its only a temporary measure until I have done more schooling with him :)
 
sbennison said:
you dont say how old he is? and when someone asked you didnt reply how old is he? he does look underweight :/ but seems like your doing everything to help :) x
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Oops sorry, he is 12.
Such a pain with his weight but having had him a month I'm not going to do much in that amount of time to make a huge difference but he is putting weight on, we weigh him on a weekly basis :)
 
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