Mare with a foal at foot - very fat :o(

Thanks... hopefully hay will sort the problem. If it is really hard work at the weekend then I will go back to original plan of leaving her to be a Mum until Troy is weaned as I don't want to stress her out or upset her when she has been so good up to now.
 
It can be difficult to keep the weight at bay when they are pregnant. My horse Golden is huge too but she is just a QH muscle-machine so looks even bigger than a regular horse. She won't be foaling for another 3 months and because she is lame I haven't been able to ride her for a couple of months now
frown.gif
. She is only being fed 1lb of Grow'n'Win right now and same as Cloud, adlib hay and out in the grassy field overnight and in dust paddock through the day. Right now it isn't too bad as I have her in a field with a hill so at least she is still getting some decent exercise even if she can't be ridden right now. My worst nightmare would be if she were to lose that muscle, then I would have a big fat horse on my hands and that isn't what I want at all.

I think your plan is a good one and hopefully Troy will be fine with it all so that you can at least do some riding in the field with Hannah most days - that should help her a bit. Best of luck
smile.gif
.
 
Thanks Tia... will just have to see how we get on
blush.gif


I was hoping to start weaning him a bit at 4 months, gradually taking him away and then Hannah away for short periods.
 
grazing muzzle and hay rather than haylage
pig had to have a muzzle on (and i then decided to restict the grazing as bey started to get a bit tubby too!) and she got soaked hay at night.
i was expecting to have to feed her loads but she ws just on a balancer for lactating mares and still a bit fat lol
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Richard Maxwell said I could work on getting him to tie up in the corner of the school

[/ QUOTE ]
Richard Maxwell needs a swift kick up the arse for even suggesting such a thing.

T**t!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have just been made aware of this post and felt I had to say something.

Richard Maxwell would never advise me to do anything that would harm me or one of my horses. He has been invaluable to me through the years, both with Troy and with Hannah, and I couldn't just let this be said of him without defending him and his reasons.

Max has worked with Troy when he was about 6 weeks of age. Troy was very coltish, nipping all the time and as this was my first foal I needed some guidance teaching him not just to lead behind him Mum to lead independantly. I can now say that he is leading fantastically well, towards his Mum and away from her, with little fuss or worry.

Max worked on starting to teach him to tie up, which is suc an important thing for a horse to learn. This was all done in the stable with Hannah happily munching on her haylage while her son learned that by stepping into the pressure it would release and he would be comfortable.

Max started to tell me ways in which tying up could be useful. One was at a show when you are taking the mare and foal (he would tie them up outside the box and because the foal had learned this from such a young age, it would stand perfectly still with its Mum). The other was that I could think about tying Troy up in the corner of the school while I schooled Hannah so he was not running free and getting in the way, but safely tied up. This is not something you can do straight away, bout something you work towards. Troy can now be tied up and groomed, feet picked out, fly sprayed etc etc in the stable, and I am hoping this is a big part of his education. He has learned that by pulling back the pressure is not released (before he was tied up) but that by stepping into the pressure he is comfortable and will stand there for short periods quite happily.

I don't think you should really judge someone's work until you have actually stood there and watch them work. I know I was amazed when he came up to load Hannah after so many before him had failed, and admired him further when I saw how he handled Troy.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I respect that, but I also think you should get the full details before making rash comments.
 
Hi

I would like to clarify that Max does not advocate tying up a foal when his mum is being worked.

I am currently writing his next book on youngsters from the birth to the backing process and at no time has he said that he would tie a foal up independantly of its mother. He would advise some-one to hold the foal.

What he does believe in his preparing a foal for life after weaning, so he would do work that taught a foal to give to pressure so that when the time comes they don't feel the need to panic when asked to tie up. And no he doesn't do this with a pressure halter :-)

Becki is doing really well with her training with Troy as he is a handful, i think she just got a little confused.

hope that clears that up and Max can fore-go
his kick up the arse:-) :-)

sam maxwell
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top