Show Horse Holiday ...

[FMM]

Just a quick picture of The Philanderer - winner of HOYS and RIHS Supremes in the past 3 years. He's been on holiday since September and clearly enjoying every minute of it ...

For those of you who don't know what he normally looks like ...

 

[Jesstickle]

He looks like he's having a happy holiday

Where is Dinger though? You know that's what we all want!

 

[starryeyed]

oh wow, what a difference - you have a mud monster on your hands beautiful boy, looks like he's been having fun!

 

[FMM]

He looks like he's having a happy holiday

Where is Dinger though? You know that's what we all want!

Dinger is in splendid isolation (he has friends in the other fields, but kept beating up his companions!) - they love being out 24/7 and relaxing completely, as when they are up and running, they travel a fair few miles during the showing season.

 

[Jesstickle]

Norty Dinger!

I still love him though!

 

[cronkmooar]

Fmm do you never rug them once the season is over? And if this is the case can you explain the reasons behind this.

Also does this help or hinder the summer coat coming through early

Genuine question as interested.

Cheers

 

[FMM]

THe Philanderer, Hundinger, Keystone Cob, Fait Accobli etc all went out as soon as HOYS was over (October) - they were roughed off to get their coats through, then turned away 24/7 without rugs. It is far nicer for them to have 3 months where they can live as they do in the wild (they are checked daily and have haylege if the grass is not nutritious enough) without rugs. Comberton Clancy was rugged when he was turned away this winter as he was kept up until Lucinda Green did her H&H article in November and therefore did not really have the opportunity to grow a proper coat before the cold weather started. If a horse did not grow sufficient coat,then of course he would be rugged. The idea is to give them a holiday, not make them miserable!!!

In terms of coats - doesn't really make a massive difference to be honest whether they are turned away rugged or unrugged. They were nearly all clipped before HOYS, they will mostly all be clipped when they come in (some are in now, Dinger and Phil are still turned out and will come in later this month probably). It depends on the horse and its coat as to whether it is clipped when the holidays are over. But clipping now or early February does not have a detrimental effect on their coats with our management.

Grooming and strapping which all the horses have during the season is what helps their coats look so good, together with a good variety of feed.

 

[cronkmooar]

Thanks for the reply.

Didn't think but I suppose its obvious you would clip now.

From the photo Phil doesn't look like he is that hairy so I wondered if he had his rug off during the day and you had returned to a mud monster

Thanks for the reply - always good to know what the pro's do

Another quick question - other than grazing and haylege no hard feed?

 

[FMM]

There is actually quite a lot of hair on Phil - he has just carefully smoothed it down with a careful application of runny mud ...

 

[Suziq77]

FMM I've been thinking long and hard about this....and as I love grey horses and I only have a small riding horse (also grey but a mare) for this year and Jayne has both Clancy and Phil if you really insisted then I could be persuaded to ride Phil for a bit....

Oh well, a girl can dream Love love love all your horses but Phil is my favourite, even covered in mud!