Meanwhile, I think it’s tropical when it’s over 30 degrees.
I’m so excited for this weekend!! Not only is Saturday supposed to be 60 degrees (be still, my beating heart!) but I get to go to a jumper derby with the one and only monster himself, Nyls! While the timing didn’t work out for us to go south this year, I’m very lucky to have a great unrecognized event schedule in my area, and the new competition that mixes show jumping and cross country obstacles is catching on quickly around here. I’ve done it with other horses, but not with Nyls yet, so it remains to be seen if he will agree with the two phases being combined….for all I know, I’ll have the most experienced horse there, and he’ll completely disagree with the format! Regardless, I’m just pumped to jump all the things that I can.
U.S. Weekend Preview:
Rocking Horse Winter II H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times]
Paradise Farm H.T. [Website] [Entry Status]
Fresno County Horse Park CIC & H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times]
News From Around the Globe:
The University of Minnesota tackled the question of slow feeder hay nets. Naturally, horses are designed to spend the vast majority of their time foraging and grazing, but when we keep them in stalls with hay, often they just hoover it up and spend the whole night bored and empty. Obviously, this isn’t ideal. They found that “small and medium hay nets represent simple and affordable management tools for extending foraging time when meal feeding horses”. [Hay Net Scientific Study]
Stuck in the winter weather and trying to gear up for spring? Have no fear, Stephanie Rhodes-Bosch is here! Your February Grid Pro Quo, courtesy of the USEA, gives you exact measurements and ideas for grids to set up at home that help both the horse and the rider work on skills that apply to all levels. [Grid Pro Quo]
If you haven’t seen at least 57 different types of horse wounds at this point, you clearly haven’t owned horses for long enough. Casual and not-so-casual wounds on horses vary a lot, and what you put on different types of cuts and abrasions matters for the healing process. Sometimes, slathering goo all over a wound actually will retard the healing process, when just giving it a good cleaning and keeping it tidy will help more. Check out this article on how to trouble shoot your at home wound treatment. [Things You Should & Shouldn’t Put On a Wound]
In the news of the holy-crap-this-woman-is-impressive, a British woman dragged herself across a field for two hours after getting kicked and breaking her pelvis. Janine Eaglestone was out in the field with a new horse when he kicked her, and she fell to the ground, hearing her pelvis snap on the way down. Not having a cell phone with her and unable to walk, she had no choice but to drag herself the 300 yards to the barn for a land line. [Impressive Feat of the Week]
What better way to prep for the upcoming season than to stock up on FLAIR strips? Sometimes I’m really on my game and have them ready to go in my tack trunk, but more often than not I realize the night before cross country that I have an emergency situation, and I have to raid the tack store at the event. Worst case scenario: I’m not the only one, and they’re out! Be smarter than me and buy a value pack from SmartPak, and don’t worry about your horse’s breathing all year. [FLAIR Strips]
I don’t know what this trailer is for, but I want to see it:
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