Old Orchard show !

Holiday Monday May 19, long weekend!

TBs and weight through a hard winter...

We feel like this winter gave some interesting insight into more detail on Thoroughbreds and weight; and thought that we'd share some experience as it may benefit some of the other TB owners out there; more specifically, it might help their horses. We have a number of TBs at our place this winter, both in stalls, and on outdoor board, plus some new spring arrivals from other farms. Some of them came through the winter looking fabulous, lots of weight on, while others lots some weight. None of these horses were in 'hard work'; all med-light to no work. What we found is that it didn't seem to matter if the horses were stall-boarded (about 8-9 hours of turnout/day) or on outdoor board in terms of weight management. (all horses had about free choice access to hay, only indoor-boarded horses had grain provided). What did seem to matter most was how they were blanketed. Outdoor-boarded TBs who wore 2 winter blankets, plus a neck hood, living only on hay looked great this spring when it all came off. Outdoor-boarded TBs on only hay with a medium or less weight blanket or sheet on (this includes some that recently arrived) did not look very 'meaty' this spring. Indoor-boarded TBs with 2 winter blankets on when outside look great this spring (i.e. no weight change from summer), while the indoor-boarded TBs with more of a medium weight blanket on (not heavy) lost some weight. One interesting point was one indoor-boarded TB (not elderly or any other health issues) who wore just a lighter blanket had the feed (grain) tripled from the horse's usual rations for most of the winter and still lost some weight. Another indoor-boarded TB with 2 winter blankets on when outside had the same amount of feed (grain) all winter, (i.e. no change from summer feed) and looks great, no weight change. Tripling the feed did not help enough to keep weight on when not blanketed sufficiently. Anyway, just thought that this was interesting as people with TBs struggle at times with weight maintenance. It seems with enough horses to observe for this especially cold winter, if you can really keep the blankets on so they don't have to spend much energy keeping warm you have a much better chance at keeping weight on - and on the other hand, you can overfeed to a large degree and it can only help so much--- eventually they just cannot eat enough to maintain their weight in very cold weather. .... bottom line - blankets work! :)

First show of the year - Rockwood!

Absolutely awesome weather day too! 

:)