All Is Well At Follywoods
Nothing to report at the moment. All three boys are doing well and actually look really good.
I finally found a way to get more weight on Toby the oldest boy. He has Cushings and lost weight and musculature over the last couple years. I was feeding him three times a day with Purina Equine Senior feed, but it just wasn't adding weight. Maintaining, but not adding.
Finally, after some research, I decided to add beet pulp (no molasses) to his diet. I soak a little less than a quart of beet pulp pellets until they are total mush, and feed that along with the Purina as before. Once a day, I add a pint container of rice bran to the mix. I feed this three times a day.
He really enjoys eating it and nickers for his meals. And he's put on a nice layer over his ribs.
Another plus out of a negative is that he is no longer cribbing. The reason's not so good, despite the good consequences. He has managed to wear away his front teeth completely, so that he only has gums on top from his cribbing habit. No more cribbing is good. The reason is not. The vet did tell me he'd still be able to eat OK, and he does seem to be happy grazing on my sparse grass.
Tucker is fat as ever--he could be a metabolic horse--and practically lives on air.
Chance, is, according to the vet, at a perfect weight.
I still haven't been riding. Not only do I lack an element of motivation, but I am a bit leery after my experience when I tried to ride after my hip surgery.
But, I am working on stretching and have been "riding" my iGallop with my old Ansur saddle on it. So one of these days, I will try to wrap my legs around a horse again.
Meantime, I've been keeping fit with swimming and lots of walking inspired by my Garmin Vivofit. It's like a FitBit, except that it's totally waterproof and I can swim with it on. It does record some of my swimming exercise, so I get "partial credit" for the exercise as well.
I am getting a bit addicted to the challenge of walking 10,000+ steps a day, though. It's interesting how wearing a little "conscience machine" on your wrist can keep you moving.
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It's good to hear from you after so long. I was wondering if everything was alright. Good to hear about Toby putting on weight,not so good about his teeth. But as long as he's happy and can eat I'm sure he's fine and doesn't mind.
ReplyDeleteI think you'll know when you're ready to ride again. I did the same thing with the iGallop after my knee surgery and really think it helped. Sounds like you're getting in lots of exercise! I have a device called Misfit and it is a challenge to get all those steps in. The puppy keeps me honest with all the walking outside though.
Ditto for me - good to hear from you! Beet pulp and rice bran - glad I am not a horse! We moved to Bozeman, MT, though we still live in Switzerland too.
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