From: Donna
Dear Jessica;
Since I bought my first horse 2 years ago, I have consulted your archives and got so much good information that helped me with my mare and understanding horses in general. I look forward every week to your current e-mails and enjoy reading them so much. Thank-you for your service!
I recently sold my first horse ( slow-moving excellent beginner's mount) and purchased my dream horse - a haflinger! Haflingers are rare in eastern Canada and the only 3 I could find that weren't weanlings or yearlings were 3 bred mares, so now I have a totally new situation on my hands that I desperately have alot of questions for!
My new mare, Heidi, will be 7 years old in May and is due with her 2nd foal May 6th. I live on an isolated island (1 1/2 hour ferry boat ride to the mainland, ferries run only 3x per day) where there is no vet. We have a vet that visits once a month from mainland New Brunswick and a farrier comes once every 2 months.
Heidi is incredibly overweight. She is 14HH, has a cob-sized head and small legs with this humungous pregnant body! Her back muscles rise above her spine on both sides, leaving her back bone recessed. She has huge bulges behind her shoulders where the front of the saddle skirt lays ( I ride western) and both sides of her croup are also bulged, just as if she had fat buttocks behind her loins! For all her weight, she is a very active and georgeous animal, with a very fast walk. When I first spotted her at her previous farm, she and the other horses were cantering up the field and tearing around energetically, so the fat doesn't seem to slow her down, and the rest of her body is hard-muscled. The previous owner said his horses were kept outside in a big field all winter, all day long, and brought in at night. He fed her only silage, no grain. He said they always had hay to eat. (He hates to see a horse not eating, so he shoves it at them all day!)
The hay I have is a mixed hay - timothy and other grasses which has alot less protein than silage, right? At my place, she has 24 hour turnout with a one-acre sacrifice pasture to exercise in. I have no grass pastures, so will only be feeding the timothy-mix hay and grain. She has a salt block and lots of water, also 3 carrots every evening, broken up. Now for the barrage of questions:
- Can I ride her now at a walk only in the pasture, maybe 15 minutes at a time? If not, after the foal comes, when can I start riding? I want her to know she's going to be my saddle horse and that will be her job here, so I thought if I could walk her lightly before the baby comes, to get her used to me (she was rarely ridden before - just pony rides in the summer) and then start right away putting baby in the stall and taking mom into the pasture a few minutes longer each time and eventually out of the pasture, so they both become accustomed to that from the start. What do you think?
- What can I do about her weight, if anything, while she's pregnant and nursing?
- Should I give her grain, starting out with just a little and working up gradually (to how much?) since she's never had grain? Does she need it, since she's so overweight? I have offered her sweetfeed and crushed oats. She loved the oats, walked away from the sweetfeed.
- When can I start separating her and baby for a few minutes at a time?
- She has barely any wither. Is there a certain type of saddle that I could buy that might not slip? What about the aussi saddles with adjustable trees? I realize that after she looses weight, she may need a different saddle. My western saddle seems to look o.k. It doesn't pinch her shoulders, I can slide my arm way in under the gullet(probably because of the bulges on her back) but I can't cinch up tight yet because my cinch is way too small (34 in.) I'll probably need a 40 in. cinch right now, to fit. Will that change after the foal is born? Does the cinch area change in size with pregnancy? Anyway, because of her not having a wither, I'm worried that my saddle will slip. Is there anything that could help that? A breastplate?
- Heidi has been broke to harness and saddle but is very green-broke, with only doing pony rides. Noboby ever rode her outside the pasture or driveway, so we're really beginning training here, because I want to trail-ride with her. I think she has a very calm fearless temperament, I haven't seen her spook or jump sideways yet, and she's been brought to a totally new environment, with a hyper border collie, a cat and 5 chickens in the barnyard and 3 children running around. She's remained very calm, even laying down in the paddock her 2nd day here, while I was just 10 yards away shovelling sawdust into a tub to put in her stall! I was impressed! It took my first mare about a year to lay down by herself here, and she never did it in my presence. So, I think Heidi feels at home. But, any basic training advice you can give me would be welcome. I have been leading her around the pasture doing walk, trot, whoa, back-up and lowering her head with a tug from the lead. She's very willing and we're having a good time, but she's green and I am a 39 year old novice who had a very gentle, slow horse before, that was completely trained. Heidi has alot more spunk and knows alot less about cues, etc. I think she will train easy because she's so willing. She follows me right into her open stall and waits for me to go back out and unlatch the bottom dutch door and close it. Bridling was no problem, putting the saddle on no problem. She puts her feet up o.k. in front but is reluctant to raise the back ones. Would that be where she's so heavy with foal? I realize also that they never picked her feet! (They said NEVER, which is unbelievable to me, but they only trim their horses once a year and her feet are very long and splayed out). She's never been shod but the farrier will be here in a week and we'll have her looked after then.
- She's also never had any shots. Does she need some before the foal comes or right after? (The vet will be here May 1st) Does the new foal need any shots? What about deworming? I'm ordering Dr. Miller's book Imprint Training right away. Can you recommend a book for teaching a green-broke horse refined riding skills? I'm no expert rider but I took a year of english lessons (1991) and maybe a dozen western lessons and clinics in the last 2 years. I ride with 2 hands, and also neck-rein. I have a Tom Thumb bit (western shanks, broken mouth-piece). The reins can be attached to the ends of the shanks for neck-reining, and to the middle area (at the ends of the mouth-piece) for 2 - handed riding. I do not have a flat round-pen area to work in, only a bumpy, grassy pasture, and trails. I intend to keep doing the groundwork with her everyday and saddling her, bridle and saddlebags included, so sh's used to wearing all that stuff.
I realize this letter is so long but I warned you about the barrage of questions I had! Actually, I love reading all those long epistles you write, and all the details: I just soak it all up, so now you can send one to me! Thanks so much!
Donna and Heidi
Hi Donna! My first piece of advice, as I'm sure you have already guessed, is that you really must have a long talk with your veterinarian. If you haven't yet talked with an equine specialist veterinarian, then you must do so immediately. I can help you with some of your horse-management, exercise, feeding, and training questions, but you need a veterinarian's help, and you need help from a veterinarian who is there, and can look at and handle your mare (and the foal when it arrives), and can tell you what medical treatments your horses may need.
Mare management is not quite universal: we try to keep them at a good weight (neither too thin nor too fat), we maintain their hooves and their teeth, and we provide them with appropriate deworming at suitable intervals, and with appropriate vaccinations at appropriate intervals before the birth of the foal.
Weight, hooves, and teeth present the same questions/problems everywhere, and are amenable to the same solution (regular maintenance and preventive care).
Deworming and vaccination programs will vary according to the locale and the specific needs and risks of the area, and that is where your veterinarian must be consulted. The shots your mare gets (or doesn't get) before the foal is born will affect the foal's immunities to various diseases, so it's important for your vet to know what has and hasn't been done with your mare.
Deworming can be very stressful if a horse has not been dewormed in a long time and has a large parasite load, so again, your veterinarian may want to do some tests to determine which product(s) should be used and when, to give maximum benefit to the mare and foal without putting either at risk.
Exercise: give her turnout, as much as possible, so that she can move freely. Don't ride her this close to foaling, especially if she is very overweight: She is carrying far too much weight already! Wait until the foal is a few months old, eating and exercising more independently, and no longer nursing constantly. Then you can begin a very slow, gentle exercise program to help your mare become fit again.
Right now your mare is carrying a lot of extra weight, plus the weight of an about-to-be-born foal: That's more than enough for any mare.
Don't bother about a new cinch until the mare is ready to be ridden, and by the time the foal is several months old, you may find that your old cinch fits. ;-) Your mare may change shape drastically during the next couple of months. First, she will no longer be carrying the foal! And second (and even more relevant), she will be nursing the foal. Lactating mares use up an immense amount of energy, and many mares that are in good condition at the time of foaling become far too thin in the next few months, unless they are given supplemental feed. Your mare, on the other hand, may find that lactating helps her use up a lot of her extra fat -- but your veterinarian should always help you monitor her condition.
When the foal is a few months old, you can begin to separate them for brief periods, but the intial separations will be VERY brief: take the mare away for a minute or two, then bring her back again. Many very short separations will reassure the foal that "Mummy goes away, but Mummy always comes back again", and then you'll be able to make them a little longer each time.
Don't begin too soon or keep them separated for long, though, and before you begin, be absolutely sure that your baby-proof fences are still solid and baby-proof. Foals get into a panic very quickly when their mothers disappear, and can get into terrible trouble in just a minute or two, so take no chances with unsafe fences.
It may be possible for you to do short rides in the pasture, with the foal following you. This will lessen the mare's anxiety and the foal's concern, but you'll have to be careful. Some foals become very aggressive when their mothers seem unwilling to play with them, and kick at their mothers -- something that can be painful and damaging to a rider whose leg is in the way of that kick. Some foals follow like puppies, and others nip and kick.
If yours is a "puppy", you can ride in the same pasture with him; if he is a biter and kicker, don't take the chance. (BTW, it's safe, good veterinary practice, and an excellent idea to have male foals gelded just as soon as possible, within their first week is not too soon!)
When you begin riding your mare, you'll have to pay close attention to saddle and cinch fit. It's possible that her withers will appear as the amount of fat on her neck and shoulders and back disappears. ;-) If no withers appear, you may need a crupper to keep your saddle from slipping forward, a breastplate to keep it from sliding back, or possibly both, especially if you ride on hills. Your "bumpy, grassy pasture" sounds like an ideal place to ride, especially since you should just walk for the first few months, until both you and the mare are fit for riding and understand one another well.
Hay, salt, and water should be her basic diet; in addition, you can feed whatever your veterinarian recommends! He may suggest a vitamin-mineral supplement formulated for your area of the country. He probably will NOT suggest that you offer grain, especially for a very overweight horse doing no work. There are more dangers than benefits associated with overfeeding horses, and what horses really need is constant access to a good source of low-protein roughage. In other words, provide a good source of forage along with the water and salt, and don't worry about adding grain until your veterinarian suggests it.
Haflingers are strong, sturdy, easy keepers -- many are never fed grain although they are ridden regularly. Talk to your veterinarian, and talk to some breeders of Haflingers. You should be able to get good advice about a suitable feeding protocol for your mare.
Training principles are very much the same for horses of all ages. Dr.
Miller's book is useful, but remember that you must let the mare and foal bond FIRST, before you begin to imprint the foal. Also remember that you'll need to continue handling the foal as it grows up -- many people make the mistake of "imprinting" a foal at birth, putting it out into a field for a few years, and then bringing it in and expecting it to remember everything and be ready to start training. Turning it out into a field is a very good idea, but you must go out and handle it regularly over the next few years.
Young horses can and should learn a lot of things in the years before they are ready to begin formal training as riding horses.
Cherry Hill has written several books that you will find very useful: "Making not Breaking" will help you very much, both with your foal, a few years from now, and with your mare when the foal is weaned and you begin riding her again. "Becoming an Effective Rider" is also excellent, especially for Western riding.
Before you start riding your mare, though, throw away the jointed-mouth curb -- it's far too severe, and will punish your mare constantly. That bit has a lot of names, most of them, like "Tom Thumb" are wrong. (The same bit is also miscalled "cowboy snaffle", shanked snaffle, "western snaffle", etc.) The problem is that the bit isn't a snaffle at all, but a curb bit with extremely painful action. Even when those bits are used with the reins attached at mouthpiece leve, they generally aren't correctly balanced to sit comfortably in the horse's mouth. Bits like that belong on the pub wall, as decoration, or on the wall of the toilet, as toilet-paper holders. ;-)
If you plan to ride English-style, on contact, use a simple snaffle. The gentlest snaffles are mullen-mouth (no joint) or French-link (two joints with a short rounded link in the middle); single-joint snaffles are more severe.
If you plan to ride Western-style, off contact, use a simple "colt bit" or mullen-mouth or low-port curb with a smooth mouthpiece and short, swept-back "grazing" shanks.
No matter what bit you choose, you'll need to be careful to fit the bit to your mare's mouth and adjust it carefully so that it is neither so low it hits her teeth, nor so high that it wrinkles her lips and creates a constant pull. And no matter what bit you choose, be sure that your mare's teeth are in good shape BEFORE you put the bit in her mouth. Ask your veterinarian to check, and then let your mare confirm that the bit fits and is adjusted in a way that is comfortable for her.
Heidi sounds wonderful, and very well suited to your purpose. She should make a lovely trail horse. She obviously feels comfortable with you, which is an excellent beginning. ;-) And you are obviously doing everything you can to make her happy and healthy and safe -- all you need is some good help from a local veterinarian, and you'll be on your way!
One more, very important piece of advice: Do everything you can to find a good instructor, even if the nearest good instructor is at quite some distanace and you can have lessons only occasionally. It's impossible to teach a horse advanced/refined skills until you have those skills yourself, and you can't teach yourself refined riding skills on a green horse, no matter how sweet or cooperative she is. It's important for you to have someone who can help keep both you and Heidi on the right track.
Jessica
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