[RC] Horses eating and drinking at rides - Jerry & Susan Milam
This past weekend
I took my two geldings to WI to do our first ride of the season. One of the guys
has done some LD's and 3- 50's, the other guy has never done any. Because
Dandy is a newbie and Fly hasn't competed this year yet, we entered
the 25 LD.
My youngster,
Dandy ate and drank like he was at home, while the more competitive,
experienced horse, Fly was very picky about eating or drinking while in
camp. Both had good skin tenting but Fly's urine output was decreased and a
darker yellow in color, not brownish, yellow. Dandy's weight after the ride
didn't look much different than before the ride, but he was
definitely tired. Fly, on the other hand, showed weight loss, but had
plenty of go left after the finish.
It seems that the
more rides Fly does, the less he will take care of himself. Do you think
this is a learning curve thing with him? OR... are there some tricks
someone can share of how to get my competitive guy to relax more in camp and eat
and drink better ?
Thanks in advance
for any tips people have to share.
My thanks also to
all the great people in ride management at the ApDRA ride at the Southern Kettle
Moraine State Park, especially Dawn Haas, the RM. She was absolutely great and
we will be back next year.
In His Hands,
Susan, Fly Bye & Dandy
"All
you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given
you." -Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings
