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[RC] western raised horses to the east - Laura HayesRoger asked about bring adult horses from west to east:
I have brought or been involved with several coming here to NY/PA from
Rushcreek in Nebraska and most recently, three from RMTC in Colorado.
Here is what I have observed:
The Rushcreeks from Neb. had a hard time with their feet at first -
they went from sandy and dry conditions to dirt with mud and dew. Several
of them had feet that started to fall apart before growing a new foot and
then having awesome feet. The feet appeared dry, but were actually too
moist, I believe. There is probably nothing you can do, but something to
watch for. Other than that, they were outside 24/7(as they were at RC) and
adjusted well - never lost weight or were set back. We hauled them
ourselves, and mostly straight through as they were not broke. We put all
of them immediately into training.
In the last two years I have brought three mares from Colorado, one,
the horse I compete on (Equal Terms), I started right into conditioning as
she had been conditioned in CO. She was 11 at the time. I struggled to
keep weight on her and finally put her on ulcer meds (a 6 week course of
Cimetidine) after a year of fairly successful endurance, but problems with
the weight and a little bit of colic. She has blossomed and just did two
days of S2S with 12 hours travel time, and never dropped a pound. I am
thinking the trip here (I had her shipped, and though they were very nice,
she got off the trailer thinner than she had been in CO and slightly
dehydrated), and then going straight into training, she was too stressed,
though she never appeared that way on the outside, except for being a tad
thin. I did not have trouble with her feet, but the ground is not sandy in
CO, just rocky.
The next two mares were 6 and 7 and were hauled home together in
some horrid weather. They were not broke, so we never unloaded them, but
did stop for some short nights and as they were not tied, they had plenty of
room to move around in the slants and eat off the floor (I think it is
terribly important to allow them to put their heads down). Both mares
adjusted fine, but were turned out for several weeks before training. No
problems with feet or weight - they both gained normally.
My story and I'm stickin' to it - so what are you getting, Roger - tell
us!!!!
Laura Hayes AERC#2741
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