Two questions: Feeding and Straightness

["Tracey Zellmann" <Tracey_Zellmann@notes.teradyne.com>]

In eastern Massachusetts, we just had our last snow-storm of the year - I hope!.
The sun is coming out, and I know riding season won't be too far away. I am
still new to this sport. My horse and I enjoyed several 10 to 25 mile rides last
season. I call him "Moto." He helped me learn and I hope this year will be
another good one. My objective is to do two 25 mile rides each month and
hopefully a 50 mile ride by the end of the summer. I have one specific feeding
question - what should I feed the night before and the morning of a typical
ride? One thing makes this a little confusing to me. I keep my horse at a
commercial boarding stable about 20 minutes from my house. A typical Saturday
ride will be to sleep at home Friday night, pick up my horse Saturday morning 6
AM, trailer 1 - 2 hours, unload, attend the ride meeting and ride-out at 8:30 AM
- 9:00 AM. I am not sure how much hay and grain to feed in the AM, on the way to
the ride and at the ride. For personal and family reasons, I probably won't be
camping out Friday night. Last year, we went to one judged 25 mile CTR where my
uncertainty and inability to feed him made me aware that I have to have a better
pan this year. A new vet was doing the vet-in, so we did not even start until
noon. In my own ignorance, I did not feed grain in the morning and I did not
bring any grain for him, since this ride was only 20 minutes form my barn. I
thought we would be done and back by 1 PM. My horse had some hay, and some
carrots and some grass, but little else until 8 PM, since the vetting-in also
took forever. At the mid-way hold, he actually found another rider's supplies
and picked up a plastic zip-lock bag filled with sweet-feed and showed it to me!
I'M HUNGRY! I really felt badly that I didn't have something for him. This year,
what do you think my feed routine should be the evening before a ride and the
early morning of a ride? He is a ten year-old quarter horse, not stocky, and
many people think he looks like a TB. However, his breeding is all QH -
Topsails Cody and Doc Bar. His normal feed during the week is three feedings per
day, totaling three pounds of Blue Seal Pacer - a sweet feed - and six pounds of
Blue Seal Trotter - a "complete feed" - along with four flakes of hay. His
weight is good. This is my first horse and I have owned him for a year and a
half. What I have heard is that he should eat hay before his grain, and probably
not eat grain in the trailer. Should I feed him hay at 6 AM, let him finish some
of that, then let him eat his grain, and then trailer with hay in front of him?
Maybe start at 5:30 AM to let him finish the hay and grain without rushing?

Now the straightness question. I do a lot of arena riding during the bad
weather. I recently spent a day with an experienced dressage coach, evaluating
my riding and my horse's way of going. I have plenty of opportunities for
improvement, but she helped me realize that Moto does not travel straight. I
will try to describe this, but my question is whether any of you have had
experience with this - can such a horse carry himself for 25 to 50 miles without
undue strain. Basically, she showed me that he is compressed on his right side,
with his left side stiffer. As a consequence, if I get his four legs to track
straight ahead, his neck swings out significantly to the right. I have to cue
his haunches over to the left with my right leg to get him to go straight. As we
turn to the left, he continues to counter-bend to the right. Similarly, if I
circle to the right, he will tend to slide his shoulder out to the left. She
showed me how to work with him and let him stretch his neck out, then gradually
take up contact with the outside rein and gently feel him pull the rein forward.
Over time she thinks he will improve. She pointed out that the Spanish Riding
School spends the first year with a new horse just getting them to go straight.
Now, I want to translate that to trail riding. I believe he will carry his head
forward, since he eagerly wants to see which horses and what things are in front
of him. I can see that until I get his body straightened out, he will be going
don the trail with uneven use of his four legs. That is probably not the best
way to condition and use himself. Do any of you have experience bringing along a
horse like this? I know Moto and I will go bonkers if we have to spend another
year working in an arena until we are "straight."



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