How much hay do you feed a horse?

People always wonder how much hay do you feed a horse.  A healthy horse needs to be fed on average 2% of it's body weight.  If it's winter, or the horse is underweight, or if the horse is being worked hard, you increase that to 2.5-3%.

For example, if you have 1000lb, 15 hand horse, you'll feed it 20lbs a day of dry matter.  If you have hay bales that weigh 80lbs., then you'll go through that hay bale in 4 days.

The bottom line is that you need to be daily watching your horse.  Every horse is different.  If your horse is dropping weight, you'll need to increase the amount or adjust the type of feed.  If your horse is starting to put on weight, back off on the amount your are giving your horse.

Also, don't forget to adjust the amount of hay you feed your horse if you work your horse out or if it's cold. 

It's best to be feeding your horses at least twice a day.  Remember that horses are grazing animals.  It is more natural for them to be eating in small amounts more frequently throughout the day.

What are your Horse Goals for 2012?

Have you thought about what you want to accomplish with your horses for 2012?

It could be anything from getting a saddle on your horse,  working on your balance when you ride, starting your horse on cattle, or starting your horse in the show circuit.

We got our January 2012 Horse & Rider magazine in the mail and it had a great article about setting and achieving your goals. A lady by the name of Roxanne Peters had the goal to start showing in the NRCHA circuit in the limited non-pro division.  She had tons of odds to overcome.  She worked full-time and had a limited income.  But she wrote down her dream and started working at it.  In her words, "Little did I know that fate would intervene and my dream would grow."  In the end she ended up standing in the winners circle.

You will never know what can happen unless you try.

It's a great article, only found in January 2012 Horse & Rider magazine. 

So, what are your horse goals for 2012?

The Ranch is our Canvas

The wonderful thing about living on a ranch is that you have so many things around you from which to make Christmas gifts.  And with 7 kids making gifts for each other, it's exciting to see the things they come up with.



A book shelf, an airplane, a boat formed from a hollowed out piece of wood, painted pieces of wood and a "forget-me" stick.




 A wire picture holder Josh made for one of the kids, made from wood and wire lying around the ranch.

  A bow and arrow using baling twin and a nail, a boat made out of a hollowed out aspen tree, a pine cone "bomb" and an origami "Yoda".




The coolest homemade gift was what Josh's Dad helped me make for Josh.  A chalkboard and a "drop-box" to put in the barn. 

Beef- It's what's for dinner!

Josh and I are big college people.  Meaning we want our kids to go to college after they graduate from high school.  Because of that , we started talking them about college even before they went into kindergarten. 

We talk about all the subjects in college that there are to learn about and what each of the kids would love to study more about.  Of course, when we mention college to the younger kids, the conversation goes something like this,"Did you know your Aunt Anne, while she is in college, she can eat ice-cream whenever she wants."  It's at this point that my kids realize that the college life is definitely for them!

Because we have so many kids, college savings is not something that can easily come out of our monthly budget.  Josh and I have to be creative about helping them save for college.  We are constantly thinking of projects that will help them save money.  The beauty of living on a ranch is that we can amp up the project past your typical neighborhood lemonade stand. 

That's why we sell beef.  Good, homegrown, marbled beef.  Ohhh yyeeaahhh! 

We've raised beef  for 5 years now.  We raise beef for ourselves and then sell the rest to customers who care about the quality of food that goes into their body.

There is nothing better than the beef we raise.  Once you taste it, you'll never go back to just buying it from the store.  In fact, even when I've had a steak from a restaurant, it's just not the same taste.  There is something about it being raised carefully by a local rancher.

So, if you want to make sure that you can secure your beef for the 2012 year, make sure you contact us soon. 

Put yourself in the saddle

I think that one of the amazing things about the Internet is that you can develop your talents or interests.  Whatever you find interesting that you wish to learn more about, you can.

If I'm interested in learning more about photography (which I am), there is a bundle of websites out there that can help me learn step by step how to take great pictures.  I can find any kind of DIY projects.  I can type in what ingredients I have in my pantry and there are websites that can help me come up with a menu plan.  Josh recently learned all about transmissions because our transmission went out.  Anything I want to learn how to do, I can through the help of great websites.

The Internet is so empowering.

That's how we want our website to be with you on the subject of horses.  We want you to feel empowered on the subject of horses.  We want to feed you with the information you need so that you can say to yourself,  "I can do this!"

Becoming the best we can be involves always learning.  There is always much to learn on the subject of horses.  And the more you know, the more enjoyable it is and the more you get addicted to owning and taking care of a horse.

Our website and this blog are the places to start if you want to improve your equine skills. 

We will show you how to train horses from start to finish (the word finished is used grudgingly here as a horse and rider are never truly finished) as well as post tips we've learned along the way.  Keep checking both the website and this blog!

A sneak peak into what's coming in the next few months.... 6 new foals will be coming starting in March.  What do you do to get ready for them? How do you care for them?  What training can you do with them when they are young?  Stick with us and put yourself in the saddle.

Where is the snow?



December 11, 2011




December 11, 2010

There is quite a difference between the snow levels between this year and last year.  We were skiing last
 year at this time.  Today, Brundage hasn't even opended yet.  Yesterday Tamarack opened for the season but they've been making snow for quite some time.  The weatherman says we are in an inversion.

But, since the weather hasn't brought snow, we've been doing other things.....   

like making stuff for Christmas,

              

the website

getting our website spiffed up and a blog started,

Captain Dry Tang, aka "Chex"

dreaming of 6 new foals, one of which is coming out of our beautiful "Chex",




barn doors

 

and always working on our barn.

It's always so wonderful to be busy and have dreams.  And we are dreaming of one day having this.....
an indoor riding arena.

a picture off of the We Cover website