AMHR Futurity Foals and babies in any class)

[Magic Marker Minis]

How do they get those babies so fit and trim if you can't exercise them in a round pen?

 

[Riverrose28]

Normal turnout is usally all that is needed for a baby. I've taken babies to Nationals and never exercised them but they look good when showing as babies like to play when turned out with other babies and somehow keep themselves in shape, as they are not lazy like some older horses.

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

It's just too freakin hot here in AZ... Our poor babies hardly play during the day. Last night right after it rained, though, they were running around. Can't wait to get out of this hellhole.

 

[Riverrose28]

OH I know all about the heat, we get it here in the east too and with humidity. I'm stuck in the house today cause it's hot and I have a heart condition and can't breath when it gets this humid. Shame, cause when I was young the heat didn't bother me, now it kills me. I knew it was coming so I stripped all the stalls yesterday and bedded them deep, so my help just has to put horses out and in and I'll get to the stalls when the weather is cooler. He is cutting grass now, and I'm sitting on my tush, alternating between watching the Nationals and on LB and FB. Just doing old lady things, haha!

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

What do you feed your show babies? We're feeding our weanlings 14% senior (can't get junior out here) and Calf Manna - half and half. And all the hay they can eat - a mix of alfalfa and grass. More grass than alfalfa right now as the alfalfa was just recently cut and it's very rich...

The only 'good' thing about Tucson is the alfalfa. They get about 8-10 cuttings a year down here.

 

[disneyhorse]

Many don't wean them before Nationals because they look best when still with the dam. So mom goes along for the ride or is also shown herself.

 

[MyMiniGal]

I agree about the heat...we've been near or over 100, the past few days. It is all I can do, to just go love on, and feed my mini and get back home to the AC. Especially where she is boarded, it is so hot, with no shade, or breeze. Well, there is a sliver of shade, under her shelter, that has a metal roof, then as late afternoon, early evening hits, there is none, for over an hour. Looking forward to Fall, so I can go and do something , with her, after work and before I have to feed her. Right now, most things I get to do with her, have to wait until the weekends, when I can go in the morning and do them after the morning feeding.

 

[HGFarm]

I've never worked babies either... just healthy babies on a good diet and plenty of turnout keeps them nice. I just feed alfalfa and Purina Equine Jr. I wont use Calf Manna ever again. They have changed the formula and use soy, which is GMO, now and that is NOT good for a horses' digestive system.. on top of the other problems GMO foods create.

In the AZ heat, the horses are quieter of course during the heat of the day, but we generally take the summers off and relax because we have the other 9 months of the year where we can have fun. I personally really wouldnt want to live anywhere else. For my driving or riding horses, we have just been out there at the crack of dawn and get a workout done then- and you're finished by the time the heat gets too bad.

 

[ohmt]

As said, I think many leave the foals on their dams, or wean early to give enough to get through the adjustment stage. There are MANY that ARE working their foals, and quite a lot who are sweating them. Terrible, terrible

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Just something to consider...

Pretty does not equal healthy.

Good in the show pen at a young age does not equal good in the breeding shed (in terms of reproductive ability, not quality).

Look at human teenagers, we all know if they are round and filled out as kids, then they will be too fat later in life. All fat cells that an individual will have is created soon after puberty, after that point fat cells are neither created nor destroyed, they enlarge and shrink.

Dr. Taylor

 

[BSharpRanch]

Very interesting!!

I remeber in an animal nutrition course I took in college eons ago, our instructor made the comment that "early gains are cheap gains". Must be why that is so true.

 

[andi]

We brought 7 weanlings to the National Show, 6 of them weaned and one was only 3 months, so still on its dams side. Three of them were weaned the day they were loaded on the trailer to head to the show, they are 5.5. to 6 months old. Up to this point they had never been stalled, worked or sweated. A couple of them, Troubadour and Desire, had shown already, and for those shows they were picked up from in the field with their dams, the day they left for the shows, and returned to the field the day they got home. They were on free choice high quality hay, and due to their dams being a little slight at first, almost free choice 12% pellets. In my opinion, if fed well and healthy, 90% of a foals condition comes from their inherited natural build, which will vary greatly depending on their bloodline. Here are three pictures of Troubadour, at 2 weeks, 2.5 months, then 6 months, 8 days or so after being weaned.