Feeding and exercise

[LaraSheidy]

Dear all,

What do you feed your show minis weanling and up. Please state your horses age what you feed them and what you do to keep them in show shape. Before and after pictures appreciated. Thank you!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I do NOTHING at all with weanlings. They are never exercised artificially until they are two at least. They are fed good solid feed and left out all winter with as much hay as they can eat. They are not brought up until six weeks before their first show and they seem to do just fine! Of course they have been halter trained as foals and I keep reminding them all winter, as they need shots, teeth checked, feet done, worming etc etc. That is all.

 

[Hayley~Diaz]

Yeah I agree with the above post. Weanlings are still babies and they still have a lot of growing to do. What I concentrate on at that age is feeding right up to allow them the best chance to grow big and strong.
However, at yearling stage I do 'exercise' them in a way. But it is only gentle walking, not intensive work loads.

By the time they are two, in my opinion, they are ready to be lunged and start learning to jump. When I say, 'start learning to jump', that means developing their jump, not trying to see how high they can go! But not over-working them too much - they are still growing.
In saying this, it depends on the individual horse - some may take longer to grow, so in that case, I wait.
But as a general rule-of-thumb, that's pretty much how it works out for me.

People may agree or disagree, but this is just what I do

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Sorry, no jumping at all until they are a full four years old, and NO lunging, ever. I only ever round pen now, as it can cause such problems with necks and backs especially in later life. I found, when I came to need to in order to start harness training, there was no problem at all, in fact the horse was far more open to long reining as he already knew all the commands form free schooling. At two I will allow then to run around in the round pen for a bit, may even encourage then to do so (never too early to teach "whoa" after all) but I do no actual exercise that is not voluntary until; they are three. Babies should allowed to be babies and babies need to play.

 

[Hayley~Diaz]

All to their own. I don't do harness so it doesn't apply to what I like to do with my horses. My work with them is varied a lot and not strenuous until they are older and fit. Have never had a horse go sour

 

[Minimor]

I don't longe or round pen yearlings; they generally keep themselves quite well conditioned as long as they are kept in an area where they have sufficient room to exercise themselves. Two and older they get work on the longe line or they free longe in a big corral. I personally have no problems with longe line work for horses--in all my life I've never had one with neck/back problems from being worked on a longe line, but then I don't let them pull that much either (believe me, my neck/shoulders would go out long before their necks do if I let them pull!!)--if they are so fresh that they are going to rip around and pull too much, they get worked loose in the corral first. Otherwise, as far as circle work, there is no more harm in them going around on a 25-30' line than there is in going around in a 50-60' round pen; a circle is a circle. I know a number of people who have much smaller round pens, and I absolutely will not have a round pen smaller than 50'.

For getting a horse muscled up, I like long trotting--that will muscle them up with nice smooth long muscling; I don't have any use for putting them in a small (or large for that matter) round pen and then chase them around so that they scurry around at a short, fast trot or gallop like mad--that doesn't give them the kind of muscle I like to see on a show horse.

If I had a golf cart I would probably do some conditioning behind that--it's a great way to take them out for a long trot--but I do think that many people over do the conditioning when they use a golf cart or quad. I see far too many horses that are IMO much too drawn up and I know that many of those are exercised behind a golf cart or quad. I guess some people like that look, but I do not.

 

Dear all,

What do you feed your show minis weanling and up. Please state your horses age what you feed them and what you do to keep them in show shape. Before and after pictures appreciated. Thank you!

As to feed, for the weanlings, I would make sure they are on a high protein diet, so they have the nutrients they need to grow strong bones and develop good muscle tone. I creep feed weanlings -- making sure they have food in front of them at all times -- and use straight alfalfa hay, as it gives a protein boost and is a tummy soother. With a high protein diet, you won't see that weanling 'belly' that really isn't a fat belly at all -- just a sign they aren't getting enough protein. As yearlings, they start being fed on a schedule of 2 meals a day, and get alfalfa hay (it's all I feed here) for chewing. I don't 'work' weanlings -- just let them grow and be little horses! They do just fine in the show ring if you do simple halter training and get them used to being handled for feet and grooming -- including clipping.