What Every First (...or Third) Time Horse Owner Should Know:

Last Monday I went to my first Horse Management Course at the Cooperative Extension Agricultural Center. I had a blast! An Animal Science Professor from NC State taught a course on things that 1st time horse owners should know. He started with separating things that owners NEED to know, Better know, SHOULD know, and would be GOOD to know. We need to know about facilities, equine psychology, nutrition, health care, hoof care, and who to call when something goes wrong. Although Granite is my third horse, I learned (or relearned) so much. I go a refresher on horse vision. This explained many spooks that seem to come out of nowhere, when actually the horse just sees things that we cant :)

I also learned that horses should be grazing at least 20 of 24 hours and eat for 12 full hours during the day. He reinforced horses being pack animals and stressed that even stallions needed to be able to see horses if not be with others. I also learned that if a horse's body temperature reaches 104, then they can no longer independently get their body temp back. You would have to immediately cold hose them. He proved to us that not cold hosing is an old wives tale (score one for me, I totally hose my horses in the summer).
We talked about new controversies in worming. This one hits home for me because I really like feed-thru wormer because it seems to improve my horse's overall condition. But my last vet was very opposed. She believed that the best method was to do fecal exams to count eggs and determine when to paste. She thought that the less we could paste worm, the less resistance problems we would encounter. The prof from State agreed with my last vet. I think the vets are just out to charge me $23 per fecal exam as many times a year as possible. Alas, it is an interesting concept.

So thats the short version of my first Short Course. I am supposed to have another one tomorrow (about preventative health care) but we got a ton of snow and here in good ole NC, we don't react well to snow (by we, I mean that I do not react well to snow. It is my mortal enemy.) So, I have a funny feeling that they will cancel the course. My Town Hall is opening 2 hours late which is fabulous. But I have a very low toyota solara and I am not looking forward to navigating it the 15 minutes to work!

In other news, tonight's work-out makes 3 full weeks of working out 6 days a week! My weight has been fluctuating a pound or two here and there. But I have lost an inch or so in my waist and hips! Best of all, tonight's hour long elliptical program that Eva created for me got easier than it was for the past two weeks! That means that I am getting stronger and that this is working! I will be ready to ride my horse with strength in 2 months! I am proud, despite what the scale tells me.

Alright folks, chow for now :)