It has been a lovely sunny day today, after last nights torrential rain.
After taking the boys to school, I stopped off to give Jason his breakfast and thought it would be a lovely opportunity for him to get the sun on his back and a chance for me to dry his rug!
At lunchtime I walked to give Jason his lunch and found him flat out in the middle of the field - sunbathing! Bless him.
Thursday 30 September 2010
Worms!
This morning, i received the results of Jason's 'poo' sample!!
With both Albert and now Jason, insted of blindly worming every 3 months as we all used to, I now send poo samples off to a lab specializing in worm egg counts. The aim is to only worm when the horses need it, not only saving money, but more importantly, not filling the animal with unnessacery chemicals.
When I took Albert on in March this year, his worm count was >1400epm. A rule of thumb is after worming a sample will be <50epm and when the horse needs worming it will be around 250epm. So, as you can imagine, I had my work cut out sorting Albert so as to gently, but efficiently clear him of internal parasites.
When I received the email from the lab, I was expecting a result much the same as Albert's. To my surprise and great relief, Jason's count was <50epm! Thankfully he has been kept upto date with worming.
I once had a little NF filly who had been bred on the forest. She had such a bad infestation of worms, that sadly she died shortly after coming to me of peritonitis. The damage was already too bad for worming treatments to correct. This is why I am now very careful and cautious with regard to worms.
With both Albert and now Jason, insted of blindly worming every 3 months as we all used to, I now send poo samples off to a lab specializing in worm egg counts. The aim is to only worm when the horses need it, not only saving money, but more importantly, not filling the animal with unnessacery chemicals.
When I took Albert on in March this year, his worm count was >1400epm. A rule of thumb is after worming a sample will be <50epm and when the horse needs worming it will be around 250epm. So, as you can imagine, I had my work cut out sorting Albert so as to gently, but efficiently clear him of internal parasites.
When I received the email from the lab, I was expecting a result much the same as Albert's. To my surprise and great relief, Jason's count was <50epm! Thankfully he has been kept upto date with worming.
I once had a little NF filly who had been bred on the forest. She had such a bad infestation of worms, that sadly she died shortly after coming to me of peritonitis. The damage was already too bad for worming treatments to correct. This is why I am now very careful and cautious with regard to worms.
Wednesday 29 September 2010
This is Jason's story. He is a 16 year old 14.2hh Welsh gelding. He has come to live with us as his previous owner could no longer afford to keep him and he had lost alot of weight due to the young lady being unable to buy him feed.
We collected Jason last Saturday afternoon. After much gentle persuasion, we finally loaded him into the trailer. He hadn't been in a trailer for over 18 months, so was really weary of going in. The lure of food finally got the better of his nerves though, and gingerly walked up the ramp where a bucket of pony nuts and a haynet waited for him!
We arrived back at the farm and decided to put Jason straight into the field - after taking his traveling boots off. Albert, my 15.2hh T.B. driving horse came trotting over to introduce himself to Jason, soon to be very disappointed, as Jason didn't even lift his head from the lovely grass!!
I have chosen Jason's food very carefully, taking into account his age, condition, plus the fact he hasn't had hard feed for over a year. Finally settled on Alfalfa, Senior conditioning mix, sugar beet, with soya oil, milk powder, biotin, natural live yogurt and lots of carrots and apples!! He is having 3 feeds a day, so not to put too much strain on his stomach, which could cause colic.
Sunday 26th October 2010
Gave Jason a bath this morning in insecticidal shampoo, incase he had lice. He was very 'itchy' and had very greasy coat. He loved his bath, standing in the sun with his eyes half closed!! After his bath, I brushed all of the tangles from his mane and tail. He is now very shiney!
I also washed all of Jason's rugs, to kill any bugs!!
We collected Jason last Saturday afternoon. After much gentle persuasion, we finally loaded him into the trailer. He hadn't been in a trailer for over 18 months, so was really weary of going in. The lure of food finally got the better of his nerves though, and gingerly walked up the ramp where a bucket of pony nuts and a haynet waited for him!
We arrived back at the farm and decided to put Jason straight into the field - after taking his traveling boots off. Albert, my 15.2hh T.B. driving horse came trotting over to introduce himself to Jason, soon to be very disappointed, as Jason didn't even lift his head from the lovely grass!!
I have chosen Jason's food very carefully, taking into account his age, condition, plus the fact he hasn't had hard feed for over a year. Finally settled on Alfalfa, Senior conditioning mix, sugar beet, with soya oil, milk powder, biotin, natural live yogurt and lots of carrots and apples!! He is having 3 feeds a day, so not to put too much strain on his stomach, which could cause colic.
Sunday 26th October 2010
Gave Jason a bath this morning in insecticidal shampoo, incase he had lice. He was very 'itchy' and had very greasy coat. He loved his bath, standing in the sun with his eyes half closed!! After his bath, I brushed all of the tangles from his mane and tail. He is now very shiney!
I also washed all of Jason's rugs, to kill any bugs!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)