Getting there hacking.

A week has now passed and we have success on the diet and horse front.

The soaked hay is going down a storm Charlie loves the mix some days his choice is soaked and some days his choice is dry but both are eaten.

The draining in the tub works a treat and the 3kg soaked is easy easy to lift out. I open up the tap in the morning and serve the hay for tea in his hotel rooms.

The new Equifeast regime is working however some days he scoffs his breakfast and some days he picks at it. 

So Current feed regime Half Hay (3kg) soaked for 12 hours and half fed dry another 3-4 kg.

1 mug of Fast Fibre with 1 level scoop of Lo Mag and 4 rounded spoons of Magnesium added. 

I had a good lesson Friday and then we hacked out Saturday and Sunday and he was a very good boy. He led part of the way hacking on Sunday but did have two blips where he decided to turnround and ask someone else to lead but then Rome wasnt built in a Day and they were only minor. We hacked out again this morning with 3 others one of whom he hasn't hacked with before.

I am not going to ask him to hack alone for some time as he is so much better I keep being asked out as he is not seen as dodgy company and I am not so neurotic.

His weight has come down to about 585 hard to tell with the flakey weight tape system but he is looking better and the girth is easier.

Back at Slimmers World

Well Charlie hasn't really lost much weight but then I am chipping away at it rather than starving the poor creature. They have been in quite a lot over the last two weeks and this has not helped his waist line.

We have also been tinkering with his Equifeats Cool Calm and Collected trying the get the Magnesium Calcium balance correct.

So I need to have a good workable plan for the diet that follows through for summer. To this end I am going to not only weigh all his hay but also soak part of his ration.

To this end I have acquired a small garden water but with a lid and tap. A large plastic flowerpot upended in the bottom works as a stand for the Haynet. Filled up with water to top of net then when it's ready turn the tap on and it drains itself without dislocating my shoulders.

I introduced Charlie to his ration of half dry half soaked hay this evening. The hay had only soaked for under two hours but was,apparently, his hay of choice as he dug the dry hay away to get to the partly soaked.

Clicking with Charlie

Well I am still working through my Ben Hart book printed matter is not my favourite as my eye condition makes printed text challenging to read unless the light is perfect. That said I like the man and what he is saying so that's a good start.

My initial training I attempted on the yard and it would appear that the mere act of tying my horse up and getting ready to click reward brings every flipping horse noise and distraction onto the yard. I was sticking to a rule that he only got a click and reward if he had done something and chose step forward. I was purposely tying him up where he is shod as the ultimate is to get him farrier savvy. Then it appeared to me he was getting a little snatchy. He wasn't understanding the point and tried 'When you tie up here I get sweeties.'

Today I read the page on target training where Ben commented on the error of using the same hand as the target for treats so is the horse sniffing your target or the treat smell. I read on and made my plan to move location and get stuck in to using a  stick target instead.

Using a school as recommended would not be ideal as we are in the hysterical land of winter school use particularly as the dreaded yard board had the statement ALL HORSES IN UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. I can't say I am surprised the fields are dire and they all line up at the gate waiting to come back in.

Stable it is then. I planned ahead. 

1. Remove hay 

2. Bum bag with ickle bits of apple

3. Clicker

4. Homemade target - Stick with half litre plastic milk carton taped to it.

What else do I need that's everything isn't it? Oops no I also needed my victim Charlie the Poshcob.

Charlie stood gazing at me with a resigned look of 'Need Hay Now' on his face.

I introduced the milk carton.

'Good Grief what is that I want hay' he moved away snorted and then sniffed it. I decided that counted so did click reward. We repeated this twice and then he decided if I was going to keep making him sniff a milk carton he would sulk at the back of the stable instead.

We repeated it a little more and it appeared to make him think. Then he had a plan he decided he would just have the treats. I stood patiently with my elbow covering the bum bag and said NO.

Thank heavens I have a horse who understands English. I reiterated that in order to get a click and a treat he had to sniff the milk bottle. I think he was getting the idea. We will have to see.

So what have we gained today.

I have learnt to be very patient.

It does appear to make him think.

It's something else to do with him when they are grounded due to averse weather.

His gorgeously handsome next door neighbour Jake was intrigued and gazed adoringly through the bars. He had a look on his face that seemed to say 'I'll kiss a mIlk bottle for a treat.'

Charlie has learnt that I am just a little bit bonkers but I think he started to realise he had to earn his treats.

Confidence begins to shine.

This morning I turned Charlie out alone except for one other horse in another paddock something I have never dared do before. Normally he would be scanning the distance looking for Wolves ,Lions or Dragons. He would be alert walking down the track and scan the fields for threats that had frightened the others off.

He would graze eating a mouthful and then lift his head alert for any dangers. He would canter across the field to the nearest horse to say 'Hi! Are there any dragons out here today please?' (He is very polite)

Today he strolled casually down the track beside me.

I turned him out and he strolled gently to the area we put a little hay out.

He ignored the other horse and just waited for his bit of loose hay.  I anxiously went back up to muck him out slowly, nipped back to the car as I could view down the valley from here. He was happily munching oblivious to any dragons.

I prepared to drive home checked again all fine. I had left his head collar on the gate just in case.

Later on I went back and brought him in. By then everyone else was out. I called hi and he strolled over casually took his bit of apple and strolled magnificently relaxed beside me. I knew he had been ok as there was no unhappy mud on him.

So fingers crossed I am not speaking too soon things are definitely looking up. His confidence is growing so now I have to continue building it up.

Charlies Slimmers World

Following on from our Physio saying Charlie was Chunky a few small changes have been put in place. I should add that I had already noticed the floor feeding was affecting his waistline and that measuring his hay by placing it in a wheelbarrow, decanting it into his stable and then kicking it may not have been accurate.

The steps taken are:

Only use his zero fill turnout rug (dont worry I havent switched from 450g I was putting a 70g on if I felt cold) he is quite a warm chap.

Weigh all his hay and if I give him some tied on the yard it has to come from his weighed ration. I am not of the school that thinks a horse should be in a hungry stable but I am pleased to note that he only has a few wisps left on the floor am and on In days what I give him is no longer walked around his bed.

Added to this he eats his small bowl of porridge and Equifeast CCC enthusiastically of a morning and when turned out doeant wait for his slice of Apple. We give them a little hay in the field.

Fat scoring - well this seems a bit of a science so here goes.

Divide the horse into 3 areas and take the average. Here goes :

Neck - fairly firm not really a crest more muscle than fat = 3.5

Back and Ribs - Ribs covered less of a gutter along spine can feel processes some fat on shoulder = 4

Pelvis - Gutter soft fat (but not as bad as it was in summer = 4

That makes our average 3.8. Weigh tape which is a bit flakey says 595kg but I go by saddle and girthing up and he has definitely lost some around his barrel since the beginning of winter.

Physio Bits and Clicks.

Charlies Physio Grace Fairburn came to see him on Wed 29th and was very pleased with him the knot in his neck has gone and his range of movement and his back flexibility are all good. he wont need to see her again for 3 months. However she has said he is  chunky which in my book is another way of saying 'fat'! This is probably as a result of going to floor feeding rather than controlled nets about 6 weeks ago.

We have changed bits. In my lesson on Friday we had a good look in his mouth and agreed contrary to my thoughts he has got plenty of space in the roof of his mouth however he has a very thick tongue and my Neue Schule bit is pressing on it.
We popped him into a 16mm Verbindend and after an initial getting used to it phase he settled down nicely so time will tell. The lesson was awesome.

We hacked again Saturday morning just Charlie and his field buddy Munchkin. Both boys were very well behaved and Charlie led most of the way. As a result of the bit change I had another look at his hacking bit and decided to drop it a hole each side. He seemed to much prefer this a chomped quite happily instead of waggling his tongue everywhere. I had forgotten my antislip pad for my saddle and i dont know if it was the bit change or the saddle pad but for the first time ever he came back from the hack as cool as a cucumber hardly any sweat at all.
Today  we have weighed his hay. I borrowed a scale from another livery. I would say the weight I got off him pre Xmas has gone back on as a result of floor feeding. We give them hay in the field but only a little.
I filled my wheelbarrow around about what he normally gets but I always top up too.
I weighed it and it was about 10kg so I guess I have been giving him nearer 12kg. I used a bag from my garden shredder, its a plastic hessian one with two handles, and that filled is 3kg and very filled is 4kg. Weighing it by filling a haynet and then emptying is too much hassle but as its easy to stuff it in an open bag.
I have a rope with a big clip on it that used to have the haynet on it so it made the job of weighing it in the stable very easy. tomorrow we will see how he felt and then start reducing a little more.

The Clicker Training has started I have purchased a book by Ben Hart. We are just doing small steps to get him used to click means good.

We have had another slight feed change and dropped the Topspec Topchop Lite. He was only having a small amount but as it has Alfalfa in it I am trying him without it. So he jsut gets a mug of Fast Fibre and a dose of Equifeast CCC.