In which my younger sister realizes I have passed all bounds of "normal" when it comes to horses.
The conversation went like this (approximately):
Loreleigh: I've decided I don't want crap for Christmas this year and I finally figured out that people just didn't know what to get me
Me: Duh.
Loreleigh: So I'm sending out a Christmas List.
Me: My, aren't we greedy this year?
Loreleigh: So what do YOU want for Christmas
Me: Ummm... (In truth I don't even have a list. I think I've even convinced my beloved Matt not to get me anything)
Loreleigh: If you don't get me a list I will give you something like a useless trinket or figurine.
Me: I know! I need one of those dollar store wire waste baskets!!!!
Loreleigh: *silence*
Me: For soaking beet bulp and rinsing it.
Loreleigh: *more silence and quite possibly the blinking sound you hear from cartoons*
Loreleigh: You are way more obsessed with horses than I ever gave you credit for.
Considering this is coming from another horse person (and one who reads my blog), I am considering this a high compliment.
Things that I once considered when I first started endurance, as "too much", I am now embracing whole-heartedly. Barefoot, boots etc. About 8-12 months ago (and ongoing) after reading Karen's posts about sugar I re-evaluated Farley's diet to make sure I didn't have any un-needed sugars. She's never shown any indication that she's sensitive to the sugar, but better safe than to have a insulin resistant, lamanitic horse right?
Two things I did NOT do was rinse my beet pulp and test my hay - that was just too much. Last night I got to thinking that it was time to start rinsing. Testing my hay is impratical because of boarding and how they buy their grass hay (in small quantities). But I can control her beet pulp and other supplemental feeds. I'm doing so much to insure her health and well-being, I may as well take one more little step. So I'm adding "rinsing beet pulp" to the growing list of things I thought I would never do.
Remember Karen - being copied is the highest form of flattery!
And if you haven't checked out Karen's website, here it is. The last couple of days I've referenced it often, because it's my first resource for endurance related questions. She has years and miles and experience, and even if you don't agree or don't want the "bother" of doing all the *little* things, her protocols are great to stick in the back of your mind and come back to and mull over. There are many many things I do now, that I didn't used to, because I read it on her blog, thought it over for 6 months, and decided that yes, it was a good idea.
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Weird, I have had the exact same thought process as you lately. I just didn't know where to find the baskets :)
ReplyDeleteI have also been experimenting with a grain free diet (beetpulp, handful of grain for taste, and salt after any ride) which I never thought I would do. Now that my guy is out on 24 acres... It seems like a good time to try it!
I'm down to beet pulp, dried oil (I finally gave up on the veggie - oil too messy and I worried about the oxidation) and LMF's supersupplement to balance out her hay. She finally has hay almost 24 hours a day too. AND very limited apples and carrots. Only on special occasions.
ReplyDeleteOoooh what a good idea! And cheap too, even better. Stealin' dis.
ReplyDeleteSo did my ramblings on dry oil in that last email make sense? :p
ReplyDeleteyou make me sound so ungrateful. I'm really just trying to be helpful, if I were to, say, read your blog for gift ideas you would end up with "a sound horse" (which would be a CD of me knocking coconut halves on the floor, snorting and whinying.... horse sounds, sound horse-meh, same difference)
ReplyDeleteLoreleigh
They just got them in again at my local $1 store. I keep two in the barn, and two in the horse trailer.
ReplyDeleteRinsing is easy, just put the beet pulp into the basket and put into a bucket of water. Sometimes I need to do two or three rinses to get the water clear with some batches of beet pulp.
It can really make a difference in hoof sensitivity and after you get used to rinsing it's not a big deal.
Zach - what I got out of your last e-mail is that they are basically equivalent. :) one cup = one cup close enough.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm on to wondering if there are any digestibility differences between the dried form of oil and how nature presents it...
What amazes me is the DIFFERENCE in batches of beet pulp. Last bag I bought needed a rinse. Current bag: no rinse needed (fortunate, because water is frozen at the barn and I have to make the beetpulp in the house!). Bag I bought last summer: very sweet. Huh. You'd think that those using the beets for their First Purpose (getting sugar out of them) would take all the sugar they could get. Maybe I just need to learn more about the process of processing sugar beets? Hmmm....
ReplyDelete