After sleeping on it, I revised the plan to begin the transition from Stable Mix to hay last night instead of at breakfast yesterday morning. Breakfast will continue as it was until at least mid-next week, with dinner now being a scoop of Stable Mix and a half-flake of very wet hay. By feeding the hay wet and in the evening after the heat of the day, as well as a feeding just a tad light for the next couple of days, the hope is to increase our chances of making the transition without any issues of intestional distress. If all goes as planned, by Friday, the evening transition from Stable Mix to hay will be completed.

(BTW, I wish you could have all walked the ranch with me last night at 10:00 when I visited every horse that was in transition, just to make sure all was well. I got lots of greetings, thank you’s, and snuggles from a bunch of very happy and contented ponies!)

We’ll go through the weekend and early part of next week before we begin to transition breakfast, and by the end of phase two, the horses will be feed three times a day with hay for breakfast and dinner, and Stable Mix and soup for lunch. With the exception of one hard keeper, everyone’s weight is really good and the whole point is to increase positive chewing time while maintaining nutritional needs and I think this balance will meet all of those goals. We’ll also be feeding your supplements at lunch, and that service will continue to be free. (BTW, if you’re curious, the hay is Tri-Forage…beardless wheat, beardless barley, and oats and we’ve been guaranteed quantity and price through the winter).

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to catch me in the barn or call my cel. Have a wonderful day!

Hi, All! Just a quick note to let you all know there’s a change underway in our feeding program. Beginning tomorrow morning, we’re going to start switching most everyone (not the minis or those over 30) from Stable Mix to hay. The change will be done in two phases: This week, we’ll focus on the morning feed, which will be completed by the end of the week and then next week, we’ll switch the evening feed. Taking several days to switch each feeding and doing it in two phases should alleviate any concerns about colic due to changes in diet.

We will, however, continue to feed horse soup (beet pulp, wheat bran, and salt served very wet and sloppy, hence the term “soup”) but it will be ladled out as lunch instead of being served as part of breakfast, with any supplements we’re feeding for you added at that time.

One note that should be a concern for every horse owner: According to Loomis Basin, vets generally see more sand colic in the month of August than any other month. If you don’t already adhere to a regular psyllium cleansing schedule, please consider it! We’ll administer it for you for free and I can offer some suggestions to help you cut costs on how and what to buy if that would be helpful.

As always, please call me with any questions — and especially so in light of the new feeding program.

WOW!  What a morning!  We had two horses come in Friday afternoon to stay overnight as ranch guests (thank you Grace for providing the transport service so I could focus here!) and then several more trailered in Saturday morning to join us from the Sac Trail Riders Meet Up Group.  It was a nice sized group, rounded out with several of our trail folks and a pony cart, and we all headed out to the pond to play in the water (well, okay, the pony cart didn’t play in the water!).  Then it was back to the ranch for burgers, dogs, mounds of salads and chips, and lots of good horsey talk.  Good stuff all around!  Thank you, Trail Riders, for adding to the morning’s fun!

The Sacramento Trail Riders have been invited to join us and we’re already getting a positive response so it should be a good-sized group. The ranch is providing burgers/dogs/buns for both and mayo/mustard/catsup and paper plates/utensils and the rest will be potluck. Can’t wait!

BTW, if you’re one of the Trail Riders and don’t have a trailer, let me know and we’ll make arrangements to transport your horse either Friday night or early Saturday morning so you can join in the fun!

Ever wonder about what the cowboys saw and heard riding cattle all night? Well, there won’t be herding cattle, but you’ll hear all the night sounds… leather creaking, crickets and frogs, night birds, the clip-clop of the horses feet, and muted conversation among the riders. It’s a lovely way to see a full moon and definitely something out-of-the ordinary. Hope our whole equestrian family turns out!

This is just an evening ride and more than likely, depending on who’s along, we’ll be back in before it’s completely dark.

Whew! It’s been a busy, busy week around here. A small but enthusiastic group rode out from the ranch last Saturday, then several of us hauled around to Gibson Ranch to join up with other friends and all of us rode with the Sacramento Trail Riders on Sunday morning. What a great group… about 15 horses, I think…. totally fun! Then Monday morning, a couple of us rode out from the ranch to see if there was still water in a local pond. It was a nice, quiet, easy ride that caught a bunch of ducks by surprise when we showed up at the pond. Then last night was a small BBQ held by the mini horse folks to honor Kelly’s birthday last week and Jennifer’s today. Tomorrow is a run to the Bay Area to bring back a new member of the family, and tomorrow night ends with a moon-light ride

BTW, if anyone tried to call this past week, there was trouble on the barn line for several days and it wasn’t all tracked down and sorted out until yesterday morning. I never use the barn line to make calls and didn’t realize I’d created an issue when I moved some equipment around in the house. Since the barn line is maintained pretty much as a message phone, fax line, and an emergency line in the barn in case we need to call 911, I didn’t realize I’d plugged the caller ID in wrong. DUH! Anyway, just wanted to aplogize in case anyone had tried to reach us.

And if you’re reading this and not yet a member of the AHEC family, call to say hi and then come out for a tour to see what all the fun’s about!