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Bits-The Snaffle, the Pelham, and the Gag

I just read an article entitled "It's All About the Bit That Works Best For You."  I couldn't disagree more, it's all about the bit that works best for your horse.  Like all things American, we have gone crazy for the latest gadget when it comes to bits.  Wilson Dennehy and Marvin Beeman only used two bits, a snaffle or a pelham, for show jumping, hunting and polo.  Why?  Because "I never found a horse that wouldn't go well in one or the other," they both independently said to me. As for the Snaffle, there are a few kinds worth mentioning. First, the Eggbutt Snaffle: The Eggbutt is a very common multi-discipline style of cheek piece for snaffle bits. The eggbutt snaffle minimizes two problems that can arise with its cousin, the loose ring snaffle, whose rings can pinch the edges of the horse's mouth, and which doesn't provide much lateral stabilization. By flaring out the ends of the mouthpiece and joining the rings with flush swivel joints above and below where the lips contact the edge of the bit, the eggbutt can be a more comfortable alternative for many horses. The edges of the mouthpiece are less likely to pinch the horse's lips, and because the cheek is fixed in relation to the mouthpiece, the bit offers moderate lateral control. When the bit is pulled laterally through the mouth, there is some resistance on the opposite side, which can help encourage the horse to turn with less danger of pulling the bit through the mouth than exists with a loose ring snaffle, though more than with a dee-ring or full cheek snaffle.By having rings fixed to the mouthpiece, the eggbutt does give up some

By |June 15th, 2018|Categories: Foxhunting, polo|Comments Off on Bits-The Snaffle, the Pelham, and the Gag

How to Blanket Your Horse for Winter or Rain

Blanket Size Examples Snickers 13.2 hands = 63" blanket Debon 15.3h = 74" blanket Dash, Rosa 76 Yukon 78 Reilly/River 16.3h = 82" blanket Blanketing 101 - Adapted to Colorado's Requirements, Mostly Taken From a Dover's Newsletter Here, in Colorado are the answers to these most commonly asked questions to help you make your horse comfortable this season.  For blanket repairs and cleaning, we think that Kerry Martin, KLM Blanket Cleaning and Repair is the best that we have ever found and reasonably priced at (720) 341-4955. 1. Why so many blanket weights? Horse clothing manufacturers offer a range of weights in their blanket collections to allow the perfect choice for every horse based on its personal needs and its environmental conditions. The weight of a blanket refers to grams of poly fill between the inner and outer layers. The fill insulates a horse from the cold by trapping its body heat; the higher the number of grams of fill, the warmer and heavier the blanket will be. Lightweight turnout blankets from some manufacturers have 100 grams of fill in the center. Other manufacturers refer to their turnout sheets as lightweights, so be sure to take note of fill when shopping for a light blanket. Mid-weight or medium weight turnouts have 180 to 200 grams of fill. Heavyweight turnouts typically have 300 to 440 grams of fill. For Colorado, we recommend that you get a turnout sheet and a heavy weight waterproof turnout blanket.  You can double layer them when it is really cold. If you don't have a groom that lives on site, the Horseware® HorsePal Monitor and App, exclusively FREE with a Rambo blanket purchase, can help you understand and predict your horse’s blanketing needs

By |November 2nd, 2017|Categories: Foxhunting|Comments Off on How to Blanket Your Horse for Winter or Rain

Whitening Spray for Grey or Paint Horses

For keeping grey or paint ponies white, some swear by Orvus + blueing + oxyclean in water; rinse; ketchup soak; rinse; leave in conditioner. We like to use 1/3 wintergreen alcohol to 2/3 water in a spray bottle, with a few drops of cowboy magic shampoo into the bottle, is equally as good as any of the green spot removers. It's inexpensive, easy and very effective!

By |October 20th, 2016|Categories: Foxhunting, polo|Comments Off on Whitening Spray for Grey or Paint Horses

How to Shoe Your Horse Properly for Winter Conditions

This is a useful article this time of year, which interviews Marvin Beeman, DVM, MFH, on shoeing your horse for winter conditions, such as for foxhunting.  It has instructions for your farrier, on both welded borium studs and borium tipped nails.  Borium and borium nails are available from Oleo Acres: http://www.oleoacresfarriersupply.com/prod/nails.html We have had good luck with Duratrack Borium Nails, Mustad borium, or Capewell Borium head nails, but when it really snows in December-March (and more importantly when it melts but the North-facing slopes are slick), you'll be wishing you had the welded borium studs and not just the nails. "Borium" when people speak of "borium shoes" is tungsten carbide shaped into a soft steel rod.  The rod is 1/8" to 1/4" thick. To apply borium to a shoe, you need a set of acetylene welding torches, welding glasses, welding gloves, a safe work area, and the skill and training to weld. To apply borium, your farrier will first shape the shoes to fit the hooves, just as you would for summer shoeing. Before you nail the shoes on, add the borium as follows: Stack the shoes on top of each other, which helps avoid wasting heat. As you add borium to the top shoe, the next shoe down heats up, as well.  Work on one spot at a time. Add a spot of borium to each heel and two spots at the toe, just ahead of the first nail hole. Get the spot up to welding heat and heat the borium rod at the same time. When the steel begins to puddle, pull the welding tip away, adding borium as you go back and forth with the welding tip and the borium.  For a little traction,

By |December 6th, 2013|Categories: Foxhunting|Comments Off on How to Shoe Your Horse Properly for Winter Conditions

Looking to Get Your Kids Involved in Foxhunting?

Two new publications for juniors are now available from the Master's of Foxhounds of America! My First Foxhunt Coloring Book is a fun, illustrated coloring book for kids to learn about foxhunting. Visit the MFHA website or Facebook page each month for a "page-a-month" free download. The Kids' Guide to Foxhunting is a lighthearted introduction to what kids need to know to get involved and stars our favorite model. Order your copy today Click here for a free preview: MFHA Kids Book 10-17  

By |November 21st, 2013|Categories: Foxhunting|Comments Off on Looking to Get Your Kids Involved in Foxhunting?

favorite foxhunting tips and tricks

Tips on tying a stock tie or four-fold tie, notes on clipping horses, and how to care for your quality leather tack--- Here are three of our favorite tips and tricks for tying a stock tie or four-fold tie, notes on clipping horses, and how to care for your quality leather tack. How to Tie a Hunting Stock Notes on Clipping Horses by Dr. Beeman 2013 Notes on Clipping Horses from AH and Pony Club in Color The Care of Quality Leather Tack https://www.proequinegrooms.com/tips/clipping-your-horse/troubleshooting-horse-clipper-problems-and-how-fix-them/

By |November 6th, 2013|Categories: Foxhunting|Comments Off on favorite foxhunting tips and tricks

For our older horse our vet recommends the use of both Adequan and Legend

Determining the appropriate medication to treat your horse's joint problems is a crucial part of treatment. Adequan and Legend are two drugs which are commonly used this link explains how they differ in a fabulous article by Craig Roberts, DVM, an equine veterinarian. Adequan works on the cartilage and Legend works on the ligaments.   So for our older horses, Littleton Equine Medical Center recommends the use of both Adequan and Legend.  We also give it to one polo pony who was born with some leg deformities with the legs not straightening due to tight ligaments that had surgery to correct. As for the Adequan, he gets 5cc's IM, in the muscle of his neck, one time every 4 days for 7 doses.  After the last dose, repeat again three months later.  As for Legend, you give that once a month, around the same time each month.  It is 4cc's IV, in the neck. Consult your veterinarian, but we have found this regime works very well for our horse.  They are happy to be back to work with Opening Day just behind us, which was a grand day behind a fast pack.  Our farrier likes http://www.jefferspet.com/products/formula-707-joint-essentials  as a less expensive option, but we feel the injectables are better absorbed. https://horsesidevetguide.com/drv/Observation/1253/lame-or-sore-after-farrier-visit/

By |October 16th, 2013|Categories: Foxhunting|Comments Off on For our older horse our vet recommends the use of both Adequan and Legend

Hunter’s Broth from Breakfast at Covertside

Those new to witnessing the grandeur and pageantry of a foxhunt are often transported back a century or more to a long lost time.  This is no more so than in France, where mounted followers still pursue stag, roebuck, wild boar, hare and rabbit with different packs of hounds.  Even the French hounds look a bit from a bygone era, as they still have a sliver of wolf-blood breed into many of the French breeds.  But the riders are in their full glory with sabers and French hunting horns, accompanying their long frock coats and boots turned up to protect the knee. Sometimes cooking also takes you back to a bygone era, an era when things were made simply and at home, before commercialization took over everything including much of our cooking.  This recipe takes us back not only to the era when soups didn’t come from a can or box, but for us, it also takes us back to Le Château de Champchevrier in the Loire valley where the Bizard family, who has lived in this grand palace in the forest, has been hunting stag there since 1728.  They serve a version of this hunter’s broth in a gathering room next to the stables after hunts where it can often be cold and damp, as a way of refreshing and warming the hunters who stand by the fire where it is kept warm in a hanging caldron. In French cooking, a consommé is a type of clear soup made from richly flavored stock that has been clarified, a process which uses egg whites to remove fat and sediment.   A broth is a liquid in which meat, fish or vegetables have cooked when the goal is also

By |October 14th, 2013|Categories: Foxhunting, Recipes, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Hunter’s Broth from Breakfast at Covertside

Legging Up Your Hunter

The fox hunting season proper is not far off and many of us are thinking of getting our hunters out of pasture and legging them up for the season.  Many foxhunters continue to use their hunt horses throughout the summer months for showing, eventing, polo, trial riding or pleasure riding, thereby eliminating or reducing the legging up for the season issue.  But many others give their field hunters some well-deserved time off at the end of the season and conditioning for the hunt season becomes an annual ritual. We have been fortunate to enjoy field hunters who had double lives in the summer, also excelling at as polo ponies or show jumpers.  We have also been fortunate to have field hunters who simply enjoyed three or more months off in a pasture, not having been ridden at all in the off-season.  There is no right answer to the “to turn out or to not turn out question.”  Some horses seem to do better being in work all season, while others seem to benefit from the time off and develop a bad attitude if they don’t have some time to just be a horse. For the entire article, click this link... Legging Up Your Hunter in Covertside Magazine 2013. For the most thorough veterinary article on horse conditioning click this link: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/hrs6942   FOR LEGGING UP POLO PONIES, OUR PRO AT DENVER POLO CLUB RECOMMENDS AS FOLLOWS: Pre Season (Exercise) As we approach polo season, I thought it would be a good idea start thinking about getting yourself and your horses ready for the season. These are a few tips and suggestions to help keep you and your horses healthy for the entire season. Don’t wait until it

By |September 6th, 2013|Categories: Foxhunting, polo|Comments Off on Legging Up Your Hunter