Jurassic Yum: Equestrian

When you think of a Clydesdale crossed with a Cob, you don't tend to think of that horse being a 'poor doer'. However I have always struggled to get weight on her and get her into decent condition. We've gone through periods where she's looked absolutely awful weight wise and no matter what feeds I tried I never managed to build her up.

I had been keeping her out all year round for the last few years with ad-lib hay but I'd never really had anywhere with decent grazing. When I went to places such as Your Horse Live and Horse of the Year Show and spoke to the various feed companies they always told me to feed more hay which is difficult when you have a herd of horses all living out eating the same bales. I moved to a yard about 6 months ago that required me to keep her in overnight throughout winter which gave her time to eat her fill of hay.

The yard provided it's own high quality haylage and hay, this, mixed with decent grazing really helped put weight on and she was looking better than she'd looked in a very long time.

A couple of months ago, I noticed Cleo's feet had started developing a series of superficial cracks on the surface, I spoke to Sadie (my horse feed guru) who suggested a diet change in order to help repair her feet. One feed she suggested to me was Pure Fibre Balance. A balancer and chaff mix, as well as linseed and salt. I went to my local Countrywide store who are a stockist for Pure feeds and, despite them attempting to persuade me to buy TopSpec instead, I picked up the Fibre Balance and Pure's own Linseed.

A few weeks into feeding this and her condition had improved immensely. She was shiny and muscular and felt much nicer to ride, a lot more forwards and eager to work- it was like the Cleo I'd fallen in love with all those years ago!

She's currently getting one round scoop of the Fibre Balance a day with one cup of linseed, as well as being out on grass 24/7 but coming in for a few hours a week and having top quality hay.

I am definitely sticking with Pure feeds for the foreseeable future! They're gorgeous quality (that awful picture does it no justice whatsoever) and Cleo LOVES it!

The Pure Feed Company: https://www.facebook.com/ThePureFeedCompany/?fref=ts

Countrywide: https://www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk

Ears, Fly Veils, Fly Hats, Ear Bonnets... whatever you call them!

Amidale offer a reasonably priced but high quality selection of ears available in various different colours and styles. I have a large amount of ear nets, including makes such as Horse Wear, HKM, Le Mieux, Eskadron and Tottie, but the Amidale ones (of which I have about 4 or 5 now) are easily my favourite. Their full sized ears fit my Clydesdale X perfectly (who is in a full sized bridle), the stretchy material used on the actual ears fits nicely to my mare's ears, rather than making her look like a donkey with floppy ear syndrome.