I do not know where November has gone, i can't believe it.  Mind you as you will all be aware the last 2 weeks have been no fun at all.  Snow, snow, snow and in the Midlands we have been luckier than most of the rest of the country with only an inch or so.  Having said that it has been very cold i think about -8 on a couple of nights and so Basil has a fleecey rug on under his stable rug - he is managing to keep warm with that on!  Ches just has the one and Fidget is hairy enough to manage without one.
I bought Basil another new outdoor rug this week as he wrecked his winter one by ripping the whole side of it.  Within 2 days he had ripped that one too so now that one has had to be sewn and is not very waterproof anymore.
This weather does make horses much harder work than usual and everything takes so long i am so sick of it.  I have to carry the water buckets from the house (8 of them) and my arms feel like they are being pulled out of their sockets from about half way and i really don't think that i'm that much of a wimp. 
I've still not found a good way to stop the snow all balling up in their feet so if anyone has discovered a good solution let me know.  It is good that we don't have the mud all over everything but the ground is so hard and bless him Fidget hates tottering over it ... and believe me he does totter! 
Christmas is my favourite time of year but not when having to be outside in the snow ..... roll on spring.

Extra

I've taken a photo of Basil in his hi-viz exercise rug so you can see the effect ....

I bought this about 3 years ago but i have just checked and at v-bandz.co.uk it is £34.25, not cheap but worth every penny as it is waterproof too.

Hi-vis lesson to us all

Not such a nice story but thought i would share as it really makes you think about road safety.  In the next village to me a horse was hit by a car the other day because the sun was so low in the sky they didn't see it.  The rider was riding and leading and so was further across the road than one on their own but it was later on in the afternoon when the sun is low.  They were just going over a hill and had no hi-vis on, although i wouldn't be suprised if the driver was going too fast (they don't slow down as they enter the village!) it may well have made them more noticeable if they did have some brighter clothing on.  If they were more noticeable the car might have had time to swerve ... give cars as much chance as possible of spotting you.

It makes you think about what time you ride in the day at this time of year, i know school or work makes it difficult but wearing a luminous or florescent coat or tabard is always a good idea.  I have a bright yellow hat cover and tabard and if i have to ride when it is dull or difficult to see i put florescent boots on Basil.  You can get these at various prices but buying the most expensive is not necessary, Basil wears boots i have had for over 15 years and although i can't remember they weren't very much money.  Even wearing clothes that are brighter colours than the trees and hedges, so a pink or white coat, orange or light blue will help.  There is loads of stuff so just look around, to find a great selection look at  http://www.v-bandz.co.uk/
Safe Riding to you all.

Shoes

Well, what a fun ride i had yesterday morning!  Basil got a bit excited and managed to half pull a shoe off in the middle of our ride.  He used to pull his shoes off all the time when i first had him but since then with regular trimming and shoeing and good food he is much better.  He also wears over reach boots for most of the time.... just in case.
Anyway, he had pulled it and it slid sideways, luckily he has quarter clips on his front shoes at the moment so there wasn't a toe clip to stick in his sole.  How he managed to not put a nail into his foot i will never know.  It did hurt though and as i couldn't pull it off i had to lead him home.  He was fine when he could walk on the grass but refused to walk far on the road so we left quite a lot of hoof prints on beautifully mown grass verges in the villages.
Luckily i managed to get the shoe off when i get home with a few tools i have collected over the years and as i have a great farrier that was in the area on that day he came out and put the shoe back on.  Basil had a slighlty swollen leg this morning which i think was down to a slight sprain from walking funnily on the way back but it was better by this evening.
I'm sure he will be fine by tomorrow.

I have no idea what the weather is doing at the moment, it has been a gorgeous day here in the midlands today.  Yesterday it absolutely chucked itself down all day!  I managed to get a ride in this morning when the fog had finally dispersed a bit.  We went out with our Hi-viz on, Basil wore his leg boots and i had my usual luminous hat and tabard.  I do think it makes us much easier to see and gives drivers a bit longer to slow down. 
Basil was absolutely plastered in mud after the weather yesterday and it took ages to get it all off.  He looked a bit like a hippo, i don't know how he manages to get it all up inside his rug!  He loves wallowing in it and really getting it ingrained in his mane and tail. 
I found out this morning that the WEG highlights were on this afternoon, luckily i managed to Sky+ it and am just sitting down watching it.  The German team had a disastrous cross country day but the GB were in Gold medal postion after... we had some great rounds and William Fox-Pitt especially is in Silver position individually.  OK didn't realise they were squishing 3 days into 2 hours.... i think they could give equestrian events more TV time in the UK.  The poor US team have just had a really bad show-jumping day.  So GB have won team Gold and William got individual Silver .... can't be bad!!!!

Digestive System

Obviously as with humans the digestive system is there to take nutrients from the food that is put through it.

It starts with the teeth which cut and grind the food.  The horses jaw moves from side to side and the molars grind the food, a horses teeth are slowly worn down but they continue to grow.  Something to watch out for is sharp edges to the molars, as the lower jaw is narrower than the upper.  This means the teeth wear unevenly and the sharp edges can cause sores to the inside of the mouth or the tongue.  If they have sore mouths then they may not eat properly and can be difficult to ride.  Getting teeth checked regularly by a vet or trained horse dentist is a must to keep your horse healthy.  Whilst the teeth are doing their thing saliva wets and lubricates the food so that it is more easily swallowed. 

From the mouth food passes down the oesophagus and on into the stomach.  Between the oesophagus and the stomach is a ring of muscle called the ‘cardiac sphincter’ this ring does not allow food or gas to be regurgitated.  Therefore a horse cannot be sick and this makes them more susceptible to colic.  

A horses’ stomach is relatively small as they have evolved to be ‘trickle feeders’ which means they need to eat little and often.  If you look at their natural environment they eat almost constantly and so we need to try and imitate this with our management.  Their stomach when full can put pressure on the diaphragm which will affect their ability to fill their lungs.  So don’t give them a big meal and then take them for a gallop!  In the stomach some types of food begin to be broken down by enzymes. 

From the stomach the food moves into the small intestine and this is where a horses concentrate rations are broken down by more enzymes.  However, the most significant digestion of the horses feed occurs in the large intestine (small and large colon).  This is where grass, hay and similar parts of the diet are digested.  These plants are made of complex insoluble carbohydrates which the horses’ enzymes are not able to break down.  The key is that a horses’ large intestine contains a huge number of micro-organisms.  These micro-organisms breakdown the carbohydrates by a process of fermentation.  Specific micro-organisms breakdown specific types of carbohydrates. This is why you should make gradual changes to a horses diet as they need to build up the numbers of bacteria to be able to get the nutrition from the food.

Water is extracted with the nutrients the food then passes into the rectum where more water is removed and the waste material is formed into balls of dung.  This then passes out through the anus at intervals.

There is a lot more detail to the system so in the future i will blog about each organ and what it does.

So yesterday i think autumn officially arrived.  It is now cold, wet and dark when i get up in the morning.  I need the lights on to mix the horses breakfast and there is another 5 or 6 months of this.... oh joy.  The waterproof coat has come out and now Basil has got a proper rug on.  I guess soon i'll need to clip him.  They have all been losing their summer coats and starting to grow the thick furry ones they have in the winter.  Fidget gets more hair than i have ever seen on a pony and he is still absolutely useless if he gets wet.  He must be like a donkey and have none of the oils most horses and ponies have in their coats.

I've had to buy Basil a new rug for this winter as his one last year was absolutely destroyed by the end of the last.  He and Chesney have big play fights and Chesney always gets Basil with his teeth, either ripping huge holes in his rug or his skin (don't worry Basil gets his own back).  I managed to get the same make as the last one which means the neck cover will fit on this one and saved me a few pennies.  I always find rugs really difficult to buy, i suppose they are like clothes for us.  Chesney has a a wide neck and alot of makes of rugs don't do up around his chest and often the leg straps are too short.  I did find a brilliant outdoor rug for him a few years ago which was a Masta but that got wrecked 2 winters ago and now the one they make doesn't fit nearly as well.  Basil's new one is a Horseware Amigo and seems to fit him really well, so they seem to be great for thoroughbreds, but do not fit Chesney! 

If any rug companies read this please take note-  one size does not fit all!  You need to make different shapes too not just different lengths.