The Solid Rock Farm, LLC

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Motivate Your Dressage Horse with Uta Gräf German Grand Prix rider Uta Gräf explains how to train using the rider's moral obligation to the dressage horse.

Now more important than ever

Why you will not see me being spectacular on a young horse:

Klaus Balkenhol explains, "Although breeders have created a better horse, the market has created a demand for a stronger, healthier, more powerful horse. It's easier to sell a horse that looks like a carefully developed eight-year-old, and not like a three- or four-year-old just beginning his career. If you force it, you can get a three-year-old to physically look like a developed eight-year-old. Too many colts remain stallions which, if approved, promise breeders higher prices as three-year-olds. Now 250 to 300 young stallions are presented each year, when only 40 or 50 will be approved.
Few breeders have the sense to geld the yearling stallions and leave them on the pasture to mature naturally. Instead, yearling stallions are brought into a stall, fed too much grain, and at three, look like six- or seven-year-olds. They have muscle mass, but not enough bone structure to support it. They look mature from the outside but aren't . . . and when started to work, degeneration sets in. Competitions also create pressure to push horses too fast as competitions are now scheduled throughout the year without any breaks."
Common Mistakes In Pushing Too Fast
Tightening the noseband: "A horse resists by sticking out his tongue. Tightening the noseband too much puts pressure on the nose and on the poll. If it is necessary to tighten the noseband very tightly, then something has gone very wrong in the basic training of the horse. The horse cannot be relaxed, the first step on the training scale," warns Klaus.
Specializing too early: "Drilling every day in the indoor arena is too intense for the young horse. It's very important, especially in the first two years of training, not to specialize the young horse. Training should include a variety of activities, including trail riding, which is good for the mind as well as building strength with hill work. It should include jumping, either free or low jumps under saddle, including small natural obstacles on the trail, and cavaletti. A variety of work will allow the horse to stay mentally fresh and to enjoy his work. Only when the horse is happy can dressage become art."
Not checking tack frequently: "Saddle and tack need to be checked constantly for proper fit and adjusted as the horse's body changes with growth, and as his fitness improves with the training. If the noseband gets too low, for example, and the skin between the noseband and the bit is rubbed and becomes sore, this causes the horse discomfort and loss of relaxation. Regularly check for sharp edges and bit problems in the horse's mouth and teeth."
Working too long: "The goal of our training is to build the horse's mind and his muscles. Suppleness and relaxation require adequate muscle strength. strengthening requires both contraction and relaxation. Blood flow and oxygenation occur when the muscle relaxes. If the muscle is kept in a constant state of contraction, it loses power and strength, and actually becomes smaller. Frequent rest periods, especially for a young horse at a free walk on a long rein, are necessary. The rest periods are not for a rider's fatigue, but to allow the horse to stretch and relax his muscles. The rest breaks will give you a completely new horse. This is the systematic gymnasticizing of the horse."
Riding when the horseman is tense: "Horses are particularly sensitive to the rider's mood. A rider shouldn't ride if she is under undue stress or doesn't have the time to ride. If the rider has a bad day, give the horse a rest day or go for a relaxing trail ride; don't work in the arena. The horse mirrors the rider's mood."
Not praising the horse enough: "The horse must perform from joy, not subservience. Praising a horse frequently with voice, a gentle pat, or relaxing the reins is very important to keep the horse interested and willing. If the horse offers piaffe, for instance, because he's excited, praise him for it. You shouldn't stop the lesson at that point nor make a big deal out of it. If you don't want piaffe, quietly urge him forward into trot, but you should NEVER punish him for offering the piaffe. - Klaus Blakenhol

Hey everyone!

It seems that many of us are sailing on some economically rough seas and horses are becoming much more expensive. Feed, hay, vets, farriers, meds for our horses have all seen notable increases in cost. Add to that the increased cost of keeping OURSELVES going. Gas, groceries, utilities are all on the upswing so what can we do as horse owners to help balance things?

The first step is always to make rational choices. Decisions should be made on priorities. What can we conserve on in exchange for a lack in "peak" performance.

Obviously we never want to shortchange our horses on essential nutrition as that will have significant consequences (and potentially higher vet bills) but how are things changing overall?

If money is tight then you may be cutting back on showing or trail riding. Less exercise means that you may be able to economize on some non-essential nutrition.

I can tell you without a bit of hesitation that the very first thing to do is drop most if not all of the nutritional supplements you are using since most of them are expensive and not terribly effective.

You could probably drop most of your nutritional supplements especially if you are using a good feed or ration balancer.

Now, you may believe that these supplements are "working" and if this is the case take lots of photos from different angles of your horses then drop the supplements and re-take the photos weekly for four or five weeks and see if there is an objective difference. You can always put them back into the program.

Let's look at one of the bigger expenses...feed.

It's natural to begin comparing labels between feeds in order to save a few bucks per bag but do so in an informed way.

There's an old saying in the industry and it holds true that "there is nothing more expensive than a bag of cheap feed". Trust me, if there's a company out there telling you that their feed is "just as good as the other guy's for $8.50 a bag less" they are lying to you.

The feed industry is highly competitive and most of the cost of the feed is in the ingredients and manufacturing. When a small guy is claiming that you are "paying for advertising and marketing for the big brands" it sounds good but they are completely full of that material which you shovel daily.

One example that I love to use goes back a few years when I was competing with a long time local mill with lots of customer loyalty. This mill had a feed with a label that compared very favorably with Purina Healthy Edge which is a very popular barn feed.

There were some glaring differences in ingredients and nutrition, most notably Lysine but there were still hold outs because of the price.

I purchased a bag and sent a sample to EquiAnalyitical and the results were clear that the feed sampled did not even come close to what was on the tag. I won lots of business from them.

The other lesson here is that smaller, local companies can risk more because they are significantly less likely to be spot tested by state departments of agriculture than the big brands who have much more to lose.

On the other hand some of the big brands throw in all kinds of "bells and whistles" to make their feeds more attractive and the question becomes "do I need all the bells and whistles?".

The answer for most horses is, "No!"

Probiotics are found in vast quantities dwarfing even the billions of CFU touted by most companies in their forage. Yep, good old grass and hay contain TRILLIONS of CFU per pound so if you horse is getting plenty of forage added microbials are useless unless you are recovering from antibiotics or malnutrition.

The big national brands generally offer three levels of feeds, Premium (lots of bells and whistles), Value (some bells and whistles), Economy (it won't kill your horse).

I would honestly eliminate economy feeds simply because they are made of awful ingredients and you will end up adding a ton of supplements to make up for what's missing just to keep your horse even a little healthy.

Value feeds, on the other hand, are worth looking at because most horses don't need all the bells and whistles of the premium feeds and, especially if their workload has decreased, may not need a premium feed.

I'll use Purina as an example.

Purina has their premium line which is comprised of Ultium, Strategy, Healthy Edge, Senior Active and Equine Senior.

Ultium Competition is an excellent feed and comes with the price tag for the high performance. A warmblood in heavy work needs the bells and whistles but the average lesson horse can get by with Senior Active which can save a few bucks.

Maybe the warmblood is taking the season off because diesel to haul the trailer is too much. Knock a couple of bucks off and switch between premium feeds.

Purina also has the "Impact" brand as their value line and they have recently introduced "Smart Edge" as the TSC private label value brand so let's compare some of these feeds.

Let's look at Ultium Competition versus Impact Professional Performance.

When looking at the guaranteed analysis you will see that these feeds are closely spec'd out. Lysine is 0.7% in both feeds, however it doesn't tell the entire story because the total amino acid profile in Ultium is far superior. Impact also has Outlast and Amplify which may or may not be a big deal. The point being that while Impact Professional Performance is not Ultium Competition it offers an alternative if your horse is not facing the same level of work or competition it has been.

An even better example is to compare Purina Equine Senior to Impact Professional Senior. In this example the specs are very close however Lysine is significantly lower and Impact Senior does not carry Outlast or Amplify along with some other goodies like ActivAge enzymes and probiotics.

I am personally quite familiar with both of these feeds since I have a senior mare that depends on a complete senior feed to supplement her hay due to her teeth being in poor condition.

She absolutely, positively looks better on Equine Senior versus Impact but she really doesn't benefit from the Outlast or Amplify or the other bells and whistles so why invest in them if all I'm looking for is a good fiber source to keep weight on a 34 year old mare?

Now, there is an asterisk to add here...

My other two mares are on only a ration balancer in addition to their hay so I simply top the older mare's feed with a little balancer to make up for the lack of Lysine and it works just fine.

If I didn't do this her topline and muscle definition may degrade a bit but who cares? I adore her but she's a 34 year old mouth to feed and if her coat is shiny and her ribs are covered...?

One huge change in the sales channel is the tightening relationship between Tractor Supply and Purina Animal Nutrition. The SmartEdge line offers an exceptional value especially in the SmartEdge 12/7 original formula which is essentially Healthy Edge for around $4 a bag less. Same ingredients, same specifications although SE is 7% fat versus HE at 8% giving it around 120 calories per pound less energy.

When it comes to conserving our resources it pays to carefully compare and make some choices. Going straight to an economy feed may save you substantially for your budget but I would only go there if there was no other alternative.

On the other hand there are some great "Value" options available so take advantage of them.

As I mentioned earlier, make the switch but do your own feed trial and see if there's a difference. If there is a difference you can make the decision if it was worth the savings.

As average horse owners we are all about to feel the pinch in costs across the board. Stretch the farrier call by a week or ten days. Switch to bute from Equioxx. Stretch the joint shots by a couple of weeks. It may not be easy but if we stick together and share our ideas and stories we will get through this patch.

There are some great pasta recipes out there! My nonna could feed a family of five on $10 a week back in the 60s and 70s. It's a little more difficult these days but I can still put out four plates of pasta with a small jar of pesto, a quarter pound of chopped grilled chicken and a bag of frozen mixed veggies for around $7 total food cost!

Just remember that your boarding barn, veterinarian, farrier, hay guy and feed dealer are not trying to gouge you, their costs are way up, too. I have only a small Kubota and repair parts are ridiculously expensive. I can only imagine how painful it is for my hay guy to repair a baler. I try to do what I can to keep those people going.

Good luck, all!

June Fix-a-Test and Fix-a-Round Entry Form - Blue Ridge Eventing Association June Fix-a-Test and Fix-a-Round

This is something I would gladly support.
Not easy to organize, but super interesting.

Roanoke area!

Stay vigilant! Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts has reported a skunk that tested positive for rabies in Botetourt near Loope Lane and Wheatland Road near Buchanan.

They offer these tips:
🚨 AVOID contact with wild animals and domestic animals you do not know.
📢 REPORT injured or threatening animals.
💉 VACCINATE all of your dogs, cats and ferrets, and keep their vaccinations current.
🧼 WASH the wound with soap and water. Don’t panic.
Call your doctor and the local health department if you are exposed to an animal with rabies.
Call your veterinarian and local animal control if your pet is exposed to an animal with rabies.
Read more at: https://bit.ly/raba1626

Welcome to the year of the
Chestnut Mare…
Really.???
Imagine the sales ad for this..

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, safe and blessed New Year!!
Enjoy the ride!!