Stable News: As spring tries desperately to get a foot hold here in New England, we are still experiencing winter storms and significant swings in temperature. Even with snow still falling, the longer days and warmer overall temperatures are leading to green grass in the pasture. Spring is one of the most dangerous times for horses with metabolic disorders and even horses in normal health need to be introduced to pasture cautiously to avoid laminitis. Remember that early growth grass is loaded with sugars and when the temperature is still fluctuating drastically and stressing the plant it causes sugars to spike even more. Horses should be weaned onto grass very slowly, only increasing by about 10-15 minutes per day to avoid digestive upset as well as laminitis.
Training Tip of the Month: Are you keeping it fun? (Especially for your young horse). We find that shorter and more frequent training sessions are the key to working with younger horses. At 3 years of age and younger, attention spans are limited and physical development is still a limiting factor. We try to keep our training sessions with these younger animals to about 1/2 hour or less of intensely focused work and then like to add in some fun to keep things interesting. “Fun” could be in the form of obstacles, a hand walk out of the arena, a game, whatever helps your horse remain engaged and excited to participate in training sessions.
Rescue Horse Spotlight: In the span of just a few days at the end of March we said good bye to 4 of our trainees, as they headed off to their new homes! Sydin found his home right here in Hope, ME. Dandy returned to her home rescue, where she will await transport to Equine Advocates Sanctuary in NY state. Farley joined his new herd and family in Vermont, and Odin was adopted to our local veterinarian and equine dentist. It is hard to say goodbye, but we are excited to welcome new trainees to our program, and cannot wait to hear about the amazing lives our graduates will now have.
