Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine February 2018 Vol 3 Issue 1

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

Continued from Page 5

the team find themselves at Eagle Ranch in Missouri. This trip proved to be some hardship as it snowed, was icy, and cold. Quite adverse conditions for Miles as he was acting horrible and wouldn’t eat. Whitney and Miles had stayed back at camp while the others headed out on the ride, trying to address his attitude before heading out. Starting him late put them far behind but it was more about what Miles needed than winning the race. When the team got twenty miles, Whitney decided to pull him out. After hardly eating for 24 hours, his gut sounds were somewhat diminished although he showed tons of stamina and no desire to quit. Terre James Labus, Whitney’s mother recalls how worried she was for her to even get on him. “I was very concerned because

he was really being naughty, but once they trotted off and they were on their way, I felt some comfort as he then acted better”. Reassessing her feeding Program “One of our problems with Miles was adding and keeping weight on him. When Miles came home as a gangly, skinny 4-year-old, he was a very hard keeper. He also was an extremely finicky eater. I tried various combinations of feeds to try to put weight on him and he did gain a little but just didn’t have much muscle and despite the large volume of feed, he was still on the thin side with no fat reserves to get him through an illness or extreme weather. When he was in training, he was getting 12+ pounds of feed per day and still was on the ribby side. Since switching to Total Equine in March of 2016, Miles has turned into a different horse. He continues to gain lean muscle and the quality of his coat has improved dramatically. When trying to get weight on him and during ride season when he is working harder, he gets 6 pounds per day. During times when he isn’t working as much, he gets 4 pounds per day and still looks great. I believe the feed has also contributed a great deal to his wonderful hoof quality. He only wears hoof protection at the rockiest of rides, otherwise he stays totally barefoot. He did a 50- mile endurance ride barefoot last fall without any difficulty and his hooves still looked amazing at the end. He also

did a nine-mile "intro ride" that Saturday. Miles and Whitney both did very well. On Sunday they rocked the 25 miles and finished their first AERC limited distance ride in the top 10. This was very exciting for this team and their fans. Miles had just finished his sixty days of training and within sixty days they were competing in their first AERC ride. They set their sights on a 25- mile ride in Admire, KS. This ride was somewhat uneventful, and he did well on the ride, but the eating regularly was still an issue. At this time, they started talking about a new feeding program as theirs was not working as well as they had hoped. Springtime – Snow, Ice & Cold As March 2016 rolled around,

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