A Visitor! and Equine Nutrition

Our barn is basically a closed barn - we rarely have horses leave or new horses come, and it's not all that common for horses who live here to leave even for a day. So when a new horse arrives, or we have a horse visitor, it's very exciting!

My older daughter's mare Miranda is visiting us for the day. (If you're new to this blog, Miranda has a very interesting story - my daughter got her for free because she was so vicious she couldn't be handled and was going to be euthanized. Her story starts with this post, and if you go to the label cloud there's more.) She trailered in last night, and was met by much whinnying from the barn. She stayed overnight in a paddock with hay, and this morning I fed her her breakfast (provided by my daughter) there, and then moved her to a small grass paddock for the day. She seemed happy to be visiting - whinnying every time I came by and whinnying to the other horses - they were whinnying back.

Fritz and Dawn, as befitted their herd status - they're the alphas of their respective herds - took a particular interest in the visitor. Here's Fritz:

And Dawn:

Dawn was momentarily distracted by the clicking of the camera shutter:

Miranda was wishing she could meet the other horses:

This photo really shows her pretty and intelligent face:

It's supposed to be a beautiful day - 60s, little wind and partly sunny. Maisie and I are planning on a trail ride with my daughter and Miranda. Miranda's done a little bit on the trails, but my daughter wants her to do more and also hopes to do some low-level eventing with her.

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On to nutrition! I think this is a topic all of us are interested in, even if we board, and if we do our own horse-keeping, there is a lot to understand. After I did my post on supplements, I realized that I had it backwards. Basic nutrition - forage and, where needed, grains and vitamins/minerals - are much more important than supplements - if the basic feeding isn't right there is no amount or type of supplements that will remedy the situation.

Jason and Melissa of Paradigm Farms (this is where Lily and Norman are retired) have done an excellent series of posts on equine nutrition - they are very knowledgeable on the subject, in my opinion. Here are the posts, in order - I've also added a new sidebar with links to the posts for future reference:

Feed and Care Part I

Feed and Care Part II

The Very, Very Basics of Feeding Horses

The Thermoneutral Zone

There are also some good books and guides out there - if there are any you are particularly fond of, list them in the comments for others to refer to, and be sure to let us know what you have learned about feeding.

Enjoy your day, and may it include horses!