Prowler is my Appaloosa Thoroughbred X in the picture above. He was 28 at the time this photo was taken. At that time he'd had his teeth 3 point balanced by a highly skilled equine dentist and I knew his teeth were good. In this photo he was and eating from a 1" Handy Hay Net  and was relaxed and comfortable. I knew he was getting enough and he and Ruby the Mule had 2 bale bags and 2 medium bags filled at all times. Food was not an issue.

Prowler is now about to be 31. While he is relatively very healthy for his age, good feet and strong consitution have served him well, he's started to have some teeth issues. A few weeks ago he was balling up food and dropping it. I did make an appointment with a holistic vet who comes to the area sometimes but that fell through. She did recommend that I double the dose of the anti-inflammatory that he's been on for the past year. Thankfully he stopped dropping chewed hay shortly thereafter. I also added an extra mash during the day (making 3 total) of soaked organic alfalfa pellets to relieve his jaw of some chewing, and started to feed more loose hay placed all around the large property so that he didn't have to eat from the slow feeder bags unless he wanted to.

I'm not yet sure what's going on as I don't have immediate access to his dentist Grant MacKinnon, and am very hesitant to let just anyone in his mouth as teeth can be brittle at this age and things can easily be made worse. There's no infection or anything URGENT for me to tend to but his TMJ has been tight and I spend about 3 sessions a week doing Masterson's Method, t-touch and energy work depending on what he is receptive to.

I'm a strong believer and user of hay bags but haven't used the 1" for a long time because the hay here wasn't suitable (too short often or too fine) so I went to 1.5" bags. Given Prow's jaw discomfort he has lots of options here depending on how he feels. Loose hay plus many slow feeder hay bags. One is even about 2.5" (less desirable hay in it though). We need to pay attention and adjust accordingly!

One of my holistic vet's Dr. Laura Taylor, DVM of Alberta said, when I asked her about whether she thought slow feeder hay bags could cause jaw problems, "the horse chews about 40,000 times a day. This means if there is any dissfunction, they are able to work it out and release it themselves by simply chewing."

 Handy Hay Net's video clearly shows the RIGHT kind of hay for the netting hole size. The horse is relaxed and is getting plenty. If your horse is pawing the bag a LOT or throwing it around (might be misconstrued as 'playing with it') you need to assess. Check the horse's eyes and mouth for stress (equine pain face) and see if you can 'feel' if they are stressed or not. Is the hay too short? Is it too fine and breaks very easily? Before they can get it out? You might need different hay if your intention is to slow down the rate at which they eat (better for gut health). Dr. Julliet Getty Equine Nutritionist and author of "feed your horse like a horse" recommends free choice lower quality low NSC (low sugar) hay plus a little alfalfa, a good vitamin/mineral supplement (without any soy or fillers or sugar!) and a pre/probiotic to help out the gut. (read her latest newsletter  - click here). Or listen to 🔊Dr. Getty talk about Equine Digestive health here on 'All About Horses' with Jim Swanner.

Handy Hay Nets created this fantastic quick guide to help you navigate the process of choosing a bag for your animals. Check out the side bar of the home page to download the pdf's. 

I will keep you posted as I learn more and I will share it here!

A recent blog entry by Cyndi Bird of www.opengaits.ca inspired me to write this post. Cyndi is an Equine Sports Massage Therapist and has been Prowler's massage therapist for the past 4 years. She's witnessed the challenges I've had finding saddle that work for both me and my horse. 

Anyone else hate saddle fitting? I SURE DO! I've bought and sold 7 saddles in the 7 years I've had my old gelding Prowler. 

My first purchase was a Aussie saddle that was terrible because I didn't know how to properly measure his withers. That one went back right away. I tried a couple of western saddles but they bridged or fell on his withers.

Then I bought a Parelli Theraflex Pad and Thorowgood Saddle (in above photo), made for thoroughbreds with high withers. I never really got used to the Theraflex pad. It made me feel al little 'swimmy' up there. Prowler seemed to like it though and moved out more. The saddle actually fit him fairly well but something still didn't feel quite right. I felt very far away from my horse, which seemed counter to learning to feel what his body was doing so I could refine my riding and influence him with my body and minimal aids.

​There's a young horse here named Goldie. She's 1/2 Morgan and 1/2 quarter horse I believe. When I came here last summer she was out on pasture and I didn't have too much chance to get to know her. When she arrived in the fall with another mare I was not sure I liked her at all. She was rude, pushy, dominant and not too trustworthy.
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I've worked with her all winter long, at liberty only (no halter/rope) on very basic things like respecting my space, backing up before receiving mash/treats and of course, giving her LOTS of love and letting her know I"m trying to understand her perspective and respect her feelings as well.

Goldie is EXTREMELY sensitive, very quick in body and mind and PLAYFUL

She's had some t-touch training with a lovely local woman which is great. The only thing I saw missing was her exuberance and respect (she was still pushy after that training and non too happy - which it turns out was because she was probably at a level 2 founder already and in a LOT of discomfort).