What do you do to your Halter horse to get it ready to show

[Raine Ranch Minis]

This is my second year showing, and all I did to my horses last year was put them in their stall two weeks before a show and call it done. This year I want them to look better! So what do you do?

 

[Taylor Richelle]

This is my second year of showing also...I can't wait to see what people have to say! Great thread

 

[minimomNC]

We will be starting our show horses next week for our first show in mid April. We start by clipping everyones neck to see if they need work on them, if they do we put sweats on. We work them in the round pen or on the golf cart every other day starting at 5 min and working up to 20 minutes as they get fit. The yearlings will take longer to work up in time and not go over 15 minutes. After they work, they stand tied for at least an hour to cool down and learn patience. We also get back on our show feeding program with includes Omelene 200, soaked beet pulp, Natures Essentials and Nu Image. They are fed twice a day and checked often to make sure they are on track with weight gain and muscle building. During this time we will clip at least two times possibly three before the show just to help the coats come in better. They get turned out on days they are not worked and stay out all day. We don't feed much hay and they don't get much grass.

This has worked for us for the last 6 years and last year we the AMHR National Champion 2 year old stallion 31 & under and our over jr mare won 3 Res National titles, open, youth and solid color. Our yearling filly placed top ten in amateur, open and futurity. I am very proud of our horses and of my daughter who does all of the training and fitting for our farm. Yes you can keep your horses at home and win top titles, I also won 2009 AMHA world Champion Jr stallion using the same program.

Good luck, but the most important thing to remember is have fun at the shows.

Karen

 

[supaspot]

Karen would you give us some idea of the actual amounts of feed ( in pounds please) you give to say a yearling and a mature horse , also how many days a week do you work the yearlings

Thanks

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I lucked out last year as my two year old colt conditioned himself quite nicely given plenty of turnout. He ran, and ran, and ran, and ran himself right into fitness!

Our paddocks are dry lots so my boys get plenty of grass hay three times a day (the colt got practically free-choice hay with all the calories he was burning), a complete feed, and in his case 2.5 cups of soaked beet pulp twice a day. I believe in the natural approach to keeping my horses which means plenty of roughage in front of them multiple times a day, lots of turnout and as much social interaction as is appropriate given the individuals involved. My boys, for instance, need to be separated at feeding time so Kody doesn't terrorize Turbo but they now spend most of the day out together. Unfortunately that does result in plenty of bite marks and little bald patches on my halter horse but on the other hand they get great muscle tone and lots of cardio.

This year he is three so I will be fitting him up more formally. I don't have a roundpen so he'll be free-lunged for increasing amounts of time at trot and canter, worked over cavaletti poles and will get ponied off the back of my mature horse's cart for longer straight-line workouts that won't be as hard on his joints as lunging would be. That's the only way I've ever found to get portly Mr. Kody in shape- DRIVE! For a long time. Frequently. With engagement and energy.

When Kody retired he looked wonderfully toned and had flipped his upside-down neck almost completely right-side up through proper work. One of my greatest sorrows was watching that fade while he was laid up from his back injury.

It's been two years and I'm going to start him back to work slowly and carefully in hopes of conditioning him but frankly I don't know if I'll ever see his waistline again.

Turbo, however, should look better and better over the next few years as he's already trim and now we'll tone that. There is nothing like proper driving work to enhance the topline and chest of a mature horse.

Leia

 

[minimomNC]

Everyone is worked every other day. As for feeding, we start with 2 measured cups of feed and soaked beet pulp and adjust to what the horse needs as the work increases. This is for our under horses, the over horses are doubled in feed and beet pulp only. If they need more we increase if they need less we decrease it. The Natures Essentials is only about 1/4 of a cup a day. Nu-Image is two scoops a day for the first week and one scoop a day from then on. Feeding is not something that is set in stone when you start. You should evaluate your horses condition daily to make sure your working in the right direction. We have also tried other feeds but we find Omelene 200 works best for us, it might not for everyone. When we give hay, its only a handful at a time. But with the amount of beet pulp they get, their fiber intake is met.

 

[leeapachemoon]

Do you wrap the neck to actually 'make it sweat' or does it have another function? Can I make my own out of polo wraps or something of that nature? Last year a judge told me I should sweat my horses neck but I don't actually know what that means.

 

[Knighthawke]

Karen with the food to clarify do you mix the beet pulp and omelene and give 2 cups of the mixture or 2 cups omelene and 2 cups beet pulp.

It has been a few years since I fitted a halter horse. I think the trainer that used to fit my horse gave like 5 alfalfa cubes too.

 

[little lady]

Love this thread...something new to learn. I am thinking about fitting on my yearling to possible show a show or few this year so any and all info would greatly be appreciated. I have no round pen so was planning on walks(would do both of us good) for fitting. I am so itching to clip but it won't be near nice enough till earliest March. My biggest concern is clipping. When showing big horses we never body clipped. We only did face, ears, fetlocks. Can I ask why body clipping and why not old fashion brushing and natural slicked off? Thanks for starting this thread Raine Ranch Minis!

 

[minimomNC]

The neck sweats are for sweating when you work the horse and to keep the neck tight when they are not working. But to be honest, we try to only have horses with natural necks that don't need sweating. We stay away from some bloodlines that we know develop heavy necks. So most of our horses only wear sweats while working.

Other things can work but I suggest you invest in a good throat sweat and a neck wrap, you will use it for years. We still have the ones we started out with 8 years ago. Just added more as we starting showing more horses. If your horse really needs work on its neck, we would put a black trash bag on under the wrap and take it off after the horse cools off. Wash the neck off and when its dry put the wraps back on.

For the feeding, we start with separate measurements and then mix the feed. So we would start with 2 cups of feed and 2 cups of soaked beet pulp and we feed that twice a day. The B horses get more of course. Just make sure you keep a close eye on their weight and adjust your feeding accordingly.

Now this is what works for us, it might not work for everyone. While we do have a round pen we also have a full size arena and use the golf cart too so they are not in tight circles all the time. This year we are going to put ground poles in the round pen to work on muscling up everyone a bit better.

 

[Becky]

I have a question regarding the amount of soaked beet pulp for those that are measuring it that way. Do you measure a dry weight first and add enough water to make it 2 cups (or whatever measurement) or are you measuring it as 2 cups including water? If you measure it by cup including water do you know how much the water/beet pulp ratio is?

I'm just curious. I measure my beet pulp as dry weight per horse and add water to it as needed.

 

[Performancemini]

I don't actually have a reply; I have an additional question because I think the answer can depend on the part of the country you live in and what your accomadations are. Ok, I live in northern Illinois (Brrrr!) :shockedand I have no indoor and no arena and no round pen (ouch!)

. I know some of you know where I'm coming from! I not a novice; just facility handicapped (LOL!)!:OKinterestingWhat do those of you in this type of situation do to start spring conditioning, etc.?

 

[Taylor Richelle]

Here is a website that I found with an article on showing....I found it helpful....so you might as well

Getting ready for show <----Link!

 

[minimomNC]

Because we feed a lot of beet pulp we fix it all in one bucket. So we measure out ours already soaked. If we are traveling a long distance, we add more water so they drink as well as eat on the trailer.

 

[Becky]

Thanks for the reply, Karen. I was just curious how much beet pulp as opposed to water they are getting.

I feed anywhere from 2 ozs to 4 ozs dry shred weight per horse depending on the size of horse (34" & under). Curious as to how much beet pulp others were actually feeding.

 

[Charlotte]

I don't actually have a reply; I have an additional question because I think the answer can depend on the part of the country you live in and what your accomadations are. Ok, I live in northern Illinois (Brrrr!) :shockedand I have no indoor and no arena and no round pen (ouch!). I know some of you know where I'm coming from! I not a novice; just facility handicapped (LOL!)!:OKinterestingWhat do those of you in this type of situation do to start spring conditioning, etc.?

Performancemini, I used to live in northern IL too. 10 miles from the WI border....not pleasant in winter. I also didn't have 'facilities'. We really couldn't do anything with the horses untill the first thaw and even then it was ugly cold many times.

Getting horses ready to show was a challenge but we managed to show a number of Regional, District and National Champions and top tens at that time. We did build a simple round pen of cattle panels bent around T posts and filled with sand. As soon as we had the first thaw I started the horses in the round pen, but prior to that they were just on a diet that met all of their nutritional needs and their exercise was just what they could get in the snow.

Many a time after the thaw I was working them in blankets and watching the snow squalls come blowing accross the pond toward us. I had to get creative for clipping and bathing too.

If you have a barn you can do it. It just takes some planning and a bit of 'thinking outside the box'.

Charlotte

 

[Raine Ranch Minis]

Thank you all so much for your replys! Any one else have anymore?

 

[uwharrie]

I will have a Jr halter stallion, senior halter/driving gelding and an obstacle gelding in the ring this year ( and may go crazy in the process)

I just started working my guys in the paddock/round pen last week. 10 minutes a day three days a week for now.

I have not clipped neck or anything as I do not have hoods for the horses and it has been so cold. The boys are not stalled at night. In fact I still have not stalled Jack as he tends to climb the walls and it scares the tar out of me!

Karen I need to print out your feed schedule and tack it on the tack room door with the part about hay highlighted.

Dear hubby thinks they are starving to death if they do not get plenty of hay

 

[supaspot]

Im as bad with the hay , I tell myself I need to cut it down but after Ive put it in the nets , I look at it and add a bit more

 

[jegray21]

Can we see some pics of your halter horses at a healthy show weight? Some great information in this post!