Friday Favorite #7

This week's Friday Favorite is:

No Thrush!
http://www.nothrushshop.com/index.html

With fall upon us, muddy weather is just around the corner. You know what that means: thrush!

Last summer I switched to a natural trimmer, who informed me that Sonny had really bad thrush. I felt so embarrassed that I didn't realize it before! I also felt angry that I have gone through more than 5 farriers with Sonny and only one of them had casually brought it up to me. Rodger, the barefoot trimmer who I still use, made me away that it was a huge problem and I probably shouldn't have even been riding. I felt so bad!

He had me soak Sonny's feet in the beginning, then had me use two different treatments. When the weather was dry out, he had me mix 50/50 athlete's foot and triple-antibiotic cream together in a syringe and squirt it in the thrush cracks of Sonny's frogs. When it was wet out, which is was a LOT last year with the mild winter, he had me use No Thrush.

No Thrush is "the first ever dry treatment" for thrush that happens to be natural and safe. The stuff is awesome. To treat thrush, everyone I know uses bleach or a liquid. Bleach may kill the thrush, but it will also kill the healthy tissue. So even if you are killing the thrush you aren't setting youself up for success. The problem with a liquid is that it adds to the issue: thrush thrives in wet areas so why would you continue to make the feet wet? That's why No Thrush is so amazing!

This summer  Sonny was completely thrush free! It felt so good! His heels were so contracted and he had huge cracks, but now (as of the last month or so), he feet look awesome! Better than ever. He is getting rid of the false sole that protected his sore feet and his hooves look great. I am absolutely thrilled!

If your horse gets thrushy or stands in a wet/stall paddock in the winter, this is a must have. Address the problem before it gets as bad as Sonny's! It's so easy to use, it isn't messy, and it works great. The website has some great photos and information on how to use it, but feel free to ask if you have any questions!

You can buy it here for as cheap as I can find it: Jeffer's Equine

Friday Favorite #6

This week's Friday Favorite is:


The color purple! (And not the book. The actual color ;)) If you haven't noticed, I happen to like purple. A lot. 


I have a purple tack box:

Purple halter, lead, and sport boots:

Purple Carrot stick (and outfit; a little overdone that day!):

A purple cooler:

And now....A purple blog!!

What do you think? I tried to add a touch of purple without being too intense. So far, I like it! Let me know what you think :). 

Friday Favorite #5

This week's Friday Favorite is:

Homemade treats! Being an LBI, Sonny loves any and all things edible. He especially loves these homemade treats! Unfortunately, I don't get a chance to make them as often as I would like. But, they are quick and easy and taste pretty good...even to humans!

Here is the recipe if you would like to try them:

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup shredded carrots or apples (I use both)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup molasses

Mix ingreditents in bowl as listed. Make littles balls and placed on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

They turn out to be a gooey texture, which some horses don't like. But, I prefer it for him rather than the hard, break your tooth ones. 

I encourage you to try this recipe, or send me one of your own! I would love to get a little binder going of fun treats to make! 

Friday Favorite #4

This week's Friday Favorite is:


One of my favorite moments in my life...The award ceremony at the 2005 Dressage Regional Championships! 

All of us girls; LaBelle, Roberta, and me!

2005 was the first year I competed with LaBelle, after purchasing her late October. We showed a few times, competing in Training and First Level. We did extremely well in both and decided it would be good experience and a lot of fun to show at Regionals! Ohio in in Region 2, along with 6 other states. Considering the competition was tough since qualified riders from 7 different states competed together, I didn't except a whole lot.


Much to my surprise, we won training level, out of ~30 other horses! I was so happy. At the time I was training with Roberta Williams. Since it was her, LaBelle and me, our 'theme song' was always Girls Just Want to Have Fun! We got them to play the song for my victory gallop and things couldn't have been any more perfect! One of my most favorite days ever!

Friday Favorite #3

This week's Friday Favorite is:

Mane 'n Tail Detangler!

Growing up in 4-H, I was always told "Never brush you horse's tail!". So, I didn't. When I started riding with a trainer that had arabians, he taught me how to pick a tail. Basically, you shampoo and condition it, then once it is clean you literally separate the tail strand by strand in order to make it fuller, and detangled without brushing it (so the loss of hair is very minimal). This is a great way to make your horses tail full for a show, but who has hours to do this throughout the week? 

The first year I had Sonny I never did anything with his tail. I didn't show so I just let it be. Sometime last summer I decided I wanted to start making his tail look good. I knew I would need some kind of product to help me brush through it without ripping all of his hair out. Everyone loves Cowboy Magic, but I have never been a fan. So I decided to try Mane 'n Tail. 

I absolutely love it! It works so great; its like the knots just disappear! It is fairly cheap, and totally worth it. It never takes me long to brush out his tail and it salvages almost all of his hair. Doesn't get much better than that! Sonny has never had a long mane, but Melissa uses it on her arabians mane with great success!

You can buy it in a pint, quart and gallon. I usually wait until tack shops have free shipping deals, then if I have to buy a few quarts of it and with free shipping it can be cheaper than gallons. 

Girl, look at that tail! 

This is definitely a product that I plan on using for a long time, and don't go anywhere without it! 

Friday Favorites #2

This week's Friday Favorite is:

The Original Muck Boot!

I got my first pair of muck boots last fall as a gift. I thought they were over priced and always believed my $20 of rubber boots from TSC were just fine. I was wrong. So, so very wrong.

I have never loved a pair of shoes as much as my muck boots. Ever.  Which means I can't say enough good things about them. Here is a general list:

-They are warm. Not just warm, SUPER warm. My favorite kind of warm: only need 1 pair of normal socks in freezing temperatures and still keep your feet warm, warm. Something about multiple/thick socks makes me feel uncomfortable, so I really love that I can wear my normal ankle socks in these babies and never get cold.

-They are dry. No matter what you go stomping through, you never have to worry about getting wet. My old TSC boots would get cracks in the soles and within a few weeks of wear I couldn't even wear them in water because my socks would get wet. Not with muck boots!

-They are comfortable. They are just the flat, cheap-o bottoms that you find in normal rubber boots. They are soft, squishy, and no matter how many hours in them my feet never hurt.

-They are convenient. Embarrassingly, this is one of my favorite things about them. You just slip them on and go! There isn't any tying, any hassle, or anything! I leave them by the door of my house so if I need to run out and get the mail, run to a neighbors, go to the store, get something out of my car, I always slip them on and go! They are even easier to put on than UGG's. Perfect for an LBI like me ;).

-They are stretchy. This works PERFECT for me. I am the sweat pants queen. But nothing gets my panties in a knot like the bottoms of my sweat pants dragging the wet ground in the winter. With my muck boots, I never have to worry about that. Since the tops are stretchy, I can shove my whole pant leg down in them! With boots like UGGs, it is always uncomfortable because it is such a tight squeeze, but not with muck boots!

-They fit in my stirrups. Who would have guessed they can be so effective and still fit in a stirrup? Genius!

I have the small tack classic ones, but would love to have a tall pair for ridding, a nice pair for wearing everyday, then my slip ons for mucking and general barn visits. Of course, that is in a perfect world. But no matter what, anyone, especially those who live in states like Ohio, should all own some kind of muck boot for winter! They really are the absolute best!

The tall Tack Classics! 

I got mine at SmartPak, which was the cheapest I could find at the time.

Friday Favorites

I am going to start a series of posts on Fridays that exhibit something that I love. It may be a favorite product, favorite pattern, favorite thing that Sonny does, favorite picture, or anything else that is one of my favorite horse-related things! 

So my first ever Friday Favorite is: when Sonny matches my breathing by exhaling right after I do.  Sometimes when I am in neutral and letting him think about things, I let out a big exhale and he mirrors me by doing the same. It makes me feel so connected to him and so warm and fuzzy inside :).