Quick Tips

Cleaning Tip
To get rid of stains on your horse's water buckets, try using baking soda. It's safe to the horses and it gets rid pesty stains.
From Myangel0O0

Another cleaning Tip
At a show your horse could lay down . . . right in their manure! A quick and easy way to remove those pesky stains is to apply a bit of rubbing alcohol. It's quick and it'll make your horse look its best!
From "Moe"

Tip on Feeding Two Elderly Equines
I would like to share a feeding program that I have had success with. I have in my care two older animals, a twenty seven year old Arab-Morgan mare and a thirty two year old POA gelding. They have both become limited in what they can chew. I have had them on several combinations of prepared feeds and supplements over the years as a result of their age became an increasing factor in the way I could feed them. They both also had problems with founder when they were younger. This posed a special problem as I have found that the senior feeds that I found available seem to have too much protein in them. I am having very good luck with a combination of commercial feed, vitamin supplement and a product called roughage extender. The extender has less protein than other products I found and it fills the hay requirement. It takes a small amount to accomplish that. They do have access to hay also, but they generally do not consume enough to meet their daily requirements. They both look robust and not at all their age.

Tip on Backing up
When I bought my horse, (we suspect he may be a Saddlebred/Andalusian cross because of his looks and interesting habits)he was about 8 years old and did not appear to know how to back up, though in other ways he seemed well trained. I read articles and asked other horse owners, but none of their approaches could convince Dylan to learn to back up, he would plant his feet and refuse to move, no matter what I did under saddle or from the ground. Until I thought how this particular horse would think, what could I do to make him want to back up? So I started on the ground, with plenty of bite-size carrot chunks (one of his favorite foods, though honestly, he'll eat anything) and moved him backwards with a hand on his halter and voice command "back", then rewarded him with a carrot. Once he got the correlation on the ground, I got on him with a saddle and bridle and used the voice command, with rein pressure as well. He backed up immediately and was rewarded with a carrot. This whole procedure took 15 minutes in the indoor ring, my horse will now back up on command with or without rein pressure, as long as required, for no reward other than a pat. The other people at my barn thought I was crazy to attempt training the horse in this manner, but it worked, and incredibly fast, with lasting results. I'm convinced he did not know how to back up for a rider prior to that. From:
Karen S.