Product Review: Hay Hoop

My dilemma:  I'm lazy, especially when I'm already running late for work in the morning. Also, Max inhales his food and wastes hay

The first solution: Slow feed hay nets. The problem I had with these was hanging them. The quick release knots were difficult to release fully and I got tired of yanking on them.  Plus, filling them is always a pain. Eventually, I just started tossing hay into the stall counting on his pig like nature to clean up scrap hay. Only, he didn't and it resulted in a lot of wasted hay.

My next option: The Hay Hoop Collapsible Wall Hay Feeder. I must admit that I was a little wary at first.  Would he pull the thing out of the wall in his manic need to get the hay?  Would he use it as a scratching post and rip out his mane or rub off his fur?  Would the net stay in the little curly hook things?   Could I rig it so he and Cinderella could share the hoop instead of buying two? They mostly shared hay as it was since Max kept popping out the one stall board anyways.

Quality Control. He was supervising the installation

For the most part, I love it. It's easy to flip it down, stuff some hay in it, and secure it shut.  If Max has been using it as a scratching post, I can't tell. It's very secure on the board.  The net has never come off the hooks. Both Max and Cinderella can share the net safely the way I have it positioned.

They can both eat from the hay hoop!  Cinderella can also get between the slats up top.

A few small things I don't like:
-I need to add hay in stages. The 3 or so flakes won't fit in at once.  It's not that big of a deal, but like I said above...I'm lazy.
-It didn't come with a net. Maybe it said this on Amazon, but I don't remember seeing it.
-Sometimes it can be difficult to line up the hoop with the latch. I've gotten a finger caught between the two a couple of times and it hurts!  This mostly happened in winter when I could barely feel my fingers anyways.

Overall, I love it and would recommend it for the lazy person such as myself.

Note: This was a review I did on my own. I wasn't compensated in any way. 

Heart to Horse Box May 2015 Review

Another Heart To Horse Box came late last week. This was an awesome box that focused mostly on fly season.


Cost: $34.99 with free shipping. And 25% of the proceeds go to a horse rescue. If you sign up for the auto ship, the cost is only $31.50 with free shipping. Like last time, I will list the retail price as well as the 15% off price in parentheses, since Horse.com always seems to offer a discount.

Absorbine UltraSheild Sport (32oz):  $20.99 ($17.84) -  A big bottle of fly spray.  It says it will last for 14 days and is resistant to sweat.  Frankly, I'm skeptical, but I love that they sent a huge bottle of this stuff. I've been meaning to get some of the more heavy duty fly spray to use while trail riding. Hopefully this will do the job.

Fleece Mitt: $4.88 ($2.97) - For applying fly spray to the face.

Swat - Clear (6oz): $11.59 ($9.49) - This is always good to have on hand. Thankfully, Max is good about keeping himself free of scrapes and cuts. Hopefully I won't have to use it any time soon. I do have the pink version already, but was told you shouldn't leave it on them while they're outside. But you can do this with the clear.

Finish Line U7 Gastric Aid Syringe: $9.99 ($8.49) - Honestly, I don't know what this is for. I will have to do some reading. Max may or may not get it.

TuffRider Boot Socks: $7.95 ($6.76) - Mine had different colored stripes than what is seen online. I love colorful socks and always need more knee high socks.

Rescue Fly Tape $4.49 ($3.82) - Pack of 3. This is something to hang in the barn. I'm hoping they might be able to catch a couple of these nasty boring bees that are always flying around. However, I don't think this tape was meant for that.

Bonus Item: A sample of Palletable Psyllium Pellets. It's something I will use as a treat for Max.

Total Value: $59.89 ($49.37 with 15% discount). Plus you'd have to pay shipping. And don't forget that 25% of the proceeds go to a horse rescue group.

Overall, another well thought out box. I appreciate all the fly control items. The only item I may or may not use is the paste, but that's mostly out of ignorance. Once I do some reading, Max may get the dose. Otherwise, nothing will be going into my "won't use/doesn't fit" pile.

*note*: I pay for this box myself. I don't get any compensation from horse.com for posting this.

Product Review: Heart To Horse Box - April 2015

My Heart to Horse box finally arrived in the mail late last week.  I was very excited to get it. It's like getting a birthday present each month. You don't know what it will be, but know it will be good.

This month was another well thought out box focusing on getting ready for spring and summer.

Cost: $34.99 with free shipping. And 25% of the proceeds go to a horse rescue. If you sign up for the auto ship, the cost is only $31.50 with free shipping. Like last time, I will list the retail price as well as the 15% off price in parentheses, since Horse.com always seems to offer a discount.

Shapleys Original MTG: 8 oz bottle $7.49 ($6.37) - I'm almost out of my big bottle of MTG, so I was glad to see this.  Max hates it, but I do think it helped his mane to grow out after he rubbed it out last spring.

Cell Phone Case: $12.99 ($11.04). I actually have this same case, except it's blue with multicolored horses.  It's always on my belt when I'm riding, just in case.  It has both a belt loop and a hook in case you don't have a belt, or want to hook it onto something else. (There's a picture of a headstall in addition to the case when you click the link. I have no idea why).

Tough-1 Cotton Lead:  $7.88 ($6.70). I received the one with two shades of blue (my favorite color). It's a nice, soft lead.

Kensington CatchMask: $29.99 ($25.49). Mine is a large bay color. It has an oval hole that goes through the layers of velcro that you can attach a lead rope to. Neat concept. It looks like it might be too big for Max and I question how snugly it will fit around the head. I will give it a try.

Car Air Freshener: Bonus - I couldn't find this on the horse.com site, so it counts as a bonus item. I really need this for my stinky car.

Total Value: $58.35 ($49.60 with 15% discount). Plus you'd have to pay shipping. And don't forget that 25% of the proceeds go to a horse rescue group.

Overall, I'd say this was another well thought out box.  I didn't particularly need any of these, but it's nice to have extra lead ropes and fly masks on hand. I'll be starting a pile of things I won't use. It will either be doled out as gifts or donated to the therapeutic riding place.

*note*: I pay for this box myself. I don't get any compensation from horse.com for posting this.

March 2015 Review

How did I do with meeting my goals during March?

Riding:  March was the best month so far this year.

It started off bad, with Max more concerned about dinner than anything else.  We had a spin and bolt, which resulted in me flying off to the side and him galloping to the barn. Well,  maybe not galloping, but definitely cantering. This was followed by ice, snow, rain, and the resulting melting snow, making it difficult to ride.

The rest of the rides occurred on beautiful days. We mostly focused on leg yielding. I've been seeing some minor improvements.

Mr. Looky-loo on Tuesday, shortly before a spook and spin.

Groundwork:  Not so good
We only did groundwork a couple of times this month, both were lunging exercises. The one time was not productive and resulted in him taking off. I will likely back off and work in the paddock when it's not too muddy to get his head in the game.

Filthy creatures get a grooming and learn some patience, including the escape llama.

Obstacles:  Great!
The only true obstacle I worked on was updating some of my ground poles to make them more visible. However, I made great progress in getting the pasture fenced in.  I'm counting it as a +1 in my book. I also stuck some cones out that will stay there on a semi permanent basis. I need to find some smaller ones that my feet won't hit as we are walking by.

April:

• Continue working on yielding under saddle and from the ground
• Work on consistency at walk and trot
• Simply trot more for exercise
• Work on figuring out and loosening my back
• More obstacles
• Start my lessons back up (not on Max yet)

2014 in review

This is going to be a difficult post to write,  because I don't feel like Max and I accomplished much of anything.  I tend not to set concrete goals, and 2014 was no exception. There was a goal floating around in my head of getting the boy into shape. But most of them were goals made on the fly when a problem crept up.

Max came home right before Christmas in 2013. One of my goals was just to feel confident riding him out of the paddock and pasture. The pasture still isn't fenced, but the trees that grew along the old fence line provide a sense of security.  I'll have to write another post on the progress we are making on getting our property in shape.  I think I accomplished this goal pretty quickly given the crazy winter we had. 

After the big winter storm in early January 2014. Riding outside of the pasture to go see if the roads had been plowed.

Some other things we've been working on is mud. He hates it.  We have a tiny ditch that drains into our creek that gets muddy. I spent a half hour one day trying to get him to walk through this muddy ditch instead of jumping it.  We finally stopped when he took off cantering towards the pasture and I fell off. Thankfully he stopped when I managed to fall in front of him. I still don't know if he will walk through that ditch when it's muddy. Shortly after that it got pretty dry and he's walked through it without any problems. 

Then there's the creek.  I'm counting this as a true accomplishment. In the spring, we had to fight to get down into the creek.  He truly doesn't have a problem with water. Rather, I think it's the muddy bank.  He would refuse to get in under saddle, but would follow me right in when leading him.  Now he goes in without much of a fuss.  It probably doesn't hurt that there are tasty water grasses on the other side and I let him eat these. 

One other minor accomplishment that happened very recently is leg yielding.  I'm not good with working with him on specific tasks, but the last saddled ride we had, I realized he was beginning to move off my leg.  We even did some turns on the hind and fore on the fence line.  

We didn't have any lessons together, and didn't get off our property last year, but at least we accomplished something.