While scrolling through Pinterest I seen this really handy and informative post on what fruit & vegetables are safe as treats. 

I found this great as is also shows which ones can't be fed to horses with Hypp.

There are actually a few on here which I wouldn't never even to think of feeding to either of the horses, although I have tried Banana with both before and in typical fashion Legacy stuck her nose up at it and Cloudy gave it a little try. I've also never heard of never giving the apple core to horses, as this is something that's always done when giving them an apple. 

Credit to Horse Channel for the image

Stud Muffins Treats Review

Now Legacy can be quite fussy when it comes to treats and trying new things. So when I first seen these I wasn't sure to buy them for her to try or not, but then I thought hey even if she won't eat them Cloudy will give them a go. They come in 3 different size packs of 3, 15 & 45. I decided to just pick up the 3 pack to try them out. 

These are not only general treats for horses but they have some great health benefits too with having human grade raw materials including Linseed, Fenugreek and Whole grains. These treats are also made up with oats, barley, wheat & molasses so if your horse reacts to any of these it's best to give in small portions. 

After not being sure to get these of not for so long it turned out that I shouldn't have waited around. Both horses ended up loving them, the first time Legacy had one her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head, I gathered this was due to the molasses in them. Cloudys reaction was pretty much the same. 

Although these are perfectly safe to give in moderation I tend to only give these to the horses on occasions such as their birthdays and christmas. I get a pack of 3 and they have 1 1/2 each.  

As I said these come in packs of 3, 15 and 45. 

They are a great price of average 

- £1.20 for a pack of 3

- £5.99 for a pack of 15

& £10 for a pack of 45

These prices will vary depending on where you buy them, but I found them for great prices over on VioVet, Plus postage is nice & cheap over on there. 

Here's a video of each horse loving their stud muffins:

 

Meet Cloudy...

In September 2015 my mum bought her own horse called Cloudy, he is an American Paint X Thoroughbred. He's 18 this year and is an ex eventer. He hasn't been out eventing for a while now as we've had him a year and a half and his past owner had him a couple of years. Since retiring from eventing he has just been a happy hacker with his past owner and pretty much my mum. She takes him in the school on occasions and a bit more often throughout the summer when the roads are busy.

We're not sure on any of his eventing history, but we've seen some pictures his past owner had of him doing it. For the age of him he is still very much active and if you compared him to the way Legacy works you make think their ages were the other way around. He is ridden most days as my mum works in the mornings she gets the afternoons to ride so he is quite fit. There's a popular quick hacking route that the yard do, typically it takes 20 minutes there and back, it takes Cloudy 10 minutes he has such a big stride and is forward going he leaves everyone behind.

Myself and him have such a love hate relationship, he is definitely a one person horse. Lets just say we more tolerate each other. In the beginning we got along well. There were moments where he would misbehave for me but we got over that. There was a time he gave me a black eye, I've written about it in my Naf hedgy treats review. We were doing great riding together and I was even getting back into jumping on him, as he was such a confidence booster when it comes to jumping. If you aren't 100% sure on what you're doing he's great, he does it all for you. Until one day just before christmas the year we got him I was jumping him and he took off and bunny hopped until I was off, I went straight into the puddle. I was ready to finish jumping for the day after that but I got back onto to trot a 20 circle to keep my confidence on him and he did the same again but also jumping over the pole on the floor. Which was unexpected for me. Turns out when we got the back man out after that his withers was out of place and the jumping and work was causing him pain. Since that day I've lost my confidence on him and haven't ridden him without being on the lunge since. As it was even when not in pain he did like to play up for me a little anyway. My aim this year along with getting Legacy working well is to get back on Cloudy and to get back schooling him and listening to me, and maybe we'll leave the jumping as an aim for next year.

Hay Box Subscription Box Review - Month 2

This is the second box from Haybox. It's just as good as the last, if not better. This box definitely suits me personally better than the last as there's more I will defiantly use and not have multiples of. I really like that the box I received had a colour theme to it, I'm not sure if they all did or this was because of the box survey that you fill out after you've ordered the box where it asks for your favorite colour.

The same as last month I ordered the deluxe box, this is pictured above. The items which I received in my box in my box are as follows:

- Rhinegold cool dry socks

- Gold Label purple spray

- Gold Label mint & herb healthy treats

- Animology mane tamed sample

- Sheldon mane & tail brush

- Lacura sensitive lip balm

- Shires Wessex purple lead rope

- Local free magazine

Again overall I'm very happy with all my items, I can't wait to try out the mane tamed sample, as Legacy can have a very frizzy bottom half of her mane and for her breed she had a thick mane so I'm constantly trying to thin it out and keep it in one side. The Gold Label treats are something that won't last long as she does love them. Ad their healthy and great for their teeth I've added them into her feed before to give her something a little different. I'm sure that my mums horse will love these as well. The purple spray is always something that is great to have stocked up, as it's nearly time for her to be out full time, its great to have now as I'm sure when she goes out with a few more horses there may be few cuts, although she is very good with any injuries and likes to not have many. 

I love these types of mane & tail brushes, we weren't allowed these in college and every time I bushing the manes & tails I spent the whole time wishing they would buy each horse one of these. They make it so easy to get out all the knots and it makes tail brushing and de-tangling so much quicker than using a small plastic mane comb. If you haven't used one of these, I highly suggest you go and invest in one, grooming will be so much easier and more enjoyable. Another pair of socks & another lead rope in this box but as I said these are 2 things that are either always going missing or I'm making holes in, so if these don't get used right away they will go into storage for when they're needed and I'm thinking it will be sooner rather than later. Again in this months box is the free local magazine to the box creators area, this one has not yet come into my area so all of the info is new and it will be great read for me. The lip balm is always great and this is another thing I like to collect as I feel they can be used all year around, dry lips due to the cold weather and due to the sun. 

This box is still available through the HayBox site, & Don't forget the discount code: start for when ordering your first box, it's still working. The website is here and box choosing is here. 

Hay Box Subscription Box Review

This is the first box of a new equine subscription box, from Hay Box.

They have 2 boxes available in the horse category a standard box which has goodies up to the value of £25+ and is £15.00 + P&P a month or a deluxe box which is up to the value of £35+ and is £20.00 + P&P a month. It offers items for both yourself & your horse.

The box which I have subscribed for is the Deluxe box which is pictures above. The Items which I got in my box are as follows:

- 8 Ft green & black lead rope

- Red & White spotty hood pick & brush

- Likit Treat bar in Cherry

- Toggi riding socks

- Black full size Diamante brow band

- Red super grip riding gloves

- Local Free Magazine 

As this was my first box of the subscription service I received a discount code which is Start. This means you can get £6.00 off of your first box, meaning they will either be £11.00 + P&P or £14.00 + P&P. This is great to have a discount so you can try it out without having to spend the whole price.

Overall I was happy with my items, the lead rope will come in very handy as they are always going missing and walkabouts on the yard so I will be keeping this one in my car as a spare for personal use. You can never have enough hoof picks in my personal preference, I think all together I'm nearly in double figures with my collection ranging from standard ones to the ones with brushes. Legacy doesn't like anything from the Likit range, neither does my mums horse, neither of them will entertain it and if you manage to get it in their mouths it's straight on the floor next second, so the treat bar went to her stable friend who will never turn down anything Likit. 

Again riding socks is something I like to collect so having these in the box was great for me, the heels seem to wear away on the ones I've had a while so some need replacing. I've never been a person for diamante tack and have always said that I'll never have Legacy in one no matter how much my mum says she'll look pretty in it, but I find this one nice a subtle and I will actually use it, next time the bridle comes home for a good clean I'm going to change it over. Shocking things do happen!

Next up is the super grip riding gloves, I'm really gutted about these as they came in a size large and with my tiny fingers I have to have child's gloves or be very lucky to find a adult small with short fingers, so these went over to my mum, but gloves are something new I'm getting into and have struggled to find any that I'm comfortable riding in until I tried on some child's ones, I love them to be like a second skin. 

The magazine is one which I also get in my local area but the name has just been changed to 'Welsh Rider', all of the articles are the same so I'd already read this one but it's a great little added extra to the box. 

The March box is no longer available but you can now order ready for the April box, I promise to have my review up earlier in the month while the April box is still available for the next one.

So you can all have a spy before ordering if you would like.

Don't forget the discount code: start for when ordering your first box.

Website is here and box choosing is here. 

NAF Hedgy Treats Review

Legacy loves her treats, and when NAF brought out their new Hedgy treats I just had to get her some to try. They are made with natural ingredients which include read hedgerow herbs, so she's not only getting a treat but it's healthy for her. 

The herb ingredients in the treats are as follows;
Common Nettle,
Hawthorn Berries,
Dandelion Leaves
Rose hip Shells

These are all herbs which horses could find in the field which proves it's natural and healthy. If you're horse doesn't have any of these in their field these treats are a great way to add home variety into their diet. 

Back when Legacy cut her head open and I wasn't able to bring her head down to get a good look into the cut, I fetched these and she was happily bringing her head down to eat these. 
These treats have even resulted myself having a black eye from my mums horse, I was using them to keep him still while trying a new rug on him and I moved into the stable rather than over the door and he flew his head up to look where the treats have gone, and his head flew up into my face, splitting the edge of my eye open and then having a black eye for a few days. 

The lesson I learnt from that day is to never under estimate the power of some tasty treats. 

Here are a few links to where you can check out the treats;

VioVet, Hyperdrug, Houghton Country, Millbry Hill

Stable Toys & Licks

The cold & wet weather has now approached us in the UK, and for those fortunate enough that can only mean one thing with horses, stable duties.
This is Legacy's second winter stabled at the yard and she's in a different stable this year to last due to a leaky roof. She doesn't like to be in the stable alone and can be one of the worlds biggest attention seekers when she is. She can be nodding her head and neighing for the others. Although you leave her then spy on her later and she completely fine just eating her hay. 
Although in her stable stable I did find bits around to where she had started to crib bite, only presumably when she's bored. 
So this lead to me trying to find some stable toys to keep her entertained throughout the night when she's eaten her hay or has a fully belly.

The first thing I tried her with was a likit, I had no luck with this. I went through all 4 of the main flavours that my work has and none of these seemed to work. I though the mint one would've been sure to make her curious about it but no luck. I then tried the Nettex version, the Tastylyx in carrot which has natural ingredients in, hoping this would work as she loves carrots, and again no luck. So I gave up with that and after a customer recommendation I decided to get her a treat ball. After trying the likit and failing I took to ebay to try and find a money savvy one just in-case it failed again. I found one on there for £15ish including free postage and that was great. At first she didn't know what to do with it, I tried all sorts of treats inside it, one's she'd go mad for and ones that you can add into the food. She didn't bother with any of them. One day I got an idea to try horse & pony nuts in it, and this worked. It's so funny to watch her with the ball now, she goes straight for it when she goes into her stable, kicking it and nudging it with her nose. It at least keeps her quiet for a while in some sense. I couldn't find the exact one I bought but I found this one on ebay which is cheaper and looks great, they are really great for the stable and the one I bought is really durable. 
This one on ebay for £9.95 with free P&P in a range of colours, red, purple, pink and blue. (This one is the one in the image above.)

Below is Legacy playing with her treat ball.

The other thing which she loves while shes in her stable is her Nettex Supalyx. There are 4 flavours available for specific things such as Nimble which has Biotin & Glucosamine in to help with feet and joints, Garlic, Easy Breather which has qualities to help sooth the trachea and a general health one, they are all filled with general vitamins & minerals along with the specific qualities for each flavour. For the stable I get her the 3KG size, but there's also a 12.5KG size available for the fields. She loves these licks and I'm lucky to have one last longer than a week. 
All of the Nettex treats mentioned can be seen here. From the Supalyx to the Tastylyx.

Do you have any stable toys for your horse? 
How do you keep them entertained throughout the night? 
Leave your suggestions below I'm always open to try new things with Legacy to keep her quiet and calm.

Treat or No Treats?

Giving horses treats has been and I feel always will be a topic people can go into great discussions on. At the end of the day it's always going to be the personal opinion on the owner to if they are going to give treats or not.

Myself I have always given treats, from when I was learning to ride in my local riding school giving them an apple after the lesson, to sneakily giving the college horses (who weren't allowed treats) the remainder of my apple after lunch.

Even with Legacy now she has 2 sets of treats each day, one in her feed and the other when she's finished. In her feed she gets healthy treats, they can be used as rewards or put into daily feed as a herbal supplement and these are good for her teeth and gums. These are the exact treats I put into her feed and on the bag it recommends 20 for each feed but I just add in 2 large handfuls which comes up to between 20-30. These are mint smelling and tasting so she is happy to eat them all. 

The other set of treats she gets are carrots. She will get between 3-5 a day after her feed. These aren't given for any specific reason just as what the name is a treat. You could say pudding after dinner. 

Now for me when I first get Legacy she became attached to some of the horses in her field and would refuse to get out the field, at first we had to bring her feed bucket into the field and try and entice her out with that, having a cover on it so none of the others knew what it was. She seen the red bucket and knew straight away what it was. After this then a horse from her old place came to the yard (this was only about 2 weeks into me having her) and she wouldn't leave this horse, probably thinking she would never see her again. Having to entice her out with the feed carried on, and then this turned into enticing and bribing her out of the field with carrots. She would have to have a carrot then you would have to hold one in front of her to get her out and give her some carrot along the way. As there was 7 fields that she could have been in you never knew how long the carrots where going to last for before she stopped and wouldn't walk. Yes she had has smacks on the bum and drags along to try get her moving, she was going no where.

So for me in this situation treats became a life saver and where the only way I could do anything with her for a while. Thankfully she is over this now and only gets treats in the 2 previous ways mentioned. Although I can see the reasoning behind the ways people say that they will never give treats such as they will lean to bite etc. and they say it's 'fake love' and a 'fake connection'. In my experience I've seen horses who have never had treats be worse when it comes to biting and pushing for treats than ones who have treats on a frequency. 

What's your opinion on treats? Do you give them to your horse?