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Mindy Schroder
- Dec 30, 2017
My Tiny Horse Track in the Winter
I thought I would do an update of my tiny track and share how it’s working this winter. I still love it. The ponies are moving around all the time. Right now they are not using the entire track because one side of it is a big, deep snow drift. Once in a while they will try to come down that side and I cringe the whole time they are floundering through it. It wasn’t so bad when the drift was soft but now it’s hard as a rock! I feed at the opposite side of the track from the wa
Mindy Schroder
- Oct 18, 2017
The Importance of Listening
I know I talk about listening on this blog often. I think it’s so important when you own animals of any kind to learn to listen to them, to understand them and to honor what they say. I mentioned before that I have had several horses in and out over the spring and summer. Last year I still had Billy when I brought Sky and Zorro home. I had Captain Planet when I brought Sky and Zorro home as well. Sky had quite a lot going on when I brought her home. Much of it physical. But s
Mindy Schroder
- Jul 29, 2017
Spa Day!
Today was the day to bathe and trim and clip some ponies around here! I love having nice, neat, clean ponies. Then I can stand back and admire them. There is just so much to admire! And of course here are some before and after photos! First up is Sky! The before photo is from this spring. I thought she was fat then… and yet she looks fatter now! I do love how her topline is rounding out with all the driving we are doing. I can not believe she can be so round with all the exer
Mindy Schroder
- Jul 18, 2017
Pasture Analysis: What the WHAT!?
Since Bonnie has been diagnosed with Insulin Resistance I have been obsessed with sugars. Sugars in the hay, sugars in the feed, sugars in the grass, sugars, sugars, sugars. I am so tired of trying to guess where the sugar triggers may be! But I did know that the pasture has a good chance of being high in sugar so I decided I better test it. I took my first sample on June 24th at 7:30 in the morning after a fairly warm night. While grass tends to be lower in sugar/starch duri
Mindy Schroder
- Jul 10, 2017
Sure Foot® Pads!
Finally! The post about the Sure Foot® pads. I know, I’ve kept you all waiting on pins and needles! I wanted to have some time to use them… to see if there would be any changes worth blogging about and may I say WOW! Definitely changes worth blogging about! Here is a little blurb about the Sure Foot® pads from their website: A unique, innovative way for the horse to be his own teacher. Developed by Wendy Murdoch, this revolutionary way of improving your horse’s balance, confi
Mindy Schroder
- Jun 3, 2017
Fun on the Farm!
The weather around here is finally starting to calm down a little bit! We did have a huge wind storm yesterday, but it was blowing the storm away not in… so today was gorgeous! Two days ago I wanted to take Sky for a little drive and went to get her Cavallo boots only to find that she has worn holes through the soles of them! We got them last November and maybe put about 10 miles on them because of the winter. I can’t believe they didn’t last longer. I emailed Cavallo and the
Mindy Schroder
- May 31, 2017
Bath Day!
Clean girls. Bonnie stood with the cold hose running for about an hour while I trimmed everyone else up. She could stand in or out of the water but she chose to stand in it! We had a beautiful day today. Lots of sunshine, a little rain and temps soaring into the high 70’s low 80’s. The perfect day for bath day! I caught all 5 ponies and they practiced patience while being tied. These boys. They are so cute! Chantelle was tied to the left of Zorro, but inside the fence. I wasn
Mindy Schroder
- May 3, 2017
My Feed Program
I am constantly asked what and how I feed my ponies. I do write about it often, but I haven’t shared all the ponies feed program for awhile so thought I would today! Everyone has hay 24/7. Bonnie has the hay that I had tested so I can manage her sugars. I only had about 10 bales of the other hay, a grass/alfalfa mix so I didn’t pay to have it tested. I feed that hay to Captain Planet, Zorro and Sky. I fill Sky’s net twice a day. She gets one flake in the morning and one flake
Mindy Schroder
- Apr 10, 2017
Laminitis
My whole world is about treating Bonnie right now. I have studied laminitis and founder many times over the years and dealt with a few ponies that had foundered and needed rehabilitation. I was very successful in helping those ponies. But none have been so severe as Bonnie, except Chloe and she gave up the fight. So the amount of stress I have been feeling has been great… so great that I worried I may become laminitic! I want to treat this as naturally as I can so have been r
Mindy Schroder
- Apr 5, 2017
Bonnie’s Feed Program
Bonnie is doing so much better. She had a great day on Saturday, April Fools day. That seemed to be the turning point for her. Since that day she has been up and about, moving more and eating better. I’m so happy to see that! Since that day I have started walking her a little further and the last couple of days I walked her twice a day. After our little walks she moves much easier and is clearly less sore. I am so grateful for that! The outpouring of love and support we have
Mindy Schroder
- Mar 31, 2017
Bonnie’s New Boots
For the last three days Bonnie has laid either in her shed or just in front of it in the nice deep sawdust bed I made her outside of the shed. After being on her feet all day on Sunday, at the Nutrition Clinic, she was just plain worn out. And sore. On Tuesday I had my favorite equine body worker come out and do some adjusting to make her feel a bit better in her body. If only we could adjust some spots and do some energy work on her feet and have such an immediate change! Sh
Mindy Schroder
- Mar 28, 2017
Natural Nutrition for Horses Clinic
Oh boy you guys!! This clinic with Dr. Madalyn Ward was awesome!! If you would like to read more about her you can go HERE. Dr. Ward has two really wonderful websites absolutely bursting with information. She also does consultations! She talks a lot about the Five Elements of the Temperament and Health of your horse and even has several books about the elements. I didn’t get very much time to read about those yet, so I won’t say anything else about them. But I am very intere
Mindy Schroder
- Mar 17, 2017
Travois – Step Two
Normally I wouldn’t move through step one so quickly, except this is more of a re-start, as Sky has been driven so much as a younger horse. We drove her in shows, in parades and many many miles on our back country roads. So this is just a refresher to check her foundation for holes and give her a chance to settle back into the harness. She is doing so great! And I’m proud to say that my step-by-step process for training a horse to drive is solid!! We used the very same proces
Mindy Schroder
- Jan 20, 2017
Bonnie Update
Bonnie foundered on December 27th, much to my dismay. She has been lame since then. To counteract the founder I have been putting Ortho Sport on her feet every day and she’s been wearing her Easyboot minis, which have been a life saver!! I don’t know what we would do without them. I took them off for a day to give her a break and to let her feet air out and she didn’t move much all day long. It’s difficult with the frozen ground and the snow that builds up a bit on her soles.
Mindy Schroder
- Oct 31, 2016
How to Take Awesome Photos of Your Horse… By Yourself!
I am often alone when playing with my horses and have had to get creative over the years when taking photos. I have all kinds of little tricks to get my horses to LOOK, ears up and eyes bright. Usually I make funny sounds, meow like a kitty, bark like a dog, quack like a duck… you get the idea. Basically I make myself look like an idiot to get that special, whimsical shot! I don’t mind. The photos are usually worth it! Once in a while I have a horse that just won’t put their
Mindy Schroder
- Oct 28, 2016
Equine Body Work
I am a firm believer in equine body work. I have been amazed again and again at how a little massage, some manipulating and energy work can make such a huge change in my horses. I used it often for Billy Blaze and when Sky was having so many troubles this spring I used it again! I love using essential oils along with the body work of my favorite Equine (and Canine!) Body Worker, Heidi Chretien. I often will apply oils for a few days leading up to our scheduled appointment to
Mindy Schroder
- Oct 17, 2016
How to Take a Good Picture of Your Horse
Note the title of this post: “How to Take a Good Picture of Your Horse” NOT “How to Take a GREAT Picture of Your Horse” nor is it “How to Take a Professional Picture of Your Horse.” I have noticed that many many people post photos of their horses that are just not flattering. I’m not talking about those cutesy photos that show the horse’s personality. The close ups of their nose or ears. Fun angles, horses smiling… Those photos are not what this blog is about. This blog is ab
Mindy Schroder
- Oct 11, 2016
Magnesium Deficiency
When I brought Bonnie home it was late at night. We unloaded her from one trailer to another without a hitch– in a parking lot, under parking lot lights– and she was quiet and manageable. She didn’t whinny or move around at all. She just loaded right up and stood quietly in my trailer. On the drive home she continued to be quiet and didn’t whinny when we pulled into our driveway even though the other ponies whinnied at the trailer. It was about one in the morning, so very d
Mindy Schroder
- Sep 27, 2016
Walking with the Girls
The girls and I had a lovely walk today. It was a hot one and they both worked up a sweat, as did I! Sky was so funny because she kept trying to turn around and go home, but Bonnie was happy as a clam to be out walking. She had her ears up and trotted up the road without a hitch! They both wanted to stop and take a break at the canal. They took a few minutes to talk to each other and look at the big horses that were following us up the road. Then we went on our way. We walked
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