HALTER QUESTION

Thank you for the lovely advice on conditioning....I forgot to mention that the horse that I am working with is a 4 year old stallion, un-broke to ride as that is this year's project.

He currently gets plenty of hill work everyday and about 20 minutes walking on the lead..and desensitizing with different things so he is less spooky on the trails.

Dear Judge,

blI was wondering what halter is prefered in the ring? I know the cable halter is all the rage but I'm not sure with my mare's head shape in what kind to get. I plan on showing in some halter since I had a riding accident that prevents me from riding for a while. But I can show in halter classes. I will try and get a picture of my mare's head in here.

I have a stunning grey mare, between 3 and 4 yrs old that is screaming "show me". In the past several months, she has developed pink mottling around her eyes. I have seen some horses grow out of this and some get worse. What is your experience? Would this be marked down severely in halter? Otherwise she has an exquisite head, great ears and eyes, superb conformation, type and movement.

Sometimes there are allergies that cause the skin to go pink on the face...I have known of horses that were allergic to their own sweat and some that were allergic to rubber buckets or the neoprene neck sweats. If you are feeding or watering out of rubber, take it away and see if things begin to improve. Give it a couple of weeks for changes to begin to become noticeable. If nothing happens there - keep a bucket of clean water and a well rinsed sponge available to clean the sweat off of her head after you work her. Sometimes a dash of witch hazel in the water will help cut the sweat.

I really appreciate all the great information y'all have shared on this thread. After reading through it, I have questions specific to yearlings:
Regarding neck sweating and wearing collars, is this okay for yearlings that are really only about 6 months old? If not, what's an appropriate age to start this?
Regarding feeding, I am told by owners of large halter farms that they push the grain (as in give more than the recommended amount, which the vet does NOT want done since it can cause them to grow too quickly, and they're careful, but understand the risks). They feed alfalfa (not too much) and not coastal to avoid the hay gut. I'm not interested in causing a health problem, so some experienced advice there would greatly appreciated. Maybe I should just start another thread on feeding alone because I see the thin arabians and yet I'm so paranoid of colic, etc. that I tend to overfeed out of fear of horses not doing the natural thing for them which is moving and eating all the time.
Thank you in advance for any words of wisdom you wish to share.

Hi,
Most babies that young do not need to have their necks sweated, but if you do have one that you want to try it on I would suggest only using the neoprene neck sweat with a sweating lotion...and ONLY if the baby is supervised. I would not use the fleece throatlatch collars. Baby's put their heads everywhere and anywhere, and permanent or even life threatening damage could occur if they get it snagged on something.
Regarding feeding, my preference is to feed an individually appropriate serving of grain. I want ribs covered, but I am not trying to create a "prematurely mature" look. Be careful with alfalfa...it has a lot of protein in it which the kidneys will try to flush out of the body (this is why a lot of the barns that feed a lot of alfalfa have unusually wet stalls and ammonia problems). Some alfalfa is good. We fed babies a little coastal in Texas, but preferred Timothy or Orchard grass.
Make sure that your worming program is 100%....that is one major cause for a belly on the youngsters. We worm weanlings every month, yearlings every other month, and the rest every third month.
We will free lunge babies with a neck sweat. We don't push them. Remember: walk for muscle, trot for balance, canter for wind. Ponying is also an acceptable form of work for a baby.

Thank you.
Did you have to get the Timothy or Orchard grass in cubed/bagged form. In central Texas, you can buy alfalfa or coastal bales; that's it. So, I've just been giving a mix of both.
Appropriate serving of grain is another problem. The bag says start with 6 - 8 lbs per day. I guess that may not be a lot.

Do use a scale for the grain...or, weigh your scoop or can or whatever you are using, then fill it up and weigh it again to get an idea of how much your "scoop" actually holds. Feed at least twice a day - three times is better. The more frequent feedings overload the system less and provides a more consistent delivery of nutrients. Monitor your baby's weight and condition on a daily basis and adjust your feed accordingly.

If you choose to use hay cubes soften them with water...it will help avoid any chewing issues, any chance of choke, and will make eating them take longer. We did not use the cubes but did manage to find the hay that we wanted. The mix of coastal and alfalfa is fine. If you are still concerned, you may try having the hay chopped. This also works well for debilitated horses. It makes chewing and digestion a little easier.

In reference to an earlier post about why trainers/handlers bring the horses in with heads waay up, my trainer says my colt has an excellent neck/shoulder but that today's judges want VERTICLE, very verticle and that we can teach him a different way to hold his head and neck to achieve that. If this is not natural, why are we asking it of our horses? I doubt very much that the desert bred horses were asked to be verticle? Also, my colt is a mid-June baby, and in certain classes they are called in according to age. How much actual difference does this make to a judge? It really doesn't seem worth it to me to show my boy if he's showing against colts with 5-6 months more maturity to them.