Horse visit yesterday

I'm on my last week of vacation and I'll have to return to work Monday (...gag...).  I really wanted a day to get up there and let ALL 5 of them out for some exercise.  I can usually do 2, or even 3 during one visit, but I hardly ever can do all 5.  I'm not sure if it is (1) old age; (2) my back and leg problems; (3) my lung problems, but whatever it is, there are only a couple of times a year that I get all 5 horses out for exercise in one day.  Well, surprisingly enough, yesterday was one of those days!  I've had a LOT of energy this past week, which I attribute to (1) not being in school with 26 "germ factories", and (2) not being out in public a lot.  I have been shopping at Whole Foods, buying organic fruits and vegetables and salads and I cut out the French Vanilla coffee creamer, which is full of non-GMO soy.  Now I just put a dash of organic whole milk in my coffee and GUESS WHAT?  I can actually taste...the coffee!

So, Gigondas was the first to get out.  She was waiting patiently by her corral gate.  Now, it's been about 3 weeks since ANY of them have been out.  First, there was too much mud from the rain, then the area got SNOW!  I took her over to the large pen by an old gelding, her neighbor, so that he wouldn't scream for her the entire time and get upset.  That worked out just fine.  I think I'll do that with her every visit from now on.  He could still see her and he was calm.  After all, he IS 30 years old!  She was out the entire time I worked the other 4 horses.

Then, I took Sunni down to the large arena.  His tail is ... PATHETIC!  He looks like a yearling now with it.  I lunged him for a bit, then made him stand until I released him to go.  And, off he went, running and jumping and farting!  Silly boy!

Next, I took Quad up to the round pen.  So, really, I have 3 large corrals for them to run in, and that's a good thing!  He was a perfect gentleman.  He walked right with me and up into the round pen.  I'd brushed him off in his corral, but he is still FILTHY!  He likes to nap in his urine...

Then, I took Sunni back to his corral, and tackled Scout.  I wanted her to WAIT so that she wasn't the first one out.  My trainer always took her out first, but I think she needs to learn to wait.  She was a perfect little lady walking down to the arena and I was able to close the gate, but then she started jiggling.  I lunged her for quite a while to get the "ya-ya's" out of her, then made her WAIT to be released.  Of course, she took off, tearing up the arena.  She's the one I worried about because, after all, it had been 3 weeks since she had a nice, long turnout.

Finally, I brought Quad back down to his corral, and took Lucille up to the round pen.  I knew she wanted to roll and roll and roll and yup...that's what she did.  She also did a bit of running around.  They ALL needed to get their farts out!

I've been reading about coconut oil for horses and they each got a tablespoonful, along with a snack, before I left.  Does anybody else use it?  COSTCO sells a 2-pack for less than what I normally pay for one container at Clark's Nutrition, and it IS organic.  I'm also giving a teaspoonful to my black lab and boy, is her coat nice & shiny!  I'm hoping it will help their coats and their hooves, which are very dry right now.  When I return on Saturday, I'll document their coats and hooves and see if it makes a difference.  I know the ranch owner gives her horses corn oil, but, based on my reading, that too high in Omega 6, right?

Here's a link to an article about coconut oil for horses:
http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/top-10-uses-of-coconut-oil-for-horses/

and here's another article:
http://www.stanceequine.com/responsible-nutrition-coconut-oil-in-horse-feed

I'm sure you can read more articles yourself, and I'm still reading up on it, but, so far, the horses really like it.

 Sunni frolicking in the arena.

Yes, that's his tail now!  Can you believe it?  BAD QUAD!  Quad chews on his tail at night...sigh...