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Before and after

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OK - this is Cyn's dry dry dry coat last year. MP recommended free choice loose minerals going into winter. [img]http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv309/Hijenks/09August041.jpg[/img] And this is now after 8 or 9 months on the minerals? : [img]http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv309/Hijenks/May%202010/100_0690.jp…]

Heidi Sat, 05/29/2010 - 11:23

Wow! Even more impressive would be another photo, taken at about the 1yr mark for a true comparison of hair-coats on the same horse at the same time of year ... all that changed being loose minerals.

What loose minerals are you feeding and where did you get them? I can't say I've ever noticed them at the feed stores (Boss and Tractor Supply).

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 13:46

Ya- 1st pic is Aug of last year. 3 more months I'll take another pic. They are 12:12 Natural Balance by Purina- honestly I've been top dressing with half the recommended amount and putting the other half in a stall bowl in the pasture, but it tends to melt in humidity. I'd like to try the separated ones.... Boss Bros has it~you have to ask for it.

accphotography Sat, 05/29/2010 - 17:21

Do you think that's his true base color or do you think the minerals brought out some sooty or? I don't doubt the change, I'm just wondering what it changed. Lace is very pale (which I LOVE), but she gets a bit sooty in the summer and I wonder of the minerals enhance sooty if she'd go dark on me or something. I'd be really curious to see.

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 18:08

Lacy can go very dark and was liver when I got her - darkest when she was nursing or sheds - Cyn's sire though is a dark bay. And HE goes from looking like a red bay - to black bay is what they call him. He is registered as a black bay which requires some extra pics or something with the AHA. So....his hair was dry...it's certainly genetically probable.

Let me find some pics from both when Lace was nursing him and his sire both when red bay and seal bay.

Cyn's first shed which was of course very dark
[img]http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv30…]

He's a lot darker than Lacy is now, but she's not far in this pic
[img]http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv30…]

Here is Cyte looking red bay
[img]http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv30…]

And darker
[img]http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv30…]

pablo Sat, 05/29/2010 - 18:25

Hi I don't mean to sound dumb but I was wondering what you mean by loose minerals?Do we call them something different this side of the water .How do you feed them are they a mix ,or are they like our mineral lick? :flower

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 18:29

[quote="pablo"]Hi I don't mean to sound dumb but I was wondering what you mean by loose minerals?Do we call them something different this side of the water .How do you feed them are they a mix ,or are they like our mineral lick? :flower[/quote]

They are just like your mineral lick, but without the salt content - or much much less salt. So when they get their fill of salt, they stop licking even if they are still in need of minerals. Loose minerals you can just put out like a lick, and they eat them if they need them, they're just lil granules instead of a block that they lick.

pablo Sat, 05/29/2010 - 18:40

Thanks for explaining jenks,we have plain salt licks or mineral licks with trace elements ,minerals etc!So they are similar !! :flower

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:08

[quote="pablo"]Thanks for explaining jenks,we have plain salt licks or mineral licks with trace elements ,minerals etc!So they are similar !! :flower[/quote]

My pleasure! How's your boy?

We have those too! The problem was just that there is too much salt in the mineral block....

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:10

[quote="accphotography"]Do you think that's his true base color or do you think the minerals brought out some sooty or? I don't doubt the change, I'm just wondering what it changed. Lace is very pale (which I LOVE), but she gets a bit sooty in the summer and I wonder of the minerals enhance sooty if she'd go dark on me or something. I'd be really curious to see.[/quote]

Wow - I completely thought you were talking about my Lace!!!! ROTF now.

I think it certainly could not hurt a bit if you offered them to her in the pasture!!! If she goes a little sooty, then she surely can stay that way -- the sun though is very drying and damaging. I hope this will help keep it from drying and breaking....but we'll see!

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:12

[quote="Monsterpony"]Woot! He looks great! I am so glad to see it helped.[/quote]

Ya I feel kinda guilty! Crossing my fingers that the sun doesn't kill it!

pablo Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:17

Shadow is much better today jenks,thank you for asking!!His temp is now normal,the bloodshot eyes are gone !!Apart from him travelling in circles and not recognizing his mum to well ,he is doing ok!!He is feeding great ,and even kicked me in the knee!! :rofl The vet says it can take 6months or more for the brain to heal !But heigh ho ,mare and foal are doing well I could have lost them both! :flower

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:19

That's great! GO SHADOW! Cyn was always a little behind maturity-wise, but he's finally all caught up!

accphotography Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:24

She's not in the sun much right now. She's in from about 8-10am to 4-6pm. Her coat looks FAB, but she's pale. However I think she may just be naturally pale. But I do wonder if her sooty would spread. Intriguing.

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:48

I would think that if she gets darker at all that lightening is just drying and sunburn/fading...... she is kind of a blonde bombshell looking gal though and there's no way to completely prevent it other than locking them in 24x7 which I will not do for the sake of a coat.

accphotography Sat, 05/29/2010 - 19:56

I wouldn't either. She's only in because it's so blasted hot.

Her fresh shed coat with NO sun involvement (I learned this due to stall rest) is PALE PALE. But she does bleach and dry pretty easily/quickly, but it doesn't really change her color much IMO/E.

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 20:08

Ya....I'm going to look at misters (to add fly stuff) for the barn. I may do the same here shortly if it's not too expensive. The flies are outrageous for some reason this year and once the sun rises the flies make the barn reverberate.

accphotography Sat, 05/29/2010 - 20:19

I find that interesting as the flies are WAY, WAY worse in our fields than in our barns. I've always found that strange and don't understand it.

Arock Sat, 05/29/2010 - 20:24

[quote="pablo"]Thanks for explaining jenks,we have plain salt licks or mineral licks with trace elements ,minerals etc!So they are similar !! :flower[/quote]
There is no salt in the loose minerals. I feed it free choice however, it is better to have it in a covered spot. The cost is between $14 -$16 in my area for a 50 lb bag.

Monsterpony Sat, 05/29/2010 - 20:24

ACC- are your fields cleaned? The flys are higher where ever there is more food/feces.

I've posted these photos before, but this is Chubbs taken one year (or maybe two) apart after having been on loose minerals and BOSS. He is standing in the exact same spot in the same paddock even.

Before:
[img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j294/…]

[img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j294/…]

After:
[img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j294/…]

[img]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j294/…]

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 20:36

Ha! Cleaned? like raked with a 4 wheeler dragging fence! It's the barn - I clean them at 5:30 every morning and the compost pile is out a ways - but it may be the problem - I do have predators on the way for it....Generally though it's steaming and SHOULD not be able to hatch eggs. I have horses all around me though. Goats, unmanned properties full of animals, manned ones full of cows too....they don't care. They get eaten by the flies....

accphotography Sat, 05/29/2010 - 20:54

Our fields are not really tended at all except cut rarely. I've never seen them drug.

The manure pile is right by the barn, and it doesn't even get flies that bad. It's like the closer you get to the barn the less there are. :rofl

Jenks Sat, 05/29/2010 - 21:13

[quote="accphotography"]Our fields are not really tended at all except cut rarely. I've never seen them drug.

The manure pile is right by the barn, and it doesn't even get flies that bad. It's like the closer you get to the barn the less there are. :rofl[/quote]

It is weird, no piles of manure, every stall LOOKS clean and shiney....yet the flies. And where the window lets in light? In every stall, they go with the sunlight hits in hoards. On the wall wherever the sun is hitting it. Also on electrical lines I've noticed.... above.

accphotography Sat, 05/29/2010 - 21:47

HAH! That would explain it then. There is NO direct light in our barn whatsoever (it's very breezy, but the length of it is set N-S so there is truly no direct light inside the barn).

Morgan Sun, 05/30/2010 - 13:44

very interesting progressions!

We have very few regular barn flies here, I have no idea why, all I can figure is the wind blows them away XD ...ehh what's going on with the smiles???
We do get big mean nasty horseflies worse than anywhere though, I would happily trade them for regular flies :S