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  Discussion on Anyone ever use or hear of Life Data Labs Barn Bag?
Author Message
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Sunday, Mar 15, 2009 - 7:04 pm:

Dr. O and everyone,

Today I walked into my neighborhood feed store to get my weekly feed order. I also needed a container of Bag Balm located in the back of the store. As I was looking for the bag Balm the Bigscreen TV was showing a product called Barn Bag Pleasure and Performance Horse Pelleted feed concentrate.

This concentrate contains a mixture of nutrients that all horse should get to keep their systems running smoothly. It is fed with whole oats and good quality hay and pasture. The energy level is controlled by the amount of oats fed. The amount of the feed concentrate stays the same ensuring consistency of nutrients every day.

I am always in search of new ways to simplify my feeding program. This seems pretty simple to me.

For more information here is the website.

www.LifeDataLabs.com

I would be interested in your thoughts about this product.

Thanks
Rachelle
Member:
3chip

Posted on Sunday, Mar 15, 2009 - 8:32 pm:

The following site is an excellent resource for defining Equine Nutritional needs.
https://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/horse/406-473/406-473.html
The statement made at Farrier's Formula,
"Grass hay is preferred over legume hay. Alfalfa, a legume, contains excess calcium and crude protein and is best not to feed at more than one-third of diet." in my opinion is not true. One has to be concerned with the Ca Phos ratio however and some degree of supplementation may be necessary.

"Oats in their natural state (not rolled, crimped, or ground) are the preferred source for the calorie/energy feed group. Whole oats retain their nutrient quality for a longer storage life. Regulate body condition, or weight, by increasing or decreasing the the amount of energy or whole oats given." Oats as a preferred energy source? Not hardly, but it depends what the horse is doing, how much work he is required to put out. Visit the above site and spend some time there. I believe you will learn a lot.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 7:58 am:

Hi 3chip,

Thanks for the info. I have read both Dr.O's nutrition articles ( and some of the discussions) and the one you recommended.

Here are my problems:
1)It is not cost effective to try and get a hay analysis, I have limited storage so by the time I would get the results, I'd be into another batch of hay. I do try to keep my horses on either straight timothy or orchard grass and they do get the proper amounts for their body weight.

As far as exercise and fitness levels. Both my horses are very fit. They do not blow after strenuous exercise and they hardly ever sweat even after 5 moderately fast jog miles, and they cool out very quickly. So, basically they are acting the same as they did when things were going well and they are being fed the same too.

So I had to ask myself what changed. In January, we moved to a new farm because our old one closed and it has been since this time that my horses performance in races has suffered and they look poor, no matter what I seem to do. My guess is that they are not getting something in their diet perhaps because the soil content and the grass are different from where they were. No matter what it is, I need to find a diet for them that will not hinge on where they live.

Even though these guys are racehorses they spend much of their time outside.

Right now, I want to make sure they are getting what they need and I want to try and balance their diet, even if it means going to something like alfalfa pellets or hay cubes.

Any thoughts.
Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 8:01 am:

3chip, we recommend our own articles on feeding, and for more on getting started with proper feeding see the article, Overview of Horse Nutrition, associated with this discussion.

Rachelle, I don't readily find a list of ingredients or nutritional make up and am uncertain why this would be simpler or less expensive than feeding a premixed concentrate. If you will supply us with the nutritional breakdown, recommended use rate and cost we might be of more help.
DrO
Member:
hollyw

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 9:42 am:

Rachelle,

I have heard from folks who use it that Purina ULTIUM is the best for getting even debilitated horses into excellent condition. I know that we have a few members who use it. (Were you one who mentioned it?) If you haven't tried it, you might do so and give it 2-3 months (I think it shows results even more quickly than that) to see if there is a difference. I've been told that, even though it is not advertised as a complete feed, that it has been excellent for geriatric horses that can't chew hay, and the Purina folks have been advised of that.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 11:23 am:

Dr.O,

Here is the link to the page with the nutritional information and instructions. links are on the left side of the page.

recommended use rate is 1/2 cup per day, split into 2 feedings and the cost works out to be $1.00 a day/per horse.

https://www.lifedatalabs.com/index.php?act=barnbagpleasureandperformance&lang=us

Holly,

I am already feeding Ultium at a little higher than the recommended amounts because of the type of hay (Timothy) that my horses get. They get hay to keep them busy, not sure what they would do or how they would act if I stopped the hay completely and fed cubes, alfalfa pellets or straight Ultium.

With my one racemare, she has a tendency to get a bit hyperactive with too much feed, so I have to tread a fine line with her. She is also the one that gets turned out the most to keep her balanced mentally.

Rachelle
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 11:43 am:

Hi Rachelle,

Sounds like nutrition is an important rule-out-- has their condition changed? If I were you, I might also spend some time around the barn at odd hours to rule out other sources of stress from the environment (maybe there's something disruptive happening at night, for example?). I guess some horses are also very change averse, in which case they would eventually adjust. What's the water like?
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 12:38 pm:

Hi elk,

The barn I am in is about as perfect a barn as I could want. Everyone is on the same schedule as far as feeding in the morning and at night and all the activity for the day is done around 11 am in the morning. I used to get mad at the other barn ( the one I moved from) because one trainer would feed his horses at irregular times and my horses were not able to get their beauty rest because there was activity sometimes up until 11pm.

It's funny you mentioned the water, they seem to be drinking fine, but this farm has well water with a high sulphur content that I do not believe is filtered (I am going to check this afternoon).

I think they have adjusted well to the change of farms, but their performance is just not what I would like to see.

Thanks
Rachelle
Member:
kathrynr

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 4:58 pm:

I too would be very interested in Dr O's opinion of this product. I had researched it myself a few months back but was unsure about trying it.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 8:34 pm:

Ok folks,
Consider me the Guinea pig. I spent an hour at the feed store today discussing the pros and cons of using this product and decided to try it because of the following reasons.

1)I can put all my horses on it and quit worrying about who is getting what feed. I have a very easy keeper who can exist on air and stay fat. I have a medium keeper who I consider normal and I have a very hard keeper that is very nervous and has a very high energy level.

2)My horses will be getting a consistent amount of nutrients without having to worry about the low amount of nutrients in the hay or whether they are getting more nutrients than they need.

3)Cost- a #50lb bag of whole oats=$13.49 a #50 lb bag of Ultium =$19.99. Cost of the supplement 1.00/day.

4)Several well known Standardbred trainers are using the products with good results.

5)When discussing the use of Ultium on Standardbred racehorses, the feedstore rep said that its formulation does not work as well on Standardbreds as it does on other breeds that may not have the same nutritional needs, she also said that that the ingredients and their quality can change at any time and are not fixed and this might be a reason why my horses did better with earlier batches of this feed.

It will take me between 7-10 days to switch my horses over, and probably a few more days to make sure I am feeding the correct amount of oats for each of my horses.

I'll keep you updated with my results.

I am going to post the guaranteed analysis later tonight.

Rachelle
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 8:40 pm:

I have attached the guaranteed analysis of the Barn Bag pelleted Pleasure and Performance Horse concentrate.
application/vnd.ms-excelLife Data Labs Barn Bag Concentrate
Barnbag analysis.xls (15.4 k)
Member:
hollyw

Posted on Monday, Mar 16, 2009 - 9:44 pm:

The Ultium's quality can change? For 20 bucks a bag, that's not right. Doesn't Purina have a guaranteed analysis on the bags of Ultium?

I hope the Barnbag works for you.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009 - 12:16 am:

By increasing the protein and calcium in the diet it seems like a logical addition to straight oats to form a more complete concentrate.
DrO
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009 - 7:46 am:

Holly,

The guaranteed analysis would remain the same but the sources and the quality of the ingredients could change leading to a differentiation in the feed. I do not think this is a Purina problem per se, just the nature of the manufacturing beast and where the raw ingredients are coming from. I did not get into the particulars with the rep. as I was more interested in the information on the barn bag.

Dr.O, ( as I read between the lines, I think), If what I am after is a more balanced way to feed my horses,that this system will work with the type of hay I feed, the oats and the Barn Bag supplement.

Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009 - 8:13 am:

While I disagree that there is a big concern in variable quality in quality made feeds like Purina, this system could be made to work also. However if simplification is the goal this strikes me as a step backward.
DrO
Member:
mrose

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009 - 11:04 am:

I've been reading through this, and just to be picky, any feed content changes including feeds that you mix at home. It all depends on the where the feed comes from, the rainfall amount, sun amount,at what stage they are harvested, etc. All grain and hay crops change with the weather. I think that's one reason the guaranteed analysis is important. I know nothing about the product you are talking about, but am a little suspicious of their "selling blurb" regarding other feeds. How can their feed not be subject to the same things other feeds are subject to?
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009 - 3:14 pm:

Sara,

The rep I was talking to was not a rep for the Barn Bag, she was a sales person for the feed store. The feed store sells strictly Purina feed products which I have used for many years. She relayed her experiences with Purina and to tell you the truth she just confirmed the same experiences I have had. She did not talk me into buying the Barn Bag as she had no personal experience with it, I made that decision myself based on the criteria and information that I had available at the moment, most of which came from the website, the DVD and the Barn Bag itself.

Meanwhile, my horses are tolerating the changes well and hopefully their performance will improve if their rations are better balanced.

Dr. O, I have 8 horses on several different combinations of feed at a variety of different places, if they are all changed over to whole oats and a half cup of this supplement each day, it will make my life simpler by just not having to remember who gets what feed.

I am experimenting with my race horses because I see them the most and will be able to tell the little subtle changes that I need to see that will tell me I am going in the right direction.

I guess easier and simpler in this case may be in the eyes of the beholder.
Rachelle
Member:
kathrynr

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009 - 5:13 pm:

Rachelle you may be a good test of this product as you have multiple horses to see or not see changes in. Post back with your results, I am still curious what it's benefits may actually be over others if any. Thanks for being my guinea pig!

btw I DrOve by where you live the other day running errands thinking I may see someone who looked like a Rachelle
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009 - 7:18 pm:

Kat,

I will tell you one change I see and its only been 2 days, they are drinking a ton more water. I know its warmer than it has been, but I have had warm days before today and they did not drink this much. At 9am I filled up 2 (5) gallon buckets. 3 hours later, the two mares had one bucket completely gone and the other one had about 2 inches of water left in it. Usually, I fill the buckets in the morning and at night and there is always about 3/4's of a bucket left over.

Just curious, what does a Rachelle look like?

You should let me know the next time you are in town, we could go have lunch.
Rachelle
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 18, 2009 - 4:27 pm:

Update:

Its the end of day three on the BarnBag and I've noticed two changes for the better. 1) My one mare that gets very loose manure at the DrOp of a hat, has had a full two days where all of her manure was normal. 2) the color, shine and texture of both their coats seems to be coming back. My colt's coat actually felt soft today and his attitude seemed better as well.

I know it may be too early to tell anything, but it looks good so far.
Rachelle
Member:
mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 18, 2009 - 7:42 pm:

Rachelle, I'm not saying the product isn't good; I have no idea. I just have heard so much from so many different reps, and sales people who repeat what the reps have told them, that I've become very skepticle and am about ready to just feed oats and hay and a mineral supplement, like I used to do 50 years ago.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 18, 2009 - 7:44 pm:

btw...where do you find a feed store with a big screen TV,and even more amazing, a person who waits on you?! We have 3 feed store in our town, not a TV among them, and little help. Half the time I load bags on a big cart and then load them on the truck myself. At least my husband unloads them for me at home. I'm ready to switch feed stores, if yours wasn't so far away!
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 18, 2009 - 8:41 pm:

Yep, Sara you are a bit far away from NJ. This store is huge. It not only sells feed, but all types of goodies for all different types of animals ( including humans, clothes, boots, helmets etc.) They not only load my stuff, but will deliver and unload ( if I buy enough). They also have someone that cleans and repairs blankets. They run horsey seminars; have pet adoption days and sometime this month are having a mustang adoption day.

I know I am spoiled, but I love this store!

Anyway, what I am hoping the Barn Bag will do is allow me to get back to basics, allow me to give them their nutrients without overdoing it when I have to increase their feed to keep the weight on.

I'll give you an example, my 4 year old mare requires 9-12 lbs of Ultium a day to maintain her weight. This actually exceeds the Purina recommended amounts, so I think I am inadvertently overdosing her nutrients as well because she requires so much of this feed, plus for her I think this feed has too much fat and it just passes through her and makes her manure loose. I have tried a variety of different feed combinations, and I have not been happy with any of them. So, like you I want to return to oats, hay, water, vitamins, minerals and salt. It worked for me 35 years ago, so I think it will work today.

Rachelle
Member:
mrose

Posted on Thursday, Mar 19, 2009 - 12:22 am:

Rachelle, we should swap horses for a while. If mine ran (or trotted/paced) around a track every day maybe they would loose some weight! It's a struggle with the older mares keeping their weight down, especially when they are only able to do light exercise. I have them on Platinum Performance, which I really like as it seems very complete, but it's really pricey (it's a vitamine and mineral supplement.) The one old girl is on beet pulp and Equine Senior, a little rice bran and grass hay. She's the most complicated one as she's on pergolide for Cushings and has become very picky about her food now that she's older. I spend more time "cooking" for all the animals than I do for the humans around here.

I am always cutting back on feed and have never considered the possibility of too much of anything from increasing the feed. Guess it's a distinct possibility; good thinking on your part.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Thursday, Mar 19, 2009 - 7:45 am:

Sara,

What you say about cutting back on feed because horses are too fat is really the other part of the equation where the horses are not getting enough of a particular feed to keep the necessary nutrients at proper levels thus necessitating the addition of supplements.

Perhaps our horses are the products of their environment and if we got back to basics perhaps they would not have the types of problems they have like Cushings, PSSM, tying up etc. I can't help but think that the feeds these days may be contributing to and not helping some of the disease processes in horses. We just do not know enough. Just as with people we are what we eat, I think this holds true for horses as well.

Just my thoughts
Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Mar 19, 2009 - 8:32 am:

I would note that Cushings is a age related tumor that we are seeing because horses are living so much longer and PSSM a genetic disease that was actually worse 100 years ago when it was called Monday Morning Disease and a severe problem in cold bloods that worked for a living. Our current understanding of these diseases and modern feeding practices, particularly the addition of oil, have allowed these horses to do much better. This was a revolutionary finding and not a "getting back to basics".

It is an interesting nutrition theory where a base of nutrients are provided with a supplement and then energy and protein provided on top using oats but I am uncertain about whether this represents an improvement over simply providing a well made balanced feed.

All nutrients are provided at maintenance levels by good quality forage alone. When horses rise above maintenance needs mainly we talk about increasing energy levels. However other nutrient requirements rise as the needs for increased energy rise. I can think of protein, antioxidant vitamins, and electrolytes as examples. The other minerals and vitamins are just not studied so remain uncertain but they are nutrients because they are involved with metabolism and as metabolism rises it does not seem unreasonable that many nutrients needs increase.

Do I think horses can be fed well this way? Yes after all the biggest problem the modern horse owner faces is over nutrition not under nutrition. Is this an improvement over traditional feeding methods?....I don't know. If rtrotter's horses have improved health that is related to the new feeding scheme it suggests she has corrected some feeding deficiency her past program had and often the secret to horses is finding what works well in your hands.
DrO
Member:
kathrynr

Posted on Friday, Mar 20, 2009 - 7:46 am:

Sara if you are ever in Central NJ we will have to take you over to see our Big Screen TV Super Horse Supply Store that we are blessed to have. You have to go in there with a purpose or else you can easily spend your retirement $!

Rachelle,I am glad to hear you are having positive results so far. I had felt this would be good for mine as all I feed is mixed hays and oats with a vitamin/mineral supplement. Let's see how it works, I"ll run up to the store and try to get out with only the Barn Bag...wish me luck!

PS I though maybe a Rachelle would have long brown hair??
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Friday, Mar 20, 2009 - 9:20 am:

KatR,

Close, I used to have long brown hair, now it is short brown with a lot of gray.

Rachelle
Member:
mrose

Posted on Friday, Mar 20, 2009 - 11:04 am:

I feel like I'm spending my retirement every time I go to our little tv-less store here! I'd better stay out of yours! With the economy like it is I don't have much retirement left at this point.

I'll be interested to see how this works for you. I did't realize that Barn Bag was made by the same folks that make Farriers' Formula, which my farrier swears by.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Mar 23, 2009 - 3:24 pm:

To all:

The horses seem to have adapted well to their feed change and the addition of the Barn bag Supplement. What they look like physically has greatly improved and they both trained very well yesterday. Even the hard keeper looks like she is gaining weight.

Both are getting 8-10 lbs of oats split into 3 equal feedings. They are still on 1 1/2lbs of Ultium since the feed change is not complete yet. They seemed to have backed off their hay consumption which I am not sure is a good thing, although the grass is starting to come up in the pasture they are using, so what I might be seeing is their choice for green grass over dry hay.

When I went to Agway yesterday, they had whole oats with soybean oil so I picked that up instead of the regular whole oats so they are now getting extra fat calories.

Of course today, I get my online version of TheHorse Nutrition newsletter where it has that soybean oil is not good for use in trotters when fed with oats because it reduces the digestion of the starches ( It figures).

If I want to feed additional fat, to reduce the amount of oats fed and to cut down on the starch amount, what would be the best fat to use for my situation. The Ultium uses ricebran oil.

Otherwise, does what I am doing seem ok as far as being in balance with horse nutritional requirements?

Rachelle
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Monday, Mar 23, 2009 - 3:40 pm:

Dr.O,

This is in response to your post above regarding horses living on good quality forage. I have two retired horses in my backyard that I tried to do this with. For about three months all they were fed was a very good quality timothy/alfalfa mix hay. They are pasture ornaments that do not exercise except when something scares them. I would say they do not use up a lot of their energy stores. Anyway, they got all the hay they could eat. I had to stop the experiment because after 3 months of no grain, they looked awful, they had no muscletone and great big haybellies. I put them back on 6 lbs of Equine adult and Strategy per day and within a week they started to look better and have been maintained like that ever since.

So while it may work for some it certainly did not work for mine.
Rachelle
Member:
angrary

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009 - 1:20 am:

Dr O,
I also am interested in your response to rtrotter's most recent post. I too have always heard that the best thing for your average horse is just good quality hay, yet I have also observed that these horses in reality do better on a grain & hay diet. The all hay diet does seem to produce big haybellies and a swayback in many older horses. Cutting back just a bit on their hay and feeding a good quality grain in small amounts does seem to keep them in better condition. Any thoughts on this?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009 - 7:13 am:

Hello rtrotter and Ang,
You misunderstand the meaning of the word 'maintenance' guys. For more on this read carefully the article on "Overview of Nutrition" and the recommendations for the proper feeding of horses. Particularly the second paragraph entitled "The Golden Rule".

The above statement is meant to emphasize the importance of forage not to suggest that is all that all horses need (though it is all many need).
DrO
Member:
frances

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009 - 9:54 am:

DrO, what do you think of the article from "The Horse" that rtrotter mentions, stating that feeding oil (the research was carried out with soybean oil but I they may have meant oil in general?) inhibits the digestion of fibre?

The link is: www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=4478

Thanks!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009 - 10:31 am:

Hi LL,
I don't believe this research demonstrates a contraindication to using vegetable oils in the diet of horses that need more energy than provided with reasonable amounts of forage. In this research the amount of oil fed was high at 15% of the diet by weight. The reduction in microbial digestion was scientifically significant as it reduced the digestibility of the digestible fiber from around 70% to around 60%, I don't believe this is nutritionally significant.

Years of experience with fat in the horse's diet it is clear that horses that need a boost in energy levels do very well with fat supplemented diets. In other words you loose a little but gain a lot even when fat is fed at 15% of the diet by weight. Considering the contribution of this microbial digestion to B vitamins in the horse I would suggest horses fed poorer quality forage and fat at this level have these vitamins supplemented at least until this area is researched to determine significance. For more on vitamin supplementation with poorer quality hays see the Overview of Nutrition article.
DrO
Member:
sodmonst

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009 - 8:45 pm:

For years we fed our livery horses alfalfa hay and some bermuda hay. No grain. These horses did light work, mostly walk, some trot/canter in hilly country for between 2 and 5 hours per day.

We wormed them regularly, and had regular visits from the equine dentist. All of these horses maintained average to fleshy condition year-in, year-out. We had many horses in their teens and twenties. They lived in the field at night, and came in to work in the mornings. We had from 40 to 90 horses at any given time. (Some we leased seasonally). If we got a thin horse in on lease, we put it in a stall with free choice hay between rides and used it lightly for a few weeks.

Our horses looked great. In ten years, we had only one that we bought thin and couldn't seem to recondition. He died of colic after a few months. I suspect that he had a problem beyond poor feed. The rest were fit, fat, and shiny.

I'm retired from that now, and I feed my 18 year old horse a little beet pulp and rice bran with the hay. He's gained weight since I got him, is no longer thin, and I hope to feed him hay only by summer. While there are always exceptions, I've observed that good hay and/or grass is adequate nutrition for most horses.
Member:
frances

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - 12:56 pm:

Thanks a lot for your comments, DrO.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 14, 2009 - 4:08 pm:

Barn Bag Update-Results

My barn bag experiment is over and I have switched to a complete feed (Triple Crown Complete)

Observations:

My horses required too many pounds of oats to maintain their condition. As a result of too many pounds of oats my horses were turning into nut cases worse than they were to begin with.

They stopped cleaning up their feed ( also because they were getting too much). Also according to the feeding directions on the barn bag since my horses are in what I consider to be heavy training they needed double the amount of the barn bag which made it not cost effective when used with the amount of whole oats I was having to feed.

They also self reduced the amount of hay they were eating which I did not think was such a hot idea.

I think the barn bag would work for people who only needed to use a small quantity of oats and did not have a horse that needs a very high caloric intake like my mare.

So, now they are back on a complete feed that contains rice bran and beetpulp, they are maintaining their weight, they have calmed down and they are eating up everything in sight.

I stopped giving them molasses as the feed contains this. They are still getting garlic and OCD pellets and the one that has been put on lasix is getting Dr.O's lite salt and tablesalt recipe in her feed (1tbls 3 times a day) to help replace her salt/potassium lost because of the diuretic action of the lasix.

Everyone seems to be in good spirits and both are racing this week. So we will see how it goes.

Rachelle
Member:
stek

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 - 11:10 am:

Thanks for the follow-up Rachelle, and good luck running (er, trotting!) this week!
Member:
kathrynr

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 - 12:09 pm:

Rachelle thanks for the update as well. I have my 2 on it now for about 2 weeks, and I don't see a change either way as of yet. I feed limited oats so I don't have the problem you experienced.
Kat
Member:
sodmonst

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 - 12:32 pm:

Rtrotter, your latest post helped me. I've been trying to help my older horse gain weight without using my old "load em up on alfalfa" strategy. The beet pulp, rice bran, complete feed (Enhance 12-22) plan seems to work the best for him. Your post validates my observations. Thanks

https://www.arkat.com/enhance-equinedaily.html
https://www.arkat.com/enhance-equineelite.html
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 15, 2009 - 8:04 pm:

All.

So far so good, the little mare raced really well today. She finished 4th on a very bad wet and sloppy day. She was very relaxed in the paddock and she races really well when she's like that. SHe used to be so bad that no one wanted to paddock her, she got so wound up. Now, I think she's happy with her schedule, feed and electrolytes. Just what I like to see a very happy racehorse.

Now the colt is tomorrow, I'll try not to get my hopes up too high. I just hope he gets a check.

Rachelle
Member:
mrose

Posted on Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 - 9:58 am:

Rachelle, good luck this weekend! What fun; I love to watch the trotters/pacers! I spent a lot of time hanging around Russ Valle Keyes and his barn when he'd come to Del Mar. He had a wonderful mare called Maria Keyes that belonged to a friend of my dad's. they used to run a race named for her at Belmont. That's ancient history though; but sure is a fond memory. Let us know how your boy does.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 - 8:22 pm:

Hi Sara,

The colt raced today and even though he did not get a check I think he raced better. The driver said he acted more competitive and he seemed to keep up much better.

BTW, I have standardbreds. Those are the kind of horses that have a racebike and a driver, not a jockey. I almost got into thoroughbreds, when I was younger, but when I found out I couldn't do everything, I got into standardbreds. I jog, train and take care of my own horses and I did drive a couple in a few qualifying races when I was much, much younger. They are a lot of fun and of a much calmer demeanor than thoroughbreds, plus they race every week.

Rachelle
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 - 10:58 pm:

Rachelle,

I've had the same experience with a horse who gets too "hot" on oats.

I have been using the Triple Crown line for a few years and have been extremely happy with the results.

Hope that you will continue to have good results.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Friday, Apr 17, 2009 - 1:27 am:

Glad your boy did good for you! What fun you must have working with your own horses and racing them! The horses I was around were also Standardbreds. They trained at Del Mar in the winter before racing at Santa Anita.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Friday, Apr 17, 2009 - 7:20 am:

Sara,

Now that's interesting! I have been around standardbreds for 30 plus years, but I only remember Del Mar and Santa Anita as thoroughbred tracks. I'll ask my hubby when he comes home, he is pretty good at racing history. I know a lot of racetracks that have run dual meets, in New Jersey the Meadowlands runs Thoroughbreds from September to November and runs standardbreds the rest of the year.

Rachelle
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Friday, Apr 17, 2009 - 9:17 am:

Though I don't ride standardbreds myself I have participated in a club that rehabilitates, retrains and places them in good homes when they have failed to succeed in racing.

They are being very successfully used for trail riding, dressage and other purposes.
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