Adventures of Sweet Feed. Or...how to make a horse completely pyschotic.

I have never really fed much sweet feed, to any of my horses. Mostly it was Senior Feed, and for a while I did feed OatMo, which I suppose you can consider a sweet feed since it's just oat-hay chopped up with molasses. So, I never really thought much of sweet feed either way, to be honest.

I came upon a coupon for $20 off two bags of Omolene. Any kind of Omolene, but I choose the 200 because it's for performance horses. What could be considered Performance more than Endurance?? Sounded good to me, and it was a great coupon. $21 for two fifty pounds bags of feed. Score!

So, get home and look at the back of the bag. For horses being conditioned, it said something like...seven pounds a day. WHAT? That is excessive to me, and Kandee wasn't completely back into training again so I decided on 3 pounds a day. So, she got her rice bran, flax, Omolene and Alfalfa twice a day.

Fast forward less than a week later [probably about three days at the most]. I have most of the afternoon off, don't have to be into work until 5, and it's absolutely gorgeous out. Sun is up, not too hot, not too cold. Perfect day for riding! Perfect day to start Kandee back up on an easy ride.

My horse is a monster.

Tacking her up, I should have known something was up because she was prancing in place, tossing her head and being just a jerk to work with. I made her flex to the left and right before I got on, because she didn't want to stand still, then I kept her flexed to my saddle while I got on.

Now, horses aren't supposed to really be able to move out/bolt/rear when you have them checked by the bridle. Well...you tell her that. I got my leg over her and she was GONE. She reared [what the hell is UP with that??], then took off. I was not impressed, and I immediately knew what the culprit was. I managed to get her under control, kind of. She was barely manageable, and felt like she was going to absolutely explode underneath me. She had so much energy, she had no idea what to do. Talk about one hot horse, I had no brains with me at all, she was just pure explosiveness.

Now, I don't like that feeling in a horse...not at all. What control I had was a complete facade, merely existing because there was a bit in her mouth and a rider on her back. If she really had wanted to do something, she would have done it and I would have had no say over it.

It took about four miles for her to cool her heels, and then she settled into the most beautiful canter I think she's ever given me. Barely touched the reins, sat back a bit and she stopped on a dime. Hrmm...nice to finally have a horse underneath me instead of a freight train!

The only thing new was the Omolene 200, which I will never be buying again once these bags are finished. I've dropped her to 2lbs a day, and she seems to have adjusted well to that amount.

However, it's been raining for four days now, with no plans of stopping in the next few days.

....Psycho Horse Take 2? We shall see.