Starlight Eskimilo

Full Name - Starlight Eskimilo
Stable Name - Milo
Born - 1998
Height - 15hh
Colour - Grey
Breed -  3/4 Thoroughbred 1/4 welsh
Part of the family - Aug 01 - RIP March 16

Milo was the horse that really taught me the way with horses.  I spotted him as a rising three-year-old and I fell in love with him instantly.  I was over the moon to find he was up for sale but when I introduce him to my mum and he decided to rear over the stable door and her words were 'you're not getting that monster'.  However the following week he was in my stable, which I spent all my time sitting on the stable door which kept him calm and really helped us begin a bond.  

I owned Milo for 15 years until I sadly lost him due to melanomas.  In those 15 years, I wanted to sell him many times but deep down I wouldn't even sell him for a million.  He followed me around like a dog, we had an amazing bond and although he was super quirky and not at all the easiest of rides we had a lot of fun over the years.  He had thrown pretty much everything at me, his party tricks where bunny hops, leaping off his back legs to knock me off balance and gallop off at fences.  He was very spooky and I had to sit many speedy spins around when he was really full of it.   

I wanted to event but Milo was a wimp at cross country fences until he was older, by then I was very into my show jumping and he took me around my first affiliated BSJA.  He had to slow down in his early teens due to arthritis in his hocks.  After that, we just hacked and enjoyed a slower life with him.  He was fully retired for a year before I had to say goodbye. 

Horse of a lifetime. 

Cyderwyth Bilbo Baggins

Full Name - Cyderwyth Bilbo Baggins
Stable Name - Bow
Born - 1999
Height - 11.2hh
Colour - Grey
Breed - Welsh A 
Part of the family - Nov 00 - Summer 02

Bow was my first pony and he taught me that not all horses were as straight forward as the riding school ponies I had learnt how to ride on.  He was a 2-year-old Welsh A that had been allowed to walk all over his previous owner.  The first week I had him he pinned me in the corner of his stable and tried to double-barrel me as he was protective over his feed!  However, me being stubborn I worked hard and eventually got him happy with me sitting next to him as he ate.   He still had coltish tendencies which also included him nipping at me and rearing as I would bring him in from the field.  Being on the yard he had previously been on I found being young everyone tried interfering and I wasn't getting anywhere with him.  Moving yard was the best thing I did with him, I brought him on to be a lovely little riding pony who went out on loan and eventually sold to a nine-year-old novice.  

Review - Betta Life - PharmaTRAC Total Digestive Support

I was lucky enough to win this tub of BETTA Life PharmaTRAC Total Digestive Support, now usually I'm in a rush to try anything that will help digestion for Silk but with her living out she's not at all stressy and not having any issues so it's been sitting waiting to get use. Having tried a million and one supplements for her I was beginning to think nothing would every do the trick...

However Lady arrived a month ago having lived out for months and naturally finding a whole new person & environment stressful I figured it wouldn't hurt to give this a try when her droppings where super loose. Within a couple of days her droppings were back to normal consistency. I also noticed that when I changed her from hay to haylege that there was no change in her droppings which usually I find horses always get loose with this change - so that was a bonus! I kept her on the supplement as I found her coat was horrendous and figured it may help get her skin sorted from the inside out and a month on there's a massive difference!

I'm over the moon with the results of this supplement, I've tried so many in the past and found they've not given me any noticeable results so a strong 10/10 given here. I'm very keen to try out their joint support for her now as she's super clicky.

*Big thumbs up!*

Review - Le Mieux Snug Boots

I have a long, long list of which 'breathable' boots that won't overheat the legs yet offer a good amount of support/protection. Finding something that fit's Silk's tiny thin Thoroughbred legs was also proving difficult.

I spotted these in my local tack shop a good few months ago and bought them as an impulse buy - expecting them to be another added to the list of disappointment!

How could I be so wrong! For the first surprise they actually fit Silk, not just a fit we get away with but actually fit so 'snug' as the name puts it. I took her out on a hack and was surprised to find her legs weren't warm at all when we got back.

Now those that have been following us a while will know Silk has a previous tendon injury from her racing days, so I'm super paranoid about her legs and I know them better than the back of my hand - but I still figured this must just be a fluke.

They have a flexible and breathable outer which also has a harder outer over the tendon giving excellent protection in the areas that matter most. They also have a fantastic quick release fasten which is super secure too.

The next time I tried these out I schooled Silk, naturally there was some warmth in her legs from working harder/faster but still nothing like they've been in any other boots.

I've since used these boots on Carlos when I had him, both in the school & hacking. And Lady has been lunged and schooled in them. Neither of them have ever had hot legs after taking them off (even with how thick Lady's coat is). They actually fit them both like a glove-like on Silk too! I have to say I'm absolutely over the moon.

These boots come in black and in white, they're super easy to keep clean but they also wash & dry well for those times they do get minging.

I'm tempted to buy some of these now for Lady in white for warming up in dressage competitions.

View Le Mieux Snug Boots online on the Horse Health.co.uk website - https://www.horsehealth.co.uk/horsewear/lemieux-boots/lemieux-snug-boot 

Review - The Stable Box

OK, I have to admit that this box made me feel like a little girl at Christmas all over again.  The sheer excitement of not knowing what is actually coming in the box but knowing it's horsey products already makes you love it!

So for those who have no idea what I'm talking about,  The Stable Box is a subscription box sent out monthly with at least 6 horse related products and also the latest Horse & Rider magazine.  This is a monthly subscription which can be cancelled at anytime.  It's generally £39.99 a month but you can prepay 3 or 6 months and get a little bit of a saving.

So on opening my box this month I found the theme is 'Summer Ready' which is perfect knowing Silk is due a good tidy up so there had to be something in the box to help me with that!

In the box there's 8 items altogether including the Horse & Rider Magazine, so already I can see I have my moneys worth!  The great thing about the box is I find I get to try things I wouldn't necessarily pick up at a tack shop, usually I have Evie with me when I go to get whatever I need for Silk,  so I just go to the same old stuff I know and love with little time to browse at anything.

So after pulling out my magazine,  the first item I came across was a Vanquish Unicorn Groomer!  I've spotted these around but I quite honestly wasn't sure about getting one as they seem a bit pricey and I had my trusty shedding blade.  These retail at £20 but when I read the instructions carefully I looked forward to trying it as it was also a sweat scraper and I don't know about you but I find my sweat scrapper the most annoying piece of grooming equipment in my box,  it seems to just hook onto things you want and is super annoying!  I also rarely use it so I pull it out the box then have to go hunting for it when I do actually need it.  So I will happily pull my original sweat scraper and shedding blade out my box and replace it with this funky green small two in one.

Next I pulled out a Lincoln rubber sponge curry comb, these are super handy at this time of year when bathing and trying to get rid of all that loose coat at the same time.  Just a quick flick of the wrist and you have the action of one or another.  This one retails at £2.50.

NAF OFF Citronella wrist band which retails at £4.99 was next out of the box.  I've had one of these before when they first came out but I can't remember if it worked so I will give it ago when out hacking this weekend.  It's meant to be lovely and warm so the flies will be out in full force!

I couldn't for the life of me work out what the next item was for,  it was a Lincoln Cactus cloth.  This retails at £5.50 and I have to say I would likely have just looked past this at a shop but I think if it does what it says on the packet this will be a super item to have in my grooming box this summer!  Stating it's flexible natural fibre is tough yet softer than a brush and effective on both stable or grass stains plus stubborn sweat marks.  Looking forward to giving this a try on miss sensitive.

A well needed product was next,  the Lincoln Citronella spray with Aloe Vera.  With well known fly repelling properties also with added Aloe Vera to help condition and soothe the skin you just can't go wrong with this product.   There was also a HY fly fringe which is another super way to help stop the pesky flies irrigating our poor horses,  these seem to have gone out of fashion since the full mask took over but I find the full masks just get dumped in the field somewhere so I am looking forward to seeing if this is less annoying to Silk but will help still stop the flies irritating her so much over the summer months.  The citronella spray retails at £8.50 and the fly fringe at £5.95

Last in the box was Show Proof Glossifier with citronella and coconut.  Again yet another product with summer totally in mind.  The glossifier is to add a finishing sheen to your horse's coat,  with a quiet misting spray that has coconut oil in to condition and citronella to repel the flies!  This retails at £14.99,  which I honestly wouldn't pay just looking at this on the shelf so it will be interesting to see the results and see if it turns out to be one I pick up in the future!

A massive RRP price altogether of £66.63 for only £39.99 with the added excitement and surprise I really feel you can't go wrong with this subscription box.  Yes I do think there will be times you get stuff you already have or will be no use to you but it's not the end of the world and you can always pop them on Ebay 😁.

To order your own The Stable Box go to thestablebox.com/

Review - Honeychop Natural Choice Alfalfa

I jumped at the chance to try out a bag of Honeychop to review. I was dying to try out the Alfalfa version they have, having tried 'Lite & Healthy' with success but finding I couldn't get her to eat any straw based feed alone before exercise I needed to try something else. I had recently made the change in her feed to Alfalfa without any molasses and I was having success most days in getting her to eat this however there was some days where she would just pick the nuts out of her feed and leave the rest. I really needed to find a feed she would happily eat a full scoop of, I was finding it super annoying with not only money lost when she didn't like something but also finding it so frustrating as the lack of grass in the field meant she was dropping weight as it was and really needed to be eating her full feed.

Silk checking out her new feed

Honeychop Natural Choice Alfalfa, free from molasses, is a non-heating low sugar, slow release fibre feed blend with alfalfa, timothy grass and oat straw. Coated with linseed and rapeseed oil Natural Choice Alfalfa is perfect for fuelling work and promoting condition which is just what I need for Silky stuff. Then came an extra bonus that not only will she eat a full scoop of it, she will also eat it alone!!! (😅) 

So my mind is now at ease when she has her scoop before exercise to help prevent ulcers but then she will also happily eat another scoop with her full feed & supplements after work.

The only negative thing I have found for Honeychop for myself, not in the feed itself but my feed store supplier doesn't let them know when it's not in stock so I'd ordered a bag ready for running out, went to collect it and it hadn't come in. So I had to go back to my molasses free alfalfa temporarily until they got stock back in, this sent me straight back into seeing half buckets of feed eaten and had me worried to the point that I ended up buying her some small bales of haylege to get the fibre into her. So now I order well in advance to prevent this happening.

Overall - I absolutely LOVE this feed. Hands down it's then best I've found since having Silk and trust me - we've been through an awful lot of different feeds to find the right one for this picky, sensitive and hard to keep girl 🤣 - just as well I love her!

Find out more about Honeychop HERE

Review - Horseware Horse Pal Sensor

The lovely people over at Horseware sent me their new Horse Pal Sensor to try out.  I had been looking at a similar item so I was over the moon to try this!  Coming packed in a lovely little box but with very little instructions I spent a few minutes watching a video and I was ready to go and attach it to Silks rug.

The sensor syncs with the app when near the sensor,  sometimes it was hard to connect up at my yard but I did always managed to get the results transferred.  You can connect other people to the sensor so if your horse is on full livery they can sync up and you can read the results from home.

So the concept is to make you more aware of just how warm/cold your horse is under their rugs,  monitoring temperature and humidity.  Let's face it, so many of us horse owners over rug however myself I thought I was a bit tight with rugs but this little sensor proved me wrong!  After about a week of using the app I eventually managed to get within the right temperatures for Silk to be classed as comfortable.  I had been following the apps guide which advised rug weights as per the weather and it was only when I went lower than this that I found the right weight for her.

But seriously who would have known to put a Thoroughbred in an 100g rug at minus 2.5degrees!   I'd only been putting her 100g liner under her 100g rug which to me is just a medium weight and that's what was suggested.   Just comes to show that each horse is different!

A screenshot of the readings from the app

The sensor I believe is still not available from the shops but will be around £60 which I think is an affordable amount for such a great item.  I only found one major negative for the sensor and that is that mine is currently in a waterlogged field somewhere,  the fasten to the rug just isn't strong enough.  I used the advised way to fasten it to the rug which was through the rugs lining with the ring clip but Silk managed to loose it twice!  Luckily the first time was in her stable so I managed to find it again but the second time being in the field it's long gone.  :(

Horseware Website