the slowest of slow marches

Charlie lives at a barn notable for being located actually within the grounds of a small private high school. This makes for a slightly unusual barn atmosphere - but in a surprisingly good way. It's basically just overrun by a bunch of friendly high school girls who love horses. And Charlie loves it when they fawn all over him haha.

hope you're not tired of this view yet

Anyway, naturally the high school also has an IEA team (Interscholastic Equestrian Association, the HS version of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association) and I volunteered at their Regionals show this past weekend, held at another local school McDonogh's on-campus facility.

i was strangely enamored of these lovely (if a bit beat up) wooden saddle racks and bridle hooks. they look like they'd take up way too much space to be practical... but i still like 'em!

My assignment was to hold down the fort in the barn area - ensuring that all the horses got out in time for their respective classes. Not particularly consuming, since each horse had its own handlers for tacking and such anyway. I literally just needed to make sure nobody was in the barn who should have been in the ring.

so pretty!!! but see the spikes lining the tops of the barn walls? no birdies allowed to perch here!

It meant, tho, that I was stuck inside the barn, putzing around for hours. But what a pretty barn! And of course the regular rhythms and lessons and comings and goings of the barn's residents wasn't infringed upon at all by the IEA show, so I also got to watch a seemingly unending stream of big fat gorgeous hunter jumper horses parade through the barn on their way hither and thither.

so many chubby ponies!!! also i was surprised to find myself looking at this cross rail division and feeling like Charlie's probably just about ready for something like this!! exciting!

Sure, very few (if any) looked much like TBs - it seemed like mostly warmbloods or ponies - but I was struck by just how.... fleshy and full bodied and ... healthy they all looked. And not in a 'fat' or 'obese' kinda way either (tho certainly some of them pushed that boundary a bit).

srsly tho. the grounds were so lovely, with all sorts of pretty little areas inside and out

It made me realize that I've become so accustomed to Charlie's thinness, his long skinny neck, his ribs, and his angular hind end, that I've kinda forgotten that it's not necessarily a good thing.

temporary stalls set up in what appeared to be a small schooling ring

Of course it's not necessarily a bad thing either... Charlie's 6 months out from his last race. And I've written before that he never really "crashed" post-track. Which is true. But he also hasn't really rebounded yet either. For a while he was very week-to-week with his weight. Losing and adding muscle in spurts. Lately tho we seemed to have plateaued. He's not really thriving.

in my mind, this is the quintessentially Maryland country view

And again it's not a bad thing (gotta keep writing that lest the internet world things I'm panicking about a skinny ottb lol). It's just a long slow process. And I've found that, much like how I have slowly become somewhat inured to Charlie's lanky, bony appearance, so have the folks responsible for managing the overall barn care.

more spikes!! and stalls of various ages, as apparently renovations are underwritten by private philanthropy

So when I got back from the show, feeling like Charlie would have stuck out like a sore thumb among all those glossy plump well-upholstered hunters, and asked that we add a lunch to Charlie's diet.... I was met with some push back. Frustrating.

Luckily a vet happened to be around for annual check-ups and vax appointments and gave Charlie a quick physical and nutritional assessment. Her thoughts? "Yea I can see why you think he's skinny." lol...

ahh, there's our familiar hero!

He's a big guy tho, and after discussing his current volume of grain, hay, and supplemental forage (alfalfa and beat pulp pellets), we decided to first switch to a different base feed that has more bang for the proverbial buck. This leaves the option of adding more volume later as needed.

Naturally, since I'm a bit like a wildly swinging pendulum and once I see that something is a problem I want to DO ALL THE THINGS to address that problem.... Naturally I also want to start adding all other kinds of supplements to his diet like oils or other fats or weight or muscle builders and what have you (not adding ulcer treatments here bc we already did that).

current state. leaves a bit to be desired.

For now, tho, I am resisting that temptation. Simply for the purpose of continuing to make small, incremental changes. We'll see how he does with the transition in base feeds. Then maybe we'll add a third meal. Then perhaps I'll look into some of those various top dressings that ppl swear by.... And in the meantime, hopefully the spring grass will be coming up too and maybe suddenly my shaggy bony little caterpillar will metamorphose into a glossy sleek and stout butterfly.

Ah horses. They're never really great at satisfying that need for instant gratification, huh. lol.... Oh well. At least we're moving in the right direction.

This whole 'advocating for my horse' thing is kinda new for me since I've never owned before. It surprises me too. As someone who has been staff in many barns for many years, I always just... ya know... did the thing the owner asked me to do. So now I'm in this new position of authority, and have to remind myself that it's ok to say, 'Actually yea, I'm asking you to do this thing bc I want it done, not bc I want your opinion on it.'

Have you had to have similar conversations with the folks responsible for your horse's day to day care? How has that worked out for you?