Happy Birthday Chrome!! - Monthly Progress Report

Today was Chrome's first birthday! I had big plans to make him a tiny cake made out of sweet feed with a single candle in the middle, but after work and chores I ran out of time. Oh well. :( Anyway here is his progress report.

Date: 5-19-10

Age: 12 months

Height: 13.3½ (55½in/140cm)

Height Gain: Somewhere around 7/16ths of an inch.

Weight: Approx 620lbs (281.2kg)

Weight Gain: Wow . . . could he really have not gained any weight? He is a bit thin but I wouldn’t have thought he was that thin. He doesn’t look too thin, his ribs just show a bit when he’s moving. I’m definitely going to start feeding him beet pulp to increase his roughage intake and give him some more protein, but not too much. Balancing a young horse’s growth is difficult!

Progress: Chrome hasn’t shown any heat or discomfort in his joints anymore, so I must be doing something right, but I would like to get a little more weight back on him. I just don’t want to increase his feed too much. I might try adding alfalfa hay or maybe I’ll just do rice bran. That’s what his breeder had him on and he did really well on it. He’s doing fantastic with his clicker training! I’m so proud of him. He’s so smart!

Goals: My goal for this month is to continue clicker training and also to slowly add beet pulp to his diet. Hay has been very scarce in my area lately so he’s not getting as much roughage as I’d like him to have. I’m just glad our grass is growing so well so that he can spend some time each day grazing. I would also like to walk him on the roads some more (I never did get around to it this past month), give him his first bath and also trim his hooves for the first time. They’re getting a little long. I hope I can achieve that much in one month lol!

Anyway here are the rest of the picture. The first few are of him grazing in the other paddock.

I think the Friesian is showing through in these two pictures (above and below).

And some of him eating breakfast.

"Mom, why are you hovering around me with the flashy box?"

Took his halter off. The one he's wearing in the pictures above is the one that belonged to Lady, my Appaloosa growing up. It's a bit worn, but still a good halter.

I love the expression on his face in this one.

Making a pass by check for any last crumbs.

And then he looks all Arabian again lol.

Love this picture!

I love his expression in this picture. That expression is soooo CHROME! I wish I knew what he was thinking. :)

Always gotta get me a neck shot. He's starting to get a crest. I'm gonna miss the stallion characteristics when we geld him in the fall, but I won't miss the attitude lol.

Happy birthday cutie pie!