Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Isn't he just gorgeous? With a little more impulsion from behind to round his back and bring his poll up a little he'd be in a dressage frame lol. All by himself. :) He's going to be so much fun to ride when he's all grown up.

Date: 8-19-10
Age: 15 months
Height: He is now 14.1 (plus half an inch), so with a half inch more growth he'll no longer be pony sized lol! -- Ponies are under 14.2 hands and horses are over. :)
Height Gain: Almost three quarters of an inch.
Weight: Approx 675lbs (294.8kg)
Weight Gain: About twenty five pounds.
Progress: Up until this stunt yesterday Chrome was doing great (still is so far, but I worry). He is loving having the lease land to graze and explore on. I haven't really worked on anything because of the heat, but in our daily handling he's doing fantastic. He's also being a really good boy about us picking up his feet to check for heat. :) Also as a little side note: Zep is doing so fantastic. He now lets me pet him on the face, cheeks and ears all I want. I just have to be careful how I approach him and not turn to look at him directly. :)
Goals: My goal for right now is to keep them both healthy after what happened last night. After that I don't know. Probably more hiding from the heat. Can you believe it's 99F and it feels like a cold front has come through? That's how hot it's been. I can't wait for autumn so I can start working with them again. :)

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Date: 7-19-10
Age: 14 months
Height: Just shy of 14.1hh (a little over 4ft 8in/56.7in/144cm/1.44m)
Height Gain: Almost three quarters of an inch.
Weight: Approx 650lbs (294.8kg)
Weight Gain: About thirty pounds. Can you tell I increased his feed?
Progress: Chrome is doing great. He's on free choice hay and I ran out of beet pulp so I haven't been feeding it anymore. He's gained weight and looks great. I've taken him for a few walks and he's done fabulous. I've also loaded him on the trailer a few times and he did good. I haven't really worked on anything else. Oh wait! I did fly spray him while he was eating without having to put a halter on him! :D
Goals: My goal for this month is to start introducing him to things like saddle blankets, plastic bags, etc. The crazy thing is he does most of his de-spooking by himself!! Check out the hard work (I took pictures and he played hard) we did with a box yesterday below . . .

He completely destroyed the cardboard box. And thoroughly enjoyed it lol.

Here he dropped it and then walked through it. He actually put two hooves in it. I just missed the perfect shot. Learning to walk over unfamiliar objects and surfaces is a great lesson! Good thinking Chrome! ;)

Stuffing your face in a box is not something I would have thought of. :)

Even Zep got in on the action.

Zeppelin showing off his pretty neck action too. :)

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Sorry I didn't get a new picture. This is from yesterday.

Date: 6-19-10
Age: 13 months
Height: 14hh (4ft 8in/56in/142cm/1.4224m)
Height Gain: Half an inch.
Weight: Approx 620lbs (281.2kg)
Weight Gain: I'm beginning to think weight tapes just aren't very accurate for growing horses. I doubt very much that his weight hasn't changed. Weight tapes just don't really take into account the horse's height, bone size and growth. Chrome is in a narrow bodied, long legged stage so that's probably why it's saying he hasn't gained any weight. I don't care though because he looks good to me. :)
Progress: I'm now feeding Chrome beet pulp with his Safechoice and I saw a difference almost immediately. He's still getting a little over half a square bale of hay a day, but we've finally found a source of good quality round bales so soon he'll have free choice grass hay which will make him happy. He's gotten to where he's stretching his giraffe neck up to eat oak leaves out of the trees!! I know oak can be bad for horses so we're going to trim the lower limbs and I'm sure he'll stop when he has a round bale to munch on twenty four, seven. Other than that he's doing great. I didn't do anymore walking, clicker training or hoof work. Bad me. Between the heat index of 107F every day and my work schedule I just haven't felt like doing anything. I did hose him off though.
Goals: My goal for this month is to start walking him again and to keep working on hosing him off and fly spraying him. I forgot to mention that I fly sprayed him the other day while he was eating . . . without a halter!!! I'm not going to give myself anything else to work on for now until it cools off some. It's miserable. We haven't had rain in weeks and the tiny bit we got today just evaporated.