The Grassroots Eventer

25/07/2025

🏆 Team USA 🌟

23/07/2025

Round bales can be convenient, cost effective, and a great alternative to feeding small square bales multiple times Perdana to pasture kept horses. Be prepared with a feeding plan for your horses before winter comes!

As many horse owners start the process of planning out their fall and winter hay supply, many may be considering purchasing round bales for their equine companions due to cost-effectiveness and greater convenience for feeding pastured animals. However, it's important to remember that there are a few things to consider when choosing between square or round bales.

• Are you equipped/prepared to store your hay correctly?
Improperly stored round bales can lose much of their nutritional value and are also more susceptible to mold, dust, and bacteria growth, which can cause respiratory issues and even colic.

• Are your horses protected from botulism?
Round bales provide an optimum environment for the development of the botulism toxin. This toxin is produced when "Clostridium botulinum" is exposed to the right environmental conditions — such as when forage materials are baled and stored while still damp, or when they include the carcasses of dead animals, like birds and mice.

Prevention of this disease through vaccination is critical, especially in areas where the condition is prevalent (such as Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, and Tennessee).

• Are round bales a good choice for your horse?
Horses prone to respiratory conditions usually have increased problems with round bales due to their higher dust content.

• Do you have a feeder to place your round bales in?
Round bales not placed in a feeder can create more waste, which means your horses may not be meeting their nutritional requirements.

• Can you secure high-quality round bales?
Not all hay is created equal. Be sure to choose high-quality hay to meet your horse's nutritional needs and minimize the risk of impaction colic, which increases with lower-quality, less digestible forage.

As always, your equine veterinarian remains your best source of information and advice—consult your horse doctor on best practices when feeding hay this fall and winter!

For more information on botulism, visit our website at: https://aaep.org/resource/botulism/

22/07/2025

It's Quick Tip Tuesday!

Let's talk vitals 🩺

The next time your vet 🥼 is giving your horse a check up, have them show you how to check your horses vitals. This is critical information in an emergency, and can help you determine if there is in fact an emergency. 🚑

Knowing what your horse's baseline TPR (temperature, pulse rate, and respiration rate) is, and checking it weekly, can be an early warning to an emergency.

There are other things that you can examine to determine your horse's state of health. Checking for capillary refill, hydration levels, and the size, shape and consistency of their manure can tell a veterinarian so much about the horse's health.

So ask for instruction on what information to collect, and how to collect it!

20/07/2025

Look at what the humidity did to my dressage saddle! 😳

19/07/2025

The humidity is 95% here in Kentucky! All I have done is make the horses breakfast, fill up a few water buckets, and bring two horses in... I am drowned in sweat, like I spent an hour in a sauna 🥵

I feel bad for the horses and risers at the Summer Horse Trials today!

How's the weather at your farm today?

18/07/2025

Are any of our friends competing or spectacting at the Kentucky Summer Horse Trials this weekend?

July 18-20, 2025   Filling a July weekend on the eventer’s calendar, the Kentucky Summer Horse Trials (a USEF competition) will offer Starter through Intermediate level . Formerly Champagne Run Horse […]

17/07/2025

Look at us grow! 📈

Thank you to all who were kind enough to show us love and like the page 🥰💜

If you head over to our website and subscribe, you will get exclusive access to our newsletter, The Gallop. Best of all, it is FREE!

The newsletter has an inspiring quote, a fun fact, a link to the most recent blog post, and something competition or training related 📧

Click the link to go to the website and subscribe now

Where growth begins and learning never ends...

16/07/2025

Courtesy of Dana's Doodles💜

15/07/2025

It is National Love Your Horse Day! (I kind of thought that was everyday, but I digress!)

Make sure to show some extra love to your horses today 😍🥕🍎

15/07/2025

Check out our latest blog post!

www.grassrootseventer.com