I'll admit it, I've been a bit lazy. Well ok, not exactly lazy. I have been doing my chores, however Cookie & I haven't been working together. The last of her visitors left late last night, so she won't be getting daily treats & now that we're in the New Year with no more "holidays" to get in the way it's time to get back to work, weather permitting of course. I'm teaching Cookie it's alright to cut up & let her mane down a little bit. It's good for the heart, lungs, feet & overall health. So we ran, trotted, bucked, farted & snorted around in the paddock for a few minutes. If we don't get a walk in & it's not soupy with mud I think running amuck is a wonderful thing. She is learning to watch where her feet go & I'm getting in much needed exercise. 

Even though we're in the heart of winter, I can tell Cookie has put on a few holiday pounds. She's not overly fat, in fact, she looks great compared to when she first got here. She was "hippy" & a little ribby. Now she has a nice fat layer, a sheen to her furry coat & a much better attitude. I'm going to tape weigh her this afternoon to get an idea of where she's at & adjust feeding if necessary. I have hung 4 hay nets this morning to guage how long it takes her to go through them. It is pretty close to her usual ration & I'm curious to see if she cleans up what falls through. 2 of the hay nets are slow feeders 1 I would say is a medium & 1 takes her less than 5 minutes to go through. I took 2 cheap hay nets & re-tied them to make a slow feed. They originally had very large holes & I knew she would empty them in no time. I have taken into consideration that she needed more chewing time because she seemed hungry all the time. I'll see how these work when I go out to give her lunch. She eats roughly 4-5 small meals each day to help avoid winter colic problems. So far, so good. 

Here's hoping each & everyone have a superb New Year & May God Bless all your horses to be happy & healthy!