Does Your Horse Over Reach?

In the Tictac Equestrian office today, we have been chatting about how some of our horses overreach and what we do to prevent it. Overreaching is a very irritating problem that can cause serious injury to a horse and also cost us all a small fortune in shoes!

For anybody who doesn’t know what overreaching is, it’s when a horse reaches its back foot too far forward and clips the back of the front foot.  Some of the main reasons that cause overreaching are fatigue, poor conformation, lack of balance, poor muscle tone, poor shoeing (loose shoes) or overgrown hooves.

My horse and Lauren’s horse both overreach quite regularly, so we both invested in a pair of Mark Todd Competition Overreach Boots. They are a top quality boot made from neoprene, covered with a tough tear resistant outer. They have a little bulb on the inside which stops the boot spinning around like other cheaper rubber bell boots. I would highly recommend them to anybody looking for a pair as they are definitely well worth the money at £18.99! You can read more about or purchase these boots online on our Tictac Equestrian website. You will also receive a free gift for your horse with every order J

If you have any questions you would like to ask our team or if you have any advice for our customers, we would love to hear from you on our Facebook or Twitter.

Rachael's Corner: “Look beyond Wealth and You May Just Find a Gem”

In the Tictac Equestrian office today we have been chatting about a post that we saw on Facebook that we thought would be nice to share with all of our customers. The post was by William Sheret, a British show jumper and trainer who we thought portrayed a very valid point with his post about how you don’t have to buy yourself success in the equestrian scene!

In his post, he writes about two little ponies that were both placed in the recent Pony of the Year Show in England. One of the ponies called Foxy Lady VI was bought from travellers for only £50! The other called Hole in One II was rescued from being sent for slaughter for not much more than that. He goes on to say that nobody should be moaning about how they cannot afford a horse to compete; “good horses are everywhere and money doesn’t always buy success!” He then praises their owners for rescuing them and “showing that a good eye and a little TLC can really pay off,” ending the post with “well done to the people involved with saving these ponies and giving them the chance to shine. You're a credit and an example to the sport” J

Do you agree with this great post? We think it is very true and a great motivator for people on a budget! I have personally known a lot of little horses bought for very little money giving horses bought for tens of thousands a run for their money! Do you have any views or stories you would like to share with our Tictac Equestrian team and our customers? We would love to hear from you J

Rachael’s Corner: Tasty Homemade Horse Treats

In the Tictac Equestrian office today, we have been looking at some interesting recipes to make your horse some yummy treats easily and with minimal cost!  One of the easiest ones that we found is called carrot and apple cake. Yum! J

You will need:

·         1 carrot

·         1 apple

·         1 cup of molasses

·         2 ½ cups of oats

·         2 tablespoons of oil

To start, preheat the oven to 300 degrees, grate the carrot and apple then mix with the oats, molasses and oil. Divide the mixture into bite size balls and place the mixture on a baking tray. Put the tray in your oven and bake for forty minutes until golden brown then cool for at least four hours in your fridge to make sure they’re nice and cool for your horse to munch.

There are lots of homemade horse treat recipes online to save you money and also give your horse something a little different from the norm. Most of them you can make with things that you just have in your house. A lot of them sound good enough to eat yourself J If you prefer to choose the easier option and buy your horse some treats, at www.tictacequestrian.co.uk we stock lots of treats, licks and stable toys to spoil your horse or pony from brands like Likit, Gold Label, Equiglo, Spillers, Uncle Jimmy’s, Pettifers and Stubbs.

Do you have any recipes you would like to share with our team and our customers? We would all love to hear from you.