Wow it has been a bit since I posted. I had almost given up on getting him to put on weight and was weighing the option of putting him down. He just would not put on a bunch of weight consistently. When he did gain he would lose at least half of that. I decided to go one last ditch effort and change his feed. I had narrowed it down to either Safe Choice by Nutrena or Strategy by Purina. I decided on the Safe choice due to the easier access. This was April the first. Of course we also had spring coming in and the lovely rich grass. In the first week on the Safe Choice he gained 35 pounds. And it STAYED on him. In the Second week he had shot up almost 60 pounds. In the third week he had hit 100 pounds of gain. And he just kept gaining. In May the grass was gone but I had found a wonderful hay dealer. Lone-star Alfalfa of the Texas Panhandle. Their hay is extremely nice and great people to buy from. Between the great feed he was keeping on him and they great hay we were on a roll. Now he has gained about 350 pounds and I have started riding him lightly. He is a great little horse with a great heart. And if all goes well we will have many many updates on him as the years come and go.

Finally made it.

Little Video I made for Chance. The music is Broken wings by Mr. Mister and produced by Sony records.

Spring? Maybe? We can hope right?

It has been a bit since I last posted. Seems I had good intentions of keeping a weekly blog of chance. But I just have not had time. Chance has been putting on weight like crazy for the last few weeks. He went from 628 to 750 in just weeks. He seems to be holding at 750 now but we will probably get more gain as it warms up. His good buddy Diego even lost some weight this last winter. The only thing I can figure is the extreme cold. But he will beef back up with work and warm weather. Chance still has a long way to go but I figure another 150 or so he will start to look like the horse we all know he is. Here are a few pics and one from when I first got him for reference. He is a bit scruffy with his long winter coat and love of rolling in any wet spot he can find. Including pee spots.





His buddy Diego who is my Heart Horse is very opinionated and a total spoiled Diva Brat but he wouldn't be Diego any other way.

By God Think We have it now.

Well we finally decided to can the professional advise and go with what I know best. Over the winter Chance has had some major set backs. Something or other would not agree with him, the dormant worm load, or maybe I just wasn't feeding him enough. In any case its been a slow road. I looked at his taping records and found in Oct he was not 600 like I remembered but 500. So I looked and found that he went from 500 to 650 in little under a month. Then he started dropping again. This is about the time winter hit really bad here. This month I decided to ignore all professional advise and add cracked corn to his feed. In the beginning of this new diet change I taped him at 628 pounds. This was about the 10th or so of Feb. Yesterday I taped him at a straight up 700 pounds. Now we have had some pretty nasty weather since this change so he is holding and gaining. Here are the updated pics. He still looks bad but I think in a couple more months he will be back to normal. barring any set backs.

Slow And steady wins the race

Or that's what they have always told me. If so then we are going to be champions. It has been a yo yo effect since winter hit. We gain 50 pounds lose 30, gain 30 lose 20. Even when under blankets the winter has been harsh for this poor guy. He is gaining though so that's a plus. Got a new camera so now we can get some better shots. Now remember I am learning this camera and do not want to edit the pictures in any way. You can see he is slowly filling up from the bottom to the top. The kids say he has horsey boobs. Also known as fat build up in his chest. Really the only way to get pictures of him is to feed him or tie him up lol. He wants to be in your pocket when your out there.

Winter is Here

I know it has been awhile since I last posted but it has been hectic with the holidays. We had some minor set backs with his weight gain but I think we are back at it. He still looks pretty bad but you can really see it in his legs of all places. He is the most loving horse wants to please you in what ever you ask. In the last couple days we have had the sole use of the back pasture. Which is a really nice thing for the boys. They can run and play and be horses. Not that Chance goes faster than a slow walk. That is unless Diego takes off. Which is rare. I was unable to get pictures but found my old video camera and got some video of them. It is not the best but all I have lol. We have had some issues with him trying to walk in the shed with me while feeding. But like all other things he will learn he can not do this. Here are his video's. The appy in the video's is my heart horse Diego.

Learning some basics

Well its been 2 weeks since I last posted. Between being sick and having to make an emergency run to Austin to get my grandson on the second of this month it has been hectic. I should just name my home Diana's home for wayward kids and horses. Anyway you don't come here to read about my house problems.

Chance has gained about 148 pounds in 5 weeks. Now we are not gorging him on it but hes gaining fast. He is also learning to back from the ground and is doing pretty good on that. He fights you till he knows what you want then its smooth sailing from there. He has been working on the lunge line, and round pen for about a week or so now. And hes gaining muscle mass fast. Which concerned me when I taped him. Apparently when you take a starving horse let him gain 140 or so pounds put him to light work they gain muscle faster than belly and any belly they start to lose. Which throws off your tape. Vet assures me this is fine. His hair coat is still nasty but that will come with weight. If he so much as bumps himself he loses HUGE patched of hair. But again that will fix itself as he puts on weight. Anyway I know you have all been waiting on some pictures. Now keep in mind the only way to get pictures of him free is to feed him.