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Getting Roxy Tired | Part 4

This is where we rocked and rolled with uphill sprints, after the second long ride.
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Today I’m going to talk about Roxy and her health 2 and a half years after setting off from Canada.

 

I gave Roxy a nickname back then, in the years before I left for Guatemala:
Cocaine…
She was the devil, fun and dangerous, always wanting to go hard.
Hard trotting, cantering and galloping was her thing.

The first long ride from Canada to Guatemala mellowed her out and got her tired, especially from after day she fell in the mountains in Sept 2018.
On top of that, Guatemala in general was quite hard on her. The hay quality was so bad I had to supplement heavily with feed. And I don’t like to do that.

The second ride from Guatemala to Queretaro, I could tell she wasn’t as strong as the first one. We did way less miles per day, and I made a point to not give much feed, as I didn’t like how it affects her feet and belly.

Now, we are at 4 months after our second long ride, and Roxy has been on an alfalfa and other diet for 6 months now, ever since we left the dreaded heat of Veracruz behind in the summer of 2019.

https://www.facebook.com/5000milesofhope/videos/194500091651201/

 

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Alfalfa combined with another hay/ material is the MAGIC combo for Roxy.
Roxy currently is being fed alfalfa bales and corn chaff bales, half and half. Both are very popular in Mexico.

He energy levels, coat, feet, and attitude are all tops. No salt, no extra feed, just these two simple items. I recommend.

Roxy is never again going to be the wild beast she was before September 2017. But she is giving it hard on the rides these days and every ride is kicking the gallop harder and longer. Like pretty much always, I don’t push her, I let her set the pace.

It makes me so happy to see her shake her head downwards before she starts giving a rip. It’s obvious she’s having a good time. She gives little bucks sometimes as she starts to canter hard, I think to see if I’m paying attention. I laugh.

We go on short rides thru semi desert with lots of rocks, all barefoot. About 5kms away, there is a private dirt road that goes uphill for about 1 km. We do trot/gallop intervals up it every so often. And, every week or so I take her to the smooth back roads where she just kills it. Her favourite terrain has always been smooth pavement. She’s a Morgan through and through -she’s got a life as a buggy horse ahead of her let me tell you.

Occasionally, we do longer rides with local horse riders. But they go way too slow for the both of us, their rides are mostly walking pace social time.Maybe we will do those rides when Roxy is 25 and I’m 60…

But for now I’m quite content with how she wants to give it a little bit more each time we go out.

It’s hard to believe how much she went through in the last few years and that she still goes harder than pretty much all of the local quarter horses..
My goal to enjoy her company many many years is coming true…

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So I will end this with my wish for you.

May you trails be smooth and your grass always green.

Getting Roxy Tired | Part 4

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