b"FEED the NEED FROM THE BACK OF THE BOXBy John SamsillFor all your team roping questions or to set up a lesson or a clinic contact me directly at johnsamsillteamroping@gmail.comA s ropers, we work onfew steers? Horses are athletes and should be treated our roping, a lot. We goas such. Horses that are in good athletic shape will to roping schools, wenot fatigue easily, assuring that there is not a drop watch videos and of course,in performance during the roping. Horses in good we rope our roping dummiesshape will run faster, stop harder, and pull better than of every kind. We seem tohorses that are out of shape. When horses muscles obsess over our roping. While all this is great and isand tendons fatigue it makes them much more prone what we should be doing, I think many of us forgetto injury so a horse that is in good shape is far lesswant our horses to look good and have the nutrition about our four-legged partners, our horses. As ropers,apt to sustain an injury. Another advantage of a horseto support their athletic performance, but you may we buy and ride the best horses we can. But are webeing in good physical shape is that they do notwant to run your feeding program by your vet and doing everything we can to give our horses everyusually have a high amount of nervous energy. Theyhave them evaluate your horse's diet to make sure you advantage? I would like to go over some of the thingsdo not dread working and running steers because itarent over supplementing them. that we can do to help our horses perform to the bestis easier for them thus usually making them better in of their capabilities. Remember we cannot turn anthe box. This goes for head and heel horses. Something that most ropers are aware of is saddle average horse into a great horse but its easy enoughfit. Yet most of us cannot really tell if our saddles fit to turn a great horse into an average horse. There isDoes your horse have access to plenty of water?or not or why they may or may not fit. Since being no priority of importance as they are all important inWhen a horse is stalled, they usually have all theinvolved with Usher Brand Saddlery I have learned maintaining your horses athletic performance.water they want but when we are at a roping all day,a lot about saddle fit. There are a lot of good saddles we sometimes forget about our horses being thirsty.on the market today so make sure that your saddle The first thing we can do for our horses is properRemember they are doing all the running and hardfits your horse. An ill-fitted saddle can cause many shoeing. A performance horse should be shod everywork so they will get thirsty during the day. Bringproblems with your horse, some are physical, and six weeks by a qualified farrier. Good shoeing donea bucket to water them with and make sure thatsome are behavioral, both are bad. This leads us to on a regular six-week cycle will maintain a well- they have plenty of water during the day. Horses getthe subject of saddle pads. You should have a saddle balanced healthy foot on your horse. There is andehydrated just like humans and most of us know wethat fits your horse and then buy a good pad that adage that says, no foot, no horse. In the long run, acan not perform our best when we get dehydrateddoes not interfere with that fit. I see too many people good farrier will save you on vet bills and downtimeand our muscles will cramp up. The same is true ofover padding their horses trying to make up for an with your horse. My belief is that good farriers do notour equine partners.ill-fitting saddle. cost us money, they save us money. A good farrier can also detect subtle changes in your horse that couldAre you feeding good quality hay? What we feed ourThese are just some of the things we can do to help be an early sign of lameness or other problems thathorses is so important for the overall health of ourour equine partners perform to the best of their when brought to our attention, can head off futurehorses. Many of us feed supplements these days. Onlyabilities. The bottom line is that when our horses problems.No other professional in the equine worldfeed what your horse needs, what I mean is do notperform better, so do we.So lets help them all we can sees our horses more than our farriers do so use theover supplement your horse. As an example, if yourand at the same time lengthen their careers.best one you can. horse has an overabundance of selenium it will cause selenium poisoning and it will destroy your horsesUntil next time, Ill see you at the back of the box.Is your horse in good shape? I do not mean is he fat orfeet. Horses that are over supplemented will more FINALLY, LOW SUGAR FORAGE! slicked off. I mean is he in good athletic shape. How isthan likely have an excess of energy which usuallyThank you to my sponsors, Usher Brand Silver and his or her muscle tone? Is your horse in good enoughturns into nervous energy. When they have all thatSaddlery, SaddleRight Saddle Pads, Omega Fields shape so that they are not fatigued after running just anervous energy they do not perform as well. WeFeeds, and Hassayampa Veterinary Services.Key Product Benefits:Low Sugar/High Fiber ForageAll-Natural Alternative for Horses with IR,Cushings Disease or Tying-Up SyndromeGreat for Overweight Animals NewPRODUCTVisit standleeforage.com to learn more.Proud sponsor of:ArizonaRealCountry.com June 2020 7"