DIY Equiband Pad

 If there's one thing my wife sullenly likes about my craft habit, it's that if I can make it myself rather than buy a brand product, I will try to do that. 

With that said... here's my DIY equiband.

I really liked the idea of the equiband for its resistance work and general proprioception cues it could give and definitely thought that Gwyn would benefit from having one.

The price tag? For some large clips, elastic, resistance bands and a saddle pad though? Yikes.

I know I have some saddle pads that I can play around with and I didn't need to go out and invent the wheel and make a pad from scratch. Equiband doesn't sell 'replacement parts' to someone who isn't already confirmed as a customer of the original product, probably precisely because of people like me.

Gray and Lavender smartpak saddle pad that I looked at and was concerned for my sewing machine. 

However, a UK seller on ebay has this glorious item. It's called a BungeeBand, and it's of the "Just add saddle pad" variety! And for a much easier to stomach cost. I would have totally DIY'd it but finding extra long resistance bands were difficult and I didn't want to spend THAT much time sourcing things and coordinating the clips and elastic.

It also wasn't clean so I laid it on a towel on my bed while positioning the pieces.

Ford loves things that smell like the barn. And he loves cuddling.

Sir, you are not helping right now.

However, my sewing machine is not heavy duty, and adding the extras onto the saddle pad I chose plus accessories were making me nervous with the thickness and my needle life. But I know I have other pads.

BNWT Letitia baby pad that's MUCH thinner. Ahhhh, now I'm not as concerned for my sewing machine.

I pinned everything in place as identically as I could. Sewing things onto pads is best done with a square/rectangle with a cross for extra strength and security.

I had some leftover nylon webbing that I didn't use for a halloween costume for Kaylee. Make sure you flame the ends with a lighter to seal the nylon so it doesn't fray.

This is how I attached it because it's meant to just be used with a surcingle or maybe on top of another pad if I use it with a saddle.

If I were making a saddle pad for longevity, I'd fold the webbing over and sew through both layers as demonstrated above.

Ta-Da, completed!

I tried it out on Gwyn on Sunday. The weather was WILD. Like cold front coming in violently with hail, rain, snow, freezing rain and WIND. Gwyn was a kite. I was going to ride... but didn't feel really pulled to ride. So we played with lunging.  Gwyn was really good. She offered me some really nice, balanced canter on her good side and I made sure to praise a correct canter transition and lead on her bad side. 

I took the elastics off and also had her do some trot poles and jumps. I really enjoyed myself, especially with not needing to worry about my safety with a horse who was definitely feeling good in the chilly, windy weather.

It worked really well! I'll work her up to adding more resistance with the bands and I like that even on my giant booty of a mare, I had adjustability. I probably would have preferred to make this with a larger saddle pad and maybe the belly band could be angled forward a smidge. But that's what seam rippers are for. 

More subdued after getting to run wild in the arena prior to grooming

"Mom... y u do dis?"

WTF is this weather!?

She worked hard so now she tries to elicit sympathy and cookies

I did stick her rain sheet on as a condolence prize before sending her back to her lunch hay.

DIY Thrush Balm Take 1

 A while ago I had joined Pete Ramey's (now altered) facebook group when I was trying to figure out what was going on with Gwyn's feet. He had his Pete's Goo recipe for thrush that I tried at the time (desitin and lotrimin) that really worked. He'd also come up with a few other recipes for different thrushbusters that I was interested in trying. 

Really, I want to try and make something similar to artimud that can be packed into the hoof and stick well. To that end, I bought some supplies and began to think of how I wanted to start formulating stuff. And in good scientist fashion, I documented for both repeatability and for adjusting things appropriately.

My initial thought was to create almost a bag balm product so I looked up DIY lip balm type recipes and proceeded from there.

Some jojoba oil and tea tree essential oil from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Beeswax pastilles also from MRH for the matrix

Zinc oxide for thrush and bacteria killing properties

Copper sulfate powder also for bacterial and fungicidal properties

Shea butter, also from MRH.  

I chose Mountain Rose Herbs because I trust them as a supplier for cosmetics. So if it's safe for a human face, it'll be safe for a hoof, imo.

Dedicated metal bowl and utensil so I'm not messing my food ones up.

And set up as a double boiler on the stove.

1 oz of beeswax pellets

1 oz of shea butter in the recommended 1:1 ratio of beeswax to shea butter

1 teaspoon/5ml/0.25 oz of copper sulfate (this was a guess)

1 teaspoon/5ml/.35oz of zinc oxide

I melted the beeswax and shea butter in the double boiler and added the copper sulfate and zinc oxide along with about 20 drops of tea tree oil and I think a tablespoon of jojoba oil.  The copper sulfate did not want to dissolve into this mixture but the zinc oxide homogenized fairly well. As a result, I don't feel like the copper is even distributed in what was poured and solidified.

I poured it into a small glass pyrex container with locking lid that I also bought specifically to hold this. 

When I tried it out at the barn, it was a cold day and I had to dig out the balm with a hoof pick and it didn't really mold into the hoof the way I wanted it to. I need it to be more malleable in colder temperatures, which means, I think that I need to change the ratio of shea butter to beeswax or add more jojoba oil. 

I also want to see if just finding some bentonite clay and making it with that will get me the consistency I'm looking for. But also, I'm trying to hold off judgement for the summer to see how ambient warmth changes how it's able to be applied. 

Metamora Wassailing Celebration

I think I've previously mentioned this, but I live just on the outskirts of a very horse-central town in Michigan. Their activities revolve around horses and it's like... magic for a horse crazy person like myself.

They have a Horse Celebration at the end of summer and have breed displays and draft pulls. There's a yearly barn tour of the fancy schmancy barns in the area. Pretty much the Metamora Hunt members are likely also the Metamora Chamber of Commerce members and so what they say goes and I'm totally okay with that. It's their thing.

A trail ride and a DIY Cordeo

I'm taking a break from editing my cross country photos to post this story and DIY guide.

DIY Camping Corral

Over labor day weekend I will be going to the White River Endurance ride. As I chose the cheapest campsites I won't have high line posts to use so I needed a good way to contain Gwyn in an open field.

Hence, this project! I followed another blogger's instructions but found them... lacking. They were not specific into the length of the poles they used and upon further inquiry, their numbers were way off.

I'll have a breakdown of everything I did, including cost. It did come out cheaper than purchasing a kit or buying panels from an online store. It's still not cheap however, so be prepared to spend a couple hundred dollars. But you can get this project done in a weekend, even with kids ;)  Additionally, it would definitely be cheaper to do an electric pen. So keep that in mind if you are pondering which containment method to pick. My highline kit was only $40, but I can't use it this trip.

The nitty gritty!

Materials list:

Quantity	Item Description	Cost per individual item	Total spent	Notes
21	1 1/4 inch PVC Conduit pipe 10 ft	$4.86	$102.06	Buy 10 or more, get the bulk price, save $11.34, original price was $5.40/pole
48	1 1/4 inch PVC Ts	$1.88	$90.24	No bulk discount, GRRRR
8	1 1/4 inch PVC cross	$3.26	$26.08
16	1 1/4 inch PVC elbow	$1.81	$28.96
2	PVC cement	$8	$16	You probably only need one if you don't spill it like me
2	Spray paint	$3.87	$7.74	Optional, I used leftover cans from a previous project so this was not a cost for me
1	Bag of zip ties	$9.88	$9.88	For holding the panels together, you can choose your method
4	Wrap it carabiner straps	$2.25	$9.00	I'm using these for transport in the trailer and for attaching to the trailer while camping
2	Bungee cord with toggle balls (8pack)	$5.98	$11.96	Also for holding panels together
8	Step in t posts	$1.99	$15.92	Already had these for other projects
		Total Cost	$317.84

So, to cost compare to these portable pens:

Apple Picker Portable Travel Corral   $429 plus $50 shipping fee
Metal pens from Travelncorrals starting at $599 not including shipping
Carrilite  Portable Corral  $869

If we want to compare PVC to PVC, if you buy a kit with everything already measured and you still have to put it together, you go here

For a two rail (mine is three rail) with custom color, it's $319 and does include bungees.  It's $399 to get 8 panels of 3 rail and only comes as a fully assembled package.

I think it's worthwhile, and remember, I didn't spend that total this weekend as I already had the spray paint and tposts.

When you need 48 connectors, you just ask the Home Depot employees to get you the boxes of pvc fittings

First step is spray paint your fittings because color coordination is key

Totally think that you have enough spray paint left over from making poles

Realize that in fact you do not have enough and curse that you have two different purples and then not even enough to make everything purple. Begrudgingly use pink.

Start cutting pvc.

This is the way we broke down the cutting as the plan calls for using the wide end of the conduit for the legs of the fence panels.

Definitely NOT to scale, lol
Also, each panel is 4ft high by 5ft long, so you'd get a 10x10 enclosure with 8 panels.

You need 3 poles to complete one panel. A part of the third pole is used for the next panel. It all ends up working out with the 21 poles and the you end up with about 5ft leftover. If I had enough leftover 16inch pieces I didn't cut the next pole and just went back to doing the 13-16-30-30-30 cuts.

Very easy to cut with one of these

I assembled without glue as I went so that I could keep track of which pieces I needed.  This worked for my brain. 

There were thieves who tried to 'help' me

Gwyn supervised and yelled at me when it got to be dinner time and I was still cutting things.

Those blue spots are where I knocked over the can of pvc cement. 

Once everything was glued together I loaded them into the truck and drove them around to the trailer

They fit with room to spare in the other stall of the trailer but in a pinch I could fit them in front of Gwyn.

I even had room to keep the divider nice and wide for loading Gwyn.

They are strapped down both to each other and to the trailer to minimize movement

I have four of those orange things. They are velcro straps with a carabiner (linked above) 

I figure using the orange velcro straps for attaching the panels to the trailer will make it a quick release in a similar way that my trailer ties are velcro safety release. They'll give under enough pressure. Then I have the bungee with balls to attach the panels to one another and zip ties as a back up to that.

I'm pretty proud I got this all done in a weekend. Now it's less things to think about for the endurance ride in less than two weeks!