Aleisha & Roy Story

Nutrition Client Recap:

Aleisha - A 29 year old who didn’t grow up with horses but always loved them. At 13, my best friend introduced me and fed my love for horses. I would go there after school to ride, learning from her and her oldest sister. If it weren’t for her family horses wouldn’t be part of my life. I was so very fortunate to have the option to ride and all I had to do was help feed up when I was there (while she would nap on the couch half the time haha)! Win win! Moving to QLD from WA I was devastated thinking I wouldn’t get to ride again. Little did I know it was going to turn out better than I expected. I always said I’d have a 16hh bay with white socks one day & well that became my reality at 27.

Which brings me to Roy - Roy is 10 (this month ) Anglo Arab. He had more injuries as a youngster than most people can count but I’m so grateful his previous owner pushed through it all. When I’ve asked him about it he said his incredible nature is what helped with the persistence to keep going! I met Roy’s owner through my work and he then offered me to come ride if I wanted. Long story short Roy was the first horse I got on - and no one would believe it, but he pigrooted the first time I ever got on, his owner had to pull me off mid-way getting on! He was rising 6 at the time. Because of all of his injuries his training was very disrupted between 4-6 years old. I was essentially helping bring him into proper work to see if he would be suited for endurance. There were a few reasons we thought he might not be suited. Fast forward to now we near on started endurance together - first 80, getting open rider & horse status together & successfully completing our first attempt at the Tom Quilty together in 2023. I should preface I knew nothing about endurance until meeting his previous owner so it was all new to me. I rode Roy for about 2.5 years before the decision was made that he could no longer stay where he was and I COULD NOT see him go anywhere else. Roy is honestly the most gentle giant, sweet natured horse with the softest eye. I get so many compliments and everyone who meets him instantly loves him. I am incredibly grateful to have him in my life and for what we have and will continue to achieve together.

Highlight of the year

I’d say would have to be the last ride of the season, although it wasn’t a successful completion, I had fun with a friend and I had my happy, healthy horse back. And a close second was our quickest ride time for one of our 80’s this year, we had a fun time and he gave it his all. Showing me that he definitely has it in him to go further in endurance.

How did we manage this and what were Roy’s improvements?

I provided Darcie with a breakdown of his current feed program and we made adjustments to ensure he was in surplus until he achieved maintenance levels. Luckily, everything I was already feeding, Darcie was extremely happy with it was just a case of tinkering the numbers with his hard feed and we ended up adding in round bales to ensure he had unlimited forage. Roy was also treated for ulcers at the beginning of us working together as I was concerned and had a gut feeling he needed it given the amount of endurance and travel he had done in the past few years, something I tried to do last year before the Tom Quilty but was advised it wasn’t required.

What problems were you facing when we started our working together on Roy’s nutrition program?

Roy had moved from a massive 30-acre paddock with endless supply of grass to a much smaller paddock, this all happened at the beginning of the Endurance season. Roy seemed to be going ok, but about 3-4 months into being there he lost condition rapidly something that had never been an issue before and especially not from a horse that never stresses & is an awesome doer. Not only that, he wasn’t picking up his right canter lead which was unusual, although his weaker side he would always swap leads especially when doing a 30km training ride. I pulled Roy from the planned 80km ride and reached out to Darcie to get her advice on what I could be doing to help him get his condition back. Darcie then helped me adjust his nutrition program and we decided it was best that he take a break from heavy endurance training, instead I kept him in light work.

We all know horses aren’t easy, what gives you the drive to keep going?

Don’t get me wrong there are times where I don’t feel like putting in the work (especially with the number of hours commited to training in endurance) haha but at the end of the day I am incredibly grateful to be able to do what I love, especially given I didn’t grow up around horses it’s been a dream come true, even if it’s just spending time with our beautiful 4 legged giants. No amount of time in the saddle is ever considered wasted time, being able to be in the saddle helps clear my mind of everything else going on around me and I’m sure so many agree with that