Your recap is due February 5th at 11:59 PM. 💵🐴
Make a simple bulleted list of everything you spent on your horse this month (feed, vet, farrier, supplies, boarding, etc.).When you’re done, add your total at the bottom.
This is to help you understand the real cost of horse ownership, keep it honest and simple.
Due February 5th at 11:59 PM. 📸
Create a post on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube and upload a screenshot in the comments.
Your post should either:
highlight your horse’s progress
share your Homes for Horses experience
or educate others about at-risk horses
Due February 5th at 11:59 PM
Topic for this month: Nutrition, Body Condition Score (BCS), & Topline Health 🐴🍽️
Proper nutrition plays a major role in a horse’s overall health, performance, and longevity. A horse can look overweight but still lack muscle, or appear thin while actually being under-fueled for the work they are doing. Two important tools horse owners use to evaluate whether a horse is being fed appropriately are Body Condition Score (BCS) and topline evaluation.
BCS is measured on a 1–9 scale, with 5 being ideal for most horses. Topline refers to the muscle development along the neck, withers, back, and hindquarters. Poor topline is often related to nutrition, protein quality, age, workload, or lack of correct conditioning.
Before you write, do a little research on horse nutrition related to BCS and topline, such as the topics listed below or find your own:
How to body condition score a horse
Body Condition Score (BCS) is a system used to measure how much fat a horse has on its body. It is scored on a scale from 1 to 9, where 1 is extremely thin and 9 is obese. A score of about 5 is considered ideal for most horses because it means they have enough fat for health but are not overweight. BCS is important because being too thin can lead to weakness and health problems, while being overweight can increase the risk of laminitis, metabolic issues, and joint stress.
Topline refers to the muscle along the horse’s neck, withers, back, and hindquarters. A horse can have a good BCS or fat but still have a poor topline if they don’t have enough muscle. Muscle development depends heavily on nutrition, especially protein and essential amino acids like lysine, threonine, and methionine, which are needed to build muscle tissue. Not all protein is the same protein quality matters because some feeds provide the right amino acids while others do not, so a horse can eat enough protein but still lack muscle.
Kai is a body score of about 5.5. Hes not at all fat but he’s definitely a well fed horse. He shares a pen with another horse and we have alfalfa out for them to graze on! I would definitely say when it gets warmer and he doesn’t need the extra fluff on his body I will go back to feeding twice a day!
Due January 5th at 11:59 PM. 🐴 📝
Your journal should be at least 250 words and include honest updates on your horse’s progress this month the wins, challenges, surprises, and anything you’re noticing or learning.
Please include:
conformation photos from all four sides
a 2–5 minute progress video
These journals help you track growth and reflect on your journey — the more honest you are, the more valuable they’ll be later on.
This month with Tinker Bell has been a little bit harder in the past few months and I feel we have hit quite a few bumps in the road.
This month it seems Tinker Bell has taken a step back in her current progress. She now no longer walks with much ease and it takes a lot of convincing to get her to walk or do anything for that matter. She now is very hard to get to lunge. She will lunge with quite a bit of convincing, but it’s not a very neat nor pretty sight to see. It seems to me like all her mind is focused on is food. She has become very food motivated, and food obsessed. Now this month has not been all bad I have successfully taught Tinker Bell two new tricks the first being smile and the second being fist bump. Teaching her to smile had only taken her a week or two for her to learn and be pretty solid with doing when asked. Her second trick did take a little bit longer for her to pick up on as expected she does her fist bump around half of the time when she is asked but we are still working on is since we just recently started working on it so that’s understandable. Even though this past month has definitely been harder with Tinker Bell I would never trade it for the world and I hope that the upcoming months will be much easier.
January Financial Recap
Board- $150
Hay- &120
Dewormer- $20
Peppermint treats-$15