Archive for February, 2009

The Cheltenham National Festival is one of the most prestigious events in the UK and each year thousands of people flock to the tiny town to witness one of the most sort after horse racing events the world has ever seen.

So, what are the best reasons to head over to the Cheltenham Festival this year? One great reason is Cheltenham Festival Hospitality which does come at a price. However, it is completely worth every penny. The hospitality at Cheltenham Festival is absolutely brilliant and you are pampered like a true VIP from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. You will be served exquisite wine and food and have your every need catered for.

The roar of the crowd as the tapes rise for the first race of the Cheltenham Festival each year tells you everything you need to know – 12 months of waiting for this festival are over and people are more than eager to see their bets win them back some money. Total prize money for the racers in Cheltenham Festival for this year is an astonishing £3.67M.

Another fantastic reason to come over to the Cheltenham Festival is the scenery. The Needham & Needham structure at the Cheltenham Festival is located in the small town between Keith Prowse facility and the glass fronted boxes. It truly is a unique place to visit and immerse yourself in the astounding atmosphere. There really is nothing as better as this tremendous festival.

If you can you should try and get a private box for yourself. This is another great reason to go to the Cheltenham Festival. Each box at the Cheltenham Festival has amazing sliding glass doors which open onto a communal balcony overlooking the magnificent course. This is a great way to entertain executive guests or simply just to have a good day out.

Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls is extremely confident of repeating last year’s success at the Cheltenham Festival. Runaway Gold Cup Winner Denman led home a Nicholls 1-2-3 in the Festival’s showpiece Gold Cup race ahead of stable mates Kauto Star and Neptune Collonges. This year the famous competition is in full swing. Cheltenham Festival Hospitality is at a high price this year and many people have already bought their VIP tickets and passes for one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year. Kauto Star, ridden by Ruby Walsh, is the clear favourite for this years return. Nicholls boasts another four hopefuls in the big race in Big Bucks’s, My Will, Nozic and Star De Mohaison. But despite Denman’s poor showing on his recent return to action following a heart abnormality, Nicholls says it is difficult to predict how the defending champion will show at Prestbury Park and it is too early to write the race off.
Despite the great weight of expectation following his recent years of success, the Somerset-based trainer has not lost any of his appetite, particularly with the Festival on the horizon. He will take a stable of roughly thirty horses for the 4 day meeting from 10-13 March and is very hopeful of picking up even more winners at this year’s event. The competition is hotting up this year and there are numerous Horses that are more than capable of winning the event this year.
Cheltenham has been a historic national event for some time now and thousands of people flock down to London to come and see it. It is difficult to explain to someone what the Cheltenham Festival actually means but it is a great four days and great to be getting involved in it. Hospitality at Cheltenham Festival is in high demand this year so I would get booking early in order to guarantee your place!

I’ve been riding all my life and have always ridden the western style with a western saddle. Just last week I got the opportunity to try out an English saddle. Boy what an experience. It was so different from what I’m used to. Your body postion is totally different with a much more forward angle. For a short ride it was fun, but I can’t imagine riding the long miles of a working cowboy in an english saddle. It’s a lot harder on your body, and a lot harder to accomplish a task from the saddle. It was fun to try it out, but I think I’ll stick to my western saddle.

While you might think this is a easy thing to do – feed your horse – you’d be amazed at the number of horse owners that don’t know about the fundamental principles. There is nothing called standard, when it concerns the nutrition requisites of a horse, as it would mostly be based on the amount of activity, its age and body weight. To start with, your horse by nature uses forage as a primary ingredient of their diets. This by the way is one of the most critical components of his diet, which keeps his digestive system functioning correctly, and when we say pasture we are meaning a combining of natural grass and cut hay.

Large horses normally consume about 2 to two point five % of their body size in food every day so a 1,000 pound horse will eat around 20 to 25 pounds of feed each day. Feeds rich in nourishment are what horses need and high-fiber feeds should not be give to them, as it may upset the digestive system. In fact, a horse would be happy if you fed him with a feed of hay/pasture grass amounting to one percent of his body size. For horses, which do not do much activity, a feed of forage only without any grain is sufficient. On the other hand, developing, breeding, or working horses must have supplements in addition to pasture – such as grain or a supplement concentrate. Thus, for optimizing growth and development of the animal, foraging should make up for at least half or more of the body size, as part of his everyday diet.

When you are considering a balanced diet for your horse, consider the nutrient content as well as quality criteria of the grass. This information would help you to gauge the amount of nutrients he would need. The best source, and the least expensive one for summer food is your grass fields and, in most cases good pasture by itself can provide all the nutritional requirements your horse needs. But how do you come to know how much pasture is right for your horse? Using a weight of 1000 to 1200 pounds, here is a rough guideline. This means that a mare and foal 1.75 to 2 acres – yearlings 1.5 to 2 acre and weanlings 0.5 to 1 acre.

Winter feed of course would be cut hay, and again, high quality if you can provide it. Ensure that the hay is leaf-like and green in colored and cut in a systematic way, free of dust, moulds weeds or stubble. This feed is usually rich in protein, minerals and vitamins. While alfalfa hay is food for a developing horse as the protein content is very high, but you have to be careful as it contains abnormal calcium in comparison to its phosphorus content. Too much calcium is not good for growing horses so if you’re not sure about hay quality, have it analyzed.

You will be able to locate some of the best deals on used horse trailers for sale online. There are many used horse trailers for sale, but which one is the right one for you and your horse? Well if you take your horse out only every blue moon then a simple trailer will suffice. The single most important thing to consider when buying any kind of used horse trailer is the floor. Make sure it is stable enough for your horses to stand on and that wood is still strong and not rotted away.