Tapshot’s Journey
Some of you know my personal horse Tapshot ‘Gee”, he is an OTTB from Ohio who is a grandson on Tapit. Most people know that Thoroughbreds are hard keepers because their bodies are so accustomed to running and high performance routines, they are definitely challenging to transition into an everyday trail horse all because of their diets.
When I first went to see Tapshot for the first time, he was getting bullied by another OTTB in his pasture. I felt so bad for the poor guy, so I bought him and made it my mission to get him back into the confident horse that he was when he was racing. He didn’t have the best body condition when he arrived at my house but when you confine yourself to a corner in a barn, that happens. I gave him access to all the tall grass he could ever want, I had him on his senior grain and glucosamine, weight booster and alfalfa. It worked for a while but then winter came and boy was this past winter brutal. There were some days that I had to shovel my way to the barn doors because the drifts were half ways up the doors. The poor guy didn’t want to walk through it and quite frankly neither did I. Half way through winter I was realizing that he was losing all the weight we just got on him, I became worried and took some extra procautions to ensure that he didn’t loose any more weight or muscle. I was constantly in contact with my friend who used to work on the track and she gave me some tips that helped get through winter. Gee was going through 4 square bales a day with his grain and supplements. He ate as much as a pregnant mare, if not more.
When winter was finished, I had a game plan for spring and even after a few months, I saw progress. he started to have more energy and he was walking and running around his pasture… but I still wasn’t satisfied with his body condition and how slowly he was gaining weight. So, I called up my friend again and asked her what I was missing, what I wasn't seeing. She gave me a straight up answer, “protein”. I told her how much protein he was getting and his diet and how he has access to all the tall grass on the property and she told me to try whey protein. I thought long and hard about what grain to switch him to but then it hit me, powder. I messaged her and asked her if protein powder would be a good fit and she said yes, try it. So I got a tub of Vanilla Syntha 6 and each morning he got 1.5 scoops of it with his grain. About 3 weeks went by and I took a photo of him and put it side by side with one from the beginning of spring. I was in awe. His body condition was improving and he was gaining confidence.
I kept on this routine and when we finished that tub, I didn’t hesitate to buy him another, I ditched the weight booster and glucosamine and just gave him his grain and protein powder and alfalfa cubes soaked. I bumped it to 1 scoop in the morning with half the grain and the other scoop at night with the remainder of the grain. I can finally say that Tapshot “Gee” is now thriving. I took another side by side photo and there is a huge difference. I never thought that Syntha 6 would be a plus with horses because I always believed that it made horses “hot”. After doing some research I relized that people who have seen protein make their horses hot are the people that don’t understand the purpose of it and give too much and any remaining protein in their bodies turns to sugar. Gee is getting the correct amount to boost his body condition but not enough to allow his body to turn it to sugar.
I am so thankful that my friend didn’t judge me for his body condition because I was starting to doubt myself but I wasn’t afraid to ask for help because I know that thoroughbreds can be difficult. So a big thank you to my friend Ella for helping me figure out what he was missing and not judging me or blaming me or accusing me of anything.
Below I have the side by side photos of Gee and they are not easy to look at. This is an informative blog post to help those who are mentally struggling with their horses. It’s okay to asks for help or try something untraditional. Just make sure you do research and know the pros and cons of it.
