Feed Purina Stategy? Recall Alert!

Purina Mills Undertakes Limited Recall of Strategy® Horse Feed and Layena® Poultry Feed


Contact:
Jeanne Forbis: 651-481-2071 or 612-308-5441
David Karpinski: 651-481-2360



Products Distributed in Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky,Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Missouri and Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- St. Louis, Mo., April 16, 2010 -- Purina Mills, LLC, is voluntarily recalling two specific lots of 50-pound bags of Strategy® Professional Formula GX horse feed and one lot of Layena® SunFresh® Recipe Pellet poultry feed. The recall is being implemented due to the discovery of metal fragments in a limited number of bags from one of the Strategy® product lots. At the time the recall was issued, five customer complaints had been received. No animal health issues had been reported.

The products being recalled were manufactured in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 24-25, 2010. They were shipped to retailers and dealers in Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and Virginia.

Only the following specific products and lot numbers are involved in the recall:

Formula No.
Item No.
Description
Lot Number

35SS
0066547
Strategy® Professional Formula GX
0MAR24NST1A1

35SS
0066547
Strategy® Professional Formula GX
0MAR24NST2A1

61R3
0056922
Layena® SunFresh® Recipe Pellet
0MAR25NST2A1





The lot number is found on the sewing strip of each bag and is interpreted as follows:
0=Year / MAR=Month / 24=Day of Month / NST1A1=Plant Code.

Customers with products that do not have the specified lot numbers are not affected by the recall.

Customers who have purchased the recalled products should not store or feed the products and are asked to return unused product to their dealer for replacement.

Customer questions or concerns may be directed to the company's Nashville Customer Service Office at 800-424-5234.

CyroTherapy

Do you use ice in the course of caring for your horse? If so, you are already employing cyrotherapy (or Cold Therapy) in your bag of tricks. Here is an interesting article presented by ICE HORSE (no affiliation, just an interesting resource) about the risks and benefits of cold therapy with horses.

Cold Therapy in the Horse

Awesome Day

We had a beautiful sunny, cool day here. I took advantage of that weather to take a trail ride. Yeager was an absolute super star. We did some hills, saw two herds of deer, and put a toe in the lake (he's generally very suspicious of water). Super steady guy on the trail. The only bump we had was in trying to cross a small ditch that had water in it. We need another horse to go out with that we can follow. I might try and tag along on a few of the trail rides that the barn takes just to have him follow some horses that don't hesitate to cross puddles and such.

After our trail ride, we went for a little walk around the big upper arena. Except for spooking at a barrel that had been knocked over, he did very well. He's getting much better at moving away from leg pressure instead of leaning into. I also got a few moments of contact. I'm thrilled with where he is right now.

Post ride, Yeager was introduced to his new turnout buddies and pasture. I think this is going to be a great move for him. He had a really funny reaction to his new mini buddy. Everything went very smoothly.

Another first!

Yeager had one very exciting (at least to me) first today- his first trail ride! It ended up being a short hack down the road, but he was a superstar. Looked at a couple things, had to stop and evaluate the cobblestones at the road crossing, but other than that he just cruised along. I found a perfect hill for slow hill work- a flat dirt road with a gentle (but definite) grade. There is a road that winds around a lake just behind the barn. While I will have to be mindful of car traffic and probably some cyclists, I bet this will be a favorite conditioning hack. I was so very pleased with my discovery since some straight line work is exactly what Yeager needs.

We also cantered undersaddle for the first time, to my absolute delight. We've been working on walk-trot transitions and he offered me a wonderful, slow rolling canter. He has a remarkable whoa on him for an OTTB, but does a fair imitation of a giraffe at the trot. His balance is slowly improving. He does seem to be very sensitive to footing issues. On our hack, the trot he offered going up hill was much more balanced and forward than the one he offers in the ring. I think a good bit of the next month is going to be spent OUT of the ring, getting him straight. I believe that's the most productive program for a young horse anyway.

Every ride, I get more and more excited about this horse.

The rest of this week looks like:
Tues- walk/turnout
Wed- lunge in side reins (farrier)
Thurs- light hack
Fri- hack working on transitions
Sat- free jumping
Sun- turnout/off

Spring Sunshine!

There has been so much sunshine this week, I haven't been blogging. It's been challenging to keep my nose to the grindstone for my nutrition and training classes. It has been a joy to spend afternoons at the barn. The long weekend meant that Kevin and the monkey were able to spend some time out there as well.

Yeager has been making tremendous progress. He is starting to really bloom. His ground manners are becoming more consistent.

Today, we did an actual undersaddle workout. Walk and trot work. Bending is definitely going to be a challenge for him. I need work on that from the ground some more. I think I am going to switch him from the loose ring french link bit he is currently going in to a full cheek french link to see if that helps him a little understanding the rein aids. His down transitions area really spot on. His walk-trot transitions were very good today. I introduced ground poles at the walk today. Just two spaced a full stride apart.

After about 15 minutes undersaddle (walk and trot both directions and the ground poles going in both directions), we went outside the ring for a quick walk around the grassy area between the outdoor and indoor arenas. He wanted to dive bomb the grass and was a little look-y but did well.

He definitely has a mind of his own. I stopped at one point next to where my audience was sitting to chat for a moment. Every lap of the ring after, Yeager tried to stop at that spot.

Great morning

We had a gorgeous sunny morning today, perfect barn weather. It's supposed to be quite warm today so it seemed like a good day for an early morning. Yeager did fabulous in turnout this morning. He had his breakfast out in the paddock. More impressively, he became excited when a mare and foal were turned out next to him (the foal always excites him) but calmed down on his own. After breakfast, we did a 30 minute lunge workout in side reins on the fourth ring- which is the most contact he's worked with so far. His canter is improving every week. He can now hold a rhythmic canter for two+ laps. He was a little strong and excitable going to the right but settled down and worked. There was no wild running around, even after two days off.

A VERY successful morning.

Picture

I'm pretty pleased with Yeager's condition right now. I'd like to get a little more muscle on him, but that will come with time and work :)

Sound Barrier

Yeager Update

We've had some wild weather here in middle TN. Alternating gorgeous sunny spring days with rain and thunderstorms. Since the windy weather wreaks havoc on Yeager's ability to focus, our workouts have been a tad sporadic.

We are working on being consistent. He is building muscle quite well, although he's still lacking a real top line. I think that as he works more and more undersaddle and that work becomes more correct, his topline will begin to build.

He has some soreness in his hind end that I'm addressing with massage and his flexibility is definitely showing marked improvement. His leads on the lungeline have improved substantially to the point that is consistently picking up the correct lead in both directions and is much more able to hold it.

He is still getting anxious in turnout, especially if he's hungry. He is typically going out twice a day (early am and afternoon) for 30-45 minutes at a time.

Too much rain

Rainy days mean ground manners lessons for green horses. At least with me.

We have an indoor arena but the footing isn't great and Yeager doesn't seem to be at his best in there. Right now, I'm really trying to set him up for success every time we work, and especially any time that I get on.

Yeager is coming along beautifully. I probably could move him along faster, but I'm taking my time to give myself a chance to get back into things. Bringing Yeager along is a fun thing for me, so I'm not stressing myself about really maintaining a schedule or setting deadlines. My only goal for him is to be solidly undersaddle and starting to jump small courses by the fall. He'll have over 6 months undersaddle then, including a summer of hauling out for lessons. I'm fairly confident that this is a very doable goal.

He is vastly improved on the ground. He still has snort and spin moments every once in a while, but he's doing better about walking back and forth or the arena and paddocks. He's much calmer in his stall. He handgrazes easily, even early in the morning. He's still pacing in his stall at night, I think that night turnout- or at least a run in, would really be the ideal situation for him.

He is beginning to shed out and his weight is looking better- although he really needs more muscle on his topline. But all in all, I'm happy with where he is right now.

Today I desperately needed to catch up around the house after a busy weekend and teething baby. So Yeager got an early handwalk and grooming this morning and will be turned out this afternoon. If my husband gets home early enough I'll lunge him, but that's not likely. I'm planning on riding tomorrow and it will have been a few days, so fingers crossed.

Progress!

Finally! It feels like we're getting somewhere. Yeager is getting much better about his stall manners. Today, I got there about four pm. He stood quite well for a quick groom and being saddled. He makes faces sometimes about being girthed up but nothing serious.

We did walk trot canter in both directions on the lunge in the lower arena. He was excitable today but in a slightly different way. He wanted to canter off repeatedly, but there was no bucking or rearing. His canter, even as a disobedience, was much more balanced and he corrected his leads each time so that he ended up correct and balanced.

Once he was doing down transitions promptly and calmly, I took him off the lunge and got on. We did several turns of the arena, some large figure eights and some trot. My balance still isn't what it needs to be, but it's coming back. I have to be really conscious of continuing to breathe steadily. That seems to have the greatest impact on relaxing Yeager.

I turned him out in the big paddock while I cleaned his stall and put his dinner in. He was a little saucy coming on but stood really well for his rinsing off and wore a light cotton sheet for the night. He's been finishing his hay consistently so I increased his hay by five lbs. He's sitting right at 28 lbs today. He's getting 6 lbs a day of TC senior (in two feedings). He still needs about fifty lbs to really look good, but we'll be able to tell more once he sheds out.

Sick Day (for me)

I just didn't have the strength today to ride/work Yeager. Instead he got turned out in the bigger paddock. I don't usually turn him out without working him first, but I'm trying to get him more used to it. So, he went straight out, and did pretty well for about 45 minutes. When he saw me putting his dinner in his stall he got a little worked up.

He was a little stocked up in his left hind when I first turned him but it had gone completely away by the time I brought him in.

Easy morning

In some ways, Yeager is at his calmest early in the morning. I don't know if it's a holdover from the early work and activity at the track or just his natural rhythm, This morning it was too dark to do any real work (thanks to daylight savings time- which I forgot would have changed the timing of the sun coming up). So we handwalked so he could graze where new grass is coming up (the paddocks are all mud). Then, he went out while I did barn chores. He was especially messy last night, although it didn't look like he had laid down. He also didn't finish his hay last night. I had given him a little extra because I wasn't sure how early I would be out at the barn but I'm going to keep an eye on his intake for a while.

Spicy Day

This week's gray weather continued today with the addition of a cold, wet wind. While the temperature was a relatively mild 50 something daegrees, it was a chilly day and the horses were certainly feeling it. I'm working to be more consistent in Yeager's works so today I made sure to hurry through my other barn chores to allow enough time to work him the way I wanted. Good thing too because he was wired! Not to the point that he couldn't work- just in that hyped up, everything-is-a-horse-eating-monster sort of way. His reactivity showed a really fabulous trot and he was more responsive to up transitions (and started off blowing through my requests for down transitions). The more he works, the better his canter becomes. Today, he offered the same gorgeous, round canter I get to the right on the left lead. There were also fewer feet leaving the ground in the process of cantering. But a whole lot more stomping and tail flagging and crow hopping. He ended up working harder than I had planned because of his insistence on cantering off whenever I asked for a transition.

Once he settled down enough that he would walk-trot-walk and walk-halt-walk quietly in both directions, I removed the lunge line and got on him using the mounting block. He is suprisingly good with the mounting block, and stands quietly for me to get adjusted. He waits for me to ask for the "walk on". This has been a major training stumbling block for several OTTBs that I've worked with but Yeager doesn't seem phased by it at all. We walked and halted on the track in the arena for a few minutes. He was a little looky but was mostly paying attention. A flyover by a helicopter caused an anxious moment but Yeager handled it well- with just a head toss. He was listening well, so I asked for a trot and got a few strides until we hit a muddy spot. Asked again, and he gave both the up and down transition calmly although I could tell his tension and worry were increasing. After one more successful trot and halt, we called it a day.

All in all, I was pleased with what he offered. This was his first time being ridden in the lower ring (or anywhere outside of the roundpen) and his first ride where we were on our own. Kudos to him.

As a side note, there is a new baby at the barn, about three days old today. Mama and baby were turned out today in a paddock that faces Yeager's stall window. I was told that he stood there for quite some time staring and calling to Mama and Baby. When we were coming back into the barn after riding, Baby was trying to make an escape to explore instead of going back in their stall. Yeager stood stock still, ears pricked and nickered at baby. It was an interesting reaction from a gelding.

Backto work

After some unexpected time off, Yeager returned to work yesterday. The day was gray and windy- not exactly a recipe for success when handling a green, energetic horse who'd been cooped up for 48 plus hours. i wanted to take the opportunity to reinforce that even with all that energy, he had to behave and control himself. So, we went on a little walk. There was a lot of circling, some posturing (on his part) and an impromptu lunge session on the path on the way to the barn when Yeager decided that munching was more important than listening.

After slow progress to the indoor arena, Yeager worked on the lunge for 15 min in each direction. He is still having trouble with the left lead. He tries to run into it and there is some disconnection through his back that makes him uncoordinated. I think it is a combination of muscle memory and sheer lack of strength. His right lead canter departs have consistently improved to the point that they are now really impressive.


He is currently eating:
Free choice bermuda hay (usually 4-6 flakes am, 2 flakes mid day and 4-6 flakes pm)
3 flakes alfalfa (1 am, 1 midday, 1 pm)
6 lbs Triple Crown Senior (3 lbs ea am and pm)
SmartGut
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp ground flax.


His weight is improving but he really needs more muscling through his back. His neck and hind end have drastically improved.

Day Off

Yeager had an unplanned day off today. The weather in these parts was awful. Rainy, gray, some thunderstorms. The footing was very slippery and loose. I decided that it just wasn't worth it. He got a handwalk this morning and a short turnout in the arena this afternoon. Work tomorrow, no matter what!

Updating

Where we are now.

Yeager started consistent work on the ground the last week in Jan. We worked on general ground manners, moving away to pressure, his "whoa", leading without bolting at every scary noise, and some exposure to trails. We also worked on slowly increasing his turnout time.

He knocked over a gate (scratching his butt on it, the clumsy!) and stepped through it causing some decent sized lacerations on his right hind. No stitches were needed, but it meant two days of stall rest, handwalking and wrapping. He also couldn't be turned out in the muddy turnouts because of the really slippery/icy footing.

The beginning of March we began regular workouts on the lunge. I added long lining once the bucking fits stopped. He is now working 3-4x a week, depending on the weather and his energy level.

On March 8, after his usual lunging working, a friend helped me out on the ground and I sat on him for the first time. Once I was on, we stood quietly, walked on the lunge, halted. He handled it very well. I rode him again on Tues and took him off the lunge. Again, he was super. He had Wed off, lunged with side reins on Thurs(we worked on transitions) and had an easy Friday (hand walking over poles and around a jump course).

Yeager's Arrival

For my original writing on the matter, see my wordpress blog. I'm still deciding which format I like better.