Horse Care and Nutrition with Futurity Champion Brandon Cullins
By pretty horse - avril 22, 2018
By Blanche Schaefer
Cullins knows horses that feel good will perform at their best. Regular trips to the vet for physical exams thwart problems before they begin and give Cullins and Weaver peace of mind that their horses aren't dealing with any underlying issues.
"We keep them vetted regularly. When I’m home, I use a place in Pennsylvania that Robin uses, Brown Equine, and we use ESMS [in Weatherford, Texas] a lot, we’ve also used Outlaw Equine [in Decatur, Texas]," Cullins said. "I think keeping them feeling good is the main thing."
Feeding and Nutrition
Good-quality alfalfa hay plays a huge role in Cullins' feeding program.
"The biggest thing I think is the feed store down here has got some really good alfalfa, and I think that makes such a huge difference," Cullins said. "I don’t know if it matters too much what you feed grain-wise if you can get some really good alfalfa."
For grain, Cullins creates his own oat mix but tailors his feeding program to each horse.
"With feeding, some of them are different," Cullins said. "I separate the 3-year-olds, so I started feeding oats, alfalfa pellets, black oil sunflower seeds and a little bit of soybean oil, and I just get a feed mill to mix that up. I feed a lot of them that."
Two-time BFA Derby World Champion and multiple American Rodeo qualifer VQ Sucker Punch ("Rocko") and 2017 BFA Futurity World Champion Folsom Prisoner ("Sid") eat a different type of feed because Cullins didn't want to change their winning routine.
"Rocko and Sid, they’re on Ultium and Renew Gold," Cullins said. "They are doing really good on it, so I didn’t want to change something that was working."
Alternative Therapies
Hydrotherapy and cold therapy, including saltwater and icing, help keep the horses ready to run and recover with minimal soreness.
Source: https://www.barrelhorsenews.com
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