On The Right Lead October 2026
The ponies are feeling fuzzy and frisky! Fall is a wonderful time to get out in the cooler air and enjoy a ride! Whether you are a fan of forest, or beach, or groomed arena, there is nothing better than sharing some time with our equine buddies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New at Rainbow Ag -- Standlee Premium Forage products.
Since their establishment in 1981, family-owned Standlee has been dedicated to carefully growing and manufacturing sun-cured forage products. Quality forage is the foundation of every horse’s diet. Standlee products offer a wide variety of premium forage-based feeds includes Alfalafa, Teff, Timothy and Orchard Grass, and is available in cubes, pellets, chopped and whole hay, including compressed “Grab & Go” packaged bales that are perfect to toss in the trailer for that overnight ride. Standlee also has healthy baked treats in a variety of flavors, sure to make your ponies nicker. For those horses that require a special diet, now pellets and cubes for Timothy, Teff, and Orchard Grass are available along with Alfalfa and Smart Beet pellets. Don’t wonder and hope you are feeding the best nutritional forage; check out Standlee Education webpage to learn more about choosing the right feeding foundation for your horse.
Explore articles, feeding guides, and educational content covering forage quality, livestock nutrition, feeding management, animal health, and best practices for long-term success at the Standlee webpage, and enjoy this lovely video. Then, come on down to your local Rainbow store and pick up some high-quality feed. Bring in the Subscriber Coupon to save 25% off any Standlee product! Standlee is also part of the Astro Loyalty Program.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Just one month to Halloween!
We love Halloween at Rainbow! Join us for Costume Contests, a big Sale, special treats and kids events, Stuff A Kong for the local shelters and a lot of fun! Bring your pet in costume to save on nearly everything in the store (horses welcome!) Halloween is on a Saturday this year, so make a whole day of it, starting with a visit to Rainbow. Watch for dates, times and special events in each store later in October.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Is it time for a new vest yet? The weather is definitely the “sweatshirt in the morning, Tee in the afternoon” time of year. The perfect time to check out the Rainbow Clothing Department, for cozy and comfy sweatshirts, flannels, vests and jackets to get you through the morning chill and the evening breezes. New styles from Carhartt, Ariat, Wrangler, and more!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Insect control – flies, botflies, and ticks are all prevalent in the fall. While colder weather knocks down fly populations, give it a little rain and then a warm day, and you could be swarmed! Don’t put away your repellents and feed-throughs yet!
A good repellent sprayed on the horse’s chest and legs can help keep the botflies away, but these nasty little critters (which in spite of their looks, are not bees and can not sting or bite) are actually quite dangerous. The botfly we see lives a very short time, and their only goal is to mate and lay eggs. These are the tiny yellow dots that cluster on the hair of horse’s chests, chins and legs. When the horse ingests the eggs, the bot larvae infest the horse’s gut, and can cause permanent damage to the intestinal lining. The yellow eggs should be removed with a bot knife or block, but it is also recommended that horses are dewormed with a product labeled for bots (such as ivermectin or moxidectin) after the first hard frost has killed off the adult flies.
All the pesky critters come out in the fall, including ticks! Here in Lake and Mendocino Counties, ticks are around all year. Ticks can carry diseases, so a regular spray of a good repellent on the horse’s legs, belly and chest, especially if they will be moving through brush or tall grass, can reduce the number of ticks. Check your horse, and yourself, after a ride in the local woodlands, and stay stocked up on repellents and pest control.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Trivia! Enter to win a $15 Rainbow Coupon. All correct answers go into a random drawing.
The September OTRL Trivia question was, How much salt does the average horse need a day?
Our winner is Dane Downing, with the correct answer that horses require about 2 tablespoons of salt per day.
The October question is, what is the foundation of good equine nutrition?