Yes we have a few as well.
I have worked with horses all my life. Both in a professional and personal sence.
Horses are unique animals. Once you have had a relationship with a horse they become a life long addiction.
I was horseless for a few years. I sold all my show ponies when ds was 6 months old and I stayed horseless for 2 years...it was a long and hard two years.
I ended up getting back into ownership when a friend was sending her slighlty damaged horse to the knackery.
Well we got her home with the intent on fixing her and selling her on....um........we have had her now um 10years his september......so you know the selling her on worked out wonderfuly. chuckle.
She is a 22 year old 14.2hh mixed breed, possably a QH/Appy mix although the slight dish in her face suggests there is a little arab hiding in there as well although the appy temperament is a definate as is her colouring.
We recently sold our cart horse. He was devine, but young and I don't have the time for him at this preset point sadly.
We also have a 15hh bay endurance horse that is also for sale. I have someone looking at him this weekend so with some luck he'll have a new home soon.
Hard to mix competition horses and young ones with babies and sickness so off they go to new homes.
We are currently looking at a new property so we wont have to agist anymore so once we've bought a place I'll be adding a pony for dd and a new and suitable cart horse which I hope to compete with. (not a standard breed) thinking about a welshy, hubbie wants a bigger horse......we'll have to wait and see. I want to do cross country racing in harness.
I'm a "wish I could talk about my horses" too. My old boy - the first horse I owned - passed away at 30 years of age ten years ago this October. I've been riding since I was 6 and really miss having a horse in my life. My first horse was a 3/4 arab. I then moved on to some crazy thoroughbreds, a warmblood and a miniature pony stallion - we were going to breed and show him but ended up that he was just a cute little pet.
When we bought this house a couple of years ago we had originally been looking at 5 to 10 acre properties so I could have horses again, but ended up on an acre in a golf course resort - definitely no ponies allowed! I've been looking into where to take my girls for riding lessons, but want to wait until DD2 is another year older before they start. Then if they're keen I think we might be having to look at moving again to a bit of land - no way we could afford to adgist three or more horses/ponies. DH doesn't ride, but said he would like to get into it when we were looking at land. I've always done dressage, and done the flatwork side of things for a girlfriend who does showjumping, so I'm really hoping the girls are keen.
Will have to become a silent stalker of this thread I think, and enjoy living vicariously through all your beautiful fur babies for a while.
I know what you mean about the cost of multiple agistments. It's a killer. It took us a while but found a nice old farmer who didn't want to sell his land and is now too old to maintain his property so we came to a deal.
We do the fencing which was already in reasonable condition, and maintain the shedding he pays for materials and we do the labour. All for the cost of paying agistment for one horse, even though we had three.
It works out well for us and for him. His family is happy as we keep an eye on him throughout the week when they are busy at work. If he's not able to get himself to the doctors/shopping/bowling we take him. I go up in the mornings and dh evenings so its not a huge deal. and he keeps an eye on the water for us and lets us know if he spots anything wrong with the horses so I think it works out for all.
We'll miss him when his time comes for his next big adventure or we find a property which ever comes first.
He has become a big part of our family. It's nice to have an adopted great granddad for the kids.
Oh, there are quite a lot of us! My boy has been with us for about 6 weeks now and has settled in well. He is loving all the attention and is very curious about what we are up to every time we go outside! I feel like we have established a mutual trust and I love it when he trots over when I call him.
DD1 is almost 9 and loves horses. We have told her that if she helps with my boy for 12 months we will consider a pony. So far so good, she is out there every morning and every afternoon rugging, grooming and feeding him. She even helps with the poo! He is a great boy with lovely manners, not much perturbs him. His 'birth mum' has done riding for the disabled with him (her DS has special needs) and his entire manner relaxes when one of the kids is on him.
He does have one bad habit... he's a wind sucker! Apparently he has done it all his life and he has worn the collar with no success. Any suggestions?
Company works well for wind suckers - check out the equiculture website, I'm pretty sure Jane has written about windsuckers there. Wind sucking is a stress response and they don't learn it from other horses, they develop it early on in response to stabling, mostly. Being in a herd lessens the need for this response and can extinguish it with good management. If you can't get the horse socialised, then you may need to look at some other fencing options that will stand the punishment the horse will give it!
I had a windsucker and he didn't do it much when he was in a herd, but it's all he would do when kept on his own, or in a paddock with just sheep for company. I had a collar with a metal hinge U on the throat bit. Not convinced it made any difference to the damage he caused, and it doesn't teach them to stop windsucking or crib biting, it just teaches them how to do it within their new constraints. It's like thumb sucking or hair twirling in humans!
Once a wind sucker, always a wind sucker, even if they stop doing it, because stress (a new home, new paddock, etc) can bring it on again. There are no 'cures' as such.
I have 4. A absolutely beautiful Clydesdale filly, a Shetland coloured mare who my daughter will be showing this year, a welsh mare who is also lovely and my 1st horse Whois rising 30. Ivebeen riding for 20years.
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