Ok, there are threads for knitters, sewers, cooks, gym junkies... any other horse owners looking for a thread?
I have a 13 year old QH gelding, 15.3hh living in my back yard. Ok, so it is acreage and he does have a paddock!! I'm actually his 'foster mum' - the short story is that he belongs to a friend of a friend who doesn't have the time to care for him but has owned him since a foal so she can't bear to sell him. So we have a 'shared care' arrangement of the boy - I do the daily bizzo, we split costs and she can visit him whenever she likes. She is lovely and only lives 5 minutes away so the arrangement so far has been perfect.
I have always dreamed of having a horse (have ridden all my life but never had my own horse) so I'm a bit like a kid in a candy store! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions and lots of stories to share. Anyone else got a horse they'd like to chat about??
Yep! I currently have:
American Quatre horse - 15.3 hands
Ex race horse - 16 hands
Welsh x arabian pony about 13 hands
Mini pony - little!
I have been riding for 20 odd years!
We are adjisting some horses on our property!! I dont know specifics.. lol i know one is a palameno (sp), two are appalouso (sp) two are brown lol and one is a little pony!! They are really great. the kids love them!! Ocassionally yhey find themselves in our back yard and they do a great job of mowing the lawn lol!!!!
I am still yet to ride any of them- I really want to, but we just havent been organised to get together with the owner to do it!!
I so badly wish I was coming in here with details of a horse I have. I lost my boy a long time ago now (9 yearsago) and it took me a long time to get over and then I had my girls but now I am ready to start looking. I miss been around them terribly, since I was able to start working I have worked with horses until 2006. I want to get my girls involved too, DD1 is always talking about horses, she is going to be just like me I think
Kazzo, like you I wish I was coming here with happy news. I had my boy 25yrs and about 6wks ago got the call to say he looks like he had broken his leg....which of course was true and had to be put down.
He was a 16HH brown Andalusian. I had him since he was 2yrs and even now I can barely think about what happened.
We did pony club, dressage, one day events everything...he was a champ of a horse! He even won classes at the Royal Melb show....
I didnt get to ride him as much since getting preg with DD and now this one but I just always thought he would be there when I got back to riding. I think Id only ever had a vet out to him twice in his life.
But I think I will get another horse after this baby is here and we are settled. Its the first time since I was 13 that I have been horseless and its not a nice feeling. Kazzo I want me DD to get involved too...luckily I have a lovely friend who has some horses that my DD gets to ride whenever we go up so we still have some involvement....I think its going be be a while before I start looking.....
I have a 30 year old chestnut Standardbred. Have had him for 18 years and he's always been my beautiful boy. His buddy passed away in September, a beautiful bay Thoroughbred gelding. We got him six months after we got the other horse so they've been on mum's property for a really long time! Both were ex-trotters and I'm currently in the process of researching the Standardbred's history through his branding. A friend of a friend has something to do with the Standardbred association so looking forward to seeing what they find out.
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.
One of my boys had shoes when we got him, the other didn't. His hooves were pretty tough, but the ground he was used to was softer than our paddock so he cracked one of his hooves pretty quickly. We put shoes on him at that point to allow the crack to grow out as it was quite long and then after that, left the shoes off him. We got the farrier in to file his hooves down as they started to get small cracks or flare out at the bottom.
The other horse didn't have strong hooves. He'd always worn shoes and we continued with it. We'd had him for about two years and he fought with another horse through a fence and sliced the lower part of his leg open. He required stitches for a while and daily injections for a week and once the stitches came out we had his shoes removed. We had to keep him in the small holding pen of a cattle yard for six weeks while the injury healed. After that, it was a few months before I could ride him again, so his hooves toughened up and we never put shoes on him again. He was 13 when the injury occurred...he's now 30!
Neither horse did any showing or pony club while with us though, never been floated again. All riding was in the paddock or on dirt tracks on the side of the road, so they weren't on super hard surfaces. So having no shoes worked well for us.
I have a stunning 6 year old 16.2hh Bay Thoroughbred Gelding and a true gentleman 21 year old 14.3hh Chestnut Quarter Horse x Arab Gelding.
Love love love my beautiful boys!
My TB is well bred having Sir Tristram as his Grandsire but is unraced himself as he was hand picked by the stud owners daughter as an eventing prospect. He's a VERY cheeky boy but such a super sook now we've spent alot of time getting to know each other and build a bond through lots of groundwork. He has amazing talent in Showjumping and I'm hoping we can get out there next year and see how far we can go together
My Quarab is from a paint QH so has a big flashy blaze, 3 socks and a really unique half sock/band up his leg but not down the bottom, he is a super sweetheart and is happy to go trail riding, have my little ones lead around on him and can still put in an impressive effort over a Cross Country Course too!
I just love them to bits and couldn't be without them now! We're on 3 acres at the moment but are currently shopping for 10+ as I'd love to get the kids a pony also
I'm sadly still horse-less but have a question for mamas with horses and kids. How do you manage time for your equine buddy, and what do you do with your kids while you're doing it? I've got DH to agree to a tree change so we can have enough space for a horse for me and ponies for the girls, but I'm wondering how I'm going to manage everyone. DDs 1 and 2 are at the age that with some guidance, they will be ok to just deal with their ponies themselves, but DD3 is a long way off, and a long way off being able to amuse herself while I ride. How does everyone do it?
LuluHB, I'd love to know too. I've ruled out getting a horse for the next few years while the kids are still young. Plus I want to make sure the kids really really REALLY want one and that it isn't a passing phase before we commit to getting them a horse/pony. I miss riding terribly but wrestle with both time and the what-ifs. Can't look after kids if I get hurt.
Our old boy is still going. He's looking every bit his old age though now and makes me terribly sad but forever grateful he's still with us and I now live on the property with him so can care for him properly in his twilight years.
DH bought me home a horse two and a bit months ago. It was a big surprise. I have not owned a horse since 2003. I did work with horses though and in 2006 had a really bad accident that I did not realise until just recently blew my confidence out of the water. It was not a riding accident so that aspect is fine, it is handling them on the ground. My new horse is a little jumpy so we are learning to trust together. He is just a pleasure ride for me I have no interest in any eventing or the likes.
I have just started looking for a pony for the girls so they can share this with me.
Lulu, I won't lie, I don't get nearly as much time as i would like to spend with my horse but I take what I can get. Luckily my horse is the type you can leave for weeks and he is fine. He also has 30acres to himself and horses on both sides to keep him busy.
Yay for a new horse Kazzo. That's lovely. Its really hard to get that confidence back after a nasty fall or experience.
PRMG - so sorry to hear about your old boy. Its awful knowing they're ageing, but he's obviously had a wonderful life with you and is being well cared for and loved. I have those thoughts too about the kids and it being a passing thing. I've got the girls signed up for regular lessons starting next school term and if that goes well, the riding school has a great scheme whereby you can lease one of their ponies. With the two girls having lessons its actually cheaper to lease a pony for them to share, and the lease arrangement includes all the equipment, farrier, vet expenses etc as well as a riding lesson each week so we would really be well in front. Will be interesting to see how they feel when most of their out of school time is spoken for. Given we will need to travel to the agistment centre its not quite the same as having ponies at home, but it'll be a good indication I hope.
Any horse owners?
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