Horse Question

[EweSheep]

It is not that bad! Welsummerchicks got some good advises you would need to keep it in the back of your head and be well informed about it when you do get your horses. Like everything new you buy, it does have that overwhelming sense of things and most of the time, people did OK even they had to learn things the hard way.

Its like chickens, I am sure Welsummerchicks would have something like that in chickens too LOL!

 

[welsummerchicks]

For a great many people, 'I'll stick to chickens' is exactly the right thing to do. Exactly.

Horses are large, expensive, require land, fences, housing, frequent attention from a trained farrier for their feet, none of which is cheap, and for most people, it's been many generations since they had any contact with them, and they know virtually nothing about them.

Horses are most likely THE most mistreated, neglected, misunderstood animals people get. The bigger the animal the worse it is when it goes wrong.

It is not expensive or burdensome to learn how to take care of a horse. The rules are simple and easy to learn. There are not that many of them. Most of them are simple commonsense.

A person can volunteer at a vet clinic, a rescue, a therapeutic riding center. They can pick up a book and read it. Most public libraries have shelves and shelves of books on how to care for horses. They can pick up free brochures at their vet's. They can go to their extension office and get tons of free information. They can attend free seminars at vet clinics, riding clubs etc.

With a very very simple tools a person can care well for their horses. It takes only a minute or two to learn to take pulse, respiration and heart rate - cheap stethoscope to listen to the heart can be had for sixteen dollars.

The information is out there, largely for free, for anyone to learn who is willing to make a very small amount of effort. If they are not willing to make the effor then they shouldn't get a horse.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I don't know what your experience with horses is thus far but it needs to be a whole lot more than "studying". Being just about the largest and flightiest domestic animal, and being one that most peoples' casual "cultural impressions" of are more 180-degrees-wrong than with most other critters, you really REALLY REALLY ought to have a good amount of personal mileage handling horses before actually taking on the ownership and care of one yourself.

Simplest thing: take riding lessons for a year or two, from a *good* barn, and let the instructors know your aim is to buy your own horse and keep it at home. Also take as many other opportunities as possible to get horse experience, even if it is just mucking out stalls or turning out.

If you skip this, it can cause catastrophic problems not just you but for the horse -- and I don't primarily mean health problems in the horse, I mean the development of dangerous and sometimes-nearly-impossible-to-fix behavioral problems.

It seems from a lot of posts, the horses stomach is a direct line to health. I have read many warnings about over grazing.Yet all the horses around me are in large fields of grass. They have the ability of eating all day long.Is free pasture really dangerous for a horse?

Not when sensibly managed. In fact turnout 24/7 on good well-managed pasture tends to produce HEALTHIER horses (fewer colics, laminitis cases, etc).

It is just that you have to be careful with *changes* and (for some horses) overdoing really lush pasture -- most especially you need to avoid changes *onto* lush pasture.

Even horses that are out 24/7 all year round sometimes have problems in springtime if the grass gets growing really suddenly. And since the reality is that MOST horses in north america do NOT live out 24/7 on pasture, many of them getting exactly Zero pasture, it is awfully easy to make terrible mistakes with a new horse or when moving a horse from one living arrangement to another.

Pat​

 

[EweSheep]

Remember those love, star studded eyes about horses when we were young with the illusion of Black Beauty and all the good fairy tale horses we have been seeing?

Yep, I remember those days but I was on the march of a different drummer LOL! I read and breathe every horse book I can find, about care, studied the anatomy, etc. behaviors, sicknesses, etc. (some of those information are so outdated LOL!), went to stables and friends' farms to learn about horses, listen to every word they say about horses, took riding lessons, and be mindful horses, as beautiful they are, are the most dangerous animal you can ride on for luxury. They have a mind of their own, ingrained by their own little instinct that we don't know enough what make them tick mentally. Even with the "dead" head of a horse does not get fazed by cannon shots would one one explode by fright, and stomp the heck out of you to get out of the way. They can be really unpredictable if you are not aware of those little "devils" they have in their minds.

Forget the "fire in their eyes", blowing hard nostrils, baring teeth of a "strong" horse........looks like a horse that has been high on some kind of recreational drug!

Just leave that for horse loving teenagers LOL!

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Quote:
I have always told people: "Some people smoke, some do drugs, some gamble. Me? I keep horses." They are indeed an addiction. If boats are "a hole in the water into which you pour money," then with horses not only do you pour your money in, but THEN you get to shovel up what's left of it when he deposits it out the other end!

Rusty

 

[EweSheep]

I love it, Rusty!

 

[chickened]

All the past advice is good and I am sure will help you but remember a few simple things about horses:

They are called hay burners for a reason.

They do not stop eating when you get laid off.

If you are afraid of them it does not matter how much you know they will sense it. But respect thier size and strenght.

You will most likely want more... don't go there enjoy the one you have.