Horse Talk

[Bunnylady]

That's not a laid-back ear, that's an ear that is paying attention to the horse behind her.

 

[PeepersMama]

June's ears are laid back in the picture... TYPICAL.
And yes, they are.

That's Ginger's face when I disappoint her with a lack of treats.

 

[abigalerose]

Well, she's always either got them pinned or listening to anything but me, sometimes I do jumping jacks and yell in front of the horses just to get perky ear pictures

 

[Bunnylady]

"Pinned" ears are flat against the neck. I know, I'm being picky, but an awful lot of people seem to misread horse body language, and may get completely the wrong idea about what's going on in the animal's head.

I was there when Syd's former owner had a farrier work on her feet one time. Syd had already had one bad experience with a farrier, and she didn't like the look of this one, either; she spooked away from him at the first sniff. The guy wasn't taking any mess from Syd; if she pulled away or tried to resist, he "shanked" her with the lead rope until she stood still. At one point, the owner remarked that Syd's ears weren't pinned, as if it was a good sign. True, they weren't; they were rigidly, fixedly upright. That animal was scared half out of her mind; those ears were a sign of just how tense she was - not a good sign that she wasn't resisting, a bad sign that she was about to detonate. It was a nasty, nasty thing to watch - Syd would stand, trembling, on three feet while he worked on one foot. When he got done with that foot and tried to pick up a different one, she'd come unglued, and try to run away, and the whole fight began all over again until Syd locked up and stood still for that foot. How anyone could think that what they were watching was a positive lesson, I don't know, but what could I say? She wasn't my horse.

Pricked ears may make for a prettier face, but ears that aren't all the way forward can mean many things, including submission to the higher ranking animal right there in her face (i.e, you).

 

[Kusanar]

"Pinned" ears are flat against the neck. I know, I'm being picky, but an awful lot of people seem to misread horse body language, and may get completely the wrong idea about what's going on in the animal's head.

I was there when Syd's former owner had a farrier work on her feet one time. Syd had already had one bad experience with a farrier, and she didn't like the look of this one, either; she spooked away from him at the first sniff. The guy wasn't taking any mess from Syd; if she pulled away or tried to resist, he "shanked" her with the lead rope until she stood still. At one point, the owner remarked that Syd's ears weren't pinned, as if it was a good sign. True, they weren't; they were rigidly, fixedly upright. That animal was scared half out of her mind; those ears were a sign of just how tense she was - not a good sign that she wasn't resisting, a bad sign that she was about to detonate. It was a nasty, nasty thing to watch - Syd would stand, trembling, on three feet while he worked on one foot. When he got done with that foot and tried to pick up a different one, she'd come unglued, and try to run away, and the whole fight began all over again until Syd locked up and stood still for that foot. How anyone could think that what they were watching was a positive lesson, I don't know, but what could I say? She wasn't my horse.

Pricked ears may make for a prettier face, but ears that aren't all the way forward can mean many things, including submission to the higher ranking animal right there in her face (i.e, you).

Oh yeah, when a horse pins it's ears you KNOW it! Mine flatten them so tight you can't even tell they HAVE ears! Especially the Mini in winter, his ears only stick about half an inch out of his fluff to start with, he flattens them and they VANISH!

Wings, my grey Arab is such a grumpy old man, he has an expression we refer to as "burning eyes of hatred" that happens every time another horse (any other horse) goes near his stall door. He will even get snotty and do it to a person when they turn their backs if they get too close to his stall. If he ever followed through with anything I would correct him, but since all he does is give you a dirty look I don't worry about it too much. I mean, he never even bites the other horses or anything, just glares....

My stallion thinks it's a game, Wings gives him a super dirty look and Stud waltzes over there to sniff him, relaxed as he can be, ears up, and those ears never go back and he never does anything even remotely aggressive while Wings is ears so flat they are under his mane and eyes practically glowing red. Usually Wings will eventually squeal at Stud and Stud more or less shrugs his shoulders and walks away...

Such weird horses. Stallion also loves playing with my mini, and gets kicked in the head nearly every time he does...

 

[abigalerose]

True, I've only seen June actually pin her ears a couple of times, when she was showing other horses who's boss.

The rest of the time they're either laid back in a relaxed way, or ones forward and ones backwards.
But if I can make a weird enough noise she'll prick them up for about half a second like "what the heck are you doing" and if I'm fast enough I can get a picture lol

 

[abigalerose]

Got a picture of the signed bill of sale
A little blurry, but I think it will hold up in case of emergency.
So I'll just be out $100 for training, and cost for feed (and emotional damages lol).
Feeling relieved now.

 

[Kusanar]

Got a picture of the signed bill of sale
A little blurry, but I think it will hold up in case of emergency.
So I'll just be out $100 for training, and cost for feed (and emotional damages lol).
Feeling relieved now.

Hate to sound paranoid, but might want to at least blur the address on that picture. We kinda now know your full name and where you live... Not good on the internet

 

[Eggsoteric]

I agree with Kusanar. I'd remove the Bill of Sale image from your post. If Indie were mine, and I was concerned about his care, I would've already made the trip back to pick him up myself.

 

[abigalerose]

Hate to sound paranoid, but might want to at least blur the address on that picture. We kinda now know your full name and where you live... Not good on the internet

Oops, didn't even think about that! Although it didn't have my address on it.

I agree with Kusanar. I'd remove the Bill of Sale image from your post. If Indie were mine, and I was concerned about his care, I would've already made the trip back to pick him up myself.

I would have went back right away, but I don't have my own truck, nor do I know how to pull a trailer even if I did, so someone would have to take me (my grandpa or dad) and my dad simply doesn't have time to make a 7 hour round trip, and I don't think my grandpa was up for a second trip there, I'm not sure he even thought it was that bad of a situation, sooo, it was kind of a tough situation. I'm sure I could have talked my grandpa into it, but he shouldn't have to have another long 7 hour day for me, especially when I know sitting in the truck that long hurts his back.
I'm glad the girl is willing to bring him back to me, and she does seem truly sorry about the situation and says that she's got him on pasture now and is going over there every day this week to make sure he gets hay and grain.
She says that she was feeding grain and hay on the days she was training, and that she was there 4 or 5 days a week, and that her parents were suppose to be turning them out to pasture every day but they weren't and she didn't know it.
It's still not an excuse, but I do believe her. And she seems genuinely sorry and I know she doesn't want to get a bad reputation from this, so she's trying to fix it