Horse Talk

[Bunnylady]

"They" say that there is no "free time" with a horse - whenever you are around them, you are teaching them something; whether they are learning things that you want them to be learning is up to you.

I think that being consistent with what you do is more important than how often you do it. The longer the time between lessons, the more time you may spend "reviewing;" but the horse will retain some of what they learned each time. I have often been surprised and pleased with how well mine remember, even after breaks that may stretch to months or even years.

 

[abigalerose]

A half hour every day would obviously be way better, but if you only have a half hour once a week, he'll still learn, it'll just take longer. June lives at my grandparents house and they're about 20 minutes from me, so I try to spend the night with them enough that I can work with her at least 3 days a week. And I don't ever work with her the same amount of time. Some people say a horse her age should only be worked 20 minutes or so a day. But since I don't work her very hard, or everyday, I'll spend 30 minutes - several hours with her. Just depending on if she gets antsy or not. If I can see that she's gonna start getting antsy then I'll do one last thing with her to end it on a good note and then give her some grain and leave her be. It's working well so far. The past week she's be stubborn though. From the minute I get out to the barn and start with her she's stubborn. I don't know if it's the weather, or if she's going in heat, or becuase she's bored out there, or just the "terrible twos" setting in a little late. But I'm hoping that having a friend will perk her up a bit and we can get back to normal.

 

[abigalerose]

I'm so in love with my mustang already

It took him all of 15 minutes to get settled in, him and June are getting along okay. He follows me around without a lead rope or halter, backs up on voice command, picks up his feet so effortlessly, as soon as you start running your hand down his leg he picks it up for you to catch. I worked all day on getting him to let me stand by his side without yielding and he already lets me. I sat on him for a bit, he goes backwards way easier than forwards, so we'll have to work on that. My grandmas llama got him a little worked up and he starting trotting around the paddock and he has a seriously BEAUTIFUL trot. It almost looks like how a friesian trots. I love it, I could've watched him all day.

His big feet, that need a good trim

I'm still trying to think of a name

 

[Bunnylady]

Congrats on getting your boy home!

 

[abigalerose]

Thanks! So far my top name choices are Koda and Pheonix

 

[abigalerose]

Well, it seems like we might have a problem. June has big scars on her back from hooves, and she's walking like her hips are stiff and sore, wich leads me to believe that he's been mounting her. And that's a problem because not only will he be bringing her into heat all the time causing her to have a mareish attitude, he's also hurting her/causing her to be sore, so I can't train her and I'm also worried sick about her, and he could end up giving her an infection. I'm going to be watching them closely so I can see if this is what's really going on, but I so hope it's not, because if it is that pretty much leaves me with 3 options; separate them, which defeats the whole purpose of getting him, have her bred so she can't go into heat, but that's only a short term fix, or take him back to the rescue place, which I really don't want to do. So I really need some advice here

 

[Talithahorse]

There are several things that may be into play here. First of all, I would consider having him checked by a vet to make sure that when he was castrated that the job was completely done. Sometimes they may be undescended, or they may have left some tissue which could be creating hormone problems. 2nd it may be that he is trying to show dominance and once they settle into each other this may subside. The other thing is she is going to be marish when she cycles which is not controlled by his presence or lack there of (it is spring after all). It is expensive but there is a surgery to spay mares. I would say give it a little time to see if he continues. If your gelding is very young, he might benefit by a little time with an older mare who is not shy about putting him in his place. Your mare, being young may not have enough confidence to put him in his place yet. Hope this helps.

 

[abigalerose]

Well, I thought about the whole cryptorchid thing and did some research, and the BLM euthanasizes cryptorchid horses so I don't believe I have to worry about that. And I did talk to the lady I adopted from and she said he's never had issues with mares, so hopefully it is just a dominance thing, I separated them for now and I'll put them back together once this cycle ends and go from there

 

[ChickenLover200]

There are several things that may be into play here.  First of all,  I would consider having him checked by a vet to make sure that when he was castrated that the job was completely done.  Sometimes they may be undescended,  or they may have left some tissue which could be creating hormone problems.   2nd it may be that he is trying to show dominance and once they settle into each other this may subside.   The other thing is she is going to be marish when she cycles which is not controlled by his presence or lack there of (it is spring after all).   It is expensive but there is a surgery to spay mares.   I would say give it a little time to see if he continues.  If your gelding is very young,  he might benefit by a little time with an older mare who is not shy about putting him in his place.   Your mare, being young may not have enough confidence to put him in his place yet.    Hope this helps.

Question: will spaying the mare leave a scar just in fron t of the udders? Or is it in a different place? My mare has a scar there in front of her udder and I wasn't sure if she was spayed or ssomthing...

 

[abigalerose]

I'd like to know more about spaying a mare too. How expensive is it? Is it very risky?