Regarding the Horses in our lives...

[Bunnylady]

Actually, I think I have something better for Syd to take on the road. I have a drag/roller that I pull around to level out the dirt in the paddocks; it's made of a few lengths of progressively larger diameter pipe inserted one inside the next. It weighs about 30 lbs, and is about 5 feet wide. The outermost layer is a piece of 3" diameter schedule 40 PVC. Even on soft dirt, it clunks and scrapes; I'll bet it would rattle pretty good on pavement. I'm still trying to figure out how to make a hitch for it, but I figure dragging it in the paddock and the driveway will be weight/pressure on the collar, even without the noise.

 

[perchie.girl]

Actually, I think I have something better for Syd to take on the road. I have a drag/roller that I pull around to level out the dirt in the paddocks; it's made of a few lengths of progressively larger diameter pipe inserted one inside the next. It weighs about 30 lbs, and is about 5 feet wide. The outermost layer is a piece of 3" diameter schedule 40 PVC. Even on soft dirt, it clunks and scrapes; I'll bet it would rattle pretty good on pavement. I'm still trying to figure out how to make a hitch for it, but I figure dragging it in the paddock and the driveway will be weight/pressure on the collar, even without the noise.

run ropes through te PVC shafts shes already used to with clips on the end to fasten to the roller.... fix it so it wont roll up on her from behind though. Either by snugging it down to the shaft loops or adding breeching to the harness A simple hex head screw in the shaft letting it stick out under the head about a quarter inch that gives the hold back straps something to stop the roller.

Then you can lay a piece of two by four across the two sides of the shafts and either screw it in place or tie it snuggly with bailing twine. Now you can rig a single tree for the traces.... screw through the middle of the cross brace to fasten the single tree. Another two by four works.... couple of washers between the two two by fours to allow the single tree to move..... then eye bolts screwed into each end of the single tree. The traces will slip right over the eyes which will emulate trace hooks. The eye part is what I use on my cart because the ones they sent me were crappy.

deb

 

[waddles99]

Some various pics I took this afternoon as the sun was setting. The second pic is Nash, my Standardbred that i posted a pic of above.

 

[waddles99]

 

[perchie.girl]

@waddles99
Love the pictures

Happy content horses

and Green Green Green.... sigh.

 

[waddles99]

@waddles99
Love the pictures

Happy content horses

and Green Green Green.... sigh.

thank you very much!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi everyone

Here is Harry horse my thoroughbred. Pic taken a couple of winters ago when he was 17. He's 19 now and going strong still. He suffered the loss of his field companion a few weeks ago and has been in mourning ever since. Been on the depressed side life but I'm so happy now to report he got a new companion yesterday and is once again a happy bunny now he has someone to play with in the field!! They had a good game of chase me chase me yesterday which was great to watch.

 

[perchie.girl]

@Yorkshire coop

welcome to the group.... Love watching them play.... Halter tag is hilarious too. you can tell when they have been playing because one will be walking around with an ear folded flat and the halter holding it down and one eye shut because Well... the halter is sitting on it.

My girl just turned 21 this june... these days Senior Equines dont really start declining till almos thirty... Oh yea the artritis may be kicking in and the teeth need a little more attention.... I had a friend who had a lesson pony Shetland cross of some sort Stout and opinionated but VERY good with children. She lived and worked very lightly till she was 35.

Your Harry is very handsome. And looks like he has a kind eye.

deb

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Thankyou @perchie.girl

He is kind, couldn't ask for anyone better and there certainly will not be another like him for me. We still get out hacking 3-4 times a week. Nothing fancy just enjoy our rides out and time together. His elderly companion was 28 when he had to be put to sleep. He was very arthritic and his owner seemed to lose interest when she stopped riding him. He was looked after mainly by me over the last couple of years but it was not my decision on what he got. I told her on more than one occasion that he needed some kind of joint supplement/cortaflex/bute but I'm afraid it fell on deaf ears with her. It was always yes I will sort it out but she never did. In the end he got down in the stable and just could not get up. We tried and tried and tried but it was not to be. You could see in his eyes that he had given up. In the end colic set in and the vet agreed it was his time. I cried my eyes out like he was mine, it was just awful really was. Harry is starting on cortaflex and already has the buteless joint supplement. I'm not going down the same route as friend and getting in there early with the help especially before the winter sets in.

I know just what you mean with the halter tag. Harry went through many of them as he does with rugs!! Problem was solved though when I got him a Monty Roberts halter. He used be wild going to the field, he still has his moments now. He has to have it taken off in the field so no more having to walk around looking before he can come in!! Has saved me miles of walking looking for it. The halter works really well, I was very sceptical of the whole join up thing but I've done it with Harry and it was great. It really worked!!

 

[Bunnylady]

It feels really amazing to "speak horse," doesn't it? Particularly when they listen!

I used to work at a lesson/boarding stable where I was responsible for feed and turnout for up to 22 horses. The owner was a fun guy, but he liked to see the horses go tearing off when they got turned out, so he'd yank the halter off and yell like they do in the old cowboy movies. I spent a couple of weeks retraining an off-the-track Thoroughbred to go out quietly after he nearly jerked me right through the pasture gate anticipating that kind of start. When a 13-hand pony nearly took my head off doing the usual buck-and-kick take off, I suggested that perhaps the pony's owner's parents wouldn't appreciate having to have extensive dental work or possibly plastic surgery done on their daughter . . . .

He listened, because I had gained an almost mystical reputation around there. There were horses that the owners and trainers sometimes couldn't catch (in a 10-acre pasture, a horse can lead you a merry chase for a long time!), but I always could. No, guys, I'm not magical; I've just learned some techniques that work.