Regarding the Horses in our lives...

[Cagematmidnight]

Thank you!

I have heard of putting bells on, but I haven't yet.

Both boys can see shadows, and get around just fine. They know where the fence is, and don't tend to run around unless on a lounge line.

I'm thinking of getting a mini for them, and if I do I would put bells on the mini.

I've have never looked into cataract surgery since he gets around so well, might be a good idea for the future!

 

[perchie.girl]

Thank you!

I have heard of putting bells on, but I haven't yet.

Both boys can see shadows, and get around just fine. They know where the fence is, and don't tend to run around unless on a lounge line.

I'm thinking of getting a mini for them, and if I do I would put bells on the mini.

I've have never looked into cataract surgery since he gets around so well, might be a good idea for the future!

there are youtube videos on it. Now I am very squeemish about eyes. Yet I could watch the video. its an interesting process. Just the same as human eyes complete with insertion of a lense. Amazing.

The deal with the bells would be for new locations... Places they were unfamiliar with. I think horses are better adapted to the loss of sight than humans are because their hearing is much more focus-able.

deb

 

[Zoomie]

Hi.... new around here...

I just wanted to chime in that my husband's horse went blind several years ago, and it was so cool to watch my mare herd this one around and help her. By now my husband's mare knows exactly where she is "in the dark" so to speak, and gets along fine... which is good because my poor mare died this summer (she broke her pelvis and had to be put down

) but I put one of the minis in with that mare, and the mini has started to do the same thing! It's pretty amazing but they seem to realize she needs a little help. I didn't use bells as the pasture is huge, about 40 acres, and I was concerned about things getting hung up in the collar. The mini is doing really well with the mare though even without the bells.

I take it some of you drive? This is something I love to do with my minis. I've competed at Combined Driving and done pretty well, I am pleased to say, plus it's a really fun discipline.

In addition I'm a horsehair braider. People send me hair from their horse, and I make stuff out of it for them. With being down to "only" six horses (and a huge donkey) and then looking at horsehair all day, I think about horses all the time... which is pretty cool and suits me very well! I'm really happy to see other horse people here!

 

[Bunnylady]

@paintedChix - it's not the girl's age, it's her lack of "education." You had the education, and you were continuing your education with knowledgeable people. The vast majority of this girl's "education" comes from "the University of YouTube." Granted, you can learn lots of useful things there (that's where I learned how to tie a rope halter) but you only find what you go looking for. As you can see from the ad, one thing she went looking for was how to train your horse to lie down, which is a cute trick, but I guarantee you she has never long-lined this or any other horse. In the ad, she says, "horses;" her other horse is a mini. She has trick-trained her mini, too - she has taught her to chase ("follow") her in the pasture and to rear on command. You know ponies - the mini doesn't wait for a command, she volunteers (a lot). As long as this girl has this mini, she knows that these are tricks that the mini was taught, and she thinks they are cute. But what happens if the mini gets sold and starts chasing a child around and rearing near it?

We seem to have a lot of "trainers" like this around here - young people who pick up a trick or two, and decide they are trainers. I'm just waiting for this one to start offering lessons . . . .

Interesting that we are also talking about horses with vision problems - perhaps you have noticed that the horse I've been talking about is a snowcap Appaloosa. She's night-blind, as are all homozygous Appy's. While I was working at the barn, we had several incidents with this horse or one of the few-spots that most likely had to do with things getting changed, and the horse not learning the new set-up before nightfall. Eventually, though, they do adapt, and adapt well; I'll bet that a lot of owners of few-spots and snowcaps never realize that their horses can't see in the dark.

 

[minihorse927]

I actually had to explain to our neighbors that their few spot app was night blind. She was being boarded at another property and something (still swear it was a mountain lion) grabed a hold of her hindquarters and she took off running. Ended up hitting herself in the center of her head with a tpost as she tore through the fence. She went completely blind after that incident and now has to be led around by her other horse buddies completely.

 

[perchie.girl]

Hi.... new around here...

I just wanted to chime in that my husband's horse went blind several years ago, and it was so cool to watch my mare herd this one around and help her. By now my husband's mare knows exactly where she is "in the dark" so to speak, and gets along fine... which is good because my poor mare died this summer (she broke her pelvis and had to be put down

) but I put one of the minis in with that mare, and the mini has started to do the same thing! It's pretty amazing but they seem to realize she needs a little help. I didn't use bells as the pasture is huge, about 40 acres, and I was concerned about things getting hung up in the collar. The mini is doing really well with the mare though even without the bells.

I take it some of you drive? This is something I love to do with my minis. I've competed at Combined Driving and done pretty well, I am pleased to say, plus it's a really fun discipline.

In addition I'm a horsehair braider. People send me hair from their horse, and I make stuff out of it for them. With being down to "only" six horses (and a huge donkey) and then looking at horsehair all day, I think about horses all the time... which is pretty cool and suits me very well! I'm really happy to see other horse people here!

Welcome to the group. I soo wanted to do combined driving with my mare. but Life got in the way. But I did get her trained to drive. Now shes just a big fluffy pasture ornament.

Here is one of the few pictures I have of us at a horse show. We have only been to two.



deb

 

[Cagematmidnight]

there are youtube videos on it.  Now I am very squeemish about eyes.  Yet I could watch the video.  its an interesting process.  Just the same as human eyes complete with insertion of a lense.  Amazing.

The deal with the bells would be for new locations...   Places they were unfamiliar with.   I think horses are better adapted to the loss of sight than humans are because their hearing is much  more focus-able.

deb

I agree!

Thank you for the info, I'm going to look up some YouTube videos.

If I saddled them up, and put fly mask on, you wouldn't even know they were blind. They're pretty amazing.

I must agree, their hearing does help quite a bit.

 

[Cagematmidnight]

This is really neat!
So many people think I'm crazy when I say both of my boys are going blind, and I still ride.

Not a lot of people keep them, hence why I got both of my boys.

I have always joked, that I wouldn't know how to ride a normal sighted horse after 6 years on partial blind horses.

If interested, look up "Endo the blind horse" he had both eyes removed. Also has a Facebook page, she has done some amazing work with him!

 

[Zoomie]

Thanks for the welcome. What a lovely, lovely mare. And I love your turnout!

I think this is a photo of me and my mare Robyn at a competition. We got second place, because I missed a move in the dressage phase... DUH on my part, wasn't Robyn's fault.

We're just coming in to an obstacle. This horse is brave as a lion. She does not back off anything! I do wish I had a nicer cart, but this one works for the lower levels. Maybe someday...

 

[perchie.girl]

Thanks for the welcome. What a lovely, lovely mare. And I love your turnout!

I think this is a photo of me and my mare Robyn at a competition. We got second place, because I missed a move in the dressage phase... DUH on my part, wasn't Robyn's fault.

We're just coming in to an obstacle. This horse is brave as a lion. She does not back off anything! I do wish I had a nicer cart, but this one works for the lower levels. Maybe someday...

She looks like a goer... VBG. It would be awesome to have a nice oak or hickory road cart... I have seen some really cute ones. That cart of yours is a very nice one....

I couldn't afford a "Bird in Hand" which is what I wanted. The vehicle itself isn't too bad price wise but for drafts double it then double the price for shipping...

That cart In the picture is a Hickory Road cart. With 52 inch diameter wheels. its almost too tall for my horse. Shes only 17.1 hands. I bought it as a kit. Shipping is partially weight, but with Carriages its mostly the amount of space they take up in the Truck. It came as two pallets of sticks and one long wrapped up package for shafts. The wheels were amish built. It took approximately 40 hours to sand every thing then Tongue oil it then assemble it.

The steel came bare and the suggestion was to Clean it with a degreaser sand it smooth then paint it with primer and finally paint it with two coats of color. Not doing that... My painting skills are aweful. I took all the steel parts to a dune buggy paint shop, Passivation (cleaning of steel) and sandblasting is part of their pre-paint process. Then they hung the parts inside a dune buggy when they powder coated it. Best two hundred dollars I spent. I even took all the screws and poked them into cardboard and painted them myself.

One thing I changed was the single tree. At the time I was following a group devoted to Trail driving. And Combined driving. Some of the Auzzies were doing something called a SWINGLE tree. Basically the single tree is attached to the axle by either leather or webbing and is allowed to float in air. I added bungees to it to keep it from drooping. What that did was put the Traces in direct draft to the collar. Normally this kind of cart is so light you can just use a breast collar setup. I prefer a collar and hames. Because my other vehicle is a fore-cart and very heavy.

What this does is keep the collar from working up out of the natural position on the shoulders. If you are going to drive long hours this is not good. Some of these people were doing 100 mile drives or treks with a vehicle called a Jinker. Essentially a two or four wheeled vehicle with very long shafts and space for camping gear.


Notice the draft on the vehicle above. it goes straight to either the axel or underneath the body of the cart.
http://www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au/site/mildura/Transport/14493.html

Jinker is also a term for a vehicle for transporting logs.

My show harness was an ebay purchase because the vehicle is wood I could go with russet. I liked the fact that the russet looked so good on her. I think I used that harness about ten times total. Didn't trust it after that. Very thin leather reinforced by webbing that was about as thick as a sheet of paper.

I did get a nice leather harness once I got a decent job. But the fellow I ordered it from misunderstood when I said stainless steel haimes. They had some nice buggy hames.... He sent me full on Draft horse show hames.. They got to weigh thirty five pounds all on their own...

Its ok though. they ARE pretty.

deb