Who has horses?

[ShrekDawg]

I know there's a lot of threads on horses already but I don't think most are active anymore cause I replied to a bunch so I figured I'd make my own.

I don't own any horses yet but I want to eventually. I don't think I will on this property or anytime soon because I'm trying to save to move out soon and also we have close neighbors in the back. Although the horses would not be in the back and we do have almost 3 acres, most of which is lawn, so more than enough room for one or two, or some minis, but like I said, trying to save up for other stuff atm. I have always loved horses though and will own them eventually.

That does bring up another question though... are horses really as expensive as everyone says they are?

I think for now I might start lessons again or leasing. I used to ride when I was a kid and then started again like 4 years ago but I stopped again. I would like to start riding again.

I do have another question though: recently I've been kind of afraid that a horse is gonna like seriously injure me or something. I guess with calmer, less hot horses there's less risk but still, idk.

But my biggest issue is the few times I went trail riding, even on the calmest horse, I would always worry the horse was acting up or doing something wrong even if he like moved his head. Now, of course, it did get worse after I fell off* so maybe I just need more practice. Sometimes he did get a little bad though like when the others would canter ahead he wanted to go and would speed up and he hated being alone so maybe I need an even calmer one.

I guess the question is is it even possible to safely trail ride with anxiety or any horse or would I make them nervous and act up because I'm nervous?

Anyway, anyone have horses?

*Was not his fault, we went up a slight kinda gravelly/rocky hill, wasn't even really a hill, more like a little bank, and I didn't have a good seat so I fell off. He was actually concerned about me and waited instead of running off so I know he wasn't being fresh, at least that's what my instructor said. He would've been down the trail if he was. I felt bad for him actually cause he didn't understand why suddenly I was on the ground and crying lol I got back on and rode back to the barn though (thankfully not far). He tried to take care of his rider.

 

[Folly's place]

I still have four out in my pastures, but no longer ride, not having a 'steady Eddie' individual any more.
Take more lessons! Then consider maybe leasing a nice guy at the barn where you are already riding, and see how it goes.
You must be calm and confident, or things won't go well! Yes, you might get injured, and it's likely that you will fall off once in a while. Wear that helmet always!
Trail riding occasionally is tricky, because those livery horses will run the show. They know how insecure and untrained their riders are, and they put up with a lot of tugging and bouncing, and really are saintly in many ways. A trained horse responds to a slight shift in your weight, or a tense muscle, and knows when you look in a different direction. Sensitive!
The learning is what's fun, IMO, and nobody every learns it all. Olympic riders take lessons!
Mary

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

You've introduced some of the older horses - I just had to intro this little girl (& her family).

We are still going back and forth on a name. At first - "Bay-Bee" was cool... but that just goes against the grain for me to call a horse "Baby". So we are trying Bee-Bay (she flits about like a little Bee and she is a solid bay in color)... Eh. Larry (hubby) suggested just "BB" since her dam is "GG"... GG is one of the few whose barn name doesn't go along with her registered name. Well, it sort of does. Her registered name is LP Painted Silver Toy. The white marking on her silver bum looks like the Fisher Price giraffe. Giraffe and any shortening of it simply didn't work for her/us... So we went to GG & 8 yrs later, it has stuck well... This is her 2nd foal.

"Bee-Bay" was born on 15 June. The same day as my mom (who passed in May, just short of her 76th Bday)... She was handled several times over the first 3 days of her life and again at about a week of age. Not a lot - not the complete imprinting stuff (I no longer have clippers handy/working), but enough. Then on Friday the 13th of July, when she was 28 days old, she wore a halter for the first time, did some leading and got her first of many, many "pony pedi's"... I thought I'd share a series of the pics... In all, from the time the halter was first put on to the time it was removed was about 25 minutes of handling/working with her. From the time her 1st hoof picked up, the short "dance recital" to being rubbed into her nap, was 18 minutes...

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Bee-Bay's dam, GG (born 10 June 2010), went to driving lessons with her dam & her aunt. Starting at 10 days of age, again when 2 months old, then driving with her dam @ 3 yrs of age and then getting introduced to a young rider (learning balance) after having her 1st foal. EDIT to ADD - GG is not a fully trained riding pony, having only been saddled and lounged and sat on. Wouldn't be hard to get her going, hoping to have the girls' help w/ that soon...

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We own the 3 generations - Bell (1992 mare - silver black), GG (2010 mare - silver black tobiano), BB (2018 filly - solid bay)... and also Chylly (GG's 2016 filly - chestnut tobiano w/ a lot of white) & both sires of the 2 fillies (both of whom are bay tobianos).

Bee-Bay has quite the little family to live up to & I fully expect her to - as a great driving pony and she could be an awesome riding pony, too.

To illustrate still "working" in older age AND color - this is Bell, a 1992 mare. This mare wasn't even "halter broke" when I purchased her in 2009 @ 17 yrs of age - when I started training her. At Christmas 2017, she would have been 25 -1/2 yrs old... Gwen spent a large portion of her 2 week Christmas break learning to ride. Bell is BLACK based with NO CREAM, yet she looks lite "yellow" or "gold" (both in 'high summer" and in winter) due to the double dilute silver gene (Z) in play on her black coat... Bell is heterozygous black (1 black, 1 red gene - Ee), homozygous silver (2 silver genes - ZZ ) and NO cream (nn for Cr)... The 3rd pic was taken - probably at her darkest coat color while at a trail driving event in 2012 (she is 20 yrs old).

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OI, guess I went a bit overboard on the pictures again...

No such thing, lol......
Makes me miss my minis.....this was Holly Hula and Miss B Hav'n

 

[Folly's place]

My horses live at home, on pasture, with hay ($45 per big round bale) in winter. Some extra pelleted feed too, in winter especially.
Annual vaccinations are essential, at least here! I usually don't do strangles, but everything else. Mosquitoes or not, I can't imaging leaving out tetanus anyway...or rabies.
Farrier every eight weeks or so, $40 each, for trimming, never shoes.
Teeth need to be checked and floated, every year or so, $150+ depending on issues. Old folks need more, some way less.
Illnesses; at least $150 or more per vet visit with meds. Colics and major issues way more. Colic surgeries $6000+.
Horses are accident prone! They like to damage fences. Tack breaks. Just be ready for these 'little issues' to pop up. They live into their thirties fairly often. Easy to buy, hard to sell.
Some of us are born 'horse crazy' and just go with it. Logical, maybe not, but there it is.
No animal is more beautiful, with more history, and majesty.
Mary

 

[Oncoming Storm]

I have a beautiful amber champagne eight yo gelding named Storm. He’s an American warmblood %50 cream draft %25 Holsteiner %25 Andalusian. He’s just the calmest guy on the block (except when there’s a statue involved). I absolutely adore him. He never makes a sound and loves to run cross country. Horses with draft horse breeding tend to be calmer and more chill but it all depends on personality. That’s why I prefer warmbloods over hotbloods like thoroughbreds since they tend to be more high strung. But honestly any horse is a good horse.

 

[Nksg75]

That does bring up another question though... are horses really as expensive as everyone says they are?

Yes, they can be. It really is a question of how you choose to care for your animal. I live in Texas now, however grew up riding Hunter jumpers in Missouri. We pampered our ponies, and horses, because we showed them almost every weekend all over the country.
Here in Texas I have found many cattlemen just rely on the pasture as their food, and they don't really feed them grain, or any quality hay or alfalfa.
I am not saying it's the wrong way, just not the way I would do it.
Take the cost factor:
1. Boarding- do you have a place to house them?
If so great, if not, then add that to the expense on top of the cost to purchase a sound horse.
2. Feed/bedding
3. Vet
4. Farrier
5. Tack
6. Misc(fly spray, deworming, etc.)
It could all add up. However is the worth it? Yes, absolutely in my mind! I love them, and will always love them!

 

[paintedChix]

You've introduced some of the older horses - I just had to intro this little girl (& her family).

We are still going back and forth on a name. At first - "Bay-Bee" was cool... but that just goes against the grain for me to call a horse "Baby". So we are trying Bee-Bay (she flits about like a little Bee and she is a solid bay in color)... Eh. Larry (hubby) suggested just "BB" since her dam is "GG"... GG is one of the few whose barn name doesn't go along with her registered name. Well, it sort of does. Her registered name is LP Painted Silver Toy. The white marking on her silver bum looks like the Fisher Price giraffe. Giraffe and any shortening of it simply didn't work for her/us... So we went to GG & 8 yrs later, it has stuck well... This is her 2nd foal.

"Bee-Bay" was born on 15 June. The same day as my mom (who passed in May, just short of her 76th Bday)... She was handled several times over the first 3 days of her life and again at about a week of age. Not a lot - not the complete imprinting stuff (I no longer have clippers handy/working), but enough. Then on Friday the 13th of July, when she was 28 days old, she wore a halter for the first time, did some leading and got her first of many, many "pony pedi's"... I thought I'd share a series of the pics... In all, from the time the halter was first put on to the time it was removed was about 25 minutes of handling/working with her. From the time her 1st hoof picked up, the short "dance recital" to being rubbed into her nap, was 18 minutes...



Bee-Bay's dam, GG (born 10 June 2010), went to driving lessons with her dam & her aunt. Starting at 10 days of age, again when 2 months old, then driving with her dam @ 3 yrs of age and then getting introduced to a young rider (learning balance) after having her 1st foal. EDIT to ADD - GG is not a fully trained riding pony, having only been saddled and lounged and sat on. Wouldn't be hard to get her going, hoping to have the girls' help w/ that soon...





We own the 3 generations - Bell (1992 mare - silver black), GG (2010 mare - silver black tobiano), BB (2018 filly - solid bay)... and also Chylly (GG's 2016 filly - chestnut tobiano w/ a lot of white) & both sires of the 2 fillies (both of whom are bay tobianos).

Bee-Bay has quite the little family to live up to & I fully expect her to - as a great driving pony and she could be an awesome riding pony, too.

To illustrate still "working" in older age AND color - this is Bell, a 1992 mare. This mare wasn't even "halter broke" when I purchased her in 2009 @ 17 yrs of age - when I started training her. At Christmas 2017, she would have been 25 -1/2 yrs old... Gwen spent a large portion of her 2 week Christmas break learning to ride. Bell is BLACK based with NO CREAM, yet she looks lite "yellow" or "gold" (both in 'high summer" and in winter) due to the double dilute silver gene (Z) in play on her black coat... Bell is heterozygous black (1 black, 1 red gene - Ee), homozygous silver (2 silver genes - ZZ ) and NO cream (nn for Cr)... The 3rd pic was taken - probably at her darkest coat color while at a trail driving event in 2012 (she is 20 yrs old).



OI, guess I went a bit overboard on the pictures again...

 

[Bunnylady]

Are you familiar with the "Paddock Paradise" concept?

Most people recognize that a horse confined to a stall is bored. But believe it or not, a horse confined to acres and acres of wide open pasture gets bored, too - and fat (which is really not good for it). A lot of us (*raises hand*) have horses that will develop serious health issues if allowed access to all the grass they can eat. The idea of Paddock Paradise is that you create an environment that is stimulating for the horses, and they exercise their minds and bodies as they move themselves through it. It truly can be a case where 'less is more.'

Here's one person's take on it:
https://thenaturallyhealthyhorse.com/2014/05/01/paddock-paradise/

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

Hi there I don’t think I’ve added myself to This thread. I have a horse named Hudson he is a welsh cob and 14.3 hands high

 

[Zinjifrah]

The level of expense for horses depends on your area and what's available. Have land you can keep it on? Knock the price of a boarding facility off. Have a ready source of cheap, good quality fodder? Wonderful! Here, I live in Alfalfa country and yet a three-string bale of grass will cost me around $18, Alfalfa around $16. Figure my two mares go through two bales a week, sometimes three depending on weather. I have mustangs, and they'll get fat on dry grass - so I don't need to supplement their feed with any grain of specialty feeds. They get psyllium fiber once a month - that's about a $30 expense per month here. Hooves trimmed - they're barefoot - about every two to three months, as needed, for another $100. Trying to find a reliable farrier here is an exercise in futility, so I end up having to call around to a half dozen people to actually get one to show up. The concept of 'keeping an appointment' is incomprehensible to any of them, so figure a day off work spent sitting around waiting for someone who might show up, I add that to the 'expense' for the trim, though it's not reflected in the above price, since it's not monetary.

Then there are emergency vet bills, standard vet bills, etcetera. I don't vaccinate my horses, because I live nowhere near any mosquitoes - no open bodies of water within about twenty miles - and I don't travel with them. I've known too many people who lost horses due to a bad vaccination to do it if I don't need to. If I were living in a mosquito-rich area, they'd get vaccinated. Emergency vet bills for a horse are staggering. I know. One of my girls got out a while back, ran square into the hitch of the goose-neck horse trailer, and ripped her shoulder wide open - a gash about a foot long, and bone deep. It couldn't be stitched up, being on the point of her shoulder. I'm incredulous that she's recovered, and is actually sound - when I saw the cut, and all the blood she'd lost, I KNEW she was going to have to be put down. Horses will get hurt. They're incredible animals, but they have a strong prey instinct - which is to say, they're prey, and their instinct is to flee danger, even if doing so gets them hurt.

Ultimately, horses are very expensive, but just how much depends on what kind of horse, what its needs are, what your needs are, and what's available where you're at.