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8:07 pm
March 3, 2011
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Hopefully horses count as barnyard animals here! They aren't exactly donkeys like Suzanne has, but close!
I should preface this with the fact that I have been horse crazy all my life. My mom always rued the day they put me on a horse when I was 2 because I NEVER got over it! I spent most of my young life desperately longing for a horse and riding anything I could whenever I could. I even rode a cow once!
My dream came true briefly (and somewhat modified) not long after I was married and when we lived in Hawaii. I bought a wild Batanga mare (aka a pony by American standards, but just…) who was very much in foal when I bought her. Kehau (Hawaiian for morning mist – so named because I always saw her early in the morning) gave birth to Dawn's Early Light about 6 weeks later. Dawnie was a puppy! So much fun. When we moved to the mainland I had to sell both of them. Great sadness.
Fast forward to today. I have one horsey daughter and one who just doesn't get it. To her credit she is a totally awesome fastpitch softball pitcher…throws just under 60mph! We can't all love the same things…. On 5/27 I was given a Peruvian Paso named Gabe. (North Wind's Gabriel is his registered name). Now the horse-loving daughter and I are trying to get our property ready to host horses.
I'd love to see some discussion of the farm equines here… We will be fencing and building a run in off the back of our barn and then we can bring Gabe home – and get him a friend too. My dh has already claimed him as her own so I will be shopping for a somewhat taller horse for me :)
8:23 pm
March 3, 2011
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that should be dd is claiming him as her own. DH is just dealing with the issues ;)
9:34 pm
May 14, 2011
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Welcome back to the world of equines. "Dawn's Early Light", what a great name.
Yes, I guess technically they are a barn yard animal. I personally have just have
never really considered them "farm" animals. :) Maybe because they
seem to me to be more work and more fussy thay the average farm animal. Plus,
when I bought my first horse we didn't have a farm… situational predigest I
guess.
It's good you are getting him a friend, horse are herd animals and enjoy
having friends. I've owned horses for almost 20 years now, so what would you
like to talk about. I'm always up for some good horse chat.
My background in horses started when I was 12, I took up riding lessons at a local stable and save all my babysitting money to buy my first horse. Who I still have. He and I competed in dressage and 3 day eventing. I rode competitivly thourgh out college but drifted away from it while finishing my second degree and sitting for my professional license. About 6 years ago, I adopted two mares off the race track with plans of breeding one to a Warmblood for my next dressage baby but I haven't done it yet.
Somedays, I imagine what life would be like without horses but I don't think I want to know.
10:35 pm
June 1, 2011
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I'm a retired farrier! Maintained herds from 5-13 horses of my own (which is how I got into farrier work in the first place, got tired of waiting around for my own farrier and decided to go to school to learn how to do it myself!). Never foresaw having such a busy practice for so many years! I'm now down to 2. My dh still shoes but he just underwent surgery for carpal tunnel, so he'll be forced into retirement soon too. Injury forced me out too…it's a young person's game. We had an awesome business though, very rewarding, and I LOVED LOVED LOVED our clients!
10:44 pm
June 1, 2011
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Meant to add…I know many do not consider horses to be farm animals. But if I'm going to do that hard a work on a farm, then it's my reward to throw a horse into the mix–it's very little additional labor but oh so motivating to know after work I can ride…or to relax I can just grab a curry comb and be all zen with them!
I was already bushhogging pastures, mending fence and buying feed for the other livestock so the extra mouths were no trouble. I kept mine in pastures with the pastured poultry. Many times that was enough to keep out predators. I even occasionally hitched them up to drag out firewood in areas inaccessible with a tractor so they paid their way on the farm too.
After farrier school I was able to get into a little buying/selling/trading/training as I came upon opportunities where the owners just wanted out of horses and didn't want to bother finding new owners, or when an owner bought too much horse for their skill-level. Your farrier will be your best friend in all areas of horse ownership. Find a good one, treat 'em well and they'll save you alot of $$ and aggravation!!
1:06 am
February 8, 2009
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I have 3 horses, and consider them farm animals.
Although most my animals have a purpose, eggs, milk, meat…the horses are here for our plessure.
I have Breeze a Percheron X 17hh and 12 yrs old.
Sherry Lee, my little 13 hands mustang of 15 yrs old
And Cocoa, my youngest boy his horse, she is 14 hh and 5 yrs old, all are trained, my horse is Breeze because I'm trained English..and so is he…we are a better match.
Sherry Lee is trained also, but a little spunky, she comes from a reserve and was used as a bredmare…she is here to enjoy her life… a cuddle bug.
Cocoa is a sweet heart, everybody can ride here..not a mean thing on her.
Yes I love my horsies.
9:26 am
May 14, 2011
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I agree with Liz. I good farrier makes all the difference. Once you find one treat them like gold and hold on to them. :)
12:28 pm
March 3, 2011
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Hooray for horsey people on CITR!! My Gabe goes barefoot and just has a 'pedicure' from the farrier on a regular basis. Who knows about his eventual companion though. So far I know about two farriers – the one who does Gabe's feet now along with his 3 current pasture mates, and another who does the horses at the barn where a friend of mine keeps her horse.
Do any of you use a horse chiropractor? The mayor of the village I live in (yep…in the Garden State there are still villages founded before the Revolutionary War – NJ is not all a suburb of NYC!) doubles as a people chiropractor and also does horses.
Another question – can or will horses eat ivy? I mean regular ivy, not the ground ivy or creeping charlie type. There is quite a bit of it in a wooded section of the area we are about to fence.
12:52 pm
March 21, 2010
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I'm a horse lover too! I think they are the most beautiful creatures on the planet. I have always been horse crazy. I grew up on a farm with lots of animals but no horses. When I met my husband twenty years ago, it was love at first sight, with Kitten, his beautiful paint mare. Today we have five paints, including Kitten. We horsecamp and trail ride as often as we can. We don't shoe our horses anymore, we practice natural hoofcare. My husband does our hooftrimming. He learned the natural way of trimming and how to do the mustang role and it works really well for us and our horses. I can't imagine life without them.
1:07 pm
June 1, 2011
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JerseyMom said:
Hooray for horsey people on CITR!! My Gabe goes barefoot and just has a 'pedicure' from the farrier on a regular basis. Who knows about his eventual companion though. So far I know about two farriers – the one who does Gabe's feet now along with his 3 current pasture mates, and another who does the horses at the barn where a friend of mine keeps her horse.
My own horses mostly go barefoot too! I'm very much an advocate for barefoot trimming unless there's an issue that requires shoes. Contrary to what most barefoot evangelists preach, shoes are not the enemy. If they'd take the time to learn the anatomy of the whole horse and not just the foot, they wouldn't uphold shoeing as the evil thing they think of it now. What many of those evangelists don't realize is the barefoot studies conducted by Gene Ovnicek in the 80s came from observing wild horses out west walking on mostly ancient volcanic soils–a natural foot trimmer. What holds true for those horses out west does not relate to horses east of the Rockies where our soils are much softer and wetter, thus more injuries and need for support, sometimes in the way of shoes.
There are also farriers who utilize one particular "brand" of shoeing, such as the New Balance shoe. I've seen these shoes both help and hurt horses. Again, this is just one tool in an arsenal that any farrier should carry. No one method is the only right way to maintain horse health. So look for a farrier who will observe not just the horse standing, but a loaded foot–meaning he/she should observe your horse under saddle doing whatever it is you normally do. Many times issues do not present standing still in the farrier stall.
One of our VT Equestrian Team clients was an avid h/j (hunter jumper). She continued having problems with her gelding bumping the rails. After attending several shows with her, and tweaking the shoeing in between, the horse only needed 1/16 of an inch taken off his left hind which dropped his hip that side. No more downed rails. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't been there.
One of my horses currently requires shoes. Without shoes her hoof walls wear up above the sole causing massive bruising and frog degeneration. On the other hand my trail/endurance horses were kept barefoot and wore custom fitted boots.
Wow, didn't mean to digress (can you tell I miss shoeing?!?!)
Do any of you use a horse chiropractor? The mayor of the village I live in (yep…in the Garden State there are still villages founded before the Revolutionary War – NJ is not all a suburb of NYC!) doubles as a people chiropractor and also does horses.
We worked alot with chiropractors and they can make a big difference in the horse's comfort as well as ability to perform/work, just as with people!
Another question – can or will horses eat ivy? I mean regular ivy, not the ground ivy or creeping charlie type. There is quite a bit of it in a wooded section of the area we are about to fence.
Only if they are very very hungry or they are "chewers". Horses need NEED to chew which is why in skimpy pastures they will eat the bark off trees; they are DRIVEN to chew. As long as they have plenty of hay and pasture there should be no problem. In handling 2500 horses a year in our practice, I never came across one that ate any type of ivy. That doesn't mean one won't–the one thing I can say absolutely about horses is "Never say never"
My boy loves to eat around poison ivy which grows out in our pastures–and since I taught him to kiss me many moons ago, I never miss a spring that I don't get poison ivy on my face!
But not because he's eating it…just around it! Silly boy!
1:16 pm
February 22, 2010
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I don't have a horse, never plan to have a horse …but these "Horsey" posts are very interesting! Very informative, Liz.
My DIL and Grandson are the horse people.
1:19 pm
June 1, 2011
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MMT said:
We don't shoe our horses anymore, we practice natural hoofcare. My husband does our hooftrimming. He learned the natural way of trimming and how to do the mustang role and it works really well for us and our horses. I can't imagine life without them.
I wish more of my clients would have learned how to trim their own. I always told them that even if they didn't do the regular trimming, learning how to do it would teach them so much about their horse(s) and if the farrier was doing a quality job, and it would also make them much more observant of their horse's overall general health. Kudos to your dh for doing it!! (And my boy's a b/w paint too, and I cannot imagine life without him either. But I know it's coming up soon enough. Had to put his mom down a year ago (she was 24, had gone blind). He's 20 going on 5, the stinker. And he's never worn shoes or boots, very healthy feet!
6:49 pm
February 8, 2009
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My horses have no shoes either, and the ferrier and I alternate..then he comes..and the next time I do it myself..then he comes again.
10:51 am
July 22, 2010
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Oh how I love horses! I was raised with them and my old paint, Ginger, was my best friend. She finally died at the ripe old age of 32! All of our horses went unshod and we never had any problems with that. Ginger had a little foot trouble as she got older and that was simply because it was so hard to care for her feet (she was getting old and stiff). I haven't had horses for years now and wouldn't even be able to care for them. There are some mini's down the lane from us and I take great pleasure in taking them treats (they love it when I pull carrots – they're especially fond of the tops). I also get to "babysit" my daughter's minis when she goes on vacation!
11:24 am
June 7, 2011
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Liz Pike said:
I'm a retired farrier! Maintained herds from 5-13 horses of my own (which is how I got into farrier work in the first place, got tired of waiting around for my own farrier and decided to go to school to learn how to do it myself!). Never foresaw having such a busy practice for so many years! I'm now down to 2. My dh still shoes but he just underwent surgery for carpal tunnel, so he'll be forced into retirement soon too. Injury forced me out too…it's a young person's game. We had an awesome business though, very rewarding, and I LOVED LOVED LOVED our clients!
After farrier school I was able to get into a little buying/selling/trading/training as I came upon opportunities where the owners just wanted out of horses and didn't want to bother finding new owners, or when an owner bought too much horse for their skill-level. Your farrier will be your best friend in all areas of horse ownership. Find a good one, treat 'em well and they'll save you alot of $$ and aggravation!!
I am new here and loving this site!
I was horse nuts, truly nuts, growing up. I had to settle for other peoples horses and lessons. It wasn't until I was out of the house that my parents bought a small horse farm.
My dad had a real talent for working with good horses with bad habits and like Liz mentioned, he had a nice business in taking in horses, working with them, turning them into great horses and selling them. Many of these horses came through the ferrier. Probably not unique to my area but it seemed like a lot of people had money for very good horses but they had not idea how to be horse owner.
12:24 pm
March 3, 2011
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Great hoof conversation! I'd love to learn to alternate with the farrier. Is that something that most of them would teach me to do? I'd still want them to come every other time because they'd me the expert, not me.
Bought myself a barely used saddle and pad, a Western bridle and extra headstall, and an English bridle for my daughter all for $100 on Wednesday. Hooray! I'm going to a yard sale tomorrow morning that is supposed to have lots of tack and canning supplies too. Talk about the right combo…. Hoping to pick up a few more things there for a reasonable amount.
I'm still agonizing about the fence. DH hates fences and I'm not going to win the wooden post and rail argument. So……he likes the pipe kind like in a round pen, and then there is the electric rope or tape kind….. Your thoughts?
12:37 pm
May 5, 2011
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Hi JerseyMom, 
I'm like you–I dreamed of owning a horse from the time I could walk too! My mom used to draw horses in chalk pastels and would tell me stories of the two ponies she had as a teenager which set my mind to dreaming! We lived in town though and I couldn't afford one at the time.
When I was 24 years old, I won the county fair colt on a $1 raffle ticket. It was meant to be! I had always put in $1 on that raffle since I was a kid. His registered name is Bandit's Spirit of Freedom, but I call him Journey (thus my online alias) because it was such a long journey for me to have my very own horse and it was significant of that time in my life. He's a gaited paint. I am really hoping my daughter will take to horses as well and will want to ride him in 4-H and shows.
Well, as far as your property taxes go, at least the gov't considers a horse to be a farm animal. My dad was glad to let me keep Journey on his farm because you have to have livestock on your acrage (5+ acres) to qualify it as a farm and get a break on your taxes (even a goat will count). My dad had just inherited his farm shortly before I won my horse, so it kinda christened the farm for him and really got him excited about it.
ETA: We use the electric polybraid tape kind. It does a great job keeping the horses in, but unfortunately, not for keeping the deer out. The horses are scared to death of it and won't even step across it if it's lying on the ground. But we frequently have to make repairs because of the stupid deer (or sometimes high winds). But it's easy to fix. You just tie it back together.
1:11 pm
March 3, 2011
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Hi Journey11! What a cool story about your Journey. Sounds to me like it was meant to be. Thanks for the fence recommendation. What kind of posts do you use?
We have tons of deer too. We use peanut butter on strips of foil crimped to a fidoshock powered fence to keep them out of the garden but I expect that they may want to 'visit' the horses to drink out of their tub or 'help' them with any food they don't scarf down right away. They currently check out the chickens' area pretty regularly to drink from the duck pond and look for any overlooked cracked corn. I think the peanut butter is the key thing that makes it successful – because the shock is to their tongue 
3:30 pm
May 5, 2011
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That's funny that deer like peanut butter! I'll have to try that.
We use the metal T-posts. They make plastic clips that snap onto them to hold the polybraid. It's pretty quick to set up compared to other fencing and more affordable. I like that it is safe for the horses though, nothing to get their legs caught in, but it does require more maintenance, making sure everything is up and working properly. I've always heard that wood fencing is the best though. Most people will run a line of electric at the top to keep the horses from leaning on it and scratching their bottoms. For a smaller paddock that would be nice though (but ours is several acres of field fenced…too expensive!)
6:25 pm
March 2, 2011
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I've got a variety of other critters, as well as a Paint mare (my horse) and a Chincoteague Pony (not broke to ride yet–just taking up space!). T-posts can work, but be absolutely sure to buy the heavy rounded plastic caps that fit over the tops. Horses are prey animals, which means that they tend to react to anything that spooks them by running away first and thinking about where they're going later. A horse that gets startled (or just starts running and doesn't get stopped) can end up with truly gory injuries from the top of a T-post. I've heard of horses impaling themselves on these. That being said, there are plenty of people around who successfully keep horses behind T-posts with nary a problem. Just be aware that uncapped T-posts have the potential to be very bad news. Other than safety (freedom from sharp edges, etc.), visibility is the most important quality for horse fence. The electrified poly rope someone suggested earlier works well because it's easily visible to a galloping horse. I have a combination of four-rail board fence (around my horse shed, where the horses spend the winter being bored and are more likely to "push" one another into or through a fence) and coated, electrified hi-tensile elsewhere. The white coating makes it more visible than plain hi-tensile wire, as well as less likely to cut a horse up badly if one gets into it. It's important to always keep any kind of rope, wide tape, or wire fence "hot"–otherwise, horses may learn that they can push on it to get to the grass outside, and that can lead to tangles, injuries, and of course escapes. I also have a hot wire inside the top rail of my board fence–helps to prevent chewing out of boredom.
It's true that a bored horse will eat things it shouldn't–like tree bark or less-than-desirable plants. Mine stripped the bark off a couple of trees over the winter out of boredom. They're at appropriate weights but are "easy keepers"–any more hay to entertain them, and they would have been grossly overweight! Winter is hard on your pasture areas, so it's good to think about having a "sacrifice area"–a small paddock or lot, usually adjoining shelter, that you don't mind having your horses churn into mud in the winter and early spring. Letting then have access to grassy areas in the muddy off-season–unless you have acres and acres of pasture for them to wander in–will result in your pasture being destroyed by hooves on the wet ground. I try to keep my two off of the "nice" grassy areas until the grass is well established in the spring.
What kind of shelter are you thinking of? Horses don't need fancy stabling. Nature intended them to live outdoors, and many do just fine with a run-in shed that lets them get out of the wind, rain, and snow.
Congratulations on your new venture!
–Kirsten
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