horse owners?

[bug_n_flock]

No photos yet. She is here, but lmao walked right thru the pen's fence. So a 2 wire became a 3 with some clever tweaks, and tomorrow we will be getting thicker poly wire and/or poly ribbon. She just kept sneaking under the fence. by the time we got the fence to where we think it will hold her overnight, it was solidly dark. Photos tomorrow.



Butters was soooooo excited!!! Running around like a fool in circles he was so excited! And the Filly kept whinnying at him and wanted to go say hi. We figure after a day or so they can go nose to nose with fence between them still. She is so sweet and awesome! She had apparently never seen chickens before. They were weird but OK. The guineas, though, were too much at first. She can see the geese and turkeys and ducks, but we have most of them penned at this point. She is a little afraid of them, but they are not too close. She is so alert and interested in everything. At first wanted to drag us along on the lead but after an hour or so of being here her manners on the lead improved greatly.



The name Berry doesn't quite seem right for her anymore. IDK what we will call her. Going to sleep lightly tonight I'm sure. Both her and us. And then early start heading to the feed shop for another load of feed and some better fencing supplies. Oh, I forgot to mention: we are going to just buy a used 2-horse trailer from the breeder. Going to go back to his farm next week to get it, and swing by our hay people for another couple dozen bales in addition to the 70 they are going to deliver. The farrier we are trying out now(balanced barefoot) suggested we get her off of the sweet feed and hay diet and switched to an unlimited hay diet supplemented with trace mineral powder and a cup of ground flax per day. What are your thoughts on that diet? We want a good diet for them, but one which is affordable so we can stock up. Also I feel like a hardy breed like a KMH won't need the same high quality rations as her 2 performance throughbreds. Shrug. I do not claim to be an expert on this!

 

[Noahs_Birds]

I've got 2 horses, well.... a horse and a shetland pony!

 

[Laurasea]

We tied strips of cloth every few inches along fence till they learned it. Be very careful she can really injure herself if she wraps up in wire.

She's young she needs a good diet while growing. You need to find out when she is due for worming again, very important with young horses.
I have not heard if fkax for horses, wasn't around when I had them... But I think she needs a more varied diet than fkax and hay...
Minersl block, salt block, pellets? I don't know I like sweet feed as a little part of the diet, .. guess do your research, ask for a bunch of different opinions, go with what breeder said more than others..

When I got my mare she was malnutrition, I feel like we added eggs to her diet but I can't remember well enough was a long time ago. I know she got mash sweetfeed and some grain and extras.. always careful if feed and founder...
So excited for you.
Names
Ava
Willow,
Brandy
Bingo
Butterscotch
River
Brown sugar,
Cinnamon
Kit Kat
Nutmeg
Knew a horse named Kitten ( loved the name and her)
Maisy
Bambi
Birdie ! !
Babette
Georgia
GiGi
Gidget
Gracie
Poppy
Holly
Hannah /Hana
Harper
Tessa
Lassy
Lolly
Bunny
Brooke
Pipi
Emma
Rose
Sweat pea
Molly
Sweet Tea
Isa ( Choctaw means deer)
Hopefully those get your wheels turning creative juices flowing!

 

[riddick07]

From the sounds of it the farrier follows a foraging diet (low sugar, low starch) which a lot of people are switching over to these days, it’s a diet based on mostly hay with a mineral supplement to balance out what’s missing in the hay, along with some kind of fat if you can’t feed enough hay or it’s a Slightly hard keeper. I follow this diet now. My horse gets 20lbs of hay, KIS trace mineral supplement, 1/3 cup of Coolstance copra (fat & to disguise the mineral supplement), along with 2 tbsp of fenugreek for taste. I would bump up to 25-30lbs of hay if I didn’t board and had control of that instead of the fat supplement but I do not. I’ve fed flax to my horse but with the copra it’s not overly needed now.

Hay plus mineral supplement is not based on her high performance horses but on the studies done for horse nutrition. Most feeds don’t come close to the minerals they need, have too much sugar & starch, and unneeded added iron which interferes with copper/zinc. I took my horse off grain and immediately his growth in his feet looked better then I got him to eat the mineral supplement and the frog/sole are finally looking better too.

In the end it’s cheaper to do a hay test and make your own mineral balancer but you have to actually know what you are doing, there’s a $200 dollar course you can take if that interests you. Also, this is only useful if you have a steady supply of hay from the same place (as in grown from the same place). You’ll have to test each new cutting to be really accurate but if it’s the same place once a year would probably be close enough.

The mineral supplements you can buy won’t be an exact balancer but will cover the basics of what’s usually missing based on averages for hay testing across the states/specific regions. California trace plus, Arizona copper complete, kistrace, Vermont blend are the best.

 

[SailBoat]

Your Vet may recommend something to prevent West Nile, you really want that injection for her...

 

[bug_n_flock]

Riddick, thanks for explaining! That makes more sense now that she would suggest that diet then. I'm letting Mr. Bug sleep in a bit this AM. We we so distracted with horses yesterday that we didn't do any other animals until I was exhausted. He let me go to bed around midnight and did everything else himself... it was 5 AM when he finally came to bed! Something must have happened to keep him so late. So, he gets a little extra sleep this AM.



For the fencing material, we currently have up thin poly wire, the stuff from Butters' pen. What the plan is as of last night, is to get 1 or 2 inch poly ribbon for the top line, and do two thick lines of poly wire for the other two, and then sorta weave/tie in a pattern between the three lines with the thin stuff we took from Mr. Butts' area. Sorta a lacy thing. Figure it will serve as more of a visual barrier, and be stronger than this thin stuff. I think that should make it safer for her, what do you think? She is wire savy I believe, as the farm she came from used high tension electric for their fencing. We still have not decided on what type of fencing to do for the inproved pasture. Maybe welded/woven wire with a couple of electric wires for extra oomph, maybe a plank fence, have not decided yet.



Hahaha Butters just seems so teeeeeeeny now. :3 He really is only like the size of a tall and buff dog. For "dinner" they both got soaked beet pulp with "extras". Butters got electrolyte paste and probiotics, the filly got probiotics, electrolyte paste, and ivermectin paste. She had last been wormed in November, so was due anyway but I figured the stress of moving and coming to a new farm, plus not wanting any worms she might have spreading here. The probiotics and electrolytes were due to the stress they are under. Figured it couldn't hurt. I don't think she had had anything soupy before, and the slurpy noises she made while eating were hilarious and adorable. It felt weird giving her less beet pulp than little bitty Butters, but the bag says to work up feeding slow, which makes sense. Pretty standard with high fibre stuff to start slow.


I'll see if West Nile is a thing in this area. I know rabies is, which terrifies me. How can rabies be a common disease in a place like the US? We even had a rabies scare last year when we took in 3 dogs from a meth head ex con commune and were supposed to go back for a 4th, only to be told he had come back with rabies and had had to be shot! Thankfully the FIRST thing we did with those dogs was take them to get their shots, before we even took them home! So none of those 3 got sick. We still have one of those dogs, and despite claiming to just be fostering him, I think it likely he is here to stay. Oh well, he is a good dog and really how different is 5 dogs from 4? Lmao oh dear....

 

[Laurasea]

Ivermectin and moxidectin are the best choices to control strongyle parasites. Pyrantel, fenbendazole and oxibendazole are good for treating ascarids in young horses. Ivermectin resistance is common in ascarids.
During the first year, foals should get at least four deworming treatments. The first should be carried out at two or three months of age, and a second three months later. Check for eggs at weaning to see what, if any, parasites are in the foal.
Third and fourth treatments should be considered at about nine and 12 months old, targeting the worms found. Tapeworm treatment should be included in one of the latter treatments.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Spent some time yesterday working with manners and also just spending time with her. We were working on her shelter anyway so it was convenient. She kept coming up to see what was going on. We would pet her and say hi, but not let her crowd us and hamper work, or walk thru any unsafe areas-led her away from them. At one point I tried to look at her feet and she was a little spooky with me on her side so I worked on touching and patting her side until she let me lift a foot. I kept it up for a moment, lowered it to the ground, praised her, and let her move on to horsey things. I keep reading over and over not to let them get away with things you wouldn't accept from an adult, but to keep lessons short as they have short attention spans. I am working on getting Hubbs to realize that it is cute when she becomes an active participant in face scratchies, but her head is big and its gonna get bigger. She can't rub her face on a people and knock them over. Not allowed. Nor can she stand RIGHT next to a people and crowd them. Not allowed. She cannot walk the person, the person always must lead her.



She really is not badly behaved, just bigger than Butters. But as with any teen, she will push boundries. Hubbs has gotten pretty good with the dogs, but sometimes they still push him around more than he should allow. But I think it will be fine, she isn't a pushy alpha filly, she just doesn't know the rules quite yet.



I have been reading NON STOP. And am definitely looking for more to read. Also if anyone reccommends any training or other horsemanship videos, that would be great. Youtube is Ok, but preferable some sort of DVD or VHS. Country internet is iffy, especially since it is only thru my (limited) cell phone data.

 

[Laurasea]

I have always found this series to have good Info on topics I was interested in. I haven't read the one for horses. I got the parrots for dummies when I got my GCC and was having a lot of bites. The book was invaluable! Stoped bites whithin a week and that girl never bit me again the rest if her life. The one on salt water aquarium had me successful with seahorses! Horses for dummies
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/horse...YASABEgK8WfD_BwE#isbn=0764597973&idiq=7512325

They also sells 4H guide to horses,
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/4-h-g...BCABEgK-YfD_BwE#isbn=076033627X&idiq=11057351

https://westernhorseman.com/horsemanship/how-to/life-lessons-handling-weanlings-and-yearlings/

 

[bug_n_flock]

In the lead for names "Hamingja"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamingja

 

[Laurasea]

What a neat and beautiful name and meaning! Learn something new everyday!
But how easy to say? Or what would you shorten it to?
Pictures!!!!!! Must see pictures!!!!!

 

[Conurecorner]

Ok, I joined this forum for help with decided to adopt a bird or not. However, this forum is so awesome. I have been riding since, I was 8. Western,English, Hunters, Dressage.. I owned a horse for 6/7 years. Who we had to put down three years ago. I kind of had a bit of burnout and taking a break. I love talking and helping people with their equine buddies!!

Also, Donkeys are the best and just as awesome. I want a mule one day too

 

[Laurasea]

I want updates on your filly! And picture! How are her and Butters doing?????