My current "regular" horses: Babe (chestnut QH mare) and Mac (appaloosa). Both are 19 years old, and I and my then boyfriend, Mike, bought them when they were 8 years old. Mike and I are no longer a couple, but we have remained good friends. Although Mac technically belongs Mike, he is not really a horse person and doesn't do much with him. He does love and care about Mac, though, but I'm the one who was always the horse person of the two of us; therefore, Mac still lives here and I consider him one of my own. Mike helps with their care on weekends and does a lot of the heavier work that has become more difficult for me.
Here they are. Sorry their gorgeous faces are obscured by fly masks, but it was summer when the pictures were taken:
Mac--
Babe--
I have a small farmette with a shedrow style barn that you can see in the background of the pictures. Mac is permanently retired. He has the type of insidious uveitis common to appaloosas and is near blind. His right eye is completely blind, and he can see a little bit out of his left ... but not much. Poor guy. But he does remarkably well. The only thing that really throws him is if something changes. I just did a very small fence re-routing and it threw him for a loop for the first 24 hours, but he got used to it and is back to normal. Babe is doing fairly well, although she has some arthritis in her left knee. She is in semi-retirement, but I plan to ride her more if my body will allow. Sad to say, I haven't been able to ride comfortably in about 5 years. Which brings me to my next point and explains the title of my blog ... Equine Downsize!!
I was hoping to be able to ride Babe in 2014. Mac needed a babysitter for when Babe was away. Lucky, the miniature horse was found and brought home to the farmette Memorial Day weekend. Lucky is 13 years old and an adorable, extremely gentle and sweet little 33 1/2" (yes, the 1/2" matters in the world of mini's, lol) mini mare. She came from a mini breeding farm where she wasn't needed any more and her owner was looking for a pet home for her. Well, she makes a very nice pet--her favorite activity. Lucky tends to be so laid back, she could be called lazy ... but we won't tell her I said that. Lucky will be working in 2015, though, because she is going to learn to drive and pull a cart. We have done quite a bit of ground driving prep work, and she does great at that. A little lazy ... but she will be very safe and a good one for me to start with. Here is little Lucky and the beginning of my "Equine Downsize."
Lucky--
Lucky and I standing in a town gazebo last fall when friends and I walked around town with our ponies for a "pony parade day"
After having little Lucky around, I realized how wonderful miniature horses are to work with and how much easier things are with the small ones vs. the large ones. A light bulb went on in my head--Hey, this is a way I can stick with horses in a way that I can physically handle! Time to Equine Downsize!
Babe and Mac will stay here, and I would like to try riding Babe again if my body will allow it without some other part objecting and breaking apart. But, for the most part, I think my days of the larger equines may be over.
But, let's not stop with little Lucky. Around Thanksgiving, I heard of a young weanling auction rescue filly--either a large mini or a small pony--looks like a mini, so she may just mature to be a large mini. Went to see her and fell in love. I'm amazed that I did--she was wild and had never been handled by humans. It took 1/2 hour to even touch her! Once I did, though, I could tell that she was very kind and wanted to be friends, even if I did scare her too much for her to get very chummy with me at the time. I went back to work with her one more time and sealed the deal. She was christened with the name "Rosie" and was to come home with me after a quarantine period at the rescuer's farm.
Rosie is home now. She needs to learn pretty much everything. She is a clean slate and like a little sponge soaking up knowledge and the big world around her. She is in awe of so many things and learns so quickly. I have had her home for 2 1/2 weeks and she has learned to lead, pick up all 4 feet, stand tied, tolerate some "sacking" out with a floppy cotton lead rope, and just generally letting me touch every area of her body. It's amazing how difficult learning to tolerate body touching can be for an unhandled almost 6 month old to get used to. Leading and standing tied were a piece of cake for her, though. I believe she has the early makings of a great driving pony. She should be a blast to work with--it's nice to have a little youth in the herd to remind me of how much fun it is training a young horse, but in a smaller, more manageable size.
Here are a couple of pictures of Rosie at the rescuer's farm. Her mane is just as wild as she was then!
And, another after she was home and starting to feel more comfortable. Here's the little girl saying hello after experiencing her first snow!
It never ceases to amaze me the wonderful horses people will dump at auctions. Rosie is cute as a button, has an adorable sweet disposition, and is becoming very people oriented now that she is finding out people can be good. Why on earth would someone breed a mare, never handle the foal, and then turn around and just dump her at the auction?? I can't imagine where she would have ended up had rescuer Barb not bought her at the auction. Slaughter house?? Dealer circuit going from auction to auction?? Poor thing--what a terrible life for such a sweet innocent little girl. Rosie will probably dominate the pages of my blog because I'll be working with her a lot, and she has just so much to learn.
I also have 5 cats--yes, 5 cats. I never planned to have 5 cats ... but as a friend said--"no one does." They just appear at your doorstep and need a home. Here is one of the cats--Tiger, who is the most "in your face" cat of the bunch.
And, last but certainly not least, my two dogs Lucy and Heidi. Lucy is an Australian Shepherd mix adopted from a shelter where she was picked up as a stray wandering the back roads of rural Pennsylvania. Never claimed. A great dog that I can't believe no one cared enough to look for her ... or dumped her off, whatever the case may be. Heidi is an Australian Shepherd with a full tail (LOVE her tail!). Both very sweet. Heidi is active and energetic, but Lucy is wired so tight I keep telling her some day she is going to explode like a balloon when the air is let out, lol. She worries about more things than she needs to. They are my babies. Animals are a huge part of my life.
Lucy on the left and Heidi on the right:
So, there you have a quick introduction to me and my family of critters. Stay tuned for more ... particularly Rosie's continued training and life adventures.
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