Calling on horse people for an opinion!

[ToLiveToLaugh]

FarmFresh- I'm so sorry to hear about your family's loss. Our thoughts are with you! Wishing you healing in a time of sadness.

 

[Farmfresh]

The next issue at hand is what to do about her pasture mate? She is not ever going to be sold, but we don't want her living alone and sad in her retirement either. The topic of a new pasture friend has already been talked about, but I don't know if this is necessarily the time to go horse shopping either. I suggested a hair sheep as a possibility. Or it may be possible to get a young horse that my aunt owns to just stay a while.

What do you all think? Once again "calling on horse people for an opinion."

Also sorry it seems I am hijacking your thread sufficientforme. It was not my plan to do so.

Have you looked at anymore possibilities since the Arab?

 

[ToLiveToLaugh]

The next issue at hand is what to do about her pasture mate? She is not ever going to be sold, but we don't want her living alone and sad in her retirement either. The topic of a new pasture friend has already been talked about, but I don't know if this is necessarily the time to go horse shopping either. I suggested a hair sheep as a possibility. Or it may be possible to get a young horse that my aunt owns to just stay a while.

What do you all think? Once again "calling on horse people for an opinion."

Also sorry it seems I am hijacking your thread sufficientforme. It was not my plan to do so.

Have you looked at anymore possibilities since the Arab?

When we only had my mare, we just took a series of boarders to keep her company. That worked fairly well, except for the one fence jumper we got. I know my cousins have put llamas with horses and they got along well. Cute combo, too!

 

[hwillm1977]

We had an older mare in a similar situation at our boarding barn... she hated all the other horses but one, and when we lost that one she was miserable... she got a goat

It stayed in her box stall at night, and in the pasture with her during the day... she LOVED her goat

I really like the hair sheep idea

 

[Farmfresh]

They live in a smaller 2+ acre pasture with a big barn and bad fences. I am pretty sure a goat would never stay in. I knew a Thoroughbred race horse that had a sheep since he had been orphaned as a baby. I figure with a hair sheep she wouldn't have to deal with the shearing or anything.

We got the pony buried behind the barn this afternoon. Sad, but at least the worst is over for her now.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

OMG Farmfresh! I am so sorry about the horse! I know that had to be the hardest decision to make. In time I am sure it will get easier for all of you.

 

[freemotion]

I hear ya. It is never a good week when this happens....and when it is sudden, you really don't have time to prepare yourself. The only blessing is that there was no question as to whether it was the right thing to do. And that she didn't suffer long....sounds like she was symptom-free until she went down fast. So sorry.

Having an older, retired mare at home was how I ended up with goats. Bad fences, too. I made sure my smaller paddock by the barn was tightly fenced, and the bigger pasture just had one strand of electric tape. The goats laughed at it. But they didn't go too far from the horse, and I locked them in the smaller paddock at night and when I wasn't home.

If you want goats at all with all our dairy talk, you can simply add a couple more strands of electric wire down low, at goat level, and you will be good to go. One of the things I loved about having two goats living with my mare was NO WASTE! The goats would dive into the hay when I put it down each morning and evening and wrestle each other for the leafy, weedy bits that the horse never ate....especially raspberry canes and multiflora and goldenrod. The horse cleaned up the grassy stuff and anything that touched the ground, that the goats were too fussy to bother with.

My mare was very protective of the goats, and I am sure that no dog or coyote would've survived more than a few moments if it came into her paddock. When the goats escaped, however, they were on their own.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I'm sorry for your loss, Farm.

If you don't mind my asking, what does was POA mean?

 

[big brown horse]

Isn't it Pony Of America?

Wow, I'm just catching up. I'm so sorry! It is so hard to lose such a magnificient animal isn't it?

 

[Farmfresh]

Yes. Pony of the Americas. They are basically Indian ponies. Appaloosa markings height between 46 and 56 inches tall. POA club Truly GREAT little horses for kids.