horses

[AL]

My mare was alone for about a year after her pasturemate of 21yrs died. She did fine, but she was a lot more... I don't know, into life?... when I started fostering horses. My vet recommended me to the foster coordinator while scratching Skye's cheeks and saying "you want someone to bully, don't ya?" hehe
So maybe you can see if there are rescues around? real rescues. reputable ones. Not ones that will send a horse with encephalitis to your house, or one that pulls the rug out from under you when you have a couple of THEIR horses in care. I foster for the county animal control and they provide feed, hay and medical care. I just play with and groom the horses (and feed, clean, medicate... but that's technicalities when you love horses). (see the Pic of the week,,,, my foster Buddy)

Also, horses can bond strongly to other animals. My vet has a horse living out its years at his clinic with an old cow that was shot and left to die. They are buddies and hang out in the shade together, follow each other around.

Company of the same species is , of course, ideal, but not mandatory to keep your horse content.


ETA - I ended up keeping Buddy

 

[miss_thenorth]

And Buddy is beautiful!!

My dd has a draft cross--paint percheron. He stands at 15-3, --maybe 16hh by now, at 5 yo. We absolutely love his personality!! But he is alot bigger than a fjord or a haflinger. so therefore he eats more, which is a consideration. So, you need to decided what size of a horse you would want. And leasing might not be a bad idea at first.

 

[hwillm1977]

Leasing is a great way to decide if horse ownership is for you... that's what I did before I bought my first horse and loved it. It's like a test drive

Go over all the terms of the lease with the owner as well... I showed up at the barn one day and the horse was gone, with a note on my tack locker that said 'we've decided to go to a different stable, sorry' and that was it... I didn't even get to say goodbye after a year of leasing the horse, and taking him from a green, barely rideable thoroughbred to a hunter/jumper show horse.

It's usually cheaper to lease a horse too (at least around here it is)... for example, while I was pregnant I leased my horse out for $300/month... while it cost me about $420/month to keep her. I did end up selling her to the leasor though when I realized I just don't have time for an infant and a horse... I'll get another one when I don't have to keep it at a boarding stable anymore and it can be in the back yard.

I agree with Denim Deb about the vet check... the first horse I bought was cheap and a 'rescue', I looked in his eyes and he came home with me... 400 pounds underweight... but he ended up with a degenerative joint issue and after spending about $300/month just on his maintenance meds and supplements, not including board, for 4 years I had to put him to sleep when he could no longer walk... so my 'cheap' horse cost a lot more than if I had just saved some extra money and bought a young, sound horse. He was my soulmate though, and if I had to do it over I would.

Edited to add a picture of my handsome boy, God I loved this horse.... it's been 4 years and I still miss him terribly... this is his before and after transformation, it took 11 months for him to gain that weight.

 

[pinkfox]

thanks, i do like the idea of leasing first so will definatly look at that option...

i guess critters is where the plus side of my OCD kicks in, i NEVER get involved in any animal i dont KNOW i can correctly care for first, im obessive about my research first. animal care (and animals themselves) are the only feild that i truly feel comfortable in...

me and my dad were talking about it...see we have a green card and we were discussing whether its better to renew the green cad in 4 years (less expensive but has to be renewed every 10 years) or just take the citizenship test (more expensive but perminent)...

and i told him...i dont know if i can do the citizenship test...i can tell you how many spots a spotted hyena has on average, how many primary flight feathers a macaw has, how long a orangutans gestation is...ect...

but ask me to name all the presidents of the usa and i draw blank lol.
i took advanced placment bio as a highschool freshman...but i realy struggled through any of the history and english classes...

and since the head injury, retaining information on anything other than critters is practically impossible lol.

edit to add, beautiful horses folks!
theres just something about horses in general that amaze me, those eyes just speak volumes...then again i can look in any animals eyes and see a whole story, but it does amaze me when any animal thats large enough to kill you WILLINGLY works side by side with people...they KNOW they could take you, you know they know...and yet...
just stunning.