retirement home photos

I’ve been as pleased as punch with Big Guy’s new retirement home. It’s only $125 and I’m getting plenty of grass, he’s being fed twice a day, has shelter, a pond and a low-key gelding companion. And best of all: PEACE OF MIND!

following Hubby to the shed

 

...with his new gelding friend *S*

 

 

 

 

It was a windy day, hence the closed eye, but it looks like he is maintaining his weight, even though I have cut him down to half of his Triple Crown Senior amount he was being fed at FR. Probably this is due to grass and during winter I will up it back. 

 

 

 

 

 

retirement is good

This morning I had some errands to do on the south side of town, which put me in a good position to visit Big Guy at his new retirement home.  When I pulled up in the driveway practically right next to him, he was too busy having his nose in the grass to acknowledge me. Not until I unloaded the feed bag did he pop up his nose!

All the weight I’ve not been able to get back on him these last 8 months, has been put back on in two weeks. Amazing how much grass does for a horse! Cutting his feed back to half, and we’ll see if grass maintains the weight now.

While I was there *S* horse and him shared the run-in shed. BG is still at the bottom of the pecking order but he is getting shade time and that is important. He is also swimming in the pond as evident by the mud that was caked all over him.! LOL!

He seemed more at peace and happy. This place will be good for him.

companionship in retirement

I got a call from my horse friend, DH, late last week. She wanted to know more about Big Guy’s retirement home because she has decided to put her Arabian,*R*, on pasture rest, and, at a later date, give him a lighter riding schedule.

For the last four years, she has tried to get *R* prepared for competitive trail and/or competition riding. Invariably, he comes up backsore or lame. I won’t go into all his health history or my opinions about it, but myself and the friend she rides with has tried to convince her for some time that this is not a riding vocation is he is well suited for.

She is looking for a second horse, wants to keep *R* but needs him in a cheaper place where he will be resting. BG’s place is about 8 miles down the road where she now boards, (which has an indoor riding arena) so she could trailer him over to ride as she plans on boarding the new horse at her current boarding facility.

Which means he may join BG at his place.  I hope so because *R* and he gets along and I know the type of personality that *R* is and that would go well with the type of herd I want BG to be kept in.

Still on my quest

A health problem forced me to the after hours clinic this morning. It was an easy fix but just hurts like a son-of-a-gun and has set me back again financially.

I have this feeling that I need to pull my act together after the holidays (when hopefully certain stressful events will be over) and get myself back on a good eating program and some exercise. Otherwise my body is determined to fall part on me.

I need to relieve my stress (as my morning doctor appt proved) and one way is to get the horses settled in places that suit them. Ideally, I would like to retire Big Guy and Pandora to the same farm – have the first housed with a senior gelding, and the second with a compatible, pony herd. Finding this has been near to impossible.

Both need to be close enough that I can check on them, trim hooves, give shots, maybe even blanket the Big Guy. Both need to be in a place affordable to me.

At this time, winter board is $70 for Pandora, $125 for Big Guy, with me providing hay and feed. Since BG’s pasture will not be big enough to provide summer grass, that means haying through the summer also, so I want to find a place that has a larger pasture.

The Wood Situation #5 I am still mulling over. The biggest problem I see is that BG has never been kept in such a pasture. It’s uneven, heavily sloped in other places, and has a train that goes right by. I don’t call him a Delicate Flower for nothing – he would trip over smooth ground let alone rough.

The other big challenge is that there is no one to feed on property, so I would have to be there a.m. and p.m. to do that or arrange for another party to do this. And of course, arrange for companionship.

Okay so with Situation #6, it’s four acres adjacent to the owners 9 more acres where he keeps his own horses. His family lives on site. And the location is very good! However, he wants $150 per horse and that does not include hay or feeding.

I’ve got another situation to see tomorrow and another to call on Monday. My choices continue to dwindle but I will carry on.

Situation #5 – life in the woods

Today, I visited a 6-10 acre property about 15 miles from my home. It’s a pretty heavily wooded acreage that is located on a dead end. It backs up to lots of trail riding on public lands which goes down to a huge river. And would be paradise for the trail rider.

It wasn’t quite what I expected, in some ways better, other ways kinda puzzling how I would make it work. I’ll need some time to think about it.

What the property needs:

* Chainsaw and brushhogging to re-claim the pasture, with about 1/3 remaining in trees. I expect days of work on that.

* Brushhogging – brambles and small trees are trying to re-claim the land.

* Fence repairs – which is different then the other Situation because the fence posts are generally there, and the many trees on the property line could also be used. Mostly installing additional fencing wire or no-climb fence.

* Small shelter which would work for 1-2 horses. This is the biggest problem for me.

* Water can be run down from the house with a hose but it really needs to be moved down.

* Electric doesn’t exist and would have to be wired over on a pole.

Big Downside:

Would need to feed my own horses. We are back to self-care here. For the ponies I could do a slow feeder on the roundbale that would make their maintenance low. The horses though … hm much harder as they are are on twice a day being fed.

It might be a possibility to pay someone in the area to go do most of the feeding for me. That cost would need to be figured into the board.

Another Big Worry – is the train tracks. He can’t get on them, but trains do come down that way and I do not know how he would react – and I suspect the first few times, it would be pretty crazy and maybe a blind panic.

Honestly, I have a hard time imagining Big Guy being there as he is such a snowflake. This is rough country with deer (and remember, he is a “afrait” of deer, unnatural creatures that they are), badgers and bobcats. Definitely he could not come over in the wintertime – he would need to arrive in the Spring.

Much to think upon.