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What is the strangest thing you’ve ever traded for a horse/traded a horse for?

My favorite was a polo pony who was the payment for the lawyer who did the former owner’s divorce (heck of a nice mare, too!) Rein’s thread was a hoot…one gal traded a horse for a hot tub and noted that she was still using the hot tub!

So tell me…what have you traded for?

This mare at Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue in Maryland is the epitome of “TOO CUTE!” She is only four and super sweet (note how well behaved she is in a huge field)…and that cute, bright expression! Go and get her, you know you want her.

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Original blog here: Do Our Horses Need Bodyguards These Days?

(The video is wonderful, but I warn you, it made even me tear up!)

I hope it works out for them. I actually have had really good luck with tendon injuries if the horse is kept super fit and Wendy sounds like she knows her stuff. I hope they do come back and compete, but at the very least I’m so happy for them both that he wasn’t crippled for life. Nice to see the good side win!

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There’s way too much in the news this week in terms of horrible horse stories, and I figure most of you are seeing them on Facebook and the other message boards you frequent. I could have written about them too, but I thought, nope, it’s time for a happy thread.

So here’s what I want to talk about today: those amazing horses that just love kids and will pack them around like saints. This video has been making the rounds, and I have to agree, it’s pretty cool to watch! This is Wyatt Deery, who is five, and his reining horse Dun Dual.

We’ll just get out of the way now that I’d prefer if every discipline required a helmet on riders under 18. That point aside, this is a wonderful example of a horse that is safe, solid and appropriate for a child this age. The kid obviously has taken his lessons seriously and is doing a great job cuing the horse (given the limitations of his little legs and not much more body weight than the saddle!), so he gets kudos too, but this is the sort of horse EVERY kid should have. If they did, we’d have a hell of a lot more homes for adult horses, because kids wouldn’t have horrible experiences and get scared off of riding. Kudos all around – to the kid, the horse, and the parents for making such a wise choice for their son. I’m no reining expert, but I like what I see generally with this horse — he doesn’t look sore or sour, he looks relaxed, I love his neck — there’s none of the tension and behind the bit bullshit I keep seeing lately at reining shows. He looks like a super enjoyable horse for anyone to ride, a horse that would probably sharpen up very quickly with a rider experienced enough to handle it. But he’s a smart older guy…he’s doing exactly as much as that kid can ride at this point. This horse being a palomino is definitely not false advertising — he is solid gold!

So let’s take today to honor those horses like this guy. Do you have a super safe saint of a horse that just LOVES your kids or your lesson students? Tell us about him. Where did you get him? Did you train him or did he come trained? What kind of horse? What was his history? And what advice can you give for parents hoping to find exactly such a horse for their child to enjoy? If you want to post a pic, what you do is post the direct link to the pic, like http://www.mypictures.com/pic.jpg — DO NOT use any code. I will make it show up when I moderate.

Here’s my list of advice for finding a super safe horse for your kid:

1) Find a horse with a kid experience. The ideal is a horse that a kid has grown out of that has been out there doing what your kid wants to do. Don’t assume that a horse that is quiet to ride at home will be quiet in competition. Spend what it takes and get a horse that you already know is quiet in competition, if your kid wants to compete. And you need KID EXPERIENCE because I can’t tell you how many horses I thought were super easy horses that I quickly found out were super easy horses only for an experienced, adult rider and quickly deteriorated into all sorts of misbehavior with an inexperienced or young rider. Some horses lose their brains over someone not being quiet on their back, for example, and you won’t notice it as a problem if you are quiet on their back.

2) This is a time to buy from people you know, or friends of friends. Someone who knows you and knows your family is least likely to sell you a bad one or a drugged one. Sure, there’s an asshat in every crowd, but it’s less common. Use word of mouth and put it out there that you need a safe horse for your little one. Talk to your local 4-H or Pony Club leader — they may know of exactly such a horse.

3) If you are the least bit tempted to buy something because it is (a) pretty or (b) something YOU have always wanted to own, smack yourself in the face with your checkbook, hard, and walk away.

4) Use your common sense. If someone says a horse is quiet but it won’t even stand still to be groomed and tacked or it’s showing you the whites of its eyes and pinning its ears at you, it’s time to walk away. Even if the person saying that stuff is your trainer or is some kind of Big Name Horse Expert Person.

5) A good little kid horse has one mood – semi-catatonic. He should fall asleep in the cross-ties and the default motion should always be stopping — as in, if the kid gets unbalanced or scared, the horse should drift to a stop. For a little kid, you want a horse that has a LOT more stop than go. Your kid may get frustrated sometimes as he strives to convince old Cinnamon that he can jog instead of walk, but frustrated is a whole lot better than brain-injured. Keep that point in mind. (And the day will come when Cinnamon realizes the kid is good enough to keep him jogging, and he might as well give up and jog!)

6) Nope, there’s nothing wrong with a mildly arthritic or navicular horse doing duty as a little kid horse (given proper care, as in, you will spring for Legend/Adequan, supplements, and any shoeing that may be necessary), but again, please use common sense. Stiff is fine, gimping and head-bobbing is not. Stumbling can cause a very bad accident. Also, bear in mind that if you board and the horse is confined to a stall more hours than not, that it’s unlikely the arthritic horse will stay sound enough to use. Old, stiff horses need turnout and lots of it.

7) Test out everything when you look at a horse. Make sure he straight ties and cross ties. Make sure a kid can pick all four of his feet. Watch him load and unload. Ask to see him clipped, if you’re going to compete. You don’t want a horse that you have to do everything with because he is squirrely about something, even if he is solid under saddle. You want your kid to be able to learn to get a horse ready for competition, including the clipping, banding/braiding, etc., so you want a horse who falls asleep during those activities.

8 ) If you think that a stallion (even if it’s a pony or mini) is an appropriate mount for your child, or if you think it’s a great idea to buy a weanling for your kid to grow up with, please walk to the nearest brick wall and bang your head into it until you shake some common sense out of the corner of your brain where it may be trapped behind a wall of accumulated episodes of “Bridalplasty.”

All right — your turn! Tell me about the rock star kid horse in your barn, or the one you grew up with.

I just decided this needed its own post. I don’t want a single person to miss this.

A member of the oft-maligned AH board contacted the previous owners of the dumped Arabian mares. One of Red Sonia’s owners, Cynthia Ross, stepped up immediately to take her back. Here’s “Lucy” in better days:

You can read Cyn’s posts on the AH board here.

“It makes me so sad that she has had to go through this, Lucy is kind of a nervous lady in new situations….and this had to be pretty scary for her. She’s a special little mare and I am thrilled to have her back again…just wish they would have contacted me prior to sending her to the auction. She was pretty calm when I got there, came on up when I called her, ate some carrots and got some love.”

How many times do I have to say the same damn things on this blog? CALL THE FORMER OWNERS. That’s why you have papers. That’s one big reason horses NEED papers, for those of you who argue endlessly that papers are meaningless. The former owners are your #1 source of a new potential home when you are in deep, dire straits and cannot keep a horse. Not that this was the case here, but you know what I mean. A former owner knows the horse, knows the horse’s personality, and even if they cannot take back the horse, may know someone the horse would be perfect for. And they are already emotionally connected to the horse!

I also want to note that Cynthia is taking back this horse despite the fact that she no longer owns a farm and, like me, has to pay board on every horse. Good for her. I started reading her old message board posts on ABN…she posted four years ago that she had just sold this mare and really missed her. Do you realize how close this one came? Not that she would have gone to kill, AH has been getting 100% of them bailed out, but she could have gone to anyone…she could have wound up in someone’s barbed wire shithole behind their trailer in Eatonville. It happens all the time.

The mare got lucky, and so did Cynthia, and it’s good for all of us to see and be reminded that, for every crappy horse owner, there are far more good ones. Networking is EVERYTHING…network, network, network and make sure your horses have their papers up to date and the history that may save their lives one day!

P.S. The bay mare is supposed to be bailed this morning. Also going to an Arabian person, this one in Oregon.

Here is a fun little topic for today: I just got a new horse and we are a match made in Heaven. She is short, never shuts up (still in her herdbound what-do-you-mean-vacation’s-over phase and SCREAMING nonstop) and does not act her age (she’s 23 and still a fun little hot potato) so I sort of figure we were separated at birth and are a match made in Heaven! So tell me – are your horses like you in personality, or polar opposites? If you were a horse, which one of your horses would you be? This mare IS me, whereas my VLC is way more laid back, sweet-tempered, lazy and content to lay in the sun than I am!

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And for those of you who needed something happy and positive to look at today, remember Grace? Original blog here: There are no words

Here’s Grace today!

If you’re as impressed as I am with the work Darla Clark does, there’s a paypal link on her web site. We can’t help the horses that are already dead, but there are many like Grace hovering on the brink that we can help…I know today or yesterday was payday for a lot of you, so how about $10 to a rescue that you KNOW can get these kind of results? There are thousands of horses out there who can still be saved. If everybody who reads this blog on a typical day sent $10, it would be a staggering amount of money to help save them. How about it? Can you live with two less frappucinos this month or one less lunch outside the office to help a horse like Grace?

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(You can see the grin on my face from here, right? I thought so.)

In the International Charities, I am beyond thrilled…1st place, Save A Forgotten Equine, 2nd place Angel Acres and 3rd place Second Chance Ranch — all rescues I LOVE and support 100%!

THANK YOU for your votes!

My original blog about the saga of Capone I:

And more about Doug Spink, arguably the ickiest person ever to be involved in the hunter/jumper world.

And an update about Doug Spink finally going to prison, where he belongs.

To make a long story short, our heroine, Corinne Super, had the good common sense to get the poor horse out of Doug’s little farm of horrors in 2008. She successfully kept him out of Pervy McPervert’s hands until sometime in 2009, when, apparently, Doug managed to get him back. When Doug got arrested again in 2010, the horse got to return to Corinne’s and now he is back out there winning Grand Prix jumping. From the Chronicle of the Horse:

From the article: Super’s first concern when Capone arrived back to her Langley, B.C., farm was his health. “He was in horrific condition when we picked him up. He was dehydrated and underweight and wormy. His feet hadn’t been done,” she said.

It just goes to show that the nicest horse, like the nicest person, is still at risk of winding up the victim of a crazy person. Doug Spink is about as valueless a human being as I can imagine. Everyone knew he shouldn’t have ANY horses in his possession – just read the Internet postings from this freak show. Yet there was no law in place to prevent him from owning horses, and if his equally twisted “customer” hadn’t messed up and gotten caught (see the story about the Gelding Bus above), Spink would STILL be doing whatever he was doing (which wasn’t feeding or trimming) with this magnificent animal.

That horse is safe and back in the show ring today for one reason: Someone loved him and didn’t give up, despite more drama than most of us will ever have to deal with. I’m sure it has been a phenomenally expensive and stressful fight for Corinne, and she deserves a lot of credit for not giving up. What a wonderful comeback and a great happy ending story…thought you would all enjoy this to start your week!

I know it’s a day late, but weren’t you all busy celebrating yesterday anyway?

AQHA tweeted this story out yesterday and I thought it was cute, especially since the old fart horse got a happy ending, too!

So I think this is a good question for today: Who here met their significant other because of or through horses or a particular horse? Let’s hear the stories!

I usually manage to do this post earlier in the month but, what can I say…it’s been a crazy month! And hey, almost everyone has last-minute shipping and there’s stuff here you can buy instantly so I’m going to plug some fun holiday stuff anyway.