16 yrs
11 hands high
Halter broke. Trailers well. Up to date with vaccinations, dental, hoof trimming. When I first got him, we had to sedate him with Dormosedan Gel for the vet and the farrier. He now stands well with no sedative for the farrier, sometimes a little hesitant to pick up his hind feet, but if you don’t rush him he is good. He is not as friendly with the vet, but she is able to vaccinate him and check his teeth without sedation. I noticed if I am wearing medical gloves he shies away from me, so if you need to bring him in for treatment, put your gloves on after he is haltered.
He enjoys the trails and wading in the river. He walks and trots on the lead, stops right away with whoa. He is curious and friendly to other people we meet. Totally fine with cyclists whizzing by, dogs, other horses etc. If he is nervous about something new, it only takes a minute of some reassuring words and a rub on his neck and he is brave again.
I am greeted with a boisterous whinny in the morning and throughout the day. He is always curious about the work we do around the farm, gardening, mowing and eager for any attention, or a leaf of kale! He quickly became used to the tractor as well as the chicken feed trucks/dump trucks that come down the driveway next to his paddock.
Comes in willingly from his early morning 2 hours of pasture time (as the vet suggested – less sugar in the grass at that time) He then gets 1- 1/2 cups of Step 4 when he comes in. I give him a ‘snack’ of a thin flake of hay at 1-2 pm, then a larger flake in his slow-feed haybag at nightfall.
Unsure of how he is with other horses; his pasture mates are currently 2 sheep, one of which is his good buddy. Our neighbor has a couple of mares who he ‘shows off’ for by racing around the pasture and kicking up his heels when they call out to him. He ignores other horses on the trail and usually they are leery of him. He doesn’t like the rooster who tries to eat right out of his dish, so he chases him out of his paddock. He also chases the dog out of the pasture because he doesn’t like him herding his sheep friends.
He is now okay with grooming, but he does NOT like to be hosed down. Even when I dump his water bucket, he runs away from it. I have been working on sponge-bathing him from a bucket with tepid water and he is slowly starting to tolerate that.
I have not successfully blanketed him with his lovely new, blue raincoat, but I don’t think it would take too much time for him to get used to it.
He is smart, feisty and fun to interact with. He looks very flashy when he trots and I think he’d be fabulous at pulling a cart.
Sparky