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My Spotted Tennessee Walker critique

36K views 250 replies 63 participants last post by  tinyliny 
#1 ·



What do you think?She is the best horse I have ever owned!:D
 
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#99 ·
Moving hay from seller to horse is an issue without a vehicle. She has no vehicle. She had a ride to college but when the car died, she had to drop out.

As to the other stuff.. well you can get stuff on line with a credit card. You cannot buy hay that way. You need cash. Even buying what she has (rice bran and so forth..) there needs to be a vehicle. If the feed store gets it, I would replace the rice bran with hay cubes. However, the price may be more and she needs more bags of hay cubes... to feed those correctly...

So I suspect the horse subsists on what she is brought and what she can glean from the area she is kept. HATE to say this.. but a lot of horses all over the world live like that (and no small number of humans!!).

I am always surprised when I find those conditions in the US.
 
#100 ·
BTW RBarlo32, I absolutely love your Shetlands and your location in the Shetland Islands. I am sure it is a challenging life.. but very worth it.
 
#106 ·
Thank you, it can be hard in winter but definitely worth it, not really something that could be explained to understand the true beauty of Shetland you would have to come visit for you self. Winter is tough but we seem to get through them a lot poorer then the start and tired waiting for our week or so of summer to come, we get about 3 hours of proper sunlight. Where we get our hay doesn't deliver unless it is a big order which we would have nowhere to store it, so we went to the feed store every couple of days to get hay and when our 4x4 broke down it changed to every day sometimes twice a day.

OP if you can drive couldn't you borrow a car from someone if no one can give you a lift?
 
#101 · (Edited)
Elana, all I'm saying is that where there is a will, there is a way. It's not always true, but I can think of several ways for her to get hay to that horse, even if it's a single bale.

1) Homeless people use dollys or portable cart things all the time back home to transport their goods.

2) My abovementioned crazy mom used to make me walk 5 miles a day TO my elementary school and 5 miles back, and oftentimes we'd pick up groceries or library books in bulk and carry those things too. (The mileage I just figured out through Mapquest). My hands would be red and painful, and my backpack full, but with that suffering, I ate and fed my mind.

If my mom can do that just to avoid the local school, what's stopping the OP from doing that with a single bale of hay? Just saying...

3) No one will give her a ride for a bale of hay? No friends, no family with a car?

4) Failing a car, what about a bike? I've seen people rig up those back pieces that could surely support a single bale of hay.

5) What about the city bus? Are there any? If so, those could take her part way at least. I've taken embarassing things on the bus before, but it had to be done.

6) Failing in all those things, what about begging for help? Out of all the places with hay, I imagine at least one person could be guilted into helping and driving a bale or two over. Hell, I WOULD DO IT to save someone's starving horse, if it was an extenuating circumstance and not the norm!!!!



Have you guys read that thread about the horse in the foreign country? It was a couple months ago. The kids would walk several miles with a backpack of sorts, just to PULL GRASS (BY HAND) and bring grass home for their beloved cart horse.


If all these measures seem extra nuts, and it's better to let the horse suffer slowly on ten pounds of rice bran, then maybe the OP needs to rehome that horse before it dies a slow and horrible death. I do not like being the bad guy, but sometimes it is better to sit down and calmly but honestly tell the absolute truth of a matter before we come to the point of no return.
 
#102 ·
OP, you NEED to get rid of this horse. You are KILLING, ABUSING, and NEGLECTING this horse. Please please please for this poor little horse, rehome her to someone who can provide her with the care she needs.
What are you going to do if she needs emergency vet care?
You are refusing to supply her with hay, that is abuse and neglect, plain and simple. I'm biting my tongue before I really go off, but it is not okay to make a poor animal suffer because you have "cute wittle pony" syndrome.
Go back to school, get financially independent, take riding lessons, learn a horses head from its butt, then try again with horse ownership. Stop using your lack of knowledge and your ignorance to terrorize this animal.
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#103 ·
Hmm. Maybe it is different in that area, Elana. Our hay has always been delivered and anything else we needed from the dealers. This for at least the last forty years. Sometimes we have paid the drivers and sometimes by credit card when ordering on the 'phone.

Years ago, we were on location for a year and lived in Kingsport. Tennessee. I did great deal of travelling through that entire area, including into Virginia, West Virginia and NC. I was also shocked at much of that which I came across. I saw kids with shoes with soles falling off. Some had no shoes. Kids scratching coal out of the earth. People living in huts up on blocks, with newspaper tacked to the walls for insulation. Many had almost no food. I guess that is why Jim Jones started feeding the hungry in the area. He has done great things for those people. Christmas that year, we brought in shoes. Hundreds of pairs of shoes, so the kids could actually walk through the hills and attend school. I could tell more, but won't. Just want others to know there are people in this country, very close to starvation. Don't know if Jim still have his TV show, but if you need to be convinced, watch it some time.

Lizzie
 
#104 ·
I saw kids with shoes with soles falling off. Some had no shoes. Kids scratching coal out of the earth. People living in huts up on blocks, with newspaper tacked to the walls for insulation. Many had almost no food. I guess that is why Jim Jones started feeding the hungry in the area. He has done great things for those people. Christmas that year, we brought in shoes. Hundreds of pairs of shoes, so the kids could actually walk through the hills and attend school.

I could tell more, but won't. Just want others to know there are people in this country, very close to starvation.

Lizzie
Lizzie, this may be so, but the OP has a cell phone and talks about buying a new computer.

Cell phones generally cost money. Even if it's paid by welfare cash, I imagine there's a couple dollars there. Or hell, pull grass like the kids in that third world country!

If she's talking about shampoo, grooming supplies, trainers at 125 an hour, etc.


PS) I just rescued a starving 2 year old colt this weekend. He's a foundation QH colt and when the breeder can, she will finally send in the breeder report, and he is registerable. ALL her horses are registered, I think.








He is severely stunted from WORMS and lack of food. Can you believe he is 2?

She has no water. She runs it from her aunt, the neighbor. She doesn't have power either!!!

Oh and she just got flooded.

OP, this lady, with originally 18 head on this tiny tiny property, no water, and no power--her horses have more food than yours! And that is a shame!!!

I am truly, truly trying to help, but as long as the OP makes excuses, excuses are being made FOR her, and she agrees that things need to change but doesn't change anything, the horse will continue to suffer.

Here are a couple others:





I don't know if you can see right up on the fence, but she has a bunch of bales of fresh hay that got damp, so she dumped them all next to the fence for the horses. She has a few more dry ones with a tarp over them...
 
#107 ·
Lizzie, I am not directing anything at you per se, I was just pointing out that per the info we have been given, thats not the OP's situation. Sorry if it sounded that way. :(
I am just so frustrated!

There is always some reason why people cant follow through with their responsibilities, and if its not one thing its another!

The crap thing is, its the animals that really end up suffering. :(
 
#109 ·
During the last few years, I think we have seen a tremendous rise in animal abuse. Whole herds of horses and kennels of dogs, left to starve and/or fend for themselves. Had a case of it just last night here, on our local news. Our rescues are full and many cannot take on more cases. Yet people still breed and breed and breed. Not speaking here of those who have waiting lists and are breeding animals of quality, but of those who breed just because they have a mare and a handy stallion down the road. In an age when even some top horses find themselves in unfortunate circumstances, there is absolutely no room for the others.

I never thought to ask the OP, where she actually purchased her horse, from whom and why she chose that particular filly. And most of all, why they have not mentored her.

Lizzie
 
#110 · (Edited)
I know people in my area would KILL for hay to be $3-7 a bale. Right now, we're paying $19 for a 90lbs bale of alfalfa, $21 for a 90lbs bale of Bermuda grass, and $24 for a 60lbs bale of timothy.

When hay was half the cost it is now (about three summers ago), I fed my gelding (my old gelding who was a 14.2hh, 900lbs Arab/NSH cross who was in work five days a week) for $20 per week. I bought one bale of alfalfa and one bale of Bermuda per week. He got free access to the Bermuda via a hay net and then alfalfa morning and night. I didn't have a job and I was a full-time college student. Wanna know how I paid for his feed and board? I taught piano lessons and cleaned houses to pay for his feed and my gas, and I cleaned ten stalls a day and exercised four horses a day to cover his board.

The saying "Where there's a will, there's a way" seems especially appropriate here. It doesn't seem like the OP has the will to do the right thing for her horse. All the placating words in the world don't translate to an actual desire to do what needs to be done.

And I agree with the point about the phone. In order to post on her phone, she has to have a smartphone. Even a pay-as-you-go plan is a minimum $45, plus you have to buy the phone outright (usually $200+ for the smartphones). That's IF there's service with the pay-as-you-go where she lives. If not and she's on a major carrier with a plan, that's a minimum $60-90 a month, depending on the carrier.
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#111 ·
My daughter is a few miles from you, but that is about what she pays now. She feeds half Alfalfa and half Timothy. The high cost of feeding horses in S. Cal. now, is the reason she no longer breeds and cut down drastically on her number of horses. Sadly, she can also, no longer afford to rescue. Add the feed costs to the higher cost of all other equine related needs, then almost everyone I know here, has either cut down or no longer own horses. Sad really.

Lizzie
 
#113 ·
ive been waiting to see more pictures.. she said in every response she has made that the filly is gaining weight... I kinda wanna see proof.. and proof shes cleaned up that pasture... throw a bale of hay in a photo with her and ding ding ding we have a winner and someone who wants to try and improve their horse....

lol speaking of hay I gotta go feed my porkers. sheesh at this rate maybe I shld mail her a bail of alfalfa.
 
#116 ·
This might be a dumb comment - but isn't alfalfa the equivalent of Lucerne hay in the UK and Australasia?
 
#120 ·
The rice bran is transported by car which is a yellow 1998 Ford Mustang cobra.The hay had to be transported by truck and and my friend turned that into a work truck with tools in it.He lets m ride the mustang it's not mine.Barbie has an appointment Monday at 11:00 a.m with the equine dentist and she going to come for free to see what she has to do to her teeth if there is problems.Barbie does have an overbite and sometimes drops her feed.The veterinarian is the one that recommended I feed her rice bran.I will get her some hay as well myself instead of waiting on the truck.I will tell the truth beside the barn there is a big tub about 30 gallons full of green stuff inside it and it doesn't look fresh to me It's been like that for over a year.My friend tells me that won't hurt her so I took the advice which was wrong.She needs fresh water everyday because currently she only drinks a small amount of water two times a day that might be why she is not gaining weight.I will clean that tub out and everything.Thank you for your advice.I will get a boarding facility for my horse if it comes down to it.
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#123 ·
Oh please! Youre not abusing that horse- just get her wormed and give her hay 24/7 and make sure she always has fresh water!

Walkin horses are narrow built and she is just a little under weight- if shes stunted its not from lack of proteins so dont throw high protein feed at her- shell develop OCD (of the hocks) and that will stunt her growth more than not enough feed.(too much proteins)

Dont let them frazzle you or work ya up.. if you put 50k into that horse i believe you did! Who is anyone to say you didnt?

Take it with a grain of salt- stomp through the bs and collect the truths. ;-)
 
#126 ·
Are you kidding me? Starving a horse is not abuse? This horse isn't "a little ribby", she is obviously feeling and showing the effects of malnutrition!! She isn't WILLING to give her horse a proper diet. She shouldn't have to wait until Saturday, she needed more food a week after she got her I'd be willing to bet.

OP, would YOU drink that water?! I'm am in no way anal about dumping and refilling water, but that is disgusting. If you don't want to drink it why would she??

If you cannot give her proper feed do the right thing and find her a place that will! You are neglecting that horse, and if you truly love her you will take her out of this situation. There is no shame in giving up if its not working out.
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#124 ·
I will tell the truth beside the barn there is a big tub about 30 gallons full of green stuff inside it and it doesn't look fresh to me It's been like that for over a year.My friend tells me that won't hurt her so I took the advice which was wrong.

Oh dear. This gets worse by the day. Your friend knows absolutely nothing, about animals or their care. Does he/she also have horses? Water buckets for horses and indeed all animals, should be cleaned regularly. Certainly after eating or grazing, many horses will drink or dunk their heads into their water and it will have bits of grass or hay floating. But I tend to think what you describe is very different.

You now also state your filly has an overbite. With this in mind, please do not breed her - ever. She is not breeding quality. I know earlier you had breeding in mind. Did the sellers explain this to you? Most owners of a decent stallion, would not breed to a mare with an overbite anyway. Misaligned teeth, can also make it difficult to eat and bit-fit, if you ever have her trained to ride.

I really hope you didn't pay much for this little filly. Are you in touch with her breeders at all? How did you come to find this filly? How did you ever already spend $50,000 on her? Thinking about the most expensive horse our family has ever owned, with the initial cost, pro training to ride and drive, the cost of a cart, harness and showing, feed, farrier etc., it still didn't end up anywhere near that much. I have a feeling, others might have been taking advantage of you.

Lizzie
 
#125 ·
algae maybe??
My grandpa told me if the water you offer your horses in their troughs isn't something you woud drink then they shouldn't be drinking it. I have 5 55gallon rain barrels that I cut in half and placed the halves all around my pasture. every other day I dump them and scrub them then refill them.
 
#128 ·
Lucerne (Alfalfa) actually grows quite well in the UK. Must have well drained soil, though. You might try planting some seeds in a small patch which doesn't have many weeds. Lucerne doesn't like weeds in its early growth. Once established, it can grow for about three years before the land needs to be transferred to some other crop. It does make very good forage for animals. When I was studying agriculture in England many moons ago, we had several farmers who planted it successfully.

Lizzie
 
#131 ·
I gave her fresh water yesterday in a small bucket and she loved it I will take a picture and post proof.I also have a video I would like to share.It has my horse and the mule in it.She has now come into heat she showed signs of heat a week before.I am the one that is recording the video.The video will be on YouTube look up Barbie showing off.My friends so was riding Sedrick the mule.I will sneak and get some good quality hay myself and my friend says she does not need no hay nor rice bran but I think she does.Its not me it's him if I get in trouble with him because I wanted to feed my horse so be it.I am feeding my horse and that's a promise I am a Virgo and I believe in only right and my friend is a Gemini so he does one thing then does another.I will clean that bucket of water everyday and make sure it's fresh.I am going to a horse show in Scott county VA it starts at 5:00 p.m if I can't make it to that one there is a horse show in Hurley VA.I will ask horse owners what they did to make their horse look good and how they keep weight on them.I have loved horses all my life it runs in my mom's side of the family.My great-grandfather owned Clydesdales.I will do what it takes to get the care she needs.
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#138 ·
I gave her fresh water yesterday in a small bucket and she loved it I


I will sneak and get some good quality hay myself and my friend says she does not need no hay nor rice bran but I think she does.

I will ask horse owners what they did to make their horse look good and how they keep weight on them.I have loved horses all my life it runs in my mom's side of the family.My great-grandfather owned Clydesdales.I will do what it takes to get the care she needs.
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1) I see future tense, not past tense. HAVE YOU FED THIS HORSE SOME HAY? Because right now, i'm still seeing the "will do it in the future" that has dominated this thread.

Did I miss something here? I reread twice. =(

2) Thank you for giving her fresh water. I'm sure she appreciates it.

3) You've been given the same or similar advice over and over for how to feed her. If you want to ask at the show, that is your prerogative, but as others have said, the needs of a show horse are going to be different from your horse, sitting in the field and suffering from malnourishment.

I see you keep saying that you will do what you need to do for your horse. You may or not be making steps.

I don't know either way. I searched for your youtube video, but didn't see it. It would be really helpful if you posted a link.


4) You say you can only access the local library, but I will tell you right now that they probably have books on horse care. Have you read them?

I was going to say, you clearly have internet on your phone. I'd say buy some books through Amazon or Ebay, where they are super cheap, but if you're "on a budget"...
Well let's just say that many, many books, magazines and articles can be acquired through the internet, LEGITIMATELY or via torrents.

Again, if you are not a troll and you love your horse, then stop saying YOU WILL DO IT (in the future), and do whatever you have to to take care of it now. =/

We were all new once, we all started somewhere. At some point we all sat down and learned what needed to be done...or are still in the process of learning ;)
 
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