Well, I guess I might as well start a journal here. I'm not sure where else to write this stuff down, since my friends are either not aware that I own a horse or think that I'm crazy already...or both. Plus my husband is tired of hearing about Kiera!
I am a new horse owner and I am fairly new to horses. My filly, Kiera was born in May of 2011...I almost didn't get her, and maybe some people here would feel that way as well...I was blasted on another forum for my desire to buy a young horse, and was told that I'd raise something fit only for slaughter...I was told that my horse looked like a mule, that "ugly horses eat as much as (pretty) horses", and that what I paid for Kiera was "more than the meat man would pay (for her)".
....
I was about to wash my hands of horses forever and all horse people, but my husband, who disapproved of the horse thing in general, regardless of what I was going to buy took me to the side and said...look...I know you...you know yourself. You aren't going to raise a dangerous for meat animal, and I don't understand WHY you are letting what these STRANGERS say affect you this way. Why are you even listening to them? When the seller's husband echoed my husband when I voiced these concerned, I put my foot down on all the crap floating around in my brain and put a down payment.
Kiera is a QH/Percheron cross. Her dam is a palamino QH named "Badger's Magic", who is about 14.3. Her sire was a large (I think they said 18 hands..but surely not) black Percheron stallion. Kiera is sorrel and unremarkable in color. She looks very "drafty"....but she is very sweet, intelligent and, as my barn owner says, "willing". She has her flaws, of course...she had not been handled until I bought her, really, late September. She is not 100 percent on her feet yet, though I have to brag, just a little...
The night before last, I told her "foot", and she lifted it for me and held it!!! I am really proud of her! She backs up when I say "back" and nudge her chest (Clearly I'm not a trainer, but the BO's colt, two months older isn't even 1/4 as interested in pleasing as my girl), I can now halter her no problem, she will approach me in pasture, and she seems for the most part to spook in her skin...which is to say, no leaping, jumping to the side or anything...she just kind of twitches strongly but stays planted. I can touch her belly and her butt, and my husband has cleaned her udder (? right word lol?) with no problems.
I am learning as I go, and I have to say that the BO loves my horse to death, as do the other boarders. My BO admits she has taken her 3 year old son in my horse's stall, which I'm not 100 percent pleased with, but it shows how highly she thinks of Kiera's temperament. She claims it's because my horse is "cold blooded"....and maybe this is true, as Badger's Magic did not seem nearly as nice as my girl. The BO's colt is hugely different in behavior to Kiera, it's kind of odd...he was touched from birth and is very used to human touch and presence...but he's nippy, he flattens his ears to the BO when she tries to bring him grain, and is very disrespectful and crowding in the pasture. Kiera tends to lip my clothes, which I will be discouraging, as I am afraid it will turn into nibbling. Other than that....she let me braid her tail and wrap it...I haven't gotten her to stand still in cross-ties yet, but since my time is limited outside of school/my kids, I'm taking it kind of slow. Besides...she's only 7 months old!
Another thing...my BO is of the opinion (other than that Kiera will be a "fantastic", "once in a lifetime find" horse!) that Kiera is going to be very BIG! She says that her paint colt is out of very large parents, and should be beast, but Kiera is already bigger than he is! She also says that Kiera eats every bit of hay that she puts in front of her and is eating equivalent amounts of hay as a GROWN HORSE. :shock:
I measured Kiera's cannon bone to knee, and maybe I did it wrong, but I got 15 hands adult height. I told that to the BO and she didn't believe it at ALL! I did more research and found that for larger horses with short cannon bones, the measurement of the cannon bone isn't accurate. Anyone have any guesses as to adult height?
These pics are kind of old, within a month of when I first got her...I've been super busy lately so I haven't managed to get out there before dark lately.
PS. I am going to be taking lessons....I have seven more weeks of Calculus which has been eating up my time. And I'm definitely going to work with a trainer...not planning to have her backed until she's three more than likely, so we have time. =)
I am a new horse owner and I am fairly new to horses. My filly, Kiera was born in May of 2011...I almost didn't get her, and maybe some people here would feel that way as well...I was blasted on another forum for my desire to buy a young horse, and was told that I'd raise something fit only for slaughter...I was told that my horse looked like a mule, that "ugly horses eat as much as (pretty) horses", and that what I paid for Kiera was "more than the meat man would pay (for her)".
....
I was about to wash my hands of horses forever and all horse people, but my husband, who disapproved of the horse thing in general, regardless of what I was going to buy took me to the side and said...look...I know you...you know yourself. You aren't going to raise a dangerous for meat animal, and I don't understand WHY you are letting what these STRANGERS say affect you this way. Why are you even listening to them? When the seller's husband echoed my husband when I voiced these concerned, I put my foot down on all the crap floating around in my brain and put a down payment.
Kiera is a QH/Percheron cross. Her dam is a palamino QH named "Badger's Magic", who is about 14.3. Her sire was a large (I think they said 18 hands..but surely not) black Percheron stallion. Kiera is sorrel and unremarkable in color. She looks very "drafty"....but she is very sweet, intelligent and, as my barn owner says, "willing". She has her flaws, of course...she had not been handled until I bought her, really, late September. She is not 100 percent on her feet yet, though I have to brag, just a little...
The night before last, I told her "foot", and she lifted it for me and held it!!! I am really proud of her! She backs up when I say "back" and nudge her chest (Clearly I'm not a trainer, but the BO's colt, two months older isn't even 1/4 as interested in pleasing as my girl), I can now halter her no problem, she will approach me in pasture, and she seems for the most part to spook in her skin...which is to say, no leaping, jumping to the side or anything...she just kind of twitches strongly but stays planted. I can touch her belly and her butt, and my husband has cleaned her udder (? right word lol?) with no problems.
I am learning as I go, and I have to say that the BO loves my horse to death, as do the other boarders. My BO admits she has taken her 3 year old son in my horse's stall, which I'm not 100 percent pleased with, but it shows how highly she thinks of Kiera's temperament. She claims it's because my horse is "cold blooded"....and maybe this is true, as Badger's Magic did not seem nearly as nice as my girl. The BO's colt is hugely different in behavior to Kiera, it's kind of odd...he was touched from birth and is very used to human touch and presence...but he's nippy, he flattens his ears to the BO when she tries to bring him grain, and is very disrespectful and crowding in the pasture. Kiera tends to lip my clothes, which I will be discouraging, as I am afraid it will turn into nibbling. Other than that....she let me braid her tail and wrap it...I haven't gotten her to stand still in cross-ties yet, but since my time is limited outside of school/my kids, I'm taking it kind of slow. Besides...she's only 7 months old!
Another thing...my BO is of the opinion (other than that Kiera will be a "fantastic", "once in a lifetime find" horse!) that Kiera is going to be very BIG! She says that her paint colt is out of very large parents, and should be beast, but Kiera is already bigger than he is! She also says that Kiera eats every bit of hay that she puts in front of her and is eating equivalent amounts of hay as a GROWN HORSE. :shock:
I measured Kiera's cannon bone to knee, and maybe I did it wrong, but I got 15 hands adult height. I told that to the BO and she didn't believe it at ALL! I did more research and found that for larger horses with short cannon bones, the measurement of the cannon bone isn't accurate. Anyone have any guesses as to adult height?
These pics are kind of old, within a month of when I first got her...I've been super busy lately so I haven't managed to get out there before dark lately.
PS. I am going to be taking lessons....I have seven more weeks of Calculus which has been eating up my time. And I'm definitely going to work with a trainer...not planning to have her backed until she's three more than likely, so we have time. =)