These three girls just arrived (Nov. 2004) and although they didn't look to bad at first I am finding that each one has her own set of problems both physically & emotionally. When they first arrived I noticed that the guy left halters on 2 of them .... he said they were fine, took his money (charged me for the halters he was leaving behind) and drove away in a big hurry. I watched the mares closely as they were getting to know their new home. I saw the 2 w/halters standing at the hay pile acting like they wanted to eat but only picked up a piece or 2 at a time. The youngest one seemed to just give up on eating all together and it didn't take long to figure out why. Their halters were on soooo tight that it was restricting their jaw movement every time they tried to chew! I was worried about the younger one maybe continuing to have problems since she was forced to wear a halter she probably out grew months ago! But since it has been removed and it's now been a few days she seems to be doing fine. The youngest mare which whom I have named "Blind Faith" is still child like and her curiosity is of course a real plus as I was able to remove her halter without to much resistance. But Faith's half sister is a little older and not so easily swayed. She absolutely wanted NO part of anything to do with me! It took some time and a lot of patience before I was finally able to attach a lead rope to her halter .... but as soon as it snapped into place she began to tremble and shake like I've never seen before! She was deathly afraid of whatever she thought was about to happen to her ..... it just broke my heart to see her actually showing such physical signs of being so afraid!! Then I couldn't help but to feel angry as I started to wonder what in the heck did someone do to this 5 yr. old mare that has her fearing human contact with such an intense reaction!! I had planned on petting her & spending some time with her but quickly decided to do the opposite & I immediately removed her halter and just let her go .... her first instinct was to turn and run away but she didn't seem to go to far .... she stopped & just stood there staring at me .... she seemed really confused that I hadn't asked or demanded more from her. I think she just needs time to get to know me without fearing me and if that's what she needs that's what I will give her! I am very thankful that these three mares ended up here in my care. I was totally mislead on their condition, temperament & their paper work! I'm sure the guy who sold them to me drove away laughing as he counted his money. Well, let me just say this .... "Money is something that anyone can make more of BUT when it comes to caring, loving and understanding a helpless horse's needs and to watch the incredible changes in their behavior as they learn to trust once again ... WELL, THAT'S JUST PRICELESS!" :*) I have decided to give these 3 girls new barn names ... Youngest one is "Faith", her 1/2 sister "Hope" and the little old grey & white mare I'll call "Destiny". I will update you with more info & pix .... as the road to recovery has only just begun for HOPE, FAITH & DESTINY! :^) Thank you so much for taking the time to care! UPDATE as of April 5, 2005 Destiny has turned out to be a real 'pocket pony' she loves attention, loves to be brushed and is just a total sweetheart! Faith now lets me brush her from nose to tail without to much problem. Hope is still a little over reactive and actually has been known to try & bite people who attempt to pet her over the fence! She'll lure them in by allowing them to pet her for a minute and then with in a blink of an eye ... she wrinkles her nose, lays her ears flat back and lunges at her innocent victims bare skin! She's never acted like this towards me so I'm not exactly sure how to handle and/or correct this aggressive behavior .... if you have any ideas/advise please feel free to share your thoughts with me .... I'd appreciate any help I can get. Thank you! Email: AMiniHorseSupply@yahoo.com UPDATE as of JULY 20, 2005 All 3 girls are still here in my care and are doing GREAT! They look like different horses now that they have lost their winter coats. I need to take some new pictures soon to show how much better they look all slicked out in their summer coats. Faith has really turned around and even Hope is learning to like me (even tho I know she really doesn't want too) LOL! :*) These horses have been a real pleasure to care for. It has warmed my heart to watch them change so much over the past few months. They continue to internally heal with each passing day! I couldn't run this rescue program if it wasn't for all of you wonderful customers .... and I THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for your support in buying my supplies! |
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| Upon arriving to my place all new horses set up residency in this corner corral. They are kept separate from all my other horses and will remain in quarantine for at least 30 to 60 days. Even though many of the horses I have housed often look fine on the outside but it's the inside that needs the intense treatments to rid them of worms, collection of sand (big problem in our area), hoof & frog care, shots, dental work, so on and so on ..... all these treatments cost almost as much to perform on a mini as it does on a regular sized horse. I am now in the process of carefully trying to deworm each mare due to the obvious overload of parasites in their systems. I watch them very carefully during their treatments because if you were to kill all the worms at once they can cause some seriously health problems. This includes colic and sometimes even permeant internal damage. It is a total trip to see all the dead worms in their manure 24 to 48hrs. after they have received just one dose. Have you ever looked closely? If I got close enough I could see the tiny pin worms but I didn't have to look to hard to see the nasty long white roundworms (Ascarids)! EWWW! YUCK! They are gross! I was just reading about how the female roundworms can reach over 18" in length while the males are a little smaller. They live in the small intestine of the horse, where up to a million eggs may be laid A DAY! Maybe, I'll take a few pictures next time I get rescues in so everyone will remember to keep their horses dewormed! :*) Well, now you probably know more then you needed to know about worms & my three new winter projects!!!! But if you are buying supplies from me and on the off chance I actually do make a small profit ..... this is how your money is being spent ..... on MINI'S that MATTER! THANK YOU so much for your support! Your business is greatly appreciated! |
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| These pictures were sent to me by a very nice lady named Vicki who lives in Australia. She was kind enough to allow me to share these pictures in hopes to show everyone the importance of deworming your horse(s). Vicki said her friends thought she was a little 'nutty' for collecting all the worms that were being expelled daily by her newest rescue horse but I am thankful that she thought to do it! I believe these worms were from a regular sized horse. It's amazing how many of these disguising things can actually live in a horse's body and go totally unnoticed for years! |
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| If these pictures don't remind you to deworm your horse(s) both large and small and all in between ... I don't know what will! :*) |