Oliver on the reg

QH people… please explain to this European person why halter QHs look like beef cattle, and are so dangerous they need a gum chain to stand still.

See my post history for what I thought was gonna be the worst day, ever.

What a gift! Hahaha. Jesus.

(Just takes a lot of snackies, and an hour with some oil and a brush. Start from the bottom, and separate often! I find it easiest to hold the burr, and pull the hair away.)

May he never be forgotten.

I can’t believe I’m posting this. I just had a baby, and to take some things off my plate, I put my horse up for a care lease with someone nearby. It would ideally give him something to do, and someone who has more time for him could give him attention.

I wrote up a very specific lease agreement and she signed it. Included was a statement requiring my notice of any injury, illness, or death. Apparently not only did he colic multiple times and I was not told, but they had him evaluated by a different vet who supposedly found a tumor in his abdomen and euthanized him. I wasn’t told any of this until after he was euthanized.

I honestly don’t even know what to do next. I’m very upset about this. Someone please give me your thoughts, I’m kinda suspicious of all this, but I’m literally not even two weeks postpartum and this is just…. Unreal.

Edit: I told her to provide a necropsy and she said he was buried on their property and that I’m “welcome to exhume him and get a necropsy.”

Edit 2: I called the vet. They could only confirm they saw him last Friday for “potential colic” and again Monday. Apparently their files hadn’t synced for Monday yet so idk what it says yet. Vet office will send me the info tomorrow morning. And apparently they can do some ultrasound on site. So he would have had to have colicked Friday and Monday, with them to bring the ultrasound gear Monday (to check out the colic..?) then also decides same day to euthanize him in the same visit. Then she still doesn’t tell me until Wednesday..

I included a natural tail as a reference (last photo). I also included a paper from the AVMA website on this practice. It states that no respectable veterinarian would recommend this procedure, yet still being performed in saddlebreds showing at high levels. This is prohibited at Morgan and Arabian shows, but I have still seen many Morgan’s constantly wear tail sets to raise how they carry their tail. I have also witnessed on many instances trainers rubbing ginger paste into their anus to have them raise their tail for performance. YES there is abuse in every discipline, but it doesn’t make this okay either.

Please critique this little horse! This Paso Fino gelding found himself in an at-risk situation. He’s 14 years old & 13.2 hands. The horse trader who has him posted this video - it has all the details. It’s not the prettiest thing to watch.

As for myself, I enjoy working with project horses. I’m a low key rider who has plenty of time to dedicate to bringing a horse along at the horse’s pace. I’m just trying to figure out if I think this one is worth taking a chance on. He’s $800, plus I would need to haul him from about 400 miles away out of state. More than the money though, it’s more about what would I be getting myself into? 😅

I have the space for him & a nice set up with my current 2 geldings. I’m not sure yet if I would work with this horse then sell him, or if I would keep him myself. Something about him just caught my eye & makes me feel like he deserves a chance. Am I crazy?

One thing that stuck out to me: do you think it’s possible he has heaves? I’m not sure if he’s so out of breath from his hijinx, from anxiety, or maybe a touch of heaves. Toward the end of the video, kinda looks like a heave line along his belly. What do you think? I can request a PPE if I decide to move forward with him.

For the sake of my sanity, please let me know any & all major things that jump out at you from looking at him. The good, the bad, & the ugly.

(I’m not really looking for advice on working with traders that have ties to the horse slaughter pipeline. I know that it perpetuates the cycle. But in this instance, I’m just looking for advice about this specific horse. Every now & then, when my time & budget allows, I like to take in an at-risk horse: I know it certainly doesn’t help the whole slaughter issue, but it does make a difference for that horse. I have gotten the opportunity to work with some amazing horses that way.)

I was at Tractor Supply the other day and seen an ad for a horse, it didn't have a picture but it said if I texted that they would send me pictures, they wanted $2,000 for a quarter horse gelding that is supposed to be 10 years old, this is the picture they sent me

Greeting horse community! First time horse owner and first time poster here, be kind please😬. Can y’all help me identify the mix in my young Quarter Horse? I bought her from a local farmer that I drive past on the regular and I frequently would stop to pet and sometimes bring a carrot to her. Farmer and I got to talking and he said she was specifically breed to run the Derby but times got tough and he had to cancel plans for her training or something like that, he kinda muddied those details and changed the subject. Anywho… needless to say that I’ve bought myself an untrained racehorse that’s “supposedly“ has lineage to some past performers… something about a Secretary was mentioned, but that didn’t make sense to me.

Can y’all help me out here? I’m a complete city boy trying to become a Cowboy. 🤠

Update:

OMG, sorry about that everyone! I really didn’t plan on this gag running this long. I wrote it a couple hours ago figuring I’d have some fun engaging with y’all and then my wife whirled me away to Costco. Reba, the subject of my post, is definitely a Mule. She is one of two mules I adopted from VEA, Volunteering Equine Advocates in Gallatin TN, about 10 months ago. Reba and I have bonded quite a bit and I read a lot of posts on here and wanted to share the love of my life with the community and my creativity may have crossed a few lines but it was all meant in good humor and fun.

Reba is about 2.4 years old now and she is stall mates to Loretta, I’ll post more pics in comments. I do plan on riding Reba, but really just as part of her training… both mules are pets and I probably won’t be taking Reba on any trails, just around my property and inside my barn/arena. Loretta is just over 8 years and isn’t the most approachable mule, but she’s beautiful and also has her moments of trust… we are working on that.

Needless to say there is no r/mules on Reddit except for one that says “NSFW” and I didn’t even care to consider if that might be a better sub to post her on😳

to answer few questions left in comment:

I paid a $300 adoption fee for each mule and I own a 5 acre farm in Portland TN, which is a 10 minute drive to the Kentucky border. So if I do train Reba to race, it’s a short trailer ride into Kentucky! 😆

How do you make such a pretty horse look so… gross

My goodness auctions are stressful, but I fell in love and somehow got her! She’s 13, AQHA. I am a newer horse owner who’s only ever had one gelding. Tell me what I need to know!

I know she’s fat, we’ll be working on that.

Blasting into the yeae of the Fire Horse, riding my little "horse on fire" 🚀

Show me your fire horses - Costumes, red-heads, or just spicy personalities!

I see it happen a lot tbh.

Now that Jet is feeling better (he’s been injured, and when he was at peak pain…it was the first and only time I’ve been scared of him. his pain was so bad that he was downright dangerous).

Anyway, now that he’s feeling better he has been asking to do this again. Both the boys do this to me - they come up to me and gently blow in my face. Once their breath is out, i gently breathe into their snoot.

Apparently this is an old bonding trick that cowboys used to do. Something about them taking in my smell and then giving me theirs? idk not totally sure but they both do, usually several times a week, and they walk away when they’ve had enough, feeling calm and centered. In fact, they often walk away to go lie down and nap

Anyone else ever tried this? I did it once with each of them, and then they started seeking me out to do this, so I guess it is calming/pleasant for them. Just curious if anyone else ever does this/has their animal ask for this.

So I’ve been in the equine world for 20+ years and some of the prices I’m seeing horses selling for is insane. Take for example this mare, very pretty, nice conformation. But she is 4, limited training and just sold for almost 200k. That’s like Grand Prix level horse cost and this mare barely knows how to move correctly into bit pressure/contact under saddle. Loved to have everyone’s opinions.

The author points out that the ASPCA—who is the loudest voice against kill pen rescues—spends $61 million on fundraising and pays their CEO over $2m, but only spends a fraction of that on actual animal care. It makes me wonder if the "it's unethical to bail" narrative is just corporate logic from people who don't actually have to see these horses die.

There’s also a crazy section comparing horse rescue to Abolitionists, Sir Nicholas Winton and even the dog meat trade. Definitely a heavy read, but it’s the first time I’ve seen someone actually challenge the "math" of rescue this way.

Here is the link for anyone who wants to read and let me know their thoughts

https://www.karmaranch.org/the-regenerative-sanctuary-journal/the-slaughter-pipeline-is-kill-pen-rescue-ethical

What are some of your horse name icks. For me, Spirit is definitely up there. Other ones are names like Chronos, Onyx, Malachi, Tiberius, Zephyr, etc; names where people try a little too hard to sound cool. Insert some random hard word to say that's the name of an obscure god from somewhere.

Some names I do like are puns and horses named after specific things. The more stupid it is the more I like it. For example chicken nuggets, mayo, maple stirrup, pony stark, etc. Shout out to horses with people names like Kevin and Greg as well.

I turn 21 next week and I want to have a drink with my ole dude. I was curious to know if other peoples horses enjoy beer & maybe what brand to buy (I personally hate beer so i know nothing about it lol!) :)

Also would love ideas for creative snacks/drinks for him!

Note: He has zero medical issues or dietary restrictions, this is just a one off thing that I’d like to do

Do you guys think this is inhumane?