The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT

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[CindyDawg]

Yabadabado!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duchess47]

Good luck tomorrow, hoping you have riding weather. I think I'm in for more of the same (winter) :(

[Duchess47]

I'll get pictures of the baby as soon as it arrives (still no foal) or when I get home (two more hours).

I think I'd have driven off the road if a trailer passed me looking like mine with horses looking like mine. I'd have been making a U-turn before I even thought about it. Very odd coincidence.

[Duchess47]

About a mile and a half from my place -

http://nevadaappeal.com/article/20060218/NEWS/102180067

Abandoned foal finds home in Dayton bedroom

Lucky Horse Rescue Corral operator caring for newborn filly

Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Shirley Allen of the Lucky Horse Rescue Corral in Dayton, snuggles with 2-day-old Heidi-ho Friday afternoon. Allen will keep the foal, which was abandoned near Iron Mountain, inside until "temperatures are suitable for her to play outside."

Karen Woodmansee Appeal Staff Writer, kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com February 18, 2006

A wild horse born Wednesday morning in a freezing field in Stagecoach ended up snuggled inside a warm master bedroom in Dayton later that day.

As the tiny bay filly with a star on its forehead came into the world near Iron Mountain, the temperature hovered around 4 degrees. It was surrounded by its mom and about six other wild horses, members of a band area residents call the Stagecoach Seven.

But the stallion herded the mares away, including the filly's mother, possibly when a couple of dogs in a nearby yard started barking.

An unidentified Stagecoach resident saw the birth, and then watched for several hours to see if the horses would come back, according Nonie Higley, a Lyon County Animal Control officer. When they didn't, the resident called authorities.

When Higley arrived, the little filly was alive but suffering from hypothermia and couldn't walk. Higley picked her up and placed her in the car, securing a seat belt around the baby horse.

"I went out and could see this tiny head poking over the grass," Higley said. "She tried to get up but couldn't. She's a very lucky little girl."

The foal was taken to the Lyon County Animal Shelter in Silver Springs. Mike Holmes, the state Virginia Range estray horse manager, was called, and he contacted Shirley Allen, of Least Resistance Training Concepts, to see if she could save the filly. Allen operates the Lucky Horse Rescue Corral in Dayton.

"I've been in on a lot of rescues, but this one was the greatest," Higley said. "I love the mustangs. I think they're a gift from God to us here in Nevada, and we're kind of pushing them out."

Allen, who has raised about 10 foals in the bedroom of her Dayton Valley home, named the foal Heidi-ho, after the filly began making some unusual horse sounds.

"She has this funny whinny that sounds like a little yodel," Allen said. "She's been a real kick ever since she got over her hypothermia and got her legs under her."

Allen estimates the full-term foal now weighs between 50 and 65 pounds.

"She's pretty solid," Allen said. "She's really heavy when she steps on your toes."

Heidi-ho will stay at the rescue corral for about four months, and then will be adopted out.

"She'll stay here until we can find just the right mommy and daddy for her," Allen said.

The bedroom floor is covered with old quilts and blankets to protect the rug. Allen said it's the best option for both the foal and Allen, who must feed the filly every 1-1Ú2 to 2 hours.

"She's my very first baby that actually uses a bottle," Allen said. "Most go from the turkey baster to the bucket."

Allen feeds Heidi-ho Mare's Match, a manmade replacement milk for foals who can't nurse from their natural mothers. She has also been given Mare's Serum, another manmade product that strengthens the filly's immune system, helping create antibodies it would otherwise get from its mother.

Higley said the little foal would never have survived had the Stagecoach resident not seen her.

"She would have been eaten by coyotes or she would have frozen to death," she said.

Allen said she didn't hesitate before taking in the little filly.

"When God puts something in front of you, it's your responsibility to take care of that baby," Allen said.

[CindyDawg]

I probably would have but they were stopped at a red light and
had just started and I was making a right turn so we were both going very slow. I almost stopped though until I figured out it wasn't mine. I was already thinking about a chase:')

[CindyDawg]

I would love to do something like that but I'm afraid mine would go in the barn. Lucky baby though.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Sleeting again this morning:(

I'm so glad I bought the trough heater. It's working like a charm. I'm just having to dip out of it and walk across the alley to pour it into Harley's, So much easier then hauling from the house. Now if the supply will just last thru the cold spell, crossing fingers.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Anyone ever do any Sudoku Puzzles?

I just discovered them yesterday, I thnk I have smoke coming out of my ears:)

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Mules can be great:) And you're not off the mark at all:) We love discussing things like this and giveing expert advise:) Just kidding:) Welcome to this thread:)

Do you have any experience with horses and/or mules?

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I'm not sure what kind of recommendations you are looking for, but I'd look for a fully trained one, that is at least 8 years old, preferably 10. I don't have any experience with mules, I'm baseing this advise on my experience with horses.

I also would NOT turn a mule/horse loose on the whole property. I'd fence off a nice size paddock, 1-5 acres at the most.

Becky

[CindyDawg]

Welcome
She isn't here today but RebaJ's husband's dream is to raise buffalo. He has a lot of information on them.

[CindyDawg]

Do you have a toys r us near? The one here is getting the axe. My DIL bought the kids some books for just a few dollars. They are action books. The boys follow along when I read and push the cartoon characters as we get to them. In one way I think they are cute and they read with me but in another it's teaching them that even books have to do something.

[HairOfTheDog]

Good morning and welcome to the thread!

I love mules! They are absolutely fanstastic on trail. I spent 8 days on mules in the mountains of Arizona, and was absolutely sold on them. :~D

Like Becky, I'd recommend as a first horse or mule that you get one with a lot of experience that's been tested doing the things you want to do. It just makes everything easier, more fun, and safer as you get started if you aren't trying to learn and teach at the same time. :~D

And like Becky, I'd recommend you keep a mule in a small managed pasture, at least have one available for the times of year you need it... and buy some books on keeping and feeding them. Mules get too fat easily on rich food.

This is a picture of a good friend of mine with his great old trusty mule.

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

Another very cold day here. One of the first things we did when we bought this place, was have a water line put out to the barn. There is a hydrant that shuts off below freeze level. Thawing hoses, and toting water out would just about turn me off. Ohio winters are too harsh for outdoor hoses. I admire anyone who hauls water. That is quite a chore.

[HairOfTheDog]

Anyone ever do any Sudoku Puzzles?

No - tell me about 'em!

[HairOfTheDog]

If I lived in a cold weather climate... I hope I'd be better prepared :~D We only get about a week of these really cold snaps each winter, and I haven't built a routine around it.

My husband is wonderful for all the water he's been hauling :~D

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh - and I know some about cows... but not a thing about keeping buffalo :~D

Inge_CAV has kept a lot of cattle.

[Beaker]

Oh man I'm addicted to sudoku puzzles. I love them. A tip is to put the possible numbers in the squares up in the corner. Then you can work by process of emlimination.

Leanne