DRAMA ~pics added!!!~

[squirrels]

So I'm not sure if she counts as an official rescue, but she's definitely being upgraded from someone who DID rescue her (then this someone *suddenly* can't afford to feed her ) Pony is currently living in a makeshift stall in an old chicken coop with garbage everywhere.

Katie and I went to go look at the pony tonight, we will be picking her up tomorrow night (yes, I will bring my camera for many pictures). She's adorable! She's white with some red roan around her eyes, in her tail and a little in her flank (not really noticeable) and she had BROWN EARS!!!! Sooo cute! I just want to kiss them! Nevermind that she's severely ear-shy....

Apparently the guy who bred her was some old-fashioned cowboy type. Whenever he needed to do something with her, she was ear-twitched (hence the ear-shyness), otherwise he just left her in her pen, underweight, covered in mud with severe rain rot, etc etc.

This girl goes to pick her up, asked Old Cowboy what her name was, and Old Cowboy shrugs and says, "I've just been calling her 'Horse.'"

Girl brings her home, cleans her up, the pony is looking better, but the girl can't figure out why she isn't gaining much weight, so she had started her on beet pulp. When I looked in her stall, I noticed that her hay was more like straw, and figured that the pony was probably skinny because the hay was pretty much worthless as far as actual nutrition goes. Apparently she was plumping right up with the beet pulp, though, so no worries there...

Also, Girl trims the pony's feet herself, and they're hideous. Please please please please, if you are not properly trained on how to trim hooves, please don't attempt it. Pony has platters for front feet and they all are starting to get cracks. None of them look even level to me, and I'm thinking it will take multiple visits from my (much loved) farrier to get them looking like normal feet.

Girl apparently was riding her, but stopped when she noticed the cracks in the pony's hooves (thank God for the small things).

Other than her feet and the fact she needs another 100 lbs or so, the pony looks to be doing pretty well. A few minor behavior issues (running over/into Girl) that I'm sure we can work with (or cure pretty freaking quick).

But like I said, she's absolutely adorable and I am already trying to figure out ways to get her to the SAFE show.

Oh, Katie and I already named her "Drama" because we don't have any drama in our barn, and it just doesn't seem like a barn without drama!! ;D (It's also the reason why we left the last one, and so really, we wouldn't have been able to take the pony if it wasn't for drama ).

Standby for pictures!

[cat67]

Congrats on the pony! I can't wait to see the pics.

Hey, I want to come ride it. I looooove ponies. You should come ride the one I'm training and then I'll come ride yours. You know, with all of the free time we both have...ROTFL

[schwung]

LOVE the name! Who doesn't need a little drama in their barn?

Can't wait to see the pics. Good for you!

[squirrels]

Because she can be registered through POA, but no one has bothered doing so yet, we're going to get her registered and I think her registered name will have to be "No Drama Allowed" because that was the #1 rule at the old barn (and the barn manager was the worst one at following it! That's why we left!)

Cat! Why the heck can't you live closer??

I am still hoping that I can take her to the SAFE show. I hope she'll be ready by then. I don't think it will take more than a couple weeks to get her to a good weight, but those cracks in her feet could be a little more tricky as far as getting her going under saddle.

[Whitewolf821]

Heck, you could even just enter her in halter if her feet are still an issue. I bet she'd love all the attention!

[squirrels]

Yes, a halter class would be fun. We'd place last, since she's a little... fugly for lack of a better word.

We has some issues in the trailer when we went to get her.

She loaded fine, then as soon as we started moving she decided to FLIP OUT. Like, rearing up in the trailer and everything And because she's a pony, there's lots of room for her to rear and wiggle around. I was horrified. I personally never tie horses in the trailer, but decided to consider it. So I tied her and she promptly broke her leadrope. So I guess that solved that issue. She was rearing and actually got her front legs caught in the manger area (2-horse straight -load).

Now, I don't know if this is the correct thing to do, and I could be a bad horseperson for doing this, but I hopped back in the truck and took off. I mean, I was careful, didn't start/stop too fast, didn't corner too fast, but I drove a little bit faster and a little bit rougher than I normally would with a horse trailer. My logic is that if she has to work to keep her balance, all 4 feet are on the floor. I also edited our route. We had originally intended to go "the back way" on little-traveled roads so we could go nice and slow and not worry too much about backing up traffic. I changed my mind and went freeway all the way. They're straighter and I can go faster and get home faster.

About halfway through the trip she finally calmed down. I freaked out every time we had to stop at a light, thinking she would go nutso again, but I think she finally figured out that the trailer is NOT the place to mess around in.

When we got home, she very calmly unloaded (I expected her to fly out backwards), settled down in about 5 minutes, and we threw her in a stall next to Jack to help her relax (he's good at that, for some crazy reason).

When I took inventory of her injuries, all I could find was a tiny little cut above her eye. Her legs seems clean (amazingly). I will check again in the morning to see if there's any swelling anywhere, but she seems to be fine (knock on wood).

Sorry, I didn't get any pictures. By the time I had her calmed down and taken care of, it was too dark. I'll get some in the morning.

So we have a lot of work to do... well, we wanted a "project," so I guess we got one.

[cat67]

When I used to haul professionally, I always hauled with ace in the trailer. 3 CC's of that and pony would have settled RIGHT down and had to concentrate on, you know, staying on her feet and not any, um, drama.

Sounds like you named her appropriately. *snickers*

[rabbithounds]

Perhaps you should rename her DQ for Drama Queen. ;D

[squirrels]

Yeah, as she was being a lunatic I was thinking "dang I wish I had some Ace right now..."

My favorite is that her ad says "Loads and hauls great" so I wasn't expecting TOO much... drama... She refused to load for her previous owner, so after watching that for about 20 minutes, I asked if I could just give it a try and in about 5 minutes had her in....

Yes, I'm finding that the name suits her very well, since we've already had to have a "Come to Jesus" meeting this morning regarding leading politely vs. trying to run me over....

This one will be fun...

[Sara]

Um... I seem to remember some promise of pictures... <drums fingeres impatiently>

[squirrels]

Of course! They would have been up sooner, but my little black horse decided today was a good day (being Friday the 13th and all...) to send mommy to Urgent Care with a stress fracture in my foot...

I didn't get many good pics of her... she refused to pick up her head out of that grass.





Boo boo above the eye from her trailer incident....


Aren't the brown ears just so kissable???


One brown eye, one blue eye


And before someone points it out, yes, I'm aware the t-posts aren't capped. That part of the property was JUST fenced off (hence the tall grass) and I didn't even notice that the t-posts weren't capped until after I turned them out. As soon as I noticed (having a "slow day" today) I yanked them out and put them in the big pasture with O'Hara and Chanel... Yes, she's wearing a fly mask now (that was a battle and a half, since she's horribly ear-shy- I'm really happy she's pint-sized!) and I did put sunscreen on her wittle pink nose

[leahlady]

SHE IS SO FREAKIN' CUTE!!!!!

[coconut]

Oh my gosh...Those EARS are the cutest ever!

[schwung]

She is adorable! I looked at the picture and then had to go back and read what the description of her breed and color was...those brown ears are certainly cute!

[Sara]

Oh she looks like a sweet little sprite. Have fun with the princess!