Friday, April 8, 2011

The Horse With A Big Question Mark!


Well, the boys are here getting used to their new home and new friends but it sure has made it hard for us to do much with them with all the mud and the freezing cold rain and on again off again snow and hail we keep getting.
We get them all groomed out and look shiny and new again to turn them back out to a mud pit and of course being the naughty boys that they are the first thing they will go do after getting groomed is roll in the mud!

Although the rain and snow is nasty it drove us into having to use the indoor arena where we discovered Flynn's natural talent and love for jumping! Someone had left a set of 4 jumps out after practicing with their own horse and so I decided to walk him over the jumps for a little exercise.  But Flynn didn't wanna walk over them.... instead he JUMPED OVER ALL FOUR OF THEM! And was ready to do it again and again and again!  I have been jumping for about 10 minute with him daily now and he gets SO excited when we enter the arena he can hardly contain himself!! I have to limit him to only about 10 minute or so because I think if I didn't he would jump all day long! Most of the other boarders are impressed at how much of a liking he has for the jumping so soon after starting and how well he does with them. It sure has boosted his confidence too!  He struts back into the pasture after his workouts.
 

Cowboy on the other hand is a little bit of a question mark for us.....
Unlike Flynn, who will usually start to approach the gate when we enter the pasture with his halter and lead in hand and is ready to go. Cowboy usually required a lot more time to get him convinced to come to us and sometimes we have to chase and catch him.  It is rounding 2 weeks tomorrow since we got them and he is still wearing his halter in the pasture.  Flynn earned his halter to be removed when he is turned out in less than a week and has not had a problem yet. Cowboy also refuses to try the jumps and is so stubborn that in most cases when exercising him we can't even get him to trott.  We call him the mule horse!! I worried that something was wrong with him an injury? Was he sick? But the stable owner assured that he was fine she said he will run with Flynn in the pasture and always finishes his meals.
His personality is very different from Flynn's personality.  They are exactly a year and a month apart Flynn's birthday is Sunday, he will be 3 years old and next month Cowboy will be 4 years old.
They are very young horses but most days Cowboy acts like an old man at least compared to the energy that Flynn has.
When I first met him at the farm he was born and raised at he seemed full of life! In fact, we thought their personalities were going to be reversed! I keep wondering if he is just plain sad and missing his home or is it just that he is not used to all the attention and little workouts he is getting. I don't think he has been worked with in a very long time and probably only received one on one attention or grooming right before he was to be shown.  The farm they came from has over 90 mini horses! He seems to really enjoy the attention once we can get him to come out of the pasture and we praise him for it everytime with treats and a good grooming session.
The reason why this is so confussing for us is because Cowboy unlike Flynn has been broke to drive a cart and has a national title in halter.  Flynn hadn't received any training what so ever but seems very obedient and loves to work and please us and has a ton of confidence. 
My head is constantly swarming with could it be this? Or could it be that? They do have a much bigger pasture area and the boarder told us she cut back a little with their grain because they both were a bit over weight when we got them, is he just tired? He has already lost a little weight which I have question whether of not it is too soon to be show slight signs of weight loss.  But again I'm a new horse person and who am  I to question to stable owner! 
I think Cowboy was used to being the top dog at his previous home possibly too and is now the low man on the totum poll with these bigger horses. Flynn has even shown off his confidence/dominance toward the big horses since we started jumping him but from what I have observed treats Cowboy just fine.  He will  even kick at the big horses now when entering back into pasture which is just hilarious to watch this tiny horse scaring off these large horses! Where as Cowboy usually walks with a low head back into the pasture and straight over to the water for a drink.
I notice that even when leading Cowboy he tends to want to walk behind me instead of next to me and doesn't walk with the high alert head like Flynn does.
He is such a mystery to me and I feel so bad that I don't know what is troubling him if that is the case!
I need help!



Muddy, Muddy, MESS!!











7 comments:

  1. Thank you for visiting and following along - the minis are very cute!

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  2. As far as his rapid weight loss is concerned you need to read my blog post about fatty liver/hepatic lipidosis in miniatures. Rapid weight loss is NOT good for minis. They cannot handle it like large horses can. Your stable manager probably does not know this because she keeps large horses and unless you're around minis a LOT you won't know. Even a lot of Vets don't know this. Only miniature horse breeders, the vets that service large mini farms regularly or that specialize in miniatures know how devastating rapid weight loss can be for these small equines.
    Also, try not to chase your horse. I've seen horses nearly ruined by this. It's scary for them. They're not playing (well I do have a couple that like a good game of chase, but they also come right up to me). I have a blog post about how you can overcome his issues with being "caught" as well, it's listed under "Halter Training".

    Here are links to the blog posts:
    http://allaboutminihorses.blogspot.com/2010/05/halter-training.html

    http://allaboutminihorses.blogspot.com/2010/05/fatty-liverhepatic-lipidosishyperlipemi.html

    (If this info comes through twice, it's because blogger told me it couldn't send the first one, so just delete the one you don't need)

    Good luck with the boys! They're lovely!

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  3. They are both just adorable. I don't know what could be bothering Cowboy. He may just be depressed or maybe his food is different than what he had at his old home. If his attitude continues call the vet and have him checked out or call his former owners and see if they have an idea what could be wrong with him. Good luck, I'm sure you'll figure it out.

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  4. Yeah, I think we have figured it out and it's called a case of the lazies. He is seriously testing me here. I'm not the most firm person with them and I know that he know that and realizes he can get away with it. Not 100% sure but I have a feeling like most horse owner his past owner was firm with him and so now he thinks he can just get away with things more with me because I am not like that. I also think he has lost some confidence with his move also and that is playing into it as well.

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  5. I have loved looking through your blog. What a great adventure you've started out on---and yes, wonderful for your children. It all must be so exciting.

    My husband's family used to have a pile of mini's. When we met he built beautiful oak wagons and they would actually race the mini's at different rodeo events---against others that do the same from Alberta.

    All the best to you and thanks for popping by my blog! :)

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  6. Thanks Cheyenne! It's been alot of fun so far and the best is yet to come!

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