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Enjoying a hot summer day

Willow is a purebred Appaloosa and is the oldest horse on the place right  now. She is the ripe old age of 28, and she came to us about 4 years ago along with her daughter and another mare her age.

The two older mares were to be taken out in the bush and shot by their previous owner as they needed to get rid of them fast to  be able to move ,and old horses do not sell. They also had a younger mare, Willow”s daughter, Baby, who was for sale for a $1000.00. The only way I could prevent the two older mares from being shot was tell them  I would buy the younger one if they threw in the older two for $100.00 each. Needless to say we made a deal and we brought them all home.

The other mare was a tall bay Tennessee Walking horse named Dawn and both her and Willow were very underfed as the family were not able to get enough feed for all three to keep them up. Baby, also a purebred Appaloosa, was in a little better shape.  Being younger and having better teeth, she was able to eat faster than the other two. It took two years and a lot of feed to get the girls up in weight and in that time our grand children had many rides on them. Both mares had had many years as riding and pack horses and are very gentle.

So this is retirement

Willow is mostly retired now but doesn’t mind the little riders from time to time and loves her horse cookies when we have them for her. Baby and I go for a ride once in awhile when I can find the time, and she enjoys her run. Sadly Dawn passed away last winter of a heart attack, but she went quick and happily running and kicking up her heels, with Willow and Baby.

Willows daughter Baby with Molly behind her

Donte after a hard first winter

This spring we picked up a nearly one year old Appaloosa/Arabian gelding that has had a hard life for his tender age. His name is Donte and he is a little sweetheart.

As a young foal he had a hernia that needed medical attention and while they did the surgery to correct that, he was gelded as well. This of course has stunted his growth a little but it doesn’t stop him from holding his own with the other yearlings and two year old’s.

I had originally agreed to buy him from a family that were getting out of horses because of a job transfer down south, but when we went to pick him up they gave him to us for free as he had slipped on the ice and strained one front and one hind leg and had also developed a lump on his forehead probably from a kick from one of the bigger horses.

Need to grow to see over the hitch rail

Donte has since regained the proper use of both injured legs, and though he still has the bump it doesn’t seem to bother him. He loves being patted and rubbed and of course getting treats. He has been a great help to me in helping to calm down a yearling Thoroughbred filly named Misty, that is very flighty. Though she is younger then him she is twice his height, they seem to get along just fine and he has helped her integrate in with the others.

Donte will likely be a permanent fixture as my grandson Jacob, who is 7 this year, decided that they would make a good team. Jacob spends time with him when he comes to visit. I’m sure in a year or two they will have many adventures together.

Donte resting while Misty stands gaurd

Up to their bellies in grass

It took a little time, but with Bill and our son Stephen using up their whole weekend off, we finally got the fences up on the back hay field in mid July and combined  a couple of pastures of horses into that. All twenty one  are happily mowing it down and putting on the needed pounds for winter.

My little paint stallion, Zip, being the sweetheart he is does not even mind the four geldings being in with him and his little band of mares. He  even spends time scratching necks with them. We hope to get the other 50 acres of hay fields and 50 acres of bushland fenced when all the hay is off. That should shorten the number of days they will need to be on hay this winter. With the price of the extra hay needed because of the drought, any little bit helps.

the young ones

Meanwhile we managed to fence off a good chunk of bush for the eight yearlings/two year old’s to fatten up in. We will have to supplement their grass with oats and alfalfa pellets, to try and get some weight on the two newest yearling fillies we have taken in, as they are pretty thin. They will likely have to be penned seperately this winter to keep them up in weight, one being a Thoroughbred and the other an Arabian, they will need more feed than the quarter horses and paints.