I wish I had a picture of Sassy from earlier - she looked real scruffy and like an ill bred nag. A few groceries, grooming and voila! My beautiful, gleaming, Sassy Lassy!
Horse breed question
There is an internet adoption going on this month of Sulphur mustangs, some from the same herd that Sassy came from. They look scruffy partly because their longer winter coats are dirty from the holding pens, they're thinner because of the winter time, and they're pretty scared. With good and gentle training these horses tame down fast - many are under the saddle in 30 days.
https://www.blm.gov/adoptahorse/onsitegallery.php?horseCategory=171
Here's a picture of Sassy in her second month of training
Sassy is an easy ride - some mustangs, especially the Spanish Mustangs, are gaited...
I did not know that! I have seen a few QHs that did the "single foot" as we called it. But they are few and far between. It stands to reason the spanish mustangs would be gaited. Guess I just never thought about it.
We have a colt that is part peruvian paso. He turns 2 next month.
I wondered how long it took to gentle a mustang. I guess they really don't have any "baggage" not having been handled before.
Your girl is really a looker.
The mustangs that were available here for adoption last summer were remarkably unafraid of people. They had had their feet trimmed and the males were gelded so they had been handled a bit, but evidently had not had any bad experiences.
With that nice sloping shoulder, I'd guess she is a very comfortable ride! She is really pretty. I like how she is put together.. :)
What a pretty horse!
I so miss having horses. My daughter showed AQHA for many years. The smell of barns and horses brings back so many wonderful memories.
Mustangs from different HMA (herd management areas) are different. In some areas calvary remount horses were turned loose to breed with the mustangs and so some herds are larger, longer backed and more like thoroughbreds. In other areas there is draft horse influence, etc...
Here's a website with some info on the 'types' of mustangs that can be found on different HMAs in Oregon:
http://www.mustangs4us.com/oregon.htm
Sassy is a Sulphur mustang out of Utah, and considered very Spanish. Many of the mustangs, especially the Spanish mustangs, are really competing well in endurance (really giving the Arabs a run for the money), reining, cutting, dressage, hunter jumpers - pretty much anything the domestic horse breeds can do, you can find a mustang to do it too. Mustangs have great feet and legs, and there have been mustangs competing in the Tevis Cup (100 miles in one day) without shoes - just boots if they needed them.
They're easy keepers, after all they were out there taking care of themselves for hundreds of year with no one to float their teeth, trim their hooves or put shoes on them...
This is a picture of Sassy being ponied (first week of training). Sassy is 3 years old, and 14.3 - she's rather tall for a Sulphur. Most Spanish type mustangs can carry up to 60% of their own weight. I'm told this is because of their shorter backs, and shoulder construction...
Here's a board for Sulphur people to connect:
http://spanishsulphurs.net/board/
and one for Kigers (also very Spanish, and featured in a couple of movies, one a cartoon movie)
http://kigers.proboards.com/index.cgi
I do envy those hard feet. We only have 1 horse that can go barefoot. She is a TWH/Percheron X. We ride a lot of bedrock here with lots of small rock scattered around. We use flat kegs with drill tech for added traction. Anything less is courting disaster. I have thought of trying the boots but have not made the plunge yet.
Gaited horses are making big enroads into endurance. I can understand it. A rack is an easy gait to maintain over long distances without being hard on the horse and it really covers ground. Especially if you have a long legged horse like a KMP. And it is such a comfortable gait to ride. No posting!!
I have found short backed horses to be easy keepers but not as comfortable to ride. I like a longer backed horse for looks and ride but they are so hard to get and keep weight on. I have 2 longer backed horses, a TWH and a KMP. Good rides and nice looking horses but so hard to keep the weight on. Both were rescues.
I find the hardest keepers are the older Thoroughbreds off the track. They have lived on a low-hay/high-grain diet for most of their lives and seem to have a limited ability to process forage.
I have several hard keepers. 3 of the 4 have wood chewing in common. I took Jay's advice and have them all on probiotics and it has made a world of difference in all 3. They are gaining weight at last. They had gotten in very bad shape and it was so frustrating because I feed them so well and keep them on a regular worming schedule with very good wormer. The cold has also been hard on them all but they are looking lots better now. They will look a bit thinner when they shed winter coats but hopefully by then they will have gained more weight still. Ben had colliced 4 times. He was also chewing a cud with his hay and spitting them out all over the lot. I called and got the number for the equine dentist thinking it was wolf teeth but that was when I started the probiotics and the cud chewing quit. Hasn't done it since.
Now that you mention that Cajun, I agree about the long back.. I've had several with a nice back, but straight shoulder.. and that is a hard ride.. I have come to focus on that shoulder a bit too much because of it..
I've never heard of them chewing cud! That is wild.. I've seen about every other bad habit though.. I worked with race horses for many years..it's so sad.. :(
What do you mean by cud? I was thinking cow cud but that can't be right.
In horses cudding (frequently called quidding) is when they partially chew grass or, more commonly, hay and then spit it out. It usually indicates a tooth problem.
This message was edited Feb 20, 2011 9:18 AM
I know horses don't ruminate, but had never heard cud in the same sentence with horse LOL. Thanks for the explanation.
I have never had a horse that did it and I immediately thought of wolf teeth because of his age. But as soon as he was put on the probiotics he quit with the cuds. I was thinking he may have been chewing because it helped with his stomach aches but didn't want to actually swallow the hay?
That sure makes sense Cajun.. Cause if it were teeth, he wouldn't chew it, right?
Makes sense. When I have a tooth ache chewing is the last thing I want to do.
Nice to see this thread again...
I put up a temp fence on the hillside by the creek so Ben could get to the green grass. He sure had a good day. :)
