I leased my first pony, Tubby for three years before my gelding fell into my lap. He was a chestnut 13.2hh Welsh D gelding. He was 10 when we started together, and I left him at twelve. He's now a riding school pony and everybody loves him.
Name~: Camo, Cam, Cameron, Camouflage, Fatty, Gooseball
Age~: 1/9/98 (Making him 13)
Breed~: Standardbred, though many people mistake him for having some percentage of QH.
Color~: Red-ish Bay, no white.
Race Name (Harness)~: Native Companion
Personality~: He's very dominant, very cheeky, full of character. He makes me laugh constantly, but tests your patience on the small things. He's terribly clingy and VERY vocal. Neigh, neigh, neigh all day. "Why are you in there? Come scratch my back. Beeeeth, Beeeeeeeth!"
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/39597_1674069410114_8061374_n.jpg
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/225400_2054173432477_5578289_n.jpg
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227630_2054174032492_1993826_n.jpg <
He came to me by accident. His owner had only owned him for two months, had bought another horse in that time, and after causing her too much confidence-loss, was sending him to market. Being a standardbred, he didn't stand a lot of chance. But he has more than proved his small price-tag. He's bold, trustworthy, takes the best care of you and is worth his weight in gold.
He's currently baby-sitting a small three-horse herd at a friend's. They have a 5yo Australian Stockhorse with trust issues (No more!) a little mini colt with dominance issues (Try standing up to a dominant horse twice your height!) and a psycho riding pony cross who actually killed another mare they had. All have settled incredibly in nature. How's that for magic? ;)
Name~: Apricot
Age~: 1/9/99 (Making her twelve.) I was blown away when both my horses, mine by chance, had the same birthday. Meant to be, I do think!
Breed~: Thoroughbred
Color~: Chestnut, three socks, odd-shaped star. She also has two whorls on her forehead, an old wives' tale for intelligence.
Race Name~: Apricot (Original, I know!)
Personality~: Apricot is a very, very long story. When I first got her, she was very timid, very submissive and evasive, but very explosive and unpredictable. While she's never, ever reared in my hands, her favourite trick for everyone else is to rear up and flip over when she doesn't like something, and consequently running away.
I met her in October '10. "Come put her back into work for her owner, we don't know anything about horses." My neighbour said. We pulled her rug off, and her whole winter coat had shed underneath. They had not seen the body of this horse since her rug was put on -- four months ago. She'd lost almost 200kg, and was skin and bone. Her shoes had been left on, and were split to her coronet band. She'd blown out an abscess, and the poor girl had no want to do anything much at all.
Efforts were made by the owner, and she put on about 50kg over the next summer, but not enough. As you'll see between the two pictures, she came to me with a lot of issues, inside, outside, and mentally. Aside from the weight issues, she was filled with worms. Her feet needed serious barefoot rehabilitation, she had rainscald and psoriasis on her elbows (Yes, horses can get that too!), a urinary tract infection and god knows what else.
A bit of hay, food, worming, a good trimmer, and lots and lots of groundwork got her better. Unfortunately, she's very scarred by previous experiences, and there is only I and my neighbour-friend whose hands she trusts completely. In them, she is confident, willing and cooperative.
Before: http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225783_2052632673959_1039714_n.jpg
After: http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/380255_4088604851991_1523992147_n.jpg
I often, OFTEN wish, that sometimes, I just had the simple horses. You know, the ones that don't have issues, that take you up the grades. But my horses found ME, and I only hope I've given them the best outcome possible. I admire those who run full-time, not-for-profit rescues. One was very stressful for me, but very rewarding.
I also love reading about everyone else's horses! They all sound absolutely beautiful! (: