Horses??? Calling all horse people!!!

[shepgirl]

Tikayas mom - I see from your picture that you live in Canada somewhere cold. Now is not the time to let this horse out on pasture unless you have a halter on him and can hold him for ten minutes in a.m and in r.m. More than that and the horse will founder. At this time of year the grass is too rich and all horses have to be started very slowly for the first month. I looked at his picture and his feet are in pretty rough shape, he isn't even balanced . This horse hasn't been ridden in two years and doesn't need anything but fresh hay and water,grain could founder him or colic him. He needs to lose weight , not gain. Watch the amount of carrots and apples, they also contain lots of sugar and could founder him.
Not being ridden for 2 yrs has probably turned him barn sour, in this case, paddock sour, and with no experience you should get to know him from the other side of the fence. If he's bucked someone off, chances are that he'll buck again. First thing you should do is ask the owner when this horse was dewormed last, a horse needs to be dewormed 4X a yr. Could be the reason his belly is so huge. I can bet my last dollar this horse hasn't been dewormed in a long time.
Learn to read the horse before approaching him and try to learn a bit about his past. Don't rush this intro to the horse or you could get hurt pretty bad, he might be rank and the owner won't say. Is he a stallion or gelding? These are all things you need to find out before going into his space.
Let us know how the two of you get along and I'll give you more hints.

[Desert Arabian]

Some more issues to worry about:

1) Floating of the teeth.

Horses need to have their teeth checked/filed down at least every 6 months to prevent sharp "hooks" from forming. If a horse does not have its teeth floated it presents all sorts of problems, the number one being unable to chew food completely. The tongue and inside of the cheek can also get cut up from sharp points form on the molars and tooth loss will follow.

2) Sheath cleaning.

If this horse is indeed a male like you've implied I'm sure he needs a good sheath cleaning too. As embarrassing/gross as it sounds male horses that are not sexually active need to have their male parts washed to prevent "smegma" from building up. If they aren't washed and smegma is allowed to build it up causes "beans" which are very hard balls that range anywhere in size from a pea or bigger. Beans block the urethra and make it extremely hard and painful to urinate. A good indicator if a male horse has beans is if it stands awkwardly while urinating, if the penis doesn't fully drop down out of the steath, and a lot of them actually groan/moan in pain. A weak stream of urine is another sign. It's a rather nasty part of owning male horses, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I've done it hundreds of times - kinda icky and first but then you get used to it. I've pulled some very big beans out of a few horses (back when I worked at the horse camp), the size of quarters, I felt so bad for them. This job is definitely not to be done by anyone inexperienced, seeing how kicking/bitting/panicing are high factors unless the horse has become used to the ritual.

The vet is normally called in to perform teeth floating & sheath cleaning.

I know the picture you posted is not the actual horse that's on the property- please try to get some real photos on here. That way we can better judge what's exactly wrong with the horse.

As far as the horse being in a cold region such as Canda, the horse is going to be acclimated to it and will survive. You have to be worried about young foals and senior horses that do not have a lot of insulating body fat to keep them warm. Of course when the weather dips down in to the extremes, you have to be worried about any domestic animal - but for the most part- they'll be just fine. Also, leaving a halter on a horse that's constantly out to pasture- unsupervised/unchecked for a long amount of time is a big no-no. That's very dangerous, an accident waiting to happen. It can get snagged on something and lead to injury. Most halter buckles will snap under extreme force to allow the horse to escape, but it's better to be safe than sorry. It's also rather uncomfortable for the horses and will eventually cause bald spots where the halter is in constant contact with the skin.


Sounds like this individual should not be owning this horse if they do not step up to the plate and take better care of it. Hopefully you can get this guy some much needed help and make him happy!!