New Pony

[Carly Rae]

Hi everyone!
I haven't been on here in a few months, life's been a bit crazy with my new job working 45 hrs a week. My close cousin Billy-Jo passed away last month which has been really hard to get through and now my dog Lacey has cancer and may only have a month or 2 left.

But yesterday I bought home a project pony to work with. He is a little 13hh, 3 year old dun gelding. He's really sweet but has had limited handling. He is halter trained and that's about it, he is very curious but is nervous with any fast movements. I hope to basically do what I did with Kevin and have him as a kids pony, Kevin is only 10hh so he can only carry the smaller kids, so this new pony will be a good size for the bigger kids 

He is getting used to me rugging him, Its been freezing cold here! He needs his hooves trimmed as soon as I get him used to picking up feet too.

His name is Whiskey, but he hasn't had the name long so I'm thinking of changing it as I know 3 horses with that name already lol. I'd love to have some name suggestions! If he was your pony what would you name him! 

[dcwolcott]

Sorry about your loss.

Your project pony is very handsome.   Best of luck with him, and please keep us posted on your progress with him! 

[Ryan]

Sorry for your loss Carly .

Good luck with your new pony. Im sure a name will come to you as you are working with him.

Freezing cold LOL - Do you know I read somewhere the other day , you QLDers get 245 days of sunshine a year Or were they lying ?  Its 13 here today and last night it was 5.

[Carly Rae]

Thank you both.

Ill update on our progress for sure! 

Do we? I didnt know that haha. This morning when I got up for work at 2:30 it was 4 degrees and by 6am it was 2 degrees. The other morning it was -3 which was horrible for work having to put your hand in water troughs over and over lol. Right now its 17 degrees, so a bit warmer today. 

[Ryan]

They are cold nights much like ours at the moment. Id love some of your 17 degree sunny days.

My minis have grown the best coats this year , I wish my Tbs would too !!

[Carly Rae]

I finally gave him a name! He was probably the hardest horse to name yet, nothing stuck. But his name is Specter. 

I've done a bit of work with him. He's gotten well with trusting me (nightly feeds sold him). When he first came he was horrible to catch even in his round pen, he would freak and start snorting at me.

Now he is in the paddock and I can walk right up and halter him without a single spook. He's gotten great on the lead, he fell asleep when I was putting a saddle on him. I've stood on a step and thrown a leg over him, makes me wish he was bigger so I could one day ride him. I've had people at work that tell me that once hes matured I could ride him for training, but I believe I'm too heavy. Although he's already growing out of his rugs that I bought him. I bought him good quality rugs in a size bigger in case he grew a bit but now they are almost too small to keep using.

He's on rhodes grass hay and a meal of a night, its a feed for young horses I cant think of the name, plus an EVM supplement.

He is such a good pony and a very quick learner, I think he will be a great kids pony in the future! 

[dcwolcott]

He surely is a handsome boy, and great news about his training and his response to training.

I like the name!

[Ryan]

I Love that name ( good choice)

Glad he is getting to know you Carly , In turn with that comes trust and sounds like you are heading in the right direction with him

[Carly Rae]

Thank you both! 

I got his name off my favourite TV show 'Suits' haha. I bought him a hay feeder yesterday, he was just destroying the round bale, pulling it apart and pooping in it. I think its much neater. 

Also he is horrible for pawing when he eats his meals, he doesn't do it when he eats hay, but he has a feed bucket that hangs on the fence and under it is a huge hole from where he has dug it all away. Is there any way to get him to just stand there and eat without pawing? It doesn't really bother me too much just I'm tired of filling in holes! 

[Ryan]

Maybe see if you can get a tire feeder for him.

[Rocklone]

oooh he is absolutely gorgeous!

[Carly Rae]

Thanks!  He's a bit of a dude.

I introduced him to water the other day, he was a little nervous to begin with but by the end I didn't need to hold his lead.  Very proud.

[Ryan]

He looks really good Carly !!

[Carly Rae]

I think an update on Specter is a bit overdue! 

He has really come out of his shell since he first came here. He is so easy to do anything with, it gets kind of boring trying any desensitising things because he just doesn't care! But I guess that's a good thing haha. He was absolutely perfect for the farrier also.
He isn't living on our property at the moment, I took him out to my friend Tenae's place for a few months as they have 20 acres of grass and we have next to none. He was looking great for a while, but then he started loosing condition when we stopped getting rain. So he has time to fill out and eat as much as he likes and my paddock has one less horse on it, so its a win win

I took him out on the 20th of this month, so he has been out there for 9 days. I am going to go out and see him in about 20 mins, I miss him already haha.
Not really much else to say, but I did learn to how to pull the horses manes at work. So Specter was first on my list to have his mane pulled, he didn't care at all, no halter or lead he just stood there 

The last photo is the most recent, it was when I dropped him off at Tenae's, you can see how much thinner he got compared to the other photos.

[dcwolcott]

Such a handsome boy!!