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ladyfern

Active Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
29
Reaction score
3
Location
Weed, CA
Hi there. I'm brand new to all of this. I live in Weed, Ca. on 29 acres. I am an avid gardener (with 20 plus years of garden soil under my nails!
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and... an animal enthusiast. I raise turkeys, chickens, cats and dogs, most of our own food and young people! Hubby and I have raised our four children, 2 girls & 2 boys and adopted three other teenage boys. Our lives are busy and our hearts full. It has been my dream for many years to have an organic, self sustaining farm. This looks to be a banner year for new beginnings, for progress and an increase in barn yard critters. A couple of months ago I was skimming through craigs list ads and came across a herd of mini horses. Most were female and in the late stages of pregnancy. She was asking $1,000 for the herd of 5. I emailed her and as is my way, ended up becoming her pen pal, even though I had no experience with minis nor any money to do anything about it even if I was interested. I was particularly charmed by the little male that showed up at the fore front of all the pictures she included in her emails. He was bitty and fuzzy with his winter coat and seemed to love the camera. She was so kind in answering all of my long winded questions. Time passed and one by one, she sold off the mares individually. Christmas passed and New Year's too and one day a few weeks ago, she contactd me and asked if I still thought about the little boy horse at all? Well of course I did! She wrote again and admitted that feed costs for all of her animals had taken their toll. Hubby was out of work and had an offer for a job if they could move quickly. Mid- March is their goal. Can you imagine being an animal person, having horses, goats and pigs and suddenly trying to move? She suddenly finds herself in a whirl wind, sending pigs off to slaughter, packing her house and trying to find homes for all of her other animals. She made me an offer I just can't refuse. She gave me her price on the little horse, a mere $200.00. I'm a house wife with no income of my own. Hubby has a mobile computer business and takes care of all of the bills, animal feed etc. makes a good living at it but with the economy the way it is and all of these young people, the extra expense made the idea of this, a really hard decision to make. We believe that when you take on an animal that it is your life time responsibility. Caring for so many animals is a scary risk but having a farm with no animals makes very little sense. I went back and forth in my head, all the while, selling eggs to all of these young people, saving every penny and hoping. She offered to let me make payments and one thing led to another and she offered me the hay in the barn, a pygmy goat, the horse's halter and so on. This thing is growing by leaps and bounds and so fast it's making my head spin. Can I do this? Of that, I have no doubt. My life is all about young, growing things. I haven't laid hands on a horse in many, many years though and have never owned one of my own. My first job was cleaning stalls and my payment was learning to ride. As a skinny 12 year old, I lived and breathed horses! As a teen, I scrambled through school to get to the afternoon so that I could get to the stables. When I was 18, the stables sold and became a condiminium complex, I moved on as well and started down other avenues, finding my way in life and marrying my soul mate, having our 4 beautiful children and scooping up more family along the way. So now I find myself making ready for little Willow, a one year old miniature horse and his buddy, a pygmy goat named Ms. Goat who are supposed to be delivered sometime next weekend!

I will likely be asking alot of questions!

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Welcome from Minnesota! You've come to the best place on the internet for miniature horses. Beautiful mini!
 
Welcome from Kentucky .
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This is a great forum, full of great advice and great people..Your little Mini is adorable..
 
WELCOME!!!!! I know you'll enjoy this FAMILY here at Lil Beginnings as much as I do! You've come to the right place! I know you'll do awesome with your new mini. Don't be afraid to ask questions here.
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There are a few things different about minis than big horses, such as don't use Quest wormer on minis, etc. But hang out here and you'll learn them all! LOL

Me & my hubby are from CA
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Welcome! Do your homework well and ask plenty of questions. A pre-purchase exam by the vet of your choice is always a good idea.Getting a place all cozy and ready for a new horse is totally exciting! Best wishes to you!
 
Welcome to the exciting world of minis!! You will have access to very knowledgeable people here. Your guy is cute and can't wait till you post more pictures when he gets home.
 
Awww - I really love your introduction. You've made the right choice taking this wee guy AND the right choice jumping into this forum community.

Our family is expanding too - we have 2 youngish children, a dog, a cat, a mini horse since Xmas and 2 wee pygmy goats coming at the end of the month. And yes, the busier we get caring and sharing the fuller our hearts get too
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Welcome!
 
Thanks so much. I hope his health is okay. I have been corresponding via email only and she's a bit vague on what shes feeding him. From the sound of it, one flake of hay in the a.m. and a half flake at night. No grain? He's in a paddock with snow on the ground. Nothing much to nibble on from the pictures shes sent. I don't want to appear anything but grateful to her (I want to get him here right away!) but that doesn't sound like a balanced diet to me. Does it to you guys? What would you recommend? Her father is the farrier. (I'm also eager to see his feet and make sure that they are taken care of.)
I have enjoyed poking around here and seeing all of your beauties. Thanks so much for the warm welcome!
 
Oh, I think most people do give more than just hay - we give our little guy Red Mills Simply Natural + Balancer twice a day. Our US members will advise you what you can get on your side of the Atlantic
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Can you post more photos so that the experienced folks can tell you if he looks in good condition or not?

BTW - she needs to be grateful to you - not the other way round...
 
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I have a total of 5 pics, if that's not overload, I'll happily post them all. I'd LOVE to grow all of his food. I have the acreage to do so and even most of the heirloom seed and grain I'd need. Over my head? Yep, most likely but I hope to do it anyway. We'll see how well I do. I have only hand farm tools. Scythe and small hand tools and talking BIG areas. Gonna be interesting to say the least. Its my hope that in time, Willow can help me with some of this, as a plow animal. Time will tell! He appears to need ALOT of grooming. Can you invite these little angels into the bath tub??
Ok, after fiddling for 5 minutes, I find that I've not yet learned this forum well enough to add pics. (One thing at a time) Here's my website address. Hopefully you can see him that way. If you scroll to the bottom, you'll see what I attempted as a fund raiser for him. So far it hasn't generated much, but I'm going full speed ahead anyway! (Never would have believed that I could fall in love with a fuzzy face via email but I definitely did!)


http://flowersandwhimsy.blogspot.com/
 
Hi I give my girl alfalfa cubes broken up with the low starch and sugur bluegrass pellets once aday with her vitamins.

For winter she free ranges on her timothy hay. Come spring I may cut it back to her portions 3 x a day.

She is good about not over eating.

Look at his feet they looked long in one picture.

It may just be how he stood but you should get a vet check so you know what you may need to work on with him.

If you are like me it won't mater what the vet says you still want him. But this way you can get a plan together.

Hope you get him soon.

He is realy cute. And the perfect cart size.
 
Hi and a BIG WELCOME from Wales UK
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...The pony is gorgeous and its about time after spending all your years looking after everyone else you had some YOU time with the things you enjoy..I loved your introduction and your life sounds just perfect..(wish i had 29 acres) Im sure having the new fur babies join your family can only improve things for you as you clearly love the outdoors in your spare time..dont forget to keep us updated on the progress woth lots of pictures of the new fur babies...all the best
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Welcome to the Forum. Your flowers are beautiful and you have a wonderful "green thumb". Wish I could do that - I can get a few veggies - but still usually get too extreme one way or the other and my plants have issues.
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He's cute! Others have already stated some of the groundwork. Another suggestion is to investigate local vets AND your feed/ag stores. Ask questions - the vets DO want new clients and will answer more once your able to set up appointment (s). Some have brouchures - either at the clinic or on their websites. The feedstore (s) for your local area can give info on what to feed in conjunction with the hay/ground cover in your pastures.

Some tack/feed/ag stores do New Owners meetings or clinics. You could meet and greet other new horse owners and maybe meet some who also have mini horses. The learning and meeting or support can increase your learning exponentially and it's FUN. If none do - maybe you could ask about getting some set up?? Your other options are to visit local horse owner farms. With your kids, later, you could also check into 4H - lots of areas have horse 4H and several members of this forum already do that and have info on their websites. AND once you learn more - you can also give back to the horsey community - as a volunteer or leader.

As to having Willow help you - it's very possible. My "mini"s are mostly larger and my current ones in harness training are Shetlands that are over the mini height limit. I've spent the last 2 1/2 years learning to drive - single, pairs, 3 abreast and 4 abreast for farmwork. I also have a smaller mare (38" at the withers) who is working some, too. My 40" pair can pull both a "garden" disk and a larger, full size ride on disk (will work better when I have the others going and can do both 3 or 4 abreast). They do pull a home made drag - which breaks up weeds and spreads manure. They could pull other smaller equipment meant for ATVs or small garden tractors.

You could start his training this spring/summer as he gets older and gets into shape. I made my original training and using harness using braided haystring (my part in recycling - still use the first two and working on a 3rd even though taking forever w/ more ponies and having purchased work harness). Also have some harness from years ago made from used nylon from the area military stores - have had to replace the snaps - but that OD military nylon strappage is TUFF!! A couple of pics attached:

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This is "Stuffy". Small Shetland. The two 32 gallon trashcans on the drag are full of manure picked up from paddocks and the barn. They were taken to compost on a "drag" made from a piece of 16' stock panel. The single tree is made from a broken shovel handle (recycling again, LOL)

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Bell learning to pull.

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Bell and Bit pulling Vicki's garden disk (2 ATV disks attached together w/ cinderblocks for weight.

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Bell and Bit pulling a ride on disk in the field - they couldn't pull but one circuit down and back - hard work w/ my weight too. Next year will have both a 3 & a 4 abreast hitch ready to do the same! This isn't my disk either - I don't own one yet -b ut do have a spring tooth harrow with a crumbler and harrow cart. Will see how many it will need this summer when we learn how to use it. We currently have about 8 acres. Eventually will have a pull fertilizer/seeder, sprayer - too. Don't know about other equipment yet. The orange halter and the blue line betwen the two are both made from braided, recycled haystring.

Rural Heritage works with farming, small homesteads and working livestock. Mini folk are very welcome. They recently had an article about a family using minis for their little farm. Check them out, too!!

Lots of links on our website - pics and info. A large work in progress...

Hope to hear that your little guy is doing great and you are able to utilize him to for your little farmstead and family. And be forewarned - it's hard to own just one little equine!!!

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Ya'll are about as sweet as can be. Thank you so much for all the neat info and pics. It really does my heart good to be able to see as well as read about your experiences with your minis. Having not only sweet pics of minis in their dress costumes, all perfect and lovely but also seeing them in action working their little hearts out really inspires me. Next weekend can't come soon enough! I spent all of yesterday readying a place for them and a back up place for them in case they don't like my first choice? (Yeah I know, that's nutty!) but I want the best possible experience for him. My 17 yr old son is really excited about the goat and asked me if he could name her yesterday. The lady we are getting her from, calls her Ms. Goat. He decided on Jane...Doe... (Oh brother!) But hey! If naming her makes him endeared to her and MAY mean help with chores, name her Fred for all I care! We already have a coop full of wrong named chickens. Seems I have a knack for naming roosters sissy names and hens decidedly boy names. They couldn't care less as long as the food is on time! All of the advice you've given, I will take to heart and promise to post pictures as soon as I have him settled in. Our weather here is crazy with super short summers and long winters. If any of you are interested in heirloom seed of any kind, I have quite the bounty and LOVE to share, so feel free to (let me know the rules so I don't blow it) ask and I'll happily share!
 

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