"I do have a long while to think it over before we can even put up a barn anyway. Do any of you have them just as companions? Like grooming them, feeding them, walking them around the property sort of pets?"
Bwwwaaahhhhhaaaa
:rofl
(not sure what changed the size of the print, but for now, it's OK...)
Our "performance" ponies are VERY happy to have time off right now! It's been almost two years since they've consistently worked or even been groomed close to several times a week (each pony). IN the fall of 2012, when I got so sick and no Dr seemed able to figure out exactly what was going on, I would go out and sit on a bucket, a bale of hay, a cooler (which had water/soda in it, and occasionally a wine cooler, LOL) or even a chair, and just watch the ponies and breath in the scents of my pony world. It was enough, it quieted my soul when I very much needed it and helped to provide a steady-ing calmness when it was very much necessary.
I have to admit, when I was a teenager, I couldn't understand why anyone would WANT horses (of any size but especially MEAN shetlands/minis) that didn't "do something" and that just stood around in their pastures - eating their heads off. Then I forgot about that concern because those "not do anything horses" then provided me with my first hard earned cash and the foundation of knowledge (I know, not perfect) that I now lean on. Those owners PAID me - to catch their horses, to groom them and to even ride the horses for them - sometimes leading up to showing or some very interesting events!
Turns out - both VA and CO were once great "melting pots" of horsemanship - I rubbed elbows with, met, got lessons/advice from and wide eyed listened to some of the old greats in the horse industry and some of the new upcoming ones who are "hot" now - in more than one equestrian genre ... When I was a "tweener", teen & young adult.
40 some years later (and the type print size changed on it's own again), I am more understanding of the folks that had horses the way they did when I was a kid...
Like Jean B, I would jump at the chance to share info for a little extra help. Sometimes that help could be nothing more than sitting out with the babies and letting them learn to come to you. There are always things to do/be done when you have any type of livestock, but the work does "abound" with horses... It is fun/fulfilling, but it is still work that eventually has to be done.
Agree with Ryan, slight different philosophy - the day I quit learning new things with horses is the day they better lay me in the ground.