How much work IS a horse?

[pbenven]

The Belgians and Percherons are impressive animals. There's our annual fair where they have different classes, from under saddle up to the 8 horse hitch. It's quite something to see them riding around the arena - just barely enough room.

I'd love to own a horse too, but I'm a little intimidated. Them being a prey animal and all, I'm not sure how I should carry myself. With dogs, for example, it's easy - they live by similar rules as us. I can tell (most of the time) what a dog is telling me with body language, eye contact, etc. I haven't been around horses long enough to speak their language - one that seems much more complicated to me.

[RichZ]

I'm new to horses, but learning fast, though very far from an expert. I started with a Belgian, because they're gentle giants, very mellow. Rosie is teaching me as much as I'm teaching her.

There are a lot of good books on horse care. You can learn their body language, just like you can any animal's. Also, their eyes are very expressive and tell you a lot. Do some research, and ask a lot of questions. Don't be intimidated, but do be careful, they're big animals, but they worth every minute you spend with them!

[pbenven]

Rosie, eh - seems that's a popular name for Belgians. Am I wrong?

Man I'd love to own one. What made you decide on the Belgian specifically? Here, Percherons, Clydes, and Belgians are pretty equally represented. And in the next town there's a beautiful black and white Shire.

For hay, are we talking like half a bale a day? What about excercise? I know a guy nearby that would hook his pair up to an old tree stump/root ball and have them pull it around for an hour or so.

[RichZ]

I don't know if Rosie is a common name for Belgians. I never knew one with that name, but it could be common. When we got her, she just looked like a Rosie!

We got a Belgian because she's our first horse, and we wanted a very mellow breed. Draft horses are cold bloods, and as such are the most mellow. We might have gotten any draft horse, but we wanted to adopt a PMU foal. We requested a draft horse foal from the horse rescue group, and we got Rosie! We couldn't be happier. We got her at four months old, and she has been very easy to train and work with. And she's so loving!

Right now she grazes in the pasture, so I'm not sure how much hay she would eat, but I'll guess 1/2 to 1 bale a day. She also gets sweet feed every morning and night.

At this point I do lead training with her almost every day, but that's not much exercise. She loves to run in the pasture, so I guess that's her main exercise.

I highly reccommend adopting a PMU foal. You can get one for about $500, and they're purebred Belgians, or many other breeds. I'll tell you all about that if you like. I would reccommend a Belgian in a heartbeat!!

[RichZ]

Here's a picture of Rosie at about 7 months old. I'm going to take some pictures of her soon, and I'll post them. She's 16 months old now.

[RichZ]

Here's another picture of Rosie at 7 months.

[pbenven]

Thanks for the info and the pic, Rich. I'll do some searching on horse rescue sites.

[s1120]

WOW Rich, She is a beauty! How big will she get? Real big?

[RichZ]

Paul, the rescue center I got Rosie from is Spring Hill Rescue. They're in Vermont. They have a web site. They just got 100 foals they saved from the meat market this weekend. Check them out!

The person who runs it is Gina Brown. You can e-mail her at SpringHillRescue@aol.com. Tell her that you're a friend of mine inquiring about her horses. She may have some foals that are not yet claimed. Interestingly, all of the PMU foals she gets are from Canada, but I'm not sure where.

Good luck!!

Keep us posted!!!

[RichZ]

Thanks, Paul! I think she's beautiful, but then she's my baby!

The last time we weighed her (You actually use a weight tape on horses. It measures their size at a certain point, and translates that into weight.) She weighed 780 pounds. That was about 5 months ago. She's getting her annual shots this Wednesday, so she'll be weighed then. I'll bet she easily weighs over 1000 pounds now. She'll probably reach 1300 or more. We'll see. She's actually small for her age for a Belgian, but you can see by the pictures how much bigger boned they are than regular horses.

But she still acts like my little baby. She's extremely sensitive. IF she misbehaves (which is rare - she sometimes gets too excited when I get into the paddock and can get a little rambunctious. Not good for such a big animal!) all I have to do is tell her shes a "BAD GIRL!". She stops what she's doing and actually turns her back to me and sulks, until I tell her that she's a good girl again. Then she turns around and starts kissing me! She's just TOO funny! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]