dreaming of getting horse

[lmassom]

Concrete is no problem for short periods such as in entry ways, aisle, etc. Main thing to be concerned about is that its not slippery . In a stall, ok with the stall mats as others have said. My concerned with livestock barns is head room. Most milk cow barns I've been in have a low ceiling. Unless the horse is very small or very very very low key, there probably isn't enough head room. You need much more than just so he can stand. Horses have a tendency to raise their heads when startled, etc and of couse they may rear up on occasions [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] .

On finding and purchasing. be careful! Try to get to know the horse people in the area. Find someone good to help you, and never finalize the deal until you've had a vet check the horse.

A good dicussion board for horses is "horsecity.com".

Other than that, good luck. There's nothing better than having a good horse (well, almost nothing [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] )

Larry

[opie744]

How much head room (approx) should they have??
Got ahold of the local Rescue and I'm going to volunteer for awhile, to get my experience, make sure this is what I want (I'm sure I will [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ), and they said that someone would come out and take a look at what we have here and what I need. That concrete pad leading up to the barn seems to a concern. I figured they might be good people to deal with, them trying to have the best interest for the horses. If I don't get enough experience that I feel comfortable, I'll look for more avenues. Will definely have a vet take a look at the animal before an agreement will be made. Thanks for bringing that up.

[FullCircleStable]

Might want to look here, www.adoptahorse.org .

With you living in MI there are many Standardbred tracks around there and some rescue groups that work with trainers.

There are some horses that come off the track with varing degrees of soundness problems. Some so minor that it will never affect the animal for use as a pleasure horse. Others just never make it to the races and are retired perfectly sound. Too slow, not competive enough, some like one of ours that just likes to meander with absoulty no desire to race.

He was a $425,000 yearling purchase that never even made qualifing time at the track and was retired at 3! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] He is a 17 hand baby that loves to pull a carriage or wander on the trails all afternoon.

In short, no matter what breed you choose look for something that is well behaved, healthy and that the family can enjoy if they choose to join you in the horsey passion. Nothing is worse that having a horse that is a behavor problem and scares everyone else in your family. It takes the fun out of owning one then.

One last point. If your farm is an old dairy farm take a good look at your fences. Dairy fences tend to be barbed wire or low single strand electric. Neither in my opinion is sutiable horse fencing but it works fine for some people.

My sister in KY lost one of her horses in a horrible accident due to barb wire fence. The horse tried to jump the fence that was only about 36" high and got his rear legs tangled up in the fence and struggled so franticly that he was ripped to ribbons and had to be destroyed. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

I use a combo of smooth electric wire and wide white electric tape and out along the road side of the field I have a 5' mesh fence with electric tape on top and a hot wire in the middle so they dont rub their hindends on the fence and bend the fence out of line. [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

If I can answer any questions for you please feel free to ask.

Cathy

[lmassom]

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I just started going through the posts.

Common recommendations for ceiling height for horses is 10 to 12 feet and truefully, if a horse really reared up, he would probably still hit his head.

Larry

[gsganzer]

Opie,
Get some goats to help you with the cleanup. Put 5 or 6 of them in a 100' x 100' fenced area. They eat everything that's edible, and a lot that's not. Once they clean that area up, move your fence out another 50'. They'll have all the weeds chewed down and the tree's pruned up in no time.

I good buddy of mine moved onto an old 300 acre farm that had beed neglected for years after the grandparents passed away. It was a tangle of falling down barns, weeds over your head etc. He put about 12 goats to work around the homested and had it looking great. he'd let the goats clear an area, then he'd walk through and clean up anything they couldn't eat, building burn piles and burying the rest.

Good luck with the horse. Find an old trail or family horse with good feet who's used to being on pasture. There's a lot of people who need to get rid of the family pet horse and are willing to give them away to a good home. You can worry about getting a performance horse after you learn the ropes. A nice old horse will do as much teaching as you're willing to learn and will be very forgiving of your mistakes without giving you a shoe up side your noggin. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[egon]

The old Plugs are nice horses but be aware, once you start to curry combe one they will keep you at it for hours on end. They have their little tricks to keep you there.

Egon

[opie744]

It looks about 10 or 11 ft... I'll have to measure that. Friday is my first day Volunteering [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] at the horse rescue. I'll keep an update...

[opie744]

Yes, an older horse would make me happy. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Latter if the girls like the horses, hopefully we'll know more on where to go from there. What is the age frame do you suggest?
We had heard the goat thing from someone else and went to get one and when my husband saw them, didn't like them. I thought they were cute but I think the Guineas birds are cute too. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]

[gsganzer]

Twelve to thirteen years means they still have plenty of trail left in 'em. Here's a photo of my 13 year old pasture ornament, he's pretty set in his ways.

[RikBallard]

gs-
I think he's quite a nice looking horse (and I'm sure that he'd agree [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] )
For those of us like me and opie who are new to this, would his color be Dun or Palomino?