Recent content by Smogul

Our practice is about half an hour from the yard but they cover most of Fife and Central Scotland and I would imagine most of the vets live throughout the area. The actual location of the office is pretty irrelevant

I would agree to a certain extent but it depends what you mean by "sound". An older horse with, for example, mild arthritis which is well controlled with pain killers can make a brilliant first horse, so long as you accept that their working life may be limited. I have had two older horses who...

That strikes me as dangerous, not "spicy". Does everyone who has to share an arena with you know this?

I would also add in the probably extra costs of being totally dependent on a car to get to work, ferry daughter to school, to see friends and any other activities she takes part in. Work colleague said that she would never have made the move to their own place if she had realised how much extra...

I agree. I didn't feel any of the posts were "entitled", just giving their own experiences and offering what looked to me as sensible advice.

My only red flag about the other horse is: why is owner looking for someone else to bring the horse into work? Even the calmest of horses can be a bit difficult in this situation. Have you seen the woman ride the horse herself? Don't land yourself with another problem.

I am not upset, just trying to explain the employer's position. When I worked for a small building firm, on one occasion 78 of the applicants for an experienced plasterer's job had no relevant work experience or qualifications. Why on earth did they apply other than to satisfy some arbitrary...

Actually, recruitment is not my job. I work for a small company, too small to have an HR department so I can be faced with sifting through over 100 totally irrelevant job applications. on top of the things I am actually employed to do. I suppose I could stop paying suppliers, not bother doing...

Too true. Having been it in the position of receiving multiple emails/FB/WhatsApp messages etc for one job ad, it is really time consuming to answer every one. So many of the applications were just standard and poor quality, with no effort made to tailor the application to the specific job. Part...

So what? You still need to look at the pony as an individual. Hadn't realised this thread was so old!

Totally agree. Am I the only one baffled by these threads? Why not rug the pony you have in front of you, rather than obsessing about breed.

Antihistamines didn't help my pony at all. Nor did brewer's yeast or any of the other pills, supplements or creams people suggested. Only thing that kept her sane was Boett rug.

I agree with 99% of this but I reckon horses, like people, can have a personality, a sense of humour and can be naughty. OH used to take out two ponies ride and lead. They behaved impeccably when there was any traffic or other horses around. However, given a quiet long stretch, they would often...

Depends on the horse. I have seen many kids ponies who adored looking after their small riders but had no interest in more "interesting" activities with an older rider.

Quick update. Thanks to people who suggested lead-trained sheep. Friend will take pony for three months and work with him. Her OH who is a vet agrees that the pony is probably suffering from low level chronic stress which is hindering any learning. He has suggested using a mild calmer for the...