Recent content by Winters100

Tragic, but the outcome could have been even worse. I used to help run a small dog foundation in Europe, and we were extremely careful about this sort of thing. A dog with these issues would have been PTS rather than rehomed. Now this may sound harsh, but you have to consider that, whatever you...

The problem with owning horses is that everyone seems to have an opinion. This is especially unlucky for new owners, as once you have kept horses for many years it is easy to brush off unwanted suggestions, but for newer owners it leaves them unsure. It is always worth knowing a couple of truly...

I wish that I had been as smart as you when I over-horsed myself, your daughter is lucky to have a sensible and pragmatic Mother. Instead I spent a fortune on lessons, trainers etc, all for a horse which was never going to be a good fit for me. Had I done the sensible thing and sold during the...

I would definitely move, but I would explain the situation to YO of where they are, be sure to tell them of how highly you value them and appreciate the set up, and leave on the basis that you can go back if something goes wrong. It sounds as if current YO is a kind and reasonable person, and...

I am not in the UK, in the EU it is available from many websites. Just did a quick search and do not see it on UK sites, I wonder why.

I'm afraid that my experience of the nice thin rugs is that my geldings destroy them really quickly. Now I tend to turn them out in only masks unless the flies are truly terrible. They go in the shelter to escape when they need to, and I also spray them with Farnam Endure, which is the only...

Personally I would sell in this situation, but if you really don't want to maybe you could look for someone who wants to share? With 3 it is sometimes a struggle to give them enough exercise. I have a problem with energy since having covid and have found a solution that a friend who is...

Honestly I would not worry about it too much. Horses manage just fine. Obviously they need access to shade and water, but I do not do anything special, and I ride at normal times even if it is hot.

When you find the right horse you will feel total confidence. You need to feel that if you took the horse home tomorrow morning then you would be happy to ride alone tomorrow afternoon. The right horse for you is not one who you feel that you could manage with some lessons and help, but one who...

Totally agree. Pony is not thinking 'oh poor me, I had such a bad time before', so neither should you. In my opinion horses and dogs benefit from having a 'leader'. They do not have the stress of being in charge, having to decide whether something is dangerous or not, or if it is a good...

I would never condone aggressive behavior towards any animal, but I do think that we sometimes have a tendency to 'overthink'. Horses are not very gentle with each other, when my elderly mare wants one of the geldings to move she is not very polite about it. I would recommend an assertive and...

I did not see the video, but the way I view things is that there is good and bad in pretty much every discipline, including recreational and non-ridden horses. I know nothing about Western, but there is one horse at our yard who is used for this, and I can say that he is cared for beautifully...

I would be curious as to what he is actually doing there for 8 hours. I am not sure what the ages are for Primary School in the UK, but assuming that it is below 10 I would think that the children are not very useful, and require more supervision than any tasks are really worth. I doubt the...

Far better for him to move about a bit to warm up than to sweat under a rug. Don't take any notice of the 'guides' that you find online, in my opinion they all recommend more rug than is needed for most horses. Also the horses themselves are totally different, at the moment my older poor-doer...

Maybe I am hard hearted, but personally I would just carry on. He is at home and it won't kill him to stop eating for a few hours. I anyway like mine to be able to be alone, it can be necessary to transport a single horse, or to leave one in alone if on box rest, so I would view it as good...