Pictures A Very Happy Barney

[sasquatch]

So, we did it. After I had my few doubts about if I was doing the right thing, I know it definitely is.

Barney has now moved to an absolutely beautiful new retirement home, where he can hopefully live out the rest of his years. I am currently 40 minutes away from him, and it's a beautiful drive down there as well so it doesn't feel like 40 minutes either. I can see him every weekend.

He is fat, happy and has his pal in the herd that he sticks with. He's checked on twice a day, and he's looked after. I have a feeling he's been getting a bit of extra attention as a few times I've been down his mane looks like it's been brushed and cleaned The fields are also massive, so much bigger than the fields where he was and rather than being on the side of a mountain and very steep hills, they're lovely rolling hills with plenty of shelter in the bushes and the trees.

I am very very very well aware he is very fat, he's retired and hopefully with the cold weather coming in and less grass he will lose some weight - he's being left unrugged for as long as possible to see if that helps too, but he's also retired and an extremely easy keeper which doesn't help. I do think he has lost a bit of weight since the move too, and this will be his first winter where he's out 24/7 as well, as last year he avoided the worst of winter and was stabled for parts of it.

so here he is, in his new home (I don't know how to resize on the new forum)




here he is with his new best friend, his friend had only been in the herd for about a week so the pair of them seem to stick together - but they also get along very well! B will usually squeal and strike out when meeting new horses, but the pair of them had a sniff and started grooming each other and then seemed very happy in each others company. The second photo is just after B had arrived and they met for the first time.

 

[wills_91]

He's very handsome and looks happy in his new home 😁

 

[poiuytrewq]

That’s so perfect! That’s the sort of home I could do with for my beautiful barney!!

 

[Shady]

I think you have done a wonderful thing there S and i would love mine to have that sort of freedom in a herd environment .
My SIL retired her horse to a lovely place in Devon and he has been there for 7 years now part of a little herd of similar sized geldings in 30 acre fields. She visited him last weekend and says he looks amazing( he does) and because he is constantly moving and lives out unrugged he seems to regulate his weight better and actually looks really good size wise, certainly when i knew him over here she had to strip feed and restrict his grazing. She loves knowing that he is happy and safe and will live out his days there. xx

 

[Tarragon]

I love the grazing they have ... he will be very happy there

 

[sasquatch]

would just like to say thank you to all for the lovely comments. He's now in a stunning part of Wicklow near the mountains, and the grazing is incredible. They're currently only on 15 acres (I think there's about 8/9 of them - possibly more) and are rotated to other equally big fields when needed and the grass is run down. Over winter when they get fed additional haylage they're given it in individual piles to stop fighting and to make sure they all have enough each. He has well and truly landed on his feet.

I think you have done a wonderful thing there S and i would love mine to have that sort of freedom in a herd environment .
My SIL retired her horse to a lovely place in Devon and he has been there for 7 years now part of a little herd of similar sized geldings in 30 acre fields. She visited him last weekend and says he looks amazing( he does) and because he is constantly moving and lives out unrugged he seems to regulate his weight better and actually looks really good size wise, certainly when i knew him over here she had to strip feed and restrict his grazing. She loves knowing that he is happy and safe and will live out his days there. xx

I'm hoping that the unrugged approach and not being on such a steep hill will do him good as he'll move around more, and the extra space he didn't have before won't do any harm either! He does have a rug in the tack room with his name on it and YO has said he can put it on him if he sees him shivering in the morning. Knowing how happy he is and that he is checked on and looked after also is just a big relief too, especially given how much I used to stress and worry before as I wasn't able to see him regularly as he was two and a half hours away from me at university and travelling was expensive! I now don't use up anywhere near half as much petrol to see him, have a beautiful drive from the Glenn of the Downs and half the travel time too

 

[Shady]

would just like to say thank you to all for the lovely comments. He's now in a stunning part of Wicklow near the mountains, and the grazing is incredible. They're currently only on 15 acres (I think there's about 8/9 of them - possibly more) and are rotated to other equally big fields when needed and the grass is run down. Over winter when they get fed additional haylage they're given it in individual piles to stop fighting and to make sure they all have enough each. He has well and truly landed on his feet.



I'm hoping that the unrugged approach and not being on such a steep hill will do him good as he'll move around more, and the extra space he didn't have before won't do any harm either! He does have a rug in the tack room with his name on it and YO has said he can put it on him if he sees him shivering in the morning. Knowing how happy he is and that he is checked on and looked after also is just a big relief too, especially given how much I used to stress and worry before as I wasn't able to see him regularly as he was two and a half hours away from me at university and travelling was expensive! I now don't use up anywhere near half as much petrol to see him, have a beautiful drive from the Glenn of the Downs and half the travel time too

One of the things my SIL was most worried about was Virgil not being rugged , he had always been stabled and rugged in winter and she left rugs with the YO in case he didn't cope but in fact he grew the coat he needed and with access to enough grazing he was fine, better than fine actually and he is now 30 years old, he's a 16.2 IDx Cleveland Bay with arthritic knees( ex police horse) and clearly his way of life now agrees with him. Iv'e seen many photo's of him and you'd think he was still a fairly young horse. I know there is a geographical difference between where both horses are but i do believe that in most cases horses adapt pretty quickly to a more natural environment .

 

[Ceriann]

He looks one happy horsey - what a lovely place you’ve found for him.

 

[sasquatch]

One of the things my SIL was most worried about was Virgil not being rugged , he had always been stabled and rugged in winter and she left rugs with the YO in case he didn't cope but in fact he grew the coat he needed and with access to enough grazing he was fine, better than fine actually and he is now 30 years old, he's a 16.2 IDx Cleveland Bay with arthritic knees( ex police horse) and clearly his way of life now agrees with him. Iv'e seen many photo's of him and you'd think he was still a fairly young horse. I know there is a geographical difference between where both horses are but i do believe that in most cases horses adapt pretty quickly to a more natural environment .

He adapted a little too well when he was out last year hehe
B is also a native type and he can grow a winter coat thick enough for four horses and has his shoulder length big thick mane so I know he should be able to keep himself warm enough. I do worry a little bit about his arthritis, but as he will be at his own leisure and moving around that should hopefully be enough to keep him relatively pain free. The arthritis wasn't the main issue for retirement, and hasn't seemed to bother him since it was discovered. I've also noticed his legs are looking very slim and nowhere near as puffy as they have been before even when he was out at his last place, which is good as I know his back legs especially can get very puffy.

 

[Pinkvboots]

It sounds like the ideal place for him, a lot of horses can cope without rugs I retired one of mine and her weight was much better for not using rugs in the winter.