07.02.07

New Life as Child’s Gaming Horse

Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 4:46 pm by petArtist Cmoses

Our former Morgan/Percheron driving and riding mare, 21-year old Abby, has a good life in her new home with our friends Kim and Jack M. Kim bought a Meadowbrook-style horse cart and took up carriage driving, so Abby teaches another family how to drive. She also serves as a hubby-horse for Jack.

Lo and behold, Abby is now carrying their 8 year old daughter Morgan in horse shows and games, and doing quite well thank you. It is always rewarding to hear that a horse you used to own is happy and well treated! (THANKS TO Kim for pictures and stories!)

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NOTE #1 FROM KIM:
Abby’s latest incarnation
You would have thought she’d been packing a kid around at a show every weekend for the past 20 years.  She was a star!  They won reserve champion in the beginner walk/trot division of games.   She ran the poles like a border collie at an agility trial.  Spun around in the keyhole race and hit this big “road trot” coming home with Morgan pinging up there like a peanut. She took 4th in pole bending, 2nd in keyhole and she won the barrel racing.  There were about 9 other kids in that division.  Morgan had a blast.

Abby with young Morgan aboard

I think we’ll take her to Cheshire next weekend.  They have a gymkhana Saturday night and the show on Sunday. 
 
Had a barefoot trimmer out to do a “clinic” with our farrier last Monday.  It went great.  We are now definitely on the right track with their feet. 

NOTE #2 FROM KIM:
Abby has truly found her calling. She and Morgan kicked walk/trot bootie at the Cheshire gymkhana Saturday night. Swept the division, first in keyhole, poles and barrels.

Had a good day at the regular show today as well. Took 6th in trail out of about 25 kids plus (combined class of all beginner A (her group) beginner walk/trot B and beginner walk/trot/canter kids), 6th in equitation, 5th in pleasure and 3rd in hack out of 10 kids. Not bad, not bad at all.

Looking pretty smug there Morgan!

Can’t you just see them trotting out?

Abby has a fan club now. Everyone just loves her. Kids come up to pet her, parents stop to tell me how wonderful she is. She was great!
Kim
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I’m so pleased with Morgan and the mare! Lovely to see her enjoying what must be easy work for her, i always felt we underutilized Abby in terms of variety of things we did with her. As we got her in Emmie’s last year of living at home, and Em was busy with training her thoroughbred (Moose), she never did school Abby which I would have liked to see. When I rode Abby and when a serious rider got on her I could feel that she knew a lot more than the driving and trail riding we did. And her attitude was always cooperative, she knew her job.

PS. If Abby can be successfully barefoot, it can be done with most any horse. For the six years we owned her, she always wore shoes in summer and wore at least 2 shoes (fronts) all winter too, with borium studs. In summer she frequently threw a shoe from stepping on herself and because her hoof walls were crumbly and not strong enough to hold nails well. She often had to have epoxy filler put into her hoof where chunks had broken off. Though I kept my other horses barefoot all winter, with Abby I was afraid she’d wear her hooves down to nubs (though always sound for us, she has dropped soles in front from a “laminitic episode” before we got her.)

Well when Kim took her a year and a half ago, she put her barefoot and has kept up with proper trimming. There is a lot of peastone and somewhat larger gravel in Kim’s turnout areas, and lots of hill-climbing to keep Abby fit, so she trimmed down a LOT. After 9 months I could see a huge improvement in Abby’s feet when we borrowed her for a while. The soles were thicker and tough and her hoof walls were solid. Now it sounds like her hooves are in even better shape!

So there’s a testament to natural barefoot hoof care!
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