I bought a pony! Meet Lola

[quietann]

So. Stinkin. Cute. She will learn how to be in a herd eventually. I’m trying to arrange a visit in July.

Meanwhile, Feronia was a beast on today’s walk. All the horses at the barn were feeling a bit feral for some reason. Feronia was pushy and dancey and distracted. I decided to longe her, say 3 lazy trot circles in each direction at the arena when we got back, and Mah Fool Mare decided to leap into the air and take off at a canter. I couldn’t get her to stop; she was just wild! Eventually she remembered that she’s old, and Behaved. (She turned 26 yesterday.) I hardly ever longe her because it’s really not good for her old joints.

[quietann]

Best butt views ever! Lola is a happy mare.

[cayuse]

She does look happy! It’s nice to see her fitting in so well. Do you know the bay that is running ahead of her in the photos? Looks like a cute little thing and reminds he of a mare I used to own.

[quietann]

If it’s the very round bright bay, that is Ancan Color Matinee, I think. She just had a super adorable spicy little bay filly.

[cayuse]

Yes, that’s the one! She looks like she’s very old type from the rear view. Love her color too.

[quietann]

She’s a very solid mare. Big bone, really nice conformation, built for fancy driving with a short back, upright head carriage, and laid-back shoulder.

I’m still trying to figure out when to go visit Lola.

[quietann]

New photos of Jewel (L) and Lola ®. Still very happy mares.

I’m postponing my visit until early October. Hopefully the weather will be good. Anne has ridden Lola and says she likes her a lot, as she’s pretty sensible but still zesty - not a beginner’s pony, she says!

[Aussie_2020]

Great pictures! I love the dog running with the horses.

And off topic but I noticed the fence posts and wanted to mention that I like those a lot better than the metal ones. I’ve been looking at fencing since my friend brought up the caps for tee-posts. Kind of like how you don’t notice a type of vehicle until someone points one out and says they’re looking to buy one!

[quietann]

On the fence posts - my guess is they have been there for years.

My older mare is at a barn where thick wooden posts are used…but BO topped them with upside-down dog water bowls to protect them from being chewed. Silly looking, but it works.

[RMJacobs]

It’s so nice seeing Lola looking happy.

My DH put in wood fence posts at our horse property. That was a lot of posts! It was the only part of the creation of horse facilities or the gutting/remodeling of the house for which he had any help. He hired the 16 year old son of the people who bought our suburban house.

DH rented a skid steer to drill all the holes, then set each post in concrete. Once while he was running the skid steer, he dumped it on its face, which meant he couldn’t get out. I think he had a bucket on it when it happened, so he just used the bucket to prop it back up again. I was glad I didn’t see it happen. He did an angled cut on top of each of the posts so water wouldn’t pool on them, and used a horse safe polywire similar to Centaur, seven wires including one hot wire. We lived there for 13 years, and the fence was still in great shape when we left.

I thought I was going to get a couple of minis, so that’s why he did seven wires. Then instead I bought a Hackney pony, who didn’t need wire down to the ground. The Hackney slid through the fence once when he slipped on mud, and didn’t have a mark on him after going through the fence. Luckily the fence wasn’t hot at the time.

But somehow a few years later, a deer managed to get tangled in the top wire. The school bus driver saw her tangled and called the sheriff’s office. I was at work and DH was out of town, so the deputy who came out asked my neighbor to help. He cut the top wire of the fence, not realizing it went all the way around the perimeter of two pastures plus the corral. He also didn’t realize the deer had degloved her leg, so the sheriff’s deputy shot her, and they just left her there. Had they known they were going to shoot her, they wouldn’t have cut the fence. I got home in the dark, didn’t see my fence was partly down, and didn’t see the deer carcass. My neighbor left town right after all this happened, and he called me late in the evening to tell me about it all. I went running out there to find the fence partly down, but the horses had stayed in the pasture. I spliced the fence, but couldn’t get anyone to take the deer away, and the coyotes didn’t want her. What a mess! My dog kept getting into the deer, then getting very sick. I tried to donate the deer carcass to the wolf sanctuary, and neither they nor the lion sanctuary would take it.

Rebecca

[Bogie]

@quietann - FYI, I rehomed my spicy TB as well. He started to rear as an evasion and I decided I was too old for that crap. I found a lovely draft x mare from a couple who trains horses for movies. Her husband took on Finn as a training project. He watched Finn rear, shrugged his shoulders and said something to the effect of, “he doesn’t go that high.”

I went down last weekend to watch him work and they are making real progress with him. I just wasn’t willing to put myself at risk. He needs a rider (right now) who he can’t intimidate.

[quietann]

I had read another thread where you said you had rehomed him. My guess is he will be a great movie racehorse!

I am still contemplating options for Lola. With the right trainer and boarding setup, we could have a lot of fun. But I am not even riding right now. Still on my self- and doctor-imposed time off, so no money coming in.

[SharonA1]

I live in the same area as QA; I would just sadly throw out there that I’m not sure it’s realistic to plan on “a right trainer and boarding set up” anymore… So many barns have closed, and many of the remaining good ones are full. Driving an hour+ to get to that good barn, on top of a full-time job, in a climate that benefits from an indoor, does not make things easier. It’s possible, but finding the right set-up is not easy. So, for me, the horse has to be easy.

Regardless, I believe horse happiness is in QA’s future in some way, some time, so we will all hang in there.

[quietann]

Another Lola photo! Anne got out the tarp and Lola was one of the bravest horses there. But of course one of “her” girls is under the tarp, so she doesn’t care about it so much.

[quietann]

Lola update: much to my surprise, the breeder reports that Lola is now the leader of a little herdlet of 4. Says she projects a calm confident energy that these horses, two of which are worriers, find peaceful. Worrier #1 is Jewel, the mare she went to Michigan with. Worrier #2 is an older mare who is a new arrival. She’s a bit feral after a couple of years of not being handled much after her owner died. Lola took her in! The third is a 2 year old filly who’s a bit too old to hang with the yearlings, but a bit too young to hang with the “big mares.” Of course Lola is the littlest one.

This reminds me a bit of Feronia who is alert and very protective. She was a good babysitter for nervous horses, and if I gave her a job involving that, she was all business. Of course she takes care of me, too.

Per another thread, Feronia has had colic 3 times this summer. We finally have an answer: stone dust in her digestive system, which caused ulcers (not bad ones) and the vet thinks delayed gastric emptying. She’s getting treated and feeling much better.

[quietann]

So I’m out in Michigan this weekend visiting Lola and her herd and her breeder. She’s much the same, but so much happier living in a herd and getting ridden in a group.

I was so anxious about riding her this morning that I nearly canceled. But then I saw her cute little self and knew I at least had to try. We went out with 4 other horses, all mares, for a 2 hour ride, mostly crunching through leaves in the forest. It was almost all walking except for a couple of hills.

Lola is still a blast to ride, a little excited and nervy at first, but she did calm down. We had a couple of very small startles that were over quickly - at some bicyclists on the multipurpose Flint River Trail, and a shooting target in someone’s backyard.

Alas, when we got back, I flubbed my dismount and fell on my a**, luckily in some hay. Lola was slightly alarmed, but stood still like a good mare.

There was a little girl along on Anne’s most gentle mare, and she said one of her goals is to be “good enough to ride Lola.” She’s getting there. Such a neat kid; she’s 10 and comes over almost every day to help with chores and ride when there’s time.

Visiting Anne’s herd afterwards was fun. They are mostly colorfuls (palominos and buckskins), and her old palomino boy Blitz, who was her herd sire and is now gelded, is a treasure. And they are mostly typical Morgans - you kind of get mobbed by them. (She has some colorful youngsters for sale, if anyone’s interested.)

I’m going to be sad when I leave tomorrow. But Lola is doing great.

(Photos to follow…)

[quietann]

As promised…

The buckskin is a weanling colt who is calm and the friendliest little thing. (For sale if anyone’s interested…)

[RMJacobs]

This warmed my heart!

Rebecca

[reefy]

What a lovely update! I miss MI terribly in the fall…it was my favorite season for sure. You are so lucky you got to go visit and I’m so happy you had fun with Lola!

[quietann]

Lola still has her amazing thick tail, though I think it’s been trimmed to keep it from getting dragged in the mud. She got the tail hair gene; Feronia got the mane hair gene.