Spinoff: Who has a companion horse?

[dungrulla]

My first horse was and is a companion-only animal who will never be sound for riding. He’s fairly high maintenance (eats a lot of food, needs front shoes, winds up with a lot of vet care) but will never leave my home for reasons that are complicated and slightly hard to explain, but I attempted to in this article about him I got published:

https://themighty.com/2018/06/lame-racehorse-taught-me-i-wasnt-broken/

I have two other ones that I ride lightly a couple days a week but I will never give up my first.

[2DogsFarm]

{raises hand}
I have an 18yo Hackney Pony given to me as a companion 10yrs ago.
He was trained to drive, crashed twice & that was IT.

I was cautioned never to try driving him, but I do ground-drive & he’s fine with that.
If I was 20yrs younger and/or faster I would try getting him put to a cart as he’s a cute mover.
I have mostly taken the “Hackney” out of him & he now goes more like a standard Pleasure pony.

Read your blog & kudos to you - sounds to me like you are more Horsewoman than a lot who “only” ride :yes:

[Cynical25]

I acquired a retired broodmare as a companion for my gelding after I bought my property. She’s 25ish and theoretically sound for riding, but her primary “purpose” over the remainder of her life is that of pasture buddy.

[Simkie]

I have an unridable horse that I maintain. She went lame about ten years ago due to c spine arthritis. I’ll keep her until she shows she’s uncomfortable, then euthanise. She’s my herd matriarch and a benevolent leader, and I dread the day when she’s not there to keep the peace.

I didn’t aquire her as an unsound companion, though.

[trubandloki]

Like Simkie, I did not acquire mine as an unsound companion horse. I am simply giving my special horse a retirement now that he is no longer sound for riding.

[sherian]

I have an barren, not sound enough to ride mare who has been my stallions turn out buddy for years, he’s happier, she landed in a soft spot so win win

[SLedbetter]

My first horse, who I’ve had for 4 years, is now retired, basically a pasture pet. He’s had complications with Cushings (being treated), and had his first mild bout if laminitis this past spring. He also has right dorsal colitis. He’s a stoic mustang, who unless you know him well won’t show discomfort. After my back got really bad, I decided to retire him, as he will try his heart out for you even if he’s NQR. So, for my peace of mind, and to avoid pushing him more than he’s capable, he spends his days eating, and hanging out in turnout, and fussing with his buddy.

[Laverne77]

I, too, have a retired companion horse that I will keep until the end. He came into my life 11 years ago as a 10 year old. As silly as it sounds, when he came to the barn I was working at it was “love at first sight.” I was eventually able to buy him and enjoyed riding and driving him for many years. Then 3 summers ago (he had just turned 19) he was diagnosed with torn meniscus and arthritis in his left stifle and I immediately retired him. He now has dropped fetlock on the right hind as well. I used to ground drive him, as he always enjoyed having a job, but eventually he let me know that he didn’t want to do even that anymore. I still spend lots of time grooming him and spending quality time with him that way, but mostly he just hangs out with my other horse. I’m working 2 part time jobs in addition to my full time job in order to pay for his board, feed, supplements, etc, but I will never get rid of him. And when the time comes I have no doubt that he will tell me when he’s ready to let go.

[sunkistbey]

I have a 25 year old Arab mare that I acquired as a 6 year old. I was hoping to use her as a lesson horse, but her ability to dump people ended that. I used her as a trail horse for a bit and then loaned her to a friend as a babysitter. That job worked out so well that she had a babysitting job until she turned 20 and I decided to bring her home for good. She’s no longer sound to ride so she just hangs out with my husband’s young horse. She will never leave my property again.

[danacat]

All of my horses past and present – riding horses or racehorses – eventually end up as companion horses for keeps. Some have required a lot of extra care and/or expense for one reason or another. I have only acquired a companion horse once when my old race mares finally crossed the bridge leaving one behind with no buddy.

[cayuse]

I was given a mini as a companion to my other two, so I could take one to shows and whoever was left behind would not worry himself into a mess. In the long run, I ended up showing the companion mini more than the other two put together. Everyone in my barn is now companions with everyone else and even though they all have a small job,. they all sort of have their “issues,” so I guess I have three companions. The Three Amigos :yes: . Or maybe it’s the Three Stooges :lol:.

[purlsnponies]

That’s a beautiful article - thank you for sharing. <3 Blues sounds like a special guy who landed in just the right spot.

[Rooty]

I have a companion donkey, who in a roundabout way I did acquire for that purpose. Or actually his mother, but it turned out to be a 2-4-1 so we sold her and kept him. Sold him to the people who bought his mother when he was 5, they kept him for about 4 years but then ended up with more horses and asked us if we wanted him back. At the time I needed a buddy for a yearling gelding so we bought him back. He is 17 now, so not that old for a donkey. I also have 4 others who while I didn’t necessarily acquire them for that purpose have become companion horses. My 22 yo CSH gelding who had a couple of tendon injuries and developed Cushings had to be retired from showing, a 17 yo Trak/Morgan X mare who is rideable and I could lease out as a schoolie but don’t because she can be turned out with anyone (really she is the ultimate companion horse). Just in case I breed again she’s the best foalsitter. A 14 yo CWB mare who has a bizarre story with a dental surgery resulting in a recurring sinus problem that may or may not result in a shortened life expectancy. She is rideable and breeding worthy, but the bizarre sinus problem makes her completely unmarketable. Those last 2 I bred. Then an 8 yo Morgan mare I bought as my next riding horse turned out to have a SI problem. She is so bossy she isn’t even a good companion horse.
I also have a 9 yo CSH gelding who I bred, I bought the Morgan at a time when he had a NQRness, only to find as soon as I got her that he was sound again, so now that she isn’t I’m working with him again. No sign of the previous NQRness yet, but he is having unusual difficulty with the left lead so he’s having a lameness exam next week…I will be VERY upset if this turns out to be something that can’t be managed, because he is a wonderful horse, great ability and temperament.
It will be just my luck that I will end up with 5 horses and none of them a good show prospect :mad:
Ironically with all these “companion” horses, providing the gelding is good to go and I move him to my coach’s, I am at a loss as to who I will turn out with the 22 yo gelding. The 14 yo mare and the Morgan are both incredibly dominant mares so I can’t turn them out together, it would be a bloodbath,and I’m worried about turning either of them out with him, because he is the dominant type too. The donkey does not like adult geldings so it is like introducing stallions, I won’t put my gelding through that. So it has crossed my mind that I need a companion horse for him, lol, but it would need to be in the shape of a boarder.

[DIR]

I have one I took in a a foster arranged by my vet to keep the old guy happy for the winter while I boarded the others with an indoor. Long story short everyone, horse and humans became attached and I took in a 2 year old unsound mini who needed expensive surgery. I paid for the anesthesia, vet donated his time and I have a free pony! He’s pushing 10 now and will pull my wheelchair 30 years down the road with any luck, but I would still be the first to say no to the idea of letting a horse go to a companion home.

[Janet]

Spy is 36.

I bought him as a barely broken 10 yo as a resale project, but he was never sold. He turned out to have (mild at the time) hip arthritis. I was able to lease him out for a total of 8 years, an he took two kids from “just starting to jump” to Novice. But then the hip arthritis made him refuse jump on a regular basis. He came home, (at about 20) and I rode him on the flat, and did some dressage on him, but then he developed arthritis in his “ankles” and started stumbling badly. If there was no one on him he would recover without difficulty. But if he had a rider, he would go down on his know knees, and could not get up until the rider got off. He has been completely retired since his mid 20.

He is now completely blind in the left eye, has poor vision in the right eye, and is half deaf. He also has Cushings, which is being treated.

But he is clearly still enjoying life. He runs up to the barn with the others. If he thinks I am being too slow about feeding he bangs on the door.

Music is 32, and she is mostly retired. Her vision is not great, but she is sound (not sure if she would stay sound in SERIOUS work), but she still gets ridden occasionally. Mostly when I need to pony one of the others, because she is REALLY good at that.

[Texarkana]

I now have 4 unusable equines as “companions” for my 1 rideable horse. “Sucker” might as well be branded on my forehead. I have my companion donkey (brought on to be a companion) and a now retired broodmare who I bought to breed in the twilight of her breeding days, but was never able to get her to catch.

Then I did the one thing I always said I would never do: I acquired an aged horse and donkey with a property. They are in their 30s & 20s, respectively, and I couldn’t stand to see them rehomed at their ages and in their current condition. So… they are now my problem. And of course, no good deed goes unpunished, and they are making me pay, literally and figuratively, for my bleeding heart.

Companion donkey #1 is going to have to take on a job to offset the uselessness of this herd. :lol:

[HungarianHippo]

Ever since we bought this farm we’ve taken in companion horses. I’m just one rider, so as long as I have one daily rider kind of horse, I don’t care if the others are pasture ornaments. I limit ourselves to the number of horses that our hayfields can support, so 3-4 is my max equine population. (That, and for every horse I get, the rule is Mr HH is allowed to get something with a clutch. And I don’t want him to get a motorcycle–because I prefer my husband with his head attached. So it’s an efficient, self-limiting system )

It’s truly one of the things I love most about this farm-- that it allows me to give a cushy retirement home with 15 acres to graze, for kind horses that need it. Thus far,we’ve been graced with seven old souls who lived out their retirement years here, and were euth’d when quality of life tipped downward. 4 are buried here. Each one adds wisdom and a positive energy to this farm.

[scrbear11]

My childhood hony has basically been retired since he was 7 due to the early onset of severe arthritis. He’s 21 now. Other than a brief stay with his breeder, I’ve been in charge of his daily care since my step-dad purchased him for me as a three year old. He’s a genuine asshole. But a lovable ass. I’ve always felt that I needed to provide his daily care for that reason. He could have been a liability in a boarding facility when he was more spry. He saw me through my teenage angst. I owe it to him to do what I can for as long as I can.

He’s starting to have problems getting around now. I’ve been able to manage his pain for this many years… I’m hoping he’ll make it to our new farm so I can bury him on my own property.

[Saffron_Rose]

@Libby2563

I have a mini-donkey that I acquired as a companion for my two horses. I found him on Craigslist and he came from a horse dealer’s gross concrete lot that was packed with other equines and all their manure, so he got a significant upgrade. Two horses is a tough number to have because of attachment issues. The donkey ensures no one is ever left totally alone (well, except for him sometimes, and he does make his distaste for it known very loudly but at least he has too great a sense of self-preservation to maim himself like the horses would).

I hate to say it but I would probably never go out of my way to acquire a full-sized horse as a companion (retirement of my own is different). They are just too expensive and labor-intensive on a small property where I can’t just turn out 24/7 and do minimal care. The donkey is soooooo much easier and less expensive than the horses. Plus, cute giant ears!

Oh he looks fab! Love donkeys!