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The pony is home

Last week we took a few days to go get the Connemara Pony I bought a couple of years ago as a yearling. He’s been growing up with a friend his own age on a lovely farm in Virginia since then. But now he’s three and it’s time to start learning about working for a living.

I went from one 30-year old mostly retired no-problem-at-all horse to OMG a three year old pony I am exhausted. Adventures so far include him removing the breast bar in the trailer and trying to turn around, which resulted in him riding home cross tied, and then going swimming in the stock tank.

210502_8419 by Wendy, on Flickr

I will attempt to post some adorable pony pictures, if we all survive the first week.

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Good luck! Babies are fun when they aren’t making mischief lol

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LOL! The old man is looking at him like “What are you DOING!??”

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:rofl:
You (all) will survive.
At 66 I gifted myself with a 2.5yo mini.
He went directly to Amish Camp to be broke to drive.
I told the guy “Break him like your Grandma is going to drive him to town”
Young guy had 5 stairstep sons who made this mini kidproof - he is literally a Living Stuffed Toy for kids.
But we had our Babyhorse adventures long the way.
*Limboed under my coated tensile to graze in a neighbor’s vegetable garden :roll_eyes:
*Broke away with cart attached - total Pilot Error on my part - fled down the road :fearful:
*Made my Easy Entry cart Easy OUT < turned too sharp :face_with_head_bandage:
*Insists he share hay in my Walker’s stall. Walker is Herd Boss (of 3) & TG, tolerates this.

But we both survived & he turns 7 this month.
Hope your pony gives you as much joy as I’ve gotten.
The 3 Amigos:

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This is my next issue… I now have two horses, meaning I more than likely cannot take one away in order to go to a clinic or lesson. (I haven’t tried yet. Maybe the old one will not care? I find this outcome unlikely.)

So clearly I need another horse. :joy:

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That is what happened to me…

Far be it from me to Un-Enable… :roll_eyes:
But I had 2 at home - my TB of near-20yrs & his TWH pal of 4yrs.

When I took Walker anywhere, including a weekend camping, TB cared not a bit - as reported by farmsitter.

OTOH, when TB spent a night at the vet clinic, Walker walked the fence all night calling for him.
It was Summer, my BR window was open, he kept me up :persevere:

Still, in both cases, when missing horse returned, there was a brief, arched-neck sniff-allover-fest, then back to business as usual.

So, you may, or may not need #3 :smirk:

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So far it appears this may be the case. The first time I took the pony out to work in the round pen, and Patrick was mildly perturbed but settled down. Now I give him a bucket of chopped hay and he doesn’t care at all. (He’s probably relieved that he can eat, and walk, and drink, and just stand still, in peace.)

The pony on the other hand, has a meltdown if I take Patrick out of the paddock. Even if we are 20 feet away on the outside of the fence. This is similar to some video I saw of him being last to be brought into the barn where he used to live. He’s not really upset about being “alone”, he is upset that he is not In Charge of the Situation. He has to be first for everything. We’ll have to work on that!

210507_8468 by Wendy, on Flickr

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My baby horse (10 mos) has a hissy when her buds get brought in before her, but herd dynamics dictate this. So she gets to have her hissy and once she stops, she can come in.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COon8OJAzM2/?igshid=160f129t50yit

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It is so frustrating that Instagram does not let people without an account see stuff. Hmpf.

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The pony apparently put his face somewhere it should not have been…
210518_8528 by Wendy, on Flickr

Ooh, ouch!

Long way from pony’s heart! Hopefully the youngin’ learned!

ACK!!! He at least looks apologetic and somewhat chagrined.

I too added a youngin recently, definitely a learning curve when the other horse is a solid 20yo citizen. Mine also did the “stick the face where it shouldn’t go”. No idea where because the paddocks are safe as it gets…

It’s taken some time but the young one has finally learned she will be ok if I take the old one out. The old one at first cared not if the young one left…and has since apparently grown attached and now can be quite vocal about it.