Pictures of my new pony

[cadence]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Well, I finally (I think?!!) figured out this picture thingy.  Here is a link to my photobucket with the picture of my palomino pony.    #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#A href="http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b273/ckcadence/Chrissie118.jpg"#ed_cl#http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b273/ckcadence/Chrissie118.jpg#ed_op#/A#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[cadence]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#And pictures of my place and the other horses.    I think this is how to post the slideshow... I hope it works!!  My "new" place still needs a lot of work, but it has come a LONG way from when I started.  At least I have green pastures now instead of weeds up to my chin!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#A href="http://photobucket.com/albums/b273/ckcadence/?action=view&current=Hado109.jpg&slideshow=true&interval=5"#ed_cl#http://photobucket.com/albums/b273/ckcadence/?action=view&current=Hado109.jpg&slideshow=true&interval=5#ed_op#/A#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[xena_n_joss]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# cute pony!!!!!!!!!!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Dee22]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Cute pony Cadence! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#In the link to your slide show I could see the pic of Hado (cute old man by the way) but after that non of the pics came up.... maybe if you just post a link to your album? #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zooka]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#very cute!!!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Pretty_Pony72]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#cute horse and pony! Are these rescues? If you don't mind me asking#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[babytigger]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#cute pony!!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[contessa]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#aww! too cute #ed_op#IMG src="http://forums.equestrianconnection.com/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif"#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Shoal]

What a Fatty! LOL...now that's a cute pony!

[cadence]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#cute horse and pony! Are these rescues? If you don't mind me asking#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Yes, both the old Arab and the mini are rescues. The Arab gelding was 400 pounds underweight.  We have quite a history, that horse and me... he's my first horse and I owned him for 15 years. We basically grew up together.  I have known and loved that horse since I was 7 years old.  He used to be pastured across from my grandma's house and every day I would go by and feed him tall grass by the armful. Then when I was 9, he was sold but somehow my mom found him and bought him and gave him to me for my 12th birthday.  We went through thick and thin together. We did everything you could possibly do with a horse - Barrel racing, 3-day eventing, endurance, stadium jumping, dressage, deep water swimming, trail rides, pony club up to the B2 level, pony games. I won many championships in dressage and show hack with him and he is, to this day, the ONLY horse I have been awarded a perfect 10 for extended trot in a dressage test. We saved each others' lives a couple times in various circumstances and we had a real "thing" for each other.  He would do things for me that he would just refuse to do for someone else. He wouldn't put on the show "zing" when someone else was riding like he would for me.  #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I was forced to sell him 9 years ago due to severe financial distress which really upset me for a very long time. I sold off every horse I had, every piece of tack, real estate, literally everything in order to try to keep him but finally I had no choice but to let him go too. I was devastated but the lady I sold him to promised she would keep him for the rest of his life...and I thought "well, maybe he will be okay."  Well, turns out she sold him a week after she bought him, so I refused to hand over his passport or papers. I followed his trail for a while and then lost track of him.  #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#5 years after I sold him, we moved to Calgary and while there I bought a horse, the first I'd had since selling him. Then we moved back here 2 years ago, bringing my new horse with me. I looked up my old farrier and he mentioned that he was working on my old guy's feet. Dean would tell me how he was doing and noting that he was always thin and having more problems moving around, etc. Well, in July it was mentioned that the lady (I'll call her Kind Lady) had to sell her place and move and couldn't take any of her animals with her. I said I would take him in a heartbeat and went over right away to arrange it. I cried when I saw him. He was S-O-O-O-O-O-O thin. He looked like the wind would knock him over. In fact, he was so frail-looking, I feared he would fall down in my trailer. But, he recognized me right away. When I had him, he used to put his muzzle on my right shoulder and just lightly rest it there. Well, when I went to see him to make the arrangements, he lifted his head way up at the sound of my voice, pricked his ears and then walked up to me and put his muzzle on my shoulder. The Lady was astounded - she said she had never seen him do that before and that sealed it for her that I was the right person for him to be with. The mini-pony mare was his girlfriend and they were attached to each other and so they came as a set, which was fine with me.  #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#They both travelled okay in the trailer but I crept along as gently as I could.  First thing I did was call a vet to have them checked out.  The mini mare was in pretty good shape.  But his breath was foul and he looked sickly to me (not only thin, but sick, he had this sick look to him, it's hard to explain so I hope you understand), plus his left eye was infected. His coat which used to be a fiery bright copper chestnut was now merely peach fuzz. I could hook my finger between and then underneath each rib, his back bone was so exposed I could feel every ridge of every vertebrae.  How do you groom a horse that is so painfully thin the brush would pinch the skin against his bones??????  So, we got his teeth floated, gave him his shots, put him on antibiotics for his infected gum and gel antibiotic stuff for his eyes.  But we had to hold off on the wormer because the vet figured it would kill him.  He weighed only 750 pounds, 400 pounds underweight. He was listless but you could see he still had that "spark" in his eyes ... there was life in those eyes, even if those eyes were a bit clouded with cataracts. His hearing was low too, so it made him spookier because he was having problems seeing and hearing things around him. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#So, we started him on a hay/mash program to not only help him gain weight, but also to increase his appetite. At first, he could only get down about 1 flake of hay a day but then the mashes began to do their work - gently stretching his stomach, thus increasing his appetite and then he was up to 2 flakes a day and then 3. Once he started feeling better, I put him out to pasture all day and reduced the mash to once a day and then confined him to a stall at night to reduce his activity (he might be old and thin, but he's still the feisty ol' boy I remember!). When his weight hit 850 pounds, we dewormed him and now he is up to 950 pounds.  He still has 200 pounds to go but he's actually got a bum now and his ribs have some meat in there. His back is looking more normal because there's something covering the bones now.  He has a small fat pad beside his elbows now and I can no longer see a perfect outline of his hip joints although they still stick out a bit. His peach-fuzz neglected coat is starting to peel off right to the skin in patches which is making him look ratty, but that's what happens to a horse when they are not properly groomed and malnourished because the coat is the last thing the body deals with.  Some evenings when I walk through the barn at 9 p.m., he's finished his hay and asking for more so I'll throw in another couple flakes and by morning that's almost gone too, so his appetite is really starting to pick up now.  He's up to a good, solid 4 flakes of hay at night and pasture all day long.  What a 180 degree turnaround!!!!! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#During this time, I was able to fill in some background.  He was sold to a local lady, who happens to be very well known, I'll call her Lady X.  She used him as a school horse and rode the guts out of him in a very badly fitting saddle.  His back has been terribly injured by the saddle and there are scars up and down all four of his legs.  The Kind Lady I got him from told me that Lady X came up to her place because she had heard that a companion horse was needed (for the mini mare).  Lady X dumped him off and apparently he was life-and-death thin when he arrived.  Lady X told her "when you're finished with him, just put him down because he's useless.  And we don't want him back ever."  So, they weren't sure he would even survive, but survive he did and under her care, he started to gain some weight.  So she had him for a while but then her health deteriorated and, well, now I have him.  And the rest is history.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#The mini doesn't have nearly as many problems, although we now know she has Cushing's disease and sometimes her chronic founder flares.  She has arthritis in her knees and I have noticed that she has had broken ribs on each side, roughly the size of the palm of my hand.  So, she's either been manhandled, or she has been pastured with a nasty horse who kicked the daylights out of her.  I have noticed that certain movements make her freeze, so I'm pretty sure she has had a nasty human in her life at one point in time.  She nickers and neighs each morning as a greeting and when the others get groomed, she neighs to be next in line.  In the morning, I just open her stall door and she wanders out to her pasture which she shares with the ol'guy. In the evening, she stands at the gate and follows us back into the barn. We let her go at her own pace because some days she has more difficulty walking so it's better this way.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#So, the main thing is, both of them are doing much, much better!!  I will have to get new batteries for my camera and post some updated pictures, because then you'll see the difference in weight gain.  He looks like a different horse.  #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Sorry for the novel, but I had to share what we've been going through this summer.  #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Trufflemaker]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks for telling your story, Cadence. I am so happy for you, that you got your boy back so he can live out his days with you. I wish I could have done that for my first pony, who I still think about all the time. Thank god for people like Kind Lady and yourself, who are able and willing to give a home to horses that other people have broken. And curses on Liar Lady who sold your boy so quickly, and on Lady X, who practically drove him into the ground. Some people should not be allowed to own horses!! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Charlie]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#lol hes a quite lil fella#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[*Giddy Up*]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Aww, what a sad story! Well, there is a happy ending- but it sounds like both horses have had quite the bottom of things...but it's good to hear they are both with you know. They will be taken care of. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[lola s]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff#ed_cl#The slide show won't work for me.  I think the pony is adorable.  Reminds me of a Thelwell pony. #ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Pretty_Pony72]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thats such a sad and happy story! It reminds me of Black Beauty awww lol. Good thing  you were around to take them in.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#