The First Mini

Sparkle was my first miniature horse in alot of ways.  She was my first horse as a christmas gift. She was my first horse to give birth to a mule. She was my first horse to choke (and go to the vet on emergency). She was my first horse to have a seizure.  She was my first grey horse.  She was the first horse I put a harness on.  She was my first horse to kick me. Now she is 21 years old and a very special friend.  She is high in the herd. We separate her to feed her and hang out with her at meals. She is groomed and clipped to maintain her beauty.  Saprkle can read my mind and know when I want  her and will come out of the herd to me.  She is much slower now than she used to be.  I think all the years of having babies took a toll on her somewhat. 

In this photo, she is the first horse I went through a hurricane with.  Note the tag in her mane with our contact info. I even shaved our phone number on her body which on a mini took her whole body all the way around. 

Waylon Nelson tales of the Pink Donkey

Waylon is a large Standard Donkey.  He is a beautiful Pink Donkey not a common color bit still an approved Donkey Color.  It's not important where he has been, and there's no way to know.  He didn't have a name and 2 of his feet were in bad shape.  It didn't take him long to warm up to us.  His feet have been trimmed and the damage from white line disease cut away.  Waylon is on the road to recovery.  He is young maybe 1 or 2 and deserved a chance to be healthy and loved. Waylon is friends with every Equine he meets.  He is playful and shy.  We are honored to know him.  The picture above shows what a Donkey's hoof  SHOULD NOT look like! He lost most of the outer wall and it could take up to a year for him to grow a new hoof.  When he's feeling better he will be gelded. Until then lots of love, rest, good nutrition, and hanging out with his Donkey buddies. Get well wishes Waylon Nelson the Pink Donkey.

Little Jasper

I had several trade offers for Jasper.  The one that sounded the best for Jasper was a man that had 30 acres in Waller.  On the other hand the pony he was trading me was a 6 month old Welsh cross gelding.  I thought OK, he can grow up with the kids.  The man delivered him one morning.  I didn't know the pony had not been weaned.  I didn't know he had not been handled much and was not familiar with a halter.  I'm being really nice here to this guy. The man unloaded this crazy pony and I walked my calm beautiful appaloosa onto the trailer dumbfounded.  He asked do you want to trade? I though too late now....my horse is in the trailer and this pony is running around like he's crazy with no halter on ?!  Then I thought about the 30 acres Jasper would get to roam on and though he would rather that lifestyle....loose on all that land with no kids. 

As the man got in his truck he said by the way he's part mustang too.  I watched the trailer go down the street.  Then the persistant nickering snapped me to attention.  I needed to get this baby in the pasture before he breaks a fence. The pasture fence is much more solid.  So I opened all gates leading to the pasture and began to walk that way.  He decided to go behind my husbands shops which was a narrow path between the shop and the neighbor's fence.  He decided to take this path at full gallop.  To get tot he gate he needed to take a left behind the shop and the gate would be on the right which leads to the small pasture.  Instead he decided to go straight and hit the small pasture fence and flipped over.  I ran as fast as I could to him and just before I got to his side he jumped up and ran to the back of the small pasture.  The poor scared baby.  I got him some hay and our relationship began.  He never suffered any ill effect from flipping over the fence.  Although, he was much more aware when he ran around and careful of the fencing. 

I knew this was pony was not going to work for me.  I even quit watching training tapes because I couldn't get near him and my knowledge of training was very low.  I placed another ad this time for a mini only and I was trading a Welch Mustang cross. I continued to try everyday to touch this baby.  He began to associate me with food and in the beginning he stayed his distance in no time he was the opposite and was all over me at feeding time.  Finally, on Thanksgiving Day I touched him and haltered him for the first time.  A couple of days later my ad was answered.

My ad was answered by a man's wife that said he needed a project and they were geting out of breeding minis.  The had a small herd of mustangs so her husband was knowledgeable in their training.  They offered me a 16 year old mini mare. It was a trade.

Jasper

In 2004, I was getting in the car at the food store after picking up some chicken food. My kids said look look at that appaloosa in the horse trailer.  My kids knew my favorite horse was an appaloosa and I had always hoped to own one.  I looked across the parking lot at an open stock trailer with a red roan appaloosa looking back at me.  The lady that owned him was coming out of the feed store and heard my kids talking about him, it was early fall and we had the windows down on the car.  She walked over to me and said he is for sale, we were on our way to the auction with him.  She said she would much rather him got to a home instead of possibly getting bought by the meat buyer at the auction.  I asked her how much do you want for him ( I expected to hear a price that was high for me like $1200) the lady replied $400.  I thought for a moment.... that my husband would throw a fit...then I though about my dream right in front of my for a price I could afford.  I asked her would you deliver him?  She said YES I asked if she could wait while I got the money out of the ATM....She said YES☺

Within 45 minutes I was the proud owner of a 2 year old appaloosa gelding.  My husband came home and actually though this was neat.  Jasper was his name and he spent the rest of the day enjoying a pile of hay while we groomed him.  The next morning we went hurriedly out to see Jasper and feed him.  He came right to us from across his pasture but he seemed to be much more alert and didn't seem to like the kids too much.  It didn't take me long to realize he must have been sedated for the auction.  I had heard of people doing this when selling a horse but why me?   The dream horse..my appaloosa... I've waited 20 years for.  Well, he will need to be trained I thought.  I began reading everything I could find on horse training from the internet and library.  I watched some John Lyons videos and ordered his series of books.  I checked out a Parelli video at the Library and was instantly hooked.  I became the house wife horse trainer. 

When I owned horses as a kid they all did what we wanted and we rode all over, went swimming in creeks and spent the whole day in the saddle everyday.  I don't really remember much about training them.  We just rode and it worked?! 

So I trained with Jasper everday and he improved alot but he still didn't like kids and tried to bite them.  My husband said why don't you get a pony or a mini the kids can enjoy too.  The kids are such a big part of my life that I thought about my Dream horse and decided to do what is best for the family.  Another Dream Appaloosa will come into my life again one day if it meant to be.  So I set about the task of trading Jasper for a pony or mini.