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Fostering Horses

Written by Deb on May 17th, 2009

About a month ago we heard that an area equine rescue, Spirit Horse Equine Rescue had lost some of their foster home space and needed to more some horses elsewhere ASAP.
We talked about it and decided we had enough pasture to help out.

A week ago today our two new foster horses arrived. They are actually large mini horses or mini’s mixed with ponies so not very large. The mares are two of the 30 horses surrendered last fall from a neglectful situation. They have not had much human contact and are afraid of being touched, have never had a halter on, never had their feet trimmed and vet care status is unknown.

The first couple of days we just stood outside their paddock fence and stood quietly, sometimes talked to them and offered them treats.
Spice, a beautiful little girl with flaxen mane and tail, has warmed up a bit over the week. Spice is about 2 years old and sadly saw her mother put down at the time of rescue as she was suffering from a severe leg wound that was not treatable.

Spice shortly after arrival on 5/10/09

Spice shortly after arrival on 5/10/09

She will walk forward to take a treat and now allow me to touch her face, neck, and mane and sometimes her chest and upper front legs. Yesterday she allowed me to touch her with the end of a rope and stroke her a bit with it. I am doing that in order to condition her for when we try to put a halter on her.

Sugar (who came with the name Shy Girl but we want to change that label!), is much more cautious. She is probably about 5 to 8 years old.

Sugar (AKA Shy Girl) shortly after arrival here.

Sugar (AKA Shy Girl) shortly after arrival here.

She doesn’t seem to understand what purpose we humans could serve where she is involved. So far after one week here, she will walk to the fence for treats/hay. She will let me very briefly touch her face with a couple of fingers. Tonight I actually was able to smooth her forelock to the side of her face out of her eyes — that is HUGE for her. She is watching Spice for cues as well as our other horses and mini donkeys so she is smart. Hopefully as she sees us working with them and them accepting us, it will help her come around.

Mini donks meet mini mares.

Mini donks meet mini mares.

A couple of days ago I introduced the mares to the donkeys hoping them might hit it off. They are all about the same size but our donkeys are afraid of horses. I turned them all loose into a small pasture area but the donkeys pretty much kept their distance. A couple did try to briefly sniff at the horses but when they turned around the donkeys zoomed away to the other side of the field. They are getting a bit braver sometimes so hopefully will become friends.

Mini donks watching mini mares.

Mini donks watching mini mares.

Because they haven’t been dewormed before I only gave them 1/4 of their usual dose — otherwise there is a risk they would colic as the large worm infestation they are likely harboring is killed off. They did fine with that amount so maybe tomorrow or the next day I’ll give them another 1/4 dose. Shots and farrier work are still out of the question but I am optimistic that by late summer we’ll be able to do that. We are using the Parelli/Natural Horsemanship method of training so I’ll be posting more updates as progress is made with the girls as I am optimistic that it will work well for them.

Posted in Horses and Mini Donkeys, Life in the Country | Tags: ,

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6 Comments so far ↓

  1. Susan says:
    May 18, 2009 at 6:22 am

    Deb that is wonderful! You and Kent are such caring and giving people!

  2. Sliloh says:
    May 19, 2009 at 10:05 am

    What a wonderful thing you are doing. Poor things, I hope they can settle down and learn to trust humans.

    Anita

  3. Bean Fairbanks says:
    May 19, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    There is a huge need for foster horse homes in my area as the economy is forcing people to give up their horses and others don’t have the income to cover lodging, medical food and all the other care they need.
    A different circumstance than what your poor foster horses have experienced but illustrates the need for conscientious and caring foster farms.

  4. Deb says:
    May 19, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    It’s harder to foster a horse than a dog and there are always foster homes needed for both. I believe we were meant to live here for a reason. We don’t have much money but we are fortunate to have some good pasture and empty stalls so wanted to share while we are able.

  5. Barb, your favorite sister :-) says:
    May 24, 2009 at 10:03 am

    updates please! :-) Andrew and I have been wondering how things are going. BTW, he is making progress with Jetta.