My Lil Tack Shop

"CONTEST" Best Horse Story

Post your best horse story here to win a free gift from My Lil Tack Shop. We will take stories admitted from Aug-25-09 to Nov 15th, 09

You need to be a Member (member ship is free) to post your story. The best story will be picked on Nov 30, 09.

Please Note the Subject dates  are wrong on the Main page (we don't know  how to  change them) Aug-25 thru Nov. 15th 09. A winner will be choosen on Nov. 30 09

Best story huh?

Well I have one. I worked at a animal shelter where our humane officer was called out on a complaint to a farm in the county. It belonged to a older woman who wasn't able to properly care for her animals. There were 50 or so dogs, countless cats, pigs, cows and 36 horses running wild in a herd. Three stallions were locked in stalls knee deep in feces while the rest of the herd was running free in a large open barn with a herd stallion. These horses were never handled, born wild on the farm you could not get near them. Rocky as I would call him later was a yearling Belgian cross who had been orphaned at the age of two months with in the herd. The mother died from unknown reasons and this little colt had to survive in a herd of 36 horses. How he managed to do so was beyond me. Mind you, he was never handled yet when rescuers arrived he walked right up to them, stood there while they put a halter on him and followed them right into the trailer without a fight. He was about 200 pounds under weight, all skin and bones, covered in lice and loaded with worms. Two months in a foster home and he bloomed into a new horse. At three he turned out to be 16 hh and a very social horse you could do anything with. I had him for three years before I rehomed him and he's still doing great!

An Orphan Foal....

An orphan foal is a mare owner’s worst nightmare, one I never thought I would be having. On Sunday, April 26th at 3:45 pm, Eagles Forty Bucks, owned by Chris Hofer,

Foaled and at 11:30 pm she died of a ruptured vein in her broad ligament, she bled to death internally. She was 21 years old and Reggie was a big baby. I bred the mare for Chris to I AM A HOT TOPIC, World Champion and 4X Reserve World Champion and she was brought back to me for foaling. This mare had to be kept on Regumate for her entire pregnancy just to stay in foal, as she did not produce any progesterone herself. This was my first loss of a mare during foaling and it was not easy to say the least. When I knew she wasn’t going to make it I called some friends who have raised several orphans and they brought milk replacer and a bottle to me so Reggie was put on the bottle right away, lucky for us he got his mom’s colostrum. I also had some frozen colostrum and unthawed it and mixed it with his first quart of Mares Match. He took right to it and drank down his first quart through the first night and was doing quite well. Chris came at midnight and did the 12, 2 and 4 am feedings so I could sleep and then I took over and did from 6 am until 10 pm. We did this for a week waiting for my mare Pinky to foal. We actually kept Reggie in the stall next to Pinky.

At 1am on Sunday, a week from Reggie’s birth, Pinky laid down to foal. I placed several bath towels behind her to catch the fluids. Once her filly was out and cleaned up, I put vanilla extract (thank you Steve for the idea) all over her, then took the towels to Reggie’s stall and soaked him with the fluids from the birth and then put vanilla extract all over him. I then fed him his bottle and took him to Pinky’s stall where her and her filly were still laying down resting. Reggie just kinda walked around taking it all in. When Pinky got up, I immediately gave her 5cc’s of Acepromazine IV, just to keep her in la la land for awhile. About 15 minutes later she dropped her placenta which we picked up and rubbed all over both babies. Then the filly got up and went to see Reggie who immediately pinned his ears and kicked her, then Pinky went to lick him and he did the same to her. I had Chris go get the blanket that we had put on his mother before she died because she was sweating so much. We put the blanket on Pinky and Reggie actually started rubbing himself on her and he started looking under it for the teats. I squirted milk into his mouth and that was it, he started nursing and she started licking and nudging him. The filly had already nursed prior to his nursing so they both got plenty of colostrum. We are also supplementing the babies with the formula in a bucket, they both took to the bucket very easily. They both nurse from Pinky and also consume about 5 gallons of formula per day. They are now eating the Creekside Concentrated Pellet, along with calf manna, milk replacer pellets, and some Kruse Junior Advantage. They both are eating hay and drinking water and both doing great. Pinky is a little crabby with them both at times as she doesn’t like them to nurse at the same time one on each side of her, it is okay if they both nurse at the same time if they are both on the same side of her.

We have named the filly “Hot Vanilla Sunday” and call her Vana and of coarse Reggie got his name from the Regumate that his mom had to take to stay in foal. These two babies are the best of friends as well as brother and sister, they play together, sleep together and eat together. It is such a blessing that Pinky accepted him and he truly gets to be a horse now and be loved and disciplined like a normal baby. So instead of my worst nightmare this has been a great experience, not that I would want to do it again.

Reggie's Story

I know my name is Reggie because I heard a man calling me by that name while I was still in my mama. And everyone still calls me that name. I heard that it was the name of the medicine that my mom had to take every day just so she could have me.

It was so cozy and warm inside my mom and then the day came that it wasn’t that way anymore. My mom was very distressed and was walking a lot and getting up and down and it felt like I was being hugged way to tight. Then my head felt like it was going to pop and I heard a lady telling my mom to push but it seemed like forever that my head felt that way and my mom wasn’t pushing. I heard the lady talking saying, “where are you, I don’t think I can get this one out by myself.” Then my mom started pushing really hard and I felt someone pulling on my legs really hard and all of a sudden my head was out in the bright light and someone, the lady, was rubbing my head with something soft and she was talking to me. My mom was shaking and panting and I was scared. The lady pulled me out the rest of the way and put me up by my mom’s head and used that soft thing to rub me all over. Boy was I tired, so I just laid there next to my mom. She nickered to me and it was a good feeling to finally see what she looked liked. She was a dark golden with black on her legs and her mane and tail, she was beautiful. I noticed that I was not the same color as her, I was pale yellow with a white mane and tail and white on all four of my feet.

Me and my mom laid there for a long time, I decided to get up and boy was that hard to do, it was really scary. I finally made it, after falling down a couple of times, and was standing up but my mom didn’t get up, she was still breathing hard and shaking. The lady was talking to someone I didn’t see, she put a rope on my mom and pulled and pulled until she got up, but she almost fell down like I did. There was another lady here now and she helped hold my mom up so she wouldn’t fall down. I was getting hungry and started looking for the place to eat. The lady with the soft voice, who was there when I was born, helped me find the right place and boy did it taste good. My mom also helped by pushing on my butt and she kept talking to me to let me know I was doing it right. She wiggled her nose on my butt a lot and it felt really good.

I got really tired again after eating, but I was afraid to lay down because it was so scary. I didn’t know how to get back down so pretty soon I just went to sleep standing up.

My mom seemed to be getting better because she wasn’t shaking so much anymore and she was breathing better. The lady with the soft voice, who helped me get out of my mom, was talking to someone I couldn’t see again and then after a while the doctor came. He did some stuff to my mom and then he left. She started to get wet so the nice lady went and got a cover to put on her so she wouldn’t get cold but she kept getting wetter and wetter and then she started to breath hard again and shaking too. My mom wanted to lay down again but she couldn’t because she was hooked to some bag things on the wall that went into her neck. She talked to me and I know she was scared and so was I.

The nice lady started talking to the doctor again saying he needed to come back right away. He didn’t come and my mom laid down and got up and did it over and over again.

The two ladies took me away to another place and I was even more scared. I could hear loud banging noises, I think my mom was falling down and she was crying out that something was wrong, she was very scared. And then it was so quiet, except for the nice lady crying. She came and got me and put me back with my mom who was lying down against the wall. I was hungry again, so I went to my mom but I couldn’t find the eating place.

The lady came back and she was carrying something that she put to my mouth, it was warm and smelled good, it tasted like my mom’s eating place. I stayed with my mom and I laid down next to her. When I touched her later in the night she was cold, I knew something was really wrong.

The other lady stayed with me and gave me the good warm stuff until it got light out side and then the lady with the soft voice came back. She opened the door and let me come outside and I found the cover that had been on my mom hanging on the fence, it smelled so good I just wanted to stay with it and I even looked inside it to see if somehow my mom was in there.

The lady with the soft voice took me to the other place where they put me last night when my mom was falling down. I cried because I wanted my mom. She brought the cover and hung it in the stall so I could smell it and get inside it. Whenever I was hungry she was always there with my warm bottle. She was so nice to me and sometimes she would cry and rub me all over and rub my butt like my mom did when I would nurse on her. I really miss my mom. The other lady would come late at night and give me my warm bottle but it just wasn’t the same as when the one with the soft voice would come. Lots of other people would come to see me and one day a little girl came and spent the whole day with me and even let me sleep with my head in her lap. That was a great day for me, her name was Kiersten and she even fed me my bottle. I don’t know what happened to my mom or where she went but I still miss her.

A few days later there was something going on in the stall next to me. It was late at night and the mare in there was walking around a lot and then the lady came and she was hurrying around getting things and taking them into that stall. I heard the mare, Pinky, groaning and nickering, I was hoping the same thing that happened to my mom wouldn’t happen to her. Pretty soon the nice lady came to me and she put warm wet towels all over me, then she put some really good smelling stuff on me. She gave me my bottle and then she took me to the stall where Pinky was laying down. There was another baby that was the same color as me lying down by Pinky. She smelled like me, she had the same stuff on her that the lady had put on me and she smelled like the warm wet towels too. I didn’t know why I was taken there and it made me feel scared again. Pretty soon the other baby got up and then Pinky got up, she smelled us both and she nickered to us both but I was scared. When the girl baby came near me I kicked at her and then I kicked at Pinky.

The lady left and came back with my moms cover and put it on Pinky and I wasn’t scared anymore. It was like my mom was back for sure. The lady put me where the food place was and she squirted some of it into my mouth and boy was it good. When I started to drink, Pinky rubbed her nose on my butt just like my mom did and it made me feel good and made me feel like everything would be okay.

I have to share with the girl but it works out okay, sometimes Pinky doesn’t want us both to nurse at the same time so we take turns and then she isn’t so crabby.

The nice lady put a bucket of warm milk in the stall so me and my sister can drink that milk whenever we want to, when there isn’t enough milk from Pinky. We also eat some other really good stuff she puts in a bucket for us, it is stuff we have to chew and then there is the green stuff that Pinky eats and it is pretty good too.

I heard the lady call the girl Vana, so I guess that is her name. We have so much fun together, running and playing and we sleep together too. So far, this new life is good and it is so good to not be alone anymore.

well here is my best horse story....

my dad sold his horse an arabian that he absolutely adored to his best friend at the time because he couldnt ride any more ( he has bad knees). he also sold his saddle that he had for the past 30 years and other tack to with the horse as well. the guy that bought my dads horse promised to make payments to my dad and he only gave him one. the guy wouldnt answer his phone and started to avoid us and he all together moved and changed his number. so for about 5 years we didnt know what happened to my dads horse. 

my sister went through the local auction and scowered the adds for horses and nothing till about 9 years later. a horse that fit his description went through the auction and she was able to get in touch with the couple that had him. she was able to talk to them and went and met with them. they were a really nice couple and they took really good care of him but they were older and he is a hyper horse so he was too much for them. we then lost contact with them and we dont know what happened he could have went through the auction again we dont know.

 so a year passed and my sisters best friend told my sister about this amazing new project horse that she rescued and was going to ride. she sent my sister a picture and it was my dads horse. he was really skinny about 200lbs underweight and looked horrible. it turns out that the people that my sisters friend bought him from had him tied to concrete block to keep him contained and they told her he was a tennesee walker not a arabian. my sisters friend got him back up to weight and started ridding him but he took off on them and they decided that he was too much horse for them also.

my dads birthday was comming up and my sister and her friend were talking and they thought it would be a neat idea for my sister and my mom to buy them off my sisters friend for a 50th birthday present for my dad and we would surprise him. and we did... my sister told my dad that she bought this horse and it was freaking out in the trailer and she needed his help little did he know that it was his horse. so he went out to the trailer and opened it up and surprize its his old arabian that he loved. he was so happy to see him again. he wasent the same horse after we got him back he wouldnt let anybody touch him and he was a complete wreck when he was ridden so my sister and myself started bringing back sorta like rehab for him since we didnt have any clue what had happened to him

 so today the horse that was pratically stolen 10 years ago and we had no idea where he was and how he was being treated is out in the pasture at my parents house happy and as fat as could be and since my dad cant ride anymore he gave him to me and now i spoil the crap out of him with love and kindness.

Most girls grow up wanting that perfect white pony that mommy and daddy bought for their birthday. He'd have a thick mane and tail, and he'd prance and dance around her while she ran her hands over his soft ivory pelt.

Well, it wasn't exactly like that when I first saw Storm. My mom and I lived in Lapine, Oregon. It was a little town with lots of horse people, and I finally decided that I wanted a horse again after living in Alaska for four years. I had gone out and looked at a couple, but nothing really jumped out at me. That is, until I found him. The ad on the website said he just hadn't found his forever home, and he needed one desperatly. My mom was a littly iffy about it, she had always heard that Arabians were "hot" horses with to much energy and tended to be out of control. But I finally convinced her that I really wanted to go see him.

We drove for about an hour WAY into the middle of nowhere to an even smaller town called Christmas Valley. When we turned into the drive, there were three horses. The first two came right up to their gates, happy to see a person, any person, who would give them attention. The third just stood back in his round pen, as if he didn't care whether a person was there to see him or not. The woman told us that she had bought him from another lady at the slaughter house. She just wanted the money she had bought him for, a grand total of $500. She told my mom and I about how the woman had beaten him and how she had constantly ripped on his mouth with a bit. The woman had said he was stupid, worthless and that she couldn't do anything with him.

Liza, the woman who owned Storm at the time, told us all of that and it made me feel sorry for the poor guy. She brought him out of his round pen, and walked him around a little bit, got him to trot while she was leading him around. She gave his lead rope to me then, to see if I had any problems with him. I walked him around the yard, ran my hands up and down his body. Pretty soon, he was nuzzling me and was playing with my pony tail. I heard the trailer door opening. I turned to see Liza opening up the horse trailer and smiling. "He comes home with you guys." she told us. My moms face was one of shock.

"I don't know if we want him!" she said to Liza.

"Ma'am, four different people have come out here to look at this guy. He never once acted this interested in a person as he has in your daughter. He goes home with you guys whether you pay me or not." and so it was. Storm came home with us that night, and I got my pretty white horse.

Mom kept warning me that she didn't want me riding him when she wasn't home. But when your fourteen, you think your invincible. So while she was gone at work, I saddled him up and was all set. Except for one thing. The bridle. I couldn't get the bit into his mouth, as his previous owner had ruined that for him. So I decided, why not just ride him with a halter? The first ride went incredibly well. I rode him around his small little pasture, wearing his pink halter and black lead rope. He pranced and danced as if he to were happy and every now and then he'd toss his head as if he were a young colt. After an hour, I hopped off and gave him an apple. A good ride on a good day.

After that day, I rode him constantly. I would ride him all over the BLM trails in Bend and Lapine, race him past my friends on their young quarter horses and high spirited morgans. He was my buddy. Everything I asked him to do, he'd do it and he always gave a hundred and ten percent each time.

After two years of ownership, I had a friend try and ride him. I had never had another person on his back, except for a seven year old girl. My friend Jasyn, who had ridden horses all his life, came over to my house and we figured we would go out for a ride. I hopped on a little quarter horse that my neighbor had, and Jasyn jumped onto Storm. We got maybe thirty yards down the road before Storm suddenly flipped around and took off at a dead run back towards home. He stopped at the drive way and stood pawing the ground and throwing a tantrum like a little toddler. Jasyn jumped off of his back, and as I walked up on Watcha, (the slow fat quarter horse) he told me "That horse is possessed. I think you lied when you said he was broke to ride." So I got on him, cantered him casually up and down our little dirt road a couple of times then got off.

"Nah, honey. Its just you." So thats when I knew, that I was stuck with him.

A couple of months afterwards, my mom and I had to move. I left Storm with my neighbors, who promised they would take good care of him until I came back to get him. I was gone maybe three months, as it had taken me that long to find a place where I could keep him. I went back to Lapine, and what I saw horrified me. My once nicely muscled arabian was nothing more then skin and bones. He didn't eat, and the other horses picked on him. I loaded him into the trailer and drove him home and you could just tell that he was happy to be on his way.

Its been almost a year since I got Storm back and he is once again a very fat, very happy horse running around on forty acres of property with two other horses. Hes the old man of the group at the ripe old age of 19, and he makes sure that the two youngsters stay in line. Now I know that I could never part with him, as he is the only horse that has ever really, truly, captured my heart.

ok heres my best horse story........

It was just a normal janurary day, or so I thought. As usual I rode the bus to school every day early in the morning. My first 5 peroids went by fast....it was thursday janurary 17 2008. I always never got notes from the office until that day...it said i was going to be picked up for a dental appointment, but i didn't remember having one. I expected my mom to pick me up, but instead my cousin did....he didn't know anything about a dental appointment but he did know something he wasn't telling.

I got to his house 10 minutes later and just walked in the door and set my school bag down when my other cousin pulled my aside and whispered to me that one of my old horses had died this morning.

I was shocked and hoped it wasnt true...i didnt believe her at first but then it began to relize that she was telling the truth. I demanded that she take me over to where we boarded my two old horses red and glorie. i was in such a panic that i forgot to bring a jacket. It was snowing out side very heavily, and i was weraing a short sleave shirt and jeans. i finally got there and saw a chestnut horse on the ground. I didnt know which horse it was because red and glorie were the same chestnut color. when i resched red and glories stall i froze! Red was laying on the ground. Red was my 40 year old thoroughbred gelding that my dad gave me when i was 3. And Glorie my 35 year old thoroughbred mare. When i first saw Red it was at my dads ranch. he was litterally a "bag of bones"! his eyes were dead and even at 3 years old i knew i had to take him home. I fell in love with him, and would sit in the pasture and talk to him for hours on end. He was so sway-backed that i always thought his back would break....he was about 16 hands high at the whithers and the middle of his back 14.2 hands, and at his rump about 15.2 hands. he was a gorgous chestnut but one side had bean bleached when he was young so he looked like a palamino. he was a pack horse until he got into an accident. He was carrying a hot gas stove and the oil leaked out in his side burning the hair and skin off. i adored red and loved him with all my heart. i got up the nerve to make my feet move and walk over to him. i couldnt believe what i was seeing. Red was blocking the stall where glorie stood at traped inside. His chocolate brown eyes looking at  nothing. He was dead!!!! I was blinded by my tears as a made my way over to him to close his eyes. when i was done with that i ran over to glorie and sobbed uncontrolably into her mane. then my cousin left me there all alone with my dead best friend and my old mare. I was freazing and ran up to ralphs house( the guy we usedd to board with) and told him it was red. he walked down there with me and waited for my mom to get there. when she did she took one look at Red and burst into tears. right  behind her was a backhoe to burry him. i was taken up to the house when it was done and when i came back down Red was gone forever.

Red was my best friend( i had no close friends) and will always be in my heart. He was there when I needed him and had friend issues. He would wrap his head around me when i sobbed into his mane. He has wraped him self around my heart and will always be there. Two years later im know 13 and my mom still have glorie and 3 other horses we rescued. And each one of them have wound them selves into my heart just like red.