At 5:30 this morning, Dobi lost his fight with a strangulating lipoma.

There are no words that I can write to explain how much he meant to me, and will always mean. We were supposed to have so many more years together, but his body betrayed him in the most evil way possible.
23 years old was not old enough.

Dobi, you made my life infinitely better, and I'm so sorry that you didn't get the death you deserved. You should have gone at a grand old age, with the sun on your back surrounded by your friends after a long and happy retirement. Not in a hospital room in agony.

Always and forever my best and greatest friend.

Dobi (Sole Invader) 1st January 2003 - 15th October 2026

She is a Lourens X Paradiesvogel mare, one of the best horses to ride in. Her outstanding willingness to work and quick trainability is out of this world. I loved to work w her...

I got my horse about 2 1/2 months ago! He was on pasture full time and out of work for 3 years when I got him.
We have been riding about 1 or 2 times a week since I picked him up, along with a week long horse camp, and look at his progress! I am pretty happy with his weight right now, but do we think he needs to lose more? He is currently just on pasture, some sweet feed every now and then after a special ride.
First two pics are from when I first got him, second 2 from this week!

Went on a 2 hour trail ride today after not riding for 10 years. This boy was so patient with me. I was having saddle troubles like a mfr but it was still such a great time. I've missed theses amazing animals so much. Maybe one day my dream of having my own will come true.

Since yall liked the one I did of my stallion, I did one of my mare as well. Angles can make all the difference ❤️.

When buying a young prospect, especially one in the awkward baby stages, do you prioritize pedigree over conformation? What information do you look for in the bloodlines? Do you just look for certain names, performance records, progeny earnings, or something else? What does this pedigree imply about this baby?

To add some context I have a retired show saddlebred who’s about to be 26. Brought him home 6 years ago to give him the retirement he deserves. I also have a 35 ish year old quarter cross rescue horse. The quarter horse cross has been in incredible shape up until 4 months ago. He dropped so much weight so fast. We have him on the best feed possible and he goes out to eat grass all day every day then back in at night. The saddlebred has epm but has been treated for it. They are best friends. The vet will be coming out soon to do an overall welfare look at them.

My worries is that one goes down hill and would need to be put down, the other would go down hill as well. I care so deeply about them. It’s being weighing on me about what the humane thing to do is. I’m definitely thinking ahead of this but something just doesn’t feel right with my older boy. He appears to be comfortable but he just looks tired. I guess my question is what have other people done when they have two horses that are bonded and one of them goes.

Australian Stock and Connemara Cross
I recently had a really fruitful conversation with a polocrosse trainer and was interested in the different breeds that he talked about. I'm quite fascinated with their athleticism but would love to know more than what I can find on a "Wikipedia" page

It has 4 fingers worth of wither clearance and there was no gaping on the spine. However, the middle of the bars have little contact and the pressure is greater in the front than the back. I am guessing this means it is a few degrees too wide. He is very undermuscled and gaining weight, so I was wondering if it would be appropriate to use with shims while he fills out assuming it may fit then. What do you think? Thanks.

Additionally, I will see if there are saddle fitters in my area, I just wanted to see if there was a resounding opinion otherwise.

I have only had my boy a few months. I bought him from a friend who took him out of a rough situation where they just didn’t have enough food to feed all their horses. He looked a lot worse in the beginning but he is doing SO much better now.

I’m just worried with winter coming up, especially living where we get bipolar weather and the winters can get rough. I’ve been seeing so many things about how they can lose weight in colder weather conditions and it scares me, because I feel like he’s already not crazy chunky.

My question is… how do I keep him comfortable and healthy in the winter?? Do I feed him something specific? (Not so good) pics of him for reference.

NO VERMONT BLEND PLEASE

I absolutely love its ingredients but my horse will not touch it 😭 any other recommendations?

I'm looking for mimi harness for of my goats and I saw this picture, I was like wtf is that?!

(off topic if anyone knows it's where to get a good mimi leather harness that's not outrageously expensive pls lmk!)

I'm a first time horse owner and today my horse was straining to poop for around 10 to 15 minutes. Im not very good with time so it could have easily been less then that or more then that though.

He had his tail up and was lifting his back but nothing was coming out but a few farts. He's very good with pooping during rides and he started straining after i had him tacked up for a ride so I went ahead and had a ride on him and he did eventually end up pooping. The poop was moist and fairly big. He was a bit behind the leg during the ride but he also had very hard rides both Sunday and Tuesday. He has been behind the leg after hard rides in the past, and its quite usual for him.

He ate right before the straining and showed interest in food after and ate his supplements and hay. He has very loud gut noises like usual. Has not tried to lay down, paw, or show any discomfort. He was also acting like his usual goofy self. Only strange thing he did was not call for me when i greeted him today, however he did still very happily come right to his gate.

Since I board him and it was late I couldn't stay long enough after the ride to monitor him but I did message the barn owner when I got home and she said she'd keep an eye on him.

Someone who knew him before i bought him had told me that he has become constipated and had trouble straining to poop during fall for the past few years. This is my first fall with him though so im not sure how worried I should be.

I've had a lease horse die from colic very suddenly. I know that colic can become deadly very fast. I can't call the vet beacuse my mom is the one who owns him and is the vets client, not me as I was a minor when he was bought. I will be checking on him in the morning though.

How worried should I be tonight? Does it sound like an emergency?

before i start this off, i just wanna make it known that i am a minor so i don’t have full control over my situation.

I bought a horse from a trainer i’ve worked with for about two years now back in spring. This is my first horse, and it’s been a long learning process. Since buying this horse I’ve realized that there are a lot of things at my barn that I don’t like. I was instructed to buy the saddle i have by my trainer who told me very confidently that it would fit fine, but as i’ve grown more educated i’ve realized it does not. every time i even slightly bring up the idea of a new saddle, or a saddle fitter coming out, my trainer gets very defensive. during my most recent lesson she yelled at me when i mentioned that i had found a saddle fitter. she told me that the only reason my horse is sore in her back is because i don’t have her collected properly, and i don’t sit right. I acknowledged that she wasn’t wrong, but i feel like my horse shouldn’t need to be in full collection to not be in pain. not to mention the fact that my horse is sore regardless. my horse also can’t collect unless i “seesaw”. Unfortunately i didn’t realize how bad seesawing was until recently, but now im not sure how to ask my horse to collect without doing it. During the previously mentioned lesson, i also brought up the seesawing and asked about it being bad for their mouths. she went off about how i need to stop watching tiktok and listening to what everyone says and that it would only be bad if i had a “fucking curb or shank” in her mouth.

i just don’t really know what to do. am i in the wrong here? is she?? where do i even go from here?

Hi there, I have 3 horses, 2 haflingers and a haflingerxTB (it was an accident oops!) and 2 of them have a history of being shod since they were young, one haflingers has always been barefoot.

I am trying to understand how to support their transition. I have taken their shoes off in January.

The hafxTB is showing pretty much no discomfort even on gravel roads, however the haffi mare is sensitive when there are little rocks.

My farrier is a metal shoe's farrier, and in my area it's really hard to find another farrier, let alone a barefoot one, I don't even know if they exist. He unfortunately is very uneducated about barefoot and thinks horses need shoes. I fear that the way he trims their hooves is just as if he were to put a shoe on but without putting it, so probably too short.

How should I explain to him what the barefoot hoof anatomy should be like? I don't even know myself, and for the time being I'm stuck with him.

P.s. our horses do very little, they don't work daily, maybe weekly and we just go on a couple hours' trail ride, so I figured they could very much stay shoeless. Also because the hafxTB always lost them and would become so lame!

I’m getting a blanket for my new rescue, but nothing seems to fit him right. This is a 70, 72, and a 75. His hip seems to protrude in all of the blankets and I’m worried they’ll rub. Any suggestions?
These are cheap blankets that are all damaged in some way, before I fix them I wanted to try them on.