Ozzie has found a home

[Ed Thayer]

I drove to NY last week to meet Beth and check out Ozzie.

We harnessed him up and after he got rid of his excitement, ground drove him and put him on the forecart. He worked well. He appears to be a healthy 12 yr old Belgian.

He has been on the farm in NH now for about a week and seems to be fitting in nicely with the other horses. I am still working on finding a used harness and collar and have a couple of leads. I hope to harness him this weekend and begin working him.

I have pictures but can’t load them on here? Maybe if I send them to Don he can get them up.

Only issue we seem to have is he is reluctant to give me his right rear foot. When I get it off the ground he seems to want to lung that leg forward and set it back down. The farrier will hopefully be here next week and maybe he can figure it out.

Anyway, I am very excited to begin working with him and I am sure to have questions in the near future.

Ed

[Donn Hewes]

Hi Ed, I am glad Ozzie seems to be fitting in well. He looks good. I will attach your pictures here. I just had to add one of my own pictures to give Franz (the Halflinger right?) something to think about. Keep up the good work. Donn

Some horses will take a second to relax once the hoof is up. Then when they are ready they will gently let you take it back. May not be what is going on at all, but worth a shot – just try going a little slower with a chance to relax. Donn

[Ed Thayer]

Thank you Don for posting those up.

That is a great shot of the two Haflingers and the other draft.

How long does it take for horses to figure out thier pecking order? Ozzie went from the timid one to the bully. He will run the other two horses away from the hay then start eating. When the other two go to the other pile he will leave the one he was just eating and go to the other pile. I have not seen this with the other horses we have had.

I guess they will figure it out or I will have to feed them apart from each other. There is still some nipping and tugging going on so I am not sure they know yet who is boss.

[Donn Hewes]

I would feed a little extra hay for a few days and just keep the piles far enough apart so he tires of going back and forth. They will work it out.

[sanhestar]

Hello,

with Ozzies size and age I can imagine that he may have developed some back problems that could cause pain when you try to lift his rear leg over a certain point (or extend the joints). Such things are often located in the hip, knee or the sacral joints of the spine.

If you can get hold of a good physiotherapist for horse, have him/her check this out.

[Jean]

My Canadian has a hard time with holding his back feet up due to an old injury. I try to let him work out the kinks and when he has found the best spot I work on it then. Sometimes it takes two lifts before we get it. Once we have found the spot he will stand for as long as I need him to.

[Ed Thayer]

Thanks for the info. I will try that tonight.

[Ed Thayer]

Hi all,

Just a quick update, Oz has been great with his feet. I think he may have needed time to get used to me. I have been spending time with him every day and feeding him myself to help the process along. He has been giving me his feet with no problems lately.

I hooked him to our forecart on Sunday and worked him. We would stop to talk to neighbors during our ride and he stood still nicely. I hop to get him pulling some weight as soon as things dry up a little. Our recent warm spell has softened the pasture up alot. Maybe I could hook a truck tire to the forecart and use that on the road until things dry out.

We attended a log twitch at Sanborn Farm in Louden, NH on Saturday. I was fortunate to meet and talk with Les Barden about the D-Ring harness I picked up for Oz. Les was very helpfull and eager to give advice.

There were 12 Teams and a couple of single horses pulling wood to a landing in a field. I talked with several teamsters and was given a lot of information. I was impressed with the amount of wood they pulled in a short period of time. I can’t wait to get going on my own property.

Ed

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