dianneS
Loving the herd life
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2009
- Messages
- 974
- Reaction score
- 11
- Points
- 176
My mini gelding just turned two years old recently. I don't know exactly when, since his previous owner didn't know his exact date of birth, or precisely what month either. So, by now, he's got to be two years old!
Danny was around 7 months when we brought him home on New Years Eve. He came from a breeding farm with over 80 head of mini horses and donkeys. I was told by the breeder that "No one will want that one." Well, I insisted on having him.
He didn't have much energy and the owner told me he was just really "laid back". Well, we discovered that he was skin and bones and bloated full of worms under all of that thick, unhealthy, dry coat. My vet didn't expect him to survive the weekend. We couldn't even give him IM injections since he had no muscle! We had to shave a spot and try to inject his meds subcutaneously.
Once we got some wormer in him, and got his belly less bloated and painful, I was able to feed him liquified feed in a syringe 3 and eventually 6 times a day. The poor little guy had never seen grain before and didn't know how to eat it! Eventually, he learned to eat plain oats off of the ground after watching my mare. Then I worked in senior pellets and calf manna.
After some good nutrition, he was finally getting some real energy, but was still skinny. I was thankful that we couldn't see how emaciated he was. By spring, I was curious as to what he looked like under that coat. I felt no more protruding hips and spine, so I clipped him. He still looked like an awkard little yearling, but was no longer skinny and it was plain to see he would eventually be a really pretty little horse!
Now that he is two years old, I took some more photos of him to compare to his past. I'm amazed at how great he looks! I'm so pleased that he survived and he's such a sweet little horse and so smart. He's learning all sorts of tricks and I hope to train him for driving some day too!
Danny's first day with us, 7 months old, half dead.
See how uneven his eyes are? That's because he was so far gone, his eyes were starting to sink into their sockets!
This is just about five months later, when he was just one year old.
Here he is about 18 months later and about two years old! He's filling out and he's going to be bigger than we anticipated.
Danny was around 7 months when we brought him home on New Years Eve. He came from a breeding farm with over 80 head of mini horses and donkeys. I was told by the breeder that "No one will want that one." Well, I insisted on having him.
He didn't have much energy and the owner told me he was just really "laid back". Well, we discovered that he was skin and bones and bloated full of worms under all of that thick, unhealthy, dry coat. My vet didn't expect him to survive the weekend. We couldn't even give him IM injections since he had no muscle! We had to shave a spot and try to inject his meds subcutaneously.
Once we got some wormer in him, and got his belly less bloated and painful, I was able to feed him liquified feed in a syringe 3 and eventually 6 times a day. The poor little guy had never seen grain before and didn't know how to eat it! Eventually, he learned to eat plain oats off of the ground after watching my mare. Then I worked in senior pellets and calf manna.
After some good nutrition, he was finally getting some real energy, but was still skinny. I was thankful that we couldn't see how emaciated he was. By spring, I was curious as to what he looked like under that coat. I felt no more protruding hips and spine, so I clipped him. He still looked like an awkard little yearling, but was no longer skinny and it was plain to see he would eventually be a really pretty little horse!
Now that he is two years old, I took some more photos of him to compare to his past. I'm amazed at how great he looks! I'm so pleased that he survived and he's such a sweet little horse and so smart. He's learning all sorts of tricks and I hope to train him for driving some day too!
Danny's first day with us, 7 months old, half dead.
See how uneven his eyes are? That's because he was so far gone, his eyes were starting to sink into their sockets!
This is just about five months later, when he was just one year old.
Here he is about 18 months later and about two years old! He's filling out and he's going to be bigger than we anticipated.
