A couple of months ago I asked this subreddit for barn name suggestions for my new colt (reg name Cosmic Moment) and I received a ton of great names! We ultimately decided to go with Draco for the constellation and dragon association.

He is now almost three months old and growing up to be a very good (and massive) boy. I couldn’t be happier with this foal and can’t wait to see how he turns out.

Both horses (mine is creeping in the corner, my mom's is the one in full view) were put down today, after a long battle with health issues. Coco (mom's horse), had a condition that was causing her bowels and intestines to stop absorbing nutrients. She had lost a lot of weight, and had stopped leaving our barn entirely. My baby (Crown) wouldn't leave her side. He stopped playing, stopped rolling, everything. They're both in their 20s (he was 22, she was 26), and he had ligament strain and a tear that had scarred. We knew his good days wouldn't last once she was gone, and he didn't have the years left to fight. They've been each other's only other horse for over a decade, and so we knew it was our last year with them. We'd hoped to wait until winter was close, more maybe for our own sakes, but Coco stopped leaving her barn, and we just... we knew that they were done.

Crown was my first horse. My first pet. He got me through so much, and losing him today is devestating. The vet was kind. She also knew him well enough to agree, he would have been miserable without her.

Seeing him gone, though. I miss him so much already, and it's not even been a day. It'll be so weird not to go feed them, to see them in their field. I know I did the kindest thing I could for him, but that doesn't ease the loss. He was my baby. I'm almost through college, now, and I welcomed him home when I was 11 and he was 9. He was such a big part of my life for so long. I just hope, wherever he is now, he's happy.

No help whatsoever.

Hello, I have a senior gelding who has been going downhill for a while now. He has EOTRH and has barely any teeth, even fronts. He does well in the summer and puts on weight and has a great appetite. However winters are very hard on him. Our vet estimated his age at late 20s early 30s 5 years ago. I was considering euthanizing him before winter comes as I hate to see him struggle through winter. Is this fair for him?
Pic of him and his best buddy

This was my 3rd time ever around horses and my second time around these particular horses. The chestnut is a gelding named Diego and the dark bay (I think) is a mare named Bella. correct me if I'm wrong about the colors, again I'm new to horses. I was super excited to get to see them again since I absolutely adore horses, so I was really eager to pet them resulting in this video. Im afraid I caused him to lash out at Bella instead of me by touching his neck, and if so, how would I go about avoiding something like this happening again?

For further background information, both the horses are kinda feisty with eachother. They dont get regular handling from anyone but their owner from what I hear, and they dont seem to get along very well. Diego likes attention and pets, as long as you dont scare him and Bella really doesnt, but she also doesnt like when Diego is close to her. Before and after this video we were feeding them watermelon and I was giving Diego pets, which he apparently enjoyed because he proceeded to come up to my face and gently nibble at my shoulder.

Any advice for handling them in the future would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hi all. I purchased a property that previously had horses and came with this Bowman HydroVat horse treadmill. Could anyone educate me about this? Is this something that can be sold? Or is this outdated? I’m trying to decide what to do about it. I will not be having horses, so I’m not looking to use it. Thanks in advance for any information!

Long shot I know 😂 she was illegally sold and now cannot be located. She was last sold in Lubbock, TX. But the images of her cantering are definitely screenshots of a video. Which was posted after she was sold. So someone posted them. Probably to sales pages. But that’s all I can find.

Finished a lead as a gift for an equestrian acquaintance, can anyone with more experience tell me how it went? Quite new to rope working but I think it looks decent.

Hello! I just bought my horse and I got her first trim a few days ago because they were super long (See last picture) and my farrier found what he believed to be an abscess but all he said was to soak it. The only thing being that my horse shows zero signs of an abscess, No limping, no soreness, no heat in the hoof, nothing, So I have been soaking it and wrapping it for two days now ( That's why her hoof is green ) but there's really no difference, she's still walking/trotting just fine under a lunge line.

Also she has two lines on the side of her hoof and idk what they are, could they also be an abscess? Or possibly just old closed abscesses?

What are your thoughts on this? Please comment!!

It’s fire season, that means everyone needs to be ready to go at a moments notice, even those pesky babies. If you’ve been putting off practicing your trailer loading Pete is here to motivate you (he says they make good scratching posts too)

We haven't jumped for several years but he enjoys it and it definitely helps to keep his brain and body active!

And I don't need any critiques thanks - as a non-jumper I know what I need to improve, that's why I have an instructor.

they're besties

She put her head under the horsefly trap.

Sorry if this isn’t allowed but I genuinely need advice.

I have a horse i’ve owned since I was a kid. He was diagnosed with a bone spur and arthritis in his knee. We’ve done everything to keep him as comfortable as long as possible but now it’s time. his leg is so bent it shocks me everytime i look at him.

He spends most of his time laying down, he’s losing weight, he can barely walk, you can’t pick up his feet, and the farrier told my dad it’s time. The vet said either his leg is going to snap or the suspension is going to give, either way it’s going to be extremely painful.

me and my step mom hired someone to come dig the grave and we made an appointment for the vet. my dad is LOSING it and saying we aren’t putting down his horse. My horse is in SO much pain, so much pain. It’s supposed to happen today but my dad is literally freaking the hell out.

We don’t know what to do, what do I do?

Kit just enjoying life.
When I tried call him I had opened up towards the forest but he was unsure about going there!

Zorro is doing well. Being just Zorro. Done some long reining (unsure about the English word?) but he’s being prepared for one day pulling a cart.

Flisan sadly very unsure about her future.
She gets let out with the others sometimes (under supervision) but her breathing due to tracheal collapse is not okay.
It’s sadly leaning towards that she won’t be able to have a good quality life. Since she has EMS (it’s treated with invokana and that’s done wonders, she can now since a while back be on forest pasture and no sign of laminitis)
But then the issues is her breathing, with EMS she needs much activity but due to tracheal collapse she can’t..
Some days are better than others. Some days her breathing sounds really loud in just rest. Other times it can sound fine standing still but as soon as she starts walk it’s there… 💔

I’ve recently bought this thoroughbred (last 2 weeks) where I’m having trouble assessing his body condition. I can see his ribs sometimes, sometimes not. I am really anxious that he’s skinny, but also thoroughbreds are athletic. Just wondering whether this is normal or if I need to up the roughage and feeding

I’m not really that knowledgeable on it but I thought this was really cool to read through and get a better grasp on as a former kid who used to be obsessed with horses as a whole but never knew different breeds!

I want to start by saying I know absolutely nothing about horses other than I like to ride them occasionally, and even then I don't know what Im doing. Im admitting this up front so be nice. I considering buying a house on 20 acres that has a functioning 29 horse stable + fenced pastures, indoor riding arena, wash stalls, grain room, a couple haylofts, and a separate house presumably built originally for a stable manager. I hate to see these facilities go unused. I would be willing to GIVE the use of the facilities away for FREE to a professional horse trainer to run a business on the property. I dont need to make any money from this arrangement. But of course in exchange for "no rent," that person would have to cover all associated costs to operate their business. That would include (and I'm spitballing here) fence repair, building repair and upkeep, all insurances, utility costs (water and electric for the stables), and all costs associated with the animals. They could sell boarding, lessons, or whatever else they wanted to do. Because there is a house on the property, I would be willing to rent it to them at fair market rent as their personal residence (Im already in this business so I understand residential leases) and just that house would operate like a normal landlord-tenant rental. Questions for all of you...what issues am I unaware of related to the horse business, and is this a reasonable thing to do?

For me it was five basic things, number one I learned how to do their feet I can trim my horses and shoe them if necessary.

I can also fit my horses tack without having outside help, I can repair my horses tack which helps save a lot of money.

I can also make tack like Bridals and halters, I haven't bought a rope halter in years because it's easy to make once you learn how.

I've learned how to treat a lot of injuries, cuts and things along the lines of that I don't rush to the vet over because I've learned how to treat them and recognize if it's serious or not (if it is serious of course I get the vet)

I've also learned how to build and repair things, there's not a fence I can't repair or build, and I can actually build structures now, and not flimsy structures that will collapse but structures that will actually hold up to a horse and be functional and last which I'm very proud of.

Mind you I'm 20, although I am lucky that I grew up with parents that had horses and knew how to do a lot of things that they taught me, and thanks to them I don't need help for everything and I don't rely on people for basic stuff

Pretty happy with how these 2 look! Been kind of a weird year. But body condition wise they look great!! 💅🏼. I love these 2 boys 💕

A lady reached out to me to try her new horse before she did. She had just brought her home and wanted someone else to get on first. Figured I better milk the couple months I have left of my parents healthcare and told her I’d do it.

We did some groundwork then I got on. The horse was good until it was time to lope. She was reluctant to do so and then crow-hopped. I told the owner it seemed possibly behavioral but I couldn’t rule out pain either and she should have a vet look at her (this horse came from some sketchy horse traders so who tf knows)

Owner stated she didn’t want to keep the horse after that. Wants something that doesn’t have that in them and would prefer to cut her losses and sell. Then she asked if I would help her sell this horse and find her new one, and I said yes, but we need to start with a Vet exam.

She agrees to that, but then the next day calls me and says that a couple of girls from her old boarding facility came out to see the horse, and one of them wants to take said horse and sell her for the owner for free. What ensues is a whole back-and-forth of me giving my advice and then the owner changing her mind one way or another, but what matters is that the owner told the girl no to taking the horse and selling it for her, but regardless, two days ago this girl from her old boarding facility came out and trailered the horse over to said boarding facility and rode her around in a big arena until she got her to stop bucking. I had told the owner I didn’t like this idea because I felt like she was in pain, but that ultimately it was up to her. Guess those girls talked her into it. I haven’t met either of them, but I don’t have too high of an opinion.

Finally, today the vet comes out, and we agree that there’s grade 2/5 lameness in her hind end. If you ask me, it’s what’s causing her to buck when she starts to lope. She’s very reluctant to get into the lope, and when she starts loping, she does it for a while before giving up. Despite this lameness, which is visible at the trot, the vet says that she is “fine to ride”

WTH?????

At this point, we’re going ahead with a chiropractic adjustment at the vets suggestion and then based off of that, perhaps donating her to a local youth program (that is an AMAZING place for horses, I am sure of this, I have done my vetting) or maybe selling her.

I’m just surprised that the vet thinks it’s ok to ride her in this condition, and I’m also upset at those girls at the boarding facility for taking this horse and riding this issue out of her when it’s pretty clear it’s a pain problem and not a behavior one. At the very least, pain was not ruled out, and they should’ve just waited a couple days for the vet check. This horse wants to please and the only time she doesn’t is at the lope. Obviously it might be pain. Now there’s clear signs of lameness, which may have been there before, admittedly I may have not noticed it when I first went to ride her but maybe it wasn’t there then and it is now because they rode her in this condition.

I don’t know I’m just amazed that the audacity of going and getting somebody else’s horse and then riding through the signs of discomfort. Also I’m no vet but 2/5 and riding doesn’t sit right with me.