# A Happy Topic



## StarRidgeAcres (Feb 13, 2011)

The news of the 4G horses has been very depressing and has made me think of the poor horses that didn't make it out of Kansas. So I took some pictures of my Wiz, one of the lucky ones who DID make it out of KS. He's actually having his best year so far I think. Not having any adult stallions around him (or anywhere near his fences!




) I believe has made a difference in his quality of life and his ability to enjoy himself and finally RELAX



.

So I let Wiz and "his" girls into the back yard for a romp Friday and I took some pics. I hope you all enjoy seeing him as much as I enjoy having him here on the farm.



Wiz is somewhere in his mid 20s and has very few teeth but still looks stunning to me. I wish I could have seen him in his prime.

Hey mom, whatcha doin?






I can still bust a move!






Aren't I beautiful?






L to R - Wiz, Rhythm, Puddin, Star, Binky, Poopy






Rock Star hairdo!






Thanks for letting me share. Maybe others will get a second chance like Chances Rescue offered Wiz.


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## StarRidgeAcres (Feb 13, 2011)

A couple more from the same day.

Puddin' still somehow plugging along. She's much thinner than she looks in this picture, so it's a week to week decision-making process. But this day was a good day.










Wiz and Poopy


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## Carolyn R (Feb 13, 2011)

He looks wonderful Parmela!

Thanks for sharing.


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## ohmt (Feb 14, 2011)

They are all beautiful! Thank you for sharing


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## Knottymare (Feb 14, 2011)

What a beautiful boy and a fun herd you have! Great pix, thanks for sharing and for taking in a rescue.


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## Taylor Richelle (Feb 14, 2011)

What a handsome boy! Love the pics. Thanks for sharing!


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## wcr (Feb 14, 2011)

You have a horse named Poopy? What the heck kind of name is that? LOL


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## StarRidgeAcres (Feb 14, 2011)

wcr said:


> You have a horse named Poopy? What the heck kind of name is that? LOL








Kathi,

Yes, Poopy is her name. She was born at 283 days gestation and was premature. She spent many days in the hospital and then many weeks and months getting to normal at home. Her stomach and instestines weren't fully developed and when she was finally able to nurse she had constant diarrhea. Her name was supposed to be "Mira" short for Miracle, but she had three caretakers during those first few weeks and we were always having to clean her "poopy butt" and then we started calling her "poopy butt" and it stuck! And she grew up believing her name was in fact Poopy Butt and that's what she comes to when called.

A funny side story... She was a National Top Ten in 2007 with a trainer but I thought I'd show her myself in 2008 and I wanted to do Liberty with her. Stupid me, I worked her at home in the round pen, taught her to trot on command, change directions and then utlimately stop and then come to me. Yep, that's right. While training her at home it never dawned on me to make sure I taught her to come to "Mira, come to me" instead of "Poopy, come to me." So first show in May of 2008 she wins her halter class, even gets a reserver junior mare and then we get to Liberty. All is wonderful, she trots, puts on quite a show and then the music stops. She keeps running and running and I'm thinking "oh no! I've got to say POOP in the show ring or she's never going to stop!" I tried everything I could think of short of saying the word poop. No dice! Finally I got the "time" sound and we were DQd. At that point I yelled "Poopy, come to me!" and she promptly turned and came directly to me and I put the halter on. We left the ring with the spectators in stitches and I was so embarrassed I never took her in the ring again. True story.


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## chandab (Feb 14, 2011)

StarRidgeAcres said:


> Kathi,
> 
> Yes, Poopy is her name. She was born at 283 days gestation and was premature. She spent many days in the hospital and then many weeks and months getting to normal at home. Her stomach and instestines weren't fully developed and when she was finally able to nurse she had constant diarrhea. Her name was supposed to be "Mira" short for Miracle, but she had three caretakers during those first few weeks and we were always having to clean her "poopy butt" and then we started calling her "poopy butt" and it stuck! And she grew up believing her name was in fact Poopy Butt and that's what she comes to when called.
> 
> A funny side story... She was a National Top Ten in 2007 with a trainer but I thought I'd show her myself in 2008 and I wanted to do Liberty with her. Stupid me, I worked her at home in the round pen, taught her to trot on command, change directions and then utlimately stop and then come to me. Yep, that's right. While training her at home it never dawned on me to make sure I taught her to come to "Mira, come to me" instead of "Poopy, come to me." So first show in May of 2008 she wins her halter class, even gets a reserver junior mare and then we get to Liberty. All is wonderful, she trots, puts on quite a show and then the music stops. She keeps running and running and I'm thinking "oh no! I've got to say POOP in the show ring or she's never going to stop!" I tried everything I could think of short of saying the word poop. No dice! Finally I got the "time" sound and we were DQd. At that point I yelled "Poopy, come to me!" and she promptly turned and came directly to me and I put the halter on. We left the ring with the spectators in stitches and I was so embarrassed I never took her in the ring again. True story.














Wonder what place you would have received, if you had just said that name in the ring before time.


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## topnotchminis (Feb 14, 2011)

She is very cute and I love the story about her name and showing.


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## Knottymare (Feb 14, 2011)

what a great story!


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## ~Dan (Feb 14, 2011)

I enjoyed the entire thing Parmela!

Wiz is looking fantastic for his age and is stunning as ever



and the Poopy story makes me laugh every time





Dan.


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## MINI REASONS (Feb 14, 2011)

Thanks so much for sharing. What a handsome boy!!!


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## AppyLover2 (Feb 15, 2011)

There he is!!! Parmella he's looking fantastic. After some of the changes you've made in the past couple of years I wondered if you still had him.

For those of you who have never seen, or may have forgotten, this is what Wiz looked like in October 07. Parmela literally saved this little fella's life with her care. It's hard to believe this poor little one and the happy little guy in the other pictures are the same horse.


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## StarRidgeAcres (Feb 16, 2011)

AppyLover2 said:


> There he is!!! Parmella he's looking fantastic. After some of the changes you've made in the past couple of years I wondered if you still had him.
> 
> For those of you who have never seen, or may have forgotten, this is what Wiz looked like in October 07. Parmela literally saved this little fella's life with her care. It's hard to believe this poor little one and the happy little guy in the other pictures are the same horse.



Hi Donna,

Thanks for posting the picture of him. I'd forgotten about that one.

Wiz has really come around. I know when you first rescued him he was nothing short of heck on hooves!



Once you got some food into him, his true nature and strength began to emerge...not to mention that you'd been told he was a gelding when in fact he was most certainly a stallion!



I know when Mark came home from picking him up, his first words to me were "this horse would have eventually seriously injured or killed that woman." And I soon learned why he said that. Wiz was getting stronger, had ZERO manners, was as wild as a March hare and had NO concept of people or personal space.

Obviously, the first thing that helped was gelding him. Although I don't believe to this day he really knows he's not a stallion. Having Corona, Merlin, Spirit and Wiz on the property at the same time was a challenge...mostly for Wiz. Even with 16' of neutral space between his fence and the others, he just couldn't stop running the fenceline and protecting what he perceived as "his" mares. But by May of 2010 when Spirit left for Julie's place and Wiz was now the only mature "stallion" on the property, he started to calm down. So, add to that his advanced age and he now knows what a halter is, knows what treats are and doesn't feel the constant need to protect his mares from another stallion, he's really settled down. This winter he's in the best shape he's been all the years I've had him. He's keeping his weight on and he's just more relaxed.

He currently shares a fenceline with my younger boys - the oldest of which is 3 this year - but so far he's not concerned about them. I'll have to keep an eye on it as spring nears, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe he's over his need to run the fence.

And yes Donna, there have been so many darn changes for me since mid 2009 - divorce, selling or re-homing over half of my herd, moving to a new location, changing jobs (same company but got moved to a much busier, higher profile role), selling my dream horse Spirit (but it was what was right for him), not being able to show, etc. It's all been frankly overwhelming. But I kept Wiz for two reasons...1) I just couldn't put him through that big of a change - I was already so worried about moving him with me to a new farm and 2) I'm not sure someone else would put up with him!



He's still stubborn, can be very hard-headed and sure can pitch a fit when it's time to have his feet trimmed. But I understand why he's that way and I've learned to accept it. He's old, has very few teeth and only sees shadows at this point. I can't imagine sending him to live somewhere else.





Thanks to everyone for looking at his pictures. The whole situation of the starved horses in WV really brought up sad memories of the KS horses and those left behind. Seeing Wiz in good condition and happy brought a smile to my face after all of the sadness of late.


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## AppyLover2 (Feb 16, 2011)

> ..when Mark came home from picking him up, his first words to me were "this horse would have eventually seriously injured or killed that woman."






OMG Parmella, you've never told me that. The biggest problem I had with him, in addition to no place to put him by himself, was his constant fighting with one of my geldings. They'd just stand butt to butt and kick the heck out of one another, over and over and over, with neither of them willing to back down. There were several times I had to go running out there (once I even picked up a tree limb that had blown down and was swinging it at them) to get them to stop.

You and I have never met, but you'll always have my utmost respect for taking that little demon on....and for keeping him with you because it's what's best for him. Thank you my friend; from the bottom of my heart!!


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## a mini dream come true (Feb 16, 2011)

cute pictures and wonderful story of the show ring. Thank you for sharing.


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## A Little Blessing (Feb 20, 2011)

He should be made into a stuffed animal! I actually think I had a stuffed horse that looked just like him when I was little.. So cute. Is that little black one in there Raven?

And Poopy! Remember her story, guess I have been lurking here a very long time!

Edit: WHoops, it's Binky, not Raven.


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## REO (Feb 21, 2011)

Oh Parm, he looks AWESOME! And he's feeling great! I think he now knows what a lucky boy he is now, even if he can't help himself at times.

If it were me, I'd for sure have yelled POOPY! POOPY! Wouldn't have bothered me a bit!



Until after the catch LOL!

I had a tiny bk pinto colt. I call all my foals Pumpkin, Bubba, Poopy etc. Well, that one colt, the name Poopy stuck! It fit him (he was a cute lil poopy)and he knew his name.

So I sold him and she said she was changing his name. LOL. Well time passed and she said she ending up still calling him Poopy cuz that IS his name! A mare is one thing, but this poor lady is stuck with a stallion named Poopy!

Ha! And people think me calling MY stallion "Dingle Snort" (Nort) is bad! LMAO!

Thanks for sharing the pics. May ALL horses be as loved, cared for and understood.


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## Connie P (Feb 21, 2011)

Bless you Parmela! Wiz looks wonderful and I just know he thanks you over and over. I have a couple of the Kansas horses myself and I know by the way they look at me (still to this day) that they are most thankful for all I have done for them. John refers to them as "the Grumpy Old Men" as they play rough most of the time. Don't seperate them though..........





Love Poopy's story!


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## minie812 (Feb 21, 2011)

Parmela, I remember the night John and I went to load 10 of those minis from that place. It was so horrible to take the trailer in there as minis were everywhere trying to get to the trailer to get some of the hay that was inside. I remember standing there and mouths reaching everywhere on us looking for a morsel of food and reaching down and FEELING nothing but bones




It was cold and I was so worried some would die from being so exhausted fighting over what little fell off the trailer. We had to be so careful loading them. It is nice to see that some of them are still going strong. The two that got adopted out from here Suzie Q and Boo are still down the road and now have a new friend Mr Donkey


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