What Has Been Your Biggest Mistake w/ Minis?

[Shari]

Mine

Aww. I leave my guys halters on so I can ctach them and such. Mabe I'll take them off?

:

If you have to leave a halter on. Use "break away" halters. These halters will break before any harm can come to your horse.

 

[MiLo Minis]

I can really relate to the "leaving the halter on" mistake. It isn't something I do often but we had a new mare and I was putting her out in a field temporarily so to make things easy for myself (always the wrong thing!) I left her halter on. The field was fenced in page wire and as always, the grass was greener on the other side. I came home to find her in the pouring rain laying still and cold with her head through the fence. She couldn't get it back through as the halter was snagged on the wire. I cut the halter off and got her to her feet and into the barn practically carrying her. A heat lamp, blow dryer and lots of blankets, massaging and warm water to drink brought her around and saved her life but she lost her foal 2 weeks later. I think even a couple more minutes and we would have lost the mare as well. It took over 4 hours to get her body temp back up to normal. NEVER leave the halters on.

Another "mistake": We feed round bales to the mares in the winter to make things easier for us (familiar tune?) I looked out and wondered where Lady was, shook it off and went about my business. About an hour later I looked out again and thought where is she? This time I put on my coat and boots and went out to check. She was laying by the side of the round bale and a big swath of hay had fallen over on her, I have no idea how long she was there. She was trapped and couldn't get up being heavy in foal. She was cold and hard but when I got the hay off her and lifted her head she opened her eye and looked at me. I massaged her and got her to her feet and massaged her some more till some feeling came back then half dragged half carried her to the barn. More heat lamps, blow driers, warm water, blankets and hot water bottles and 6 hours later her temp was back up and she was moving around on her own. She had scraped the side of her face that was down and her eye was badly swollen so she went on antibiotics and came through it with flying colours. She foaled out a healthy colt about a month later. We were very lucky that time. Always lay your bales on their side with the loose part down. Our mistake was putting the bale on its end so that swaths of hay could flake off and fall. The horses love to lie against the bales for warmth and shelter.

 

[Sandee]

I can identify with all the "don't give bute even if the vet 'says so". Just one more no no, failing to read up on minis after having big horses and expecting them to react the same way.

My biggest boo boo (I believe) started because I failed to WRITE down the worming date. Anyone can have memory problems but I chalk mine up to age. At any rate I was sure I'd wormed but turns out when I went to worm the next time I found an unopened box which meant that the previous 8 week worming never took place. I also didn't realize that foals should be wormed more often. My filly had a LOT of round worms and I believe that was the start of all her problems that nearly finished her off the month before.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS put your feed away immediately! We had our feed delivered, and it was just outside the feedroom door. It was late, I didn't feel like it, and the mares never got inside the barn anyways... right.

That night they did. Over 50lbs between several mares and their foals. We oiled all of them. All seemed OK, except for Annie. She just didn't seem right. I went up about 2am, she was down but got back up when I came over. In the AM when I fed hay only, she still seemed depressed, but not in distress. The evening when I got home from work, she was ill. Urines and feces just ran from her. We brought her in, and called the vet, who was over an hour away. Annie got colder, then fell. She struggled and fought- Jane jumped in to help her, but I knew the fight was over. I stood there and watched her die. My poor Annie, abused and unloved her first years.... at least her last two years were full of love.

Lucy

 

[Westwood Farms]

I have made many mistakes in the past, but one thing sticks out, and it is mostly an FYI.

I have a mare with seizures. We did bloodwork, worm check, and checked for any noxious weeds in the pasture. We basically treat her with sedetives to calm her down.

Anyway, we had been spraying for Fleas in the yard, and also had some flooding. Apparently she had organo-phosphate poisoning from the spray. The ingrediant was Malathion. So, I obviously stopped using the spray. Well, she started having seizures again in the spring. FINALLY my brain kicked in gear, and realized they were doing heavy area spraying for mosquitos. Yup, you guessed it, malathion. She is super sensitive to the stuff, and has to be in the barn when they do arial sprays, which is often here.

I would never have thought such a light spray could make her so sick. She is perfectly healthy, except for an occasional spray induced seizure.

I hope this might help someone!

 

[royalview]

: So far with my minis I think my biggest mistake (JMO) was pasture breeding my mares the first year. NOt Good !!! Alot of sleepless nights and quite a few misses and near misses. Never again! We still let the stallion out with the mares AFTER they have been confirmed for a few months at the end of summer but foaling season is ALOT easier now that I know when they are about due. Yes they still keep me up at night but at least now we kinow which ones to keep a closer eye on when their time gets closer. This is a great thread. Lets save this one!!

:

 

[rabbitsfizz]

For me there is a HUGE difference between my biggest regret and my biggest mistake.

My biggest regret was not having a colt with impaction colic put down at diagnosis, since I could not justify the price of operation.

My biggest mistake??

I think I made all those by the time I started into Minis- killing the best Arab mare I have ever owned by leaving her halter on for TWO HOURS- it only actually takes two MINUTES- was probably it.

 

[MiniLover2006]

My biggest mistake with Miniature Horses was not knowing about them sooner. I am so glad that I sold my riding horse to get these wonderfull little horses, they have brought so much more joy in my life! I love them so much!

:

 

[Miniequine]

I can second the frozen pond advice. I narrowly missed

a disaster almost two years ago. The pond had thawed,

ice was a foot or so from the shore. I thought they would be

fine and NEVER get in the water to go out on the ice...

WRONG!! My older (wiser) mare JUMPED out onto the ice and

the rest followed her. OMG, I ran down, screaming my head off,

one of my neighbors came running. My smarty pants mare fell in,

but she was near the edge and only got her legs and belly wet.

My tiny filly, 25", out near the center

of the pond, fell in and disapeared.

I didn't even think.. I went in after her (stupid, I know) Pulled her out,

ran her to my heated garage and started drying her. She never got sick

neither did I... My cell didn't make it though.

So, if there is even a hint of ice... THEY WILL NOT GO OUT THERE!!!!!!

and another thing I won't do either...

I do not keep any feed in my barn. I keep it all in my house.

I have been at work, worrying about the door being shut... so many times...

Great thread!!!

Sandy

 

[love_casper]

well i have not had minis for very long, so i do not have very many mistakes to share. but i haev a few that may help others...

don't keep feed where your horses can reach it. we had ghost's grain in a food tub a while back, just outside her stall. it was a difficult tub to open, i could barely do it, but she opened that thing and spilled her grain all over the dirt. then she tried to eat it off the dirt. luckily, i was there when this happened, and quickley swept it up/threw it out. but if i had not been there, and she had ingested all that sand....YIKES.

also, no matter how sick you are, if it's raining, or it's icy cold outside, never give up on mare stare. i had been watching Ghost for two months. getting up every few hours. well, this particular night, it was cold, rainy, muddy, and sleeping on a bail of hay outside did NOT sound good to me, especially because i was battling a nasty cold, and Ghost had very FEW SIGNS. well the next morning, i found poor ghostie hovering over a cold wet dead colt in her stall. :no: he was everything i had wanted him to be and more, but i let poor ghostie down. She was fine, dried up the next day, and was back to normal, but she spent many days wandering around looking for that baby, and neighing to the other side of the fence where we burried him.

:

and about not leaving halters on...oh boy. it doesn't even take 2 minutes! in my case, it took 2 seconds!!!!

when i was babysitting a friend's thoroughbred (yeah everything always happens when the owners are out of town

: ) he hurt himself because i left his halter on.

okay, so he was a hiper little devil, so i left his halter on while i went to get his food ready. my mom was walking towards him down the middle isle, while i went to his stall the other direction. we passed eachother litterally only a few feet from where he was. but when she got to him, there was blood all over his face! as it turned out, in the 2 SECONDS that it took me to walk away from him and mom to get to him, he had put his face through the bars in the fence (which were tied together by a stud chain), and grabbed the stud chain to play with it. since the bars were shut with that chain, when he pulled on it, it yanked the bars together. with his face in the middle of them. his halter got caught on the top of one of these bars, and as he was struggling to get away, it was filing down the bones on his face. the vet came out immediately to do a little surgery, pick out the crushed bone pieces, and stitch him up. needless to say, his owner was not too happy with me!

so there is two lessons to be learned from that one: 1. never leave halters on. he could have pulled his face right outta there if he didn't get stuck on the halter. 2. always close gates tightly. he would not have even been able to hurt himself if he couldn't fit his face between the gate and that pole.

nasty stories here, but great thread! thanks to everyone who shared an experience for us all to learn from. it's sometimes hard to tell people of our tragic mistakes, but thanks for sharing anyways.

 

[Frankie]

Trust your gut,,,,,,I sought solutions from far more experienced people than I, what I did not take in to consideration was they did not know my horses.

When buying, selling, whatever,,,,,,get it all in writing. In my opinion it is to protect your horse as well, I didn't do that a 2 horses paid the price.

 

[lilhorseladie]

Mine

Aww. I leave my guys halters on so I can ctach them and such. Mabe I'll take them off?

:

If you have to leave a halter on. Use "break away" halters. These halters will break before any harm can come to your horse.

I grew up with horses and we always left halters on. I had minis for over 8 years and left halters on, but one horse in a few minutes was a dead one. That was a disaster. How guilty I felt! I would recommend leaving them off!

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

my biggest mistake was making a snap decision and selling my really super stallion. He is in a wonderful home, making lovely babies and being well taken care of... but I miss him terribly!