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Photography / Animal related (non-anthro)
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My sheepy Victoria passed away last night :(
She came with the house when I bought it, and has been my companion here for the last three years. I will miss her a lot. It's going to seem very quiet here without her.
She came with the house when I bought it, and has been my companion here for the last three years. I will miss her a lot. It's going to seem very quiet here without her.
Category Photography / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Mammal (Other)
Size 1024 x 682px
File Size 96.3 kB
Listed in Folders
Thank you... it's pretty often misty here in wet Wales. The land dips down slightly and on some mornings the fog lies in the valleys and you can see over the top of it, it looks amazing.
She would climb up at the gate like that whenever a car pulled into the driveway, so she could get a good look at who it was.
She would climb up at the gate like that whenever a car pulled into the driveway, so she could get a good look at who it was.
I am sorry for your loss. I know what it means to lose pets. I lost my beloved Butterscotch about 7 months ago.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3259085/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3701247/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3259085/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3701247/
Aww, I am sorry to hear about your horse :(
She was my fl00fy little friend... but sheep aren't very social, you can't bond with them like you can with a horse. It must be a hundred times worse to lose a horse :( the only thing you can do is take comfort in the knowledge that you did your best for them, you made their life happy in the time you had together, and that is what really counts. *hugs*
She was my fl00fy little friend... but sheep aren't very social, you can't bond with them like you can with a horse. It must be a hundred times worse to lose a horse :( the only thing you can do is take comfort in the knowledge that you did your best for them, you made their life happy in the time you had together, and that is what really counts. *hugs*
*hugs*
Mike just came over this morning with his digger and we buried her, so it's all done with now. When we first moved here I made a little plaque out of slate and fixed it to her house... this morning I took it down and buried it with her, so if anybody ever comes across her, they'll know she wasn't just any sheep, she was a much loved pet.
Mike just came over this morning with his digger and we buried her, so it's all done with now. When we first moved here I made a little plaque out of slate and fixed it to her house... this morning I took it down and buried it with her, so if anybody ever comes across her, they'll know she wasn't just any sheep, she was a much loved pet.
*hugs* thanks. She was a good sheepy. She would always get excited when a car arrived, and climb up at the gate like that so she could get a good look at who was arriving. The field is empty now... I really need to find someone to fill it, but I'm being sabotaged by my insecurities >.>
Every time I think about getting a pony I start to think what if I can't look after it? what if I can't control it? what if it gets sick? what if the field becomes unusable? what if it gets bored? maybe I'm just selfish for wanting one? what if I don't have time for it? what am I actually going to do with it?
sigh >.>
sigh >.>
Well, a horse is defenitely a pet that needs to be looked after in the right way! There is much you have to know - or you will maybe make it sick, indeed. :/ I don't know if you ever had a horse before or have experience with caring for them and working with them? I used to care for horses at a stable when I was a kid and I am amazed how much there is you have to know, how sensible they are. I don't dare to think of getting my own horse because of the same reasons, only that I have no field were I could put it. I would have to pay other people with a stable and field to keep it there.
I looked after a friend's horse for a few months once - it's a lot easier when they live outside rather than in a stable, because they can look after themselves a lot more. But you have to wonder, can looking after a horse REALLY be that much more difficult than looking after a cat/dog/sheep/etc?
If you ask me for my opinion: I think so, yes. :/
A horse is very dependent on you. It needs to be groomed, a cat can mostly groom herself. It needs to be fed properly and horses are very sensible on their stomach. They get colics often when you feed them wrong. Wet grass is poison! But they will probably eat it if they are outsida all the time. There are also a lot of poisonous plants like acorns or buttercup which they sometimes eat, even if it's bad to them. Depends on what they learned from their mother mare. Also they get weight problems easily, if you feed them too many grains. They need more hay than grains.
I learned from a breeder over here who has Shire horses, that in winter they need to put them Shires inside and only feed them hay, but when they want to put them outside again they need to look after their grass-consume carefully. If they just put them outside, letting them eat the grass all day, they will get ill. They need to be looked after, eating grass for 15 minutes or so. Then they need to bring them inside again. NExt week they are allowed to eat grass for half an hour a day, then inside again. And the next week, they are allowed 40 minutes of eating grass. Their stomachs have to get used again to the grass wich is more wet than the hay they ate for months. They told me they lost a horse by not lookin after this. It ate poisonous plants of which they didn't know when they started having horses - and died torturous. I cried when listening to that.
Also their hooves are a weak spot: If they stand on wet gorund like a wet meadow, they get horrible illnesses on their hooves! I don't know their names in English, though. :/ But that's one problem in keeping horses entirely outside, I heard. They need a shelter where dry straw is on the ground or some other kind of dry material and this need to be looked after carefully. Most horses also need to be ridden or at least you need to keep them moving maybe taking them to a walk or lunge them, if possible every day or every second day.
I don't know, there are horse breeds that are most likely tougher than others. Like Islandic horses, they are outside all the time and somehow make it. And Dartmoor Ponies, too. So you should look for a tough horse breed and then inform yourself in forums or on the web and also talking to breeders and so on. I am sure there is a solution for you, but it is really important to keep an eye on your horsy. It's moe difficult as you might think, I guess. :/ At least, I didn't think it is that difficult before I informed myself.
A horse is very dependent on you. It needs to be groomed, a cat can mostly groom herself. It needs to be fed properly and horses are very sensible on their stomach. They get colics often when you feed them wrong. Wet grass is poison! But they will probably eat it if they are outsida all the time. There are also a lot of poisonous plants like acorns or buttercup which they sometimes eat, even if it's bad to them. Depends on what they learned from their mother mare. Also they get weight problems easily, if you feed them too many grains. They need more hay than grains.
I learned from a breeder over here who has Shire horses, that in winter they need to put them Shires inside and only feed them hay, but when they want to put them outside again they need to look after their grass-consume carefully. If they just put them outside, letting them eat the grass all day, they will get ill. They need to be looked after, eating grass for 15 minutes or so. Then they need to bring them inside again. NExt week they are allowed to eat grass for half an hour a day, then inside again. And the next week, they are allowed 40 minutes of eating grass. Their stomachs have to get used again to the grass wich is more wet than the hay they ate for months. They told me they lost a horse by not lookin after this. It ate poisonous plants of which they didn't know when they started having horses - and died torturous. I cried when listening to that.
Also their hooves are a weak spot: If they stand on wet gorund like a wet meadow, they get horrible illnesses on their hooves! I don't know their names in English, though. :/ But that's one problem in keeping horses entirely outside, I heard. They need a shelter where dry straw is on the ground or some other kind of dry material and this need to be looked after carefully. Most horses also need to be ridden or at least you need to keep them moving maybe taking them to a walk or lunge them, if possible every day or every second day.
I don't know, there are horse breeds that are most likely tougher than others. Like Islandic horses, they are outside all the time and somehow make it. And Dartmoor Ponies, too. So you should look for a tough horse breed and then inform yourself in forums or on the web and also talking to breeders and so on. I am sure there is a solution for you, but it is really important to keep an eye on your horsy. It's moe difficult as you might think, I guess. :/ At least, I didn't think it is that difficult before I informed myself.
Yah I have read a lot of books about keeping horses (I have a whole shelf full of them ), so I know about things like laminitis (flounder) if they are allowed to graze freely on spring grass after spending the winter eating hay. They'll get thrush/mud fever if they stand around in mud too much, it's a fungal infection due to the wetness. Every kind of animal needs its own special care though, it's not impossible, you just have to learn about it first. If let a sheep eat horse food it will die from copper poisoning! They have to have their hooves clipped and be sheared... I had no idea how to shear a sheep, but I managed. Fish are incredibly sensitive, if the temperature or salinity of the water is wrong they will quickly die. Reptiles too need entire life support systems.
The more unnaturally they are kept, the more difficult their care will be. I'm planning to get a nice hardy pony that can live naturally outside - there is also an excellent field shelter so it can just go inside if it rains. My main concern is the field turning to mud in winter.
The more unnaturally they are kept, the more difficult their care will be. I'm planning to get a nice hardy pony that can live naturally outside - there is also an excellent field shelter so it can just go inside if it rains. My main concern is the field turning to mud in winter.
Yeah, that's a problem I think. :/ Usually you should have more than one field ready, don't you? So you can change fields when this happens.
Are you planning to ride the pony, too? ^^ I have my first riding lesson thursday if everything goes well. ^^ I am so protective about pets, I tend to care for them a lil too much, maybe. So I always try to inform people about them before they get them or if I can't give the information needed, make them inform theirselves! XD But You seem pretty informed! And man I'd love to visit you oneday, pony or no pony. *_*
Are you planning to ride the pony, too? ^^ I have my first riding lesson thursday if everything goes well. ^^ I am so protective about pets, I tend to care for them a lil too much, maybe. So I always try to inform people about them before they get them or if I can't give the information needed, make them inform theirselves! XD But You seem pretty informed! And man I'd love to visit you oneday, pony or no pony. *_*
eee :D
Yeah my field is split in two, but winter is long and wet, so I don't think that even two will be enough. Horses wreck fields so fast!
I have ridden uh... twice before :P I am not planning to ride really... well I guess I will plod around a bit ;) but I really just prefer the company
Here is my big tip for your first riding lesson: stretch your muscles before and after riding, then you will not be sore the day after.
The thing is that I know logically I could after one - I have looked after other animals, I have looked after other people's horses, I'm not so stupid and it's not so impossibly difficult that I couldn't learn - but, well maybe I over-analyze it. If you read a medical book it's easy to convince yourself that you have some horrible disease; if you read horse books it's easy to think that they'll get some horrible disease or have a terrible accident.
Visit would be nice! I hope you like rain XD Need to bring ECMajor, he is a real good luck charm with the weather - every time he visits the weather immediately becomes perfect.
Yeah my field is split in two, but winter is long and wet, so I don't think that even two will be enough. Horses wreck fields so fast!
I have ridden uh... twice before :P I am not planning to ride really... well I guess I will plod around a bit ;) but I really just prefer the company
Here is my big tip for your first riding lesson: stretch your muscles before and after riding, then you will not be sore the day after.
The thing is that I know logically I could after one - I have looked after other animals, I have looked after other people's horses, I'm not so stupid and it's not so impossibly difficult that I couldn't learn - but, well maybe I over-analyze it. If you read a medical book it's easy to convince yourself that you have some horrible disease; if you read horse books it's easy to think that they'll get some horrible disease or have a terrible accident.
Visit would be nice! I hope you like rain XD Need to bring ECMajor, he is a real good luck charm with the weather - every time he visits the weather immediately becomes perfect.
Same here with the over analyzing. *_* I tend to make myself over-nervous with everything.
Ohhh and I'd LOVE to visit you and I'd have nothing against EC's company BUT! I visited the UK twice in my life and all the time being it was sunshine_all_over_the_place! I went to Bath and it was sunny all the week I dwelled there. And it was already Septembre! Then I went to Scotland and they told me it'd have rained for three weeks straight before I arrived. When I arrived, it was sunny - the best autumn/late-summer weather you could get for 14 days! 8D So I hope it'll be all nice when I come to see you. ^_^
We went to see Exmoor, but we didn't enter the park. :/ We just drove through with a coach and saw some ponies on the heather fields. :3
Ohhh and I'd LOVE to visit you and I'd have nothing against EC's company BUT! I visited the UK twice in my life and all the time being it was sunshine_all_over_the_place! I went to Bath and it was sunny all the week I dwelled there. And it was already Septembre! Then I went to Scotland and they told me it'd have rained for three weeks straight before I arrived. When I arrived, it was sunny - the best autumn/late-summer weather you could get for 14 days! 8D So I hope it'll be all nice when I come to see you. ^_^
We went to see Exmoor, but we didn't enter the park. :/ We just drove through with a coach and saw some ponies on the heather fields. :3
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