Reposting this article for those that are interested in furthering their Equine Education - My Horse University - check it out!
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I'm a lifelong learner. If you ever think you know it all, you definitely don't. We all meet those types in daily life.
I was talking with a friend recently about the number of people that I've met with Minis that have that attitude. Most are "lifers" with horses. You know the - I've had horses since I can walk, blah blah blah. Surprisingly three of "those" types have been the worst when I've had to reclaim horses. Grossly overweight, founder, not trimmed correctly, not trimmed at all, body scores of 1-3, basically in various states of "OMG WTF did you do to these animals?"
So, anytime I think I know it all, I try to learn something from every encounter, person, event or class as I know I don't know it all!
I'm not a sucker for fads, but will listen and hopefully garner some information from anyone that is teaching me about a new product, idea or trying to sell me something.
That was a nice lead up to online education. We're fortunate now to be able to access educational opportunities locally and across the world. Here's one such place.....
My Horse University or MHU has some great educational webcasts that are FREE! There is a great monthly newsletter you can sign up for as well and of course their educational courses.
Other Miniature online education and training (some paid/some free) are:
Star Point Horsemanship with Lana Grieve (Facebook/Youtube free info too)
Miniature Horsemanship with Kendra Gale (has a free newsletter too)
1 comment:
I think it's different for us who live in the North. We have to deal with harsh winters, frozen buckets, and -10 to -30 weather. People and vets miseducate the public about how fat minis are, so as the minis start gaining a winter coat their owners put them on a diet. By the time it's in the single to negative digits the minis are suffering malnourishment and are unable to keep warm. More mini people are unable to gauge coats and the condition beneath them. My years of minis can tell in a full winter coat if they're too thin or too fat.
Next, my way of giving back was to offer discount miniature horse trims. 25 vs the avg 35 to 40. I was to come out every 8-12 weeks. I quickly learned people abuse their farriers. They would wait 4-6 months. I would have triple the trim with the discount price and so I had to quit. Therefore, we are going to see elf hooves. People are either too cheap or too lazy to trim them.
There is good rescue, but sadly we have more retail rescue in this country than good rescue. Breeders are getting so demonized that we are lucky if we have horse, cat, or dog breeds in 20 years. I stand by my horses, although in the north we have to condition and feed differently than other parts of the country.
Our grass is very lush, so my horses have free access to dry lots. They work up to 2 hours of grass a day in the Summer. All Winter it's hay and grain. There is quite an art to it. You don't ever quit learning but people have a right to say they know something when they've been in the trenches for a lifetime. Though minis are different to care for than large horse.
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