# Spud, the mighty pony LOL



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I've been using Spud to work our cattle all summer long. We had a load of fresh steers come in a couple weeks ago and some of them began to show signs of pinkeye....so they needed doctored. Decided to go ahead and take Spudly and just see what he could do. We ended up roping and dragging 6-8 head (I lost count LOL) while Dad doctored them. He did fantastic and he sure isn't afraid to really dig deep and put them where I needed them.

As the poem goes "He wasn't big, not big in size, but he had the heart of a lion. No not big, but a horse...all horse, who'd either do, or die a'trying"


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

How big is Spud?


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

13.3 and about 750.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Small but mighty potato pony!!! Now that you have Spud, you can just send Rafe on over to Arizona to keep Aires company. He needs someone his own size to play with. Everyone else is afraid of him. ;-)


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Haha, that probably wouldn't be a bad idea. I took Rafe to the cattle the other day and I had forgotten how much work it was to use such a big horse LOL


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Give me a good pony over a good horse any day!!!!


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> Small but mighty potato pony!!! Now that you have Spud, you can just send Rafe on over to Arizona to keep Aires company. He needs someone his own size to play with. Everyone else is afraid of him. ;-)



get in the queue, he wants to be a dressage horse with another red head...


Gotta love the mighty little spud, what a good boy..
Save​


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Tell Spud to teach some of my little ones how to stop being such sissies and just do the ranch work. lol

Zoey, after two years of desensitizing and making her do it, is still afraid of the rope every time I get her out on a new day. Blah.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

We have a 14 hand pony that weights about 680. He and my dd took on a bull last year. The bull wanted to go one way and horse and kid said no. That pony can MOVE. He just kept on moving to where the bull wanted to go and blocking his path. The bull gave up turned around and wandered back the way he was supposed to go.

Awfully impressive to watch a small pony work!


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

smrobs said:


> Haha, that probably wouldn't be a bad idea. I took Rafe to the cattle the other day and I had forgotten how much work it was to use such a big horse LOL


Please excuse my ignorance but why is it harder to work cattle with a big horse?


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

natisha said:


> Please excuse my ignorance but why is it harder to work cattle with a big horse?


Bigger turning radius, not as quick...the cows probably try to just scoot through his legs cuz he's so darned tall. :lol: Basically the same reasons it's more work driving a big work truck than it is a little Toyota Corolla. :lol:


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

How big is Spud? About the size of that cow lol!


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

natisha said:


> Please excuse my ignorance but why is it harder to work cattle with a big horse?



No worries! It's actually through no fault of his own. Rafe is a really good ranch horse and cow horse and is very pleasant to ride, he's just too big to be handy. I have to get off to open and close gates because I can't reach the latches. Until I get a new trailer, he won't fit in mine with a saddle on so I have to unsaddle him and resaddle him each time we load to go to another pasture. When your saddle is 45+ pounds, that gets exhausting, especially when you don't do it daily LOL.


I normally only saddle when we go into a pasture where there might actually be hard work to do. If all we plan to do is count cattle and look them over, I go bareback on him.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

SorrelHorse said:


> Tell Spud to teach some of my little ones how to stop being such sissies and just do the ranch work. lol
> 
> Zoey, after two years of desensitizing and making her do it, is still afraid of the rope every time I get her out on a new day. Blah.



LOL, he's just got the most awesome temperament. I'd only really even handled a rope on him 3 times before (one of which was 4 years ago when I was training him LOL). He just kinda goes with the flow and really wants to please.


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## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

DraftyAiresMum said:


> Bigger turning radius, not as quick...the cows probably try to just scoot through his legs cuz he's so darned tall. :lol: Basically the same reasons it's more work driving a big work truck than it is a little Toyota Corolla. :lol:



Thesre's also the issue of getting up and down off that horse when roping, working gates, and assisting other riders. There's a good reason why many cowboys and cowgirls prefer "Cow PONIES"!


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

Spud is beautiful! What breed is he? A small QH? His color is liver chestnut, right?

I was checking out your other PhotoBucket photos of him... that is Rafe (the sorrel, I think?) next to him, right? How tall is he again?! 
So at 13.3 and 750... my mare is built about the same but 14.1... I wonder how heavy she is, lol. We always guess about 900, though she is a tad tubby right now.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

GracielaGata said:


> Spud is beautiful! What breed is he? A small QH? His color is liver chestnut, right?
> 
> I was checking out your other PhotoBucket photos of him... that is Rafe (the sorrel, I think?) next to him, right? How tall is he again?!
> So at 13.3 and 750... my mare is built about the same but 14.1... I wonder how heavy she is, lol. We always guess about 900, though she is a tad tubby right now.



He's a QH x Shetland LOL. Unusual mix but they work well in this instance. He's basically built like a small QH with a pony attitude. He is a silver dapple, which is a black horse with a silver gene.

Rafe is 16.2, nearly a full foot taller than Spud and more than twice the weight. LOL. I just used a weight tape on him. They aren't terribly accurate, but it gave me a baseline and a comparison from when I bought him (he was over 850 pounds and foundered). My tape goes up to 1475 and it lacks about 8-10 inches from the ends meeting when I put it around Rafe LOL


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

@smrobs Neat mix... I would think that could make a perfect little horse, since I have seen some welshs mixed that turned out awesome- one is with a connemara, and she is an absolute sweetheart!
Another welsh I know, supposedly purebred... he is the ugliest little thing I have ever seen, as he is so disproportionate to me. It doesn't help that he is as wide as he is tall/(short? lol), due to non-use. He isn't even close to 13.3. I will attach a photo of him with my daughter, one of the summers we borrowed him from my friend so he could get some exercise. We call him a Hobbitses pony.  (I will attach a photo of him for fun lol).

My mare tapes out to 900 or so as well. But I can't help but question the tape when my daughter's very 15.3hh is listed as 1100, or my husband's chunky 15.1 is 1000. I feel like they aren't quite right. Butt that for Rafe it doesn't even go around him all the way?!!? Holy cow!


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

LOL, yeah. Those tapes are a better tool for just gauging and tracking weight gain/loss as opposed to getting an accurate true weight. When I first got him back, he taped at 850...and he was OBESE. I can hardly believe the difference when I look at his pictures from just a few months ago.


Then:










And recently


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

You want chunky- you saw that pony I posted right?! He is one of the chunkiest little things I have ever met. I think that is partly what makes him so oddly shaped- super thick crest area, no great topline and chunky butt.  

So you used to own Spud, sold/gave him away, then got him back? 

He is so cute!  My husband even said he wouldn't care about riding something so short with how he is built and what he can do.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

His owners sent him to me to start when he was 3 and fell completely in love with him. They were very well meaning but naïve people who thought he would be a great match for their young daughter just because he was a pony. When I sent him home, I said that I thought she would get along with him IF she started in frequent lessons on him. Unfortunately, they took him home and turned him out and I don't even think they saddled him a half dozen times in the following 4 years.

My brother is their farrier and he told me immediately when they mentioned to him that they were looking to sell all their horses. I made an offer and he came home. He's probably sad that he's no longer getting grain daily and is having to work, but at least he'll be sound here.


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

Eeks! Yes, definitely a candidate for no grain! In reality so many 'pet' riding horses don't truly need it. Ours get a tiny bit of wetted alfalfa pellets a few days in winter, but other than that, grass hay only.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Haha, I never imagined when I got him that I would work him hard enough to have to supplement his diet to keep his ribs from showing, but I do. This summer, he is being worked pretty hard (and it's been HOT) and the hay just isn't enough so he gets about 20 pounds of alfalfa pellets and 2 cups of oil a day in addition to the hay.


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

Oh my gosh!!!!! That is crazy!! But awesome for him, because it means he gets to be a horse and get used!!!! 

I am trying to find a place to go 'play' with some cows locally, as I think my mare would really enjoy the job. She is still far from needing a supplemental energy source... but...


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Well, if you ever have the opportunity to get away for a while in the summer, come on down to TX and bring your mare. We normally have 500+ head of yearlings to take care of


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## GracielaGata (Jan 14, 2012)

I KNOW!!! You've already offered it!!!! 
If I could get away, I would so take you up on that!! It is so cool that you offer it.  And thank you.


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