# Critique on Belle?



## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

Also, please be brutally honest. I don't need anything sugar coated, I just want to know what you all are thinking about this mare. I'm a big girl, I can take it


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## GraciesMom (Jun 17, 2010)

I'm not any expert, but she looks a bit thin. Just a bit, though. I think she could use and extra 50-100 pounds, just enough to fill out. She is really very pretty!! I think the change would do more good than bad. I don't think she will have any problem with the trip or the climate change. If you are worried about the trip, stop a few times and get her out and stretch her (just as long as you know she will go back in the trailer). We pulled into a gas station where a couple trying to get thier horse back in the trailer after a quick walk would not go in. It was so bad they called a vet out (after trying for four hours to get him in) and had to give him a mild sedative, just to make him walk up into the trailer!

I think she would do great! Good luck!!


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## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

Thank you very much! I was concerned about her weight, but I wasn't sure if it was from age or other effects. 
And that sounds terrible! Having to call out a vet, no less. I intend on going down about a week before I take her to work on training her to the trailer so we don't run into any problems. Don't want a mishap at a gas station like that, ick.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

She could stand to gain at least 100 lbs. Until she is up to weight she really can't have a proper critique done. At her age she probably needs her teeth done, and she is probably wormy as heck.

As for moving her- a big heck yeah from me. That is no place to keep a horse. If you were worried about her health, I would have the vet come out and do a health check and coggins test PRIOR to her moving back home.


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## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

draftrider, thank you. I wish I could get a better picture- perhaps I'll email my friend down there and see if she can take one and send it to me. I can't get back down there to work with Belle until I get my truck, and even then, my training and cleaning and walking her out to graze goes to waste the second I leave, ugh. But anyway. I have another question for you- since you are, in fact, a draft rider. Can you tell me anything about their care and personality and etc.? I know every horse is different, quite obviously with how gentle of a mustang Belle is, but my mom's friend is interested in looking into drafts for western pleasure.


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## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

I'm trying to think of what other details to add about Belle.
She used to be a blue roan.
I can touch her all over.
I got on her after she had nobody on her for a year and used a lead rope as reins and a halter as a headstall- she did AMAZING. I just got up on her bareback in her pen one morning and she didn't seem bothered a bit.
She hates fly spray with a passion.
She's rather hard to catch- and tips on this would be appreciated, but I plan on working on this while shes still in her small pen.
That halter is rubbing the hell out of her face.
Her pen borders a cliff edge of about fifteen feet, and is blocked by chicken wire. No joke. That worries me to no end.
Is there any precautions I can take about these things before I get her? I don't want to offend her owners, and I live five hours away- visits are far and in between until I get my truck.


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## kingkillkannon (Mar 13, 2009)

This horse looks unwell to me. That is probably the reason it let you get on it. It is just depressed and ill. It is underweight but looks wormy. It has guard hairs all over it. It is probably malnurished and dehydrated. If you take this horse home be prepared for some heavy vet bills. If the horse was well tho, it would be a very nice horse. It looks like a sweetheart. I hope you get it out of there and give it some real love!!! God bless you for wanting to take care of it!! Good Luck!!


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## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

Thank you, kingkillkannon. As bad as she looks, though, Belle is a very chipper little thing. Optimistic, maybe, or just happy to see me specifically. I haven't seen her when I'm not around, obviously, so I suppose she could get rather depressed under the care of her current owners. I know they don't go out to see her much, besides feed her and fill the water buckets.


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## mliponoga (Jul 24, 2010)

Get her out of there, I would consider this horse a rescue. She is pretty underweight, looks like she has went a lot without water, needs a few tubes of dewormer, and some free choice goodies (hay/grain). Judging by her hips sticking out I would say 200 lbs underweight and in need of a lot of muscle. I don't think you're looking at a lot of vet bills, just some self-care would do her great. She'll be a completely different horse once back up to weight.


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## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

Good news- Belle is coming home much sooner than we thought! I am being considered for a job at the vet in town (I was laid off about six months ago), and might even get a discount on Belle's vet care since I will be employed there.

mliponoga, thanks for your input. I love her owners like family, so I'm reluctant to be bashing how they care for their animals... But I also consider Belle a rescue. She needs better care. I intend on (gradually) switching her to an alfalfa grass mix once I get her moved, which should help with her weight, but what do you think would also help? I heard dumping about a half cup of vegetable oil into some grain and feeding it to her would do wonders, but I haven't talked to anybody who has tried that.


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## mliponoga (Jul 24, 2010)

We feed corn oil to our horses on top of their grain. 1/2 cup morning and night.


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## Thatgirlsacowboy (Aug 17, 2009)

I'm sorry... She used to be a blue roan? How did she change her coat color? Crayola?


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## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

Haha! No idea. Thats what the owners told me is all. Perhaps some bleach did the trick?


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## ShinaKonga (Jun 24, 2010)

Ick. My mother's friend used to own horses, and thinks of herself rather highly on the topic. I was driving with her tonight, and she decided to share her 'educated' opinion on Belle (whom she kept calling Bella, but thats a minor detail).
She said that I should not get Belle. That Belle was much too old to be moved that far, and in such a change of environment. Her hair was not going to grow in thick enough for the winter (Oh, hell. I've been in the desert at night, in a camper no farther than fifteen feet from Belle's pen. It was cold as, if not colder, than our winters in the mountains.) because she was already accustomed to the desert. She said that we could find me a better horse locally.
I told her I had already found a better horse in Belle, and I was going to get her home. She still insisted that Belle was going to colic and probably die.

What are your opinions on this? Is there logic to her reasoning? Am I angry for no reason, or is this feeling justified? Am I just getting defensive? I have a feeling that I am, but I don't know.

But, good news came out of this. My aunt was angry to hear about this, and has offered to tow Belle home for me with her awesome heavy duty truck, since I lack a car. (Shes mostly doing this to spite the friend of my mother, because thats just the kind of... interesting person my aunt is, ) Her boyfriend is offering to come help me train Belle to the trailer, since he used to own horses of his own and has gone through the same issue.

Thats my update for the day.


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## FancyPants (Jul 28, 2010)

They might have thought she was a blue roan because greys grey out slowly?


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

She looks like such a sweetie. She is certainly in need of some better groceries but that may be all that is wrong with her. Her eyes look clear and alert. I will be very glad to see you get her home. It isn't so unbelievable that they may have said she was a blue roan when she was younger. They probably don't know much about horse colors LOL. I have seen quite a few gray horses that are virtually indistinguishable from blue roan until they really start to gray out on their head and legs. One thing that you will need to watch out with on her though is melanoma. Most gray horses will end up with them and sometimes they can be quite severe. She is such a little cutie. I love 'stangs.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

She's too thin. She needs some weight put on her and muscle..but focus on her just gaining weight and then work on exercise. Some good grass hay and rice bran should do the trick 

She might need her teeth floated.
A vet check would probably be wise.


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