The day after

The barn staff decided to turn Felix out with the youngsters that were gelded on the same day yesterday evening - but he's now back inside.  He was not trying to kill them, thankfully but they were worried he would fight through or over the fence, so now he's back in. The staff are giving him time in the arena to run around and keep the swelling off of his incision and sheath though.

A very good friend of mine who taught me nearly everything I know about training young horses met him the other day.  She is pretty impressed with him actually, she says he moves quite nicely - she wants to turn him into an FEI dressage pony and thinks he could be worth big bucks with training - so I guess I did OK for only a couple hundred dollars.  I don't really intend to sell him, but I guess everything is for sale at the right price.  I do like my horses to have some value just in case my curcumstances change and I can't keep them for some reason.  Gives them a better chance of a good home where they will be spoiled if I absolutely have to sell.

All aboard the Gelding Bus!

Gelding procedure went off without a hitch today.  The vet was a little concerned as one of the drugs they use to put the horse out can sometimes result in rearing first, and he's seen it do this more with ponies - but he just laid down without a problem.  He was up after the surgery very fast, within 10 minutes of the procedure finishing, which is also not uncommon with ponies - apperently they have a faster metabolisim.

I have to say, after all the "bad stallion" behavior I am quite gleeful that the surgery is over. 

I didn't take a bunch of graphic pictures of the surgery - If you want to see that there are plenty of step-by steps on google.  I am personally quite facinated by surgery, but I know not everyone is.  I did however take one picture post surgery:

A quick soapbox post from me here:
I absolutely cannot believe how many offers I've had to breed him to various mares in the 3 days I had him while he was intact!  He's lovely, but you would only get a "cute" heinz 57 pony/hony out of it. Not very marketable.  He already has 2 offspring ( a yearling filly, and another as yet unborn - they belong to his old owner).  If you're going to breed - you need to have a plan for the youngster's future.  Foals are expencive, and time consuming.  You might loose the mare in foaling.  Think before you breed guys!

Some small progress

Today Felix was tied in his stall. Surprise, he was actually quite good. Hit the end of the lead, and you could see his little mind going "oh" and he stood.  He still likes to swing his bum back and forth, so I have to be careful about that - I don't entirely trust him not to kick yet either, so for now he's just getting normal grooming and no walking behind him.

On another note, the vet will be out tomorrow for his procedure. Because he's a little older, I'm a bit worried about him - but it needs to be done.

What have I gotten myself into?

After a night in a stall, Felix is still acting like the worst little stud horse imaginable.  the younger barn staff are forbidden from handlig him as he's very pushy and a little wild.  He'll be stalled untill he's gelded anyways - as the last thing we need is an escapee breeding every mare in the place.

I went in his stall today to do some grooming, which was OK untill he squashed me up against the wall with his bum - it was definitely intentional. Probably my own fault for being in there with him loose.   Waiting to hear when the vet is coming out for his surgery. I'll probably hear something on Monday.

Our first day.

Felix Came home today.  I've edited my posts to use his real name, we were not sure what to name him - but his old name was Jake, which had to go.  I had to convice my sister  that Thor is an inappropriate name for a pony we'd like to be calm, sweet, and gentle!  Felix is currently a very popular name in Norway, and it's a cute pony name - it means Lucky.

He loaded onto the trailer at 5AM like a total dream.  He had a 12 hour trailer ride, according to the shipper he was a very good boy  - but he came off the trailer as a total heathen.   We tried turning him out, but he was testing the fence so he’s in a stall overnight to settle in.   

Tomorrow I go pick up my old saddle off consignment, buy some ground driving reins and some cross ties and we’re going to get to work!  First step – stand tied and get groomed without killing me. As usual, some pictures were taken, so here we are!

A begining

Welcome to our blog! My name is Renee, This blog is here to chronicle the progress of my newest project pony,  Felix.

Felix is a 13.3 hand, 4 year old Thoroughbred/Fjord,  soon-to-be gelding.  Felix has been only lightly handled in the past, this will record our journey through his training, plus anything else he or I would like to talk about!

Here is the sale picture from his ad, now you know who we're talking about!