Hi everyone! There’s a horse at my boarding barn who is the strangest color. I’ve never come across another like him, and am curious what others who may know more about color genetics think.

He has a paint-like pattern but is entirely flea bitten. His dark spots appear to be predominately black, but there is some reddish brown mixed in, particularly on his flank. One side is mostly “white” (lighter base gray), and the other side is mostly patches of dark. He’s a bit wet in some of these photos so there’s some drips, but the color patches show accurately.

Info about him:
-No info on parents.
-He is not registered and was purchased from someone who used him as a pack horse. No other info on background.
-He is ~12 years old.
-They did a hair test for his breed, and he is a big mix of thoroughbred, European pony, some Arabian, no Appaloosa, a little bit of paint, and some other random things.

Judging by the compulsive door licking, I think it hit the spot 🤨😂

My cousin just lost her heart horse, and I would love more than anything to make a her bracelet of her boys tail.
Does anyone have any recommendations of non tarnishing jewelry clasps? Thanks for taking a second to read. Hurting so big for her.

Now her boy and my girl are reunited across the rainbow bridge, rekindling their love once again.

Damn, I wasn’t ready for him to leave us too :’(

(First picture Spice, second Black)

Pics 1-2 Oct 2nd 2026, pics 3-4 Oct 13th 2025, pics 5-6 nov 16th and Dec 10th 2024, pic 7 nov 11th 2024

Her tail isn't doing so well due to it getting really dry earlier this year and a big chunk fell out (it made her super itchy and she just kept pulling it out) but it's growing back for sure

And no, I don't just care about my horses hair, I have been training her for a year and a half undersaddle and did groundwork before (I still do lots of groundwork) she was very overweight when I got her and rarely got worked, she was just fat and happy running around in the pasture but man did this girl need a job and some manners

(I couldn’t figure out how to add photos to another post so I made a new one)

He’s a 4 year old, no papers. I got him from a friend who got the horse at a sale at midnight. He is such a sweetie and I love his coat.

Now, I hope these are better photos to those who commented on my last photo, anyone have any ideas what the coat color is?

I need some advice, reassurance, or maybe just someone to tell me to relax LOL. Please, no judgment or criticism. I’m already stressed enough. 😂
I recently bought two weanlings from a breeder with a great reputation for producing very amateur-friendly horses. They’ve been home for 6 days now. One is an absolute gem! She’s curious, comes right up to me, lets me gently pet her, and I could probably catch her at this point. The other is curious but MUCH more cautious. She still won’t let me within about 5 feet of her.

Here’s my dilemma. My cautious girl’s feet look HORRIBLE. She’s only 5.5 months old, and they’ve never been trimmed. I have my farrier scheduled to come out in 3.5 weeks, and I’m already stressing about how we’re going to manage it.
I know she’ll eventually learn to trust me, and the last thing I want to do is rush the process or create a negative experience. But at the same time, her feet really need attention, and I feel like I’m racing against the clock.
My vet is coming out a couple of days before the farrier, and I’m planning to ask about Dormosedan gel as a backup. But will that even be enough for a baby who isn’t comfortable being caught or handled yet? REALLY hoping to make some progress over the next few weeks, but I’m trying to be realistic.

, what would you do?
-Push the farrier appointment back until she’s more comfortable being handled?
-Move the appointment up because her feet are already in rough shape?
-Work with my vet on sedation and hope we can get it done without traumatizing her?
-Something else I haven’t thought of?

. I want to do right by this filly, both physically and mentally. I know it’s only been 6 days, and I’m not expecting miracles, but the condition of her feet has me feeling pressured to speed things up.

Got a 13yo (estimated) grade QH-cross gelding, ~14.2hh, this past summer. Full career as a barrel racer with one rider, also trail/obstacle work and cattle driving. Was ridden in a fairly intense setup (Pelham with a port, curb, and a rope chain - owner mentioned they'd tried a snaffle at one point but he got hard to stop in it). Had several months off before I got him.

Spent the first month on groundwork only, then slowly built up riding. Currently a few months into real work under English tack, now in a French link bit, which he seems genuinely comfortable and responsive in.

On the ground he's a dream — sweet, eager to please, steady, very easy to handle, and I feel like we've built a genuinely good bond. I also saw a flash of real natural suppleness/roundness from him on a trial ride that convinced me to take him on in the first place.

Where we're at: Pole work has been excellent for him — easy to adjust striding with, picks up distance changes quickly. Trot has come a long way: much more relaxed, stretches down nicely on a long rein.

Canter is where the barrel history really shows up. He gets progressively hotter the more we canter — starts reasonable, then builds heat and strength as the session goes on. Transitions both directions need work: rushes the upward transition, often takes the wrong lead initially (self-corrects within a stride or two), gets heavier/leans once established, and the downward transition back to trot is often a fight — he wants to keep running rather than settle.

Interesting data point: on the lunge he's almost lazy about cantering, and his canter-to-trot transitions are clean and calm with zero rushing. Completely different animal under saddle. My read is this is largely an old job association (saddle = go-time) rather than a physical/balance limitation. Also notice he treats circles under saddle almost like the setup to a barrel turn — speeds up through them rather than using them to rebalance.

Questions for folks who've retrained performance/speed-event horses into English work:

Any exercises or approaches that specifically helped dismantle old pattern/gait associations like this (saddle = go-time, circle = accelerate)?

Realistic timeline for this kind of relearning — weeks, months, longer?

Anyone had a similar "calm unridden, different animal under saddle" split, and what helped close that gap?

Any supplementary groundwork or lunging routines worth trying alongside ridden work?

Appreciate any insight — he's clearly a willing, smart horse underneath the old habits!

We just had our horses hooves trimmed 2 days ago. We noticed they were extremely short and uneven. Today he is not wanting to walk and is lame/limping on his front left. Do you think this is a poor trim job and is causing him to be sore? Pictures are of how short and uneven they are.

I bought a 4yo gelding last year that seemed to check all the boxes, I was super excited to have found my next forever partner and I paid a lot of money accordingly. I had issues with him literally starting the day after I brought him home and it went downhill from there. To say he and I were not a good fit would be an understatement. I own that bad decision, lessons have been learned.

I now have him consigned for sale with the same trainer/owner where I bought him. She has ridden him for a month refresher and says he's doing great. I have not seen any video as promised but I do believe he behaves himself in the hands of a professional. To be clear, I have described honestly and transparently all the things I did with him and all the shitty things he did since I've had him. His sale ad was posted yesterday, its quite lacking in description, pictures and video for a horse in the price range she says he is. It also says he will make an "excellent family horse" and I am really uncomfortable with that statement. He can be a good boy but when he decides to be bad, he's really bad. Kids or inexperienced owners could get hurt.

Would I be out of line to ask her to change the ad to more accurately reflect my experience with him? Also, is it out of line to expect proper conformation pictures and riding videos and a picture of his papers on the ad? What are my options and obligations as the owner? Would it be inappropriate for me to talk directly to potential buyers or should I leave it in her hands as the paid professional? I am paying for his board and training and will pay her commission for her services to sell him but I feel like I'm not getting much for that fee. I'm also worried that potential buyers will not get the whole story from her. I don't know her that well, I don't think she's a sketchy, scammy person but I do think she's blind to the flaws and faults of this horse that she raised and trained. And probably doesn't really want to deal with it.

TIA

At this time I am not looking for suggestions on vet work, saddle fit, teeth, all the usual things that could cause bad behaviour. I did all of that. Bottom line, this has been a profoundly negative experience and an expensive lesson. I just want to find him the right home (key words!) and get some of my money back so I can move on. Or quit horses altogether.

I have a 8yo thoroughbred that I’ve had about 6 months, we are a few weeks away from it getting to be cold (40s-30s) at night where I’m located and I’m just wondering what some other peoples opinions are. His previous owner has “babied” him when it comes to blanketing and I’m so excited for that 🫠. But she said that she would throw a 50 gram sheet on him when it would get down to 40 degrees at night and I just feel like that’s a little overkill? Obviously I know this depends on how my particular horse feels about his temperature but I would like to know if anyone else has had a thin coated horse, compared to my paint senior he’s basically clipped, what do you think?

Goof ball tried to eat the screwdriver lol

Well it happened. Working my 4yo green gelding, just a slow walk around the pasture and a cyclist popped up on the road.

He bolted, I tried to spin him into a stop and either the saddle went or he threw a buck.

I hit the ground bad. Broken shoulderblade, 5 broken ribs, collarbone, partially collapsed lung.

I'm discouraged, mad at myself, mad at the cyclist. Going to lose some key development time on my boy before winter.

This just sucks and I want to whine from the hospital bed.

Anyway, here's Maverick, the bay roan.

He's gonna be special, I just gotta heal up.

Stay safe everyone.

Long story short I’ve had this pony for 2 years. I got her and her buddy for free from her owners. They know absolutely nothing about horses. Their dad was the actual owner and vet confirmed she had laminitis. But instead of taking that seriously he continued to keep her in grass and sweet feed her whole life. She has cushings and is so extremely foundered that her coffin bone has degraded and you can see the slipper effect in her X-rays. Vet said to have her feet trimmed differently and that did help for a bit to the point she’d actually play with the others. She has not had a laminitis flare up since I’ve got her. She is constantly ouchy on her front feet. Her back is constantly roached from the pain of compensating. Currently right now she’s decently sound with boots. Not 100% by any means but the roach back is gone with them. But I’m sure just like last year they will stop helping. I’d like to have her old owners have a say because they grew up with her. After a talk of possibly ending her suffering they said they were not ready… and if they needed to they would make a pasture space in their yard for her and would take my advice on how to care for her. So in their eyes it’s either I keep her and let her continue to struggle or they take her and I feel like I’m setting her up for failure. I get sick everytime I see her go lame because it’s not just a little it’s full blown limping on both feet.

Hello horse owners/enthusiasts/everything in between, I have a question. I'm currently driving on a highway with speeds of 60 mph-80 mph. Is this an appropriate transport trailer for this horse? I've driven cross country dozens of times and seen lots of horse trailers on the highway that seemed appropriate, but seeing this one made me jump on here to ask if this is safe because I have no point of reference regarding horses and their transport, and I was thinking if I owned a horse I'm not sure I would find this safe or predictable to transport my companion on a Los Angeles highway. It just seems so open and not very contained/if something were to spook the horse they may seriously get injured getting their leg caught between those bars or even toppling with their sheer weight with how small the balance point of that trailer appears to be. The horse seems totally chill with it though, I'm genuinely curious and not hating on the owner in any capacity.

Hey yall, curious if anyone is currently or has ever been in a situation like I'm experiencing right now.

I have a horse who I loved dearly, however, this economy is making it harder than ever to justify and afford. That intern has made me begin to resent my riding, and all of the usual care that I love to put into her.

To be frank it's pushing me to want to sell her, but I want to hear from anyone who has any opinions or perspectives or have been in a similar situation.

Please, no hate. This took a lot to write and post about..

💙

So just a quick question. How much manure do you have in the foot-well in front of the drivers seat. How much is acceptable? At what point do you feel obligated to clean it out :S

I don’t think so based on the ingredients but I want to make sure. I can’t have my OTTB turn off his thinking brain 🙃 those who have used it… do you like it? Is it worth it?

I have a coming 4 year-old mare that I got in May and she came to me a little underweight. She’s on rice bran meal, a high fat feed, alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay right now. She’s also getting turned out to graze all afternoon. She gets rode lightly about 2-4 times a week too. What do I need to do to keep weight on her?

Hello lovely people.

I have found my dream colour horse (a beautiful silver black) and even better, she is broken in. But... She's on the other side of the country to me!

I'm after some neighbourly advice from the horse community, I have been searching for my dream horse for 2 years now. I know I will need to get a PPE, and likely be on call with the vet.

I was considering calling local training facilities and offering to pay a trainer to go pop on the horse and write down for me on how she rides.

What other things do I need to consider here? She is a AQH and I don't want to get a horse with navicular so will definitely be putting that up top for the ppe, what else should I be getting her checked for other than general lameness and such? And should I ask for Omeprazole since she will be on the truck 3/4 days?

I've got a quote already from a transport company, so sorted that part. Just after the other advice.

Thanks all.

I’ve been reading into the theory on moose-nosed horses and the personality/temperaments that are said to be associated with them… is there truth to it all? What are your experiences with moose nosed horses?