Awesome Pony for sale ! $2800 OBO
Description
Meet Smoky Pony.
Smoky is the kind of pony that is worth his weight in gold. Which for him is a lot of gold, because he is a little on the chubby side !
He has so many good qualities.. and of course some not so great things going on.. so I will lay out the cold hard honest facts (good and bad) about this awesome guy, and maybe he is just what you are someone you know is looking for!
THE GOOD:
Loads easy. No arguing about getting in the horse trailer. Gets along with everyone on the farm.. has a handful of mares who want to "own" him and he allows it! We call him the emotional support pony to one of his mares.. and her punching bag as well.. he doesn't care.. he just goes with whatever mood his mares are in.
He is bomb proof... cows in the arena, doesn't flinch, tractors, dogs, cats, rain and wind on the arena roof making all kinds of noise.. Smoky just keeps on keeping on.
He is good for the farrier, and has good feet. He has had his feet done by the same farrier since we have had him for the past two years, and there has never been an issue, which is pretty good considering he is an 18 year old pony!
He does it ALL... knows his leads, (including flying lead changes) he's a little too quick to win that pleasure class though! He has done jumping for fun, nothing serious.. backs up, doesn't pull back when tied, side passes and has been in 4H with my son for the past two years and the northeast riding club. in 2022 he took my boy to SRCA Provincials in Saskatoon, and was the PEE WEE GYMKHANA CHAMPION ! My son wears his big shiny buckle every day to prove it. This pony is FAST.. or at least he was.. but more about that later.
He bathes easy, does not kick, bite or buck.
In fact, my son did his 4H speech about this Smoky "the worlds best pony" and I could let you read that to see it from his little 9 year old view of how great his pony is!
Now for the "Not so good" hard cold honest facts about Smoky.
This past spring, Smoky was very lethargic and wheezing. He was lying down a lot.. and it was clear he was not in good health. My first concern was - oh no this pony is foundering( he is an easy keeper with a crusty neck) .. so we took him into the vet .
Turns out he was not foundering. She checked his feet, ALL GOOD! He has bronchitis and had developed asthma . We treated his bronchitis and he did recover. After chatting with other horse owners in the same area.. we discovered we were not alone with having a horse with new breathing problems this year, and the conclusion some have come to was there was very little frost in the ground this year, things warmed up quickly, and that created a breeding ground for mold . Just a theory but he's never had an issue before and he is WELL taken care of on the farm where he lives..these are serious horse people who know what they are doing!
He is the only horse on the farm without a blanket on all winter and fly sheet all summer, because he gets so hot he cannot tolerate wearing a rug, its full of sweat when we take it off so we gave up!
So THAT is the bad news about Smoky. He has asthma , and can no longer compete in speed events or anything faster than a trot. It's been 2 months since his diagnosis and we have been taking it easy with him, but making a point of light exercise, a magnesium supplement, and breathing syrup.
My son was very hopeful we could turn this around and I promised him one more event to see if our extra care cleared his issues up. unfortunately , it did not. We agreed that if he showed us he was still not well after travelling and asking him to perform, we would not do this anymore.
He spent the afternoon retired at the trailer as he definitely could not handle anything more than a trot.
Possibly if we gave him the breathing meds before loading, and didn't allow him a hay net, he may have been okay. This is my first time dealing with an asthmatic anything .. and unfortunately I didn't consider that until after.
After travelling and eating out of a hay net ( I know now he can't do that!) He was wheezing and coughing .
Right now we give him a magnesium supplement, Omega breathing syrup, and we have a prescription from the vet for breathing syrup. Its expensive ( $100 a bottle) but very effective, but it needs to be given to him prior to any triggers, such as travelling or riding. But that being said we have rode him lightly without anything just to see, and he was just fine. But the best thing for him is to just give it to him about half hour before, regardless of what you are doing with him just to be on the safe side and make him comfortable.
He also has a habit of rubbing his head on anyone near him. Its annoying yet kind of affectionate!
He also no longer likes the bridge at 4H. In his defence it is a high one, but he recently decided he just isn't going over it. I think it needs to be said, he is A PONY... and that stubborn pony stigma is a real thing!
He can be stubborn. Sometimes he has to be lead into the competition ring, he will plant his little feet when it is show time. Once he is in he's fine. I think that may also be him telling us he is done with this competition thing though.. as he did not always resist the ring.
He picks a favourite person to follow.. he follows ME everywhere if he can like a dog. If my son is in the arena riding , it is best that I am not in the middle of the ring telling him what to do, as Smoky always gravitates towards me.
Ideally, Smoky would be good for a little person that needs lead around , then eventually taking the reins on their own for a walk and trot. ( remember , he has a fast trot. there is no jog)
But just because of the breathing issues it does not mean he is no longer able to run fast if he's asked to,
but he should not be asked to run anymore.. that is just too hard on him!
He does not get grain or rich hay anymore as he needs to keep losing some weight .. Im quite certain he's insulin resistant , so we treat him like he is. But again, that's a pony thing!
One last thing- he can be a bugger to catch... not all of the time.. nothing that has made me more than mildly annoyed with him, but he is not running towards you or standing waiting for you to halter him. Sometimes there is a chase, sometimes he gives up quickly, and sometimes he will go walk through the trees and make us follow him around for a bit.
Unless the bugs are bad and he knows that catching him means he is headed for the indoor arena out of the bugs, then he has been known to meet us at the gate!
My son insists on finishing his 4H year with him which I understand, ( he IS his current project) and because Achievement Day for his age group will be walk /trot only he will be participating with Smoky .
Due to this arrangement , he will not be available for purchase until after June 27th.
Call or text me at 306 470 7575 if your interested or have any questions!
- Ad Type: Offering
pets | horses, ponies for rehoming
2023-07-06