# What do I need to get ready for a draft horse???



## Old Mission (Dec 26, 2009)

We are more on the beginner side as far as horses go, we have had large
ponies in the past but we are looking to get our first horse here soon
which is a 13-15 year old 18 hand belgian mare. I am partial to the draft breeds but am open to anything, we just want something affordable to ride on trails around our house and in our own field and companionship, nothing major. I am trying to get everything ready and need some tips and advice. Our set up worked just fine for the ponies but they were much smaller so I dont know if it will work for a draft too.
We have a fenced 4+ grassy pasture, but in parts the fence (regular field
fence, some wood posts and some metal T posts) is sagging
or fell down but most of its up. I plan on bracing the falling parts back up
with metal T posts and putting a electric line about 10 or so inches above the top of the fence line. Will this hold us over till spring when we can put a totally new fence up? There is not much more I can do with the frozen 
ground till spring. We dont have anything on the other side of the fence for any horses to be tempted by, its all barren sandy stripped farm land in winter and in the summer is soybeans, but the farm land is so stripped out its much lower then our property, our side of the fence is lush grassy pasture and in summer its very thick and lush and the ponies we had could not make a dent in it so they had no reason to be tempted to test the fence and never bothered with it and we did have a electric line on the inside of the fence
but for the draft I am moving it to the tops of the posts upright.
We also are tearing down our big old barn but left a large dirt floor room
intact (that is totally inclosed on all sides, watertight) until we get a new barn up. This room is about 15' x 25' or so, Will this suffice?
We have no other horses so this horse will be alone for a couple weeks or so, should I get some sheep or goat to keep it company until then or will it be 
fine?
I am trying to get at the very least the essentials then I can do more as the time goes on, any tips or advice are welcome.

Thanks, Stephanie


----------



## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

Horses "like" company but thre are lots of horses that are kept alone and do just fine. I have had horses out with other livestock but you do want to watch carefully, there are some horses that will chase/kick/herd other animals. Draft horses are generally very laid back animals and not usually a problem, but they are big enough that if they object to a sheep or goat eating "their" hay, one kick can cripple a much smaller animal.

As to fences ... hot wire should work, though you may want one wire over the top and one "inside" at rump level. I've found draft horses VERY hard on fences. I've had several and all of them seemed to have the tendency to "walk up" a fence, lean over and PUSH ... even had one mare that would back into a fence she wanted through and sit down on it!


----------



## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

I would call farriers and see what they charge to trim or shoe a draft horse, if they will even do it. Here it is very expensive, if you can find someone to do it. Molly


----------



## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Agreed with both of the above. ALso know she will eat more, take more meds such as wormer and Banamine, so be prepared. The farreirs here also charge more, a lot more, for a drafty. When you get her, be sure there are no holes in her hoof care training. It's bad enough when a normal horse acts out, but a biggie...yikes. Can you think about maybe rescuing a pature ornament to keep her company? Find out who she is homed with now, if it is a goat already you will most likely be fine with that. But also know, sometimes animals just don't like each other, same as people, so if you get her a comapnion, keep an eye out for the adjustment phase.

Oh, and we need pics ASAP.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I hate to be the negative one in the bunch but would it not be better to wait till you at least had decent fencing before you bring a horse home? It seems to me that sagging and falling down fencing is an accident waiting to happen.


----------



## Old Mission (Dec 26, 2009)

The reason our fence fell down in places is because the farmer who owns the field completely surrounding my property chopped the brush down growing on the outside of my fence with one of those chain saw mower things and ripped the fence down in the process, my grass is so tall I did not even realize this until a couple days ago when I was out there putting the hot wire up. I have to fix the places they ripped down. They could have at least told me so I could have fixed it when it was still warm out and I am really ticked off about it. I thought all I had to do is put up the hot wire and was in for a surprise when I went back there. You could tell by the cut brush and the marks on my fence that they did this and it did not fall down on its own. The trees growing inside my property they ground down to the trunk on the side facing out and killed them all. They have no respect for our property and will start spraying chemicals with our kids outside playing with no warning or pull up in their truck and shoot things right next to our house with the kids and dogs outside, they own half the city so they get away with whatever they want and dont care. 

As far as the fence goes if I cannot get it totally secure I wont get the horse
or I will fence in another area inside the main area with all new fencing.

I know a ferrier and thats no problem, we live in a area big on drafts and amish.
I know what comes along with a bigger breed, bigger bills and bigger problems. I have
great danes and its the same with them compared to any other breed too so I am 
aware of the pittfalls.

Stephanie


----------



## maclinda (Jan 3, 2010)

lol Stephanie I've had Great Danes and drafties, too and by golly they DO have bigger bills, don't they? lol but they're so fabulous.

Now that I'm in my 50's I have greyhounds and a haflinger cross gelding. A better size for me now.

The hot wire is a great idea, no matter how strong your fence is. I've had a percheron scratch her neck on a good 4 board fence and crack the board. Poor girl, she meant no harm!


----------



## celadon (Aug 23, 2006)

Stephanie, are you looking for a nice pair of belguim geldings? I live by Toledo, Ohio E-mail me [email protected]


----------

