Do you have questions about horses? Look here for answers to often asked questions about selecting cart ponies for sale, young horses for sale, and other related equestrian concerns.
Question: After years of riding, I am getting my first horse. Some people have advised me not to go with a yearling for the first horse. Is this good advice or just negative talk?
Answer: If you’re new to owning, caring for, and training horses, there is reason why experienced equestrians may advise you to steer clear from looking at yearlings for sale. Yearlings won’t be trained yet. It can be very difficult to train a horse that is that large, and it may take two or more years before the horse is trained up enough for you to be able to ride it. If you don’t have extensive experience with training horses, a yearling is not a good horse to start with, no matter what dramatic yearling training stories you may have seen in movies like The Man from Snowy River. If you have an experienced horse trainer who is confident working with horses this age, that may make a yearling more of a manageable decision.
Question: What is the best time of year for selecting high quality yearlings for sale?
Answer: If you’re looking for high quality yearlings, you won’t find many up for sale in large quantities if you’re shopping in winter. Autumn is the traditional time for having fall yearling sales.
Question: How can you predict when a mare is ready to foal?
Answer: You can often predict equine foaling based on what time of year the mare foal in past years. You can look for visual signs that the mare is getting ready, including udder distension (starting at 2 – 6 weeks before the mare is ready to have her foal). You can also look for dripping of the first milk (called colostrum) from the teats, which starts one to two days before the mare is ready to foal. In the first stage of labor, the mare will get uneasy, lying down and then standing back up frequently and twitching the tail.
Question: I’m looking for horses or cart ponies for sale. What are popular horse breeds for pulling a cart for tourists?
Answer: Lightweight carts an be pulled by lightweight hoses, ponies, mules, or donkeys. Heavy carts can be pulled by draft horses. Common horses for pulling carts include the Shetland pony, the American Albino, the Gidran, the Bashkir Curly Horse, and Gelderland Horses and Ponies.