Courageous Equestrian

She/her - 23 year-old equestrian - Vet school bound!!! - All-around nature and animal lover!

[only-horse-polls]

I just know we're going to ruffle some feathers with this one lol

Do you believe feral horses (such as the US mustang and Aussie brumby) are damaging to the ecosystems?

Yes, I believe they cause damage and should be removed from the wild.

Yes, I believe they cause damage, but also that they should remain in the wild.

No, I do not believe they cause damage but think they should be removed.

No, I do not believe they cause damage nor that they should be removed.

I am not ready to have an opinion on this.

Magical 6th opinion???

Voting ended onJul 25

[misscrazyfangirl321]

Being an adult will have you unironically craving a vegetable

[misscrazyfangirl321]

Being an adult will have you unironically sad about a parasite outbreak in fresh vegetables.

[redhorseofcourse]

Applesauce is get BIG

[miri-draws]

Junicorn x Witch Hat Atelier

Prompt 11: blood bay (ft. Easthies)

I'm combining @camelidae 's prompt list with WHA for fun

[boop-de-loop]

Just a gorgeous spotted Appaloosa horse gently greeting its Border Collie friend under a clear blue sky. 📸: Marisa Mader Fotografie

[mollybeenoel]

By Momoire

[idlelizard]

Prehistoric pal for a last minute junicorn! Inspired by Lascaux horse cave painting.

[idlelizard]

Already has a horn!

[isthehorsevideocute]

English horse stud ads be like: *confo shot* *shot of horse in performance* "Peppe le Blanc is available this breeding season, contact us for availability*

Western horse stud ads be like: *picture of horse surrounded by Hooter's girls* Granny's Hot Slut Water is available to be your broodmare's hot stud, get him while he lasts, or you'll have to wait until next season.

[elodieunderglass]

American horse for sale ads be like: *picture of clothes-drying rack with a painful expression begging for death, padded with unhelpful flab like a child wearing a puffy coat, apparently dying of tuberculosis, shot with a potato as the photographer was being tackled by a feral hog* beautiful cremello stallion, BLM rescue, backed but a little green , $10,000 great stud potential already covered several mare pretty babies (next seven photos are of goats; unclear if Progeny or just camera roll ) moves well (video of stoned animal hobbling along, spurred, its soul clearly detached from its body) no lowballs i know what i got

UK horse ads: so sorry to trouble you, but if anyone can help find a home for a lovely schoolmaster - perfect mother/daughter share and ladies’ hunter (picture of enchanting horse decorously jumping 1m at Olympics) we would be terribly grateful - please do bring your vet; the horse comes with full MOT, all previous owners have provided references, all vet visits logged in a binder, horse has British Sign Language qualification. (Video of horse doing dressage, filing taxes, and responding graciously to a difficult interview) Has been jumped, hacked, dressed at highest levels (video of most beautiful horse in the world gently taking a toddler to their dance recital) Rides and drives. Holds defensive driving license. Asking £5000 - so sorry.

Irish horse ads: (photos of extremely nice-looking animal, shot for some reason at a 35 degree angle) hOrF sal.e can ship to england for free. 10 year old mixed breed hunter (video of what appears to be an olympic warmblood in fabulous condition) £3000 or trade dfor . what you got

[isthehorsevideocute]

In this case the BLM stands for the Bureau of Land Management which essentially legally owns all mustangs on US public lands

[horsesarecreatures]

Wild mustangs are owned by the public. The BLM just manages the largest portion of them as a public trust resource. A significant number are also managed by the US Forest Service.

[horsesarecreatures]

Sanfratellano Horse

[megastamp]

USA, Horses, 1985, 22c

[horsefigureoftheday]

I'm constantly second-guessing myself, if I'm just cherry-picking photos of friesians that happen to look bad, cause I KNOW there are good-looking friesians out there, I've seen some really nice baroque friesians, but uhmmm no, classical friesians really just do look that bad. These are KFPS studbook stallions. What in the goddamn loch ness monster is this. They have the posture of a designer chair and the legs of an AT-AT

Girl your suspensory ligaments are so stretchy you would be put down for lameness at age 15 if you weren't already genetically destined to die from sudden aortic rupture or aspiration pneumonia at age 10

Anyways did you know that Friesian horses can carry congenital dwarfism (osteochondrodysplasia) and that a lot of owners don't care to test their horses' genes before breeding them. Because friesians are already so inbred, and because the KFPS cares more about preserving the racial purity of friesians than creating healthy animals by outcrossing, it's virtually impossible to remove from the genepool anyways

You rarely see friesians with dwarfism though because they tend to be culled at birth, and also throwing dwarfism into the mix of hydrocephalus, megaesophagus, aortic rupture, compressed veins, tendon laxity, hypersensitive skin, chronic dermatitis, eye irritation from distichiasis, and immune deficiency does not tend to be compatible with life. Which is funny because, for a long time, mares with dwarfism were used as broodmares if they survived to sexual maturity, which only helped bake this issue into the DNA of the breed.

https://ker.com/equinews/health-problems-friesian-horses/

[mother-of-friesians]

no, not really? every registered friesian HAS to be tested upon birth and registration, for hydro, dwarfism and distichiasis

[horsefigureoftheday]

And how many friesians are unregistered? How many registered friesians still suffer from a severely shortened lifespan? I've seen friesian breeders bragging about a horse reaching 20 years, when any horse of that size in good health should be able to reach 30. The breed is a trainwreck and the only way to fix it is to give up on the idea of "purity" and open up the studbooks. I never thought I'd praise color breeders or modern sport horses, but at least color breed registries and warmblood registries tend to allow all horses that fit their type, rather than exploiting the animals they're supposed to protect and using animals to engage in their side hobby of eugenics.

[mother-of-friesians]

well, in their place of birth, not many. because unregistered friesians aren't worth shit here, and many people distrust them.

the majority of the population is IN the netherlands. you can't blame KFPS and its breeders for what unregistered breeders do. KFPS requires testing, and fines risk pairings. so KFPS *and* her registered breeders DO care about dwarfism.

i am not disagreeing that it's time to add in new blood (carefully, like certain dog breeds have shown before, well thought-out outcrossing), and the KFPS are looking into that as well. there are various ongoing studies right now with various research universities (WUR being one) where they are testing the majority of the population and running simulations and more. they are still, every day, trying to identify more issues, where they originated from, and what is the best way forward.

do i agree with them not opening studbooks now? no, but they are unfortunately not the only studbook suffering bad inbreeding (QH, TB, Welsh, Clydes, for some examples) that are not yet opening. so i'm unsure why the conversation is always only reduced to friesians. it's a global horse-breed issue, really. some worse than others. but every "pure" breed, faces this to a degree, and some are not worse than friesians... afaik there are studies that show iirc clyde's are even higher (if i'm not mistaken, it's been years).

however, i am responding to your claim about dwarfism and that is simply not entirely true. unregistered friesians aren't worth that much in this part of the world, and many people are passionate about their preservation also for cultural/heritage reasons (whether you agree with it, or not) and so it seems to me that the not-testing is something that you are facing elsewhere. i'm not saying it doesn't happen here AT ALL, before that claim is made, but that the numbers are exponentially lower.

and yes - i am a breeder and fan of the breed who is in favour of outcrossing, anyway. i don't personally believe the studbook is doing all it can but it's certainly doing more than most with the amount of effort they are putting into science as well. i wish other breed associations would look at this as an example and a warning, and follow suit, instead of still encouraging modern day close inbreeding (which is not popular in this particular studbook at all anymore).

[russianhorses]

Russian Heavy Draft stallion Linder

[ljinghamartist]

a couple of test pieces made on some ink-stained paper. Przewalski's Horse and Australian Paper Wasp. very fun to do!

[solriart]

“umamusume irl” 36x36 oil on canvas

i’ve been working on this since the beginning of january, finally get to put her in a show !!!!!

[horsesarecreatures]

Crosshairs High Rise Levi - Mule Filly

[budyak]

Year of the horse

[horse-breed-a-day]

i thought id make a little infographic on the difference between mules and hinnies! i tried making it as simple as possible 😅

and yes i know horses can be smaller than 14hh (ponies and miniatures) and i know mules can be smaller as well (miniature mules) and i know donkeys can be larger!