Jayden's little horse Tiny did not have the outcome we had hoped for. Here is a bit of history... we picked Tiny up from Georgia Sutton's ranch in South Dakota 2016, a horse given to Jayden through the young horse development program. She was selected to have the horse and had to work with him over the course of a year and show him as a yearling. Looking back to his early days, he was supposed to be 6 months, a weanling, when we got him in November. In January when our vet came to vaccinate, he didn't even have his 6 month molars yet. He was weaned too early. Jayden worked with the little horse, halter broke him and took him to the county fair in July 2017. He was difficult to work with, stubborn in a round pen and wouldnt move it. He was dull to any pressure and didnt have a very nice disposition. At the fair, she had him in halter, in hand trail, and costume class. He was always very small for his age, hence the name Tiny. After fair, she worked with him more by lunging and sacking him out. He was so small we thought it would be best to let him grow. One of his knees looked larger than the other and noticed a limp so we had x-rays done. His growth plate was not right. Whether it was an injury or from growth problems, we arent sure. We never saw an injury. We turned him out in pasture at the grandparents with another horse. If after 6 months, his growth plate healed he would have a large knee but would probably be ok to ride. We realized he would never be 100% and if you put all the time and money into training him, he would not even be sound enough to ride. He never seemed to grow much. At age 3, he was barely 14 hands. He is the size of some yearlings. We talked about options for a horse in his condition. Ideally someone would love to just own a horse and take him as a pasture pet. There was the option of having him owned by a facility that bleeds horses for research. The option of donating him to the vet school was too hard. We had him on a list, but in the end we couldn't do it. Jayden posted information in hopes someone would want him. It was Jayden's horse and her decision, she choose to take him to a sale. We had a lot of trouble trying to load him to bring him to our house. Tony helped us manhandle him into the trailer with a butt rope. We had to do the same when loading him for the sale. Thankfully Mark went with Jayden to the sale and helped her through the process. She led her horse into the sale and he was sold. She said he did really well in the sale, walked in and was calm.It wasnt the outcome we had hoped for, but we knew he wasnt going to have a job at our home, we have too many horses, and Jayden is going off to college. It was sad to see Tiny go, but it seemed the best option. We can only hope and pray he ends up with someone who takes good care of him.
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