Hello friends! Ok so sometimes things just happen for a reason, I really believe that God has a plan for all of us and he reminds me of that often. I placed an ad on craigslist ISO of a gelding to be a companion for my old man while I take the younger one to barrel races. I said age, color, size, whatever doesnt matter just email me what you have blah blah. I was thinking we might get a little trail gelding or something for my fiance to ride around the house, no big deal right lets just put some feelers out. Within a couple of hours I check my email and someone had already responded to my ad! Great! Ok so they say they have a little white blue eyed gelding pony probably around 12-15 years old that needs a home and I am welcome to come and look at him. Perfect! We hook up the trailer in case we like him and 2 hours we drive to find this little fella in a filty, dark little shed behind a hokey little petting zoo literally on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We pull up to this joint, get out of the truck and a teenage kid meets us, he's the one that emailed me saying it needed a home, he works there doing chores for the old man that owns the place. He said "I'm going to warn you, he's not in the best shape" I thought, ok.. we can work with a little TLC, no problem. It took my breath away when I first saw him. That halter looked like it hasnt been taken off, ever. His hooves... OMG I've never seen any like that in real life just horrible internet pictures. So, needless to say as we're looking around, but not trying to look around too much I grab a lead rope and ask what his name is, "He doesnt have one", I clipped my rope onto that ponys halter, shove him in my trailer and down the road we go. I was NOT going to let him stay there for another minute. On the way home I text the farrier and get that set up the next morning (it was getting late). So we get home, unload the newly named "Tony the pony" and I slipped that halter off of him and he shook and rubbed his face and I put him in my little isolation paddock to get aquainted with his new home. Yall!! He got to walk on GRASS!! He was unsure at first and reached his nose down and let me tell you.. he just got to munching it was the cutest little thing. Shots, wormed, feet trimmed (!) and a bunch of hugs later he's getting along nicely in his new home. It's been too chilly to give him a bath yet, but that's happening soon. He's just a little gentleman, leads, ties, all the good well-mannered pony stuff. His feet are a little sore this morning after the trim yesterday, I gave him some bute to help with that. My question is, someone told me he looks like he has Cushings? Ok, not familiar with that. Low starch feed? He has ulcers in his mouth from that cr*p weed/straw they were feeding him, those should go away? He has a red sore on his eye about the size of a Pea, maybe a little bigger, and they're both really dirty/ boogery. It was pretty dusty where he was. His eyelashes were all stuck together like sleep in his eyes. I cleaned them and his adorable little tick filled ears really good and they are looking better. What else do I do? Vet is coming next week, but until then?! Any other advice? I blanket my horses when it gets cold, with all that hair does he need a blanket? I feel like he should? I threw that yucky halter away, ordered another. Should I trim that hair around his feet? It seems like it would just breed bacteria when he walks in the wet grass? I've only ever had horses, never a pony. The first pictures are the before pictures we took of him while we were picking him up, notice the zebra in the background? The last picture is after his little pedicure in my barn. Farrier did a terrific job cleaning them up and he said they will just keep getting better after every trim but didnt want to take too much off. As I'm typing this I'm watching him graze on my barn cam <3 The big horses, one wants to lick and slobber on him, the other is indifferent. 

ETA: another closeup pic of his hooves before. Looks like he was wearing clogs! 

Oh my GOSH, what a little cutie. And BLESS you for giving him a home he deserves, I would have done the same I would have loaded him up in a heart beat too..There would have been NO way I would have left him behind, my heart breaks for animals that need us.. I did what you did about 5 years ago with a mini {Stanley} I could not leave him behind after I saw the way he was living and his poor mouth he was drooling so bad, when I open his mouth to try to see what was going on I was like oh my goodness he had been eating crapy hay that had foxtail weed in it and the little barbs had worked their way into his gums and his mouth was so swollen he could not chew right, got him home and go tweezers and pulled them all out after a few days he was feeling so much better.. 

And he does look like he got cushings as soon as I saw your pictures I thought to myself this pony has cushings, so No sweet feed of any kind, Look into Triple Crown Lite, my mini's only get a cup of it twice a day with their hay.. And green grass is a no no too, so be carefull. 

Like spring time real green lush grass or no grass at all? My pasture is bermuda, but it's short because it just got cut last week in prep for winter. What do I do? Keep him up at night? Grazing muzzle? 

And Thank You for turning my picture, I couldnt figure out how

The new spring grass is really bad for them, maybe the older grass that dont have to much growth will be ok but dont let him over graze on it and with him being not use to eating grass be careful, a grazing muzzle would be good I think, look into low strach and low suger feed for him too, and you have to be careful with hay too, the really good fresh cut hay will have high sugar levels in it to, you dont want anything that has a high NSC.. Google Feeding a horse with Cushings Disease it will help you alot..   Triple Crown Lite is the best low NSC feed out there to feed to ponys and horses that have a metabolic issue, I feed the TCL to my gelding and two mini's.. But google Cushings in ponys are horses, theres so much information it will really help out.. 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR SAVING HIM!!!!!

That poor zebra:(((

I know right, I feel so sorry for animals in this kind of bad situation.. :(

Awesome! Thank you so muchl! I just called my local feed store and reserved 2 bags of Triple Crown Lite and a metal trash can, told him to set aside a few bales of the older hay, and I'm going to dip by there and pick it up after work. 

No advice, just a thank you,  for rescueing this sweet pony! 

I wish I could save them all but... one pony at a time or my fiance will disown me. LOL Just kidding. He has been just as worried about little Tony getting "back on his feet" if you will as I am 

I think a better name would be Curly Bill.  

The red spot in his eye.....I had that going on in a TB and thanks to a board member here cleared it right up with penicillin.  Vets had me giving him banamine  (did not work).  I have no idea what amount you would give to a pony.

Bet he thinks he has found that place called Heaven. 

Curly Bill is super cute too! 

He had a big weekend, he got a good bath and man his hair is SO SOFT, his mane almost feels like human hair! I doused him in that purple shampoo and he's much brighter now that most of those stains are gone. He looks like a little sheep now lol. We are going to get him on some antibiotics so his eye is looking better. 

Be really careful with the grass.  I turned my minis out for a couple hours one November (Wyoming), thinking that would be safe.  They lightly foundered on it!  They get NO grass at all.

Awww, I bet he looks likes like a hug Marshmallow, lol.. I think Tony The Pony fits him very well, such a cute name. We need a new picture of him all cleaned up Please!!!

I attach the photo, it shows up correctly and then turns sideways! So frustrating! Anyway here's Tony the Pony looking all sharp while he was drying. He kinda has that "wet dog" look to him here but he's definitely cleaner. It's fluffy now that he's dry. My fiance was laying in the hammock holding him for his bath. The cat Jer photobombed him too ha. Then I turned him out and... well... he had a blast rolling and messing up my 2+ hours worth of scrubbing him. lol. 

Well all I can say hes a lucky little fella that you came along and took him away from that place.

Not just white.........albino.

Me too! I am so happy he is finally home and he is NOT going anywhere! 

Yes, thank you! I was actually curious about what the proper color he is now that hes clean enough to tell. 

You have to watch out for sunburn on that pink nose.  

This might be a really dumb question, but do I just get some gentle baby sunblock and put it on him every morning? I've always just had dark horses for some reason lol.

What a cutie!

Yes and I'd recommend a fly mask as well to protect the pink skin around his eyes. I'm glad he's got a good loving home now, he's adorable