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Thread III: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1311311/posts |
Posted on 04/26/2004 12:06:41 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Free Republic has a lot of horse people that have found each other on other threads…. And since we all like to talk horses, how about a thread where it is not off-topic, but is THE topic?
A few of us thought it would be interesting and informative to have a chat thread where we can share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. We may not ~always~ have a lot of activity, but when we do, it will be fun. I will put a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!
I will also develop a ping list for horse threads that are of interest. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.
I am hoping this thread will be a fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.
*heh* Same here! I'm really interested in training pentathlon when I get back to the US. I used to be decent at swimming and running (before I broke my foot at least), I'm just horribly out of shape that way. Shooting, well that's just more practice. Fencing, I'm a sabreur who recently picked up epee. Riding, not a prob.
Since my sister's training triathlon, I can at least train two sports with her and the biking certainly wouldn't hurt. And I can get her to give me shooting pointers. (she's got her Marine expert quals.)
Should be loads of fun!
http://constainia.sandwich.net/emp/beren.html
there's some old pics of my buddy. :)
Nice :')
Thanks. :) I need newer pics though. and I hate looking at pics of myself riding! *augh* can never see anything but the negative.
LOL. I love looking at all the pictures posted here, as long as I'm not in them:')
There's nothing wrong with working hard to not get dumped, doing anything it takes to keep from getting dumped:), just understand it's going to happen sometime and decide if you can deal with it or not. In the beginning I worried about it, but then you finally have to decide I don't care, I'm riding anyway, Or I do care, I'm not doing it anymore.
The only time a fall really bothers me now is IF the fall was because of something the horse did and I can't figure out why he did what he did. If there is a logical explanation for a fall, such as the last time I came off which was one of the times I got hurt, it still didn't bother me. I knew why the horse spun around. Deer spooked him. No one's fault. My mare on the other hand use to do stupid stuff for no apperant reason. I finally got so afraid of her I quit riding her.
You have to decide do I trust the horse or not. If it's the horse that is the problem and you don't trust him, get rid of him and get another you can trust, or give it up entirely.
Becky
Those are nice pictures. Is that you riding him?
Becky
Cindy, that last paragraph of my post to you, I was speaking of trusting or not trusting horses in general, not speaking of Okie.
Becky
The highest I've done is 3' approximately. It can get scary working young and/or green horses over fences. However, I've discovered that jumping just isn't my thing. I like Dressage much much better- it's more my speed. :-) I think it can be just as thrilling to watch as show jumping or cross country any day. I've wanted to try cross country, but I don't think that I would have the guts.
When I fenced in college, the NJ Athletic Association required that women fence foil only. So that's what I did. When I moved to Atlanta, I switched to sabre. Fun stuff.
Shooting at least is no problem. I've done .22 target, hi-power rifle, skeet and trap. I'm not as good a shot as my husband (he qualified in everything the Army would let him get his hands on, including LAWs and other fun toys) but I manage.
Yeah, that's me.
Good words on the fear of falling issue. As they say, 'There never was a horse that couldn't be rode and there never was rider that couldn't be throwed.' A few months after I first bought Beren, he started rearing for no apparent reason. After consulting with my trainer, we still couldn't find the reason why. Checked saddle fit, etc. Initially I started riding only when she was present, then after he managed to rear despite a running martingale (three bucks, kept head between knees, straight up and completely unbalanced), I stopped riding him entirely, put him up for sale and with the help of John Lyons' book, did nothing but groundwork and manners training for the next 3 months. Luckily for me, he not only didn't sell but we found by accident really, that his snaffle bit had been pinching him the entire time. Changed to a nice eggbutt snaffle (that has a squeaky hinge, he *loves* that squeak) and we never had a problem. For the next year or so he still had a tendancy when frightened to pop his forehand off the ground slightly, but never was unbalanced. Lots of careful and patient work later, it doesn't cross his mind. In fact, now on the rare occasion that he spooks, he sinks lower onto his forehand. Happy ending, but could easily have ended up in disaster in other circumstances.
Just do the cross country at the "amoeba" level. They keep adding categories on the bottom below "pre-novice" - now they have amoeba, tadpole, and I think one other lower form of life < g >. I don't have a death wish, so I usually compete in tadpole. I started in amoeba but that's really almost the equivalent of jumping a fallen tree on the trail, so I moved up.
Where in Atlanta did you fence? I fenced there very briefly a few years ago.
I started her in a German martingale when we first broke her (although breaking was hardly the word - threw a saddle on her and rode her off - she was a 14 year old broodmare who had never looked through a bridle) and I see no reason to stop. I put the plain braided reins on her for hunter classes and she still goes nice and round.
With Gene Gettler at the Atlanta Fencers Club.
I am in Conroe, north of Houston
Actually, in the pics on the lower right hand edge, you can see his tendancy towards a high head carriage. That was from his first show, about seven years ago.
It's never the horse... :)
It's a nice sound isn't it?
I used to use a German martingale on the advice of a different instructor, but while it was effective, I found out later that it encourages the horse to bent more in the middle of his neck, rather than flexing evenly from the poll. Like any training aid, it's useful for the right horse and the right rider.
I do pull mine out on occasion, but mostly as a mouth-softening reminder and only with two sets of reins attached to the snaffle. That way, I ride on the plain reins as much as possible, but if I need a short reminder, it's there.
If your horse goes round without it, why not ride without it?
Yeah, I know where that's at. I'm going to be at Moss Hill this weekend to pick up my horse trailer. (I live in Brownsville but used to live in Crosby):')
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