The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT

See our "who's who" page! ^

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - Who's Who *pics*

This is a horse chat thread where we 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. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.

I always have 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 also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. 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.

So... like the previous threads, this is intended as 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.

Previous threads:

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[FrogInABlender]

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/dis...nt/3486019.html

This link doesn't work. Is it supposed to have the "..." in the middle?

[Rose of Sharn]

Hi Frog!
Glad the weather missed you, at one point it looked like you were in for a very bad time.
As for the tree, we decided to get it next weekend. The roads etc were very busy, and I wanted a relaxed time, letting the children pick out the tree and having it cut down. Then time to decorate it with all the things they have made over the years. Hopefully followed by a Victorian evening with candlelight, stories and board games. : )

[Rose of Sharn]

Don't know what is going on with the link, I copied it right from another forum I go on as I thought all you horsey folks might be interested. : )

[FrogInABlender]

Sounds like a wonderful evening! I've bought trees from a "cut your own" farm before, but I've taken a liking to Frasier Firs and those won't grow this far south, so I've been buying mine from Lowe's the last several years. To get a good one, you've got to get it early. I actually bought mine back on the 21st and just put it out in the storage shed. I figure it would do just as well standing in my shed as it would standing out on the lot at Lowe's. I did take the extra precaution of putting it up high on top of a shelf unit to keep roving tomcats from whizzing on it, which is what I think happened to my tree last year because my little neutered cat Buster seemed to think that the cloth around that tree was the litter box. Every time I let him in the house, he made a Bee line to the Christmas tree and peed under it, right in front of me. I'd take up the cloth and wash it and as soon as I put it back out he'd pee on it again. I don't know what the deal was, and he never peed anywhere else, but we finally just had to make him stay outside at night until after we took the Christmas tree down. So far he's shown no interest in whizzing on this one but I think I may have gotten the message across to him last year after I squirted him with water for about the 50th time whenever he even looked at it. Now I have this new cat that I got from Cav, but he seems to know what a squirt bottle is for and gets away from the tree when ever he sees me with it. Cats are pretty smart!

[FrogInABlender]

Can I just go straight to houstonchronicle.com and get to it from there?

[HairOfTheDog]

LOL - hey - if there's a tree, we must be outside, so might as well pee on it :~D

[HairOfTheDog]

I rode Bob on Saturday and he did really well. I had ridden him for a couple of miles a few times there at the barn but this was his first real outing since he got hurt. One of the guys had a Weimaraner and let him go out on the trail with us and I thought Bob was gonna dump me a time or two when we first started out. He settled down pretty quickly but he still gave him the evil-eye every time he ran past and kicked at him a time or two when he caught me not paying attention. I had the little video camera in my hand and the button had come off and I was trying not to drop it coz it's only about the size of a tic-tac and Bob took the opportunity to take a swipe at the dog about that time. The little booger! Luckily he missed. We rode the south end of the trail first, then we went back to the depot to stop for lunch. There was a saddle club group there from somewhere else and one of them had a couple of dogs. One of them was a little Dachshund-looking dog and he ran right up under Bob's back feet when we stopped and Bob popped him hard enough to make him holler. I felt bad, but people shouldn’t let their dogs run loose around strange horses, coz a lot of them aren't used to dogs. After lunch we rode the north end as far as the covered bridge. It was probably 11 miles in all and that was enough for Bob. I guess I'll start riding him regular again so he should get his strength back pretty soon.

I uploaded your video! :~D FrogInABlender's racking video
Here's your quote from the email: I thought I’d send you a clip of part of our ride Saturday. I was riding Bob and we were just racking along, with 4 other riders. This is about our normal trail speed, not too fast, not too slow, juuuust right. ;o) I got a little bit of his kicking episode at the dog and you can hear me scolding him in my best Southern Redneck drawl, which is why I try not to talk when I’m making videos.

I think the gait is real interesting... I've never been on a gaited horse, but it's remarkable to watch in motion, especially imagining that it is smoooooth, that fast.

I agree with you on dogs on trail. I don't like running into other people's dogs on trail. They always run around under foot when they come up on other riders, and the riders really have no control over them. Very very early on I took mine on a couple rides in public places, and decided if other people's dogs were annoying, mine probably were too. If I rode out from the house, and didn't run into other riders, like Becky can do, I'd probably take them too, but not on the public trails.

[FrogInABlender]

LOL! My husband said that he was just trying to sing "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Pee".

[Rose of Sharn]

It was about the new horse slaughter ban and concerns that may follow.

[HairOfTheDog]

Try to copy it again.... I think something just went wrong with your copy-paste.

[Rose of Sharn]

Sounds like you two have been having more than 'just the one' drink already! LOL
I was going to say that nothing beats the smell of a fresh Christmas tree, but I should add, as long as no cats are allowed to pee up it! : D

I love all the baking that goes with Thanksgiving and Christmas. : ) Mingle that with the fresh Christmas tree smell and I'm in Heaven!

[FrogInABlender]

I found it by going to their site and searching for "horse slaughter". Here's the whole link...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3486019.html

[Rose of Sharn]

I copied this one from the thread
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/dis...nt/3486019.html

or, after opening it up, this is the address
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3486019.html
Hope it works for you this time. Not sure if you are interested in not. There have been some good discussions going on about it. Some for, some against. All respectful. : )

[Rose of Sharn]

Thanks Frog. I copied and pasted it as seen but some goblin must have gotten into the workings somehow! : )

[Rose of Sharn]

this is the jist of the link
Earlier this month, Congress gave animal activists one of their biggest victories in more than a decade by enacting a temporary ban on horse slaughter, starting in February.

[HairOfTheDog]

this one works...

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3486019.html

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, on principle I'm against horse slaughter, particularly for something like human consumption in France. Let them grow their own. Perhaps in Texas it's feasible lame or unwanted horses would just be 'turned loose', but not here. It's my belief that if a horse is aged or unusable, humane euthanasia is one of the responsibilities of horse ownership, like it is with our dogs. Sending to slaughter is in no way a humane end, merely a cheap one for the owner, and they can't fool me by telling me otherwise :~D

Where is the forum where it's being discussed?

[FrogInABlender]

I sent you another clip but I don't think you'll ever get it. I copied myself and I haven't gotten it yet either. It was pretty big at 22MB, so our system may have culled it before it ever went out. It was pretty boring stuff anyways, just me feeding the horses and stuff, but it let you see them up close and personal. I didn't want you to post it or anything, I was just sharing it. My husband was with me yesterday afternoon when I went to feed and he's one of these people that if he has a camera in his hand he'll be taking pictures or videoing and I guess that's a good thing.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Thanks guys:)

We were actually getting some snowflakes this afternoon. It's really turned cold now. Crazy weather. The wind is still blowing pretty bad too.

Becky

[Rose of Sharn]

I happen to agree with you on all counts. I was very upset when I found out that I had eaten horse meat in France. It was a big joke from some French colleagues. It tasted ok, but that is not the point. Horses are not raised for meat and I don't think should be sold for meat. Rather than hauling them in a trailer to a slaughter house, I believe it is much kinder to have a horse that is in pain or has other complications euthanized. As far as keeping a horse only when it is of use to you, as in riding etc, that is too sad. The horse has done you a service all his/her life and should be treated with the respect of being able to retire with dignity.