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!

[Beaker]

Hey everyone. I just got back from my ride, and it was pretty good. I got to ride the appy schoolmaster again, and worked on brushing up my canter transitions. Oy I also did some work without stirrups, and while they shouldn't be, my legs are killing me. I did lots of grabbing with my knees today instead of just relaxing and letting the horse carry me. :-p So I guess it was a good ride in that I accomplished what I wanted to, but it was also a stiff ride. I also got to test out my new paddock boots. I traded the Ariat riding sneakers for them because they didn't have my size. It was muddy today, so they got broken in nice and good!

[CindyDawg]

Great job. Glad you got rid of the shoes. I'm at work. I thought about testing SL today but gonna wait til tomorrow. Tired:')

[CindyDawg]

Weren't you thinking about riding at your school? Did it work out?

[ShakeNJake]

Riding without stirrups is good for your seat. Periodically, I will cross my stirrups in front of me and ride part of a session without them.

One of the dressage greats, Nuno Oliveiro, did the same thing until the day he died. When asked why he still did that, he answered that he was still working on his seat.

[Duchess47]

Glad you had a good ride :)

Everyone is so productive today except me. It's cold and windy here, not "fit for man nor beast"

[Beaker]

I did think about riding with the equestrian team, but they do all hunter/jumper, and I really just want to focus on dressage. Plus... they're all snobs, and I just don't want to deal with that. :-)

[Beaker]

My trainer also puts me on the lunge line once in a while so that I can focus on my seat. It's an excellent excercise.

[Beaker]

Well hey, when it's cold, stay where's it's warm. :-) It was in the mid 50s here today. Beautiful. We've really really lucked out with weather.

[CindyDawg]

Nah. Stay away from snobs:')

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Hey we did get some rain. A fair amount. It was a good slow soaking one. I haven't heard how much, but it was nice.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

It's cold windy, AND rainy here all day:) But it's made me lazy. I haven't done a thing constructive other then go watch a pine wood derby my grandson had a car in:) That was fun. The rest of the day I've just sat in my chair and read.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Riding without stirrups is good for your seat. Periodically, I will cross my stirrups in front of me and ride part of a session without them.

One of the dressage greats, Nuno Oliveiro, did the same thing until the day he died. When asked why he still did that, he answered that he was still working on his seat.

This was the lead rider at the Lippizaner Exhibition we went to last summer... He is landing a ~courbette~ I think, or a ~levade~, and he has lost his stirrup. :~D

[HairOfTheDog]

We had rain, and hail!

We've been watching season 4 of 24. We had only ever seen the last half, now I'm caught up on ~all~ the history :~D

[Beaker]

You can see his butt coming out of the saddle, but still, he looks pretty secure and confident. Those riders are amazing, and their legs are so long! It makes me jealous. :-)

I lost both my stirrups in the canter today (slippery new boots) and I stayed secure. It was like I didn't lose them at all. One went and and I thought "aww heck" and just kept going, and then the other went and I thought, "Why am I not on the ground?" I was so impressed and shocked that I nearly fell off the horse anyway! (All the no stirrup work I did today I did at the trot.) It just goes to show how much my seat has improved since I've worked with this trainer. She's a gem.

[CindyDawg]

I need to get back to that. I really depend on my stirrups but it's just not fun for me, working without them.

[Duchess47]

Hey - rain is outstanding. I'm so glad you got some finally :)

[Duchess47]

I complain alot about winter (you probably remember that from last year) but so far, it's really been pretty mild. However, today has be miserable :)

[CindyDawg]

I took a silly test on another thread on what kind of weather person I was. I came out sunshine. I wanted a storm so I went back and played democrat to make it happen:')

[CindyDawg]

Mornin yall. (Yawn) I stayed up late watching tv. Starsky and Hutch movie of all things . Did we really used to dress and look like that? lol

[Beaker]

We've had some miserable days with snow and rain and cold and wet, and a couple of weeks ago we had a mini "hurricane" with 60 mph winds. Crazy weather. It's supposed to get up to 49 with rain later today.