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Thread Nine: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1584833/posts |
Posted on 10/04/2005 9:56:41 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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!
Thanks, Becky. :-)
Good on the date... I am soooo looking forward to your visit! I need to start approaching Tiff on borrowing her QH Cat. She'd be my first choice... - We could always borrow Bob's appy, or maybe even this new Arab if he proves to be good (and no, I won't make you test him first, I assume they'll try him on the same trails before July if they're gonna keep him) but I'd like to get you a good old fashioned QH so you'd feel at home. And Cat's just bomb proof. :~D
Do you anticipate breeding him again?
I was wondering the other day if you still had Belle, and if she was still for sale.
It may not reflect well on her judgment... but I'm pretty happy about it. :-)
Me too.
Anything will work. I'm anxious to see the trails in real life. I love the trees:)
I was wondering, will I bring a saddle? I don't care one way or the other, just wondering how you manage that on a plane??
Becky
Yes, I still have Belle, yes I'd still like to sell her, I really don't want to breed, like I've been preaching to Cindy, I'm not sure average backyard horse owners should do that. BUT, I have been wondering here if I'm making a mistake. Dot is so good, and we've got all these kids coming up, and good horses can be hard to find....lots of if's here.
Becky
LOL...I'm sure that is exactly the way it happened:) Ruthie you hussy:)
< /kidding >
hehehehehe....
I used my feminine wiles on him, poor thing. He never saw it coming. *wink*
Heh - well, I've been giving that a lot of thought too! And we don't have an extra saddle, so I'd want to borrow the horse with it's own tack. That way we wouldn't be fussing over fit of equipment that's new to the horse. The only exception to that might have been if you'd gotten really comfortable English and ~wanted~ to bring that.
If we end up with Tiff not wanting to loan the saddle (cuz she'd need it that week herself or something) or a situation with the new Arab where the only saddle Bob has for him is a child size ;~D - then we'll punt. Bob's got several saddles, he's a chronic buyer of gear. I'm sure we'll be able to come up with something ;~D
I'll probably still have the English one then, I think I'm going to hang on to it for awhile. I do think they will make better riders out of you and I want to be a good ridier. If I had to bring one, I'd bring it just because it would be more light weight. Dragging my western around in a bag would be a pain:)
Becky
Both would be a little bulky, I'm hoping we can just borrow the horse with his/her saddle that fits.
I was thinking some more about your trip, too. Would you want to plan several days, to have time for other kinds of touristy visiting like Mt St. Helens or the ocean, or even Seattle Center or something like that?
Because what I'm thinking is, in order to ride all the trails in the forest, we might be best to ride a day, rest the horses a day and go on a trip, ride a day, then another sightseeing trip, and then ride again... kind of stagger it so we can do all the trails I want to do, and the horses can hold up :~D
Another thing I thought of is there's an upper campground we might ride to one day, camp over (we could go plant our other vehicle up there with all the gear and food in it) and ride back the next day on the other side of the loop. That'd be fun, and we haven't done that yet, though we've talked about it.
I'd love to have you as many days as you can swing... What do you think?
Oh, yeah, Mt. Saint Helens is a must. You bet. And any other thing that is worth seeing. Alot on how long I stay will depend on how long I think I can last. I'm a real home body and start missing the ole man pretty quick:). I'll have to let you know on that one, when it gets closer. We can work it any way you think best.
I had to run to town today to get the Knox Gelatine, I forgot it yesterday when I bought groceries. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, it's in premeasured packages now. It use to come in canisters, and the least little amount of moisture it turned it into a brick. It was almost $10 dollars for 32 packages. Teri said a package a day, divide it over 2 feedings. I was thinking, depending on how well it works, I'll let you know, that might be something you could do to keep Cyn barefoot.
When the trip gets closer, we can decide on if I need to bring a saddle. I don't mind, I don't what you to feel like you are taking advantage of any of your friends borrowing all their stuff:). If I have to change planes anywhere, do I have to claim my luggage between planes and move it around myself, or do they move it to the appropriate plane. That would be the only part that would be awkward if I have to lug a suitcase and a bag with the saddle:)
Becky
If you have a connecting flight they move the luggage and you only have to pick it up at the other end. :~D
Understood about home-body-ness ;~D
There's lots I like to show people when they come here, so we'll just see how many day's riding we can do and still have horses under us. I'm already looking at my trail map with you in mind :~D We'll have the horses in as good a shape as they get.
The lecture part was good. I had seen most of it before since I had already bought the DVDs but it was better in person. Since the weather was bad, I found what I thought was a nice low-priced motel on the Internet and intended to get there early enough to check it out. But even though I took a half day off, I ended up running late because in addition to packing, I had to get hay out for the horses and decided at the last minute to have Tennessee's feet x-rayed in case they needed to see them. I'll be late to my own funeral I guess. Well, it was late and raining cats and dogs after the lecture so I just had to go with it. Luckily for me my sister-in-law's brother and his girlfriend had signed up for the clinic too, although I didn't know it until I got there, because the motel turned out to be a dump and not some place I'd feel real comfortable about staying by myself. But it was cheap and at least the bed was clean so it turned out ok, but I sure was glad to have somebody there going to and from the rooms.
The hands-on part of the clinic was really good too. You could do as much or as little as you wanted. They had a good set up in that they had a video camera and projection screen so that if you couldn't get close enough to see the actual foot being worked on, you could see it on the projection screen. The mix of students was really good too. There were at least 3 or 4 vets there, so hearing their opinions was really interesting, plus they were reading and discussing everybody's x-rays, in addition to shooting a few new ones. Also, there were at least a dozen professional farriers there and hearing their comments about difficult hoof care cases they'd been involved with was really informative too. I picked up a really good tip on the best way to get rid of a really stubborn case of thrush that I've had in Tennessee's frogs. They all said to use mastitis medicine. It's an antibiotic solution that is normally used to infuse directly into cow's teats, but they said to apply it directly in the bad areas of the frog. One farrier also said he'd had good results with topical application of procaine penicillin for the same purpose. Cool stuff! I went and bought some of the mastitis medicine at lunch today.
At the beginning of each day, there was a short lecture/slide presentation that illustrated the main points that were to be demonstrated later on, then we broke up into groups according to interest. Of course the professional farriers did all the work on the difficult lameness cases like navicular, founder and such, but there were plenty of normal-hoofed horses for the average owner-type people like me to work on. The main man, the Master Farrier stuck with the difficult stuff but he did the initial evaluations of all the horses and was very good about answering any question that anybody had, no matter how trivial. There were two other guys with him who stayed with the other groups and supervised, so us newbies didn't mess any horses up. Believe me, they were nice to have around to answer questions and give pointers on stuff like the best ways to handle the tools, how best to stand and how to set up your landmarks on the sole of the hoof so you knew how much to take off. Nobody wanted to mess up somebody else's horse! A different person did each hoof, that way everybody got some experience.
I took Tennessee and Ellie on Sunday and I was very proud of them. Tennessee was so relaxed and cooperative, even though there were lots of people and horses in a fairly confined space. We were working in the isles of a fairly large dressage/hunter-jumper oriented boarding barn so we added probably 30 people and 5 or 6 horses per day to the normal comings and goings of all the regular horses and people. But Ellie was the little star because she behaved better than a lot of the older horses. She led through all that hubbub like a seasoned horse and stood quite nicely when we were working on her feet. She fidgeted a little when were working on her front feet and called for Tennessee a time or two (he was tied back at the trailer) but stood quietly while we worked on her back feet. What more could you ask of a 10 month old filly? She really seemed to enjoy all the attention she was getting (because she's just so darned cute and no I'm not prejudiced at all) and racked up quite a few treats from some of the regular boarders. There were horses coming and going and wheelbarrows full of stuff going by and she just seemed to take it all in like it was normal. I think it was a very good experience for her and me too.
Hair, I can't see your video on Snapfish. Have you deleted it already?
Hey, as long as I can get at least one ride under some of those big trees and see the fern, and cross one of those brigdes, I think I'd be happy. I'll go as often or as few (1) as you all want:), I'm easy.
Becky
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