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Posted on 02/24/2006 9:12:25 AM PST 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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT
New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!
They all look so great - spring is sprung :)
What do you want to bet the last mare foals tonight?
Heh... I wouldn't bet against that happening :~D
No, the one we are going to is the weekend before. It's the Inter County All Breed show.
What kind of horses do you have and what do you like to show them in?
No, we are doing that Mon. I don't think we will ride to hard today. It is HOT here, and we're getting such a late start. He'll be off tomorrow, and maybe ride Sun.
Becky
We had two good days of sun, and yesterday I went for a five mile hike up in the Blue Hills. I haven't had a chance to look at pics that I took. Today was downpours and thunder, tomorrow is supposed to be gross as well. Ugh.
I gave up on showing myself a long time ago. Trail/pleasure riding is my choice now. Although, I do not do too much of that either.
If your mother has been showing for a long time, in Inter County or POHA, maybe I have seen her or know her. I showed Appaloosas or open.
What a beautiful baby!
I actually started showing a few years before my mom, and I started in 80. Inter County is strong and healthy. This show last year drew 400 horses. It's not that expensive and is a lot of fun.
My trainer showed appys many years ago. Is the name Yogi McCormick familiar to you?
Ok. Be sure to take pictures. I'll be interested to see how well it holds.
I'm not getting to ride tomorrow because I've got to help my sister-in-law with her graduation party. I'm kinda disappointed because they are having a fund-raising ride at the Rails-to-Trails place with the covered bridge and I really wanted to go there. Hopefully I can ride somewhere on Sunday. Bob needs to be ridden since I rode Grace last weekend.
Becky
He does look hot!
It's clouded over here and might rain... It's muggy, though Ruthy probably doesn't think so. They're on their way here, called a bit ago from the road.
Don't know yet. I just ordered them:')
When I get paid next week, the halter/bridle is next.
You know you've married a horsewoman when...
A gift certificate to Tractor supply will far outdo any gift certificate to Nordstroms or a spa..
She would rather own a nice horse that eats carrots, than wear some nice carats
Your new wife says, "Honey, I have an idea, let's go to this place that offers trail rides!" and six months later you're supporting three horses on a part-time job and a graduate student's stipend.
You can justify any conceivable modification to your pickup truck by claiming that it will make it a better towing vehicle. ("Chrome running boards?" "Less wind resistance.")
Her favorite fashion designer is Carhart.
She treats you like a hero for giving her a home-made boot jack on her birthday.
You start using her hobby to leverage your own. "Sure I can make you some saddle racks. All I need is a new table saw."
You buy her so much heavy duty winter clothing that you wind up on mailing lists for hunting, fishing and survivalist catalogs.
You find yourself unquestioningly trudging through a sleet storm to feed the show horse that she won't let you ride.
You find yourself juggling roofing steel in a New Year's day blizzard to finish "her" horse barn while your alma mater is playing in a bowl game, and you wouldn't dream of going inside to watch.
You realize that not only have you become expert in trailer backing, horse grooming, tack cleaning, and giving her a leg up, you can also repeat her riding instructor's comments from her last lesson verbatim.
You get so used to her doing things like mucking stalls with a broken finger or showing her horse with a stress fractured ankle that you can't understand it when morning sickness wipes her out.
She names your first child "Dan Patch" or "Misty".
You've spent so much time at the boarding stable that people think you're the maintenance man. (with good reason!)
You wear NASCAR baseball caps to horse shows so people won't ask you questions that you can't answer.
you bring your notebook to the barn the night before your final exam, so you can study while you groom.
You know you caught the horse bug from your wife (YKYCTHBFYW) when you start hoping for a daughter just to make sure you will still be going to horse shows for a long time to come.
YKYAHPW: Your realator takes you to look at a house and you get out of the car ad head staright to the barns to inspect them for an hour and a half, you come back and say I'll take it. The realator asks if you would like to see the house? So you take ten minutes, and say I'll take it too.
You get to the checkout at the grocery and the only things you're buying are 5 gallons of corn oil and 10 pounds of carrots. Oh and maybe a frozen burrito if you have enough money left...
When you buy more carrots in five pound bags and lament because they don't come in 10 pound bags.
When you coax your horse into the trailer with a carrot, give him a bite, and walk out finishing it yourself.
Running your fingers through her hair and picking the hay bits out of it, at the same time, have become an act of showing her you care.
Your peace offering after an arguement is something from a tack shop, NOT a dozen roses.
Even though you are not a horse person yourself, you wake up one morning and discover that, not only do you know how to SPELL Trakehner, you can also explain to another non-horse person (NHP) key points of their history and breeding.
Your house has not been vacuumed in recent history, but your wife's horses' stalls are spotless, her tack is spotless and she yells at you for leaving finger prints on her impeccably groomed/polished horses.
Do to the fact that there is limited storage in your humble abode, saddle and bridles can be found around the house used as "accents" and "decorations".
When you get home from work you ask, "How was ________ (insert horse's name) today?" instead of, "How was work today?"
When you WILLINGLY and VOLUNTARILY tell people that horse poop does NOT stink and will back up your wife 100% should she being explaining that to a NHP in your presence.
You get up at 4am to go to a show and know that she will NOT eat, drink or anything of the sort before she leaves the house for the barn. You meet up with her at the barn by 5am with breakfast, coffee and water/Gatorade for the day without even being asked.
When you know that for mths they have been 'hinting' about getting a new horse and on their b-day you call (as you are out of town for work) and instead of saying hello happy b-day you ask what breed, sex, color, how tall and never get to the 'how much'.
You know how to run a front end loader and how to jiggle it just right to spread the manuer about and not leave large piles.
When you go to rent/buy a new movie to watch you look to see if there is a horse involved.
You see the logic behind having 2 washers and dryer in the house.
You do not even ask why they have syringes and needles in their car/purse/etc.
You understand when they bring home a huge container of paprika is not for cooking.
When you go to help out at barn/show you know what the person is talking about when they ask you to get such n such bit, bridle, etc...
You realize that even though the horse may have 3 leather halters they are used for diffrent times and never switched (ie one for outside catching, one for in barn work, one for hauling).
Nothing grosses her out IF it involves an animal.
Her needs are minimal - but VERY, VERY expensive. You may soon find yourself wishing for a wife who goes to the mall everyday - once a month at the tack store can make you pray for a Nordstrom credit card bill instead.
You have ever heard her exclaim "OH HOW ROMANTIC" when one of her friends gets a John Deere tractor for a birthday.
People give you the cold shoulder for no reason. Then your wife comes home laughing--she has learned that her history of odd injuries and spectacular bruises tiggered neighborhood rumors that you are beating her.
When you finally figure out that late at night, if she's tired, all you need to do is start a topic about horses and she will perk right up and you'll be able to talk for another hour or two (eventually getting back to what you wanted to talk about in the first place).
When you realize that you will be hearing guffaws of "okay, seriously, that mare is SO a gelding" while watching any movie that has a horse in it - yet, she'll still be sobbing at the end.
When the only thing she can do consistently is ride her horse.
When her horse has 15 clean saddle pads, a clean cooler, a clean winter blanket, a clean turnout sheet, a clean stable sheet, several clean sets of polos, clean shipping wraps, clean stable wraps, clean stable bandages, coordinating vetwrap... but she doesn't have a thing to wear except for the pair of jeans that she wore yesterday, a wrinkled polo shirt, and her ever-present horsey ball-cap with the green stain from the "kiss".
When you can identify bits and their appropriate uses - even the waterford, dr. bristol and pelham.
When you finally realize that talking to her while she's watching classes in a show is totally useless as she will not "hear" you at all, but instead will be muttering under her breath "let his face go, there you go, ooh - go forward, let him go forward honey, yikes!" or "yes, there it is, one-two-three niiiiiiiiccceeeee"
When she can't stand up to her boss at work when they have a misconception, but she has no issue standing up to a 1300 lb warmblood who happens to be having an uber-brat moment - and you finally realize that that makes perfect sense.
When you start trying to figure out how she can hang up all that "stuff" in the basement and garage - and use your knowledge of humidors to make sure her tack is kept at exactly the right humidity level.
When, right before sleeping, your darling glances over at you and whispers, "Honey? That big bottle of personal lubricant? By the front door?.....that's for the horse."
And you only sigh because you had walked by it without a second glance, because you KNEW it was for the horse.
And it hadn't even occurred to you to wonder what all the other people who can see into your front door might think.
When she can't identify jewelry or designer clothing to save her life, but in one two-second glance at any item of leather or tack, can proceed to bore you to tears with the make, model, type and cut of leather, page # of the catalogue it came out of, cost, shipping cost, company history, where the item was made, how many stitches per inch it has, and why this would be a really good addition to her (already putting you in sticker shock) tack collection.
LOL,,,,so true:)
But what would the paparika be for?
Becky
How's the visit going:)? Have you found a house? I was wondering how far you are going to be from each other?
I'm really getting excited to come and meet you all in person:)
Becky
http://www.horseplaycentral.com/articledriftwood.htm
Very cool horse art. My sister sent me these pics in my email so went in search of a site they were on.
Paprika is a coat enhancer for black and bay horses but I believe it's illegal now as it will show up in drug tests. Now that I'm not sure of really, but pretty sure it's no longer used. I think it keeps blacks and black points from fading in the sun.
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