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Posted on 06/19/2006 8:46:45 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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE
New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!
Jeepers. I always marvel at how sore we can get from riding that far, I'd think the horse that did a lot more work has to feel it too, though they sometimes don't show it! I do look forward to the pictures.
I know how you feel. Better to be safe than sorry!
I am actually surprised I am not more sore than I was. It was not only a hlong ride but a hard one. They Blue trail is he trail they use for the Endurance rides they have in Talladega. We were only going for a nice day ride, did not know it would turn into such hard work! The horses wer exhasuted, I was just glad they were not more sore than they were, I felt bad enough. We gave them a little Bute that night and the next morning and they seem back to their old selves.
Very good. I don't mind giving them a little Bute either.
Wow - sounds like the endurance ride from hell.
I think I posted about this when it happened. Bob and Tracey went out to preview an endurance ride trail. They got on the wrong trail and after they had gone about 40-45 miles on the 75 mile trail, they called me by cell phone and asked me to hook up a trailer and pick them up to trailer them to the other trailer. They must have really gotten lost 'cause by road, straight shot, the trailer they had taken was 20 miles away.
That is quite a distance! I can't imagine it, we went less than 25 I am sure I just cannot fathom going any further. We did not have a cell phone signal in the forest so we were kinda SOL if we needed to call anyone. I was resally worried we would be stuck out there after dark. That happened to us once in KY but their trails wre well marked and we made it in OK in the dark. We could not navigate these trails in broad daylight it scares me to think what would have happend if darkness fell. We could have been lost out there and no one would have missed us until today when we did not show up for work! Well, Frog may have missed us Monday morning when we did not show up there.
I'm back.
Susie is fine:). He checked everything, I was glad to hear she did not have heart worms, he put her on antibiotics, incase she may have an intestinal infection, and her not jumping is probably what I thought. she's just sore from twisting around to itch. He also gave her shot to help the itchies.
Becky
Well that is great, and she will have some relief from the itchies while you are gone too.
Yeah, I would've missed you but would've had no idea what happened to you since I didn't even know y'all were going riding. I would've called your cell phone to see where you were and got no answer and would've just figured that something came up and you couldn't make it.
We really do need to get better about letting somebody know where we're going when we're riding, when we should be back, and how to get there if they need to come get us. I've thought about that a lot since that time that Shirley had that dizzy spell and we had to take him home. It could've just as easily been a heart attack or something like that and if it'd just been me and him and we'd been way out on a trail somewhere, we'd've been in a world of trouble. I've got a map of most of the Bankhead area and have been trying to mark the trail heads on it for Lee and tell him which one I'm going to in case I don't come home one day.
Well good :~D
How old is she? She may be getting a little arthritic too?
I'm glad that Susie is ok. I'm sure that'll ease your mind a lot for your trip. Is it a week from today that you go out there?
Very good idea, and one we should all act on. Someone should know where we are going, even if we aren't riding alone. We're better equipped this year, with the GPS, but even with that, we'd have to be able to get to a ridge with good cell phone coverage to tell someone where we are.
I insist now that when they go out riding, they tell someone where they are going and when they expect to be back. Just so if something happens, someone knows where to start looking. You never know when you might end up miles from a trailer with a lame horse that has to be walked out, or some other emergency. I have no idea what they would have done if they couldn't reach me by phone, Bob's a diabetic for one, and they had two very tired horses (I figure if they hadn't been appys, they'd stopped and said the hell with it)
I absolutely insist now that if not me, someone know where they are going. It's really just too dangerous for someone not to know where to find you.
I really like the surface on this trail. It's finely crushed limestone that's almost as firm as pavement but not nearly as slick. I rode Grace and had her boots on the fronts but she was barefoot on the back and did fine. I think she's almost ready to go totally barefoot. I'll try her that way the next time, just to see, but with her boots along in the saddle bags just in case.
Yeah, with Bob's health conditions, it's REALLY important that somebody be able to find them, but anything can happen to anybody with no warning, so it's a good practice even for perfectly healthy people.
The nice thing about rails to trails is that the trail is as close to level as a trail can be... they're easy like a highway. Good for you that there's a good surface. There isn't on our rails to trails, it's DEEP pea gravel, basically the same surfact that was under the rails. It's really hard to walk in, it doesn't compact, it's like walking on small marbles. What has evolved is that everyone moves off the railbed and have made their own trail along side it.
She was such a pretty black when she was born but her gray is coming in and she's really itchy so she's been rubbing it out in patches and looks so moth-eaten that it's pitiful. I'm tempted to just go ahead and shave her and get it over with!
Well, this trail didn't start out so nice. I rode it several years ago and the railbed was basically big chunks of either slag or some other kind of big fist-sized rock. It was awful on the horses feet! But the county Parks and Rec department took it over and have improved it beyond belief, helped in part by government grant money and part by private donations. They added that crushed limestone on all 8 miles of the trail bed and built the nice treated pine bridges over the old trestles. I can't say enough nice things about them. I just wish there were more places like that and more local governments that were willing to allow horseback riders on their trails.
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