The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread TEN

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
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!

[HairOfTheDog]

~snort~

I can't believe she just said that :~D

[AnAmericanMother]

Huh . . . why's everybody getting so worked up over an innocent reference to an unoffending vegetable . . . ?

< /dumb look >

[HairOfTheDog]

Ha! You're ~not~ innocent :~)

[AnAmericanMother]

Who said anything about me? I was referring to the reference . . .

( . . . and if you believe that, I have a 23-year-old blind horse that'll be the next Grand National winner . . . and I'll throw in a nice one-owner bridge, for free . . . )

[HairOfTheDog]

The reference was not innocent and neither is the gourd in question...

Besides... We haven't seen the display from the ~front~, have we? :~)

[AnAmericanMother]

OMG, hadn't thought of that!

< miss emily litella voice > Never mind! < /miss emily litella voice >

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL...

Becky

[CindyDawg]

Excuse me. I'm still laughing about the squash. Ok.. ah yeah Sarah Lee. (sorry. Got a little tickled there:') We were going at a walk. He stepped down into some soft stuff with his right front leg. He sunk about two feet but hopped right out and kept going. Didn't phase him. I didn't like what I saw though so moved her over. She wanted to go right where he went. That is where we had our first discussion about who was driving.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I think everyone has their phrase to describe when a horse is basically hyped up. Around here we say the horse is "up in the bridle:)" same thing as on the muscle.

It's more or less reading the expression and body language of the horse. Pretty much means they're just hyped up and ready to go, feeling frisky, giving you control because it's what they've been trained to do not because it's what they WANT to do at that moment:)...

I guess Hair finds that exicting....I don't:), that's pretty much how Harley was last Sat. at the start of the ride....scares me to death:)

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I'm just wondering, when SL does something like that, what do you do by way of correcting her?

When Harley acted up that day, I pulled his head to my knee and made him circle really really tight about 5-6 times...

Just wondering what you do?

Becky

[CindyDawg]

Well the first thing I did was not let her drop her head. I read that they can't buck good if their head isn't down. By pulling the reins I may have put her in a quarter turn for relief, I don't know. I don't think so though. Anyway I made her finish. Every time she jumped sideways I held on to the back of the saddle and made her make a sharp turn. Just once though. I had to pull her head almost to my knee to make her a few times though. When ever she wanted to speed up and wouldn't slow but head tossed on the bridle I circled her again. I also put her in an area that took more energy to get thru (sand). I don't know if that was right or not. I have a few personal problems but that day I didn't think about anything except Prayer , pictures for hair and the vice chapter in my trail riding book:')

[HairOfTheDog]

We were going at a walk. He stepped down into some soft stuff with his right front leg. He sunk about two feet but hopped right out and kept going. Didn't phase him. I didn't like what I saw though so moved her over. She wanted to go right where he went. That is where we had our first discussion about who was driving.

OK - this part makes sense... she was afraid you were leaving the group and was giving you resistance about it? You think? They want desperately to follow the other horses. It's just one of their instincts we have to work on, work with, and sometimes work around.

While I'll say in theory that you should have complete control to do what you want any time, any where, it's just as important for you to understand the situation... it's counter-intuitive for them to go a different way than the rest of the group. Group rides are all about group harmony, and if you try to upset that balance, you will have some degree of fight on your hands... and as a related issue, you can sometimes upset not just your horse, but the other horses in the group if you do your own thing. That said, if there was soft ground or an unsafe situation like that, I'd have gone around it too.

Now - back to what you were trying to do... Were you trying to go 10 feet out of the way, or 50 feet? or 500feet? Either way, she should do it, but it makes a difference on whether you were trying to do something you should expectat her to do without creating a big hissy fit.

This is an issue I've run into a lot with Tiff, because she doesn't get, or at least sometimes ignores, these issues, which are just a matter of etiquette. She likes to take off running all of the sudden, and in a group, you really shouldn't do that. I'm not saying that's what you tired to do, but it's an etiquette issue in groups, and something you would be within your 'rights' to ask others to not do. There is nothing wrong with saying "don't just up and leave while I'm trying to get SL saddled, or trying to get on, or while I'm digging through my saddle bag for my water bottle. It's a matter of courtesy to make sure everyone is ready to move before anyone moves, and to hold up, or even return, if someone has trouble. If I'd have been with you and you were having that trouble, I'd have gone over to you so that you both could follow the more experienced horse.

To make a comparison... Cyn won't go off first somewhere... yet... and we haven't pushed it because I've wanted to delay ecurbh pushing it till he's had more saddle time. If she hesitates or doesn't want to go, I go back, put Bay in front of them again, and we lead them across whatever it is.

[CindyDawg]

Try about 3 feet:')

[HairOfTheDog]

But is that all you tried to do, or did the gap widen as it went on? What did the other horses do?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Circling is a good thing to do when they get chargey. I'm still not being able to picture what she was doing behind the TW.

When she was speeding up, was she speeding up her walk, or was she trying to trot/lope/ run???

I think you handled the circumstances really good considering the rudeness of the group you were in. But just for discussion purposes here, if you get a chance to go with just a few considerate people:), if SL wants to speed up again like that, you might try telling the person in front that you are going to pass them and speed up a bit, fast walk or trot, pass, and I guarantee when she finds herself in the lead, she'll want to stop. That's when you keep her going a bit, at the trot would be good, make her go quite a distance from the horse behind, ask them to stay at a walk...might take a few times, but after awhile she won't be so anxious to be out front:) Sometimes the best thing is to give them what they think they want...:) reverse physcology:) That Sat. when Harley was being a brat, I finally put him into a trot, and we trotted a ways and he decided to walk,,nah, I made him keep going a while...after then walking wasn't so bad:)Anyway, just different things to try.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I agree with everything you say....BUT....from the description of what the other riders in this group were doing, NO ONE was following trail etiquette. They sound like a group I rode with a few times, that convinced me that I don't want to ride in groups:)

Becky

[CindyDawg]

Oh well yeah. I held her back. When we came out of the dunes I stopped her about 10 feet being the TW. She was acting screwy like she couldn't stand still so I urged her over away from the horse to come up beside him. Another fit. Then we headed down towards the beach. She tried it a couple more times. I began to get concerned because now I was going towards the water and a lot more traffic so I stopped her and walked kind of parallel with them. She still acted up. I tried to go where they were. Every time I tried to change her direction she balked or threw a fit. They were waiting but it was getting embarrassing so I told them to go ahead because I wanted to work with her. There were other horses behind us so they headed out. I basically wore her down. The further they went the better she behaved. The closer they got coming back the less she wanted to listen to me. It would probably have been better if I had Okie with me. Another day.

[HairOfTheDog]

....from the description of what the other riders in this group were doing, NO ONE was following trail etiquette.

That's what I'm wondering... that's why I wondered what they did and if anyone came to her and helped.

[CindyDawg]

They weren't rude . . It was the first time either of us had rode together. They offered and tried to stay. I ran them off. I was the one that left the group. I would have rather dismounted and went home than ruin everyone else's fun. Sounds like I was breaking all kinds of rules. You watch my posts though. I've been getting calls. I don't think they are going to let me get away with that again:')

[CindyDawg]

I thought about that. I want to go back at daybreak soon. I just had too much to worry about though. Kids and cars and stuff