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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!
I guess it's where you are coming from too. I wish I had a back yard.
The state forrest where we rode in WA. has a great plan. One side of the forrest is for motorized vehicles, the other for horses and bicycles. I thought that great.
At alot of the parks around here that have horse trails, there are no motorized vehicles allowed, and they seperate the hikers trails from the horse trails....they my cross/overlap a bit, but not much.
Here at home, I've run into rude 4 wheelers, and polite ones. It's funny that the rude ones have been adults. The kids have always stopped and turned their 4-wheelers off to let me pass.
This is off topic too, but kind of the same thing. We have trouble out here on the roads to our house after the highway with people on bicycles. Every weekend they back traffic up out here...they hug the yellow line....they swerve...I just don't understand this with all the bike trails around town, miles and miles.
Last weekend they had some kind of charity bike ride, they were just thick out here....ggggrrrrrrrrrr...and sadly some teenage boy got killed crossing a highway by getting hit by a semi....and that even with a spotter at the crossing telling him to come on....I have a feeling that might put a halt to it, and I hate it that that is what it took to get them to give it up...but IMO, it was inevitable. There has just gotten to be sooooooooo many of them doing it.
Becky
Wouldn't you think that the skills they learn in the arena can't do anything but help on the trails though? That's what I meant by trail or endurance horses kind of being the finished product.
That's how we lose trails. That's what's happened in our local National Forest. The horseback riders complain about the ATVers and bikers. The hikers complain about all of the above, and before long the whole area gets declared a "Wilderness Area" and you can't use it for ANYTHING, except for maybe hiking, and everybody loses. All trail use groups need to shut up their bickering and get together and lobby for MORE TRAILS. We've tried to do that around here but it doesn't seem to be sinking in too well. It's aggrivating!
Arena stuff is a big plus for a trail horse. But trail horses have a lot of boogers to deal with that you don't get in an arena...water crossing, animals jumping up, scary rocks, stumps, trash blowing, etc....And then too, I think trail horses are tougher physically.
I've had several barrel racers come out here to trail ride with me. 1. they never came back after 1 ride (including the girl who asked about my little rides:), 2. Several of the ones that came their horses had stone bruises the next day.
Becky
I know. I had a guy drive up to me , in his car of course and said "they allow horses on the beach?" I said "yeah" (bigger talker huh?) Well he says, you sure you can have horses out here. I have never brought my horse out here". I told him "Well. Why take my word for it, then. See that guy over there in shorts? He's a game warden. Go ask him" He kind of gave me a dirty look and drove off. No one else seemed to mind and enjoyed the show. Always one "well I never" in every crowd I guess. It was ok for him to drive though
It does work out real nice where we ride, but there are clear rules of etiquette and right-of-way, and most people follow them real well. Since horses have the right of way, I try to be polite and friendly always so they don't resent having to get out of our way. If bikers come up behind us, because they're faster, I try to let them by as soon as possible.
I wouldn't want to ride where there are motorized ORVs, I'm happy they have their side and we have ours, but we never have trouble with bicycles and hikers. Both the bicycles and the hikers do have room to complain that horses and ORVs can wreck trails and make mud. And both those groups should self-limit activity to help minimize their impact. Horses make deep mud on ours that the bikes and hikers have to slog through, but because of that we are limited to dry times of the year, and much of the trail maintenance is done by the horse groups anyway, so they are trying to fix those areas that get bad.</p>
Yeah, it would, if they're actually working on stuff that is usefull on the trail, like sidepassing and backing up and obstacles and stuff like that, and not just going around in circles. And they need to make sure that there's plenty of distractions going on while they're working, because there's sure to be some when they're out on the trail. So don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking all arena work, I really need to be doing MORE of that type arena work with my young horses than I'm doing, it's good for their minds, but I just hate it when all a horse gets to experience is going around in a circle.
I hear you. Those circles have there place though. It's hard to buck, rear or bolt going round and round:')
Ewwwwww, there might be horse poo in the water! Ewwwwww! ;o)
Oh, now those are a completely different kind of circle. I use those all the time, and you're right about their usefullness.
LOL! That reminded me of a funny story...
We were out on the trail and had been taking a break and this guy on a mountain bike came up on us from behind, just as we were getting ready to mount up, and he asked if he could go on ahead since he would probably be going faster than us and we said "Sure, go ahead", so he did. Well, we caught up with him in about 5 minutes and stayed behind him for about 15 minutes or so, going up and down hills, and he finally gave it up and pulled over and said we were killing him and we just kinda grinned as we went on past. He'd obviously never ridden in front of a group of gaited horses before.
LOL - I imagine there's some hills we'd be faster going up, but most of the bikers around here leave us 'normal walking' riders in the dust :~)
Are you sticking up for your BIL? Is this the same L.S. I know? LOL.
Not sticking up for him, just saying that it's 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. She's just as bad as he is!
She's the same way with Mother too. She's had control issues ever since she was a teenager. She just never grew out of it.
An interesting side note to this discussion. When Celia was younger she use to run barrels and was pretty good at it. She has raised Stormy from birth. She never did anything with him but trail ride, CTR's. About 3-4 years ago, I told her about a playday down at the arena and she brought him to that just for fun and something else to do. He won. He'd never been around a barrel before at all, and he won. Now that was at the playday level which isn't quit as fast as the jackpots, but still impressive, and she didn't just barely win, she won by a lot.
With all the trail riding she had done on him, he had learned to listen to her and do what she said. It doesn't take hours and hours of going around barrels to train one to do them. Obviously.
Becky
Yeah, I know. Had dinner with her Saturday night. A bunch of us went to eat for her birthday after the dog show. I think that is why she won't ride anymore, she has no control over getting up and down. I told her most of us can't get up with out help anymore either! She actually changed the subject.
That's really cool, and I think you're right. Sometimes you can practice something TOO much.
Speaking of going around in circles and being polite:)
The clearing back in the woods that my neighbor made for hunting deer...all summer when I would get there I'd lope circles just for something different.
Today when we went thru there, he has a crop of fescue growing. It still looks new and tender....I wanted to, because it is a perfect place, good ground...but I didn't. I didn't want to tear up his nice grass:\ He's cut so many nice new trails, that I guess I can be nice and not tear up his grass:)...We rode around the edge. His baiting is working too....all kinds of deer track around there. I sure enjoyed having a place to do circle work tho along the trail...
Becky
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