[AnAmericanMother]

Sorry if you think I'm being "bold" or "harsh." I'm just telling like it is. I used to be an instructor so it sort of jumps out at me. There's no ignoring the fact that this girl's body is out of alignment, long stirrups or no, and she's just too heavy for a young horse. He's a sturdy boy, but if he's only 2 his growth plates are still vulnerable. 30 minutes a day at a soft pace probably won't do him any harm, but I hate to see a heavy, out-of-balance rider on a young horse.

I'm not going to ignore something as obvious as this, any more than I ignore my own shortcomings. As I said, I'm 30 pounds overweight, and it makes me look bad on a horse. Plus my legs are short in relation to my overall height, no matter how long I try to let down my stirrups. That's why you don't see too many pics of me on Gracie - I know it looks bad unless you can see as little of me as possible. A 90 degree side-on picture is as bad as it gets. And you would never, ever catch me on one of my trainer's babies (and she wouldn't let me on one anyhow.)

But if we're all going to make nice and just say that everything in the garden is wonderful . . . o.k. Just let me know the rules ahead of time, I can deliver false compliments as well as anybody. (She looks splendid, and she and the horse can go to the Garden tomorrow. No, that one doesn't pass the smell test.)

[HairOfTheDog]

I guess I'm just going to leave it at "more than enough said".

[Duchess47]

As far as I'm concerned, you can say anything you want. You aren't upseting me at all. He is a youngster, just turned two in May, even though he is 15.3 and close to 1000lbs at least. He is still growing.

They are only working him 20-30minutes a day. I think they put him in a trot just because I came out, because they hadn't ask for that yet. When I showed up, they took him off the lunge line so I could see him work.