The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - (very out of date) Who's Who *pics*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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread TEN

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[MaureenPT]

Miss Targets,Becky and Everyone

Thank You Carol for posting request for Prayer for Philip. Prayers were powerful and worked. My nephew was patched up and sent back to his Unit, being sent back means not a life threatening situation. Military was vague on the extent of his injury. We know it was in his back, figure a MASH medical unit in the field was adequate for his wounds. Don't know if surgery or stitches were involved. I hope they give him light duty before sending back out in battle.

My sister says thank you and is so overwhelmed/grateful that people that don't really know them are praying for her son. Prayer is powerful. Miracle that riding in the Hum Vee and hitting a land mine/ explosion of a bomb, then still being alive amazes me. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts.

Becky, keep up the good habits of health. (nice to be thought of that way) I think of you too.

Maureen

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Well keeping them up is the trick:)....I've not managed that one yet, altho, I have been doing well lately. I've gotten back to walking, weather permitting, and I've lost 21 lbs since the first Mon. after Thanksgiving:). I'd like to loose 11 more, and I think this time I'm going to make my goal. I got really off track last year dealing with a broken arm, and a back problem. I sat on the couch, ate chocolate and pouted about my bad luck:) And it eventually caught up with me big time by Nov.

Great to hear your nephew will be fine. Praying for his continued safety.

So, how have you been doing?

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Hey well, there is always artistic license:) go for it.

Becky

[carton253]

It is a beautiful horse! Thanks again!

[Duchess47]

I sure do thank you :) Feel a little bit overwhelmed out here.

[Duchess47]

I agree - for that time period, you would want to use a thoroughbred.

[Beaker]

You're lucky. My horse used to go to pieces when it came to wind.

[Duchess47]

That's great to hear. I've got Phillip on my prayer list now for a safe return home in due time.

[Beaker]

I'm glad to hear that your nephew's injuries were not life threatening. I hope that they keep him on light duty for a bit.

[Duchess47]

http://www.civilwarhome.com/warhorses.htm

(2) "Cincinnati" was the son of "Lexington," the fastest four-mile thoroughbred in the United States, time 7:19 3/4 minutes. "Cincinnati" nearly 'equaled the speed of his half-brother, "Kentucky," and Grant was offered $10,000 in gold or its equivalent for him, but refused. He was seventeen hands high, and in the estimation of Grant was the finest horse that he had ever seen. Grant rarely permitted anyone to mount the horse --two exceptions were Admiral Daniel Ammen and Lincoln. Ammen saved Grant's life from drowning while a school-boy. Grant says: "Lincoln spent the latter days of his life with me. He came to City Point in the last month of the war and was with me all the time. He was a fine horseman and rode my horse 'Cincinnati' every day."--TFR

[carton253]

I was thinking of a thoroughbred but I just wanted the horse to be "different" so it would stand apart from Traveller, Little Sorrel, and Virginia. Anyway, what do you think about the Hanoverian. Do you think it is possible?

Thanks for the website. I am going there!

[AnAmericanMother]

I don't think you'd find Hanoverians in the U.S. that early. The warmblood breeds were still pretty well under construction, and limited to Germany where they were becoming popular.

Among the speedsters, your choices are limited to English Thoroughbred or an American Saddlebred of the old type (in other words, not a high stepper). Nothing else has the size and speed. If the horse was an outcross to one of the coaching breeds, you might get a larger horse with more endurance.

But, speaking realistically, you would be hard put to find a 17 hand horse in that era that wasn't draft bred. And a draft bred horse will not have the speed.

People who ride now or people who are enamored of horses don't always realize that back in the Civil War era, that was how everybody got around. You have to think of horses in terms of cars because that's the function they filled at the time. In the North, there were very few riding horses . . . you had farm horses, and you had harness horses that pulled buggies. More riding horses (and better riding horses) in the South, because of the farms & plantations people needed to be able to get around in the saddle -- that's why the South had so much better cavalry than the North.

All you have to do is compare R.E. Lee's Traveller (a very handsome boy - a Saddlebred) with Phil Sheridan's horse, who was no looker:

Admittedly Winchester is stuffed, so it's hardly a fair comparison . . < g > Traveller was 16 hh and considered a very large horse.

A 17-hand horse would be a royal pain to stable, to get on and off, and to manage. Most people preferred a smaller, handy, quiet horse that was an easy keeper . . . the Ford Taurus of the equine world. I'm sure there were folks with the equivalent of a Hummer or a Maserati, but they were few and far between.

[AnAmericanMother]

I'd forgotten about Cincinnati. He was a big old boy - I wonder if my cousin Frederick is being absolutely truthful about his size though. (Ulysses Grant married my cousin Julia Dent).

Grant wasn't a very tall man, about 5 1/2 feet tall. 5 foot six is just around sixteen hands, and you can see that the horse's shoulder is a lot lower than that.

[AnAmericanMother]

Add my vote - Thoroughbred. The Saddlebreds would be too stocky. Virginia was the place where the racing T'breds were really appreciated and cultivated.

Warmbloods are beautiful horses (my trainer has a gorgeous one), but the machinations involved in getting a Trakehner or Hanoverian type horse from Prussia or Hanover over to the U.S. in the 1860s would be prohibitively unlikely.

Plus, I did a little checking, and the Trakehner stud book wasn't started until 1877, the Hanoverian in 1888. So that's just plain out of the running.

[HairOfTheDog]

Even if they were vague, I think it's good news that they were able to send him right back, I think. I pray he stays safe from here on out...

[carton253]

But the Hanoverian was so pretty... but if there is no possible way those warmbloods could make it to the US, then I will go with the thoroughbred.

Thank you for your help.

So, my character will have a 17 hand (if possible I want him bigger than Traveller) thoroughbred solid black with great speed and endurance. Stallion!

[carton253]

I am going with a thoroughbred. He will be 17 hands high (is that impossible) solid black with incredible speed and endurance. He will be also be a stallion...

If you read this description would you be thinking... that poor author knows nothing of horses!

[HairOfTheDog]

For what it's worth, my full blood Arab is 15.2 - but he's big for the standard, bred from Polish import Arabians who were taller and bred for racing, I think. The original desert horse was smaller than that.

I'd also vote thoroughbred, for the time, rare and exotic breeds would be uncommon... and for the time, 16 hands is a plenty tall horse. 17 is too big to have a lot of speed or endurance.

[AnAmericanMother]

What is this thing with stallions? I'd rather have a mare any day.

You know the Arabs used war mares . . . and most of the war horses during the Civil War were geldings, or mares. A stallion is problematic in large groups - if there is a mare in season anywhere around, he'll be courting with her and fighting with any other stallion around. Unless he's a particularly obedient stallion (or you put Vicks Vap O Rub up his nose.)

Hair, was your Arab you had when you were younger entire or a gelding? I've only had anything to do with one stallion, a TB. He was exemplary, but he was (1) really old when I knew him and (2) the only stallion on the place.

[carton253]

One more thing about the size. I went with 17 hands because I want the stallion taller than Traveller who was 16 hands high. But if this is infeasible because Traveller was exceptionally tall, then I will adjust the size. The main thing is speed and endurance.