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The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - (very out of date) Who's Who *pics*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

[HairOfTheDog]

Right... We were initially going to borrow Kat for Becky... knowing she’d be more at home on a QH, but Kat hurt her shoulder in some kind of pasture play slip a week before Becky was coming and we borrowed Mia the Arab instead.

Bob thinks Kat’s not been an easy keeper over the winter and kept feeding her more to put weight on her. I think he’s feeding alfalfa and senior feed. I know that’s way more than Tiff ever fed her so I’m not sure what was going on there.

When I was down last time, she did seem to be feeling really good, ripping around the pasture when we brought the new horse over. But I told Bob she didn’t need to gain anything. She’s lean, but she should be kept lean, she has little tiny feet and probably some arthritis, keeping her light is good for her.

[FrogInABlender]

Well, based on the size and girth of that App that Bob has, plus the new horse that he just got, I’d say that he has a definate tendancy to want them to be a little too much on the meaty side. He’s just not used to seeing a horse that has more of a slim, athletic build. Hopefully he can be convinced to quit trying to pack the pounds on her before he does her some unintentional harm.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - next to them she’s little :~)

We’re back from getting tabs on the truck, heading down there in a few.

[FrogInABlender]

Well, they’re letting us off a couple of hours early here at work, so if I don’t talk to ya again before then, y’all have a nice holiday weekend and I’ll talk to ya on Tuesday.

[HairOfTheDog]

OK - will do :~) We’re not really doing anything over the weekend, I don’t think. We’ll stay out of the woods till the tourists all head back to town :~)

Are you going riding?

[MissTargets]

We’re not really doing anything over the weekend,

No plans here either. Kids are having friends over tomorrow for some 4-wheeling and fire. We are getting a nice rain at the moment. I was out mowing and had to stop. This is the first time in about two weeks, so we needed it.

There are so many people on the road..wow! Everyone is out getting ready for the Holiday. Wal*Mart's parking lot was packed. I took some flowers to the cemetery and stopped at TSC for bedding. The sawdust man can't come until Tuesday and the stalls were getting pretty bad and I didn't want to wait until then. The T-storms are suppose to be scattered, so hopefully, I can finish mowing and get stalls cleaned.

[MissTargets]

We lost another tree today, well half of it. It looks like it might have been hit by lightening at one point, because you could tell there were burn marks inside. With the rain on the leaves there was probably too much weight. It came down right between my SIL's truck and the fence.

A little blurry, but you can see where it was blacken inside.

Ben had already moved his dually and you can see where the branches are on the fence. Luckily it didn't hit the truck or take down the fence. He had already started with the chain saw in this pic.

We do have one tree in the pasture by the barn and we're planning on taking that one down tomorrow.

[HairOfTheDog]

Wow... that’s a big mess!

[CindyDawg]

He knows you are going somewhere lol.

[CindyDawg]

I cancelled class today. I almost didn’t get out in time. We are flooding and more rain coming.

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

Everyone have a safe and wonderful weekend.

T-Storms predicted for today and tomorrow.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yikes... batter down your hatches for those thunderstorms!

We're up drinking coffee. We did go down and work Kat yesterday, but unfortunately, she didn't finish sound. She ended up really favoring one front foot. Maybe she bruised it on a rock? Anyway, it was perplexing and I was bummed by it. I do hope she can get sound and stay sound. The plan is to see if she improves over the long weekend and is over it by next week sometime, and I'll come down and work her again. Then she just needs to be taken very slow.

Here she is...

And here we are trying on several saddles Bob borrowed to try on her. None of them fit her right. We ended up putting Bob's custom saddle on her, and it fit her. That's the tree she needs, whatever it is... full QH bars, I think.

She was a ~tad~ crazy on the lunge when I first started her. It kindof surprised me. But it was just very new to her, she has known how to lunge I'm sure, but it's probably been a lot of years. She's going OK here :~)

Then I got up... a little nervously after how nutty she was on the lunge, I didn't know if she had a temper tantrum in her still or not. ;~)

But she was super... nice quiet, easy going under saddle. I felt really uncomfortable in that saddle... it felt like I was riding in one of those baskets they put on top of elephants, I was so high off the horse. And I couldn't reach the stirrups, I was lucky to slip my feet in them to keep them from flopping. Bob didn't want to move them.

I started wondering if she was short stepping while I was still on her. It was subtle at that point... We put ecurbh on her, I wanted to watch her go, but unfortunately, she just got worse. She's favoring her right front. Perplexing, because it's the left front that has the bad wire injury she's been recovering from.

I hope she bruised herself in some kind of minor way and doesn't have bigger issues. She was sound lunging, and for the first part of the ride, but then started acting sore. Hmmm...

[CindyDawg]

Could it be the saddle weight putting pressure on a sore area? JAT

[HairOfTheDog]

No, this was acute foot pain. And was no better or worse mounted, saddled, or unsaddled when we were done.

Bob gave her some Bute and we cold hosed it, really wasn’t too sure what else to do but rest her and see.

[CindyDawg]

Oh, ok. I thought I read she was ok lunging. I was just wondering if the extra weight could be putting pressure on the leg and causing her foot to hurt.

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh - she was OK lunging... and for the first part of the ride... then something happened.

You may be part right, it may have been too much too soon, I did have to lunge her quite a long time for her to calm down, and by then she’d worked pretty hard and gotten a good sweat going. She’s not a spring chicken, she’s 19. If she were mine I might have lunged her several days, easier, before riding.

But she did something... either stepped on a rock or stepped wrong so to pull something, at some point. It wasn’t just fatigue or being out of shape.

[CindyDawg]

Who is she Hair? I know she belonged to your friend. I’m kind of behind. Is she yours or Bobs now?

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh - she’s Bob’s. Bob traded his black horse for her as a potential horse for Jessie, who is about 9 years old. She hadn’t been worked all winter, and Bob’s never seen her worked, he just took my word for it. I was there to show off how broke and child-safe she is. I’ll ride her one more time, then Jessie will probably ride, and then she’ll hopefully take a few lessons on her at the stable she’s been taking lessons at... and then hopefully she’ll be able to go on trail rides on her with Bob. I hope she holds up for that plan.

[Beaker]

Hello everyone.

Well I did it. I rode my trainer's warmblood. What a giant! Egad. Has a BIG stride though, that was very hard to post to, and much easier to sit, if that makes any sense. I felt like a fool though, because of my size in relationship to his size, it took me forever to get him groomed and tacked up, and I had to have someone hold him while I got on because he was so hard to manuver. It was like handling an 18 wheeler. :-) I don't have pictures because I didn't have the right batteries for my camera, and the first thing that I thought was "The Saddle Club ladies are going to shoot me!" I'm going to be riding him from now on, or at least more often, so there will be pictures eventually. It wasn't one of my best rides because he was a LOT of horse to get used to, and I had trouble getting my legs around him. I need to build up more muscle. Does anyone who has ridden bigger horses, (he's 17 hands and wide) have any tips? I've never ridden a horse this big. To top it all off, my trainer wants me to ride him in the clinc.

There will be pictures tomorrow however. I'm going to watch a couple of dressage tests at a horse show. And it's Max's riding lesson.

[CindyDawg]

Don’t get a nose bleed:’)