FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 12

[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The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - (very out of date) Who's Who *pics*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, usually about our horses, sometimes about our dogs, gardens and other stuff we do. :~)

I have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will ping everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list.

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.

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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11

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

[Duchess47]

:) I imagine if he’d of had Pony with him, the two of them would still be going. He doesn’t have the courage yet to totally strike out on his own.

[FrogInABlender]

That "Horse and Hound" class looks like fun! You got some great pictures there. Congrats to Alison on her wins. I think PJ was probably thinking that he was supposed to be "ground tied" when she got off and he wouldn't break and come with her, even for a carrot. Now THAT'S a well trained horse!

The dun pony with the cool clip on his mane is a Norwegian Fijord Horse. I've seen them before, but never with their mane clipped like that. I really like it! Here's what their registry says about them...

The Norwegian Fjord Horse is one of the world's oldest and purest breeds. It is believed that the original Fjord Horse migrated to Norway and was domesticated over 4,000 years ago. Herds of wild Fjord Horses existed in Norway after the last ice age....One of their unique characteristics is that approximately 90% of all Fjord Horses are brown dun in color. The other 10% are either red dun, gray, white or "uls" dun, or yellow dun. The Fjord Horse retains the "wild" dun color of the original horse as well as the primitive markings which include zebra stripes on the legs and a dorsal stripe that runs from the forelock down the neck and back and into the tail. Dark stripes may also be seen over the withers... Another unique characteristic of the Fjord Horse is the mane. The center hair of the mane is dark (usually black) while the outer hair is white. The mane is cut short so it will stand erect. It is trimmed in a characteristic crescent shape to emphasize the graceful curve of the neck The white outer hair is then trimmed slightly shorter than the dark inner hair to display the dramatic dark stripe...

[AnAmericanMother]

The "Horse and Hound" race cracks me up!

Combining my two favorite sports - show jumping and dog agility!

We were on lunch break at a horse show one time (just a schooling show at our barn) and Shelley was there just hanging out, so I took her over the hunter course. She did splendidly and people started clapping, and that REALLY got her revved up and she started 'orbiting' - running in circles with her hind end tucked under - what a ham!

[Duchess47]

Great pictures. Congratulations to Allison - wish we would have had a child like that around 5-6 years ago on Prez.

I think maybe that horse is a Fford (?)

[Duchess47]

Fjord, that’s it :) My neighbor has one.

[HairOfTheDog]

Great pictures of the interesting classes... makes it fun to have unusual things there.

OK, what kind of horse/pony is this? I thought it was one of those Asian Wild Horses. It was really cool, how the mane was clipped.

Is a Norwegian Fjord... The Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry - About the Breed They're terrific. An acquaintance has a team of them he drives.

[HairOfTheDog]

Ooop! I see it’s been answered already!

[MissTargets]

Thanks all...now I remember the name of the breed. It had me stumped.

It was an open/fun/benefit show. Pretty big turnout, as the fair for that County starts next week. The oldest fair in Ohio.

[MissTargets]

PJ is trained to ground tie and we knew she would have a hard time of it...but she had fun. :)

[Duchess47]

Give Janelle a colt and she'll have fun :) What she taught Tuffy this afternoon.

[HairOfTheDog]

He has an unusual form, but he’s young :~)

[Duchess47]

LOL - I think that’s the first time he’s ever jumped anything. I was amazed that he did just because she asked him to.

[AnAmericanMother]

He trotted over it -- pretty good for first time over anything! And any horse would give that big ball a snorty look . . . .

The Cowboy Action folks have a mounted division -- they shoot wax bullets at balloons. Too bad Gracie's out of commission ( :-( ) because she is absolutely gun-staunch (you can fire a shotgun from her back). They had a jump on one of the courses awhile back, it couldn't have been 18 inches high, and you should have seen those horses snorting, jibbing, and getting over that obstacle every way but straight . . . .

But seriously Gracie would be completely out of her league in mounted cowboy action, because it's a twisty tight course and everybody's riding little barrel horses -- she would get her long legs crossed up and fall over . . . .

[FrogInABlender]

Boy, that Tuffy’s a good ‘un. Jumping over stuff like that at liberty, right off the bat, that’s impressive!

You should’ve seen my bunch the first time I rolled a big ball out in the pasture. You would’ve thought the devil himself was out there. Talk about snorty! Their feet were barely touching the ground.

[HairOfTheDog]

Last night I went to check the trap before bed and there was a possum up on the table in the little kitty holding pen. ACK! I had put the trap on there, and I really didn't want him in there so I tried to shoo him out.

This did not work. Jeff Corwin, I am not.

I was banging on the outside of the pen with a big push broom and hubby came out to see what was up and he was standing off to the side and when the possum came out, first he came toward me, but I squealed and he headed not for the open door, but right for hubby, who was in shorts and sandals, standing on a bale of hay. The possum went right between his feet, he shrieked and did a little jig. Jeff Corwin, he is not.

Then the possum went behind the hay and burrowed into loose hay and for the longest time we couldn't find him. Then I raked the hay away, and there he was, under the pallet the hay was on. No way we could get him out from there. We had to give up and go to bed, let him come out when he will.

But first I put the cat food up high on the top of the pen and tripped the trap. We were done for the night, no more Wild Kingdom for us. We needed rest.

~shudders~ possums are hideous creatures.

We have a plan now, though, to get rid of them. We need to. They're living under our house and hitting the barn cat food at night.

We're going to trap again tonight, hoping for the kitten of course, and if we see or catch a possum, we'll trap it, put it in an empty garbage can, and take it up to the state forest. We discussed various ways of killing it, from shooting to drowning, and we're not sure we're up to either one.



But anyhow! There's a whole 'nuther drama this morning! Around 5, I wake up to a lot of meowing. It's the kitten, and she's meowing and someone is answering... Her mother is right outside the open window, looking in, clawing and pushing at the screen, and kitten was reaching through the bars of the cage trying to get to her. Oh dear. "Hi momma, I'm not hurting your kitten, we're trying to help her" I tried to say, and I felt bad for both of them. How to expalin this to them, I wonder. Poor things.

I went outside and mom would retreat and come back. Didn't see the orange kitten with her but she probably had him parked someplace nearby.

I closed the window so they couldn't hear each other and covered the crate with a blanket, and not knowing if it would work, started trying to comfort the kitten with the glove on a pole. She started interacting with it and rubbing on it, so I took the pole out and put the glove on my hand... and we had a breakthrough. She purred.





Aw geeze, this is a lot of drama.

[FrogInABlender]

Awwww, that’s sad about the mama cat crying for her baby, but that’s great that the kitten is letting you pet her now. Good job! She’ll be a lap kitty in no time at this rate.

And that’s hysterical about the possum. I can just see you both squealing like little girls. Of course I would have too, along with quite a few words that you WOULDN’T ever hear coming from a little girl. ;o) They are nasty-looking.

If you’re planning on hauling the suckers off you’d better take them pretty darned far, like over 10 miles, or they’ll just come back. I’d spray them on the back with some loud colored spray paint before I let them loose, just so I’d know if they were comming back or if you were trapping new ones each time. I’ll bet you’ll be surprised how many there turn out to be.

[HairOfTheDog]

We were thinking of taking them up to the trailhead where we ride from... it’s 7 miles, lots of road between here and there, I can’t imagine they’d make it back without getting splattered on one of them.

But at least it wouldn’t be my doing.

[ecurbh]

I can just see you both squealing like little girls.

Excuse me? I'll have you know that I did not 'squeal'. I shreiked. Completely different. ;~)

[FrogInABlender]

LOL!! Yeah, yeah, that’s what you say now!

[FrogInABlender]

Oh, the deal about transfering a possum from the trap to a garbage can doesn’t exactly sound like a good idea to me, unless you want to experience more squealing when he comes baling out of that can before you can get the lid on and possibly bites you in the process. With all the dead stuff and garbage they eat, can you just imagine the shots you’d have to take for that?! I’d just haul him up to the Forest in the trap and let him out up there.