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The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - (very out of date) Who's Who *pics*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

[FrogInABlender]

Just lovely! The joys of being on a well!

Is it cold enough for it to have froze again?

[HairOfTheDog]

Terrific rock and horse pictures, as always! Thanks for climbing the tree for us! ~applause~

Had to take your time there or you'd end up in a heap at the bottom of a hill.

I can also picture that!

[HairOfTheDog]

No... it’s not freezing at all... it’s real mild and the horses weren’t even blanketed last two nights.

...and it’s back on now...

So who knows what he was up to.

[HairOfTheDog]

That tree you’re on is pretty interesting. Talk about making the best of a situation! He didn’t get to choose where his seed got dropped, only how to grow in spite of it, right?

[Duchess47]

I’m glad to hear the Harley’s injury isn’t serious. And that Charlie fixed the barn so you don’t have to deal with that.

How long a drive is it that you have to make? Will be praying for a safe trip for you all.

If you can’t whine to friends, who can you whine to? :) Seems like I did enough of that myself and for a lot less reason. Besides, you never know when one of us might have a constructive idea along with the shoulder to cry on.

[Duchess47]

I just cannot get over the incredible trails you have there and the rocks. It seems like something out of a science fiction movie. I mean if I saw a painting of them instead of a picture, I would think the artist made them up.

[FrogInABlender]

I had an interesting morning before then too. I had the farrier out to shoe Bob and Hope and I had him custom make her back shoes. She was smooth as glass when I first got her back from the trainer, but then I tried her in the NB shoes and she'd gotten progressively trottier ever since, the longer she stayed in them. The short toes in the back were just not working for her, so I tried a regular shoe on back, but I think by that point it was more habit than anything else, plus not getting ridden as often as she should be, so I had to try something else. The trainer had told me to try putting some ankle weights on the back to see if that would fix it, so the last time I rode her I tried a set of 14oz anklets made up of stainless steel balls that I used to put on Tennessee's fronts, trying to break up his pace, and that did the trick. But you don't want to ride with the ankle weights all the time so I went with a heavier shoe instead. He's not really a gaited horse farrier and he didn't have anything in his truck that was all that much heavier than the NB's we put on her fronts, so he offered to make a set of hinds out of bar stock. I wasn't sure if that would be enough, but went with it anyways, just for the entertainment value of getting to see him make them. It was interesting seeing somebody start off with a straight piece of metal and end up with 2 shoes...

[FrogInABlender]

Yeah, it looks like something out of Alien. Very bizarre!

[HairOfTheDog]

Very cool pictures! Nice job. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s what she needs!

[Duchess47]

That’s fascinating watching the shoes being made. Where are the pictures of the finished product on the horse?

[FrogInABlender]

Well it sure seemed to be on Saturday coz I couldn’t have asked for a better ride. That little girl can MOVE! I’m hoping that I can ride her in them for a cycle or two and then drop back to a regular weight shoe once she gets that rhythm back in her head. I guess sometimes I need to remember that if something ain’t broke, it really don’t need fixing. :-p

[FrogInABlender]

I took one, but it was blurred. I’ll have to get one this evening or tomorrow and post it. I took a little bit of a video clip too so I’ll upload that here in a bit and post the link. I won’t be able to view it here at work so y’all will have to tell me if it worked.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I’m trying to learn that lesson too.

[FrogInABlender]

Those shoes ended up weighing 12oz apiece. The heaviest stock shoe he had in the truck weighed 8oz. So it’s not that big a difference, but apparently enough to change the timing of the footfalls.

[Duchess47]

You have to work on President’s Day - the horror. I guess working for the government, even if it is city government, has turned me into a wimp. I get every holiday off and some we just made up here in Nevada.

I’m glad to hear they worked and looking forward to the pictures.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Oh wow!!! :)

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Here's the link to the video clip of the farrier starting to make the shoe. I didn't film it TOO long because I didn't want to use up my battery or my chip so I'd have room for trail ride pics later. I remember asking him how he knew how long to cut the metal so that it would fit the foot and he said he measured the length of the hoof from toe to heel, then added 2 inches. Interesting! Then he decided that he'd add the heel caulks for the extra weight so he added another 2 inches, one inch of fold-over for each heel.

[MissTargets]

The Horseman's Assoc. (NEOHA) that Amy and Alison belong too, had their year-end awards banquet this past Saturday. It was very nice with great food! I even managed to win a few things in the Chinese Auction. A nice Afghan, 4 horse plates with one filled with cookies and a gift certificate from TSC.

Alison did very well with awards. 1st W-T Pleasure, 1st W-T Trail, 2nd W-T Horsemanship, 3rd W-T Egg & Spoon and 4th in Showmanship, 10 & under. She received a chair, saddle rack, halter bag, Breyer horse and some other goodies, plus a trophy. That is Amy on the left and Dakota won the Royalty award and is passing out the awards.

Amy won 2nd in Open Trail, 2nd 30 & over Horsemanship and Pleasure, 3rd in Showmanship and 4th in Open Trail. They both showed PJ.

Alison was Division winner in Walk-Trot 10 & under also. Very cool jacket! The lady on the left, is the point keeper.

[BladeRider]

I just got an e-mail from Blade and she didn’t mention any bad weather so I assume it missed her too.

I was up close to Nashville, TN yesterday. It rained all the way up on me but no bad weather. Everything was still standing when I got home so I assume there was nothing serious. There were some pretty bad tornados down close to Montgomery, that is about 3 hours south of me though.

[HairOfTheDog]

Congratulations to both of them! :~)