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Thread III: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1311311/posts |
Posted on 04/26/2004 12:06:41 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Free Republic has a lot of horse people that have found each other on other threads…. And since we all like to talk horses, how about a thread where it is not off-topic, but is THE topic?
A few of us thought it would be interesting and informative to have a chat thread where we can 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. We may not ~always~ have a lot of activity, but when we do, it will be fun. I will put 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 will also develop a ping list for horse threads that are of interest. 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.
I am hoping this thread will be a 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.
He didn't follow her through this part though ;~D
Pony is such an eager little jumper, I wish there was a kid around who wanted to pony club her.
Only a few days left now before company starts arriving for the wedding.... lots of work to be done around here, so I'd best be at it... just wanted to play a ~little~ and remember that the thread is still here :~D
Awww. How cute. Just surfing before I get ready to go to church. I'm trotting (well actually Okie is:') not bad now. I feel secure with my balance and able to control turning. I don't have to think about keeping my heels down, sitting up straight and the handful of other things that need doing so much now. I'm going to work a little on posting for awhile and then , "gulp" I'm going to try loping. I was watching another boarder with about my experience. The staying on while moving doesn't concern me but the keeping going when he stops does a bit.lol
It is a lot of things to keep track of at once... so many that it is hard for me to teach ecurbh without overwhelming him with stuff to think about all the time!
Does Okie have a nice easy slow jog trot? Or is it pretty bouncy? Bay has a huge long trot stride he learned for endurance racing and never learned a nice western trot. Even his slow trot is hard to sit. He has a really nice easy lope to sit though, so for ecurbh, cantering is actually easier.
It all depends on the horse, some have easier gaits than others.
Well I think he's a little bouncy but not much to compare with, but I like it. I've noticed it is a lot smoother out of the arena though. On the trail or grass areas it's better. He can speed up when he wants to or on the way home and you should see him streak across the pasture. When riding most of the time he only goes as fast as I make him. Sometimes he wants me to let him go but not usually. He and I both tend to be happy laid back and getting there when we get there:') Got to go. I'm on vacation with my grandkids and we are in and out. If I don't get back with you before the 19th (I probably will though) my prayers with you and Ecurbh. Have a beautiful wedding:')
What a pretty little pony she is!
My horse is a little pony-sized guy, mostly Morgan, but he was never a very good jumper. He had a serious injury on a trail ride last summer and it simply refused to heal up. Things were so bad the vet had come to see him one last time and make an appointment to put him down once I arranged for the backhoe.
I think he heard us talking...because by the next week, the wound (which had been open for five months and kept getting infected) started to close. Within a two weeks it was closed and all that remained was a huge swelling in the hock. We knew he'd never be sound again.
That was in January - and I have been riding him since May! The swelling is almost entirely gone, he can flex, and every day he gets better (as the adhesions break up, I think).
There's a little bit of lameness that comes and goes, and I doubt that he'll ever be fully sound, but he'll probably be okay for the trail someday. And I'm thinking of teaching him to drive.
Horses are amazing animals. He just wasn't going to quit, which is why I didn't even consider having him put down until it looked as if his injury was getting more painful than bute could handle. But he just rallied one last time, and that time, he was able to pull himself through it. Sometimes the little ones make up in attitude what they lack in size!
Wow... what a neat recovery story, I am glad you stuck it out and gave him the time to heal! It can be very slow. I hope he does indeed keep getting better.
Any pictures?
Naturally, I have hundreds of pictures! My kids say that I never took that many pictures of them...I'll post some as soon as I have time!
Excellent! :~D
Hello there,
Is that Snapfish hosting site a freebie? I finally bought my digital camera, and would like to post some pics. The Yahoo site does not host well, as you know.. :)
I wish you all the luck in the world, with your wedding!
It is free for me without limitation, through my ISP... But I think Snapfish is free for everyone, at least for awhile, before they want you to buy something. And they sell cool stuff, like prints from some of your pictures, or t-shirts or mugs with your pics on them.
Yorkphoto.com is very similar too, and is free for a year before they want you to buy something.
Both Snapfish and York have a really easy interface to load pictures to, and the linked pictures hold up really well without turning into red x's.
Thanks a lot. I will have to check with my ISP.
That is one cute pony. I wish we were closer, my kids would school and Pony Club her and double her value for you.
I would love that.... I love her, and she's safe with me, but I would like to see her have a skill in life! Right now as a barely-broke pony with a flighty temperament, she has little value to anyone but me. :~D
She is a very fancy pony, and is as pretty as the fancy show ponies I have seen. She's only six years old.... and 12.2 hands. [on reflection, I haven't measured her, and she may be a little less than that, but she's substantial for 12+ hh] Perhaps a little on the small side to find someone small but strong enough to handle her. That's been the trouble for me. This is a really fast moving, fast thinking, high spirited pony. The lady that put 60 days basic training on her a few years ago weighed about ninety pounds. She was doing really well, but she wasn't going to be a beginner's mount even after another 60 days, so she was given to me as a companion for Bay.
She needs someone willing to put a thousand miles on her before I'd trust her with a kid. It took her a long time to trust that I am not going to kill her. I think her early ownership and training was very harsh.
She always jumps like that. Rushes to jumps, and takes off too far out, but eager to do it and never refuses, so it'd only be a matter of settling her down ;~D
Here she is over a different jump.
Here's a size reference... I'm 5'5"... and my horse behind us is a measured 15.2.
I have lunged her, ground driven her, saddled her and done all I can short of riding her. ecurbh and I are seriously considering training her as a pack mount for our gear to be able to camp in the high country. Might be good experience for her.
I just came in from riding the mare (still don't know her name:), I would say she is not much more then green broke. The reason I am riding her for the guy is to get her in better physical shape. As you saw from her picture she is very fat and out of shape. I rode her for about 45 minutes today. She sweated up and was breathing very rapidly pretty fast, altho I didn't do much more then walk. When we did trot or lope it was only about 1/2 around the arena then back to a walk. How much do you think she can be rode right now and not hurt her??? It is very humid and hot here and I figured after today I need to get started on her alot earlier in the morning (this morning it was about 10:00), or late at night under lights. I'm planning on taking her on her first trail ride Wed. My daughter is going with me. I don't like going out on new horses by myself the first time. If she does fine I will take her out 5 times a week. Do you think a couple of hours would be to much at the start?
Becky
Is she a young horse?
I'd just watch for soreness.... press hard down her back and watch for tender reactions. 5x per week is a pretty tough schedule starting out, but she'll probably come right up to it if you are just walking mostly on trails. Maybe go two days on, then day off... and not going hard.
I start Bay out slower than that in the spring when he's been off all winter... with a week of lunging before riding, and a week of walking before trotting, but he's 22 and doesn't come up as quick as a young one would.
Yeah, she is young 5-6. I'm not real sure how long the guy is going to let me keep her. Maybe only 30 days. Since he is my first customer:), I want to have her in as good as shape as you could get one in that amount of time, but like I said, I don't want to kill her either. So you think 5 x's a week is alot???. I could go Mon, Tue, off Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, off Sun.
Stay on the easy trials for the first week before I hit some hills. But the hills are were you really build their respiration and muscle.
I guess just play it by ear, and keep an eye on how she is acting, and don't obsess over condition:) I tend to do that, I use to get very regimented when conditioning for a competition, and get really frantic the close it got about sticking to my workout schedule, which was probably more then the horse needed for what I did.
Becky
I think a young horse like that can handle that schedule, if you're keeping flexible depending on how she's holding up.
As it happens, I've got some experience in this area, because when my trainer got Gracie, she was not overweight but she had never been ridden at age 14 and was in terrible physical condition - no muscle mass and no aerobic capacity to speak of. It was not high summer when we started breaking her, but it got hot pretty quickly.
I would start early in the morning (there's a lot of residual heat left over in the ground in the evening - it's also somewhat less humid on an early summer morning, at least around here) and I would longe her lightly (at a soft trot) for 15-20 minutes to gauge her distress. If her flanks aren't heaving and her nostrils aren't everted, I would go ahead and climb on and just ride her lightly for no more than an hour. I would mostly walk at first, lots of circles and turns, and trot just like you described, half way round and walk, and maybe lope once each way of the arena.
I would not ride her every day, either. I would ride her every other day and longe her for an hour on the off days. If she doesn't get very distressed (and the cool morning hours should be easier for her), you can increase the riding by 15 minutes a riding day and the longeing 20 minutes or so a longeing day.
I don't know how much you weigh, but I'm 175 and so my weight was a definite consideration for Gracie - once she learned how to longe (and THAT was fun, let me tell you . . . not!) it was a very good way to continue to bring her along with a little less strain. It's a royal pain to go slow when you'd much rather be careering along the trails, but taking the time now will pay off later.
I would get a longeing cavesson or fixed elastic side reins to use while longeing, too. That began building up Gracie's neck and withers muscles right away.
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