The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!

[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. In the last thread we had a great time and were a great help to each other working through lessons and training, horse lamenesses and illnesses, questions and challenges and always just our stories we like to tell.

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 Becky pings everyone most mornings. Let Becky (Paynoattentionmanbehindthecurtain) 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 last thread, 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.

[Beaker]

I used to just loop the stirrup leathers once or twice around the top of the iron and then adjust them with the buckle for the littler kids that I taught... sometimes I STILL have to do it for myself with my short legs! :-)

[CindyDawg]

Hey, maybe that's what I need to do for me') My left foot kept slipping out today. Don't know why because I didn't do any adjusting. Maybe someone borrowed it.

I did graduate from a 2 to a 1 step block today. I got those short legs up and over lol

[CindyDawg]

You ever think about why you want to ride horses? I asked myself today and couldn't come up with an answer :')

[Beaker]

You ever think about why you want to ride horses?
Riding horses is like breathing. It's not something you wonder why you do. You just do. :-)

[Beaker]

I did graduate from a 2 to a 1 step block today. I got those short legs up and over lol
Hooray! My trainer has a really nice tall mounting platform that I use all the time. It's lovely. Perhaps your left foot slipped out because that stirrup leather has streched slightly. It's entirely possible, considering that's the stirrup leather that you mount on. Or it could have been an odd day. Just throwing something out there. :-)

[Empress]

Eyas, just got back from being net.dead for the last month. I was on an externship at an equine referal practice north of Dublin. *Nice* place, lots of surgeries, lot of really fine horses coming through the clinic. And the digital radiography... I could really get addicted to that. Anyway, good to be back in Dubling for the final haul, only 9 weeks left to go!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I always keep my horses seperate from each other. They can see each other but are in sperate runs/pastures. I think it's the best thing for herd bound horses.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Your barn looking good, I like the feeders.

Rocky has never ate wood, destroyed anything in the barn with his cribbing, he just places his front teeth on an edge and sucks in, but we have had some that could eat up a wood stall, or eat the bark off trees, in just a very short while. But they didn't suck air.

Does the term cribbing refer to sucking air, or eating wood or both?

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Good morning.

The sky is clear today. So I will be riding today with Heather. And another lady that I met awhile back, last year, stopped by yesterday and is coming too. People coming out of the wood work all of a sudden.

Becky

[CindyDawg]

Morning

[CindyDawg]

Welcome back:') 9 weeks until back in the states or your training completed?

[HairOfTheDog]

Thanks about the barn. We are re-using their old feeders that were outside in the lean-to. We are also going to put one more rail up above that wall so Bay can't reach over and make mischief.

The couple websites I looked at do run the two problems together and call it cribbing, though windsucking is an entirely different problem than destructively eating the wood, imo.

Your situation ~is~ tough then... it is hard to remove all objects they can get their teeth on.

[HairOfTheDog]

Bay still doesn't look to sure about this.

Heh.... he'll come around again when his food is in there ;~D

Cindy, it is nice during the day, not cold, been in the sixties and sunny.... night temps in the forties.

[tuffydoodle]

I think typically "cribbing" is a wind-sucker, lots of old cowboys call them stump-suckers. Not sure if there is a technical name for a wood-eater.

When you keep your horses separate, do they share a common fence? There are horses all around me and the only way to keep them from nosing each other over the fence would be to keep them in the barn or in a round pen.

[CindyDawg]

I was just wondering since the pony wearing her blanket. We are "supposed" to drop to the 50's this evening:')

[HairOfTheDog]

ahhh.. We were just putting on blankets for dinner and did Bay's also after the pic...

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome back empress! Almost done with school then?

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

My horses share common fence line. It's mostly hot wire. But some are seperated by panels. I don't think I would seperate them with barbwire, unless you had hot wire along the top and bottom to keep them off.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I don't mean to intrude, but 50's is not cold enough to warrant a blanket. IMO, even the thirties are not, unless maybe you're getting precip too. Horses handle cold a whole lot better then heat.
Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Are the horses they can nose your's or neighbors?

I only have five acres, The peremiter fence is barbwire. The inside is divided into seperate runs. The dividing fence is one strand of hot wire hooked to insulators nailed to trees. I don't have neighbors that share a property line (yet).

Becky