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Thread III: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1311311/posts |
Posted on 09/18/2004 6:56:23 AM 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. 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.
I dunno.... but he'd just stand there like a good momma ;~D
Animals....makes you wonder.
Susie, my spaded Jack Russell has lately taken to humping my neutered male cat. Can't figure what's gotten into her, or him for that matter. He doesn't seem to mind:)
LOL....might as well stay in the gutter.
Becky
Heh... I have no response to that ;~D
:),,,enough about that.
I do have a horsey question that will get us back on track here.
I've been reading an article about "hard mouthed" horses. I've always wondered. Is the horse really hard mouthed, calloused can't really feel signals, or is it more a mental hardness to not paying attention?
Becky
I think it is more of a mental condition than a physical hardness, a horse that has learned to ignore pointless pulling. It just becomes like white noise.
If the rider pulls all the time, either from poor balance, or because they are fighting ineffectively with a horse, the horse will just learn to ignore and pull against it.
In that, the horse does learn to travel tense in the jaw and neck, so he is actually less receptive to being supple to light cues. Riders fix it temporarily by upping the bit to a harsher one the horse can't pull against, but if they don't get their hands quiet, and they don't learn to give the horse a place to escape pressure, the horse will learn to take that too and they end up just upping the bit again.
I ride with an egg-butt snaffle on Bay. About the mildest bit there is. He's been ridden in harsher before, and he certainly can get strong on me. When he does that, when any horse does that, my answer is to stop, relax my hands, relax the horse through some bending work like a circle, or slow down, release the rein on them and then slowly collect him again again with the lighter hand. You can't relax them out of a tugging match.
I can manage Bay in this snaffle because I can get him back through seat and hands.... if ecurbh was gonna use him on trail I was gonna switch him to a mechanical hackamore because in a runaway situation, simply pulling on a snaffle is not going to win.
I've always ridden in a mild curb. I think it's just a given in gaited horse circles. May be something about the head set, I don't know. I tried a snaffle for a little while but always felt like I didn't have any brakes so I went back to what I was comfortable with. One of these days I'm going to try it again. I'm not riding with such a fast crowd anymore so it might work out.
I use a Herm Springer snaffle on Tuffy but he gets wise to it after a while and starts lugging on it. I switch to a curb bit with a sweetwater mouthpiece (super mild curb) when he gets spoiled, use it for awhile, then switch back to the snaffle.
Your idea is better but I always ride on a loose rein and there is really no excuse for Tuffy to lug on the bit. He's just being the spoiled brat that I've taught him to be.
I just got something new that I'm going to try. It's a Darnall Billy Allen snaffle and I put a mecate on it. Someday it's going to dry up and I'll get to use it.
Any bit relies on the horse knowing he can submit to pressure and the pressure will go away. Horses can be soft mouthed with any bit. On principle, I would say the best situation is whatever bit doesn't take muscle to work. I'd rather see a harder bit used lightly than a mild bit used harshly.
You are exactly right. You see people fighting a horse with a mild snaffle, all the while fussing about how harsh a "spade" bit is when the people that use them have fingertip control on an amazingly trained horse. I was just thinking about this the other day, funny that you brought it up.
I firmly believe that any bit is only as harsh as the hands that are using it. Except for those ridiculous bicycle chains I see people using. Sheesh.
Thanks for the "Merry C'Mass" card" and the other pics. Make Bucko smile...:^). You all have some very handsome horses. I'd be proud too.
Thanks elbucko, and have a good Thanksgiving!
Sounds like everyone getting out of the house so I'll wish yall a Happy Thanksgiving now instead of when I get home. Scanning, it looks like there are a lot of funny posts up. I'll have to come back and read then later:')
Don't read today's posts without adult supervision ;~D
Most people would be content to have made history once. Famed American Long Rider Gene Glasscock is ready to do it again ! Gene is already well known for being the only person on record to have ridden from North to South America. The Texas born equestrian traveler accomplished that feat in the 1980s when he rode his Quarter Horse, Cactus, 12,000 miles from the Arctic Circle in Canada to the Equator in Ecuador. Yet ask any hard-core Long Rider about the lure of the long gray road and they will tell you that you never forget the siren song of that gypsy saddle. So now, at the age of 69, Gene Glasscock has set off on another, maybe his last, great equestrian adventure. The mission this time? To ride 20,000 plus miles on a three year continual journey that will take him to all 48 state capitals in the continental United States. [As I understand the plan (which is subject to change) he is due in here - well, Lake Lahanton about 2pm or so. My husband and a neighbor will meet him there with trailers and then trailer Mr. Glasscock and his horses here to another neighbor's house. He will spend Thanksgiving or the rest of it, then be trailered back to Lake Lahanton Friday morning to continue his journey. Several of the neighbors will ride for a few miles with him to keep him company on his way to Carson City. I'm hoping he'll allow me to take some pictures while he's here.]
Duh - Forgot the link
http://www.geneglasscock.org/
Anyone around?
My ride went really well. My instructor was most pleased with me. I'm practicing riding without my stirrups. My homework assignment this week is to practice a walk without then. No trotting though.
I was looking at that picture again. That's not Salvation Army relief but their building that was hit?
I mail ordered chickens. Half he and half she plus a few Easter chickens. We ended up keeping one ugly old rooster and my dandy. He would strut around in all his color and the hens loved him. The red one would come out, after blood and chase him away. I felt sorry for the pretty one but he was kind of a "sissy"
Well I guess everything smaller than them ,fair game to minitures then huh? :') I almost bought one at an auction a few months ago. I was going to put him on my BILs property. I couldn't see any use to owning him except he was so darn cute to look at. Probably 2 feet high:')
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