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Posted on 06/01/2005 7:34:38 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.
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 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. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.
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
New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!
They are predicting heat index temps over hundred this next week. I prefer summer to winter, but that's getting a bit too hot even for me. Especially since the humidity is going to be bad.
I had planned on being on a horse by now, but remembered I didn't get my feed yesterday, so I have to run to the feed store this morning. I don't think he opens till 8:30. I had enough for this morning, but that's it. He closes at noon.
I'm still going to ride, but will probably just stay in the arena, I can get done quicker there. I need to get very serious about working with Rusty. I'm going to give him about a month of consistent work and see how his stifle is after that. If he still has trouble by then I'll have my funds built back up and will take him to the vet.
Becky
Oh my gosh, you saw a bear!? Did the horses see it? Wow, now that's what I call a trail ride! Do ya'll ever carry guns for safety?
One other thing, it's weird seeing people wearing coats in June and I'm jealous. It was a hundred humid degrees here yesterday and today should be hotter. This is payback for mild winters.
I love your pictures but the ones I like the most are the pics with the scenery. I don't know, they give me a weird, lonely feeling, thinking of the history of that area. I can see the Donner Party crossing...
If you get the chance, I'd love to see more.
The pics of the landscape where everyone lives is so varied. It's so flat and barren and beautiful where you are, Hair is up in those huge woods, Becky is in the hills and trees (pretty much the same as me). We need some landscape pics from Beaker. Anybody here live in Colorado?
Sorry you've been too busy to chat... Good news you've got family moving closer!
Your babies look like they were havin' a blast.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/11928507.htm
Check this out!
Tiff's my 'woop and go' friend.... remember the last trail ride I went on with her? It was tough ground, no trail, riding Simpson Timber property, it was the first time we'd ever taken Cyn out. Cyn did great, 'cept for jumping over the creek.... and Bay did well too, but it was more ride than I wanted.
Well, this time she said it's real great trails, and grassy, we'll see. :~D
I tried, but you have to enroll there... what is it? can you copy it?
Lisa was packing a big revolver, and we do sometimes.
I don't think the horses ever saw it.
Yes, hold on a sec...
Cut, bend, twist, smooth, glue, tack, stitch
Class teaches meticulous craft of saddle making
By Paul Bourgeois
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - The reasons people make saddles are as varied as the people making them.
Ken Tatro, 63, a farm-equipment design draftsman from Hutchinson, Kan., wants to learn a trade to keep him busy in retirement.
Closer to home, Greg Sellers, a 15-year-old headed into the 10th grade at Brewer High in White Settlement, hopes to sell the saddle he's making and buy a car. He has a '72 Nova in his sights.
In the world of leather craft, making a saddle is akin to climbing Mount Everest.
"You're not a leather crafter until you've built a saddle," said Harry Smith, an accountant in Tacoma, Wash., who has been a leather crafter for more than a decade. "I thought I knew something until I came here to build a saddle."
David Smith, a conveyor-belt salesman from Mansfield, said: "There's a tremendous amount of satisfaction in this. There's something about building your own saddle, putting it on your own horse and riding off."
It's the cowboy way.
Tatro, Sellers, Harry Smith and David Smith are in a saddle-making class of nine under way this week at Hide Crafter, a leather-craft store on Camp Bowie Boulevard.
It's a labor-intensive, physically demanding and sometimes blood-letting experience. Some students proudly wear their battle scars covered in bandages.
Pushing and pulling razor-sharp implements through quarter-inch tanned hide that doesn't want to be cut is fraught with danger.
But overall, it's been a safe and friendly class, said Bill Gomer, a master saddle maker and teacher from Leavenworth, Kan.
The class started a week ago with a "tree," the basic wooden frame, and two sides of leather. Working 10 or 12 hours a day for nine days, they are to be finished Sunday.
There are more than 30 steps to making a basic Western saddle, and the students have needed nearly every waking moment this week to cut, bend, twist, smooth, glue, tack and stitch everything from the horn to the cantle and down to the fenders, skirts and stirrups.
Gomer has been a saddle maker for 55 of his 64 years and has the hands to show for it. His grip is like a vise.
But unlike many other old-time saddle makers, he said he's not interested in holding onto his saddle-making secrets.
Gomer said he's more interested in passing on an American art form to another generation.
"If we don't start sharing what we know about this, it will die," said Gomer, who travels the country teaching saddle making when he isn't working in his shop.
He said many saddle makers have tight grips on their secrets.
Gomer said that many of the factory- and foreign-made saddles "are junk" and that he wants to show anyone interested how it's supposed to be done.
"I believe if you share what you know, it comes back to you 10 times," Gomer said.
The class costs $1,500, including all the materials and all the expertise.
Depending on how closely they've been paying attention, Gomer said his students will walk out Sunday with saddles worth $2,500 to $3,000.
IN THE KNOW
Making saddles
Hide Crafter holds two or three saddle-making classes a year. More information at (817) 878-5797 and www.hidecrafter.com.
Very cool!
Landscape pics. Hmm.. where I am is pretty settled so nothing out of the ordinary, but I should be going up to western mass and Maine and New Hampshire this summer, and then I'll get some good pics then.
Oh, yeah, I remember. I'm not real comfortable with the whoop and ride types either. Celia will stay on trials, but she like to more out alot more then I do. I don't really mind, but there are times when I'm on a new horse, like ecurbh was, and want to take it slow for awhile, and she always comes back with, will your going to have to do it sometime, might as well be now. EVen when I've told her up front that I would like to take it easy, she agrees, then when we get out there she goes:). I've figured her out, so I just don't take a new horse when I ride with her anymore. Funny thing is she brought a new one out here one time, and she was more then happy to take it slow. I was very tempted to well...you know, but I didn't.
Have fun today. Harley is out there massaged and saddled so I'm out for awhile.
Becky
Which is why I don't trust her ;~D... Or her 10 year old son, who is just like her and will also be with us. They like to wrestle, and they spar try to pull each other off the horse. Among other silliness. We won't be out there 15 minutes today and the boy will ask if he can run, and she'll go with him. And we'll stay behind on agitated horses :~\
But you're right, these type of people push our comfort zone sometimes, and sometimes that's a good thing.
I found the post of the last ride with her: Thread two: 2,476
Yes, there are two barrel courses set up. One at each end of the arena. The starting line is in the middle of the arena. One horse runs one course and the other runs the other. Whomever crosses the finishing line in the center, is the winner. The winning horse will have to run numerous times, to be the class winner. Same with poles, two set ups, side by side. They also have a rope race. It is like musical chairs. A large cable is strung across the arena at one end, with ropes dangling from it. Riders are at one end. At the go, they race down and have to grab a rope. Only thing is, there is one less rope than riders. They take a rope off after each go until there is a winner. Pretty exciting to watch.
Your friend should be aware, that your husband is new rider. You certainly don't want him or anyone else to get hurt, by someone's silliness. Make it clear to her, before you go, that it won't be tolerated. Your out there to enjoy a ride, not to worry every second.
My shotgun worked fine last night. No "hang fires" since the trigger was adjusted. The pull was so hard, that I just was not slapping it hard enough. The State shoot is next week, and I will still take it to Kriegoff to get checked out. Maybe, they will feel bad about the dings from dropping it, and give me new wood....Hahahahaha
Babies are really growing. How is the new one doing? Have you started to break him yet? Sounds like you got a full plate there. Isn't the endurance race coming up soon?
I absolutely abhor riding with kids, especially boys. Good luck.
But you are right it is good to push a comfort zone sometimes. Shows you what you can do in a have to situation, like maybe a bear chasing you:).
Harley had a good work out. He is cooling off now. That is something else I learned. You should never just pull the saddle off as soon as your done riding. Their backs need to cool off slowly. If you don't cool them off properly, lactic acid gets trapped in their muscles which makes the muscles sore. You should leave the saddle on for some time after riding, then take the saddle off,but leave the pad for a bit, depending on the weather temps. I've figured out, saddleing and unsaddleing are going to require a lot more time if I do the massaging and cooling off the way we were intructed.
Becky
That really sounds hairy:) I've never heard of doing that:)
Becky
That's right, Bob was suppose to compete in his first endurance ride last weekend. How'd he do?
Becky
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