The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN

See our "who's who" page! ^

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - 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. 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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL...that's what I thought, just didn't want to say it:)

Like Mack use to say when he was selling cars. There's an ass for every seat no matter how ugly the car is:)

Lots of times those not so pretty horses are the tougher ones, because no one worries about them getting marked up or hurt. It's the stalling and pampering I think that does more harm them help.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Standing like that while y ou do things is invaluable. she is a good horse:)

I'm sleepy now too, good night.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

It's a little crooked, but there was a lot of climbing today. I like how Bay's ears point off to each side over the bridges... like he's looking off both sides ;~D

[HairOfTheDog]

We're worn out.... talk in the morning!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL

Looked at the picture of Bay's ears on the bridge:) That is the only pictues where his hears are just straight up.

Lovely pictures. How you feeling today.

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Good morning

Becky

[AnAmericanMother]

(Sometime) sidesaddle rider here.

It's not difficult. In fact, it's easier to stay on than in a regular saddle. The problem is getting OUT of the heads (the sticky-out things - the upper one is the "fixed head" and the lower one is the "leaping head".) You adjust your stirrup so that your left leg is snugged up under the leaping head - and when you get in a tight spot (or when you're jumping) you just squeeze your legs together and you are STUCK on there.

The whole trick to sidesaddle riding is staying STRAIGHT. The tendency is to allow the body to twist left, towards the legs, putting all your weight on your left seat bone. It will give you a backache! To begin with, you have to concentrate on keeping the hips aligned straight forward, and keeping your shoulders up and back, even slightly rotated backwards to the right.

The real problem is finding a saddle that fits you AND your horse properly. Horses used to be fatter and longer-backed - so a T'bred with sticky-up withers and narrow sides is going to be hard to fit. There are a lot of antique saddles offered for sale that are in bad repair and don't fit modern horses properly, as well as cheap Pakistani or Chinese made ones that are just junk.

[tuffydoodle]

So where can you get a good new sidesaddle? Everyone I talk to that has ridden sidesaddle agrees with you, you are stuck on there and it's more stable than it looks.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm a little creeky... but not too bad, this morning.

I got a little chaffed.... that's the bad part. Not sure why :~\

[visitor]

CavalloFarms TallahasseeFL...rto

[HairOfTheDog]

Hi - and welcome!

[RMDupree]

*stretch*

Mornin' everyone!

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, yesterday I ran out of room on the camera disk... and now I know why. I took an accidental video I didn't know about. I wish I could post it, because it's funny. It starts out OK, because I thought I was taking a picture, but then I let go and you dangle there by my wrist for awhile.

If I can reduce it to a size that is reasonable (it's 65 mb now) I'll post it.

[RMDupree]

*waves to a fellow Floridian*

[AnAmericanMother]

Here's a good place to start:

EquiSearch

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Back from the ride this morning with Miranda. We've been out in the sun for the last 45 minutes trying to get her horse to load.:( He's a 2 yr old, has loaded fine in the past, but decided he didn't want to today. She finally back her trailer up to the one enclosed stall I have and with no where else to go he got in. Finally. It is sooooo hot:)

We rode about 2 1/2 hours. he was a tired young one when we got done. I rode Rocky. I took a few pictures. they are loading.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Ack, glad he finally went in.... Being that hot, I imagine everyone gets a little cranky and uncooperative.

Looking forward to the pics!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

He did really well for a 2yr old out on the trails. He wouldn't get in the creek tho. I tried ponying him from Rock but he just would come, and i didn't want to land up in the creek. She decided to come back to it later, not sure that was a good move on her part. We came to a spot that had a tiny bit of water and very muddy all around it. I got him to pony thru that, then we came back to it later and he went by himself. But he wasn't afraid of anything, we passed the burned truck, Grizzly was with us. We even came across a skunk,,,ack:), Grizzly chased it off and it never sprayed him.

Here she is trying to back him into the muddy puddle spot. It didn't work.

Coming up a hill.

And that is all I took.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Your creek is a pretty deep water crossing.... I can imagine having a little trouble with a young one there. I'd love to get ours in that deep of water.

Lucky indeed that grizzly didn't get sprayed! Gadz that would be awful. We used to have skunks here we'd catch a whiff of, but it's been years now since I've smelled one.

[HairOfTheDog]

Speaking of mud.... Boy was yesterday a trial by fire for Cyn. There were low parts of the trail that were worse than I've ever seen it. I should have taken pictures, don't know how well I could have shown it. You know how in mud clay where lots of horses have been through they'll all step in the same spot and it turns the trail into moguls? Some of the places were just awful with suck mud. These are places that were muddy but not too bad a month ago when we last went. There have been several organized rides with a couple hundred riders through there now and they are hell on trails.

But Cyn trucked right through... she hated it... The very first one was bad with a muddy big puddle she had to cross, they were sinking a foot into the mud. She balked at that and I stopped and backed up to let her follow me but after several bad sections, she would just trudge forward by the end of the ride.... too tired to fight about trying to go around, probably.