The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread TEN

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 MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets 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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE

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

[FrogInABlender]

...they showed her how to do it without treats by putting pressure on the nose in a certain place. It works on Jake but jsut makes Blade back up...

That's coz I taught him to back up when I layed my hand on the bridge of his nose, so he's just doing what he thinks you're asking. Remind me and we'll try something different with him this weekend.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

And that too:)

Becky

[BladeRider]

That's coz I taught him to back up when I layed my hand on the bridge of his nose, so he's just doing what he thinks you're asking. Remind me and we'll try something different with him this weekend.

Poor guy I was confusing him! I was getting frustrated cause he picked up everything else so quickly.

As far as lunging, I will try the line. I had a mare that would free lunge in a round pen with no problems but as soon as you put a line on her she would buck and hope and act the complete fool so I never tried the line on Blade. Queen will lunge on line though. I get so dizzy lunging I can imagine the poor horse!

[tuffydoodle]

The farriers are fighting on the horseshoes.com website:

http://www.horseshoes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2913

Also, read this interesting thread and check out the pics of the poor horse's hoof. Unbelievable what this farrier has done.

http://www.horseshoes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2915

[BladeRider]

I think the other counter productive effect from that much lunging is that it's too much turning. Even if you change direction and speed frequently, all that circling is hard on the joints. What you do, lots of trail, is the best regular exercise a horse can get.

My main goal is to reinforce the ground manners. As a 4 year old he is starting to get a little too pushy lately and I have not been firm enough with him.

[tuffydoodle]

To this:

[HairOfTheDog]

Good grief on that Percheron... the before and afters are remarkable.

(I saw the little pissing match the other day - I was really tempted to ask "Should I get you guys a ruler so we can end this?" )

[FrogInABlender]

...Poor guy I was confusing him!

I guess I should've given you the owner's manual when I sold him to ya. Sorry 'bout that. ;o)

I thought I taught him to bend too, but I can't remember. We'll have to check it out this weekend.

[tuffydoodle]

ROTFL, you should have!!!!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Good grief...poor guy.

Becky

[tuffydoodle]

Have you been on horseshes.com lately? I don't know how all those massive egos can fit on one website.

[tuffydoodle]

dangit horseshes=feet

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

No, that's exactly why I haven't been there. They didn't seem like nice people.

Becky

[tuffydoodle]

They aren't nice people. Too much testosterone.

[BladeRider]

No, that's exactly why I haven't been there. They didn't seem like nice people.

No wonder we can never get them to call back or come on time they are all to busy fighting amongst themselves And they say women are bad! That guy did a miraculous job on those feet. It made me sick to see the befores.

[FrogInABlender]

Good Lord! That makes my feet hurt just looking at it. Poor guy! I sure am glad he's better now. That farrier sure earned a star in his crown for helping him.

[tuffydoodle]

The guy that is working on Tuffy's feet has done an awesome job but if he's not the most unreliable person on the planet, I don't know who is. In the 2 times he's been to my house, he's rescheduled SIX times. I've rearranged doctor and orthodontist appointments to accomodate him, then he changes the appointment again. Grrrrrrr

[tuffydoodle]

No kidding, and he did it for free, too. Seems like a decent person.

[FrogInABlender]

I hadn't been back over there in a while either, but there are some over there that are trying to be helpful, like the guy who fixed these feet. It sure is funny to watch them go at each other though. I enjoy a good pissing contest from time to time. ;o)

I don't think I'd ever post a question over there though.

[HairOfTheDog]

My main goal is to reinforce the ground manners. As a 4 year old he is starting to get a little too pushy lately and I have not been firm enough with him.

Yeah, and lunging is good for that! I am a big fan of lunging as a training tool. I'll show some of the pictures of how I do it... just for conversation fodder :~)

You can do anything on the lunge that you can do under saddle. For training in precision I like to use double reins and a circingle. It best replicates the cues you'd use riding.

You mentioned the hassle of having to go somewhere else to use the round pen... You can do it without a round pen. The round pen makes it easier, they're less tempted to hang on the line, and they're less likely to just get confused and turn and face you, but it's doable, and getting there is good training time too.

Here's Cyn when we got her, she was round pen trained, we think, and she exhibited both common lunging problems... hanging on the line, and stopping to face us when she got flustered.

We solved it with double reins... You can enforce the circle by having an outside and inside rein to steer her with, run through the loops of the circingle to a snaffle bit.

ecurbh, though, found the line management issue somewhat daunting. :~)

But once you can get all that figured out, you can really to a lot with them this way, including figure eights, backing up, and changes of direction.

I also do work with trotting poles, which is probably not good with a gaited, but you could set up some kind of trail or gymnastic obstacle, just to give them something interesting to think about if they're bored.

Here's Bay, doing trotting poles, and a small jump built from the same poles... The diagonal wings help keep them from skirting off the sides of the jump.