Posted on 08/07/2007 7:33:14 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, usually about our horses, sometimes about our dogs, gardens and other stuff we do. :~)
I have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will ping everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list.
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.
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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread TEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11
New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!
I like it! I’m wondering what’s behind the back wall of the bedroom. Is that an outside wall or is there building on the other side of it? Just wondering if you can get any kind of window back there.
Don't know if I've mentioned this but we picked up the sister of Hannah's mare, who was a "bonus", and I say that tongue in cheek. She is a bag of bones, ribs showing. We're trying to get some weight on her and maybe get her started toward the end of the summer when she's healthy.
There's a benefit TW charity show this weekend here, don't know if we'll make it but might try for an hour or so.
http://tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080530/NEWS/368747131/1007
Hello - look forward to hearing more about this new mare. Good luck getting her healthy.
I can’t see the pictures right now, but from what I remember of the building and your description of the new layout, it sounds great. Very efficient. I know you’re probably going to get vertical blinds or something for that wall of windows, but have you thought about having a mirror film put on them so that you can leave the blinds open as much as possible and still have your privacy? Maybe I’m just weird, but it would totally freak me out having people walking by and looking in my living room all day long. You know what I mean?
Hey, that’s cool about the new mare. I hate to hear she’s in such bad shape, but I’m sure she’ll perk up and fill out in no time under your care. You’ll have to post some pictures when she’s looking better. She’s a TWH or SSH isn’t she?
You know you still owe me pictures of your new fence and that tree-grinder tractor attachment you were talking about. ;o)
That’s a nice layout. I hope you take pictures as work progresses so we can watch too :)
Good luck with the mare.
Thanks all.
Hair, the back wall of the bedroom is up against more building, it would be the tanning rooms on the other side. The only other place to put windows is the wall where the kitchen is, but then you would just be looking across about a 3 foot space to the side of the hamburger place.
Frog, yes, I am going to put some type of window treatment on the windows, also I am going to put some type of railing around the sidewalk out side those windows so people can not come up and peer inside. From the city sidewalk, during the day you can’t see in now because of the tinting on the windows. It’s just at night when the overhead lights are on that you’re sitting in a fishbowl. I’m not sure even mirror tinting would help that, but I have thought about looking into it. I’m thinking vertical blinds, or Roman shades. I’d like to mount them only 3/4 of the way up the windows.
Duchess, you can count on pictures:).
Anyway, I went and helped a friend move today...whew...moving is a job!
Becky
I was just thinking for a little bit of light if the power’s out, or even for a fire escape for you.
I couldn’t remember though, how big the building was.
Window dressings just 3/4 of the way up would be real good. :~)
Here is a link to a similar contraption:
http://www.fecon.com/bullhog/beforeafter.asp
This is going to sound like a hit and run post - I'm tired but still running on adrenalin from today. I took my mother for her marathon shpopping today, and ran into my son-in-law just outside the driveway coming home and he wanted to know if I knew how to make blackberry jam, so he gave me a bucket of berries, and I took Mother up the hill and got her stuff unloaded, came back down the hill and unloaded my stuff, started the berries, fixed my husband's dinner, went back to the barn and fed and hayed the mares, stopped and played with the grandchildren, came back home and made the jam. Whew.
The two mares are TWH, I do hope I can get her healthy.
I think I told you all my daughter is expecting again - I'm starting to repeat myself - anyway I'm trying to help more with the two older ones so she can at least catch her breath.
Earlier this week the almost 4 y.o. said, "Grandmother, I'm coming to your house and I'm going to ride my bike." I told her it was raining. "Do you have an umbrella?" she asked. I told her yes but it was going to be hard for her to ride her bike AND hold the unbrella. "You're going to hold it," she said. Of course, why didnt' I think of that?
Good morning. Very slow here lately.
Fire escape: there is a door already in the back wall of the room that opens to a tanning room. I plan on leaving it, it falls into where the closet is. I’m leaving it to specifically have a fire escape.
Todays plans: The Vet is running but not well. We have a very good friend who is a mechanic who specializes in high performance cars. He is coming today to take a look at it. I “don’t” think it’s a serious problem.
My brother and his boys are coming out today also to target shoot. My brother is wanting to get his concealed carry. So today will be a fun day, a day off from the work:). Charlie is coming to be here when the mechanic comes and will load the last thing we have to put in the dumpster, the old AC from the house. We finished cleaning out the shop yesterday, amazing how much room out there we have now:).
Becky
Well that sounds like a fun day! We may go target shooting on Monday - we all have the day off.
Tonight we’re going to a rock concert. :~) Ramius is down, we’re going to see Rush. I haven’t seen them in concert since about 1982.
But yea - it has been a little quiet. We’re not riding this weekend, not much horsey or otherwise to report! - ‘xcept I still have these kittens. I need to start advertising them this week.
So how was the concert?
I had a nice easy ride on Saturday with a couple of girls I met on another gaited horse forum. We went to the Rails-to-Trails so I took little Miss Whirl for our first outing together. I was a little apprehensive, given what all the trainer had told me about her, but she did fine for a young horse. I had no problem getting her to go, like he said he did. I even took her down that big slick hill under the covered bridge to get to the water and she did fine, going down and coming up. Her gait leaves a little bit to be desired, but I had her put in the NB shoes when I had her reset and those just may not work out on her. Or it could just be that she’s not used to them, so we’ll see if she gets better. If she doesn’t, we’ll go back to regular shoes and see how that does.
My friend Elizabeth met me over there and rode Hope. It was the first time she’d been out on a horse in at least 6 months, so she was really excited about going. I let her try out the new treeless saddle and she liked it. So far everybody’s liked it but me. I just can’t get used to that flat of a seat. I feel like I’m just going to slide right off of there. I guess my butt’s just used to the deep pocket of my Ortho Flex. It was fun, meeting new people and all, but I’d rather ride with my old riding buddies any day.
I’ve gotten e-mails from BladeRider and HaveFaith today and they had a good trip to Land Between the Lakes this weekend. It was not without it’s share of troubles though, but I’ll let them tell you their stories themselves.
Ah - I’m glad Miss Whirl was good on your ride. So is the complaint about her gait it’s cadence, or roughness, or speed, or ???
I’ll look forward to Faith and Blade’s reports.
The concert was a lot of fun... tiring, we didn’t get back home till after 1 am. We were pretty wiped out today, just vegging on the couch visiting and watching movies.
Yeah, she wanted to pace, so it was a little rough, especially at the slower speed we were going. One of the other ladies was riding a 2yr old too and was training her herself. She'd only been out on the trail with her 5 or 6 times so she was going pretty slow. But later on we met up with some of my Old Farts that live in that area and we got to ride with them for a little while. The girls we were riding with had turned back because they needed to get back home earlier than we did so when we got to moving on a little faster Whirl seemed to get the hang of it a little better and smoothed on out. It could have also had something to do with the fact that we'd turned around and were heading back. I think her gait will eventually work out fine, it's just going to take some practice and a little tweaking with the shoes to get it. Here's a few pics of the ride...
Heading out...
The black horse was the 2yr old. The SSH was her mother. Part of this little horse's problem was the fact that she was WAY overweight. She had a belly like a broodmare and she's just on a little one acre lot and gets no grain whatsoever. If she keeps that up she's headed for a grazing muzzle like mine. She had one of those bitless bridles on her too and I've never been impressed with those. They seem to give you very little control, especially of their head position. But that's just my 2 cents worth on that. 
Elizabeth on Hope...
Headed back...
Yeah - the filly looks chunky, particularly for a baby... And I have the same opinion about the bitless bridles.. particularly as high as she’s got it. To have any leverage at all, it should be way down low on the nose.
It’s just an interesting set of mechanics you have to know to get them gaited horses tuned up right. :~) You’ve got rattles on Hope’s hinds... What do they do for you, I’ve not seen them on just the backs before.
Well, finally caught up on all my emails so can post picutres. Sometimes it just does not pay to be out of work.
LF-Gary, LR-Hal, LR-Amy, RR-HaveFaith
Amy's BF-Lee
Kentucky Lake behind Amy and Lee
Some deer on the trail
HaveFaith on Daisy
Those are stainless steel weights. Hope hadn't been out in about a month, so I guess she'd lost a bit of that "muscle memory" that keeps them in a good smooth gait. She did fine as far as smoothness goes when we started out, but with the heat and humidity, she got tired and got a little trotty towards the end, so I put them on her on the way back to smooth her back out. I don't particularly know WHY adding weight to the hinds of a trotty horse smooths them out, but it does. It works in reverse for a pacey horse. You put the weights on the fronts on them.
I personally do not have a lot of experience with horses. I do, however, have a 9 year old daughter who loves them. She was taking English riding lessons at a local stable last year, and was doing really well and loved it. Took to the horses immediately.
The stable that we were using has closed and the owner moved back east.
We would like to continue her lessons, and I was wondering if any of you were familiar with the Iowa (Des Moines) area and had any recommendations on local stables where we could continue her lessons.
Thanks to anyone in advance...
Interesting, thanks!
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