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I rode hunter/jumper for years, then was on the equestrian team in college for a little while before I was kicked off because I had a real major and GASP had actual schoolwork to do and couldn't devote 110% of my time to the team (not even NCAA) so I brought my horse to college with me the next year and boarded him nearby and just did my own thing. Then I moved halfway across the country for a job and couldn't afford to take my horse with me and since he's an old fart now my mom took him and is learning how to ride on him  I want to start riding again but having a full time job kinda makes that hard 
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Mar 21, 2015 22:31
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 10:52 |
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My horsey came to my wedding   
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Mar 22, 2015 00:16
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Abutiu posted:So this is a weird question that I've always been too embarrassed to ask in person, but do any of you with gray horses notice that other horses react to them differently? My old horse was gray and I never noticed it, and I managed a farm with a few grays and also never noticed it, but I have had a bunch of people tell me that their horse was more spooky/aggressive/whatever around grays. The only real difference I noticed was that with the young horses at the farm, they'd sometimes freak out if you put a dark blanket on a gray which was always hilarious. We had this old gray mare we'd turn out with the weanlings because she was a good nanny and I always loved the first day it got cold enough to put a blanket on her and watching all the babies flee in terror from the pod pony. I've noticed the grays always hang out together in their own weird socially awkward clique out in the field.
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Mar 22, 2015 19:46
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Angrymog posted:Today's lesson in horse was that the girth can always be done up one more hole. I have good balance. I know this because my instructor made me stop and then stuck her entire arm through the girth once  I have many chronic injuries, all but one were caused by horses. I personally made sure my doctor's daughter never got riding lessons by accident.
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Apr 2, 2015 01:00
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Angrymog posted:Oof, lucky. Horse spooked and it slipped when I was doing the ever-decreasing circles thing (we were in the school). I was putting a lot of weight on one leg and that slipped it over. I saw so many people wipe out every summer due to a combination of sweaty horse + loose girth + reaching for a water bottle.
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Apr 3, 2015 02:32
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I did a lot of training of green horses when I was a teenager and go thrown so many times. Now that I'm older I can't believe some of the stuff I did as a kid with horses that somehow didn't get me killed or seriously injured.
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Apr 13, 2015 23:07
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We got shot at by a hunter once because obviously an animal making noise in the woods = deer. Scroll up this thread and look at my horse. Does it look like a deer?!
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Apr 14, 2015 16:12
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A friend and his lab partner were out in the woods one time collecting specimens for a lab in college and they got shot by a hunter. Like, actually shot. He lost part of his hand and his lab partner was killed. Hunter got all of his guns and licenses taken away for life and charged with manslaughter, but it doesn't change the fact he shot someone for making noise in the woods because it might be a deer. I'm all for responsible hunting but some assholes should not be trusted.
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Apr 14, 2015 19:57
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While we're on the subject of idiots shooting livestock: The barn I rode at as a teen used to be in a really rural area then it got engulfed by suburbia, so the idiot kids from the surrounding houses would come in to the horse fields and be idiots, doing things including but not limited to shooting the horses with paintball guns and setting off firecrackers in the field to make them run. Paintball assholes actually managed to shoot a horse in just the right spot to cause severe neurological damage and it had to be put down (listening to a horse have a seizure is horrible). They put up three fences, one of which was electric, with an excessive number of "no trespassing" signs. Someone still managed to haul their stroller and small children through three fences that are clearly telling you to gently caress off to pet the ponies 
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Apr 15, 2015 02:29
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Angrymog posted:Yeah, when you're learning trying lots of different horses is good. When you want to start doing more complex stuff sticking to one is better because you get to know them and their quirks. When I was in high school I rode on an equestrian team in a league that was set up between various stables in the region, and every show 4 teams would show up to a barn, each rider pick a horse out of a hat they'd never seen or ridden before (one flat class and two jumping classes, so you picked 3 different horses), and ride it in a show. For the jumping classes you got to do two warm up fences and that was it. And since these are riding schools and large shows that require them to use all their horses you got everything in the hat from fancy higher level horses that do everything to old grumpy school horses who hate everyone. You could absolutely tell which riders rode every horse their coach threw at them, and which ones were used to riding their personal push-button pony. At the end of the season all 12 teams in the league would bring their own horses to a big equestrian center and have one big finale show where you could actually choose which horse to ride. Intercollegiate equestrian shows are the exact same setup except you don't get a warm up. You just go.
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May 16, 2015 01:17
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In equitation classes it's proper etiquette to do a 20 meter hunter circle before starting. It signals to the judge you've got your poo poo together and helps get you and your horse all synced up and connected before heading to the first jump. You can't cross the plane of the first jump, however, or it counts as a refusal. In a class like yours I don't think they'd care where you put it in, so I'd recommend doing it near the scariest looking jump so the horse can get a look at it first so he's not seeing it for the first time on course going AGH WTF IS THAT?! My advice to you would be sit back and LEG LEG LEG LEG and maybe a pop with the crop if he's slowing down in front of the jump. Leaning forward will make him less likely to jump since he'll be all "ugh even MORE weight on my front end gently caress this". I'd definitely take the time to establish a nice canter with some momentum before heading to the first jump with him.
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May 29, 2015 03:32
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TheHeadSage posted:My horse threw me into a jump, then stood on my hand to keep me down. My horse was a loving arsehole sometimes. Alas, old age claimed him. Now I'm saving money to buy a Clydesdale because I want something as tall as I am. I have a 17hh thoroughbred. He's pretty tall. But also a thoroughbred so spastic with an amazing ability to amass bizarre injuries and medical problems.
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Jul 15, 2015 01:26
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Grandmother of Five posted:i was at a faire and thought that some of the horses and donkeys looked really bad, but i don't know enough about horses to really tell. if a grown horse is skinny enough that its ribs are clearly showing, is that negligent to the point of being animal abuse? not like the above pic, much more visible & on a grown horse. On a horse with a good body condition you should be able to feel but not see ribs. If you can't even feel the ribs just laying your hand on their side they are officially A Fat. But yeah you shouldn't be able to just see them unless they're a super duper well conditioned horse like American Pharoah and I doubt these faire horses are in that peak physical condition.
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Jul 29, 2015 00:26
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My horse LOVES getting his feet done, it's almost at a creepy level. He's always been a more people oriented horse than a horse oriented horse but his love for anyone who deals with his feet is extreme and undying.
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Jul 31, 2015 03:49
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Angrymog posted:Eddie got kicked by his field - mate. My horse got kicked in the rear end by another horse and he had a perfect hoof print on his butt with half of a hoof on each cheek I'm sure he deserved it, he's the most socially awkward horse ever. It's adorable in a dorky way but sometimes he gets beaten up since he doesn't understand other horses' social cues.
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Aug 22, 2015 17:07
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Not all US lessons are like that. In fact I've never even heard of anything working like that. Most of them are like what you describe with everyone riding together and taking turns to jump and stuff. Most lessons I did were half hour of flatwork and then a half hour of jumping. I used to be one of those "pshaw, dressaaaaage"  people but it really does help with jumping to have a really good flatwork base before you jump. Having your horse go into a frame isn't just a dressage thing, it makes them use their back end more and helps them balance back so they're not launching themselves over the jumps and it ends in a more smooth and pleasant ride. IMO there's also a greater sense of satisfaction that comes with doing dressage, everyone can point a horse at a jump and go over it (probably not very prettily, but he'll still go) but getting the nuances of horse to finally bend and adjust his stride to do what you want is something different and it's more difficult so when you finally get it it's all gently caress YEAH. Once you get that sorted out and get a really good connection to the horse and THEN go jump the difference is night and day. It also puts more tools in your toolbox for when your horse is being a butt since you'll have a greater understanding of what his body mechanics are doing and how you can fix it. My riding coach growing up used a lot of car analogies for riding which didn't make sense until I started driving. I remember being shouted at YOU CAN'T STEER A PARKED CAR endless times to remind me to leg leg leg leg into turns.
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Sep 19, 2015 16:32
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I get to sit on my horse for the first time in almost two years next week  I'm going to be in so much pain.
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Nov 21, 2015 19:57
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Angrymog posted:Hope it goes well. If you don't mind answering, why couldn't you ride for a couple of years? I got him when I was 16, rode him through high school and took him to college with me but then when I graduated I got a job halfway across the country and I couldn't financially support both myself and my horse on an entry level salary, so my mom took him in and has been learning to ride on him I could afford to ship him out to where I live now, but he's happy and healthy where he is so it's in his best interest to stay where he is since he's getting to be an old fart (he turns 20 in February). I'm going home for Thanksgiving so I'm going to go visit him as soon as I can after my plane lands.Taking my horse to college with me sounds like the most upper middle class white person ever thing to do, but it was actually a blessing in disguise since he ended up having some weird medical issues while he was with me at school and my college has a really good vet school that fixed him up.
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Nov 21, 2015 21:48
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Back when I was fairly seriously competing we'd do a lot of gymnastics-- trot poles to a cross rail to a vertical to a vertical to an oxer of increasing height with one stride in between. If there are any flaws in your position they'll be glaringly obvious by the end.
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Nov 28, 2015 05:38
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Have you tried switching up his pads? Maybe his saddle is bothering him. My horse started pulling that poo poo and it turned out that as his body changed shape as he got older his saddle didn't fit well anymore. We got it re-flocked by a saddle fitter to fit his back better and he went back to his normal (mostly) sane self. You might want to see if sticking a gel or sheepskin pad under the saddle on top of the regular pad makes any sort of a difference. Edit: the saddle thing helped the second time he did that, the first time it was because he had a huge fuckoff cyst in his head that we had no idea about until it swelled so much it changed the shape of his skull but that's prooooobably not what's going on here.
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Dec 6, 2015 00:43
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I had an equine chiropractor/massage therapist come out for my big guy a few times. He got some acupuncture done a couple times too but the wrappers for the needles sound like peppermint wrappers so he kept trying to eat them. Then he learned how to fake back pain to get out of work so that stopped pretty quick. My horse is simultaneously really dumb and way too smart.
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Dec 6, 2015 21:16
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To be fair anyone who's really into any one particular type of animal is *WEIRD*, some more so than others. Horse weirdos in particular give the rest of the normal people who like horses a bad name.
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Dec 23, 2015 14:38
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Never said I wasn't a weirdo  (we're all weirdos)
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Dec 24, 2015 00:16
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I have chronic knee, back, and hip injuries from horses. If you spend enough time around them they WILL seriously injure you. It's not a matter of if, but when. Wear your helmet, kids. Not just any helmet, a properly fitted one. You should be able to put it on and it should be snug enough to move your forehead skin with it when you try to rock it back and forth but not so tight it hurts.  I actually kept my hair at a specific length the entire time I was riding/competing regularly since I had my helmet fitted with my hair up in it and if it was any longer or shorter than the length I had it at my helmet fitting my helmet wouldn't fit right.
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Jan 10, 2016 23:07
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teenytinymouse posted:She's used to big horses because she's 5'7" and broad so being on a little fella like the ones I'm used to was apparently really weird lol I'm 5'7 and my horse is 17hh, but I LOVE riding little ponies. It's so much fun. Some of the most fun I've had was riding a little pony named Layla who was 13hh at the most and she just flew around the ring doing fun little pony jumps and turns much tighter than my giant gallumphing beast could manage.
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Dec 11, 2016 00:27
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 10:52 |
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I'm gonna buy myself another horse in the next couple years, probably going to get myself something a little smaller and a little more sure footed since we'll be living somewhere with a lot of trails. Prooooobably gonna find me a 15.2 QH. We'll see. I'm a few years out from being financially able to own a horse, right now I could get one and provide basic care but I'm hosed for emergency vet bills.
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Dec 17, 2016 22:31
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