Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[Livid-Silver]

@Hime; Ah yeah that makes sense and I can see why its not as common if the breeding population is quite small. AI can be much more labor intensive than live cover. Hopefully it becomes more common though! The frozen straws is always an idea though, if you can find somewhere to store them. We have one main clinic that most people in the state use for their frozen straws I believe, but some vets will do it themselves as well. I've never looked into it too much but my uncle breds most if not all of his mares by frozen so I'm 99% his vet will store frozen.
Hopefully Ty keeps behaving! I don't blame you wanting to keep him away from mares lol Some of them do some funny things in the presence of the fairer sex At least by the time spring rocks around he'll have been gelded for a decent amount of time and his stallion days are long behind him Trailering could be a whole other issue, especially if he's not great to travel yet. I'm sure he'll improve with time and experience and then you wont have to give it a second thought
I wouldn't be surprised if there was something not right with the TB. We later found out he'd had two other trainers before them who had axed him, so it could even have been something like a wind issue that you could hear when ridden. Who knows though, its just one of those things. I think I'm gonna stick with Reggie for now though. I'd looked at some others and none were really taking my fancy. I've booked him in to head off to the breakers in April so that will be good He'll be 3.5 then too, so a bit more mature in his body, he's been pretty well behaved recently. More 'brain' when its time to work, which to be honest mainly consists of tricks atm lol
Re-Romeo, I was thinking that too. We had his saddle and stuff checked the next day and it was all fine, so I'm fairly confident its not a 'pain' issue per-say. We've done a few flat sessions in the mean time, just getting him to loosen up and getting L sitting better to help support Romeo and it is making a difference on the flat, but whether that will carry over into jumping I am unsure. He was diagnosed with a mild case of founder last year which has since been resolved and they didn't notice any arthritic changes/sidebone then, but I guess they could have developed since then. Maybe the bad distance means he lands on it harder? He does have a lightly swayed back and is quite long through his loins, so he's not going to make a high level competitive show jumper, but L is wanting to jump around 60-70cm which he should be able to do. I don't know if he has been free-jumped recently, but last time was at least a year ago, if not more. He didn't seem to have too many issues with it, but we did get him to follow Donny through the chute, so that might make him more willing. Its the fact he tried it and then gave it up when it stopped working which makes me thing its an attitude thing... He is definitely a tricky one! If L is wanting to progress and jump/compete in the higher levels, I don't think he would cope with it, so that's something for her to think about.
Feykja is looking so adorable at the moment! Her coat is sooooo fluffy!!! She looks to have some decent movement though, she is growing up to be a really nice filly! Reggie was the same with hard feed when he first came down, he'd just much around with it and push it around or even just kicking his bucket over It took him a few months before he was really eager for his hard feed, so maybe its a young horse thing? Hopefully she realises its good stuff soon!
And that is excellent about the soring/stack ban! Its a long time overdue, but at least something is being done now! Hopefully the industry continues to change for the better.
Its no good Heta's hocks are playing up again With any luck the massage will help and get her moving again. I'd assume the cold weather wouldn't help it though. Is there anything else the vets could do or give to help it? Driving could suit her well though! It looks like such fun to have a harness pony and I'm sure once she gets used to the sled behind her, she would be excellent for sledding around in the snow!

@Mr.Milo; Its amazing how many horses seem to end up with arthritis and such at such young ages. For some people that doesn't matter too much, if they are wanting a pleasure mount, but from a competition/performance point of view its not so ideal lol I imagine riding a gaited horse is quite different from your 'standard' horse lol They aren't very common over here at all, so the only gaited horses you tend to see are the standardbreds. I imagine that the TWH gaits are different from a standardbred's pace though.

@sebaciels; I'd go and check him out a few times and get a vet to check him out. A bad vet check can answer all your questions. Was he bred to race? If so it might be worth checking out his records to see if there was a reason he never made it to the track. If not, all the better He fits your height, age and budget so I don't see why he isn't worth checking out Best of luck!

[ryukrem]

@Hime
Has she ever had hock injections before? A couple horses from my barn were off in the hind end in different ways and each of them that got hock injections haven't had issues since.
Just my input, I really don't know much about it haha.
I hope she gets better soon!
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GUESS WHO HAS A NEW SADDLE TO RIDE IN??
One of the school horse's saddles fits Alice really well. It's not perfect, but compared to her own it is pretty damn close. I can actually ride in it and feel her underneath me, which I couldn't do with the other one. It is also a lot easier on my back which is a dream.
I will be using this saddle as long as it is not needed and will just need to clean it and take good care of it, which is no issue.
We are also looking for our own new saddle and have a couple good prospects and have sent messages to the sellers. Hopefully things will work out!
I gave Alice a little makeover today too because she honestly looked like a homeless swamp donkey xD still a cutie as always, I love her.
Her tail is so full and gets caked in poop. It's too cold to wash it so I loaded it with baby oil and I hope I'll be able to brush the crap out tomorrow. Her mane is also 3/4 of the way pulled, so she'll be looking pampered soon.
She's still super dandruffy so I'm going to try and hot cloth her to wipe the crap off. Top of her mane in disgusting too ugh.
Anyways this update is all over the place but I'm just so excited. Things are turning around c:

[Hime]

@Amy Pond: Mild case of founder can act up if the shoing is bit off, or his due one soon. At least that's how it's been with Heta. Sway-ish back may not be that good thing, but it also might be something that can be improved. I just recently watched a video on where they actually took x-rays of horse's back when it was lifted up(like the horse would when engaging its core muscles) and neutral. The space between the vertabraes really opened up quite significally when the back was lifted. So definetly try to improve the flat work, and just maybe that back comes up some in progress making it less likely to cause problems in long run. But then again, if he's happy to jump without rider, I think the source of the problem is the rider on him plus his attitude. : P
I tried again with Feykja and the hard feed and she munched it away like a good girl. Must have been the vitamin she didn't like last time... What is it about kids not liking to take their vitamins.
The vet could probably do some hock injections or give some anti-inflamatory pain killers, but I'm little concerned on what's safe to use on her as she's still feeding Feykja... Probably should ring the vet soon to make sure we get the x-ray, but I think one other boarder was supposed to ring them up this time as their horse needed her teeth checked and vaccines and they have much more busy schedule than me or L. But Heta's definetly due a massage, as I poked around her a little and there are some weird tight spots and her back over all feels pretty tense to me. She usually reacts to massages pretty well, so fingers crossed this one helps some. And she's due shoing next week I think as well.

@bitanic: The first time she got bad with her left hind and I took her to clinic for check, they did offer to inject the hocks, but I said no as bone spavin is pretty common in the breed and it just takes it's sweet time to stop bothering the horse. Some say the injections make it go away faster, but honestly as there's no set timeline for it the 'heal' anyway, I decided not to put money into those injections. That was 2014 I think, and Heta only had one more painfull period after the initial very lame half week. Depending on the findings this time I might re-consider the injections, since we were doing pretty good imo in December and I hate for all the work to go to waste yet again. :c
Whoop, new saddle. That's really great news. I have to wait until warmer spring weather to give my ponies some deep grooming. Heta's mane is pretty dandruffy too, thank god she's fluffy enough I can't see it so much. XD For dry skin you could try adding spoon or two of linseed oil into her food. It shouldn't be too much to give her extra energy, but it just might give her skin and coat little moisture boost.
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What we did yesterday and what we did today. Damn my pony is smart and nice. <3 Still need to work little bit on the steering part, as outside arena she's kinda all over the place and squirmish as she's not used to the reins going from the top. But on arena she was pretty good. I got really lucky that L found a proper breastcollar from her stash of random leather bits and pieces, as it would not have been fair to have Heta pull anything but empty sled with the diy-harness thing I made up yesterday. Our current 'harness' needs little tweaking still though, as I'd rather no risk my good long leadropes breaking... But the breastcollar is nice(after cleaning it up it actually looks like it's been barely used), even if it's maybe tad too long.

Feykja also got to put on her big girl pants the other day and come out of the paddock all on her own. We had little 'scary' gate moment again, but I think I'm starting to figure out what goes in her head those moments and how to solve them. Then little scary moment when she had to step on to bit higher packed snow path. But she's nice in a way that she just stops and looks at things when she's unsure, instead of panicing and trying to avoid it. So I just give her little time and space to figure it out, and that usually works. We do need to work on opening and closing doors on our way, as she hasn't quite grasped the turning part involved. XD But we managed to get into the stable and close the door after ourselves. I had Heta waiting in stall, so Feykja got her milk reward and then some mineral and protein feed, which she ate very nicely without any fussing this time. I guess she didn't like the vitamin last time... Groomed her a little afterwards, tried a pony sized halter on her(still way too big, even though she's soon out growing her foal halter which is like 2 holes from maximum size) and took her back to paddock on her own. It had gotten little dark and she was little confused why Heta wasn't following, plus one boarder was just getting her horse from nearby paddock, so of course Feykja had to pay attention to that as well. But she behaved really nicely and we had no issue with the gate this time.
It's really a shame she's turning out to have such a nice temperament over all. Like if she was a nightmare, then I'd have no issues putting her up for sale, though I guess then no one would want to buy her either. >_< She's pretty energetic though, like the other day she was running around on her own for good couple of minutes. One three year old did join her for moment, but didn't run around as much as Feykja did.

[Miavinn]

Ahaha I post here like once every 4 months oops.

Anyways, we had PC winter camp this past weekend and it was a lot of fun, but I am so tired. Pulled in two local instructors and they were wonderful. There were 2 lessons a day, and 2 other riders in my group. We didn't have all our mojo together on XC and had 2 run outs, but got over them quickly. Gridwork was ok, but I really need to jump more often, and then flat was well...flatwork. T is still so stiff going to the left, but we're working on it.

Anyone else follow Jill / jeteventing on IG and/or hear about her running over Boyd Martin @ a clinic a few days ago? Quite the predicament she's got xD

[ditalini]

Hiya guys, just going to break in here, I've been a hunter/jumper for about 9 years now. For the past 6 months I've been riding a horse named Toby or "Counter Fleet." He is a wonderful boy, he is a decedent from the famous race horse, Count Fleet. He is a Rhineland Pfalz Saar gelding, I just call him a warmblood for short. He has remarkable coloring and two different colored eyes. He's such a love too, a dorky personality. Does anyone on here follow x_equestrianconfessions on IG?

@filly- I do follow Jill!! I laughed when I watch the video, poor Boyd lol!!

[ellyenchanted]

@filly- i'm subscribed to her youtube channel. saw the thumbnail, just haven't watched it yet cx

[vash ♡]

so that last horse didn't work out, she kind of stopped messaging me back, so i'm assuming he sold? anyways, i'm talking to 3 other people - one lady who has several green broke tbs that fit my requirements, one who has an ap indy-bred ottb, and one with a bold ruler/mr prospector/northern dancer-bred ottb. so i'll be scoping all of these options out!

[brindle.]

@filly; I'm subscribed and follow her insta lmao someone from my barn had posted about it on Facebook

and other news, today i might get to school some cross country, i haven't been able too because of the weather, but my brother made some cross country jumps for his woodshop project, and i can put them in the inside arena!!

[Mr.Milo]

@Hime: Oh i agree, but at the same time i would want to ride Fey as well and see how she does but that will take some time. I guess there is no rush for now! She may be out of alignment, we get many horses like that especially if its been awhile since they have been ridden. But the massage should help but sometimes there needs to be multiple massages or adjustments to get the fine again. Driving sounds fun though. Not sure how Gem would do but he probably would be wary of something behind him as well. How big is Heta again?

@Amy Pond: Yeah, well he was very overweight and not ridden in awhile so he pretty much sat there in his pasture. I mean I am not serious about shows as much as some riders who go there are but i would just like to go for fun. It is really is different! I came from the english world riding trotting horses. The barn i have my horse at is a gaited barn but we have probably about a third of our horses that are not gaited. What i do like is that i dont have to post. The TWH have longer strides so if you were to get on you feel this swaying motion, especially on my horse you can feel it. Plus the TWH is not supposed to pace, they have a diagonal movement like trotting horses and they lift themselves a lot using their back legs rather than front, so if you see the serious competitions the front of the horse looks higher, at the same time they put those boots on them which i dont like, just looks unnatural, but its just so they will lift their feet more like a dog with socks on. Sorry for the long post after having a TWH now i have looked so much into their breed so i love talking about them. Im not an expert of course so there is probably some stuff that may be said differently but this is the gist of their movement.
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Rode bareback yesterday, it was a lot of fun! Ive ridden Gemini bareback a lot but i borrowed a friends bareback pad so i can do more with him then just a walk since i dont do much if i just ride him without a pad so i dont hurt his back bouncing around. We walked around a lot but we did canter for a bit and that was fun, i had never cantered on him bareback but he was great and i stayed on which was the most important part. Friday im hoping to take him on the canal but he acts up every time because he wants to go back to the barn. We have gotten somewhat better with that but should be good plus he gets a good workout.

Another thing that i was happy about was that i was riding while my trainer was teaching a lady about "being one with your horse" and she used me an an example for bonding with your horse as i was passing by. When i first met Gem my trainer didn't think we would match well just because she knew i wanted a huge event type horse but i ended with this scrawny little TWH that needed some work and now me and Gem do almost everything, we have come a long way and i think its amazing when you are able to trust a horse so much.

[buckskin.]

this is a video of me riding a mare named Bonnie, any tips?