Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[ryukrem]

@horse aids
my horse is dead terrified of the whip. when i lunge her, i dont use one, just my voice because she responds so well. if shes a bit lazy ill hold a dressage crop but thats about it. she had a lot of bad leasers before i leased her. the mare is petrified to jump because of it as well. poor babe. but regardless she responds well to the voice so i have no need for anything else.

No-stirrup November
all i gotta say is my mare's canter transitions have been excellent since ive been doing no stirrups and my abs hurt xD

[Brynmala]

@Brynmala: ^; Being tall is not really a problem if you have good balance and can carry yourself well, just look at the men riding Icelandic horses. They are also breeding quite tall Icelandic horses these days, so over 140cm is starting to be norm rather than rarity. But I do understand where you come from. Where I live there are also people who don't really see eye to eye with Icelandic horse riders when it comes to the size of the rider compared to the size of the horse, but most stay civil and accept the fact that this is what these horses have been bred for hundreds of years and have been fine with.

I know it is perfectly feasible for me (or a tall bloke) to ride an Icelandic in Iceland, but I have had some really nasty comments - starting with 'you're too big for that pony' and getting worse, on the few occasions I've ridden my partner's 14.3hh Arab. All I'd get would be abuse if I tried it on an Icelandic. Such a shame I'm not sure that breeding taller horses is necessarily a good thing for the breed. Where are these tall horses being bred - is it in Iceland, or somewhere else?

[LissaJo]

@Brynmala: ^; Being tall is not really a problem if you have good balance and can carry yourself well, just look at the men riding Icelandic horses. They are also breeding quite tall Icelandic horses these days, so over 140cm is starting to be norm rather than rarity. But I do understand where you come from. Where I live there are also people who don't really see eye to eye with Icelandic horse riders when it comes to the size of the rider compared to the size of the horse, but most stay civil and accept the fact that this is what these horses have been bred for hundreds of years and have been fine with.

I know it is perfectly feasible for me (or a tall bloke) to ride an Icelandic in Iceland, but I have had some really nasty comments - starting with 'you're too big for that pony' and getting worse, on the few occasions I've ridden my partner's 14.3hh Arab. All I'd get would be abuse if I tried it on an Icelandic. Such a shame I'm not sure that breeding taller horses is necessarily a good thing for the breed. Where are these tall horses being bred - is it in Iceland, or somewhere else?

Weight is more important than height.. If a rider is 20% (25% on stockier equines) of less of the horses weight, there's no concern and people just need to mind their own business

[Hime]

@This whip/spur/is riding bad convo: Honestly whips and spurs are equipment, halters are equipment, bridles and saddles are equipment. Equipments are essensially tools imo. With any tool if you don't use it right you can cause damage. Some can cause more damage than others. Many don't realise how much damage can a very badly fitting saddle actually cause, but rather focus on this like whips and spurs that people more commonly 'abuse with'. And just to be clear the function of the saddle is actually to help the horse's back to carry a rider by dividing the weight and also provide some protection from impact if the paneling/padding is proper.
I use whip with both of my horses, but for bit different reasons. One won't always move forward from leg(well to be honest he sometimes doesn't really give a sh** if I use the whip either ) and other thinks leg mostly means forward rather than move you butt to the side type of aid, so I use whip to remind her I want the hind end to move.
You can ride a horse so that it causes them harm, or you can ride in a way that doesn't harm them but instead makes them stronger thus making riding not that harmfull for the horse. Sure there are ways to exercise horses without riding, such as driving or lunging. But each has their down sides to them. Or you could just hand walk them, but unless you have a big paddock where the horse can really move and run around and they are also kept in the said paddock for most of the day, handwalking is really not enough for most horses. So I would say if kept in right conditions horses probably could do just fine without riding, but... Would we really keep them as just pasture pets in the extent that we now have horses? I doubt it, so it would be bye bye horses mostly. And that would be just sad imo. I don't think we are enslaving them either, since horses are big and strong enough to say no if they really are not comfortable with things. Of course some horses are very willing to please and don't really have so much will in them (for lack of better wording), so they will just shut down and endure when pushed beyond their limit/comfort zone. But I think that's where our responsibility towards them also lies, we need to know when to stop pushing them past what they can give. Just like with any animal, you need to learn to read the animal and react accordingly.

@Amy Pond: Good pasture does magical things, but mares need the most feed when they hit the 2-3 month nursing mark. So keep an eye out for weight drop around that time. Heta was the odd one, she doesn't need much feed when in work, but when she was nursing, even when in pasture(which is not super high quality, but still your average Icelandic would get fat if not worked regulary) she needed quite bit of hard feeds to keep her weight from dropping.

@Horse-girl123: I need get some new pics of both of my youngest baby... >_< I think I posted some page or two back of Heta and Tý though?

@Brynmala: That's not nice at all. :c I mean Arabians are again smaller horsebreed, which adults have been riding for ages without issues. Honestly QHs are pretty small too if we think about their height... All that nasty commenting probably stems from the WB horse world, where the horses tend to be quite big and riders can be often quite small. I think in US even the younger teens are riding horses, where as where I live until you are like 16 young riders tend to ride ponies (unless they are very tall, then they move onto horses). Also the horse heights in WBs seems to be going up as well... But really, a small/medium adult could ride a large pony no problem... So I really feel sorry your area has such harsh oppinion about this and you don't feel comfortable going your own thing because of that, as it really is not their business to judge a horse-rider combination that is perfectly fine, but just looks different than what they are maybe used to.
As for the larger bred Icelandics, they are pretty much bred everywhere I think. I'm not sure if it's something Icelandic people really pay as much attention to as Europians do, but I do see Icelandic bred horses being around and over 140cm quite commonly as well. I do agree with you though, it's not necessarily going to be a good thing for the breed, but luckily thei genetic pool will probably limit the size of the majority below 150cm anyway. The taller height is what the general market is mostly wanting currently. Some of it's is due the continental riding culture being more used to larger horses and some is due many riders getting bigger (coughheaviercough) and thus they feel a bigger horse is needed, but they want to ride Icelandics anyway. Of course very tall people also usually feel bit more comfortable on bigger horse, so that's another point. Like from perspective of a trail riding stable who takes on any sort of riders, it's easier for bigger horse to carry an adult beginner than for smaller horse, and that way you don't have to be so picky about the rider's size (which apparently is an major issue to some people when stables actually state we won't take riders who are heavier than xx, which really is just the stable thingking the horses' health).

[Livid-Silver]

@Hime; Oh definitely. I'll be keeping close eyes that's for sure, especially because we'll be hitting the height of summer and there probably wont be much pasture around. It gets so hot, most of it just dies off which is a right pain! We've had bit of a weird spring so far, like going from mid 30s one day to low 20s and rain the next. I'm interested to see what summer holds, but the weather people seem to think it will be a hot one and we might be looking at drought conditions again

~~~

I have not done much on the horsey front this week I've come down with a cold which is not fun, so I haven't been back to visit Cleo and her foal again (who is still yet to have an 'official' name. I still like Miles but everyone keeps telling me its no good ;-;) I've done a bit of ground stuff with Reggie but haven't ridden him because he's had a sore ear and didn't want anything on his head. It was very odd and I'm not sure what caused it, but it seems to be improving each day and there is no discharge or anything obviously wrong. So he's been playing ground games with me, which is heaps of fun and practicing some tricks =D I really want to get some photos/video of it but I'm usually the only one around which makes filming things a bit difficult lol
Also, since I'm on holidays and I've had some spare time so I've been drawing again I'm pretty rusty, but I've had a fair few months break over the uni semester, so I guess its expected. This is the most recent one I've picked up, but I've got a few others in the works as well. It is horribly unfinished, note the ears, eyes, face in general, mane/tail and legs lol But its coming along more or less. I've still got a fair few hours of work ahead of me before I'll consider it finished (so many more details to work on and you can always add more detail), but I do want to extend an offer. If anyone has a photo of their horse they'd like me to draw, I'm happy to do it I need some more subjects to practice with rather than just my own lol The only thing, is it probably wont be in as much detail as the one above, because those take me hours upon hours, but I am happy to do a few simple coloured/shaded pictures. So if you're interested, post a picture of your horse and I'll give it a go

[ξƞçɧαƞtєđ]

@Artificial Aids Disc.:

I have been and will continue to be a huge advocate for the *proper* use of artificial aids while riding. The immature mindset of 'the less tack=the better bond/better skillset of the rider' is one of the most irritating and least true statements I've come across in my 13+ years in the equestrian industry. The bitless fanatics, the whip-less fanatics, the saddle-less fanatics, etc...who all advocate for the 'less tack the more natural' argument simply do not know how these tools work.

Bits, spurs, crops, etc. are not abusive items *when used correctly.* I'm putting emphasis on that. *WHEN USED COREECTLY.* Just like with any other piece of equipment on this planet, if you do not use them the way they were intended, then they are warranted to distribute discomfort. Bits, for example, are one of the prime targets for the 'tack-less tyrants' because they think all the bit is there for is to make the horse do what we want, when in reality it is the exact opposite. The bit is not meant to be pulled on, yanked on, or distributed large amounts of pressure to. It is there to clarify soft rein cues. The reins are only ever meant to be tweaked with a few twitches of the fingers- if you need to pull on the reins to make the horse turn, you are riding wrong and therefore, misusing the bit. Directions, speed, etc. should come from your seat and legs. Nothing else.

Spurs are there to clarify complex leg cues. They are not meant to be used as an extension of the gas pedal. They are simply there to signal for more upper-level movements that a naked leg would have a harder time asking for clearly. If you use the spurs to simply 'make the horse go faster' that is misusing the spur and is where it is warranted to distribute pain.

Crops join with spurs in the fact that they were also there to clarify cues.

None of these items are punishment tools and are not tools used to 'turn your horse into a slave.' Studies have been done that show that bits especially, when used correctly, cause absolutely no discomfort for the horse. The people who state that bits are torture devices simply do not know how bits work. Bitless bridles are also warranted to distribute pain and actually rely on pressure just as bits do- but instead of it being in the crevasse of the mouth, they push on facial nerves, the nerves in the poll, and apply direct pressure to the nasal cartilage and bone. I have personally seen two horses with broken nasal cartilage and one with a broken nasal bone from riders who rode bitless but still relied on the reins for control and one day just applied too much pressure that the thin bone cracked or simply snapped. Again, nothing is abusive if used correctly.

[Brynmala]

@Hime and LissaJo - wouldn't life be so much better if people did just mind their own business! Around here there does seem to be two camps now in the horsey brigade - the warmblood lot who compete (or not as the case may be) and are quite snobby, and the coloured cob lot who slop around the bridle paths and are also snobby in their own way. I have friends/aquaint ences in both camps... and we sort of straddle both groups as I have a warmblood (26 years old!) but slop around. But they can be quite horrible to each other. I quite agree about the weight carrying thing - part of the point of the Icelanders taking 3 or 4 horses with them on a longer journey is so that they don't ride one for all that long. Now I'm the first to admit that I'm not as light as I should be but I still am not keen on riding very big horses, 15.2hh is around what I'm comfortable with (which is a shame as Ollie is 16.0hh), but more to the point a smaller horse/pony would have a saddle that I, with my long legs, wouldn't be comfortable on.

And speaking of the elderly warmblood... out we went this morning, both horses very much on their toes which is good to see. Ollie is jogging which is unusual for him, Prophet (the Arab) shied violently at a parked car - like he's never seen one before. The nasty neighbour even spoke to us having seen the incident. Two ponies in a neighbouring field were charging around, Sherbert over the road from them (a beautiful buckskin leopard spot, I covet that horse!) was also charging around. All the other horses around (and this is horse country, every field has either a crop or a horse) were fidgeting or at attention - we came to the conclusion that the hunt must be out. That always puts the wind up them.

We turn the irritating jog into a proper trot - and Ol's waving his head around which usually means there's a problem, when he settled into the trot he's definitely lame. We go a little further, turn around and try it again - towards home this time - still lame (and he isn't one to mess around usually, unlike Prophet). We decide to carry on round the block as its no further than turning back from where we were, when around the corner comes a tractor pulling a huge load of hay bales. Neither horse is particularly happy about such a thing, but on the whole they are sensible about it. This time though Prophet decides the monster is going to get him and turns tail, Ollie naturally takes his cue from that and does the same, so I'm now cantering up the road on lame horse... He's done this before, its only a few paces before I can pull him up, but still. The boy driving the tractor obviously isn't one of the local horse savvy kids and has to be appealed to to turn his engine off, we get past amid some eye rolling (the horse) and some soothingly delivered berating (me).

We continue and get home without further incident, but still with a lame-at-trot horse. Total ride - 1 mile. I can find no obvious reason why he should be lame, so he'll be resting for the week and I'll keep an eye on him and see how he goes. He is a bit arthritic, and is on bute for that, so this is showing over and above the bute dose. Out in the field he goes off at a gallop of course so he obviously isn't feeling too bad! Horses!

[Chasing Starlight]

sorry that this is so big... lol
this is my rescue, jester :^) he's a 15.3 gelding (gelded when he was about 8). please excuse his sad tail, I had to cut most of it off when I got him as his whole tail was one huge dread. most of these pictures are from last year, his tail is a normal length now
no one knows for sure what breed he is as he came from a meat auction, but I just tell everyone he's a quarter horse cross. in some pictures he almost looks a little drafty.
here's a few more pictures.. any guesses on his breed? I have pictures of him from pretty much every angle, if you need.

https://imgur.com/a/5RchV
https://imgur.com/a/dvoQU
https://imgur.com/a/V3IdK
https://imgur.com/a/k9zTQ

[Hime]

@Amy Pond: I actually like Miles as the baby's name. XD Maybe not as registered name, but as calling name I like it.

@Brynmala: Could be abscess, if there's no outer signs. Though if he's not visually lame without rider it could be something that is either agravated by the extra weight of the rider or certain ground type you rode on(hard ground is harder on the joints for example, and I believe coffin bone issues also show up more on certain surfaces than others), or it's back related issue that comes out as lameness.
Either way, I hope he feels better after some rest.

@Chasing Starlight: Definetly seeing QH in him mostly, but the neck and head remind me of TB or possibly WB. He's not that big nor is he heavy in any other way than QH way of muscle build, so I doubt he's draft cross. It's generally hard to tell with mixed breed horses what breeds they are really made of, since there are many breeds that resemble each other very closely. There are some breeds who seem to leave more influence in their mixes (like arabs or heavy drafts for example), but most mixed horses just end up as average looking horse.
__________________
Tý has been without his front shoes for week or two now. Stupid horse first kicked off one when I free lunged him ages ago, it wasn't even put back before he lost his other shoe yet again in the paddock... -_- He does seem to have pretty good quality hooves and since the paddocks are mud puddles, his hooves are doing okay. But it's pretty obvious he's not super comfortable without them and at least with miss-match pair at the front, he was even more off balance. And he was also definetly watching out for his feet/sore when I took him to trails for bit. So he's had pretty much couple weeks off riding now, since we've had bit of line for shoing and last week they had to skip the weekly farrier appointment since L and R were busy with other stuff. : P I've been doing some minor ground work with him, like walking around and over poles and one raised pole. Not that exciting really and since there's puddles everywhere, it's been kinda interesting as Tý still really doesn't want to go into puddles unless there's no other option. He's also had to practice wearing bell boots now couple times (no more missing shoes thank you when free lunging). The first time he didn't react when I put them on him(no reacting to velcros surprised me a little, but that's good thing) and also when I lead him out. Then on the yard he suddenly realised he has something on his legs (mind you these were rubber ones, so super light and no swishy sounds by accident) and goes around me couple times like "what's on my feet, what is it, it's weird" and then decides he doesn't care. XD At first I didn't even realise it was the boots he was so concerned about and spinning around because of them, but he couldn't have really reacted to anything else. Or well, he could have, since he also though at one point large pile of dirt was really really scary as was pony coming towards him ( ), buuut I think it was the boots.
This is how boring it's really been with him:

I call it the tuftcorn.

Heta has been feeling pretty good I think and the weird feeling muscle thing has gone away with the liniment treatments it seems. Last Thursday she got to try something new as we had little free jumping evening with the boarders. I believe it was her first time free jumping and that considered she did really well. ^^ We only had few cavaletti blocks and poles for the jumps, so set up ended up as pole, small cross and the main jump. I think at highest we jumped one WB to height of two cavaletti blocks on top of each other. Heta jumped one tall set (the blocks were not square, so we had two height options) cavaletti block at her highest and I called it quits after that jump since she did so well and I didn't want to stress her legs too much. At first Heta was like, you want me to do what, but after the first run she got the idea pretty well. Although she did always jump the cross right next to the wall, pretty much over the block... Unfortunately no video or pictures, as I had my hands full with Heta and we ended up having less empty handed people around than I had expected, so couldn't give my phone/camera to anyone. :\

Feykja also finally got to have her running around on the arena couple weeks ago and boy did she run... Considering she tried to bolt/jump 3 times on the way to the arena from the paddock, and 0 times the way, safe to say she really needed to have some solid ground under her feet. ^^; Video. She's a happy baby, but looks horrible really due the weather and well, just being a yearling... She also has some issues with puddles, much like Tý, and you can see her actually doing sudden evasive move on the clip as she realises she's about to run through a puddle. XD

[ryukrem]

ive been mia due to an upsetting incident with alice on wednesday
bascially we attempted to trot over a tiny x rail (she panics when jumping and such) and it was a pure disaster because i had a full blown panic attack and was just bawling while riding.
anyways we did trot poles last night to try and recover from that disaster. we were even able to canter after and then trot right before them, which we couldnt even do with the trot pole warm up on wednesday. next sunday we shall attempt to trot over an x again.

in other news, ive been jumping school horses to try and get my confidence up as they dont feed off my nervous energy like alice does. we did a gymnastic line two weeks ago with two little jumps and we are going to do three jumps on saturday. i ride arizona to jump, who is such a sweet honest boy but not a simple ride. he kind of moves and wiggles like alice does and doesnt jump perfectly round, so its a good comparison to alice to help me get more confident c: