Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[Rye_]

How much experience would you say you'd need with horses before buying one?

This is a super far in advance question because there's no way I'll be wealthy enough to own a horse in the foreseeable future, but I want to know what I should work toward! I work at a barn and I'm pretty familiar with how to take care of a horse on the day-to-day but I've never done some of the less frequent stuff like trailering. I know generally how to ride but I've never had lessons, so I don't know how to tack up and I'm not super experienced with grooming. I'm not too concerned with competing--I mostly just want pleasure horses--but I still feel like I should know a bit about training. I'm sure some of it I could learn with my horse as I go, but what do you guys think is a solid baseline for horse ownership? I am planning on taking general riding lessons once I've dealt with my student loans and other payments but is there anything else I should look into for experience?

First and foremost
learning together is NOT the way to go
Meaning a green rider should never get a green horse. If you’re new to riding, it always turns out better if you get a horse that knows more than you. They will be much more forgiving.
I would definitely recommend understanding the daily care and grooming, regular care like the farrier, tacking up yourself, etc. But most of that can be found in most horse care books, which is a great place to start. And even better than books, your trainer will guide you and you get to practice with lesson horses!

The best way to know you’re prepared is to ask people who are knowledgeable, like your future trainer or vet. They will be there to help!

Trailering depends on the horse, a trustworthy and experienced trainer will be most helpful here and with most other scenarios.

This was kind of all over the place but if you have any questions, feel free to ask! I have so much I would share with someone new to horses but I tried to keep this fairly short and to the point lol. Remember to spend as much time as you possibly can at a barn or even two!! This will help you acclimate and figure out what you do and don’t want to do at your own barn!

[MoonLesbian]

First and foremost
learning together is NOT the way to go
Meaning a green rider should never get a green horse. If you’re new to riding, it always turns out better if you get a horse that knows more than you. They will be much more forgiving.
I would definitely recommend understanding the daily care and grooming, regular care like the farrier, tacking up yourself, etc. But most of that can be found in most horse care books, which is a great place to start. And even better than books, your trainer will guide you and you get to practice with lesson horses!

The best way to know you’re prepared is to ask people who are knowledgeable, like your future trainer or vet. They will be there to help!

Trailering depends on the horse, a trustworthy and experienced trainer will be most helpful here and with most other scenarios.

This was kind of all over the place but if you have any questions, feel free to ask! I have so much I would share with someone new to horses but I tried to keep this fairly short and to the point lol. Remember to spend as much time as you possibly can at a barn or even two!! This will help you acclimate and figure out what you do and don’t want to do at your own barn!

Oh, no, I didn't mean I'd be getting a green horse! I see how I worded that badly xD I just meant that I'm sure there are some things that would get easier to learn when I have a horse of my own to take care of every day rather than just feeding/medicating/turning out/mucking/etc. a few times a week for the ~25 horses at my barn. I briefly worked at another barn, but the environment was horrible both for the workers and for the boarders, so I quit early on.

It's good to know that trainers can help with the farrier and trailering experiences too though! I wasn't sure how far the extent of lessons could be and I didn't know where I'd learn those things outside of lessons and my job. I'd definitely be making sure I got a horse who's decently comfortable with a trailer, I just want to make sure I know how to handle it if they end up spooking at any point since it's such a small space and I've only ever dealt with horses spooking in the open.

Another question: has anyone here had experience with a live-in stable hand position? I haven't decided whether I'd like to look into that eventually and I'd like to hear what people do and don't like about it. Does it provide much more experience than a regular barn job does? I'd assume it does since you'd be on the property all the time, but I'm not sure how risky it would be to live with and rely on people you don't know extremely well haha

[shezawomanoffame]

Ahhhh yesterday i ran fancy and for her first real run im beyond proud!! Ran a 19.9, i wasnt worried ab speed. she gave me her all and thats all that matters. She isnt ready to be pushed and im ok with that! im not pushing her till shes ready!

(i barrel race if yall are confused)

Also my boy gave his all and ran a 16.9 and his third barrel was the best its been in a while!!

moral of the story, im BEYOND proud of my bbies <3

[QueenPebbles93]

Ahhhh yesterday i ran fancy and for her first real run im beyond proud!! Ran a 19.9, i wasnt worried ab speed. she gave me her all and thats all that matters. She isnt ready to be pushed and im ok with that! im not pushing her till shes ready!

(i barrel race if yall are confused)

Also my boy gave his all and ran a 16.9 and his third barrel was the best its been in a while!!

moral of the story, im BEYOND proud of my bbies <3

Hold crap!! A 16.9?? That’s fast for him hehe

[shezawomanoffame]

Ahhhh yesterday i ran fancy and for her first real run im beyond proud!! Ran a 19.9, i wasnt worried ab speed. she gave me her all and thats all that matters. She isnt ready to be pushed and im ok with that! im not pushing her till shes ready!

(i barrel race if yall are confused)

Also my boy gave his all and ran a 16.9 and his third barrel was the best its been in a while!!

moral of the story, im BEYOND proud of my bbies <3

Hold crap!! A 16.9?? That’s fast for him hehe

Heck yea it is!! V proud of hims

[Hime]

@Livid-Silver: Thank you for the input. Some of the competition classes I was thinking I want to try out with him are now definitely out as it's tolt that we have so far hit the limit on. But as said he's still fairly young and might get bit better with time. I was hoping to get into 5-gait and pace classes with him, but since we haven't practiced pace yet it remains to be seen if those are going to be his thing. He does have pace and it's relatively easy for him, but it's hard to say how it's going to ridden.
I'm probably in similar spot as you are with Miles. I like Tý a lot and do enjoy working with him, but he has his temperament issues that I'm not that big fan of. Though mostly he's very nice and has no temper tantrums or what not. I also have his younger half-sister still growing (she's 4 now, but she was only started in riding this spring aaaand then I may have bred her this summer, so ^^; ) and so far her temperament is much more like Heta's and lacks certain issues that Tý has. But as said I luckily don't have to make decision right now, but I do have to sell one eventually.

@Rye_: I know people around here, who don't want to commit to lessons, go for trail rides when ever they feel like going riding. Some of them of course also take lessons, but there are also those who just go to trail rides as they might not have time or money to do regular lessons. Usually stables who offer trail rides are also more flexible when it comes people coming irregularry, where as some lesson stable do prefer people signing up for weekly lessons.
I can also relate to the lack of motivation and energy. I occasionally fall into that. Sometimes I just need to take short me time and then when I go back to the stable I feel better. And sometimes I just need to drag myself to the stable despite how low energy I feel and I usually feel better afterwards. Getting lessons also has helped me with motivation issues, as I'm unsure if I'm doing things right in general when it comes to riding. Like it seems I do need a goal of some sort to work towards, but I also need the confirmation that I'm moving to the right direction. Though sometimes it's just nice to hit the trails and air out my head so to speak.

@MoonLesbian: Depends on where would you keep the horse. Like keeping your horse on your own property is very different than boarding your horse at some place where there's likely someone more experienced handling things and who you can ask advice on regular bases.
In the later case you don't need to know super much about day to day horse care and you can get away with quite basic riding skills if you also continue to take lessons to kinda make sure you don't develop bad habbits etc. I've seen this twice now at our stable, where lesson riders have bought their own horses after some years of taking weekly lessons. They still board their horses at the stable and the stable owner basically helps and gives advice when needed. This has worked pretty nicely for them. Of course learning about basic feeding and health care things are something I would recommend learning about anyway even if you can ask someone.
In both cases I do think you need to be able to groom and tack up the horse and handle the horse in all gaits. It does help if you can also handle surprising situations, so basically you need to know how to react correctly. I would also not recommend getting a horse if you are quite timid rider and don't plan to take lessons. Since while you might get a horse that is a sweet heart at first there's no guarantee that it will stay sweet heart if it starts getting away with little things.
If you'd keep the horse on your own property or othervise be 100% responsible for it's care then all the above applies plus more, especially when it comes to feeding and health care.
Trailering is not really something you might even need to get into if you don't plan on competing. Like we have 5-ish boarders at our stable and I'm the only one with license to actually pull an average horse trailer. Though even I don't own a trailer... ^^; But such things, as well as regular medical and shoing etc. are definitely something you can also learn when you have the horse by talking to those experts. I would say since you've handled daily horse care you do have bigger advantage than people who only take lessons once a week. If/when you start taking lessons I would really talk to your instructor at somepoint and see what they think about your plans on getting a horse, like do they feel your riding skills are at a point where owning a horse is okay. The instructor could also help you find a horse that suits your riding.

I've been in sort of live-in situations couple times, on intern periods, and personally it's not for me. While it's very handy to have short distance to work, but at the same time I find it's hard to turn off the work mode. Like it feels like I'm at work all the time and I do like my own space. I didn't live with anyone, but still didn't like technically living on someone else's yard. Certainly if you are around more on the property then you are more likely to see more and then learn more. But for me the cons out weighted pros really, not to mention I figured that I do not want to do stable work/grooming for living.

[Rye_]

@moonlesbian
Good to hear you aren’t looking for a green horse, lol.
Of course, the extent of the lessons does depend on the trainer. But I’m sure any competent trainer would be happy to help, and I’ve personally had a wonderful experience asking farriers and the vet any questions and getting insightful answers. If you’re helping care for ~25 horses, I’m sure you’ve got the jist of it!
I’ve never done a full proper live in experience, but I was close friends with some people who ran their own competitive farm and would often stay for days at a time to help out with chores, working horses, etc. as well as goofing off once the work was done lol. Personally I LOVED the experience of really getting into “horse life” and learning the ins and outs of staying on the property. I definitely had some experiences I would have missed otherwise, but you don’t Need to live-in to learn everything of course. By way of working with strangers I’m not sure. Most horse people I’ve met are great and take care of each other, I was practically adopted into their family as a working student, but it’s always important to be aware of what’s happening
Also, spooking in the trailer isn’t a huge worry, especially if you’re getting a quiet, trained horse. The only trailer issues (besides not loading) was always hot horses. There’s not much you can do besides asses the situation and call the vet if needed. And if you can, get the horse out before anything drastic happens.
Hope you get it all figured out!

[kovipolf]

I used to ride horses and rode for about 4 to 4 and a half years.

[Verdana]

How much experience would you say you'd need with horses before buying one?

This is a super far in advance question because there's no way I'll be wealthy enough to own a horse in the foreseeable future, but I want to know what I should work toward! I work at a barn and I'm pretty familiar with how to take care of a horse on the day-to-day but I've never done some of the less frequent stuff like trailering. I know generally how to ride but I've never had lessons, so I don't know how to tack up and I'm not super experienced with grooming. I'm not too concerned with competing--I mostly just want pleasure horses--but I still feel like I should know a bit about training. I'm sure some of it I could learn with my horse as I go, but what do you guys think is a solid baseline for horse ownership? I am planning on taking general riding lessons once I've dealt with my student loans and other payments but is there anything else I should look into for experience?

To me, the biggest difference between owning a horse and riding other people's horses, is care. So before I owned a horse, I'd try to make sure I was making the best possible decisions when caring for my horse. These are things like hoof care (shoes or barefoot? How often should they be seeing the farrier? What should I look for to know whether my horse is 'sore' after a trim? What does a 'good' hoof look like, and what is a 'bad' one?) feeding (what/when/where) subtle lamenesses and injuries, all of the common illnesses, etc. When it comes down to it, when you own a horse, their welfare and care lands on you. So it's up to you to either make sure you are keeping them as happily and healthily as possible, or whoever is taking responsibility for them is doing that. You can sign over the daily care of your horse to a boarding barn for a fee, but you still need to know whether your horse is happy, healthy and receiving good care.

That's the blessing and the curse of only riding other people's horses: you are not personally responsible for the way the horses you love are cared for, which is less work, but also means that if you have concerns about the horses, and you feel that some of the care that they receive is not best practice, you have no power, really, to address it or change it.

How you come about that information, though, is your own journey!

Apart from that, I'd want to have a local network of professionals fairly well established before I bought a horse of my own. An equine vet and a good farrier that you have watched or know about and you trust to be both fair and realistic. At least one trusted trainer to work with you and your new horse (especially when it's your first horse, partnerships take work and it's helpful to have someone's eyes to help you both) and also to help you when you're horse shopping. Even if you think you know what you're looking for, an unbiased set of eyes is really useful, and often a local trainer has insider knowledge about what is informally on the market, and the background of local sellers. For me, I'd like a barn to board at, and it would preferably be one where I had gotten to know the manager, barn owner, head groom, etc. But, like, that bit's not essential.

The riding? Meh, if you've bought the right horse, and under the right guidance, you can learn together. But making sure your horse is happy and healthy is more NB to me.

[Huggles]

Hi!
I was hoping to get some feedback and information.
Ive decided after thinking on it for most of this year to start looking at “flipping” horses. There are a lot of cheap, well built, and healthy projects by me and ive been wanting to get one now for some time. I have two horses of my own that are on my own property, but id have to board a third as I dont have the best space to train in and for other reasons.
I bought my horse green and have trained her to ride tackless and she moves off of pressure very nicely. The other mare i dont do much with, she just gets to be a horse most of the time. Shes an arab and very hot so most of what i do with her is desensitizing. Shes a great trail horse.
I also when i was taking lessons would ride and help train my trainers green babies and she had some real problem horses. Not sure why she bought them for a lesson program tbh
Anyways my point is i have experience and am pretty efficient as long as i can spot a good horse out.

I have a couple questions though.
Im thinking buy grade-at least the first one? The idea of papers stresses me out. There are some cheaper registered horses but let me know. I know papered brings in more $$ but im not sure if thats the type of horse i could produce?

Also, how do you buy a project? I am not sure what to expect. I wanted to rescue when I was looking for my personal horse, they let me ride and we talked a while. It was a very chill shelter that had me meet her and walk and trot her around in a field. I dont really care how a green horse initially rides, my pony was a wreck when i tried her ofc and after training shes amazing. Can i just go to see their temperament and how they handle on the ground? Or watch someone else ride them?

Any other information or tips would be great. I would love a winter project and the barn i have in mind is very lowkey. I am out literally in all kinds of weather especially if i have an indoor arena. I go when its almost too cold to go. Even without cover so its reasonable for me to get one in the winter and that is not an issue.

I can go into depth of what skills id train if someone can help me with general pricing. They vary a lot around here, I personally have never ridden a finished horse. The closest one i have is my own pony who has a lot of buttons but idk what qualifies for finished. So to ME comparatively she is worth a lot if she didnt have poor confo
Thank you in advance for any help and advice!!