Do You Ride Horses?

[.Scarlet.]

@students in a lesson- wow! You guys have lots of students per lesson! The largest I ever had was 4!

@everyone- would anyone want me to post some pictures of the horse Phinneus I ride? Or would it just be wasted time? Because I won't if you all don't wish to see him.

And yay we have a tack cleaning party. My instructor and I get very irritated with the stirrups on the lesson saddles lately. So we may have a cleaning party. Lol.

@things other than riding- I enjoy any form of art. Lately photography is my thing. I enjoy video games as well c:

[Mr.Milo]

@Scarlet: would love to see pictures!

[MochaTheLlama]

@imperialfate - I do. It's DunStarBandit. c:

@OpalWyvern - Thank you, for being the only one to critique my videos and being nice about it too! ^^

I actually took two years of dressage when I was eight, and did jumping. So I'm not that new. Granted, when I was jumping I used a saddle similar to all purpose but was a dressage saddle. I'm riding in a hunter saddle now that's in almost perfect condition with light marks where the stirrup leather rubs, and.. it's super slippery.
Gaah, I'm horrible at diagonals. Never been good at them. xD It's funny how my instructor didn't even notice I was on the wrong diagonal either.
Oh! Yeah. My hands. They're horrible because I was trying to move my hands with him so that I wouldn't pop him in the mouth.. I wasn't really getting the concept that well though and they were flopping everywhere. Really need to work on that. xD Plus, he's a little butt and pushes his nose out bringing my body forward and will trot if I ask for him to bring his nose back in. Lastly, yeah.. the one thing I need to work on is keeping my hands up. They ALWAYS fall down to his withers. I have no idea why. xD I usually will keep them down on purpose if I ride bareback though so I can quickly grab mane if he starts spazzing.

Anyhow, I'm usually always tense at the canter english because I was cantering english when I had my first and worst fall that really shook my confidence, and the horse I did jumping on, Hugo, would always take off at the canter and go super fast and scare me. It's for sure something I need to work on, but it's one of those things that comes with time. c:

Naah, you didn't offend me. ;D

@smokey - My bareback pad.. isn't the best, compared to most it doesn't do crap besides making Poco's back less slippery. You'd think it'd make it more comfortable? In a way it does, but I still had those moments where I hit his withers and it was PAINFUL. xD
I probably would do good at a bareback bucking game because Poco's bucks are two inches off the ground! xD

[Hooligan.]

@Mocha:
LOL! Bareback Buck is actually where everyone rides their horse bareback (without chaps and without any type of pad), and put either $1 or $5 under their thigh. Then it is somewhat like western pleasure because the judge/announcer calls out what to do and the last person with the dollar/5 dollars under their leg wins everyone's money. You would probably do great at it because Poco doesn't seem very rough so you wouldn't bounce a lot and you would probably keep your buck under you longer. We use $5 bill here but some places use $1 bills. Although, we only play the game at our 4H horse show at the fair when there are prizes left, and instead of winning the 'pot' the winner gets a leftover prize, like a halter or lead rope. I don't know if everywhere plays that game but it is extremely fun. We had to walk, trot, lope, sliding stop (or stop, if your horse didn't slide), rollback, and change directions.

[opal.]

@Mocha
No problem! I really enjoyed watching you ride actually!

Sorry for the misunderstanding XD I just remember you saying that it was your third english lesson, so I guess my mind turned it into "Third english lesson ever" instead of "Third english lesson after a long time not riding english" XD.

Hands are kind of a big issue for me too which is why I highly recommend a running martingale. It helps me SOO much with keeping my hands steady when I'm not thinking about them. I actually do western dressage mainly, so I use my hands a lot opening them on circles, leg yields, half-passes, shoulder-in's, haunches-inand what not. Since I'm contantly opening, closing, shortening and lengthening my reins, the extra stability of the martingale really keep my hands from bouncing C:

I totally understand where your coming from at the canter. When I was little, like, 6 or 7, a big mare named Annie took off and I fell out of the saddle, only to be dragged for a 1/4 of the rest of the way around the arena by my foot which was still stuck in the stirrup. That was pretty traumatizing at the time, especially since I was young and had only been riding for a year or two. It took me a while to get up to courage to canter again, but what really helped was actually cantering on a lunge line. Cantering on a lunge line might seem...well...degrading at your level, but to have someone holding onto your horse for backup can actually help you feel really secure and relax a little. Of course, you don't have to take my advice, I'm not your trainer (xD) but I think if your feeling really tense and unable to relax at the canter that a little extra security could be really beneficial to your state of mind :3 Remember, Poco will always take care of you too :3 Hugo and Poco are different horses, and I'm sure that Poco will take care of you always C: Again, I'm glad I could help and that you took my advice well ^^

[Toppyrocks]

@Opal and Mocha-

Opal suggested a running martingale, but a training martingale might work, too. I use one. Looks like...

I have trouble dropping my hands too low, too, and I really like the way the training martingale makes it so that the reins are re-directed to a better spot that doesn't mess with Jesse so much. It doesn't so much stabilize my hands as it allows me to work on breaking the habit without getting in Jesse's way. You might not even have on to try that, though, or it could be completely wrong for your situation.

Anyways, that's just what I use and that helps me. I think hands are a common problem but its HARD to fix!

[Hime]

@Skittles: The hooves do need to be trimmed even in winter. Though in winter the hooves do grow bit slower in colder climates, due feeding change compaired to summer, but if the horse goes bare foot then the wear on the hooves is less with my logic than it would be in summer. With shoes, there isn't much differance, except the shoes barely wear down at all if you got good amount of snow.

@Horse-rider colors: We don't really have offical colors... I go mostly in black while Heta has light blue, red and black stuff. Then I got her a really nice purple halter, but I think it's going to the baby's halter when it grows up. XD

@Mr.Milo: In US the saddle prices might be bit different kinda than we have here, so I look a round a bit. Like if you have a brand that actually makes the saddles in US, then they would probably be cheaper than what they would cost around here. Oh and one thing with used saddles, you need to make sure the tree is not broken. Since broken trees are disaster for both, horse and rider.

@wibeke: I wonder have I ever mentioned thay Major sounds like one of the lesson horses we have at the stable. lol Only that if you don't ask him to trot correctly he will go to the middle to the instructor, especially if it's L who's teaching.

@Toppy: Sort of agreed with the synthetic in rain, since my bridle get's really stiff next day after I've ridden in the rain, even when I try to wipe it dry. DX
Wooooah, that's a lot of bottles. You are definetly getting good money out of those.

@Smokey: It was an awl, checked it up now. What things do you need help with the most?
----
Off to the lecture/class/lesson thing soon. XD Dragging my computer(=laptop) with me so I don't have to print out the whole FIPO(=all the icelandic horse competition rules, and that's a lot). Yay, for saving paper. Now if I could find our wireless internet sticky...

[karkadorr]

@imperialfate - I do. It's DunStarBandit. c:

I'll go sub to you C: For anyone interested, my youtube is ForeverEternalRider

[Fortunea]

*prepare for long post*

Milo: when looking for a lease/pruchese horse have a look around the stable. Does it look clan and the horses well cared for? When the owner gets the horse out pay attention on how well he stands and if he leads well. Before getting on for a test ride ask the owners how the horse moves. Is the horse really bumpy or smooth? How well does the horse respond to your leg? Etc. then once on try the horse at all gates.

Hime: aw cute pictures <3 Heta's baby bump is starting to really show! Only four months left! Glad you car is working okay now. I can't imagine how hard it was so be away from her for that long.

Cavey: what a lovely picture I might take you up on that picture offer with Daly or maybe even Robert.

Wolf: *vegetairan high five* lol okay that I said that...I really wanted to get some non leather riding clothes, but I found that rubber riding boots looked like crap (at least the ones I saw, I don't know about any really good rubber tall boots) so, I try hard to not get leather items, but it seems like it is really hard.

Other then riding a activities convo: reading fiction (I really like The Hunger Game books) and horse books (non fiction is fine with those), training my dog, when show season comes around I show my rabbit, watching Heartland and Bones, cooking/baking, and listing to country music.

What music I like convo:
I like Luke Bryan's new CD, especially Too Damn Young, Been There Done That, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, and I Don't Want This Night To End.

Every storm by Gary Aalen

Some Lady Anttubllem (I know I spelled that wrong)

And just some other country music

Skittles: at my current barn, they get their horses hooves clipped/trimmed every six week or so. But they don't have any shoes or anything.

_______
I had another really good lesson with Daly. It was a great way to end our riding together <3 anyone care to here about it?

I'd love to hear

@students in a lesson- wow! You guys have lots of students per lesson! The largest I ever had was 4!

@everyone- would anyone want me to post some pictures of the horse Phinneus I ride? Or would it just be wasted time? Because I won't if you all don't wish to see him.

And yay we have a tack cleaning party. My instructor and I get very irritated with the stirrups on the lesson saddles lately. So we may have a cleaning party. Lol.

@things other than riding- I enjoy any form of art. Lately photography is my thing. I enjoy video games as well c:

You could take photographs of horses! Your largest lesson was 4? I had 10 people in my lesson once, ages ago.

[ayeo]

Hi there!
Well I know this seems like a slightly random question at the moment and this is my first time posting on here. By what I've read, I believe you guys could maybe help me? You see, I haven't been riding as long as most of you have, {I believe this would be my third year?} and I may not be as expierenced as you all so if i word something wrong then please, go ahead and correct me x3. Now my parents want me to start English, and I'm pretty pumped for it, but this would be my first time . . . So do you guys maybe have tips that could help me? Is it any different then western? {I know the events are different. x3 Also I've been riding western for sometime so I don't really know much about riding English}

Thank you for your time! Any response is appreciated! :3