Do You Ride Horses?

[HorseLover!]

I love it when people post pictures of horses on here It's like an insight into their horsey life!
I get to go out and ride fred again on monday. I'm going to gradually try to overcome my canter nerves, I feel a bit better than I did before because I know its my mind thats stopping me cantering. I know that I can ride perfectly fine at walk and trot, and I love it. I'm perfectly content to just walk and trot around a field all casual and relaxed. But then it comes to canter and its a different speed and rhythm to what I'm used to and I panic, tense up and suddenly my seat goes, my legs flap around and I hang onto the horses mouth. Not good. I have four chances to ride before my assessment. I need to sort it out by then!

(Also I'm considering doing a discount in my art shop for people on this thread wanting art of their horses/horses they know. Does that sound good to anyone?)

I was always taught to think that I had a £10 not in between my knee and saddle and another £10 note in between my foot and horse, on both sides. That way you know where to grip. Just relax, the horse will keep you safe Happy riding!

Pictures of my friends horse:

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[eventing.]

I'm going riding today and I'm going to work in jumping. What are some objects that I can put I. Front of the jump? Today I'm putting a blanket over the jump, a closed chair, a bright blue box, and a bale of hay. What other objects can I add to my list?

Just got done riding and I'm sooooo tired now. I guess that's what I get for staying up till 5 in the moring playing video games and watching tv. Anyway the jumping was pretty good. We jumped flowers today because they were out and Rosie was afraid of all the colors. I'm happy that Rosie trust me it's just that she needs a little push to get her over the jump. When I had my lesson last Sunday my trainer (for now I'm juat going call her K) said that when jumping there are two key components its trust and if your horse is physically fit to be able to make it. K said she has both but if I hesitate before the jump she won't jump it. So I didn't hesitate to jump at all today and we managed to be able to get over all the 'scary color flowers'.

Our Dressage is coming a long. K said we just need to get her in a consistent fre and we will be ready to go to our first dressage show.
Happy National Equestrian Day everyone!!!

[stirrupirons]

I had an awesome day today at the barn! I spent about two hours with Thinker. Gosh, I really love that horse. I watched A's lesson with Lucky and then round-penned Thinker. After that Thinker and I watched my instructor, my friend/the in-training instructor (B), the barn manager, owner, and the manager's boyfriend warm up for a trail ride. Spot (Thinker's mortal enemy) was there, and the owner was trying to get him used to all the other horses since he's so rude. B's horse Stiggy is also dominant like Spot and Thinker (but he and Thinker get along, it's weird) and when the owner introduced them to each other Stiggy EXPLODED and reared, tried to strike Spot with his hoof, and made some terrible neigh noise. I let Thinker sniff Spot and he was really tense so I took him out and watched my instructor ride Fisher, her Oldenburg. Dannnggg that horse is something else. He's really weird, goofy, and does weird things, but his movement is AMAZING. He's in dressage (and he's Thinker's boyfriend). He's gorgeous, too. My instructor jokingly told me he was for sale but no way would I buy him haha. When they left, I hand grazed Thinker, did some ground hindquarter yields with him, and we walked all around the barn and the grounds. Then I took him into the arena and let him check out himself in the mirror, then I led him around and he kicked the big ball in the arena. c: It was so cute! I was about to hop on him bareback and be bad but they were coming back so I decided not to, lol.
My saddle is home! I'm out of glycerin soap so I'm grabbing some later and cleaning it tonight. I have a ground lesson tomorrow with Thinker. Also, my orange and camo polo wraps came today!!! Here's a picture:

They're going to be perfect for hunting season <3

Pictures! :D

My pretty man in the mirror <3

There's a lot of pictures so I'll just link them
Thinker and the ball
Thinker and the ball and I (you can't really see my face so this should be ok)
LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS <3
"What are you doing mum???"
Looking at himself
He's a model

[Namikaze~Sin]

@monchele
Aww he's adorable! That school looks really nice! Is that at the stables where he lives?

[Bluebird22]

I know I'm not on much, But RyRy and I have been doing pretty well. My boots broke yesterday and I'm getting Tredstep Donatellos. o.o That's $300! I can't believe this is actually happening to me.
My saddle should be here next month, I'm so freaking exited.

Lucky girl! With all the riding and showing you do, those boots will be great. Is your saddle then custom one you talked about last time? What brand is it?

Sin: When you canter try to have what my trainer calls "soft eyes" where you don't focus on one particular spot, but let it be just the center of where you are looking. T read about from the book called Centered Riding by Sally Swift. She lent it to me, and I really like it. here is the part about hard and soft eyes. http://seeinganew.tripod.com/id22.html You will realize when your eyes are soft your body relaxes and you can think about how you are sitting and not so much on how fast your going. You can also try thinking about something else while your cantering, something easy to picture. Like mucking out a stall, trail riding, or even trotting. Go through in your head just what you would do for what ever your thinking of. If it is mucking, then you would go though the the process of getting the pitch fork and wheelbarrow, opening up the stall door, etc. I forget if you said if it is possible to on on a lunge line, but try seeing if you can.

Horse: Lovely horse

Monchele: ERHMERGERD orange and camo polos?! I love them! I like the pictures.
_________
I had a very nice ride today, I road with S for part of it up in the hilly area near the trails. I tried to ride in the outdoor area, but S was low on fly spray and Rob was uncomfortable (he was throwing kicks at his belly, stomping round, giving me a pepy trot, etc.) so we went inside for some good canters. His right lead is so much better then the left. Then after I figured out stuff with the lady who is trailering (sp?) us out to fair (we are going to leave the stable at 8am, but I have to get there around 6:45-7!) we went to ride with S and after a few minutes she hopped on Bobbers while I held her horse, and she cantered him around then jumped. After she was finishes I mounted up and cantered him around, I could feel the ground move under us <33 Then while S cleaned his sheeth (I learned how, but I let her do it xD) I have him a full bath and fed him. It is just what I needed.

[Namikaze~Sin]

Sin: When you canter try to have what my trainer calls "soft eyes" where you don't focus on one particular spot, but let it be just the center of where you are looking. T read about from the book called Centered Riding by Sally Swift. She lent it to me, and I really like it. here is the part about hard and soft eyes. http://seeinganew.tripod.com/id22.html You will realize when your eyes are soft your body relaxes and you can think about how you are sitting and not so much on how fast your going. You can also try thinking about something else while your cantering, something easy to picture. Like mucking out a stall, trail riding, or even trotting. Go through in your head just what you would do for what ever your thinking of. If it is mucking, then you would go though the the process of getting the pitch fork and wheelbarrow, opening up the stall door, etc. I forget if you said if it is possible to on on a lunge line, but try seeing if you can.

Thank you so much for this! It really got me thinking, it's something I've never even heard of but it fascinates me. I'm quite a relaxed rider now until it comes to cantering. I've become less and less nervous about riding, after sitting on a few horses as they spook and not falling off I feel a bit more confident in my ability to stay in the saddle. I just need to be able to get out of this panicked state I've got myself into! Walk and trot my brains all like, "Are we on on the outside of the school/field enough? Am I on the right diagonal? Are my heels down? How's my position?" but when I think about canter my brains like "Omg my seat's not secure enough! What if I fall off and embarrass myself or hurt myself? HOLD ON TO WHATEVER YOU CAN AND CLING FOR DEAR LIFE. OH LOOK REINS AND YOUR HANDS, HOLD ON! I DON'T WANNNAAAA! BUT I HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DO THIS!" and all sense of logic just goes out the window. I don't understand why though xD
I just need to get over this fear and calm down. It's probably become an issue because I've been stressing out that not being able to canter well means I have to spend another year at college. It's the pressure getting to me xD

[stirrupirons]

@Namikaze: Thank you! :) Yepp, that's where he lives and I ride. It's really not as fancy as it seems, lol, we have homemade dressage markers xD It's super disorganized right now, ill have to go there sometime this week and help my trainer get everything organized. But thank you :)

@Blue: I can't believe I found them lol, thank The Lord for horse Facebook groups! They're perfect :D And thanks! I love them too haha

[Hooligan.]

@Hime:
Oh thats cool!! I would have never guessed that Icelandics had freeze brands! That would be pretty neat to learn about!!! And your baby is so cute!!!!!!!

@Monchele:
OMMMGGGG!!! I'm so jelly!!!! Those polos!!! <3<3<3

@Showing:
So today went wellish, but then not wellish. At the beginning, in Showmanship I turned out to be a beast and I got 4th out of 6. I beat one of my friends, whose horse is an $8,000 horse, and she seriously almost always wins. Then I beat some other girl I didn't know. In reining, I don't know what went on with Queso, but when I tried to do our spins, he kept rearing up and spinning back and forth and dancing sideways and rearing up some more etc. I'm lucky I didn't get DQ'd from him having such bad behavior. I ended up getting 6th out of 6. In barrels (it was /right/ after reining), he was still all crazyish, and he went way wide on first and second, and he stumbled a little coming out of third, but we still got 22.918 and 4th place. So two fourths and one sixth isn't bad!!! I only have one show left in this circuit, next weekend. So hopefully we can pull together a first or a third. The only two places I haven't I haven't yet recieved.

[Hime]

@Sin: Lovely looking horses. :3 I don't think your Eq looks bad at all(all though it's not possible to tell from pictures only), though agreed that you need to have those heels down little more. Now that you are riding Fred maybe N could put you on the lunge line to canter? That's if Fred is good at lunging... Then you could just hang on to the mane/saddle to be more secure in the saddle.

@BayloneRose: Heta usually doesn't stop and scratch unless I've actually stopped her, then she uses the opportunity in her advantage. It's not super bad habbit, but not something I'd encourage while riding especially if the horse does it no matter what gait. Also there's always the chance the horse breaks the bridle(not likely with good condition tack, but can happen) or get's it caught somewhere(like if wearing proctective boots) or just get's the bridle/what ever might be on it's legs all wonky. Usually when I've seen horses stop and scratch it's more like they rub their head to the front leg rather than scratching the leg with teeth, though that happens as well. Usually using legs and maybe pulling the other rein get's then going pretty fast. Like you don't necessary need to yank or kick at all, just remind the horse it's work time and they are not supposed to stop suddenly. Plus if they keep moving bugs are less likely to bother them. If you don't want her to do it in the show ring, then you don't allow her to do it other times either. Consistency is the key with horses(as it is with dogs as well I suppose).

@Blue: Compaired to his sisters(he has 2 now) he's also very yellow toned, where as the two clearly chesnut sisters are very red toned. So I'm very excited to see what color he sheds out in the fall.

@rain: Glad that you are Riley are doing well. In this case I'd say your boots breaking might have been a good thing. XD Also saddle pics when you get it maybe? Custom saddle sounds pretty neat, few at our stable have custom Black Country saddles.

@monchele: Those are some pretty neat polo wraps. Also that ball is super cool as well. Giat horse beach ball. XD We had similar one at collage, but it looked like soccer ball.
Got to agree with facebook groups. XD I sold my saddle through there and now I got a blue rope halter for 5€(for some reason they are insanely hard to find around here and expensive, so it was a good catch) for Heta.

@smokey: Yup, though I think they don't use them that much anymore... They got at least 2-3 different systems I think. Probably lot more really since I've never really looked into it. One horse at our stable has small 'x' on it's back and I remember at least 2 horses that had brands on their neck(under the mane it's hard to see really), but they were different styles. I remember one of the neck brands had the area where the horse is from(like short version, not the whole place name thankfully) and then number. I can't remember the other one too well... I just remember it had lot 'messier' font. >_< They also used to ear mark the horses in Iceland by cutting out certain bits...
Have you considered having Queso's legs checked out really well by vet? Since to me it kinda sounds like there might be something off if he's being that weird... I don't know, it just doesn't sound right that spins would cause him go that crazy even if they are hard with him anyway.

[Livid-Silver]

@Mochele; Those polos are awesome! Thinker will look spectacular in them!

@Horselover; Your friends horse is cute! I love greys!

~~~

Little update on Donny. I think we've had another click moment =D He's been really soft and supple and he actually offering bend both ways and will finally freaking round up at canter xD He's just been heaps more willing to work and is offering it more then me insisting it. I think it cause I start giving Donny two feeds a day since winter is here (yay ) and he got a wither rub froma rug and has to have less rugs on Not complaining though since I'm liking this new energetic Donny xD He's just so much more responsive and doesn't try to sit or grab the bit which is making my life a little easier xD
But I'm not sure fi I should be letting him stretch more. When I ask him to round up and use his back, I just let him find where he's most comfortable. Like his head isn't in the air or anything but he doesn't seem to have a higher head carriage then I would have thought. Not sure fi I should ask him for lower or not xD