Do You Ride Horses?

[.Scarlet.]

I'm going to help at the barn today in another hour. I am sooo sunburnt from yesterday though x.x ughh. But it will be fun. Get to watch some lessons. And set up some jumps for my instructor and watch them ride. What drives me nuts is that I can see the correct lead for te canter when I'm on the ground, but I can't tell when I'm on the horse. We were gonna try to focus on that two weeks ago, but havanna kept acting up. So I was just trying to stay on. An last week I was on the cray Appaloosa for the first time so I wasn't too focused on that. Lol. Hopefully next lesson we will work on it.

[opal.]

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

You know your horse is in the right place when he "find" the bit. If you have contact and are collecting him and he is holding his head in a place where you don't feel like he's pulling down or up on you, than that's the spot he should be in. Horses have different lengths in neck and are built differently, so whether a horses head should be "down" more or "up" more is too generalized. If he's not chewing on the bit and in that perfect neutral position that is harder to explain and easier to feel, then he is in the right place. I think you should understand what I am talking about

@Monchele
Ooo Thinker is looking really good! What a sweetie <3

@Dolphin
I'm so glad to see you back! I know this is a really crappy reply to your long post, but I read all of it and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that your horse got taken away from you /again/. You've had the worst luck with this.. *Internet hugs*

@Blue
Sorry I missed this earlier! I haven't scheduled my lesson yet and here's why:
I called the lady the last day of May, she seemed really excited and she works with my current trainer on western dressage regularly, so she kind of had an idea of what I would know and what I wouldn't. She told me what horse she was putting me on, but that she didn't have time for a lesson this week and asked me to reschedule after I got out of school and would have more free days.
So, come next friday, I call her and he doesn't pick up. I leave her a message figuring it was just late in the day and she was doing something else. I left for a trip on Wednesday so I excitedly awaited a phone call for the next few days and never got one. Then I left for vacation for a week. Still no response. SO I am going to call her again, today actually XD

That's so exciting that your show is coming up! Good luck!
______________________________________________________

So, the other day my mom and some friends of ours packed up and headed out for a trail ride. JJ was OBNOXIOUS the entire time (Hey, what did I expect? For him to behave and not be a ridiculously hot show horse for once?) but I did get some okay pictures :3 Excuse my lack of helmet...it's a long story -.-'

Yeah, yeah excuse my terrible equitation and what not. It was a trail ride. I was also far more worried about keeping JJ from loosing his freaking mind than keeping my equitation perfect for 4 hours. But! Caper, the horse my mom broke to ride last summer came with us on her first trail ride ever! She was a /gem/ and I ended up getting on her for the second half of the trail ride because my mom told me she wanted me to be able to relax for at least a little while XD

First picture: JJ and I (Yes, I put draw reins on him for reasons mentioned above)


Second Picture: Caper and I

[Plan on it Oliver]

I've never showed you guys Junior Before! So here he is He was confused at what my phone was...

[Hooligan.]

@Hime:
Oh that's neat!!! He is perfectly sound and everything. I think part of it was probably the wind. It was absolutely horrid and for some reason he never has been very good working in the wind. There were some show horses that were trying to buck just because they weren't even used to the wind. So I bet that's what his problem was. And to make matters worse, the girl who went right before me had a hyped of barrel horse, and he did the same thing. He jumped around and made it halfway around the arena before finally getting his spins done ...like queso and I hahaha.

[Namikaze~Sin]

@Hime That would be good but the field isn't really good for that I don't think, plus I'm not sure if N has a lunge line. I might try just having a slightly longer rein to try and prevent myself from clinging on too tightly! :')

@Opal Lovely pictures! I'd love to ride western it looks so comfy! N actually has a western saddle so I might be able to try it at some point when Checkers is backed and rideable :3 (Fred doesn't like it)

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Hopefully I should be riding again tomorrow unless the weather is bad. N is replying to my text which I don't like but I suppose its only been an hour and half, she could be working or something. But still. I want to know if I can!
I'm going to try relax a bit more, try those Soft Eyes that Blue mentioned. But that is if I can get over my initial nerves. >.< I really appreciate all the advice you guys have given me! If you have anymore hints and tips, send them my way! x)

[opal.]

@Nami
They are fairly comfortable. I think that western saddles are far more comfortable over long distances but English is more comfortable over short distances XD You'll definitely have to try it sometime! I think trying everything is good, and it's my goal to dabble in every discipline at some point XD

[Namikaze~Sin]

@Nami
They are fairly comfortable. I think that western saddles are far more comfortable over long distances but English is more comfortable over short distances XD You'll definitely have to try it sometime! I think trying everything is good, and it's my goal to dabble in every discipline at some point XD

I only particulary want to try western riding and dressage.
I'm too much of a scaredy cat to even think about jumping (well not yet anyway) so Cross Country's out of the question too.
But I love the subtleties of dressage. It really appeals to me x)
I wish I could try western on fred but apparently his reaction to the western saddle is " This is different. How many different ways can I throw it off?" x)

[opal.]

@Nami
That's funny actually, because I compete in Western Dressage X3 It's a really new discipline over here in America (The organization for it has only been around 2 years) that opens up the possibility of applying wonderful dressage training and principles to western riding as well

[AnimalTraining101]

They took Cash so Boomer is having seperation anxiety how can I help him?? I'm sad too see him like that .

[Namikaze~Sin]

Opal: That sounds very interesting! Do tell more!
Boomer: Aww poor Boomer, are there no small animals like sheep or goats that can go in with him to keep him company? :c