Do You Ride Horses?

[kathwren]

Thanks guys c:
I'm really interested in the Tipperary Sportage, considering that I'll only be schooling with it.
I also like the Ovation schooling helmets c:
I think I'll just go to the tack store and try them on c:

[.Scarlet.]

Yeah, my ovation schooling helmet is awesome. I'm just getting a cover for it for shows. I hope you find a nice helmet! I'm field boot shopping tomorrow. And also getting gloves and a helmet cover. Also someone who is friends with my instructor is going to bring up a show coat and possibly a show shirt for me to try. Yay! I also was offered breeches. Yay for finding skinny riders like me!

[June Bug]

I need a new helmet. xD I've had the same one for fifteen years. It's never had an impact, so it's technically still considered 'safe', but I can't imagine it's actually going to do much to protect me. There are no fancy guards or anything on it, it's essentially just a thick, plastic dome lined with hard Styrofoam and two nylon straps to keep it on. xD It's got virtually no ventilation and the visor was designed to be removable, which was probably a bad idea as I haven't seen it since 1999, haha. I'm really lucky it even still fits!
I'm hoping to get a new one soon. I don't really care what sort, I just want it to be black so I don't ave to get a cover for Drill team. x]

[cobalt.]

hi everybody! c:
i need a little advice, i'm looking to buy breeches but i have no clue how to figure out the sizes in breeches vs regular pants. if that makes sense. >.< also does anyone have any hunter class show tips? like how to remember diagonals, or other eq tips?

[CaptiveLegacy]

Well...i'm off to go get my senior pictures done with my horse!
When I get the final versions, i'll be sure to show you guys c:

[ryukrem]

hello everyone.
I'm having some troubles with my confidence. any tips?

Confidence for what? Showing or just riding overall?
I would have no advice for showing, honestly. I've never really showed.
But for riding overall, I have been having this same problem. I think they best way to build it up for that is to start from square one again, or start from where you feel comfortable. I panic a bit when I transition into a trot because my mare looks and feels like she's gonna bolt on me or start rearing or do something I can't control while riding her, so what I've been doing is just walking her around for about an hour or so and get familiar with it again. When we first got her, I knew I could keep her under control, in which I actually did, but my mom got on and started to break the habit of her trotting and completely ruined it [ and that really ticked me off ], but after falling, I don't feel like if she does something to me I'm not familiar with that I can't control it, the same way it was when my pony bolted. I really don't like walking, but it's the only way I can keep both myself and the horse under control.

Well I don't actually own a horse, so I cant really take any steps back. I have my lessons, but my instructor would never let me just walk around. Bolting is like my worst fear, omg. In the winter I was riding this green pony named Blake and he was quite fresh since in the winter they are stuck inside all the time. My instructor had set up a 60ft line out of cavalettis. The first one was up for warmup and I was coming through, nothing seemed wrong, and he bolted through the line. Like I blinked and we were at the end. I didn't fall off, but this was the lesson I had after the previous week in which I fell off twice.

[mare.]

@carrie911
That should be awesome! I want to get my pictures done with my horse, but I'm not graduating anytime soon x3

@12spot
I can probably help you a bit with that. About a year or so my 16.2 warmblood bold on me after running into a jump. I fell on a wooden ground pole, and ended up breaking my shoulder, so I know how gaining back confidence is, especially if your horse's withers are higher than your head x3. I'd honestly start with gaining confidence on the ground. Make sure your horse understands that your the boss, and that alone should be good confidence. You can do this by reinforcing the basic handling skills, like backing up, leading, keeping a certain distance from you when they stop, and stuff like that. So, I don't recommend riding without your confidence, so maybe just spend an hour or so gaining your horse's respect so that your confidence builds up.
Then, once you feel like your horse gets that your the boss and your confidence starts building up again, you should start getting back on, but I'll have to agree with guns 'n' crue in saying that starting slow is the best thing. As for your trainer, you should probably tell them that you'd like to spend a lesson doing basic flatwork and building back your confidence. If they disagree, that's quite unfair, as your trainer is being payed to help you with your problems. If you do ride outside of lessons though, I recommend just working on walking in patterns, trotting figures like serpentines and figure eights, and remember that trot poles are your friend 83. I hope this helped a bit

@ everyone
I have a question for everyone, and I'm being completely honest, so, how many of you depend on lead changes in your discipline, or daily riding routine?

[gam]

@carrie911
That should be awesome! I want to get my pictures done with my horse, but I'm not graduating anytime soon x3

@12spot
I can probably help you a bit with that. About a year or so my 16.2 warmblood bold on me after running into a jump. I fell on a wooden ground pole, and ended up breaking my shoulder, so I know how gaining back confidence is, especially if your horse's withers are higher than your head x3. I'd honestly start with gaining confidence on the ground. Make sure your horse understands that your the boss, and that alone should be good confidence. You can do this by reinforcing the basic handling skills, like backing up, leading, keeping a certain distance from you when they stop, and stuff like that. So, I don't recommend riding without your confidence, so maybe just spend an hour or so gaining your horse's respect so that your confidence builds up.
Then, once you feel like your horse gets that your the boss and your confidence starts building up again, you should start getting back on, but I'll have to agree with guns 'n' crue in saying that starting slow is the best thing. As for your trainer, you should probably tell them that you'd like to spend a lesson doing basic flatwork and building back your confidence. If they disagree, that's quite unfair, as your trainer is being payed to help you with your problems. If you do ride outside of lessons though, I recommend just working on walking in patterns, trotting figures like serpentines and figure eights, and remember that trot poles are your friend 83. I hope this helped a bit

@ everyone
I have a question for everyone, and I'm being completely honest, so, how many of you depend on lead changes in your discipline, or daily riding routine?

About the lead changes. It really does depend on the horse I'm riding. For the first few years I rode some great horses and just let them change their leads without me even thinking about it. Then I switched around horses and had to really ask for the change, or just do a simple change. I haven't ridden a horse with a flying lead change in months, so I'm really focusing on identifying and correcting and asking for leads in my lessons right now. c:

[BayloneRose]

@ everyone
I have a question for everyone, and I'm being completely honest, so, how many of you depend on lead changes in your discipline, or daily riding routine?

i don't ever really use flying changes in my daily routine, unless i am doing figure 8s and specificly working on lead changes/flying changes. lead changes are not the most necessary thing to know unless you compete in non-rail classes but they do make riding smoother if you are ever in a position where you are making a cricle or turn at a lope/canter, which is often for most, and it makes you look like a much better rider.
if i to turn or make a circle at a lope/canter, my horse usually corrects leads herslef because it is more comfortable for her, but lead changes are something that usually goes ignored. although it is still a good skill t have!

With other news, my horse, Smokey, might have ulcers D: we are going to put her on suplements for it and start feeling her stable mix. does anyone have any suggestions or advice on how i should feed her the stable mix? i have delt with supluments before but never ulcer stuff and i have never fed stable mix(just hay) and i was wondering if there is anything specific that i should know?

[Hooligan.]

@Dunskins:
Welcome I also ride western. So, for your barrel runs, some horses, like my horse Queso, need a solid inside leg. So when I go around a barrel I have to keep my inside leg completely still or he drifts out. So you could try that. Also, I train horses and have been for quite a few years, covering almost all ages of horses, and breaking them from untouched up to just fixing problems. The first thing I reccomend is do not rush them. You really need to make sure they are mentally and physically ready to perform the task you give them. So if the 2 year olds aren't broke by the end of the year just tell the owners that they aren't ready for it. I don't like heavy riding until a horse is at least the end of their three year old year. We do start horses at 2, but we don't ride them until 3 usually, and even then, like I said we don't do any heavy riding until end of three years old, or start of four. We also breed and raise our own horses though, so that helps a lot in how we train them. But yeah, like I said, thats why trainers say "30 days" or "90 days" or whatever, they don't usually say, its a 2 year old thats saddle broke, because you can't garuntee it will be within 90 days or whatever. You do what you can in the time you have.

@Mare:
Ok. So, first off, I really teach the stop and back up first. You want the horse to have the type of mind where he doesn't get really worked up about things, like, really calm. So, your stop will really help you on your spins, stops, rollbacks, etc. And I really like to get my horse in a pleasant working mood before I ask him to do something. So, for the groundwork aspect, I work on the back up until its feather light, and softness. I get him on the ground, where I can just twitch the leadrope and he'll back, and I work on softness so he really gives his nose when we back. I also start on the spins on the ground. If you want me to go into greater detail on anything let me know, I know I'm kind of skimming over a lot.

@oliviaoi/Braiding:
At a rodeo I was at on Saturday when I was queening, a friend and I braided Queso's mane in a weave.

@Blue:
Oh I totally know how that can be. I've had those type of shows /so/ many times. It sucks but its a good reminder to be humble, and you always learn something so its not too bad. Sounds like you did good in the other events though!!! I dug back quite a ways, but it was my last reply to you and I don't think you saw it because you were busy at fair

@Blue:
Hahaha, me, like (ahem, love), the 4th of July? NoOoOo....Hahahaha We sometimes have the chance to run flags, and we buzz, and we cover the breakaway and tie down calves. Thats it though. And we have to go to 2 kids rodeos here, where we just time, flag and write down times for goat tying and stick horse barrels. And we ride in 2 parades. And we do in all, 5 rodeos. Thats it though.

@Discipline Convo:
I'm not going to go into much detail here, as I am /EXTREMELY/ partial. So if I offend anyone, disregard it . I like western, I always have, and I always will. I've thought about trying English, not actually trying it, but think trying it, if that makes sense, and I've always come to the same conclusion-not for me. Never for me. I quote my favorite author Will James (I forget which book), "Pancake saddles do not have a place on a cowboy's horse." Quite frankly, my reins are rarely loose. I like to have contact with my horse's mouth when I'm working. If I'm not working, or if I'm riding a particular horse, I usually keep them pretty slack. I use my seat and legs mostly, my legs are most of my riding. But I'm pretty versatile with how I ride. I can go from one handed, either hand, to two hands reins crossed or two hands reins on one side. My seat depends a lot on my horse. Some horses I emphasis my seat, some I don't. As for riding the different gates, I post during the trot of a fast or bouncy horse, but otherwise I sit it. My friend finds it extremely difficult to roll her hips, so she /never/ sits, but its second nature for me. Sometimes out here, we longtrot for miles, so I'm quite used to riding in many different ways at the trot. As far as bits go, again, I'm extremely versatile. I use and have used many bits. I prefer some over others. But one thing that angers me beyond belief is hearing people say a horse is not trained if it can't be ridden with a snaffle. I know and own horses that I would not ride with a snaffle, just because it isn't the right bit for them. Horse's needs are unique to themselves. I've seen some awful bits in my time, but a snaffle can be worse than a spade when in the wrong hands. Like any bit, it takes soft hands to use it correctly. I use a bit many people would find somewhat harsh, but I have soft hands and it works for my horse. On a different horse I'll use a snaffle, and different still, just a plain curb. I use what I think will show off the horse's skills best, but still fullfills the needs of both horse and rider. True cowboys, like all that work here at our ranch, are versatile. They care about their horse's needs above their own and have light hands. Around here, I have seen few people who disregard their horse so much as to jerk on the reins when their horse is not listening. Its just a high high level of disrespect. Our horses are our lifelines, liike our cattle, without them we have nothing, why ruin them? As it goes, Vaqueros and traditional spade bit horsemen get enough crap for riding in a spade. Its a pet peeve of mine, because many people see the Spade and only assume its extremely harsh, and granted, it could be, but the horses that are granted permission to carry a spade do just that, they carry the bit. They go through /years/ sometimes up to 8 years learning a delicate process in which to become Spade horses. That bit will not harm a spade horse unless used in the wrong hands. And thats what it comes down to with almost every bit, the wrong and right hands. All bits are cruel in the wrong hands. Like I said, I am so partial its not funny, but I know my facts as far as my discipline is concerned. So if I've offended anyone, disregard it.

@Rodeo Queening:
So the last week we had to go to 3 consecutive rodeos and a parade. It was last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, rodeos started at 7pm, we had to be there at 6pm and parade at 11am and we had to be there at 10am. It was all super fun, although somewhat annoying, which I'll explain in a moment. Thursday went well although the ground was a little sketchy, and while Queso and I were putting a calf back he was on the wrong lead and as we went around the arena he stumbled and went down on his knees. I sincerely thought we were going all the way down but lucky I had a good enough seat I stayed on and he got up and we were all fine. On Friday one of the sponsor flag girls, we'll call her Girl 1, was riding a young horse I assume because of the paracord Mecates and 3 year old look to him. Well another girl, Girl 2, was carrying another sponsor flag (there were about 25 or so flags), and her horse started crowhopping and she dropped her flag and her hat fell off. Well she stayed on and he stopped bucking when she dropped the flag, and Girl 1 came by and her horse freaked out by the sight of the flag and the hat on the ground and he started crowhopping and she dropped her flag and got bucked off. And later on when they ran the flag for bull riding some idiot let their dog loose and he ran in the arena and started biting at the sponsor girls horse's belly and he broke in two and she almost came off before exiting the arena. And Saturday, the parade went well, but as a sponsor girl was coming around the arena in the rodeo she didn't hold up fast enough and she had to take a hard right to exit the arena and she came way close to coming off. And heres where I'm coming from when I saw I'm SUPER annoyed. My queen and Sr Princess are both acting as though their title means nothing to them. I'm quite frankly tired of it and my coordinators aren't doing anything. I've gotten numerous people who have told me that any other coordinator would take away their titles. Well, first off, they both have shown up at least 30 minutes late to /everything/. At the parade the QUEEN showed up 40 minutes late and at the rodeo she showed up 45 minutes late. And, they live in the town where the rodeo and parade were and I had to come an hour away, and I was there on time, if not early. They both are almost dictating which colors we wear, as we are supposed to coordinate, and neither have asked me of my oppinion. At our very first rodeo they put all the calves back and me and our visiting royalty were not allowed to do anything. And for some reason, they both hate one of my good friends. She is SR Princess a county over. She came for our 4th of July parade and rode, and our rodeo and parade Saturday. Well on the 4th of July she rode bside me in the parade, which was fine, and they didn't care, but at the rodeo she was introduced first and was able to do buzz first, which I think was perfecttly acceptable. She is /visiting royalty/ after all. So her and I brainstormed and we think they hate her because they are holding a grudge because she was introduced first. I don't see what their problem is. Its not a big deal. it was /one/ rodeo. Like seriously, grow up. And on Saturday, we'll call my friend C, well, she rode behind me in the parade because her coordinator told her to go after us, and I didn't mind much because her coordinater told her to. Well after we got done in the parade, my queen and princess raced off cutting through side streets in town to go to a place where we could watch, and I was assuming we had to go back and do something as royalty because they didn't tell me otherwise, so we pretty much left C in the dust. And when we got to our watching point I felt like crap because we had left her, but I sincerely thought we were attending to royalty business. Well we all waited there and watched the parade until C caught up. When she showed up, my queen and sr princess turned up their noses and left, but this time I caught on and stayed with C. I have been friends with C long before either of my queen or sr princess. So naturally I like her better. Well I appologized for racing off and she understood and we got done watching the parade and headed back to our trailers on the other side of town. So to do this we went through peoples yards and everything else until we could get back on to mainstreet (the street was blacked off from side streets for the parade), when we hit main street we would lope until we hit the only stop ligh in the county (seriously), and it was on red of course so we sat there in between traffic while tourists were snapping pictures away at us. Finally we got back to our trailers and C and her mom went and parked their trailer at the rodeo grounds before driving back to go through the vendors where C's mom dropped her off. C's mom then went to their aunts house, where they stayed the night from Friday. Well we left Queso in the trailer (no worries it was raining outside and was quite cool), and we went to lunch and tthen through the vendors. Finally we went back to the truck and went to the rodeo grounds. When we got there I noticed C's horse AJ was loose just grazing by their trailer, and I knew he wasn't supposed to be, so I went and caught him and went to tie him back up and saw that the tie ring on their trailer was broken. Well, last time I had seen C, she had AJ tied to the last tie ring, anyway, so I figured the ring had been previously broken. Well, I saw a knot in the lead rope but I figured it was broken or something and seh had tied it back together or something, so I led AJ to my dad and told him to call C to make sure she wanted AJ tied back up. Well when I looked closer at the lead rope I saw that the tie ring was still in the knot in the leadrope. It was just a slip knot but AJ had gotten spooked or something abd pulled back so hard he pulled the whole tie ring off of their trailer. Which wouldn't be hard given his size and muscle. Hes a rope horse, and about 16-16.3 hands, so hes a big boy and he probably weighs close to 1500-1600 pounds. And fully muscle. He doesn't have any fat. And he also managed to pull their trailer off their block of wood, and their trailer is a bumber pull 4 horse very spatiel trailer with a full tack room. Well anyway, because she had her other horse tied to the only working ring on the other side, we tied AJ to thse side that was facing our trailer, so him and Queso bonded quite well. Finally C arrived and was surprised to see the damage Aj had caused. Anyway, Aj and everything but the tie ring on the trailer was fine, so we went back to chilling. And we braided Queso's mane in a weave It was the first time either of us had every braided that, so we were quite proud with the result. Then, this super hot bullfighter came and asked for vet wrap, whih I had, although it was bright pink It was so awesome Anyway, back to me getting annoyed. Friday and Saturday my queen and sr princess used war bridles. Without even asking me if I wanted to join in, but its fine because I didn't. Especially with Queso. I'm not really a fan of warbridles and it completedly irks me that they used them when we were trying to do a job. So of course both of their horses acted up the whole time. And on Saturday, my queen made the rodeo in time, but only by 15 minutes, and she then missed a full round of tie down roping, doing who knows what. And in the end of the grand entry, because my sr princess was using a war bridle, her horse acted up so bad she couldnt do the run around, so I had to go so there wasnt a gap, well have way through it, she cut back in and almost cut me off while we were taking a very fast lap around the arena, which caused me to slam on the breaks so that caused everyone, including all 25 flag carriers and C to pull on the breaks. Then in breakaway roping on Saturday, my queen and sr princess refused to go put the calves away because 'the breakaway ropers get mad.' What are they going to do? Go off and pout? This is our job, so C and I put them back while my queen and princess sat and talked in the corner. When talking to C, she told me her coordinator would take away their titles for a number of reasons, them being late for everything, them using foul language around other people, them eating while in the arena, them refusing to put away the breakaway calves, them using war bridles, etc. And my coordinators wont do anything, they aren't even involved with us, in fact, they forgot our chaps for the 4th of july parade so we had to do without. The haven't came to anything besides the 4th of july rodeo. And only for 5 minutes to give us the surprise notice that we had to have bios for the announcer, so we all scurried around to get those written up and to the announcer. Everything is so unorganized .

@NEW TOPIC:
So guys, I was wondering if you have ever done any braiding or anything with your horse's mane or tail. I love it. Its super fun.
Heres a few I've done on Queso:

Weave that C and I did at the rodeo
Close up of Weave

@Rebel:
I have. I do smaller shows, nothing too big and fancy. But all shows around here are stock horse. All we have ever done is follow the judge or ring steward/ess's instructions. Usually a walk to the judge then trot to the line up. Then square up as good as you can and quarter system. It's pretty easy. Don't let the horse sit cocklegged. If you need any help, let me know and ill try to explain

Missed?

@NHSRA Finals!!!:
Well I finally got down to it! Unfortunately a few vendors I was hoping to be there weren't, and neither of the Tin Haul booths had my Daisy boots. Soooo, I had to go to the NRS World booth to buy them. The Ariat booth had them, but only in one size, which was much smaller than my size. And what gets me is they were only like $250 in the Ariat booth and I paid $340 for them at the NRS world booth. i also bought a belt for my sister for only $30 at the Wrangler booth. And I got to see and meet Tuff Hedeman and Kelly Wardell (one of my dads friends)! And /SO/ many hot cowboys!!!

@Fair:
So, fair has officially started today. We had a totally crappy judge this morning for photography. Like way crappy, and I'm not saying this because I didn't do as good as I thought I should have, I'm saying it because she completely went against all photography rules, and only judged pictures on what she likes, not what should actually be or not be present in a picture. I got either 2 or 3 purple ribbons, which is the best you can get without getting grand or reserve. Then I got one white, which is the worst you can get without not getting a ribbon. And then an assortment of blues and reds. White is worst, red is second worst, blue is second best, purple is best, then Reserve and Grand. The thing that got me was that there were people with /much/ less quality pictures than my one that got white, and they got blue. So seriously? And the judge basically told me that I should have just thrown that picture away. And she told me I had none in focus, and all of mine were in focus. And in one of my pictures, one which was a sheep corral, she asked me what I had learned, and I said: 'i learned how important it is to take a picture so people know what it is, because i took one picture looking down the loading chute and it showed a lot of texture but a regular person wouldn't know what it was." And shew as like"well thats my favorite type of picture". so of course all of my good, focused pictures didn't do very well, but a competitor of mine had taken a picture of driftwood close up and got grand champion. Does that make sense? How does that go with any photography rules? Mine followed the rule of thirds, was nice coloration, and no blur or anything. I was quite expecting to do SO much better. I'm pretty pissed with the outcome. I know its one person's opinion, but it pisses me off that she judged only depending on what she liked, and not what basic photography principles say to judge on. Anyway, later on tonight I have to go to a rodeo, it starts at 7 but I have to be there at 6. And we are carrying the Wyoming flag. And theres a pro trick rider present, so thats cool. i have to go shortly and wash Queso, as we have the open fair show tomorrow, then a break Sunday and the two days of the 4H horse show on monday and tuesday. Then rabbit show sometime and I'm pretty much done.

@Lead Changes:
It depends how serious I am about lead changes. I mean in showing, of course lead changes are important. And I will admit they are extremely important when loping fast, or in a circle. I know and understand counter canters, but i would rather be on the correct leads. Queso hardly ever gets the right lead, he is just way left handed. He'll get them coming out of a rollback and sometimes while doing figure eights but thats pretty much it. When he does get them, we always do flying changes, besides rollbacks which he has to jump into the lead. He /rarely/ gets them from a simple change. And I would rather have a flying change anyway. I've had enough wrecks with horses on the wrong leads going into a turn, so I prefer them to be on the correct lead but it doesn't always happen. like take the rodeo from last Saturday, on our buzz, Queso for some reason took the right lead on a left buzz, so I didn't chance it going very fast (considering our wreck from thursday), and I didn't want to break to a trot so he could fix it because we are supposed to only lope.