Do You Ride Horses?

[Rebel Love Song]

@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

Thanks! Where is the horse's head supposed to be?

[Hanoverian]

@Helmets:
I LOVE my helmet - it's a url= http://www.doversaddlery.com/gpa%C2%AE- ... r5gjphnwfa]GPA Titanium[/url] in charcoal with a black vent. It was my trainer's sisters, but she only used it a few times before getting out of riding, so it was just sitting around... so she sold it to me for $100, in brand new condition. o.O So that was lucky haha. I could never afford that helmet otherwise. xD I'm looking into getting a Tipperary Sportage for schooling, though, because I'm paranoid about falling off in my GPA and hurting it. The Tipperary's look sooo breathable, so that would be nice for summer.

@lead changes:
Flying changes are very important for shows, but I try not to school a ton... I personally think that the changes can be pretty hard on the horse's body over time. I prefer the simple changes most of the time when I'm schooling, simply because it really reinforces the basic idea of really collecting and softening in the corner like you would for the flying change. C: So it's just good practice for the horse's balance to do the simple change, and if you have a solid simple change then you know that the flying changes will be a breeze! I school them occasionally if I have a show coming up. C:

@Smokey:
That braid you did on queso is really cool! i wish that I had a horse with a long mane that I could play around with.

@Slience:
Yay for her!! that is awesome that she's going to PONY FINALS, what a great payoff for all of those years of hard work! Good luck to her, it sounds like she deserves itC:

@gam/circean:
It sounds like the babies you guys are working with are a lot of fun! Keep us updated! Heidi is the cutest name for a pony, oh my gosh. You guys should showwww! We're doing some at the NEC this fall, maybe I'll see y'all there?

_________
So I've been missing FOREVER, and I'm so sorry about that! I've been sooo busy with everything! I can give you guys an update if anyone would be interested (or if anyone remembers me xD). What's new with you all?

[ryukrem]

@mare.
thanks for the help. I may book a private or two this summer just to hopefully work on flat. I think I'll ask for a lunge lesson to help me with my equitation, balance, and base. Jumping is just something I am not interested in, especially now. It's weird because the falls didn't really knock my confidence all the way, but after what happened with Blake (sadly that happened twice) I just lost everything. I think my instructor already knows I'm nervous of him because she keeps putting me on him. Slowly I am starting to get a liking to him, but by slowly, I mean I'm still petrified to jump him. He's the most adorable pony ever though so how can you not love that little face :3

[June Bug]

@Lead changes:
We're supposed to use them in warmup and whenever necessary in lesson exercises as leads are important in riding english. Unfortunately, because we are a school, not all of our school horses know how to do flying lead changes, so depending on horse, not everyone gets the chance to practice them as often as we should. Grande, for example, can do them, but most of the time he won't. I've been working on it with him, but most of the time, he simply breaks stride for a couple steps before picking up the new lead, rather than hopping over to the other. Other horses like Ruby are excellent at flying lead changes. When we decided to try pole bending (for funsies), she was amazing, changing lead with each bend. She clearly knew exactly what she was doing. xD I think that was when we decided to start using her in our western lessons. It was a good thing too, she was on her way out before she switched over and now she's loved by many <3


Finally going back to regular lessons on Sunday! Just paid my bill today and wrote myself down for the 10am class. :] Hopefully, my instructor can snag Grande for me. If not, I'll most likely have him tomorrow night for Drill practice, so I'll get to ride him then at the very least. That is, if she's remembered that we agreed to switch to him. Poor old Twist really needs a break.


@English riders:
Also, I'm curious. Of those of you who ride English, what style do you ride? I see a lot of photos of what seems to be Hunt seat around. I ride primarily in Dressage seat, as my classes focus mostly on dressage. We do work in huntseat during our occasional jumping classes, but for the most part, we heavily stress being as vertical as possible with a deeper seat.
Sometimes, when you guys post english-style riding photos and ask for pointers, I never know whether I should suggest sitting deeper/straighter, or if you're just a huntseat rider. xD

@Everyone:
I'm also kind of curious to see what you all focus on. Like if you ride english, is your focus jumping, dressage, cross country, etc? Or if you're western, do you focus on western pleasure, reining, competitive trail, etc?


edit: omg, I made the mistake of doing a casual search to see what sorts of horses are available in my state for sale atm. Boredom is not my friend. Apparently, there's a GORGEOUS Andalusian mare not five minutes away from me. Perfect age, not insanely expensive (8,000, which is pretty standard for a horse with any level of training here), and her personality is exactly what I look for in horses. Why do I have to be broke right now? D:
Someone take away and burn my computer so I don't torture myself stalking her sale page every day. ;~;
WhydidIdothistomyself
then again, if I had the money for her, I'd be buying Grande, so it's not going to happen either way. :P

[Hime]

@Chickadee: I think the breeche sizes go about the same as pants... At least around here(though some jeans are in inch sizes, and breeches aren't). But they only thing I've noticed that some breeches are really odd sized. Three types I've found: The waist is huge but then they are little tight at the thighs OR the waist is tight(for me this is really rare) and they are othervise fine but may have some slack in places. And then there are some that fit like a glove(again rare for me when it comes to pants). So really trying out is the best option when looking for breeches in my oppinion, plus as said the fit will vary between brands so you may have to go one size larger/smaller on one brand even if certain size was okay on the other brand.

@mare.: Well... Heta doesn't know lead changes, probably, and neither do I know how to do them. ^^' And to be honest I suck at feeling/seeing the leads to begin with. Actually on general level our canter work sucks... : P But teaching her lead changes(assuming I learn to tell left lead from right) is one of our goals in long run.

@BayloneRose: How many times a day is he getting fed hay now? Also what's the stable mix? If it's yet another pellet/myesli etc. type of feed, what's special about it? Also the bag should have feeding instructions...
Basically with ulcers feeding the horse often with small amounts is the key(constant access to hay would be the best) and minimizing the stress, plus trying to choose feeds that are high fibre and encourage chewing, which produces saliva that then protects the stomach. Also if I remember right, linseed crush is more or less recommeded for ulcers, since when soaked it makes this slime which generally does good for the horse's digestive system(and coat as linseeds contain lot's of oils).
As for riding I heard someone always feeds their horse little hay before riding so that the stomach is not totally empty while riding, which should mellow down the accids a bit or something. Hard to explain...

@Hano: Yes please for update.
Nothing much going on with me, Heta and Tývar. Tývar growing steady and nicely. He's showing loooooots of tolt and I've only seen him take few trot steps and even then I've only properly noticed it on pictures. XD Other than tolt he also canters, but it's often(like most of the time I got pictures of him) cross canter. XP Oh well, he does go to pace from it often so no complains, I just got myself a pace pony. XD
I rode Heta for 5 minutes few weeks back... It felt awsome to be back on a horse, but she was stiff/lame at first with the right hind when I asked her to tolt. So depending how she's when it's time to get back to work for real, I may have to take her to clinic to have her hocks checked out as it is most likely bone spavin.
Also our final foal line up at the stable: 3 fillies and 2 colts. The WB had a huuuuge colt in the begin of July.

@June Bug: I have the same issue giving critique to people since to me all flat work is 'dressage style', so when people ask flat work critique I automatically compaire them to what I think flat eq should look like, which is pretty much more or less dressage eq I think.
*steals your computer* lol I tend to do that as well... Or more like it's facebook's fault since I'm in a group that has sale adds of Icelandic horses(and tack etc)... XP Though we(me, M and R) are also kinda looking for potential lease horse for M(we just need to get her mom on board with this idea). So looking through the adds is justified that way. ;D But there are soooo many gorgeus horse out there for sale at the moment that I'd just want to go out and try. Not to mention some crazy people are selling their top horses... Like this chesnut 1st prize 5 gaited stallion, with amazing pace... *drool*

@English style:.
I ride dressage seat I suppose. Though here hunt seat doesn't really exist... Like back in collage the only differance between jumping and flat/dressage lesson was stirrup lenght, plus one or two horses had different saddle and many had martingales and/or stronger bit on jumping lesson. But the seat remained the same unless going over jumps of course or we were asked to ride with lighter seat. lol

@Focusing: Gaited riding with Icelandics. So basically flat work, flat work, flat work and trails. XD It's sort of similar what a dressage rider would probably do, but less focus on the 'dressage moves'(=leg yields, shoulder ins etc.) themselves and more on the gait quality and movement, not forgetting the speed range. Though using the leg yields and such is pretty common in training as they are good exercise to get the hind more active and horse more supple.
____________
I'll see if I can get some new pictures uploaded on photobucket/fb. As I think I haven't picture bombed you guys in a while. ;D

[sforzando.]

edit: omg, I made the mistake of doing a casual search to see what sorts of horses are available in my state for sale atm. Boredom is not my friend. Apparently, there's a GORGEOUS Andalusian mare not five minutes away from me. Perfect age, not insanely expensive (8,000, which is pretty standard for a horse with any level of training here), and her personality is exactly what I look for in horses. Why do I have to be broke right now? D:
Someone take away and burn my computer so I don't torture myself stalking her sale page every day. ;~;
WhydidIdothistomyself
then again, if I had the money for her, I'd be buying Grande, so it's not going to happen either way. :P

[ still guns n' crue. ; here ]

You made me feel like looking and I just found a pretty appaloosa that's sixteen years old for 3k but he's hours from where we are. ><
And he's mainly an English horse (even though he does a small bit of western I think), so that would give my parents something to laugh at me about.
And the fact that I can't even trot one of my own horses omg
but
so pretty
can I have

[.Scarlet.]

@june- I guess you could say I do hunt seat? Like my classes are mainly on the flat but I always have a shorter stirrup because it works better for my long legs and shorter horses. And we do jumping like every other lesson. Gahhhh. The show is a week away. I don't know who i am riding and I have to get all of my stuff. Like ahhhhh x.x but I think we worked with a few dressage moves like once or twice. But most of my instructors students are into jumping, flat work, or western.

[Hime]

Picture dump:
Tývar can be a real annoying sometimes... Using mares as his climbing toys...
Pretty boy.
Flying pace he goes
In your face
Blondie
Trot I think? - ...and back to tolt.
Likes ropes... too much XD
And last, but not least, Heta. :3 Still my number one. <3

Also I forgot, but the dudes finally put together a round pen. Well, it's slightly oval shaped and still needs something to make the walls little higher, as it's made out of old skating ring pieces, plus some sand on the ground. But still I'm excited that the walls are up as they've been laying around forever already and I know R really wants to start working on the youngsters. Though L joked that in winter she's going to freeze it and make it a real skating ring. XD Though I threw back that then we'd have our own personal (small)ice track as it's about big enough to ride.

[stirrupirons]

@Namikaze: Yepp, Thinker is a Thoroughbred c: Although I like to think he's got warmblood in him because he looks like one and moves like one xD Not to mention he's 17.2hh.. lol. He's really the perfect horse to me. He can be very timid and nervous, but he needs to be around someone who's confident and assertive or else he becomes a nervous wreck. I'm assertive and strong around him however and he likes that, so he calms right down around me. It's gotten to the point where when I started riding him and wasn't super comfortable around him (mainly intimidated by him) he would pace his stall when I tacked him up. Now, he falls asleep xD He's very kind though to strangers despite being a little tense around them. If he feels uncomfortable, instead of throwing a hissy fit, he just turns his head and walks away from them. So he is a little shy, but he's very comfortable and calm with me c: He always leans his head against my side or something and I'll hold his head and he loves it xD
And oh gosh ponies xD The smaller the crazier. That picture is adorable!!!
Speaking of Thinker, here's my favorite senior picture, with my faced blacked out of course. Look at his neck muscles *swoon* and of course he stuck his tongue out.. there's my horse for ya

Here's another favorite! My face was looking down at him and smiling, but I had to black it out :(

Missed...

@June Bug: I ride classical/dressage seat mainly. Yesterday though and tomorrow I will be riding hunt seat because my trainer decided to incorporate jumping into some of my lessons to get Thinker more uphill :) I focus on dressage.

--

Thinker was STILL sore yesterday :( I rode Sterling again. I had to ride in the close contact but it was so much fun! We did basic WTC with stretches since it takes a lot for him to stretch his neck down (stiff old Arabian). Then we did two point at WTC and then some half seat. My instructor said everything looked good :) We then trotted over ground poles in two point and rising trot. That was essentially my entire lesson. She said Thinker should be 100% by Sunday since it'll have been almost a week since he was shod. Sunday, I have a group lesson with A and we're starting with some flat work getting him to round up at WTC, then doing two point/half seat over poles and then we're JUMPING! She said we're doing a crossrail so it won't be a big deal. I'm really excited :) It's going to be so much fun, and it'll be really good for Thinker.

[Hanoverian]

@Junebug:
I ride Hunt-seat I suppose, in a close contact/jumping saddle. I ride hunter/jumpers. C: I would love to try dressage someday, though, even if it's just sitting in the saddle xD Dressage saddles look insanely comfortable.

@Hime:
I'm glad that you, Heta, and Tyvar are all doing well! THOSE PICTURES. <333 Tyvar is adorable, oh my gosh. Sooo fuzzy. That's cool that he's already tolting (is that a good thing?)! Is a pace pony a good thing? xD
Yay for riding Heta again, but I really hope that she's not seriously lame... that wouldn't be good D: I hope that she'll feel well soon!
And yay for more foalsss. What kind of WB? You know I love WB's, lol. Do you have any pictures of that one?

@Monchele:
Oh my gosh, both you and Thinker are GORGEOUS! Those pictures are just lovely! <3
I'm sorry that Thinker is still sore, I hope that he'll feel back to normal soon. Have fun jumping! I'm sure that you'll love it, jumping is my number one favorite thing in the whole entire world xD