Do You Ride Horses?

[ryukrem]

So I rode this pony named Quincey today. He is your average school pony. Veryy lazy. Anyway it went well today actually and we did canter transitions on the quarter line which was actually pretty good for once! Though my equitation is s**t but I'm trying to work on that.

[gam]

@blue; oh noes :c I hope Rob gets well soon! I'm sure he'll be back in no time.

@monchele; good luck! I'm sure you'll like it!

@Mocha; I've always wanted to swim around with horses, it sounds so fun. I also want to ride on a beach, but I'm about as far inland as you get. lol

@12spot: at least you have a productive lesson! I'm in the same 'horrible eq' boat with you c:

@Hano; Aw :c I hate when you start to outgrow a horse. It's so...ugh. I just hate it. At least you'll still get to ride her! I wish I could afford a lease! It looks like a criminal amount of fun
Yay! Congrats on your show! <3 I haven't showed in a year or so. Mostly because I really just hate it LOL but maybe I will every once in a while. But that's great, Willow's still got it for sure ;] and I want a pink neck ribbon. hjghfgdf
Glad you did well at Greg Best too! I wish I could do a lcinic! I haven't ever heard of one in my area, but they sound quite educational.
Oh yay! That TB sounds awesome! I't's sounding like you two are getting along, keep us updated!
Horse camp for me was the beginning of July! I love helping out. Sometimes we got to ride and sometimes we didn't, but it was still pretty fun. Just hot. And humid. OH God I am jealous of those breeches, they're absolutely beautiful. I so wish my trainer adored me, but I guess I do kind of seem standoffish, but tbh I'm really just zoning out or don't feel like talking lol.

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Guess I'll talk about me now...well, to be honest I really am just frustrated. My original trainer has been gone for a month and will be gone for 2 more weeks. She'll stay for 2 weeks, but then is leaving again for 2 weeks. It's so. aggravating. Our substitute trainer is nice and kind and we love her because we've gotten to know her as a person, but, I don't meant to sound like a jerk here...but I guess her teaching really just is not up to par. Sometimes she just won't teach us at all, just tell us when to switch directions, what to jump, what the courses are, etc. Then when we're done she just says "good" then the next person goes. It's fun, don't' get me wrong, just riding without a lot of pressure but that's not what we're paying for ??? Like I want some criticism and learn how to get better. Also, it doesn't help that we have literally only maybe 3 horses fit to ride in lessons and they're all under 14hh. I get squeezed on the tiniest, laziest little ponies. They're sweet and cute and all, and I love them, but it's just not what I need. I'm too busy kicking and wasting all my energy on getting these lazy little ponies to go and do something that they're not physically fit to do. Also, I don't click at all with any of these ponies. Usually I get on a horse and I can sync up with them pretty well. But Taz, the one I'm riding most regularly, he just feels so disconnected from me, you know? Our transitions are terrible, we don't agree on take off spots he just gets angry every time I'm told to use the crop. It's a mess. And it's actually quite embarrassing.
So, yeah. And even when my original trainer IS at the farm, she usually just doesn't teach us anyway. She puts all her time into the people who can afford it. We're probably at the very bottom of her priority list because we don't have horses and we don't show and we don't have the money to go throwing at her.
Well...I guess that's it. I guess the only reason I'm staying there is because of Heidi and Twilight, who I know my friend loves a lot. My original trainer's teaching is excellent, but rarely does she care enough to actually teach us at all.
So yeah.

[Circean]

@gammy gam~
:c I totally understand. I just really hope something good comes out of this soon I bet pretty soon you WILL be put on a bigger horse, mainly because you're getting pretty tall c;
maybe you'll get put on Ringo one time before he leaves, and when he does maybe he'll get replaced with someone you could ride! I wish shelby was okay or younger cause you guys did awesome! Maybe even bubba! I mean it sucks because at our barn, bits like 48% ponies 48 % babies (not lesson/school material) and 4% horses that are owned by other people and can't be lessoned on I wish cooper never left honestly. You guys were great...

It'll get better though, its just gonna take time. I mean after twilight left i was devastated and frustrated just like you. But I waited and waited, and look what happened , he came back out of the blue! c: Every gray cloud has a silver lining (:

And who knows! If you get your permit soon, and get really good at driving, then maybe in 6 months or whatever, just once or twice just you and me can go driving up there, and have a really good time, get starbucks or whatever, and food and QT and everything, and once we get there, Sarah might not even know how old we really are! Cause honestly, I even think I look like I'm 13 or 14 years old with my hair up and in my riding gear, cause look at me. I'm only 5'2.5" lol. I'm short. And I still have a childish looking face if my hair isn't down lol. But if Sarah sees your driving and stuff, and actually realizes that were *cough* older than portell* cough* LOL then maybe we'll earn more respect, and stop being put on TINY lazy ponies! (taz and deed's size, not Twi <3 hes perf)

But maybe when you go back up, you might wanna try deedee just once so you can say you've tried her, because I know you HATE going super slow like on Taz, and at least with Dee, you won't we DRAGGING along, and she doesn't refuse jumps like taz does, and she literally listens to EVERYTHING you tell her, and you will NEVER have to even touch her with a crop. I mean honestly, she's better than taz. A little smaller, but 47328947329423x more fun and better c:

[Hooligan.]

Sorry guys I've been super busy with fair and horse shows but it shouldn't be too bad from now because all my horse shows are over.

@Blue:
Well we were invited to go to a few circuit rodeos, but I don't think I will because haying will be in the way. We trailer him back and forth. It isn't too far from our house to the fairgrounds, luckily. Yeah, it went really well!!! Although the 4H show was total crap.

@rebel:
They want a controllable horse, but a horse that is attentive. You don't want a dead beat, but you want something thats laid back and chill. Not really wide eyed. Although it really depends on the class you want. Showmanship is going to be super super strict on judging, although halter is laid back and is all about the horse and his confo.

@Fair/Showing:
Well, I'm going to give a run down on my placings, and I'll explain in a bit. These were for the 4H horse show.
Halter geldings 4+: 7th place, red ribbon and a lead rope
Senior Showmanship: 4th or 5th place, blue ribbon and a halter
Senior western Eq: red ribbon
Senior trail: red ribbon
Senior barrels: DQ
Senior Poles: blue ribbon and a halter
Senior Reining: red ribbon
senior western riding: red ribbon

So heres the deal. I am SUPER pissed. The judge was absolutely crap. If we would have had a /real/ judge, I would have gotten 3-4th in EVERY class except halter, barrels, trail and maybe western riding. Seriously, I'm not saying this because I didn't win. I'm saying this because its true. This judge judged us by how much he liked our horses. And I think he was slightly paid as well. He hated Queso from the moment he saw him, therefore I placed last or close to last in almost every event. In the halter class, I agree with the placing, the halter judge was different, a lady from Utah. She was a good judge, i didn't expect Queso to do even that good, he just isnt the best halter horse. In showmanship, I KNOW I should have got 2nd or 3rd. Instead this girl, D, got 1st and H got 2nd. D's horse wouldnt even trot. H did a nice job, but I did a better job than D. So I don't understand. And I KNOW, i placed better than the few other people in it. They all had sloppy lines, sloppy set ups and bad back ups. And some of them didn't even have their hair up. So that pissed me off so bad its not even funny. I'm not sure the placings I got in the other classes, but I'll find out when they mail us the sheets. Anyway, I got last or second to last in Eq. Which is crap, because i did the pattern much better than the people ahead of me, with the exception of D, H and C. In tail, I'm surprised they didn't just ask me to leave. I got last in that. i moved almost every obstacle in the pattern. It was a tiny pattern, and we had to hurry and do it right after barrels because we were almost out of time, so Queso was buzzed. There were over 25 logs in there, and we hit /every/ single one of them. He wouldn't spin. He wouldn't get his right lead. He wouldn't lope the logs on his left lead. He wouldn't backup straight, he wouldn't do the gate. Etc. Barrels was a joke. It was going to be insanely fast for Queso, and he screwed it up by diving out on the wrong side of the 2nd barrel, so we got a no time. I didn't break the pattern and they say I did, and yet the coordinators /daugter/ did the/same/ thing and still placed, while I got DQ'd. In poles it was a great run, but Queso isn't a 1 D pole horse so we got like, 5th or so. Beaten only by the few pro high school rodeo horses. I kind of broke the pattern in reining, but it was one of the nicest jobs I've ever done in reining. I did 3 spins instead of 2, although it was very subtle. and he crossfired throughout the whole right circles. In western riding I did completely break the pattern, I've never entered western riding, so it was a first, and the patterns are extremely hard. Especially for a fast horse who doesn't get his right lead, so I got last there too.

[June Bug]

So my horse got bitten by one of the barn dogs..can you say angry boarder? What would you do of your horse got bitten and needed a couple stitches?

Definitely confront the dog owners about it. Have them pay the vet bills and make sure that they plan on keeping their dog either out of the barn, or under better control. Your horses home needs to be safe and the injury should not have happened. :/
I hope it's not too bad an injury, btw, and that he's not hurting too bad <3


Getting a little annoyed about Grande's hours. :/ He's been used a LOT in camp the past couple weeks. Today he had no turnout at all because he was used in camp all day, then had evening classes. The chick riding him in the evening was told he really needed fewer hours, but she refused to ride anyone else.
I was told they're planning on reducing his camp hours so there's that at least. I'm going in for a job interview with the library system tomorrow, so hopefully I get it and can start contributing to my 'buy Grande' fund. Then, It'll just be me and possibly one or teo of the others who really love him riding him.

Kinda annoyed about my vacation timing as well. I got covers for all my shifts except for this Friday. :/ Young Riders is having an event over in the next state over and everyone is going. I'm one of maybe three staff members who aren't in Young Riders and they're already working then, so no one can cover for me.
I would just wait and leave the next day instead, but I'm leaving to go to a wedding, which is on Saturday. If it were closer, I may have been able to just leave after the shift, but we have to be in Boston (an 8 hour drive) in time to meet my sister at the airport before we head to the Cape. So unfortunately, the two left will just have to do without a third. :/ I feel so bad, but there's really nothing I can do.

[sforzando.]

So my horse got bitten by one of the barn dogs..can you say angry boarder? What would you do of your horse got bitten and needed a couple stitches?

I'd take the not recommended rout and call the cops. o.o
But my dad is a cop so I wouldn't have a problem. xD
And my grandfather has also threatened our neighbors that if something happens and their dogs hit one of our horses that he's going to shoot one of them.
But like everyone said, confront everyone. If they don't believe you that they bit your horse, take your horse with you and physically show him.

Any recommendations on getting a horse adjusted to the water?
She keeps turning away and out of the way of the water if we don't have her tied up.
We tried washing her in the stall but it didn't work.
Everyone keeps saying they're going to get my mare adjusted to being washed but no one is, and she's not getting the grooming she deserves because it's too hot.
And my gelding loves the water; it's funny to watch him all happy when he gets washed in the heat.

[Hanoverian]

@gam:
yeah, it is a bit sad to outgrow a horse, but I'll still see her lovely face every day. c: and I'll still hack the big mama around if she starts getting sassy, haha.
aww, I wish that you could lease! I know that I'm blessed to be able to lease and I'm very grateful. (: It is a half lease so it's no too bad price wise (I pay for part of it), and I still get to ride 4 days a week. (Well, 3 technical lease days but I take an extra lesson so it's 4 days)
And thanks, it was a lot of fun. shows stress me out too, and I did my own show care so I was very busy haha xD you should show again!
the clinic was wonderful! It wasn't too far away - only in Columbia! it was my first time riding in a clinic (I've audited greg best in the past) and I think I'll be back next year.
I'll try to keep everyone updated on him! He is very cool.
that's cool that you work horse camp too! Our first one was in june and I worked that too. This camp is a little easier though because the kids are more experienced than the last bunch! I'm glad that you liked working camp, I enjoy it too. even though it's SO HOT, haha. Yesterday was killer, SO HUMID. hahaha I am sure that your trainer lovesss you <333 I've just known mine for a long time and spend a lot of time working for her!

I'm sorry that riding has been so frustrating for you D: And that your trainer has been gone for so long! Ahh, and that sucks that the fill-in trainer isn't so great. that's got to be tough. I hope that your barn gets some horses for you guys to ride soon so you can have someone new to ride and bond with. and I'm sorry that your trainer is money-obsessed, my old trainer was just like that and I got treated like dirt. And it sucks.
I think that you should come ride at my barn (: k?

[MagicOfHorses]

Well lets just start off as I have a Tb (thoroughbred) X Morgan mare. She's sweet on ground and all but can be a pain if I try to ride daily... I have riding lessons with a top instructor which is natural but will show how to be boss, anyway back to the point >> recently my mare decided to not want to be ridden daily, I have to skip a day or many days otherwise she refuses to cooperate... She is in perfect health, no sores, I tried bareback, no bridle even and she is fine with only no bridle and saddle because she knows I'm not gonna be serious riding training. So she's fine. But otherwise I have no idea, she is pretty much normal when she comes 'in season' to...

[stirrupirons]

@Blue: First level isn't starter level xD It's sorta the third level in dressage out of six; there's intro, training, first, second, third, and fourth c: and then the Grand Prix levels like Prix St. Georges etc. But thank you!!! :D I think I'm actually sticking with Training C because Thinker doesn't ride well in the heat and besides some successful jumping we had a pretty crappy ride last Sunday. I'll elaborate more below. And aw, hope Bob feels better! I hate when Thinker's lame or sore Dx

@Hano: It was a lot of fun!! You really should try it; dressage is the foundation of all disciplines and you probably do more dressage than you realize xD Plus the saddles are sooooo comfortable! Aw, I'm sorry you've outgrown Willow :( The OTTB sounds so nice! Hope you have fun riding him :) He sounds like Thinker, except Thinker can't jump more than 2'6" xD Those breeches are gorgeous <3 I love the full seat version, except they're so expensive D: Your trainer is so sweet!

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Like I said earlier, I had a pretty crappy ride Sunday :/ Thinker did not want to get in frame, kept fighting the bit, and was super lethargic. He was a little stiff and his canter was uncomfortable because of that; it felt like riding a really sharp V. We trotted over ground poles in two point and posting trot, and then we took the crossrail a few times. It was a lot of fun :D He's a terrible jumper, lol, but I think doing jumping occasionally will help him be more uphill for dressage.
After the lesson, A and I went to the fair and then we stopped at my favorite tack shop :D They were having a tent sale and 15% off Ariat! I got a white Tuffrider dressage pad, a black Ariat polo, and then a green and white striped Ariat polo. My total was just $80 :D
I'm going out of town this weekend so I won't be riding until Sunday night :/ BUT because I've been working hard this summer my dad said when we're out of town we can stop at a tack store and he'll buy me a new helmet!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D We agreed on the Charles Owen JR8 because it'll be good for shows, looks nice, is pretty cheap compared to other brand name helmets, and the assistant instructor at my barn has it and recommended it to me. I'm getting the black/charcoal :3 I'm so excited oh my goodness no more Troxel!!! :D
And it looks like I'll be doing trail rides at work after hours :D I'm super excited, I'm going to get PAID TO RIDE. Not only will it be more money coming in but it'll be so much fun! There are about 8 trail horses at work, one of them isn't used though because he tried to rear on the trails (but of course they won't work with him on it... :roll: ). The trick rider/trainer/horse manager at work is going to watch me ride and decide if I can handle a horse. I know I'll pass so I'm not worried at all xD It's just walk and he's going to make sure I pay attention when I ride. So easy peasy :P

[Hime]

@Vanilla Twilight: If it was my horse: Who's paying? Insurance?
2nd Freaking idiot keep your dog on leash or don't let it out of your sight if you can't be 100% sure it won't go after horses! Especially if it's a hearding breed dog, like seriously they like to heard...
3rd Adding to previous it's more danger to the dog than to the horse...
4th Hope the horse recovers quickly...
Though if the bite was bag enough to need stitches... *sigh* That is no barn dog I tell you.

@Hano: XD I thought you might like him. His sire is 176cm tall, and he's looking big so far... He's gotten lot more courageus and curious past few days. He's no where near as nosy as the Icelandics, but with that size I think it's a good thing. But it's fairly funny to see him try and play with the Icelandics who are older than him, but smaller in size. XD He seems very playfull in a way, so when he gains little more confidence I think he's going to be good wrestling pair for Tývar. ;D
Couple videos of the WBs sire...1 and 2

Sounds like your doing well with your horsey life. c: Though sad you have come to a point where Willow is no longer quite 'right' for you. :c And those breeches are super neat looking, I wants? Though with full seat.

@arashikage: Have someone distract her with food/treats while you use the sponge. That way she connects good stuff to the sponge, like everytime to sponge touches her she gets food, but not othervise. Some horses don't like hoses, Like Heta has issues with hosing her hind legs for some reason...
I got to help to wash a shetland pony who's pretty spooky of everything... Partly including the sponge brush. Like she was afraid the water dripping from the brush back to the bucket and I couldn't approach her with it from her right side at all. Though she looooooooves scratching, so we used that on our advantage. XD We used buckets to rinse her off as hose would have probably been too much for her.

@MagicOfHorses: When you say in perfect health you mean recently checked by good vet, farrier and saddler? Honestly that kind of behavior doesn't sound normal for sound horse. Othervise it's sounds like just plain bratty behavior and in this case you are giving in by not riding. How about doing serious work bareback? How's she acting then? Also what do you usually do when you ride her? Flat work, jump, trail rides etc. I know my mare starts to be bratty if I don't take her off the arena on to the trails once or twice a week to 'clear up her head'. Then she also gets a day or two off weekly. If she stays happy, I stay sane. XD