Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[My_name_is-]

http://www.google.com/search?q=conforma ... B526%3B478 I can't think how far gone these horses have gotten and we still judge on their lineage..It's safe sad. These Horses were once great now we are degrading Them to deal. For I'm so glad I'm not the only one against that. We need the old halter Classes back. where the horse looks like ahorse.

[Livid-Silver]

@Amy Pond: Did the vet figure out exactly what was wrong with Donny, or just what the problem area was? Hopefully it'll go away with good rest and then stay away. Slight/random chronic issues are pain... >_<
Yup, doing stuff on both sides is excelent thing to do. ^^ It's funny how doing same thing from one side can create much bigger reaction than when doing same thing from the usual side. Like one shetland pony, you could wash her left side with sponge, but approach from right side with the sponge and she'd shy away. Then if you'd stand on the left side, but have the sponge touch her right side she was totally fine... : P So definetly teach Reggie to be two sided.

Not the full extent of the injury, but going off his symptoms and such that is the most likely thing, but no he couldn't determine whether is was a torn ligament, tendon or how badly. I think to do that you need to do a scintigraphy which can be quite costly, so you usually try resting first and if they don't come back any better, then look at more extensive diagnosis and treatment. He was feeling heaps better again today and actually came trotting up (by which was HEAPs better. Still a little off but actually had some cadence and swing back) and went for bit of a canter around, also noticed he's stepped on his shoe and bent it a little so I'm assuming some play was going on So fingers crossed he keeps improving.
Its funny how some horses are so one sided, really interesting since it gives you a bit of insight into their mental thought processes. Reggie seems to be entering his brat phase and thinks he's still a colt at some points, but it'll pass lol He's having more fun with games now and looses interest quickly if its 'training', so its lots of fun coming up with ideas for him. Can't wait until Donny can join back in though <3

[stirrupirons]

I'm pretty worn out right now and just now have the chance to post, so I'll update you guys!
Ellie has been consistently good recently. She was stocked up on Monday and Tuesday because the weather has been so bad so Monday I had a lesson on Cosmo. He was good! Very stiff because of the weather but he worked himself out of it and we had some great moments. His canter was much better than the last time I rode him and his leg yields were much better as well!
Wednesday I rode Ellie and let her take it easy and mainly worked on walk/trot lateral work to loosen her up as well as transitions within gaits. Yesterday we worked on half pass at the canter and counter canter loops from first level test 3, then the 10m circles to line across the school, halt at x, then another 10m circle exercise. My trainer had a bad fall and bruised her tailbone on Wednesday so she had me ride some horses for her yesterday before I rode Ellie. :) I rode a little 14hh green pony named Sheldon first. He is so much fun and I'm pretty much obsessed with him. I was the first person besides my trainer to ride him at my barn, so that's pretty cool! Lol. He's a great little pony besides the bratty pony personality. Then, I rode my trainer's personal eventer, Mikey. He's really chill (although he spooked a bit but I don't care lol) but he gets a little crazy when you ask him to do a lot, so we just walked and trotted around nice and calm. :P I like them both a lot though and I wanna continue to ride Sheldon! I sorta have been wanting to jump a little lately and he's a little crazy jumper pony, so... :D

Picture time!
Me riding Sheldon. Look at his little hind end!
Sheldon
Me riding Mikey
Ellie in her new black and red bonnet! Just need a matching Ogilvy now ;)
My majestic, disgusting mare bear

And I made a gif of Ellie from late December, figured I'd show you guys! I don't think I've posted videos of her, so you can see her movement!

[kathwren]

Does anyone have any advice on getting an inexperienced horse to engage their hind end and stretch into the bit?
I usually ride him on a loose enough rein, but with still enough contact. Whenever he puts his head down I always praise him and give him more rein.
I've been doing a lot of W/T transitions, circles, and pole work with him.

[ryukrem]

Does anyone have any advice on getting an inexperienced horse to engage their hind end and stretch into the bit?
I usually ride him on a loose enough rein, but with still enough contact. Whenever he puts his head down I always praise him and give him more rein.
I've been doing a lot of W/T transitions, circles, and pole work with him.

Walk to halt, supple in the halt, walk forward out of it. Horses are supposed to get on the bit by going forward, but with green ones, they don't get it. I ride a green pony sometimes and that's what my instructor told me to do. It works well. Just a ton of transitions really and supple through.
Also you shouldn't give the horse more rein when they put their head down because that'll create a problem in the future. You should just give a bit then take back. It's all about suppleing.

[Hime]

Anyways, what breed do you guys think are best suited for your ability for riding? Just curios

I don't really see myself riding any other horse regularry than an Icelandic, at least at the moment. I do tend to lean towards light drafts as well, somehow their temperament just appeals to me more than WB types. I don't know, light drafts to me just have calmer presence and I feel like I don't have to be on my toes all the time or expect them to spook at totally random things. Like honestly out of the horses I've walked in from the paddock 99% of the time when some horse jumped/spooked/messed around it was a WB or a standartbred. And still I would want to ride an arab someday. XD

Hey guys, bareback riding question sort of. I've heard that riding horses bareback is bad for their spines but..
How much do you think a horse can actually handle? and I'm... 82 pounds xD I wasn't sure for a moment, sorry. But if you're extremely light like I am, (to a 16.2 hand horse LOL) I'm sure bareback wouldn't bother her with me, would it? I've actually never ridden Missy bareback but then again, she isn't my horse. But I have ridden the 3 year old of my trainer's bareback a few times since he's such an angel.

It's also more of weight distribution issue that kinda leads to the spine issue as well. As saddle is desinged to distribute the weight on larger area and off the middle of the spine, so without one all your weight is literally on 2 spots. Weight limit for bareback would probably be bit lower than the weight limit with saddle, imo. But it's not all simple numbers, as rider's skill effects majorly on how 'heavy/light' they are for the horse to carry, as does the build of the horse(and the conditon of the horse of course). Experienced large man can be 'lighter' for the horse than a non-experienced small woman. But no, I don't think the horse you ride would be bothered if you rode her bareback occasionally.

@Amy Pond: Thought so much, but had to ask. Anything above knees/hocks that doesn't show up in x-rays seems to be hard for vets to determine, or then costs a fortune since some fancy machine is needed. : P Keeping fingers crossed. c:
Hey random question: What month was Reggie born in?

@stirrupsirons: Ponyyyyyy! Nope, totally not obsessed with ponies. XD He kinda looks like he might be really fun to jump indeed. And miss Ellie looks super stylish in her red-black-bling tack. c: I think I've seen video of you and Ellie, but not sure and it was probably from the time you just started riding her... Maybe... Time goes too fast. >_<
__________
So apparently I messed up my shoulder on Monday lot worse than I thought, seeing Tuesday it was horrible and I couldn't really do really any moves involving my left arm in pilates class. Yeah, well, it's still not good so haven't been to the stable since Monday. >_< It's better, but still stings bad if I move the hand certain ways or somewhat lean to it weird. XP So thought about playing it safe one more day and going riding tomorrow. Buuuut, it seems we are supposed to get some major winds tomorrow. So not getting my hopes too high about riding tomorrow. : P

[Luzien]

Anyways, what breed do you guys think are best suited for your ability for riding? Just curios

I don't really see myself riding any other horse regularry than an Icelandic, at least at the moment. I do tend to lean towards light drafts as well, somehow their temperament just appeals to me more than WB types. I don't know, light drafts to me just have calmer presence and I feel like I don't have to be on my toes all the time or expect them to spook at totally random things. Like honestly out of the horses I've walked in from the paddock 99% of the time when some horse jumped/spooked/messed around it was a WB or a standartbred. And still I would want to ride an arab someday. XD

I think the same-iclandic are the best, but i would love to ride some hot blooded horses like Tekenone day in the future...when i get the money

Hey guys, bareback riding question sort of. I've heard that riding horses bareback is bad for their spines but..
How much do you think a horse can actually handle? and I'm... 82 pounds xD I wasn't sure for a moment, sorry. But if you're extremely light like I am, (to a 16.2 hand horse LOL) I'm sure bareback wouldn't bother her with me, would it? I've actually never ridden Missy bareback but then again, she isn't my horse. But I have ridden the 3 year old of my trainer's bareback a few times since he's such an angel.

It's also more of weight distribution issue that kinda leads to the spine issue as well. As saddle is desinged to distribute the weight on larger area and off the middle of the spine, so without one all your weight is literally on 2 spots. Weight limit for bareback would probably be bit lower than the weight limit with saddle, imo. But it's not all simple numbers, as rider's skill effects majorly on how 'heavy/light' they are for the horse to carry, as does the build of the horse(and the conditon of the horse of course). Experienced large man can be 'lighter' for the horse than a non-experienced small woman. But no, I don't think the horse you ride would be bothered if you rode her bareback occasionally.
like Hime did say ...it all depends on the horse(how old is it, how Long under saddle, how balanced, good muscles in back...how often and Long do you want to ride, how fast...) and how good the rider can ride...

__________
So apparently I messed up my shoulder on Monday lot worse than I thought, seeing Tuesday it was horrible and I couldn't really do really any moves involving my left arm in pilates class. Yeah, well, it's still not good so haven't been to the stable since Monday. >_< It's better, but still stings bad if I move the hand certain ways or somewhat lean to it weird. XP So thought about playing it safe one more day and going riding tomorrow. Buuuut, it seems we are supposed to get some major winds tomorrow. So not getting my hopes too high about riding tomorrow. : P

aww no...your shoulder hurts again...hope you take it easy and dont overwork yourself...really hope its a bit bether again
Please tell how your ride did go, when its not to stormy.... does Heta not like the wind or the trees when its stormy? but i also tend to not go out riding when the wind gets to strong as you never know if something comes down...

Hime » Do Feb 05, 2015 4:46 am

@Luzien: Left is Heta's worse side in general(also the bad hock side) and even with briddle she sometimes isn't so eager to turn left. I think my seat wasn't so good either while turning(definetly still lacking some balance there), which probably added on to the issue... :\ Considering that was our second ride ever with halter it went pretty decent. Then we will both have to work a little bit more on our and our horse bad sides ....but its great that your second ride without bridle was such a success do you want to try riding her with a bitless bridle from now on or only try this for fun now and then?
Yup, the canter was actually very nice to sit bareback. ^^ Not particularry boucy, since Heta was going nice and slow.SUCH A NICE HORSE! i think she really knows that you need to be taken care of and that she cant be a brat and has to go nice and soft to not hurt you...?! Arm's tolerating riding pretty well(still only riding every other day, just in case), but it still doesn't like carrying heavy stuff in certain ways or shoveling snow. Made that mistake on Monday when I came home, pushed around some slush and snow and then lifted couple shovels, which hurt a bit... Then Tuesday it was horrible and I couldn't really do anything in pilates class that involved moving my left arm, or even tie my hair into a ponytail casually(had to sort of tilt my head to side, so I didn't have to lift my hand too high). ;__; It's bit better now though, but taking it easy today anyway.my my thats really no fun...but with your therapy and pilates it should be bbether in some weeks or month!...can you use cream ointment that gets hot to relax the muscles? i use them often wen i got or get a hurt somehow, and some are really nice working...over night with a hot-water-bottle ^^

That disease, HYPP. Some breeders actually avoid it by testing and breeding selection. And it isn't the main reason for the beefy look. For example the horse posted is negative for the gene causing the HYPP. So in general the HYPP has nothing to do with the general beefyness issue, other than adding even more to it and causing other issues at the same time. So it really beats me why some people breed HYPP positive horses...dont know...on one side some People did write how beautiful they find those horses...maybe they think about eating them-or its like with Babys all the chubby fat is somehow cute?...not sure...im vegi...and dont think fat Babys or animals cute...but what can we say...they hopeful learn one day that its bad t breed sick horses and other animals

Oh and, Were you planning to go to Herning?YES. i so wanna try to go there atleast this time, when i already could not go to Berlin in Germany ...this time i hope it works...there is this volunter Project where you get things for free or lower prize for working there and helping where you can
Do you know "From here to Herning" ( feif.org/LeisureRiding/VirtualRide.aspx) ?? maybe we both could try for it...think it could be fun...and you dont need to ride the whole way at once but one step after the other when ever there is time to ride with your icelandic "baby" horse^^so i think i try it^^

[kathwren]

I rode Yager today and he was so so good.
He did great and was so light in the bit but he actually seeked out the bit and he was carrying himself so well and I am sooo proud of him.
We did halt/walk transitions, trot poles, and some figure eights and then mainly just some relaxed walking and trotting. c:
Sadly no pictures, but he just keeps getting better with every single ride.

[Royallioness]

Hey guys! Recently I have tried a horse at my barn named BB and she is amazing! The horse I used to ride, Koda(mentioned in an earlier post), is really old and not allowed off of the barn property
BB is a jumper, but she has won a hunter derby. She can jump 2'9 and we will probably quarter lease her. She is a fun ride, and I will be lessoning with another trainer at my barn while my trainer is off at Hits Thermal.

[Mercury.Muses]

Oh! Nice points on answering the bareback questions guys c: I never really thought about how experience would affect a sitting position much. I was suppose to ride at 5 today but now I'm riding at 1:30 and I woke up at 11:15 -_- I really hope I don't sweat to death either, its spring here but we're already at 90 degrees highs ;-; GOD CURSE YOU STATE.