Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[ξƞçɧαƞtєđ]

-Again, please forgive any typos as I'm crying again...

June Bug: Thank you. I keep getting told things like this happen for a reason, and that there is always a set plan behind everything that happens to you- both good and bad. I just hope whatever this was supposed to cause, it is something I don't need to fear. We've made a collage of Sky and we've hung it on my bedroom wall and once his grave begins to settle some more, I hope to start a small memorial garden for him. I've had a few dreams about him since his passing, and in each one, he looks as happy and as handsome as ever. I hope that might be his way of telling me that he's ok...

As for Willy, yes, he is a very smart boy and he's getting more and more curious as he doesn't think everything is out to get him anymore. He has kicked out at me once or twice, mostly because I made a sudden movement or I coughed/sneezed and he wasn't prepared for it. But he's getting better and better each day and I think our vet is going to be mighty impressed when he comes back in April. He'll be getting updates though as I'll also be shadowing him starting March 15th as I want to be a equine vet when I get older and get out of college, and this experience with Sky has only strengthened that goal. I just can't wait until he's gelded and has his shots up to date so he and Willow can finally play together in our pastures.

Hime: And thank you too, Hime. Some days are better than others, but overall, I don't think a day has gone by that I haven't shed at least one tear. Hopefully it'll get better within time and I'll be able to start looking for horses again as I already miss riding. The members of the drill team have offered up some of their extra horses for me to borrow during the time I don't have a horse, and I'm grateful for that at least as I don't want to give up being around horses all together. But now, my dad is wanting to get not one, but two horses when I say I'm ready to start looking as he wants to start riding again too as Hoss was his horse to ride, but when we sold him back, he didn't have anyone as Sky was too much horse and had too much spunk for my handicapped dad to control. But for right now, I think I'm content with my braying babies and I'm about to go out now to get some more halter training in with Willy and hopefully take some pictures with it on him. But how is Heta and Ty? Are they doing alright?

[Hooligan.]

Just popping in guys:)

@enchanted:
Oh I'm so sorry to hear about Sky! I know exactly how you feel. When I was little and my parents had a line of Arabians, we had a really nice Arabian stud. He was Arab branded and everything, but he was super super super sweet. He died of a heart attack as well. My dad saw it happen though, and he said he just fell and twitched a tiny bit and was gone, there was absolutely no suffering. So just know that Sky didn't suffer at all and he loved the life you have him <3 if you need anyone to talk to or anything you can talk to me

[ξƞçɧαƞtєđ]

smokeyiscool: I'm sorry to hear about your Arabian- I used to work with those horses a lot back up north in my home-state and they are beautiful. Our vet said Sky may have collapsed and tried to lift his head to get back up as he had very bad bruising around his eye where he hit when he finally passed- but again, he said it was within a matter of seconds and I am grateful he didn't suffer. I'm still not able to really think about him without crying and in church today, I started crying again out of the blue. I visited his grave again today since the weather took a turn for the better and we're up past the freezing point, and it's settled some more and hopefully I'll be able to fence it around and plant some blue-colored flowers over it. He deserves that at least...

On a happier and less depressing note, Willy had more halter practice today and was groomed for the first time in his life- he luffled it, except when I got to a tangled burr, then he'd try and bite me but that was corrected with a light tap on the muzzle and a firm 'no'. I think he liked it overall though, and in grooming him, I did find a few scars and some cuts on his chest- not sure if it was from the other donkeys in his herd or some 'correcting' with a stick from the owner. I put some anti-bacterial solution on a open wound I found and the others I let be as they were already scabbed over. But he is so much more soft now that he isn't all tangled. I still have to cut out some matter fur and some tangled burrs, but he's going to be a handsome boy. And Willow was able to finally run around in the pasture today after the snow melted and she was quite a happy girl. Willy is starting to lose his fear of stick-shaped objects too and while I was cleaning his stall, he grabbed a broom in his mouth and swung it to the side before he dropped it and scared himself XD. He's becoming much more bold and curious and I'm glad he's coming out of his shell. He responded to pressure on his halter good too and he even followed me some without the lead rope when I pulled some on his halter. He's a smart boy, definitely. He followed me around his big stall too, which was cute when I wasn't cleaning stalls, but when I was, it was a bit difficult maneuvering around a baby that just wanted to get his back scratched. He helped even more-so when he lay down right in a pile of manure and rolled, throwing it everywhere- I'm not sure if I found all of it or not, but he was quite proud of himself XD. Willow got to nuzzle her little brother today too when she as brought back into her stall for the night- they nibbled and sniffed one another before she pranced into her stall like the little diva donkey she is. She'll be getting groomed tomorrow after school.

I did, however, notice that Willow is starting to lick dirt/red clay. I know horses do this when they don't get enough supplements/minerals from the grass or hay they eat, but Willow gets a handful of grain in the morning and at night, plus 24/7 access to a salt block and a mineral block which she licks as well. I don't understand why she would still be eating dirt? I don't want her to get sand/soil colic from this and it is very worrying to me seeing as I can't be out in the pasture with her the whole day. Is there a reason she might be doing this and is there a way to fix it? Is it just a vice she might have picked up out of boredom? I don't think she started doing it until Sky passed, but I could be wrong.

[Karma.]

I'm super duper excited, and needed to share this with someone, so hey!cx

I'm going on work experience soon to a little stables just on the other side of town. They only have ten horses, so it'll be very one x one. I get to ride whenever there isn't a lesson, so that'll be most of the day as they usually have kids come after school, with the occasional adult lesson here and there.

The reason this is so exciting is because I never used to be able to be around horses for more than an hour (which basically meant I had to have my riding lesson and leave, not getting a chance to look after the pretty lil' beasts.) I'm horribly allergic to horses and have been all my life. However.. I seem to be getting better now! When I was younger, I used to be extremely bad - I had nose bleeds and everything. These days, the nose bleeds have basically stopped. I've been trying multiple ways of helping my body cope, and I think I'm finding things that are working. I hope that I will slowly build up a bit of protection whilst I'm around them for a whole two weeks.

[Little Flame]

@kitty
Ask for a leader or someone like that. That would be my best advice.

[MochaTheLlama]

Just popping in to update you guys on how things are going.

Poco is great. He's recovered nicely. I'll only ever be able to ride him for about half an hour from now but that's alright, he's an old guy at the ripe ole age of 23!

Harley... not so great. We were doing wonderfully for a while... (Here's an old video. No critiques please because he's improved soo much more since this video was taken. He's gotten a lot more soft and rounded, especially in the canter.) and then... I don't even know what happened. Our last lesson he decided to start playing all his old tricks again; stopping, backing up, blowing through my aids, trying to drift off the rail, etc. Finally I'd had enough of kicking him to get him to walk, since he refused to move from a standstill, and smacked him with the whip. And he bucked. And each time I tried to use the whip on him he'd buck on me. Eventually we were able to get him to walk, but it was safe to say I was frustrated. This weekend I went out to lunge him, having missed a lesson, and it was terrible. We hadn't even been lunging for ten minutes when he stopped and wouldn't move. If I tried to correct him by repositioning myself to get him moving, he'd pin his ears and whip around to face me. I decided to lead him around then since he wouldn't walk on the lunge line. Well, then he would start charging up behind me and trying to bite me. I'd smack him in the mouth each time and he'd still do it. Finally, I stopped and started forcing him to back up out of my space each time. Well, soon he started refusing to back up so I went to push my thumb into his shoulder, since that's what my trainer taught me to do as a last resort effort, and he locked his shoulders and lashed out at me with his front leg, hitting me in the thigh. I slapped him on the neck and then called it quits, putting him away because; 1.) I was getting upset, 2.) I've never dealt with this and was at a loss of what to do without my trainer, and 3.) I didn't want to make things worse than they already were.

At this point, I don't think I'll be buying Harley, and will probably start up my search for other horses again soon. 75% of the time I'm just left feeling exhausted and emotionally drained. I no longer enjoy riding. Horses are the only thing keeping me normal, and with my mental health in the shape it is right now, I don't need the extra stress of training a horse that refuses to work with me. I love Harley to death and care for him deeply, but I just don't think he's the right horse for me anymore. A supposed "horse whisperer" even came out and "talked" to him and he "told her" that "It's easier to get away with things with me, and that if I want a horse to bond with he's not the one because he's emotionally unavailable right now." ....seriously.

Horse shopping too has been going terrible. I've tried many horses and none of them have worked out. I know it takes a long time, I just wasn't expecting it to take this long. That being said, at the end of march I will be traveling down to Kentucky to try out some horses so that's really exciting!!

Wish me luck..

[blazesong]

anyone know of the stallion JET LAAG USA? i know someone with a new horse and he is the sire the dam is a bay and i am trying to work out if he has roan or if he is greying out (Im sure its greying out) i cant find anything about the horse so i was wounding if anyone knew JET LAAG USA's foal color or anything

[Hime]

@Enchanted: Ponies are both doing fine, little weight issues with both, but nothing major. Heta gained quite bit of weight(like girth used to go to holes 7/8, but now it's at 5 and sometimes I can get the other side to 6) during December and it's not coming off so fast it seems. : P Heta's leg hasn't been bugging her too much lately either, so I'm thinking the December holiday was timed pretty well. Tý on other hand has been with the new little boys since fall so he can get some extra food, while the other boys of his age(and older ones) could use to loose bit weight so they don't really get anything extra. He's not really skinny(at least he wasn't in January), but certainly isn't fat either, so little extra is probably good to keep him growing nice.

XD Willy seems like his quite a character, now that he's getting more comfortable with people.
Sometimes blocks are not enough to get minerals. Or the block lacks some mineral... :\ Ground licking/eating is tricky and I don't think anyone has cracked the reason behind it(or it can vary). Like in collage there were some horses who were crazy about eating sand(crazy that even with 'buckets' on their nose, they still worked around it to eat sand)... While I think in their case lack of minerals was ruled out, but boredom was another possible reason seeing most of the worst were not really ridden. Though I don't think all stopped the sand eating habbit even after they were exercised more and some that were regularry ridden still ate sand. As said it's tricky. Though in Willow's case it really might just be boredom, if it started after Sky passed away.

@MochaTheLlama: Oh, wow. That lunging/ground work situation sounds really scary. o_o Tý was sort of like that just before I moved him. Still don't really know what triggered him then as after moving I've only heard good of his behavior. In Harley's case, I might have had him checked out for any pain reason, as it does sound to be quite sudden change in behavior and sudden major changes usually have a reason behind them.
At least you can hopefully still enjoy nice rides with Poco to cheer you up some. c: And good luck with horse hunting too.

@blazesong: Quick googling and I found gray standardbred stallion(goes by name Jet Laag and I think same horse also goes by Jet Laag USA). http://www.empirestallions.com/empire-s ... /jet-laag/ While roan is possible in the breed, but it's pretty rare. Even rarer than gray I think. Didn't find out his birth color, but most likely bay. So the horse in question is likely just going gray and not roan.

[Bella.]

Okay guys, I don;t have a story to tell or updates or anything, but I came here just for a quick question. Google searching doesn't help at all, so I figured I would ask those who know something about horses!


With these english reins, I was wondering what the pieces of leather are that stick up and down perpendicular to the reins, near where the bit is placed? I don't know what they are called, and I would also like to know what kind of reins you would find them on and why? Since I notice some reins do, some reins don't ^^ Even just pointing me in the direction of some explanatory links would be great!

Thanks <3

[Nocte Luna]

@Bella.
As far as I'm aware, they're just there to look nice or maybe indicate to younger, less experienced riders where to hold the reins. I'm not really sure, but I know a few of the bridles we've got at our stable have those.

@Personal Update
I got a new helmet about a week ago and I LOVE it. It's an Ovation and it's very comfortable. My other helmet probably did need to be replaced, but my other one breaking was a good excuse to buy a new one.