Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[Muscida]

OOH! I can post on this thread!

I actually recently got a new horse. Gorgeous 16.2 hand OTTB with movement to die for, due to his fabulous, fabulous conformation. He's a great jumper and will jump anything reasonable that someone puts in front of him and is fairly easy to control. He'll make a great eventer And he's already had a cooldown from his *attempted* racing days and was started in eventing already.

I'm so excited about him...

[Jayfox]

I used to ride horses but haven't for so long!

[Hime]

Someone wanted pics of Tý?

Could have those hind legs positioned bit better, but either way I'm really hoping the front will grown bit more and he won't end up with the same kind of back as Heta. : P

[LissaJo]

Someone wanted pics of Tý?

Could have those hind legs positioned bit better, but either way I'm really hoping the front will grown bit more and he won't end up with the same kind of back as Heta. : P

he still looks handsome - so fluffy!

[Kestrell]

I'm writing this in kinda a bad mood so sorry in advance...

Quinn is moving back in with his owner at the end of the month. He is old and has been slowly getting lame and just has had a bad last couple of months due to abcesses and lameness issues. We found out today that both suspensory ligaments are causing him pain... He is officially retired now He meant so much to me and helped to get rid of a lot of anxiety that I had and he taught me so much over the past year of having him... I guess I'm wondering how you guys got over loosing a horse?

[atychiphobia]

@kestrall I've been through a few horses but I haven't really had a connection with them if ya get what I mean so it didn't really matter to me. I cried a bit with one horse we sold but she made me lose almost all my confidence so she didn't matter too much to me. The horse I had after that was a sweet old pony. I had her for a few years but I got too big so we free leased her, I was fine with this as she was technically still our and alive. Quite a few years after (quite recently) she had to be put down. I didn't want to come as I didn't know how I would react. I guess to me she is still technically alive just somewhere else. Anyway, now I have my main horse (had him for almost 5 years) so he is really special to me. I guess it would be like loosing a pet, you just have to pull through it.

Ok, time for my question. I'm doing showjumping on my quarter horse X tomorrow and we are doing D grade. I'm just wandering if anyone has any last minute tips? I am good with striding and sitting back. My horse I'm doing it on (Midnight) loves jumping and will jump almost any jump even if I stuffed it up. My one major problem is my leg flapping around (we are doing equitation too) and I lean forward too much. Does anyone have any tips to keep my leg still? Thanks.

[Rising]

I'm writing this in kinda a bad mood so sorry in advance...

Quinn is moving back in with his owner at the end of the month. He is old and has been slowly getting lame and just has had a bad last couple of months due to abcesses and lameness issues. We found out today that both suspensory ligaments are causing him pain... He is officially retired now He meant so much to me and helped to get rid of a lot of anxiety that I had and he taught me so much over the past year of having him... I guess I'm wondering how you guys got over loosing a horse?

I'm sorry to hear about this. It is always difficult watching a loved animal grow old. I don't know how useful this will be to you, but here goes.
Firstly, are there any practical steps you can take to make the parting less painful? For example can you arrange to stay in contact with his owner and visit him? Can you maximise the time you spend with him for the remainder of the month so you part feeling you don't owe each other anything? I haven't been in your situation exactly, but I have exercised a couple of ponies for other people and then they have been sold or I have had to stop for other reasons, and in both cases I felt that I hadn't done enough with them while I had the time. If you feel at all like this, there is still time. I'm assuming he's not sound to ride but you can still hang out with him, lengthy grooming sessions etc. It really does help if you can feel you did the best for him. Which leads on to the next point.

Treasure your memories with him. You said he helped you with anxiety and he sounds like a horse well worth honouring. It can be really helpful to write about your experiences together, or draw or make photo collages or whatever appeals to you.

Lastly, it's ok to feel heartbroken. It's ok if you are so upset you can't even bear to think about him for a while until time heals things, and it's also ok to feel much less upset than you expected to, or to be anywhere in the middle. Whatever you feel is valid and you shouldn't be under any compulsion to "get over it."

[Hime]

I guess I'm wondering how you guys got over loosing a horse?

Time and new horses. There's only few lesson horses I've really gotten attached to to be honest, but each time when they were sold I felt sad for sometime. But then there were always new horses coming and sort of replacing them. Though one of the 'lost' ones I ended up buying... XD
My own horses how ever, I feel like I'd have really really hard time getting over if I were to loose either. I guess that just tells how much more attached I've become to them compaired to lesson horses in the past.
________________________
Baby has been nice and thoughtful of poor Heta. It actually turned from it's sideways position to more normal position sometime past week. Though it did give me a massive scare of Friday as Heta was basically looking like her normal non-pregnant self, compaired to the super round shape she's been past few months. I first thought she had given birth early, but as nothing indicated so and she was still acting very much like she was pregnant, and the belly was still suspiciously round at certain areas. So I started to believe she hadn't and everything was okay. Though I did have to check on her the next day, to be extra sure of this. XD And yup still pregnant with little more round belly again, but now it's in the normal norms of pregnant belly and not extra wide like she used to be. So all is good and now I just hope the baby is the right way around in there and won't try to go sideways again. Heta seems to like this development lot more and is now little less grumpy looking in general(though still very low tolerant with the two 'fillies') and less eager to eat me if I try to feel her belly.

[Dravinara]

I do enjoy riding, but I've been kind of spoiled about it! I normally rode a gorgeous gaited Peruvian Paso, but I was training her to do tricks. Only one difficult thing, whenever there is pressure on her backside, or too far down her back, she rears [or tries to, she can't get off the ground very well]. Does anyone know what could have caused it?

[Kestrell]

@Drav

Have you checked with a vet to make sure she isn't in pain? A lot of bad behavior when riding can come from discomfort or pain in the animal. If you've already eliminated discomfort from the table then there could be a large number of other causes for this behavior. A lot of horses can sometimes feel threatened by their butt being touched, it's an area they can't see very well and they are prey animals...How long have you known/worked with her? Did she have a bad experience? You'd be amazed what horses can remember..