I've been on Hip Forums for a little while, making little posts here and there. What the hell -- I'll start a thread. I was curious if anyone out there reading these posts has a horse, rides, trains, that kind of thing. It's a subject of interest to me. I myself have an American Saddlebred mare named Susie, she's a paint and she's about 15.5 hands. She's very spirited and I love her to death. She was abused when she was young, in her first few years, so she was never properly show trained, but she is ridable. I bought her because no one else at my snobbish stables thought she was worth anything because she does not hold her head up high enough and doesn't pick her feet up high enough and her tail isn't long enough and she just isn't a champion. It infuriated me. So I bought her and now she's my beautiful pleasure horse. When I do want to seriously ride, however, I ride American Saddlebreds in saddleseat equitation. It's not like Huntseat -- we don't jump. It's not like dressage -- we don't do complex patterns. It's very simple. Walk, trot, walk, canter, walk, reverse, walk, trot, walk, canter, walk, go in the middle, park out, and accept your ribbon. But competitions do get very fierce, and there a lot of bitches in my riding arena who would beat you with their whips if you got near their horses at all. Training is rather harsh, to me, I think. Chains are put around the horses' hooves to add extra weight and make them pick up their feet, and the bridles are super-tight on the horses' mouths to add that perfect headset, making the curve of the neck and chin gorgeous. The horses are very timid and very nervous, and some have tail crops to keep their tail bones up in the air so the hairs ripple and flow. It's basic English tack, some complex bits and bridles, and the horses are trained to perfection with every little detail under constant surveilence by the judges. Hooves painted black, socks baby-powdered extra white, show sheen, mane and tail shampoo and straightener, tack polished and scrubbed clean. It's really impressive to see the horses out there in motion. Like I said before, my mare is not trained like that. She's an 11 year old mare, and she's just my best friend now. I ride her bareback with a western bridle and she's perfectly happy to canter through the pastures freely with me on her back instead of have chains on her feet like the other horses. I don't subject her to the endless training like the others do, and it's very heartwarming to see her galloping over to me when she sees me coming to get her from the field. She's really silly. Her owner before her taught her a lot of cute but bad manners. She'll stick her nose in your pocket to look for a treat, and I trained her to bow. She'll stretch her front leg out in front of her and tuck her nose under by her "armpit", and the rest of her body goes backward in an unmistakable bow. Oh! We had a summer party at the barn a few weeks ago, and one of the games was to get your horse to bob for apples in a water bucket -- the apples were cut up and dropped in the water and the horses had to gobble them up. Susie sniffed it and bit at a couple of them and couldn't do it. I swear to God -- she snorted in frustration, turned her head on it's side, knocked over the bucket, spilled the water, and ate the apples off the ground. I love her to death. Does anyone else have any horses or show? I'd love to hear about them. Western? Huntseat? Dressage? Please, post!
I have never been on a horse. I have touched them, and fed them, and scared them while hiking, but that's it.
i've been horse crazy my entire life. i recently sold my beautiful boy, as my situation no longer permits me to keep/care for a horse. he literally made me melt. i could have watched him for hours. he was the most beautiful thing. black and glossy...and so much personality. so animated. so much character. i loved to hold his face in my hands and be quiet with him. They do the most amusing things! I was completey in love and in awe of that horse. They are as you said, heartwarming creatures... Their gestures and playfullness.
im very intrested in horses aswell and would be fine with talking about horses with you, you can email me at rlingram@prtc.net my personal mail via this web site never loads for me so i dont use it. and as often as the screen pops up saying i have a personal message i can never check them. also as for the other people training their horses using chains on the feet. there is a federal law that makes that illeagle if you can get proof they are doing such a thing show it to the event judge and they have to be disqualified, if the event dont take care of it they can be fined also. this dont really help the horse right then but the more those laws are enforced the less likly people are to use such training methods. you can do a net search on the act This Act may be cited as the "Horse Protection Act." (P.L. 91¬540, § 1, Dec. 9, 1970, 84 Stat. 1404: P.L. 94 ¬360, § 2, July 13, 1976, 90 Stat. 915.) or send me an email and ill send a copy to you.
oO Wow. I didn't know that. I mean, I always knew that there was something wrong with it, but I didn't know it was actually illegal. They don't use them in the actual show, they use them at the home stable, to train them. I suppose the weight on their feet makes them pick their feet up higher, gives them more motion and they keep that motion while in show. I dunno -- I never showed, so there was no need for me to. He sounds beautiful, paperdoll075! We have a black stallion at our stables and he's absolutely gorgeous, so I know what you mean. My mare is very spirited, and I love her for it. She was never trained completely, so I feel that she's more of an actual HORSE than the others, because she hasn't been slammed daily with excersizes and training. I remember the first time I saw her: I was watching my friend Lindsay train her horse Stat in the riding ring and she was in a paddock next to the ring and someone took her only pasture-companion away and left her by herself and she freaked. She was the only white horse in the stable (white and brown paint, mostly white) and she was just the picture of beauty. She was rearing and bucking and sprinting up and down the lanes and throwing her head and her mane. My riding instructor said, "Susie's going nuts again. Go get her and put her in her stall, will you?" So I walked over and she galloped straight to me (kinda scary) and screeched to a stop just maybe 5 feet away from me and kind of bobbed her head up and down and snorted. She was adorable. Apparently, she was abused when she was a little filly and they had a hard time training her for even just RIDING, let alone show training. So none of the girls at my barn liked her. They said she was worthless because she couldn't win anything, but I put in an offer for her and bought her for myself. That's why I don't show. I can't stand those stuck up, winning-is-all-that-matters-in-a-horse bitches. >< Sorry, didn't mean to reminisce. ^^;
love horses! when the kids were young we spent a couple of summers living like gypsies outta a horse drawn wagon. learned how to tack, groom and drive, stuff i never reckoned i could do. dolly, our horse was a gentle giant, and sometimes for the hell of it she'd take off at a trot until i reined her in. we all learned pretty quick that she came first, nobody ate until dolly was settled, and then, the joy of sinking into the cool grasses. i'd love to do it again, but i don't think the old bones would stand it. good times though!
