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Having ridden a lot as a kid I got back into the saddle a year and a half ago and have just started loaning a horse rather than just using a riding school's horses. I don't really have the knowledge or experience to put together a proper Op for a horse-megathread, but am wondering if there are other horse-goons about?
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Mar 18, 2015 21:17
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 20:16 |
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Something that seems to happen a lot here is parents buying unsuitable horses for their kids - most recently amongst the horses I know , Murphy a 19 year old ex-hunter who despite being a riding school horse these days seems to have devoted the remainder of his life to growing old disgracefully; he's great fun when given the chance, but is really not suitable for a 10 year old as their first horse. All his actual owners do with him now is buy him cheap and nasty tack and toys.
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Mar 20, 2015 11:53
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Have some horse-pics These three are Boyse, the horse I'm loaning atm.    This beautiful chap is Tinker, looking amazingly clean for once. In winter they tend to let his fur grow out and he looks like a proper cob.  The aforementioned Murphy 
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Mar 21, 2015 23:08
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:My horsey came to my wedding Awesome 
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Mar 22, 2015 00:19
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Had a spooky not much fun hack today  First Boyse didn't like going past children, then a big flappy bag in a field gave him a start, then we encountered trailbikes coming towards us; they throttled down, but he turned and cantered off a bit at that point. I got him back under control and started heading home, at which point we passed the man with two small dogs. Boyse at this point had had enough and took off at a canter again, this time on an actual road rather than a byway. I tried to turn him into a field, but he wasn't having any of it, and I didn't want to steer him into a hedge because of the possibility of hidden ditches and not knowing if there was barbed wire or wooden posts in the hedge, and I didn't want to force him into a tight circle in case he slipped on the road. He did calm down and start listening to me again, but it wasn't pleasent. Part of the problem I think is that I was having a look down a new route and it might have been new to him too, so he was nervy about that as well as all the stuff we encountered. re: Greys, no idea, sorry. Not noticed any horses react oddly to them before, but I'm not super experienced.
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Mar 22, 2015 16:49
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Abutiu posted:We had this old gray mare we'd turn out with the weanlings because she was a good nanny and I always loved the first day it got cold enough to put a blanket on her and watching all the babies flee in terror from the pod pony. Poor babby horses. There's going to be new foals at the place where Boyse lives - I saw a two day old one last week. Both cute and funny looking with those incredibly out of proportion legs.
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Mar 23, 2015 04:31
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Today's lesson in horse was that the girth can always be done up one more hole. I landed right on my tailbone when the saddle slipped. This is the closest I've come to actually hurting myself when falling off a horse.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:35
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I have good balance. I know this because my instructor made me stop and then stuck her entire arm through the girth once Oof, lucky. Horse spooked and it slipped when I was doing the ever-decreasing circles thing (we were in the school). I was putting a lot of weight on one leg and that slipped it over. Glad I'm just loaning this guy - he's a little bit spookier than his owner described him as. It doesn't help that there's all sorts of wierd stuff at one end of the school - deer, squirrels, birds and I've been told foxes or badgers too.
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Apr 2, 2015 07:19
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The worst part is that I'd already done the girth up a couple of times and then got concerned it was too tight. (Horse is a bit overweight atm due to not being ridden much). I should be experienced enough not to trust the blighters when it comes to matters of the saddle.
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Apr 3, 2015 06:32
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After Boyse spooked agin in the menage (at a rabbit this time) and threw me badly I've decided to part company with him before I get badly hurt or get scared of horses He also did it with his actually owner when she got on him (though she stayed on) so it's not just me. I'm going to go back to the riding school whilst I continue to look for another loaner.
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Apr 13, 2015 19:26
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teenytinymouse posted:Harvey was my bro Go back to riding.
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Apr 13, 2015 19:27
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gently caress you mum I never want to see you again
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I did a lot of training of green horses when I was a teenager and go thrown so many times. I think if I were younger, or the horse were younger so I knew he was stupid I'd be okay. I've been thrown from Murphy a few times and it hasn't scared me because I could either tell he was having issues, or it was something silly like him managing to cough upon landing, and most importantly, it wasn't every time I got on the horse. I used to ride this insane apaloosa at a riding school when I was a kid - there were a couple of motorway bridges that we had to cross on the main hack route out of the yard, and the only way to get him over them was backwards with some use of the whip - he wouldn't go forwards, he wouldn't follow other horses across, he wouldn't lead other horses across. You'd get him to the half way point and then he'd stop loving around, but looking back at it now, and given how jumpy he was generally, it's a wonder that he never decided 'Sod this' and either bolted or leapt the rail. I am always amused at horsey people telling me motorbikes are dangerous though; I've never had a bike get terrified of squirrels, or look at me and think, 'You're going down.' Angrymog fucked around with this message at 11:01 on Apr 14, 2015 |
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Apr 14, 2015 10:57
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:We got shot at by a hunter once because obviously an animal making noise in the woods = deer. Four legs? My brother's cat got shot by some fuckwit farmer's son because 'it looked like a rabbit'. This is the UK were guns are rare-ish, and cats are allowed out. The cat was a massive black creature, in no-way simillar to a rabbit.
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Apr 14, 2015 16:33
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RabbitMage posted:
As long as the country in question is very flat it should be fine. :P
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Apr 15, 2015 10:05
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Glad you're enjoying it.  Having finally stopped aching after my fall from Boyse last month I'm booked back in at the riding school this evening. Hoping I get Murphy my usual steed there. I'm also booking on to a riding holiday in Jordan in October. 10 days in Jordan, 6 of which are spend riding around the desert looking at things (including a ride through Petra)
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May 14, 2015 08:05
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Yeah, when you're learning trying lots of different horses is good. When you want to start doing more complex stuff sticking to one is better because you get to know them and their quirks. And yeah - I've always wanted to see Petra, and combining that with a riding holiday just sounded perfect. It's not cheap, but I have a redundancy payment due my way.
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May 14, 2015 11:37
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Riding lesson today was good if somewhat soggy. Was on Tinker rather than Murphy (pictures earlier in thread) because Murphs is out of action atm due to a cut on his leg because he got kicked by Tinker (They're usually mates, but Murphs had a new fly rug on and apparently Tinker didn't recognise him). Trotted and cantered around, popped Tinker over a little fence a few times, glad to see that neither my balance nor my confidence are as shot as I was concerned they were.
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May 14, 2015 20:25
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I'm going to be taking part in a little Clear Round jumping competition at the riding school on Weds Sadly Murphs is still out of action, so I'll try and get Tinker. If he wakes up and neither of us bottle it over scarier fences we should be fine (turns out I am a bit more scared of falling off than I used to be prior to the last fall from Boyse , and Tinker isn't quite as brave as Murphy ). If I can't get Tinker I'm going to be riding a stranger, which will be interesting. The other really good jumper in my size range got sold and whilst she still lives at the stable, she's not on working livery these days.
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May 24, 2015 16:48
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Did embarassingly badly at the clear round; due to run outs and stuff I didn't even manage to get the route right on the two rides I did. Things I did wrong - Didn't really warm up Tinker and I took him out first; I should have given him a trot and canter around before I jumped, but the fences on that round were little so I thought we'd be okay - Started a round too early I think; should have waited for them to go up one; they weren't really high enough for him to want to pay attention to. I was sharing him with one of the girls who part-times at the stables, so my second ride wasn't on Tinker, but Millie who I'd ridden all of once before. On the plus side that meant that it was stable-girl rather than me on him two rounds on when he decided he had had enough and refused a fence at speed. (she was fine) In my defence the last time I rode a course of jumps (rather than just 2-4 in a normal lesson) there wasn't an audience and we still measured them in feet rather than centimetres. Here's the video. The worst part is that Tinks and I can easily clear twice that. Clear round jumping I think you'll agree that that was all a bit 
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May 28, 2015 11:13
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teenytinymouse posted:I would love a go on Tinker. Gimme the big fluffyfoot to jump on Tinker's a total sweetheart. His nickname is Hairy Boy.
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May 28, 2015 12:45
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Went out on a two-hour hack today; here's Tinker in all his fluffy-footed glory back at the stable 
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May 28, 2015 19:36
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Hey, thanks for the advice. Makes sense, and I'll keep it in mind when they do their next clear round afternoon in the summer. I really should have warmed him up - it was that I didn't want to take up time due to the scheduling; in retrospect if it's okay time-wise for overly ambitious mums to drag their kids ponies around several times*, it's also okay for me to do a couple of warm up circuits and give the horse a look around. He's not my horse though - belongs to the school. Some of my cues were off, as you said, I should have had the whip in the other hand, probably could have stopped the run out at the blue and yellow. * it's a pretty informal event, get everything from tiny ponies to daft thoroughbreds coming along. It's not officially timed either, though I'm sure some people were timing their runs.
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May 29, 2015 03:41
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Here's more of the ever so floofy-footed Tnker, this time in warm up before the lesson starts for real. Tinker being warmed up I'm aware that my seat is pretty bad when we get into the canter.
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Jul 11, 2015 18:34
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Thanks for the feedback. I'm hoping to get more jump practice in on him before the next clear-round jumping in August - everyone says he jumps really well - but I haven't yet clicked with him for that; he's not an easy jumper compared to Murphy who is basically point-and-go.
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Jul 23, 2015 02:37
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TheHeadSage posted:Ah foals, 90% leg & 10% awkward, yet 100% adorable. Agreed. I found it interesting how their legs are almost adult length. Very very cute though.
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Jul 27, 2015 18:05
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Yeah. Grown horses shouldn't have ribs showing.
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Jul 28, 2015 18:47
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Why do dogs think that hoof shavings ate the best things ever?
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Jul 31, 2015 09:11
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Going to look at another horse to loan this weekend. Hope it goes better than the last one. He's called Eddie and is 20 years old.
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Aug 14, 2015 13:11
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Here's Eddie. He seems nice, going to try him out for a month - have him for two days a week. He lives out in summer, but comes in overnight in winter.
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Aug 16, 2015 18:07
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Very responsive - seems to be more on voice rather than leg aides. Only gave him a quick canter and trot around the ring, but he's nice - quite bouncy gaits, but not difficult to ride if you see what I mean. He's also really good about picking up his feet for hoof cleaning.
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Aug 17, 2015 00:03
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That is one beautiful horse - her fur looks like velvet.
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Aug 20, 2015 01:18
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Eddie got kicked by his field - mate.
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Aug 20, 2015 09:52
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teenytinymouse posted:Mia is also an absolute stunner. She should wear her shark every day :3 Yes, Mia should wear her shark every day. And yes - it looks bad - not too deep, but it's on a rear leg and has really swollen up. I hope he'll be okay, poor boy.
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Aug 20, 2015 19:43
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Ed had been bitten on the bum a couple of times, but this was a nasty kick to the leg. He's not lame, but it's not good. From the sound of it he got beaten up by another field-mate and that damaged his confidence when dealing with other horses
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Aug 22, 2015 20:01
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Eddie Update He's moving to another yard which is closer to me. Not ridable atm, but I'm going to see him on Wedsnesday to look around the new yard and give him a groom.
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Aug 24, 2015 23:52
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Eddie's still not healed, and his owner keeps posting borderline Britain First stuff on Facebook, which is making things a bit a awkward. I think if she posts an actual Britain First or EDL (English Defence League) link I'll tell her that the deal's off Anyway, for the past few weeks at the riding school I've been on Millie*,** who is the archetypical Riding School Old Mare - she hates you and will expend more energy trying to short cut maneuvers than if she'd just done the loving circle in the first place. I'm starting to get on with her, but she's an old lady (20 or so) and a bit set in her ways. At the end of last lesson, the instructor swopped us over*** - me on to Tinker and his rider on to Mille. It was interesting how much more comfortable I felt riding him, and was able to put him over a jump with no hesitation; Instructor said that that was due to the work I'd done with him prior to being swopped on to Millie. So I guess it's nice to see that practice does actually pay off. * Picture to come **I think that this may be because I share my lesson with one of the staff who also does the booking and she's writing Tinker in for herself. *** I think this is something that she's been wanting to do for a while, but this was the first lesson in ages that only had school horses in; there'd been private ones in as well all summer
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Sep 8, 2015 07:39
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Another good lesson today - a bit of more technical jumping - worked up to three jumps riding via a serpentine lengthways up and down the school. Was on Tinker the Floofy. His mane was braided because he'd been given a hair cut, and it had gone a bit punk and apparently he's not supposed to be punk. Boo I say. Anarchy in Udimore! Rock the menage! Next time we do a jumping lesson we're going to be really brave and try with fillers in because that's were my jumping with Tinker started to go wrong.
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Sep 10, 2015 19:52
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Suspect Bucket posted:Dunno if I should put this here or in Big Dogs ( he's a bit of both), but have a happy video of a happy disabled donkey. That is a happyy donkey. What's his story?
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Sep 11, 2015 19:05
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I'm getting to ride Murphy again. My horsie-bro
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Sep 17, 2015 18:02
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 20:16 |
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A better shot of Murphy than the one I posted way back when. He's muddy because he got brought in just before being tacked up. It was nice to ride him again, but the lesson wasn't much fun really. My usual instructor was ill, and this was a suprise technical lesson about making the horse move in an outline - making them hold their head and move more like dressage horses.
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Sep 19, 2015 12:54
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