***The EQUESTRIAN Club***

#511
roamingnome said:
Hi!
New here!
Wanted to join in the fun, as I love my horse more than anything!!
I've had a bunch over my riding career-age 3->present, which is just shy of 20 years!- but I've had this one the longest, and he will be mine forever :smile:

Bought him as an 8yo in Holland, doing the 1.40's, and I was doing itty bitty hunters lol! He's taught me so much!!!
We've been champion everywhere from WEF to Kentucky to Vermont!

In college he went through 'early retirement' and hung out on a ranch near my school, and he learned to be a horse again :smile:

Now that I've been out of school or a year and am really settled in my job I've moved him back to a show barn, but a more low-key one :smile:

We're actually showing tomorrow for the first time in 2 years!!!

Anyways, without further ado- meet Midget!!
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he's lovely:biggrin:
 
#515
so i had the choice to switch lesson days or switch to a pony i've ridden a few times. the pony is the opposite of the other horses i've ridden, fast and full of energy. i chose the pony since i didn't have any experience with a fast horse so far. here's mr jingles, a haflinger pony:


despite his timid nature, he actually loves to jump and work. my trainer said i would be able to do more with him than the horse i recently switched too (only rode him 3-4x because of various issues even though i was supposed to be riding him for the past 2-3 months). luckily i'm petite so he fits me pretty well. he's such a cutie too with his frizzy mane!
 
#516
This thread has been quiet for a while so just checking in to see how everyone is doing.

Just got back from the barn myself and my trainer actually wants me to think about starting to show! In all my years of riding, even when I was younger I never really considered it before, but now....*shrug*

Does anyone else here show? Since there are so many more classes, training, preparing, etc. that you have to do, plus the shows themselves, how much time do you have to commit on a weekly basis to participate? Right now, I'm only at the barn about 2 hours on a once a week basis and not sure how much extra time that I would have since I have 2 jobs currently, have a boyfriend, dogs, a daughter, etc. to fit into my schedule as well. Can anyone that is into showing shed some light on what is involved for you?

Otherwise, things are going great here in our weekly rides. Currently working on transitions from trot to canter instead of my girl wanting to break into a canter from a dead stop LOL and being that she has some long strides, I get a little thrown about when she does that, especially unexpectedly LOL

Hope everyone else is going well with your horses! :smile:
 
#517
floridasun8 said:
This thread has been quiet for a while so just checking in to see how everyone is doing.

Just got back from the barn myself and my trainer actually wants me to think about starting to show! In all my years of riding, even when I was younger I never really considered it before, but now....*shrug*

Does anyone else here show? Since there are so many more classes, training, preparing, etc. that you have to do, plus the shows themselves, how much time do you have to commit on a weekly basis to participate? Right now, I'm only at the barn about 2 hours on a once a week basis and not sure how much extra time that I would have since I have 2 jobs currently, have a boyfriend, dogs, a daughter, etc. to fit into my schedule as well. Can anyone that is into showing shed some light on what is involved for you?

Otherwise, things are going great here in our weekly rides. Currently working on transitions from trot to canter instead of my girl wanting to break into a canter from a dead stop LOL and being that she has some long strides, I get a little thrown about when she does that, especially unexpectedly LOL

Hope everyone else is going well with your horses! :smile:
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When I was showing 30+ weeks a year at the AA shows, I was at the barn about 25/30 hours a week, not including showing!

Now I'm a working gal so I'm at the barn any where from 6-15 hours per week, and I'm still showing, but at a more local level :smile:
My 'trainer' is great, we have an understanding that because I'm a very advanced rider I don't need to be on the 'show' plan like the rest of her clients which means:
2 lessons/week
2 additional rides/week (minimum)

She does not let anyone who rides/lessons once a week to show over 18"
She also encourages anyone who wants to show to lease/buy.
 
#518
roamingnome said:
When I was showing 30+ weeks a year at the AA shows, I was at the barn about 25/30 hours a week, not including showing!

Now I'm a working gal so I'm at the barn any where from 6-15 hours per week, and I'm still showing, but at a more local level :smile:
My 'trainer' is great, we have an understanding that because I'm a very advanced rider I don't need to be on the 'show' plan like the rest of her clients which means:
2 lessons/week
2 additional rides/week (minimum)

She does not let anyone who rides/lessons once a week to show over 18"
She also encourages anyone who wants to show to lease/buy.
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Thanks! I would definitely plan on starting out (or even staying at) just local/ regional shows so I could possibly fit in the 2-4 lessons/ rides/ preps, etc. a week but not much more than that.

Luckily my barn doesn't make the show riders lease or buy their own since I just dont have the income for that at the moment, but I'll have to really consider whether or not I want to/ can get into showing at some point. I really do love being at the barn/ hanging out/ riding, caring for the horses, etc. it's just a shame that my barn is about 40 minutes away from my house and that damn thing called life and responsbilities has to always get in the way :P
 
#519
How's everyone doing? I have been having fun riding my new lease mare Roxy. She's really fun. I am having trouble finding new things to do when I ride alone. I get lazy and don't work like I do in lessons. Anyone have any tips/ideas for my solo rides?
 
#520
loriw said:
Hi everyone! First time posting here and need a little encouragement. I have a wonderful 9 yr old OTTB who is a very typical OTTB. I've had him about a year and a half and he's made great strides ( no pun intended). We do a lot of natural (Ray Hunt, Buck style) natural horsemanship training with him and he's gone from a very stand offish horse to a puppy dog and from riding around with his head high in the air to very soft (lots of work leaving his mouth alone after the track and eventing ruined it).

But.... He's still very nervous and not confident on the trails and after having two head surgeries and 6 months off of riding I decided to send him off for some professional training - same type of training but with a man who wouldn't be afraid to take him out and work out his trail issues. Well after 6 weeks he told me that while he's made a LOT of progress he regresses after a couple days off and he has a proposition for me. He wants to keep him for 6-9 months to work out his issues without working him 5 days a week because he thinks its too much for him and wants to take it down a notch to 3 days a week. And he's not going to charge me (just the price of food) and he's going to give me his daughters horse as a "loaner" horse. He's done his a few times for special horses that need long term training and he said its good training for him too. So I guess its a win win for all involved but I just feel so guilty! Like I'm abandoning my horse - even though I can go visit him anytime and this man is truly one of the "good ones" and completely selfless. And more importantly he's doing it for the best of albie, my horse, to help him get past this confidence issue so he will be a happier horse in the long run.

You all still with me - thoughts?? Thank you! Lori
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Update time!
I went up to see Albie last Friday and...... he's ready to come home!! I took him out on a trail ride with Sam and he was awesome! Sam literally transformed him. Granted I'm sure we will have days that aren't as perfect as Friday was, but wow, what a change! He was calm and cool and a total rockstar! I think it helped that I put on "my big girl pants", lol and took a lot of deep breaths and chilled out myself. Sam did put us in a situation where we had to stand still for a while which Albie was not thrilled about but he wanted to watch how I would work him and I did pretty good. But the rest of the long ride was just great and he'll be coming home later this week. I'm so happy I could just burst! Will keep you all posted after he gets back :cloud9:
P.S. Attaching a picture of Albie getting some love from Sam's adorable daughters!!
 

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#523
Needanotherbag, congrats on your show!

Loriw, that's great that you and Albie are starting to click/be comfortable with each other!

Tosk is doing good, I'm considering getting a western saddle and just trail riding with him for awhile since I have some health issues going on-- I'm convinced whatever higher power there is doesn't want me to event anymore. Seems like any time we start to make a decent amount of progress towards that goal again something is always thrown into the mix to set us back to square one.
 
#524
well i'm officially leasing a horse. this is barclay:

he's a liver chestnut paint (believe it or not lol). he's a great horse when ridden but has poor ground manners:P i now get to ride 2x a week:biggrin:
 
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