Ok, so who rides, who maintains a horse, and how do you manage it with a bump or a child?
I rode in my pg till I was 27 weeks, and stopped because I had SPD and couldn't figure out an effective way to mount without affecting my pelvis (tried getting up onto a fence to mount?).
Anyway, I've ridden a few times this year, not as many as planned, and now, due to lack of babysitter for the next six weeks, can't get back into it yet. Not only that, pony is out of condition, so I'll just feed him in that time so that he actually has some weight to sit on by the time I can leave DS for a couple of hours again.
I have a quarter horse X TB (mostly QH) and he's 10 this year. He hasn't done a great deal, we're still in level 4 in HRCAV, although I reckon that we'd actually be level 3 if I were to be assessed. Just not for horse trials. Dressage is a passion, but I love to get out and do jumps.
I've had Dante since he was nearly 4, taught him 95% of what he knows...but that doesn't mean he's very educated! I've only been riding (properly) since 1999, and spent a good three years riding just about every day till it dropped off the year I met DP (ain't it always the way?). I would love to compete again next year, but at this stage I just want to enjoy my horse and learn heaps more dressage-y type stuff.
So, that's me, who else????
I'm one of those freaks who started riding so young that I have no memory of not being able to ride.
I think I've tried just about horse sport except tent-pegging. I don't mind the odd spot of dressage instruction but I'm more of an adreniline junkie so by preferance I prefer polo and camp-drafting.
I wouldn't have the time for apony at the moment but once the boys are older I'll probably find them some nice ponies and get an old nag for myself so I can teach them to ride.
I've already put them both up on horses but thier legs aren't long enough to reach the stirrups yet so I can't teach them much.
You're one of the girls I wanted to be! I cursed my parents for only one thing...not raising us on a farm so that I could have a horse!
If Oscar ends up not having horse sense, it won't be for lack of trying - he's been strapped to my back watching what I do since he was 4 weeks old!
I do love my jumping and cross country, for pure adrenaline, but I also really love the thrill of a harmonious movement that required the smallest of aids to achieve - when it's like Dante's read my mind - because it means I got it right!
My poor horse would collapse if I tried jumping him in the next few months, though - he is at perfect basic maintenance level now...which means that he's looking skinny, but not emaciated!
The mind reading thing is what I love about polo and camp-drafting because you get a combination of speed and communication. If your horse is into it they'll turn to chase the ball or the cow before even being told to - you just need to let them know how to approach it.
I do enjoy dressage because it's relevant to every discipline. No matter what you do with a horse the skills you both learn with dressage can be usefull.
Are the Spanish horses going to Melbourne? I really want to go but DH doesn't.
I rode for umm.. about 7 years every week, but haven't ridden in a while, uni, overseas, and then with being pregnant and BF and stuff, but do miss it a lot and can't wait until i can do it again.
I did a lot of shows, i loved dressage! I still have all the ribbons and trophy's somewhere, i think in my parents roofspace.
I saw the Spanish horses when i was in Vienna... in a word - Incredible!
I could ride a horse since as long as I remember. I was put on a horse before I could walk!
We grew up with horses our whole lives. I had a beautiful palomino called Angel (with a devil of an attitude)
The stallion in the paddock next to her got through a fence and she became pregnant the same time I fell pregant with DD
I rode her for a while but knew it wasn't an option to have a baby AND train a foal and look after the horses so I had to sell her to a good friend.
I knew it wasn't fair on her to have no time for her.
My DD has started horse riding every so often, but not as much as I'd like. We just don't have the time
We are getting a minature pony for either DD's 6th birthday or for christmas as mum has a paddock and needs an animal to put it in so this is a solution that works for everyone! DD gets a horse, well, the whole family gets a little pet horse. We all adore horses in my family
I meant to reply to this when i saw it a month ago but hey ho, life got in the way!
I've ridden since i was 7 or 8. We had no money for ponies or even lessons so all of my learning was done on other folks' wild ponies. Between 13 and 17 i rode 3 times a week with no saddle on various wildish ponies (broken age 3 then turned away then used for breeding for 15 years then ridden for the first time in all that time by me and some friends). As a result i have a great seat but no idea what to do with stirrups! Seriously, take the stirrups off the saddle and i am so at home, put them on and i just can't keep my lower leg stable. Very annoying and i'd love lessons to learn "properly" but they're too expensive for me just now. I did some hunting, some cross country, some jumping and not enough dressage. It bored me as a kid but now i'd quite like to learn more.
I managed to get a (somewhat scared) DP on a horse when we went away for the weekend (at the end of July) and despite a few hairy moments (nothing much happened, but the minor things which happened i've seen, in the past, turn into major disasters) which scared him he really liked it and is looking into getting himself some lessons. We only walked up and down the side of a loch for 2 hours but it was beautiful and slight freak-outs aside, was wonderful. I'd love to go riding with him, our local school has an indoor menage with mirrored walls so you can SEE what you're doing wrong LOL. My friend recently bought 2 leadrein shetlands for her sons, and DD is invited to go have a wee trot about whenever she wants. It's a bit of a trek (70 miles) but will be well worth a visit i reckon.
Going back to the post above of mine, we found the pony we are getting for DD's birthday, and also another one that mum fell in love with so our little ponies are coming to join us in October! How exciting
I have a GF whose riding instructors refer to, affectionately, as "electric bum girl" - the second she sits down in the saddle the horse is off! LOL. As a wise German man told me (while i was fighting with a stallion i was supposed to be in charge of) "don't be afraid, the fear runs down the reins!"
Not fear related, purely bad luck LOL! I used to work doing Riding for the Disabled when I was in high school and I always got the dodgy horses... Then I took Marc horseriding at an agistment in the blue mountains and the horses were obviously treated badly which we didn't figure out till later. My horse bolted from the guide and my saddle strap broke, I tried to get the horse to stop every way I'd been taught and it just wasn't going to happen so instead of being dragged (which I was close to) I took my feet out of the stirrups and jump/fell and luckily I did when I did as the horse then jumped over a fence shortly after that. I had to sign all these release forms as apparently a high profile footballer had a similar situation happen the week before (and he was an experienced rider) and was suing the agistment. The only horse I loved was a beautiful black gelding that was owned by a friend, he was beautiful and I could ride him bareback without a hitch.
Yeah i wasn't really afraid of Rega (the stallion) either, more annoyed! LOL. We had an agreement - he would kick at me but he had to miss or i kicked him back. He was WAY smarter than any gelding or mare i ever knew. If you taught him something on a Monday, by Wednesday he'd figured a way to get round it! LOL. I felt like i got closer to him than any other horse i knew, he was an arab too, very people-centred.
You did the right thing by jumping off your runaway - i rode a mare, May, who bolted every chance she got. You just learn to judge the right minute huh? In fact after a while we put a running martingale on her and she couldn't run off anymore. Broke my arm on her once (well, OFF her) and got back on to finish the ride. My own fault - no saddle so no girth for the martingale. She wasn't abused, just happier being a brood mare and not particularly well schooled, she bolted and i was trying to run her in a circle - she bolted flat out in a straight line with her head turned right to one side (as i'd shortened the rein to try to make her turn) and my leg squeezed tight against her opposite wooden side to no effect then turned very sharply at the fence and threw me into the post. Broke my arm and my HELMET - nearly cracked it in 2! SO glad i wore one.
Sheesh sounds like fun LOL! I think I'd need to really become *connected* with a horse before I rode again. I couldn't just ride some horse I didn't know, not after previous experiences.
I know! I went to a riding school/trekking centre with DP and it was, i don't know, an empty experience. I miss that connection more than i miss riding itself iykwim.
There was a lovely old ex-polo gelding, Ronnie, i used to ride. Got an SMS yesterday telling me he'd died the day before. Don't know the story yet, he must have been at least 28 though. Still sad. He was one of those horses with terrible conformation, looked like he'd been lashed together with string the vet said, but he had brilliant manners and was just such a gentleman. Speedy but only if he felt you could cope with it - really kind to beginners, little bit cheeky with the rest of us. Him owner must be in bits
I was taught to ride at aged seven and went every fortnight after that untill I started working. My family could never afford to own a horse nor did we have the space and we lived in close to the city so it just wasn't an option. But I oh so wanted a horse. I learnt to muck stables and rub down horses and groom etc. But I never got much practice at this as my riding was paid trail rides. I sit a horse very well and I feel totally at home riding. Unfortunately, I haven't ridden often since meeting Dh as I have put on way too much weight and I would not subject any horse to that cruelty. Maybe a draught horse hehehe. I miss riding. Thanks to riding when I was young, I had thinish legs and butt, I swear it helped me stay slimmer and toned. I miss it so much and I keep at Dh that when we get enough money and he no longer has to go into the office (ie can work from home), we are moving out further and he can use the net and I can have my horse and teach the girls all about horses and maybe inspire them to love them as much as I do.... Well I can dream can't I? heheh
Bec, I think stirrups are over-rated and so are lessons lol. I used to ride bare-back with just a halter and lead every afternoon because I was too lazy to tack-up my horse and once you can take a jump etc with just a leading rein doing it with full tack is a piecew of cake. One of my dressage instructors used to make us take our stirrups off every second lessone because you should be able to use your thighs to rise to the trot etc (although I don't think my muscles now are what they were then lol). As for lessons, the 2 people who taught me the most about horses did so informally and one of them had never had a formal lesson in his life. He was an old man who lived down the road from us and he could break-in a horse in 3 days flat without it bucking or resisting once - it was just amazing what he could coax a horse to do. I doubt I will ever meet someone who knew horses like him again. My Mum was a really acomplished horse woman and the kind of stuff I learnt from her just isn't covered in lessons.
Cailin, You've really had some bad luck with horses haven't you.
IKWYM about that connection. I still miss my old mare Onyx who died 6 years ago. I got her when I was 7 (and so was she) and even though I rode other horses she was always my favourite - she had so much spirit and personality. I could go on about Onyx all day but I'll restrain myself lol.
Dee, how exciting about your little ponies. Are they a little bit fat? I like fat little ponies.
Kerrie, it sounds like we have similar dreams lol I'm really hoping that in a few years time we can lease a paddock and get a couple of fat little ponies for the boys, a nice polite hack for DH and someone a little firey for me. Or maybe live further out...
yeah, some cute fat ponies for the kids, I want a horse with spirit (nothing better as far as I am concerned and Dh, well he's not into horses, and he reckons even a Draught horse would have problems. Maybe one day he'll come round to my way of thinking.... again, I'm prob dreaming, but hey....
Hi girls,
Love my horses, I was one of those horsey girls that started riding at 7 and had a great bunch of friends ( abit like the saddle club lol ) We all came from different back grounds and I am still friends with them to this day. I was a one day eventer and had my share of nasty horses but had a few that will stay in my heart forever. I have a 13h gelding at my brothers property for DD it needs work and I am neally 6ft so it is left to one of my shorter friends of course I lunge and do a bit on hands on stuff. I would love to get one for me...but DH is against it, apparently it is going to cost too much well that is because what I want will ..rofl.
Hmmm now the weather is getting better must do something about it.
I love the time away from kiddies and DH and its just the serenity of it all
Bec
Horsey girlies
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