Archive for May, 2010
About five years ago I lost my mare, Freya. We found her one morning staggering blindly in pain and immediately called the vet. At first the vet suspected a severe colic. However, what we found was massive internal bleeding. She was already down and there was nothing we could do. As horrible as I felt at losing her, I remember wishing the vet would hurry and put her out of her distress. I think I went through every emotion possible when I lost her: anger, sadness and of course guilt. Losing a four-legged companion is never easy. Amy Shojai, CABC, About.com Contributing Writer discusses what dealing with that loss in Memorializing Cats - Pet Loss - Pet Sympathy.
Pet Loss - Pet Sympathy originally appeared on About.com Horses on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 07:44:27.
what are ear nets used for?
and should i stop using my new bit, i got for my horse. He is getting more difficult to bridle since I've been using the bit. It's a pelham his old one was a Dee-ring snaffle. He does well in both, but my instructor wants me to use the pelham when i go on trails since he can get herd bound, and he likes to trot down hills. I make it as non-harsh as i can i have the chain really loose and Im not mean with it. I've been using it in the arena so I can get used to two reins. Actually I normally cheat and tie up the harsher reins and use the other reins which she says is just like the dee-ring. she says we'll go back to the snaffle soon that its just good to have emergency brakes if he's bad on the trail.
thanks for the help :)
So I have a coloured cob gelding who is turning one next month. I've had him since he was only around 3-4 months old and have done so much with him! He doesn't get fazed out by anything and does whatever you ask off him, so I really couldn't say that he is naughty.
The problem is that he is SO strong and so forward going that I struggle to lead him anywhere, he's just such a tank!! It is especially hard when leading him anywhere unfamiliar and at shows, he gets very excited and will pull me everywhere!! It almost seems as though he doesn't know his own strength.
At the moment I am using the Shires kemp controller on him which does help a great deal, however it can still be a real struggle. I have also done join up with him a couple of times, though this hasn't effected how he leads at all.
Will he simply calm down as he matures? or is it likely that he is just a "puller" which has nothing to do with his age?
Thanks for reading and for any advice!!
"My lease horse"?
I get a sneaky feeling that more people here say that they own horses than what's actually true. Like when I see a question posted with "my horse" all through it and then somewhere at the end something about "his owners".
If you do this, do you do it simply to make things easier? I know how it feels - "the standardbred whose owner I works for" is pretty long and I'm tempted to call him "my horse" - in quotation marks of course. He's not even technically a lease, I just muck out, groom and ride.
So how many of you ACTUALLY own a horse for yourself, and how many of you just lease while calling the horse yours?
I'm not sure how many honest answers I'm going to get, but here we go :D
I recently moved to a new riding school and it is way better than all my other ones in every single way APART from the fact that when/if there is a horse in front and your behind them the instructors tell you to follow the horse when you're doing shapes. And now whenever im in a group lesson the pony i ride won't do a thing i say.
When were doing shapes and the horse infront cut off a letter and i try to go to the letter, my pony will follow it if if i try my hardest by kicking and using leg steering, 99% of the time my pony won't listen and will just turn it's head in the direction im pulling but will keep following the other horse. Also when im trying to canter him sometimes he can do it but most of the time he keeps going back to trot no matter how much i kick him, and when he is cantering and i try to steer him he doesn't listen to my commands. Also when im jumping i try to curve towards the jump but he doesn't listen and won't canter when i want him too.
When im in front he will never go fast he will either do a very slow trot or take ages to get into a trot.
I've been at this riding school for a month (been riding for 4 years previously) and the only time i've managed to get the horse to do something is when either it is just a private lesson or if the instructor waves a lunging whip at him but he slows down afterwards.
(I have only ever used my own whip in the private lesson and halfway through the lesson i got rid of the whip and he listened for the rest of the lesson)
Do you think he is like this because at this school the riders are told to follow the horse infront or am i doing something really wrong?
Please help im getting so frustrated =(
