Equestrian Sports

WHOOP!!!

Finally, I get to made a Horsey thread. We can discuss anything having to do with Equestrian sports, from Intercollegiate Competitions in Hunt and Stock to Polo to Horseracing to Eventing. Whatever you wish! If you have a horse I would also suggest posting a picture because I love to see different horses!

 

I did gymkhana for seven years.


[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Barrel_racing.jpg]

(Not me in the pic, of course, but I every horse I owned you had to plow rein instead of neck rein. In pole bending it was a pain in the ass.)

I always got attached to my horse, and then he/she would get sold. It was tough, because my stepdad was very competitive and I never got to keep the old one when a better one came along. But I have a room full of trophies at home, not much consolation to a 12 year-old, though.

 

Agreed. That's one awful thing about working with horses, one gets attached very easily. This one is a university horse I took home to train. Cutest personality ever and I miss her a lot.

[image=http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/s65horsey/LisaBunny2.jpg]

 

Awe...at least she gets to retire! My pony is almost 40 years old now. He has been the only horse that was ever completely mine. He has also been retired for 5 years now. (He was still running away with me at age 30). Mom spoils him as I no longer live near him and would hate to trailer him halway across the country when he loves the place that he's at. He is still sound, looks good. I know the winter is pretty rough on him though so I'm kinda nervous. Riding in the snow was one of my favorite things to do with him.

[image=http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/s65horsey/Mechestersnow.jpg]

He was also a good jumper.

[image=http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/s65horsey/chesterandme.jpg]

 

My trainer never knew. He came as part of a deal. She was trying to buy another horse and they told her she had to take the pony too. All I was ever told was that he was a pony. (I did ask though.) Mom and I call him "Old Man" now whenever I see him. He gets really furry when it gets cold and she says he's that way now. Normally the hair around him legs starts looking like Clydesdales hairy legs.

Edit: If I had to guess his breed I'd say he has some Welsh in him and also some Quarter Horse.

 

Someone made a horsey thread and didn't tell me?!?! Eeek!

I have just recently gotten into competitive riding. Before that, I'd pretty much been trail riding/ just for fun riding for about nine years I'm looking forward to show season starting back up in the spring so I can get more experience. I also think, provided that I get accepted where I want to go for college, that I want to pursue riding at the college level (in the novice category... I'm no show veteran by any stretch of the imagination )

Here's a picture from one of the shows that I did back in October:
[image=http://photos-668.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v51/11/95/1340340104/n1340340104_30006668_6988.jpg]

 

What kind of horse is he/she?
Such a cute face!!!

 

Well, we know she's at least part quarter horse... as for the rest, I'm not sure. Unfortunately, I don't own her, but my friend, who is her owner, was gracious enough to let me borrow her for the show

 

Awe...I thought she looked like a quarter horse and I'd bet she has something drafty in her also. Borrowed horses are a good find though, provided the person you are borrowing from isn't a witch. (I've had an issue with this once but that's another story).

 

What is a horse riding participation?

 

My trainer just sent me this video. It is kinda long, but totally worth it. A guy does dressage and jumping with a pony from the ground. It is adorable and spectacular.

Pony

 

Here in the states we term this idea as "Horseless Rider" and "Riderless Horse". I was involved in that this past year. I haven't had time to get down there to ride lately (its an hours drive so I need a large block of time to be able to ride), but the idea is the same. In this case, my trainer has a lot of young horses who just need hours put on them of riding. She watched me ride two of her horses and then said I was free to come out and ride whenever I wanted to. I haven't paid anything, sometimes she gives me a little lesson because I'm not as skilled in Dressage and she can't help herself when watching me struggle, but most of the time I just ride around on my own. I love it. I wouldn't have been able to ride last semester (or this summer) when I really needed to.

 

Not much bothers my pony...although yesterday when mom and I went out to brush him, he ran around the knee-high-muddy pasture for about 20 minutes while we tried to catch him (keep in mind he is almost 40). He looked completely sound however, picked his knees up to trot through the mud. He does this on purpose and is a game he likes to play. Apparently he got loose from the pasture last week and then proceeded to open all the other gates and let the other horses loose. Glad to see his deviousness hasn't gone away in his old age.

I had an appaloosa horse at college that was afraid of plastic bags. We tied bags to his stall. It sorta helped. However you can't do that with fireworks. I'd suggest a product like "Calm and Cool" during times when fireworks go off. Its not a deep as a tranquilizer, but we use it for skittish horses at horse shows and it makes them not be afraid of the crowd and stuff so it might work on fireworks.

 

Considering I haven't posted in ages, it's ironic that I'd post here since I'm neither a sports fan nor much of a horse person.

But to come back to your question about "Reitbeteiligung," Skiara my dear, I'd say the closest translation would be "time-sharing a horse."

Horses aren't the only ones afraid of fireworks. My dog panics every time he hears an explosion. New Year's and 4th of July are horrible for him.

But alas, my time here is up. I'll melt back into the shadows.

 

Skiara

Past experiences that make animals afraid of loud noises and I'd really say breeding has to do with horses being skittish. We've found that the line at my college causes horses to mature a lot slower. Bunny, was 6 when I was training her to jump and she spooked at everything. The same stupid blue barrel that was in the arena every time we rode, in the same spot she would randomly spook at. Now that it has been a few years and she is 8, she doesn't spook hardly at all they tell me. Arabians are known for being spooky breeds, also, so I suggest that breeding can have something to do with it.

My cat is afraid of "thunder-like" noises because he got outside once and spent the night outside in a thunderstorm and ever since then has been afraid of storms and noises like that. (Before he wasn't afraid).

 

My dream thread!!!

I had to sell my pony to get to university, but I got to visit him over the Christmas break and that made me so happy. Him and his new owner, Jennie, are such an awesome team.