Comment

Comment by Tracy McDermott on July 6, 2010 at 11:53am

Vickie: Quit beating yourself up, life is big. Try to find a trainer you can work for for a few hours a week. Learn from them without having to pay for it. Training a high level horse is a lifelong journey with many big sacrifices. There are more politics and mechanics involved in admitting into judging and judging, winning, traveling to shows and winning or loosing, mostly loosing. Time away from work, family, chores. If you have 2 young horses coming up don't try to do it all with them, it will just frustrate you. Work for a first class trainer get your education for free (or get paid!) and teach the youngsters what you learn. You will learn also the roads to the prizes you want some hard some easy.
Tracy

Comment by Tracy McDermott on July 6, 2010 at 11:37am

Elaine: My husband and I have run a boarding stable for almost 30 years in California. The stall doors the boarders horse crashed are your responsibility because as the land holder you are responsible for 'Care and Keep', of the animal, that is anything other than the horse and by accepting the horse (animal) you have assumed it's probable damages. My suggestion is use a stud net across the open portion of the door so this won't happen again. The sad part of this is if the horse had injured it's self you are legally responsible for that also and if it ran into the road and a truck hit it you are responsible for the truck damages also.
As to keeping horses cool in the heat use a fly sheet that is porous and wet it down as in soak it, as the water evaporates it will cool the horses. You can also spray the sheets with fly repellant to help keep the biting insects off. If the weather is hot at night the horses can be wet, it's if the weather is cold you don't put away a wet horse. When sleeping or at night horses lower the respiratory and heart rate so the heat doesn't really affect then at night. As long as the P&R is normal the horse will be fine. Be sure there is salt provided possibly with trace sulphur. Usually putting away a wet horse means exertion induced sweat.
Tracy

Comment by Elaine Flintoff on July 6, 2010 at 10:46am

Since we are in the middle of a heat wave this week (temps in the 40's Celsius with the humidity) what are you doing to help the horses with the heat? I have 2 fans in the barn that the horses love, but wonder what else you might be doing. Would love to keep them all out at night but the mosqitoes are quite bad here and they just run and run. As well we have lots of coyotes and I don't want the horses getting frightened and running through the fences. I wonder if any of you hose your horses down, making certain the excess water is removed before walking them and "putting them to bed"?

Comment by Elaine Flintoff on July 6, 2010 at 10:42am

I have a bit of a problem. We board 2 horses for a very nice lady. The horses can be a bit hyper at times, but in 2 years, there have been only minor skirmishes that I have dealt with. However, one of her horses recently jumped over (or tried to) the dutch door leading to the outside. Of course he didnt quite make it - caught his back foot, crash landed on the cement pad, got up and cantered off.....looked him over and he had only minor scrapes.....because he absolutely destroyed the doors, we have had to build new ones, to the tune of approx $250.00. Should I ask the boarder to help defray the costs, or just absorb it as the woes of boarding horses? It sure knocked the heck out of a month's board and put us out of pocket. Any suggestions? .

Comment by vickie lawson on June 16, 2010 at 8:59pm

thank you jackie for your support and ideas. with my young horses i only do a few shows and think about the big ones. we are lucky here as there are 2 dressage groups in auckland and each have one 2-3 day tournament. so transport and gas isn't too much, just the entry fee and lessons up to the shows. i have also found the videos on utube with steffan peters to be very helpful, and am cutting down my number of lessons. especially as it is winter. i am taking some time to decide whether to train just now or try and do a few shows. we have lots of unredg shows here too now, but ...

Comment by April Keays on June 16, 2010 at 11:55am

Oh yes! Time just seems to fly by with nothing being accomplished. Here it is the middle of June and I'm still waiting for the outdoor ring to dry out (I don't have access to an indoor). Also, like most of us here my body is not what it used to be and I can't ride for as long, or as often as I once did, so progress is slow even at the best of times.
But you are right, I am very fortunate to have my own horse. As I mentioned before, I went for about a year without my own and even though I could still go and ride, a big part of my soul was missing. I must admit that right now, if it wasn't for my boyfreind supporting my addiction I too would still be horseless.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on June 15, 2010 at 7:29pm

When I owned horses I could not afford many lessons, I listened to my horses and tried to understand my books. Now with no horses I can afford to have weekly lessons and I can buy even more books on riding.
If you do not compete for the next few years you could use more frequent lessons to judge the progress of your horse. You also could use all the time otherwise spent running to shows in riding and training your horse.
I do not think you need to compete at shows to learn how to work up to a passage or piaffe (you lucky woman, you actually have a chance!) A year or two spent schooling, developing and making your horse's body fit could well help you get to your goals quicker.
I admire you for trying to do everything. It can be very difficult to fit everything in.

Comment by April Keays on June 15, 2010 at 1:32pm

Vickie;

I think most of us know what you mean, you just have to decide what is emportant. I get lessons when I can afford them and then carry on, on my own through books and training videos. I love the training and feeling your horse emprove over time but I don't feel the need to get out there a show. Is it the training and emproving that you love, or the showing? You don't have to do both.

Comment by vickie lawson on June 15, 2010 at 4:09am

i would love to give up showing- it costs so much and the lessons are essential i think to make sure im on the right track. but......... i know i will always think i didn't do it all! know what i mean. i bred these 2 babies just so i could take them up through the levels in dressage. the oldest one is almost 4 1/2 and did really well in limited shows last season, and i hope to jump her up 2 levels this season. i recently listened to a video at dressage today, and some great instructor/trainer said that grand prix horses are made not bred. what if i could do it?? i 've never done piaffe or passage! know what i mean?????

Comment by April Keays on June 12, 2010 at 11:21pm

Oh, compition! I havn't been in the show ring for 20 years. I love the training of my horse and the trail riding, but I sure don't miss the stress of showing! I'm planning on taking my young Standardbred to his first show in July, but it's just a schooling show and I'm looking forward to it just being a fun day.

Other than that, just open the gate and show me the trails.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 32
• 33
• 34
• 35
• 36
• …
• 88
• Next ›
• Page