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Comment by Gaia Vincenzi on February 3, 2011 at 4:21am

Hello everyone =)

stay in touch with Italian Jump Equestrian world and Italian rider Gaia Vincenzi! visit my mare blog: http://www.iconadeironchi.blogspot.com/

Comment by susan satto on February 2, 2011 at 10:07pm

When I moved to N.C. 14 yrs ago, I brought my throughbred with me.  I had been living in the suburbs of N.Y. and had taken many dressage lessons and had been in several shows.  Here in the mountains of western N.C it was trail riding that everyone did.  My new farrier suggested that I get a nice trail horse and mentione to me that he had a horse in his barn that he rescued.  Dennis said that he wasn't a pretty horse, but he thought that the horse had some training on him, and if I wanted to I could come and see him.  I made arrangements to see the horse, and when Dennis brought him out my heart sunk.  He had been cleaned up, but the horse was bony, had mange, and still had his winter coat in late spring because he was so malnourished.  The horse was full of fluid, due to the recent worming, and he was developing toxicity. I came back a week later, and the horse had put some wt on, and was doing a littler better.  I took him to the vet, where he had his shots, his teeth floated, and a remedy for mange.  I would go see him everyday that I was able, and brush him and tell him how beautiful he was.  I named him Beau, which seemed suitable for this mahogany chestnut Quarterhorse. 

     He stood patiently while I saddled him, and I have ridden him all over the trails of western N.C. and the mountains of Tn, and he has never let me down.  This horse has gotten this N.Y. girl out of some sticky situations, and he always knows which way home is.  He would climb a tree if I asked him to.  There have been times when I have picked muskadine grapes while standing on his saddle.  Thee was a ride that we had to cross a bridge.  I had no idea that the bridge was rotten.  Two of Beau's feet fell through the bridge, but he managed to get to the other side, neither one of us injured.  There was another time that we were walking up a path along a waterfall.  I was riding alone that day.  Beau fell into a sink hole.  I was beside myself, thinking how to get help, when Beau pulled himself out of the hole and struggled to the other side.  His heart was pounding, as mine was, but he never lost his composure. 

     It was Beau that I went to after a bad riding accident to get my courage back, and help me with my confidence.  Beau is steadfast and dependable.  I am so grateful to have found him.  I think that he is grateful to have been found.  I will have him to forever.  Many times I have been offered a price for this fine friend, but friends are not forsale.    

Comment by Cindy Bratton on February 2, 2011 at 8:27pm

I have been around horses all my life I have trained, showed, hunter jumper, english, western, game classes, we did the appalacion wagon train 4 times. I have had a lot of horses over the years. some that have been ok some that were good but only 3 that are great 2 I still have 1 that has passed away.  Encore my appaloosa mare she is due to foal in april. And Just R Curious (skeeter barn name) he is going to be my breeding stud, show and trail horse. We looked for over a year an a half for him.   We must of looked at over a 1000 horses ranging in age from new foal to 3 yr old. My Dad saw most of them as well. I would find the ones I liked and would check bloodlines and back ground on them.  Then I would show them to my Dad, he could look at a horse and see  everything that was right and wrong with them and say yes or no.  Then I found Skeeter he had the blood lines I wanted foundation appaloosa.  I showed the pics to my Dad and he said go look in person so we did I got vidio of him.  I showed them to my Dad and when he was done looking at them he said lookes like you finaly found your stud he's a beauty,great legs,head and neck.  He has the look of a smart horse that will learn quick.  And he does, Skeeter picks thing up very fast, he has to check everything out is willing to try new things with out any hassel or problems. My greatest joy is that my Dad got to help find him.  My Dad never got to see him in person he  saw the vidio of him from his hospital bed. He was so happy about helping find "OUR " stud. My Dad fought kidney cancer as hard as he could, so he could come home from the hospital so he would be able to help train Skeeter. But he wasn't able too. My Dad passed away  2 weeks before we brought Skeeter home.  My Dad was my best friend and the best horse person I ever knew.  He could do anything with a horse. So Just R Curious aka Skeeter is my very special horse for a couple reason he is a wonderful horse to be around and do things with and he is the last horse my Dad helped me find for our Appaloosa breeding and show farm. Thank you Dad I love you.

Comment by Johanna Oberhauser on February 2, 2011 at 8:27pm

Wow, why I love my horse... There are SO many reasons for why I love my horse. Well, with not a lot of money, my parents always picked up horses that need rescuing or were cheap, so you can guess that, while my dreams of jumping were met, I was never able to ride a horse that could come along with me in the journey of jumping. So, I was in need a horse that not only had the heart to jump, but the conformation as well. However, since I worked for my lessons, there was no way I could afford a fancy jumper. So, I just kept working for lessons and hoped that there would be a miracle for me to get some access to a horse I could use. Then one morning, I came to the ranch with my mom. My trainer had told me that some horses had come in so I was excited to see which ones. As my mom and I visited each horse with a "good morning," my trainer pulled, out of the stall, a tall, bay, thoroughbred filly. Tied up to the trailer, waiting to get exercised, I walked up to the curious filly and exclaimed to my mom what nice conformation this horse had. Right away I fell in love with this horse, and she was very fond me as well. She stayed at the ranch to be started and sold, as she didn't make the cut at the racetrack and was of no interest anymore to her owner. Any other horse that has been on the track for 6 months and came from a racing barn would have been a bit hard to handle. But not this filly; she was easy to work with, and easy to get along with, sharp as a whip. My trainer had me ride the filly all the time while she instructed me on the ground and soon my days consisted only of my anticipation to be with that pretty bay filly once again. They say that smarts and curiosity go hand and hand ... and well. First, this filly was a cribber, and innocently broke a water pipe while trying to crib on it. After that, my trainer dubbed her as "the Sissy horse" and the name stuck: Sis. But that wasn't all; Sis decided to leap over the 4 and a half foot arena fence only to be with her pasture mates again ... yes, she loves to jump. And then, she injured herself. She had somehow ran too fast in the dark and not seen the fence, making a last second attempt to jump over it and this time, failing. With her shoes pulled off and laid up with cuts on her chest and legs, Sis had a painful layup. TBs don't tend to do well without shoes... Now my days were filled with helping put slave on her wounds and walking around; the bonding between us was incredible. I had a new friend and she had a friend in me. After a few months of doctoring and four, wonderful shoes, Sis was back in action. We kept working her and she was soon ready to be sold. Well, it went by fast and I was so worried about her leaving. Every horse I had looked at couldn't compare with this spark. I really wanted this horse and knew that I couldn't bare seeing someone buy this horse and walk away with her. I begged my parents to see if we could something, anything to make it work somehow to buy her. My trainer wanted it to work out too. Even without papers and only a few months of training, Sis would be sold for $3,000 and there was no way my parents or I could afford that. Well, Sis worked her magic. I contacted the owner; he came out and oversaw how she was doing. He was fond of her yet saw how Sis and I had a special friendship. Fine, $1,500. Too much for us still. And then one day, out on the wash rack, Sis cut her nostril. An hours drive, and a vet bill, plus rehab from addiction, her owner was dying to sell her. $1,200 and I chipped in. My dreams of owning this horse were finally set in stone ... well, a proof of purchase paper. Fro there on, it was my job to responsibly guide the training of this three year old filly. Oh, the journey. It is a great one. After the purchase of Sis, my trainer asked me, "If a great horse that was jumping 4 foot fences and showing on the circuit came in tomorrow, would you have wished to buy him instead?" With a bright smile and bold confidence, I replied, "O

Comment by Lauren Allen on February 2, 2011 at 8:21pm

I first met Dancer 13 years ago – not long after I had begun riding lessons at a local stable. I saw him just hours after he was born and couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He was adorable and totally ornery….and we had a strange connection from the beginning. By the time he was old enough to be turned out during the day, we had already developed a friendship. I had to walk along the fence of his pen in order to get to my lesson horse’s pasture. He would follow me all the way down and stand watch until I came back. A few weeks later, his owner asked if I wanted to help halter train him. I, of course, said yes!

So, months went by and I became very attached to this little guy. My grandma came out to watch me ride one November day and saw what a connection I had with Dancer. I didn’t know it at the time, but she ended up buying him for me right then! My mom was shocked to find out what she’d done, but somehow managed to keep it a secret from me for a few weeks. I probably wouldn’t have found out until Christmas if it hadn’t been for a few of the other boarders at the stable. I overheard them talking as I cleaned out some stalls and one of them mentioned that Dancer had been sold. I was immediately heart broken, but did my best to hold it together until I got home. It was then that I fell apart. My mom could see how upset I was and called my grandma. They decided I had to hear the truth…even if it was a few weeks early.

Dancer and I worked hard for the next few years and I learned more than I ever dreamed about horse training. I went through 3 different trainers, 2 stables and multiple training methods until I finally figured out what worked for us. When Dancer was just 2yrs old, we started showing in western pleasure and halter. We both enjoyed going to new places and Dancer loved showing off in front of the other horses!

When my dad got transferred to another city a year later, my parents decided to buy some land so that I could keep Dancer at home. We switched to riding English, but continued our training (using Parelli methods) until I left for college. Even though I had to slow my training down and stop showing during college, the desire to get back into it never left. After getting married, finally finding a full-time job and moving out onto some land, I feel like it’s finally time to start back up again.

Dancer and I have been training for the past few months on our own, but I look forward to taking lessons again this spring. 

 

Lauren

 

(Me and Dancer when he was about 6 months old)

 

(Me and Dancer last year)

Comment by Michelle Eubanks on February 2, 2011 at 7:50pm

My Prized Possession

 

I got Josey (JK Prized Possesseion) January of last year. I did not get her the usual way someone does, I didn't test ride her, I didn't even go and see her before I bought her. A friend of mine out in Alabama was selling her and had been showing me videos of her long before she was forced to sell her. There was something about her where I knew she would be a star. My friend had begun her on tricks, taught her to be a mounted shooting and posse horse and took her everywhere on the trails. Josey had this sweet look about her, that im willing to do anything you want look. So finally after much debate and watching the videos of her over and over and looking at her pictures I made the decision to get her. Getting her flew by like a whirl wind, between over nighting her payment and emailing contracts and finding a transporter to get her here since i couldnt go and get her myself being all the way in California. Finally on January 29th, 2009 she arrived at the ranch. She lost some weight from the 5 day trailer ride and got some stress hives but she made it safe and sound. Then the training started, i wanted to show, one of the few things she wasnt trained for. So thus the western pleasure training began after only a few short months we went to our first show, didnt walk away with any blues but i couldnt have asked for a better show overall, since all in all she was well behaved not perfect but with the 2 months of training what do you expect. However, by the last show of the season we walked away unanimous western pleasure champion, winning every single one of our classes!!!! She is a total sweet heart and the best friend i have ever had. We even managed to win our showmanship class with only a week of training for it!!! I can't wait for this year since we plan on doing english this year as well, we also are starting her on team roping(which she loves to chase the cows!)

 

Comment by Jen Nicolae on February 2, 2011 at 7:33pm

I love my American Paint, Riot, because he's been such a good patient through two major injuries.  He should probably be called Calamity Riot because he's had two really bad accidents in the past few years.  First he was attacked by a dog.  The dog stripped nearly everything off his back leg.  Only the bone and nerves were intact.  Riot endured daily wound cleanings, injections, and bandage changes.  He was on stall rest for a very long time.  He never fussed when I worked on his leg even though it took about 2 years to fully heal.  Then, he recently run into a fence post and managed to get a extremely large hematoma on his chest (about 5 liters of blood pooled there).  He had two holes that opened into his chest causing free air to be trapped there.  He has been a perfect angel about having it flushed twice daily, eating all his medicine, and even having the vet pull out masses of clotted blood out of his chest.  I couldn't have asked for a sweeter boy!

Comment by Debra Frank on February 2, 2011 at 7:22pm

I didn't really ride as a kid, and only occasionally took lessons as an adult, but after my daughter was 2, I really wanted to start riding again.  I met a local breeder and trainer, then started taking lessons with her.  After a bout a year, I bit the bullet and bought one of her foals, and it has been true love ever since.  It has been a constant struggle to keep up with financially, and a big commute to see him but he is my second baby and I love him, all 17.2 hands and all.  We are recently taking  Dressage lessons again and hope to show one of these days!  I feel really  lucky to own and horse and it's a huge part of my life!

Comment by Elizabeth on June 14, 2010 at 10:54am

i will be showing my horse a lot this summer! it will be mainly hunter/jumper 2'6 shows and maybe a small minnie trial or something along the way! plus pony club rallys! oh my horses name is jasmiune! cgheck out my page! she's a black/white/chestnut/ paINT

Comment by Barnmice Admin on May 18, 2010 at 8:44am

Who will be showing their horse this summer? What type of show?

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