Henk the Friesian horse writes:

OnTRA (the Ontario Therapeutic Riding Association) is asking its member centres to nominate outstanding riders, volunteers, and of course HORSES for special recognition. So naturally I expected Lil to nominate me. You don't get much more outstanding, after all. With my tall, dark and handsome looks, my charming personality, my aristocratic breeding... It should be a no-brainer.

But for some reason she thinks that working only a handful…

As the days shorten, good planning in conjunction with quality feeds and facilities can make the transition from warm autumn days into wintry nights a little less difficult for all involved.



One of the most productive ways of keeping horses warm and supply nutrients is to provide free choice, good quality hay.  The heat of fermentation when the hay is digested by microbes in the horse’s hindgut is the main source of warmth for the horse. The heat is produced during the biochemical…

We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves – well, actually today it’s just me: Dressage Princess.

We’ve been trying to come up with nicknames for ourselves for a while now and have come to the conclusion that we’ll just go by our drug discipline of choice.

First off, a little bit about my riding history.  I started riding almost 20 years ago and would not go faster than a walk for about a month.  I’ve been going strong ever since   I’ve…

But he does comes with his blue rubber ball!

This is a stunning horse. 18 months old. Will likely mature to be about 14- 14.2 hh. Excellent…

Originally posted at: http://frwdnrnd.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/the-99-lucky-rule/

The 99% Lucky rule is very simple – when you’re around horses, and particularly in dangerous situations, you are lucky 99% of the time. That is a good rule – unless it happens to be the 1% of the time that you might be ‘un’-lucky! Then, it’s no fun at all. Let me explain…

When you are around horses, safety must come…

Craigslist is really making our job  easy…  We happened across this first ad a few days ago and just couldn’t stop ourselves from commenting.  And commenting not just on the horses themselves, but on the pricing.  Yes, all the horses below are from the same area within the same state and within a few hundred dollars of a $6000 price tag.  No, we’re not sure why either.

Must see 7 year old, well trained, registered Quarter Horse…

7 year old gelding for sale. Work and Pleasure horse. If any questions and seriously interested please CALL two # five-# one #-four # seven #. Please not after 10pm thanks.

 …

Seriously, we couldn’t make this more obvious unless we actually painted spots on him!

Once again, thank you…

Lately, I am discovering I like mares more and more. They are so NOT like most of us humans.  They have a refreshing honesty. “If you aren’t going to drive the bus, get out of my way and I’ll do it.” Succinct, blunt and clean with her intention- a mare will get the job done.

Thank you. Bluntness is a gift after so much of passive aggressive chatter like, “Honey,…

Often when we hear the word calcium we think of it as a bone building nutrient, but calcium also serves many vital functional roles in addition to structural roles. As discussed in our previous blog post, Keeping the Horse Replenished – Equine Electrolytes, calcium is one of the most important electrolytes, which are mineral salts that create electrical current in the horse. When evaluating the distribution of calcium in the horse we see that:

• Approximately 99%…

...he wants his hocks back

2011 Cremello Quarter Horse colt (in the process of being registered). He is out of Shortys All Spark (goes back to Shining Spark and Doc O’Lena) and Niftys Memgold (Jackie Bee bloodlines). He is a stunning cremello with big blue eyes. He is very mellow,…

Your child will never misbehave again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzsMnU47LCY&feature=player_embedded

This video was sent to us from a reader (we didn’t get a chance to ask if it was ok to use their name prior to posting – but if the person who sent this to us sees this post and wants to de-anonymize themselves, go for it!).  And let’s just say it, we’re all thinking…

Lesson was moved to Tuesday night. We got to the barn early again and spent lots of time before our lesson grooming, doing round pen work and some ground work in the indoor arena. Cooper looked very good tonight, must be all this work we have been doing finally putting some muscle on him. He moved really good in the round pen and listened very well, doing transitions from trot and canter, and he was doing them much slower. 

We were jogging 10 steps, whoa & back up, then moving off…

You’ve seen it before (maybe you’ve been there yourself?) – the horse/human tug-of-war scenario:

The person is trying desperately to keep the horse in a particular position

or

the person is leading the horse somewhere

and all the while,

the horse is moving, imposing, and once in a while, running over the doting human being!

*        *         *         *          *

Once you know how to listen to your horse, a whole…

Kelvins Prissy Chex is a solid built palomino mare by Doc Hollybug Gold, a son of AQHA point earner Barlon who also won NCHA money. This mare goes back to the greats of Doc Bar, Mr San Peppy, Hollywood Gold, and Bueno Chex. She is broke to ride, stands 15.2 plus and is over 1200 lbs. She has been broke to ride and produced some nice…

• Muscular contraction
• Water balance
• Regular heartbeat

http://www.hartetoharte.org/On_The_Bit_You_Cannot_Have_It_Both_Ways.pdf

There you will discover, what I believe, is the history of of the false 'on the bit' frame being presented in dressage.

Can't always have good days, have to throw in some bad for variety LOL

I was going to practice Lesson 8 on Saturday but things changed. I did some ground work inside then went outside because there was a nice breeze and would be no flies. It was hot in the indoor arena. He was jittery as soon as we went outside and I should have went back inside, but I didn't. The dogs at the next door neighbour, new people, were running loose and barking.

After I got on and walked around a bit…