An entry down below featured a few photos of a member's equestrian backpiece and I became curious...

so! Show me your equestrian tattoos!

Of course, if there is any special meaning to them, we would all love to hear the story.

Does anyone have any information on the Courbette Husar dressage saddle?  I am not coming up with much on my Google searches.   I tried one the other day and it fit my horse very well.  It is not my first choice in saddles, but if it fits, it fits!  My barn owner is looking to sell it and we are not quite sure what it is worth.  It is in okay condition and really needs to be oiled.  The billets are in good shape.  It has some marks on it, but nothing too terrible. 
Thank you for any and all information you can provide.

I find myself in need of the wisdom of the Equestrian hivemind!

You see, I'm mostly a dressage rider (*points at icon*). When I did show hunters, once upon a time, it was pretty much only o/f because both of the horses I leased to show HATED the flat classes. This is not normally a problem, except a couple of my barnmates talked me into going with them to a smallish local h/j show this weekend and taking my pony in some flat classes. I'm not looking to become an instant blue-ribbon winner; this is mostly a chance to take a little field trip because the pony and I haven't gotten out much yet this show season. Still, I'd rather not go into the ring and look like a complete idiot!

So, wise folk of Equestrian, talk to me about what the judges are looking for in the under saddle classes. How are the Special hunters under saddle different from the Low hunters under saddle? Do you sit the canter, or do it in half-seat? Basically, help a clueless girl out! :) For the record, my pony is perfectly happy to trot/canter around on a long rein and look fabulous doing it, and one of the girls at the barn who regularly does the 'A' circuit hunters has told me several times that she thinks Flynn would be really cute as a hunter.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else share their horse with a kid? Or kids? Not as a riding instructor but just...in your free time?

I'm wondering what the liability issues are in that kind of situation, where you're not part of a therapeutic riding program, you're not charging money for lessons (and don't have insurance as an instructor), but just occasionally share your horse with other people (mostly kids).

Does anyone else know?

Hey there everyone!!

I feel sort of bad sometimes posting what I think might be senseless stuff since alot of you fine people post info about shows, horses for sale, tack for sale...all that sort of thing, and I'm just a girl who wants to own a horse but doesn't, but just rides on the lesson horses at her barn. But I like to post horsie things on here just to stay in tune with the online equine world.

Alrighty so enough of my speech. This is a picture of me and the old man Sid, whose an off the track TB racer. He hasn't raced in years, and was cut from the business because he wasn't fast enough. Any who....here he is, mister Sid and I after our lesson. :) 

http://i25.tinypic.com/1zd7mmo.jpg

It's a link because the livejournal picture uploader is being stupid. :P 

Hello, I come to you with a few questions of some urgency.
I'm studying to become an equine dentist at the moment and as part of my research, I figured I would try my luck asking some people on LJ.

It's only a few questions, I would be forever grateful if you could take the time to fill them out. Cookies for those who do!
I am interested in your opinion based on what you have been told by your equine professionals. I don't want to know what your vet or dentist says, I want your opinion on them.

If there is anything in the questions you don't know about/haven't heard of you can skip the question (I will be happy to inform, but I think a quick google can do the same ;-) )

( Questions below! )

Thanks so much guys! =D

I had saved these articles to post here, since I thought many of you would find them interesting...and they have just been sitting in my inbox! I went through to clean out my webmail yesterday, and found them.

Researchers Examine Effects of Rider Stability
Austrian researchers have reported that the stability of a rider’s seat affects the forces acting on a horse’s back. Using an electronic pressure mat placed under a dressage saddle, scientists with the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna’s Movement Science Group measured the forces created when an experienced rider rode 10 different sound horses at the sitting trot, rising trot, and in the two-point (jumping) position. The rider held each position for 20 seconds. ( Read more... )

And I know we'll never be without the famous question "How do I find out more about my TB by just his lip tattoo?" question, this was interesting...

THOROUGHBRED IDENTIFICATION SERVICE ENHANCED BY JOCKEY CLUB
Owners and equine rescue groups with unidentified Thoroughbreds that sport lip tattoos now have access to free identification services provided by the Jockey Club.

Unveiled in April, the free tattoo lookup service allows horse owners and rescue groups to look up lip tattoos to identify the horse in question. Recently, the group added the tattoo research feature, for partial tattoos, allowing owners to also access the markings database to assist in identifying the horse. By providing the readable portion of the tattoo and indicating any existing white markings on the head or legs, users can obtain potential matches of registered Thoroughbreds in the database. ( Read more... )

I have been running a horse day camp. Right now, I have a group of 2 6 year old girls and 2 8 year olds. They all listen except for one of the 6 year olds and I'm really not sure what to do with her. She does dangerous things, and when I take her away from the dangerous thing she's doing, she cries and cries and cries. I don't want to reward her for doing things that can get her seriously injured. I have to watch her ALL the time because she will go into stalls by herself. Yesterday, she let a pony loose and I had to chase him for a while at a time when I was the only adult on the farm and I felt really nervous about doing that because I had all of the girls to watch.

When I tell her to watch me do something, she screams and says that she could do it herself. I just ignore her and do it anyways and she screams. When I let her do something, she hurts herself and screams.

Yesterday evening, the girls were feeding the horses. They were all very respectful and waited for me to help open the windows for the "bad" horses. The difficult child's father came and we both turned our heads for a second, and all of a sudden the girl was on the ground, wailing. She had opened the window of one of the new 2 yr olds who is kind of feral and was not handled at all as a baby and he knocked her down.

Fortunately, she was ok, but she could have totally landed on her head. I was so mad because I told her not to do that and she went ahead and did it anyways. I helped her up and made sure she was ok, but I just had no idea what to do. She does not learn from her mistakes or injuries. Her father wants me to call him every time she cries. ????

I am just looking for suggestions to keep this girl entertained and happy. I don't want to get her into trouble all the time, but I need to keep her safe. She is also on the small end for her age. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I'm a long-time lurker, but first time poster and I would be really grateful if anyone had any advice on an exercise plan for how to bring back into work a 17 year old horse with arthritis.  Suggestions on where more information on this might be found (books, internet) would also be gratefully received! 


( Details Below... )

What would you guys choose in my situation?

For the past two days, our barn has been cutting hay from our top field. The residents of the top field were moved down to Gali's field, and the residents of Gali's field were moved down to our lower field. Gali is mega-alpha man, so he and his buddy Manny (2nd in charge type) were not turned out in the lower field because he does not get along with any of the lower field's horses.

Instead, Gali was turned out with Manny and two other horses - Tee and Jack. A couple of kicks towards Tee and some running around, and the field settled down. My trainer suggested that I move Gali's turn out to the back paddock permanently. He has arthritis and he plays REALLY hard in his original field, so the smaller, calmer lifestyle might keep him sound.

Now, I have to weigh the pros and cons of the switch.

Pros:
Smaller field, less play = less of a chance he'd make himself sore
It's a mostly dirt field, so he wouldn't have the extra sugar-charge he gets from the grass, and would also reduce his risk of foundering (he has ringbone).

Cons:
It's smaller - he's going to burn less energy
It's mostly dirt - he already inhales half a bale, his hay intake is going to increase like mad
It gets muddy VERY easily, and he's prone to thrush because he is barefoot.

( Pictures of the two fields to compare )

I posted last weekish looking for thoughts on the ShouldersBack, and many expressed curiosity as well, so: I went out and got one yesterday.

( Read more... )

Hello everyone,
I'm not new by any means, but I don't believe I've ever posted anything besides comments yet, so here goes!
I have a 13-year-old QH/Arabian named Tuffy who seems to dislike having a mane and does what he can to destroy it.

Here is pony in question:

( More pics and the actual question! )

To sum it all up, some discussion questions:
How do you help your horse's mane to grow? Have you tried flax seed, omega 3s, etc.? What do you think of some of the commercial hair-growth products available for horses?
What kinds of things do you do to care for your horse's mane and keep it healthy?
What kind of mane styles (roached, pulled, long) work for different types of horses?

Thanks for all your help! :)

Hello everyone! I am an American currently working in France with Arabian horses. Today I happened to be in the city Saintes Marie de la Mer in the south and by chance there was a horse festival. I thought I would share some photos and video from the event. The horses in the festival are of the Camarque breed native to this part of southern France. Here is some info on the breed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camargue_(horse) and the website for the event (in French) http://www.festivalducheval.camargue.fr/


( Photos and video... )

Thanks everyone for your comments and poo wishes from my earlier post!

Good news is that i when i went to see taz at the vet's this morning there were THREE poos. never been so happy to see horse poo in my life!

whilst i was there he got an Omega 3 + 6 oil drench. he obviously knew it was good for him as he was DRINKING this stuff straight out of the bucket for a while. so that's his 5th drench since friday night.

I then hand walked him for an hour on grass & he was completely ravenous. I'm sure he was convinced we were out to starve him to death.

so yeah, good news. We are just waiting now for his pain killers to wear off entirely to see if he is still colicky. Poor pony.



edit::: it's nearly 8pm now & taz has *almost* got the all clear to come home. he's staying another night for observation, but i will bring him home tomorrow. big *phew* all around, i say.
and boy! can i say my horse is food oriented, or WHAT. he was in the worst mood EVER because he's been starved for 48 hours. poor pony!
( just a pic of the pony )

i haven't posted on here much lately, but i thought the collective well wishes of the great and mighty equestrian community might help.

my pony, taz, is at the vet clinic right now with sand colic. if you're interested in the story, feel free to check my journal.

but as it is, can we all please pray/wish/hope/believe/think POO thoughts. he needs to POO.

( pictures of tazzie )

Oh dear.  I have no idea how to tag this, although it says it's okay in the rules as long as it's under a cut.

( the aforementioned cut )

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'd like to apologize for posting so much. I hope that I'm not being irritating to the regular readers. I always check the tags before posting, as well, so if I've missed anything under the "Leasing" tag, please direct me away!

( More behind the cut )

Again, sorry for the excess of posts lately, and thank you for the helpful replies :]

Has anyone here ever used or known anyone who used Smart Pak's new(ish) supplement - Smart Sox?

http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClass.aspx?productclassid=6932

I have this cute little grey (read:sensitive) TB (read: big baby) gelding. He came off the track back in December or so and they pulled his shoes. He came to me in April and although his feet LOOK good and are of good quality (not chipping or crumbly) he's fairly sore on his feet now that he's "working" (getting lunged and ridden w/t/c 3 times a week). My farrier said he's going to need shoes so he won't be sore, and while that's what I've done with all my OTTBs and it's fixed the tenderness issues, he's not the BEST mover in the world, but he is fairly good. I worry that with shoes he will lose all cuteness. I know that's selfish and shallow, and if shoes are what it takes to make him comfortable than so be it, but I saw this stuff and am wondering if it's an alternative to shoes so he can move nicely and not be sore.

Any ideas? Alternatives?

I have two horses that I am trying to get in shape and used daily.
 How do those of you with more than one horse do everything that needs to be done for them.
I can get one horse one day and the next day is the other one, and honestly that is what I think is the best plan.
 I was just wondering if some of you had methods and schedulles or just went out and said umm you today.
It might help if I share my plans.
 Felize has arthritis and needs to be walked so she does not stove up. my vet said I can ride her when I feel like it, but I want to get her use to the excercise first before I climb on her.
 Seewind, I wrote about before.
 We are working on getting his ground cues from me down and doing really well he is a very smart boy and wants to please...typical Arab i suppose.
 I figure once we start acting like a team we will start putting in the miles on him, right now its walk trot whoa on the ground, and pay attention to me.
 Which is sort of a mutual admiration society, I love on him he loves on him
 Any Advice would be helpful.

We all know what the whole horse looks like, how the pieces and parts all move in union to form one majestic being. But just like a guy checking a girl out on the street, we all have that favorite "part"  that just makes us swoon!

For me, its the poll and ears area coming around down to the throat latch. That little flat smooth place, especially after a good bridle path trim. It just exhibits such strength, beauty, and softness that's uniquely horsey and I love rubbing it (because usually that means their head is pressed to my chest!). Especially when its arched and in focus when working or excited.

What part of the puzzle is your favorite? Are you an "Ears girl" or a "hock guy"? Does it stay your favorite from horse to horse or do you like a certain part on one and a different place on another? Attempts at artsy/close up pictures a plus! 

Since I don't have a great picture of a poll here's Sonny's nose... a good close fuzzy second favorite! Its raining here and all I can think about is barn time!