​

(Horse pic tax, this little lady is in her 30's!)

So there has been a lot of criticism received about my trainor and myself, some of which has been misconceptions. I want to address the concerns and clear some things up.

This is not to say that there are absolutely 0 issues at my barn. I am not claiming that.

1. My trainor does not sit on her phone (ive never even seen her have it) let any inexperienced riders come in and teach, yell at us, or put us in harms way. Her eyes are absolutely glued to us during lesson, making corrections, giving directions, making sure we're spaced out. There is no dangerous behavior afoot. She does not let us do whatever we please and get away with it. She is actively training. You may not hear a ton of corrections in the short videos I post, but that is only 20 seconds or so of a 40 minute lesson.

2. I do not see horses as objects, accessories, or anything else but living being human beings that deserve respect, kindness, and love. The entire time I am riding I am paying close attention to the horse's body language. I am not clueless around animals.

3. My falls. I fell once while trotting off lunge, when the mare I was on was startled by a large vehicle delivering hay outside and spooked. I was out the womb new at riding and had no chance. You can read the caption of my last post in this sub to hear about my second fall. Thankfully I healed up quickly and am not feeling any lingering pain from the incident :)

I truly do love riding, it is something that has helped my mental and maybe even physical health. Thank you to the people who give me tips and kind words of encouragement on my posts, I appreciate you more than you know!

He’s a 4 year old ottb. I’m in hunter/jumper and am interested in adopting him.

I’m concerned about his walk. I could be wrong but I feel like his hind legs kinda bow out?

Hello everyone! I'm putting myself out here with a sensitive topic (literally) since barely anyone ever talks about this.

I have one bigger, more sensitive labia minora that is causing me discomfort during my rides, aswell as i develop pimples/bumps down there (yes on my vagina). I've had this issue for a while now but have never found anything online and only now gathered the courage to ask if anyone else has/had this issue? This year I've been working on my seat alot so i don't believe that is the problem.

Some days it's more sensitive than others where I can't even sit my canter due to the discomfort and have to ride in half-seat so there's no friction. It doesn't hurt. Just extremely tender/aching. To make matters more annoying I ride alot of long trail rides, which often means I can't enjoy my ride to the fullest because of this issue.

I have noticed that my horse his gates might be contributing to this problem of mine. I rode my dad's horse a few days ago and had no problem sitting the canter, no discomfort at all, when I switched back to my own horse it returned.

(*cough cough* Yes I am minor and I have let my mom know about this issue but frankly it doesn't concern her that much so I've resorted to asking strangers on the internet *cough cough*)

Do yall think this is a hygiene issue? Something with my horse's gates? My seat? Or something else? Riding with pads doesn't help in the slightest but only seems to make it worse. I've tried different saddles too but it doesn't have an effect either.

Please lmk what you guys think, I'm so tired of this problem man🥲 I just wanna be able to sit my canter without discomfort

I'm the head trainer in charge of a small hunter/jumper focused program, mainly consisting of warmbloods. I've had a thoroughbred here and there, and I had a new one join recently. I had my hesitations as in general they have been difficult in the barn, and for one reason or another radiate nervous energy in the barn. Now, my entire background and start was on thoroughbreds, they made me the rider I am. I just don't ever remember the ones we had behaving like the ones that I've had in my program recently. Every single one I've had (including the new one) has some kind of neurotic stall behavior, whether is be weaving all night long, or pacing and walking in circles, they just manage to keep themselves so wound over seemingly nothing. I have nothing against them, I was excited about this new one, but man is it hard to get on with him after riding some of the warmbloods. Every small noise, movement, really anything, sets him off. He can go from the most relaxed lovely trot to exploding over the roof making a small sound. He will run in turnout and scream whinny for hours, while surrounded by horses standing and relaxing. This is exactly the kind of behavior some of the previous displayed.

I'm just looking for insight and advice. What can I do to keep him more relaxed. I know thoroughbreds in general are more sensitive and hot etc etc.

I'm just looking for more first hand thoughts and experiences, what kind of think outside the box ideas worked? How can I help him be more comfortable and settled? In our rides, he even seems to just hold himself in such a stiff "on the muscle" way, like he's ready to explode any moment.

I guess I'm just looking for other perspectives. Thank you in advance.

Preface by saying - he's been scoped and treated for ulcers, he's on maintenance sucralfare. Turnout all day. Good hay and very little grain. Basically all the things that would come to mind right away have already been covered.

so I just got my first pair of tall boots - I ordered these online because I went to my local tax shop and tried on 15 pairs not one fit my calf - this pair feels like they fit my calf, but my biggest worry is that they’re way too loose around the ankle and I just wanted some outside perspective on these - Theyre 9 wide’s

Hello everyone! 🐴
I could really use some advice to help me understand what my trainer is trying to teach me and whether it’s actually the right approach, because it feels wrong to me. I also feel like things work much better when I ride on my own.
My previous trainer always taught me to ride carefully and explained that riding at a slower pace requires more skill than simply riding fast, because anyone can go fast on a fast horse. So I learned to focus on maintaining a controlled, balanced pace rather than just pushing my horse forward.
Now I have a new lease horse and a new trainer, and their approach is quite different. My new trainer wants me to ride faster so that the horse can find contact through the forward movement.
I find this quite confusing because I feel like my horse already has a good working pace. However, my trainer constantly wants me to ride SO much faster that my legs start hurting from all the driving aids, and the whole thing becomes really exhausting.
The confusing part is that I can get my horse into a good contact at the normal pace I use when riding on my own. So I don’t really understand why my trainer wants me to ride faster all the time.

Am I misunderstanding something here? Is there a reason why riding faster might help a horse find better contact, or could my instincts about maintaining a more controlled pace be right?

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences and opinions! ❤️

Double bridle, with bit converters, with a running martingale…

I'm looking into buying a KWPN Dutch Warmblood gelding with some serious bloodlines. He's by Chacco-Blue and has been competing at the 1.45m level with potential to move up.,

I've purchased horses directly from the owners before I found this one through a private broker he checks most of my boxes. He's got a solid competition record and looks great in the videos I've been sent. The asking price is pretty steep but that's expected for a horse with this kind of breeding and experience. The broker has been helpful so far. Sent over competition records and paperwork, videos, live calls with the horse gave me the Kibu connection even sent medical record of the horse and was upfront for everything.

My main concern is that I've only dealt with the broker and haven't spoken to the actual owner.I know a PPE and proper sale contract are a must. I'm just not sure how much checking people normally do before getting to that stage.

Would you guys insist on speaking with the owner first or is working with a broker who has a good reputation enough? Don't want to be that buyer who makes everything a headache but I'd rather ask now than regret it later lol.

I’m reading through the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan the way he describes the way well-trained horses are being ridden by characters who are supposed to be good riders makes me cringe! He’s always talking about “good” riders “heeling” or “booting” their horses or steering with their knees (never any other part of the leg). These are the only rider actions, no soft pressure! In this fantasy world we kick our horses into every gait!

It’s clear he’s researched horses but maybe his actual riding knowledge comes from riding slow trail horses on a dude ranch vacation?

Also, I’ve noticed this trend where women in the books tend to ride mares and men tend to ride stallions. I think there was one mention of a gelding? This all seems very impractical, my guy.

I’m hoping some patient equestrian explained things to him before he wrote the later books. Still a good fantasy series and the Rosamund Pike audiobooks are wonderful.

Has anyone else struggled with an otherwise good non-horsey book bungling the horse parts? I think the ones that handle it well don’t get as into the details as Wheel of Time does.

It was so slippery on the grass, definitely will be putting on some studs next time! Not gonna lie I was a bit scared before we went, but we had a blast - especially my horse!

To the adult amateur starting to ride! I just wanna say I love you guys! Your videos or stories about starting riding in 20’s,30’s,40’s,50’s make me so happy. You guys make the equestrian world such a better place! It’s great to see how much joy horses are bringing to you guys and the excitement! Sometimes I’m little jealous of you getting to experience all this stuff for the first time as an adults! You guys get to remember the first time you sat on a horse or the first time you trotted and that is something so cool!

I don’t want you guys to ever feel discouraged or judged! Thank you for officially becoming an equestrian.

And if your kids ride and you think you’re too old for it, you’re not! Please sign up for riding lessons!

Okay, story time because I'm awestruck by how well today's lesson went (despite almost falling off once).

There's this lesson horse I haven't ridden in about a year, he's the definition of dead to the leg, so unmotivated that he trips over his own feet sometimes, but you can't ride him with a crop because he's scared of crops. So a shitty combo.

So far, whenever I rode him, it was frustrating. He was lazy, I could barely make him trot sometimes, and he would slow down the second I stopped using my legs. Cantering? No chance. Some other students ride him with spurs because he won't move forward (I know, that's not what spurs are for).

So today, there was a bit of a holdup and I had to wait about 15 minutes on top of the 15 minutes of leading before the lesson started. I figured I'd use this time to just play around a bit. I did hindquarter yields, stopping, backing up, doing various patterns around some cones on the ground, and leg yielding.

I used the loop of the reins and wiggled it to create some energy or gave him a little tap whenever he fell behind or wouldn't back up. It caused him to go "oh shit" for a moment, but nothing drastic, so I eventually had a good grasp of how much energy he needed and how much would be too much.

Once I was in the saddle, he marched. The trot was motivated, he blew out quite a few times right off the bat. Once he got a little too slow and wouldn't react to my leg, I took the reins in one hand and tapped his shoulder with the loop again. He went "oh, sorry" and picked up the pace again. We cantered, and he was overall a good boy. I kept him busy with lots of transitions and circles and direction changes so he wouldn't go on autopilot, and he seemed very content.

What's funny is that in the past, I tried that "slap them on the neck with the loop of the reins" trick but it never worked, or maybe it worked for a step or two and then he was lazy again. And I think it was because I was always scared of him exploding or taking off with me (he does that sometimes when he gets startled). But today I had this mentality "we're going forward, and I'm not scared of you getting scared". And it worked??

He did take off one time together with another horse because someone's stirrup bumped against the wall of the arena and it was pretty loud. I almost fell off but managed to stay on after my instructor yelled "SIT BACK, STAY ON" about 10 times in a row, and once I regained my balance I kept on cantering on a circle and just acted like cantering was my idea anyway. He calmed down pretty fast after that.

I think this is what they mean when they say "ride proactively, not reactively". I did not expect those 15 minutes prior to riding to make such a difference, but it seems this is exactly what this horse needed. I've ridden him so many times before, and never did I feel like he was paying ANY attention to me. Today changed everything and it was amazing.

Besides poles! What exercises does everyone use for low impact muscle building?

I've got one young and underweight, the other older and retired but does better when kept in shape. We all get bored of endless poles so looking for some lower impact other things we can do. Unfortunately not a lot of area to go for a walk, so we are limited to the arena.

Been thinking tarp, jump standard with pool noodles to simulate brush, I picked up a squishy mat for a different surface to walk on

I have a million and one pole exercises so that's not what I'm looking for

I have been learning horse riding for 3 months (3 days a week). I am not able to get the thigh grip and I feel the worst with each passing day. I feel clueless. I don't know what to do. I find it hard to ask my coaches as it's a very strict set up in the riding school and I feel everyone does better than me. I have been a scholar kid so failing at something feels very personal and hard.

Can someone guide me.

Beyond riding I love horses and they (horses) talk to me with kind eyes. It is my first time interacting with horses and I feel blessed. I feel so happy and at ease around horses.

But the moment I climb to ride, I make so many mistakes. My body gets rigid. I feel so pressured to climb so fast and I make mistakes in measuring the perfect stirups. I bounce so much on the horse.

I genuinely want to learn and want to be good at it. I don't know when and how it will happen. Recently I have been told I have not in me what it takes to be a horse rider and I should quit. But I don't want to quit.

Thank you in advance.

I idolize Roy Rogers because he was a saint guys. I'm rewatching "My Pal, Trigger" and I started reading about Roy and Trigger's career and I am so impressed by the amount of charity work Trigger did.

At the peak of his career, Roy Rogers averaged roughly 100 charity appearances every single year, using his star power primarily to benefit vulnerable children.

Roy, Dale Evans, and Trigger made hundreds of unpublicized visits to children's hospitals, orphanages, burn wards, and polio treatment centers across the United States.

During World War II, Roy and Trigger sold millions of dollars worth of War Bonds. Decades later, they continued to use their platform for medical causes, such as a major drive that raised $6 million for a children's hospital pediatric wing in New York.

They founded the Happy Trails Children's Foundation, a non-profit organization that continues to operate and raise public funds to protect and support severely abused and neglected youth.

Operating through the USO-adjacent Hollywood Victory Committee, Roy made hundreds of free appearances at military camps, training bases, and naval yards.

Trigger was not only an Icon of the American West. He was proof that horses heal. He was a type of medicine doctors could not offer and he was the source of what must have been millions of smiles. Trigger was a shining example of the strong bonds and level of understanding that horses and people can have.

A thread to discuss the business practices and deception being produced by FSE (Free Spirit Equestrian) on YouTube, has been up and running for a few months now. If you are interested and/or concerned, please post in that thread, since it is specific to FSE.

r/FSESnark

Hi all! I recently started working with a western pleasure trained mare who spent most of her life in the western pleasure show world and as a brood mare. The issue is, i’m an english rider, so i don’t know all the western buttons! i’ve been taking things very slow with her because she’s pretty tense, but figured it would help if i had a better understanding of how she was likely trained? what’s the typical way of asking for the trot and the lope? any other little things i should be aware of? Thanks in advance!

I started to mix alfalfa pellets into her feed about six months ago. Throughout the summer I rode her once or twice a week because it was pretty hot. Since its getting cooler I've started riding her 3 times a week now as of 2 weeks ago. She's a good horse who can run in and out of this pasture as she pleases, and she gets 24/7 hay. Her butt looks a bit blocky and I thought that would go away, but only her belly seems to get big.

Does anyone get awful trailering/loading anxiety? Not their horses, them? How did you chill the heck out?

I don’t own a trailer, but board. I own two horses. A Mustang I gentled myself and a 4 year old who I got untouched a couple years ago. Since I don’t own a trailer it is VERY important to me that mine will get on anything. Beggars can’t be choosers after all. Over the years I’ve been able to practice with the trailers of fellow boarders and both of mine self load fairly automatic. My Mustang usually hesitates for a split second then gets on. My young horse wants to be the first on. I should genuinely have nothing to worry about.

Anyway, I don’t get to practice much and we tend to stay on property and the surrounding trail network (no hauling needed). But my young horse is going to a trainer for a few months and the trainer is kind enough to come pick him up this weekend. For whatever reason I get the worst anxiety every time I’m faced with loading them. I’ve literally being loosing sleep worried he won’t get on. We practiced with a friend’s trailer tonight and despite repeatedly watching my horse load himself up over and over again, my heart rate was so high my watch kept thinking I was working out and I genuinely am worried he won’t get on the trailer Sunday. Which is silly.

Obviously when I got each of them, trailering was not a known skill. So I don’t know if it’s flashbacks to when it really WAS dicey. But it hasn’t been something neither had refused or even questioned for a very long time. Does anyone else get awful anxiety about loading horses? How do you calm YOUR nerves down?

For an assessment I have to write about this horses shoe and pad, but for the pad I can only find Open Toe Caudal Support Pads and I’m not sure if this is the correct name or if there is a different term for it.